Keeping Connected
This is the time of year that InterVarsity staff say good bye to graduating seniors. These are often students in whom staff have invested years of mentoring and Bible teaching. And the InterVarsity staff don’t know if they’ll ever see the student again.
“You hope to stay in touch, but you just never know,” said Skip McDonald, who works with InterVarsity students at three schools in the Atlanta area. “You always hope you can have some idea on how they’re doing and what’s going on in their lives.”
This year Skip is glad to learn that at least one of her graduating seniors has been accepted into a nearby seminary, which should make it easier to maintain contact. And recently an alumnus of Spelman College returned to speak to Esther’s Circle, the InterVarsity chapter at the historically black college for women. She was one of the founding members of that chapter.
Being Intentional
“You have to be intentional about staying connected,” Skip said. Being intentional is a lesson she learned from experience in connecting with alumni. It’s also a lesson she learned about staying in fellowship with God as a college student decades ago at Valdosta State College (now Valdosta State University).
Raised in a small town near Valdosta, she became a follower of Jesus at age seven. She attended church regularly, but when she arrived at college her faith floundered. Then she met Sheryl, a Caucasian friend who became her mentor.
“I was fascinated not only by her knowledge of the truth but how she walked it out,” Skip said. “She nurtured me in my faith.”
Skip, Sheryl, and a few other Christians at Valdosta found each other and began to meet together regularly. Skip discovered a passion for studying the Bible. “It doesn’t seem possible but my love for Scripture continues to grow,” she said. “I love the Word of God. I love preparing it; I love teaching it. That has been my journey.”
Joining InterVarsity
After she graduated and began to work in nursing in Atlanta, she took classes at a Bible college until she received a degree in theology. Then one day she met Tony Warner, a veteran InterVarsity staff leader who is based in Atlanta. She worked for InterVarsity on five Atlanta-area campuses for five years, from 1983 to 1988.
Fundraising is one of the challenges of staff work. When it became too much of a challenge for Skip she returned to nursing. But she stayed connected to InterVarsity. Mary Thompson, who was then the director of Nurses Christian Fellowship, kept inviting her to attend NCF events and to consider joining NCF. One summer at Cedar Campus Skip heard God calling her back on campus. “I heard very clearly that it was time to be a part of NCF and it’s been a real joy ever since.”
Skip served primarily with NCF from 1998 through 2011. Now she works with both NCF and Black Campus Ministries. She spends some time each week on the Spelman College campus. Every other week she works with students at either Georgia Perimeter College or Georgia Baptist College of Nursing.
Committed to Campus Ministry
“I love campus ministry, and I love the way that InterVarsity does campus ministry,” Skip said. “I feel like I have been given grace to identify, use, and develop my gifts and uniqueness, to bring what I have to offer to the table. I am so grateful for that.”
And although students also have their own gifts and uniqueness, Skip has discovered that many times there is one basic issue at the heart of the problems that they experience: identity. “When a person doesn’t have a clue, or at least some idea, of who they are, and what they have to offer, it throws everything off,” she said.
Skip enjoys helping students find the answers to their identity questions through the gospel of Jesus Christ. “I can’t change the world, but God can use me to change a life that would then impact somebody else. And they would impact the world in a way that I cannot.”
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Skip was recently invited back to the Valdosta campus to celebrate the anniversary of her selection as Valdosta’s first black homecoming queen. She wrote about it on her blog.
Skip gave a testimony about her work on staff at InterVarsity’s 2008 staff conference, which was recorded on video.
Skip is an InterVarsity Press author. Her book And She Lived Happily Ever After, was published in 2005. Skip is thankful for the opportunities God has given her to be a mentor to other single women.