By Kristine Whitnable

Is New Student Outreach Worth It?

During August and September, thousands of students descended on hundreds of college and university campuses across the country. On 532 campuses, InterVarsity students were be on hand to greet them. InterVarsity chapters had planned picnics, Frisbee games, and book tables. Members of InterVarsity helped new students move in, offered them a cold bottle of water, and invited them to Bible studies. All of this took a lot work and energy. Was it worth it? Indeed it was. New students do respond to the initiations and to the message of the Gospel.


One student who did just that is Murray.

During August and September, thousands of students descended on hundreds of college and university campuses across the country. On 532 campuses, InterVarsity students were be on hand to greet them. InterVarsity chapters had planned picnics, Frisbee games, and book tables. Members of InterVarsity helped new students move in, offered them a cold bottle of water, and invited them to Bible studies. All of this took a lot work and energy. Was it worth it? Indeed it was. New students do respond to the initiations and to the message of the Gospel.

One student who did just that is Murray. Murray is a senior at the University of Florida (UF) this year, but when he was a freshman, he responded to an invitation from InterVarsity and … well, let’s let him tell the story.

“Before college I would never have called myself a Christian. My family went to church and that was where I learned about God and Jesus and heard the Bible. Though I knew who God and Jesus were, I couldn’t say that I had any kind of relationship with them nor was I interested. God was just on Sundays in my family.

“Even though I wasn’t paying attention to God, God sure was paying attention to me. I arrived on campus a week early my freshman year. I was interested in what fraternity life could offer, but I very quickly realized that Greek life was not for me. So I had the rest of the week with nothing to do. I was pretty bored. That was when I saw a flyer about an InterVarsity board game night. It sounded like fun. I went and had a great time. I learned about InterVarsity and decided to stick with it since I was starting to make great friends there. I still wasn’t interested in God or Jesus. My whole freshman year, I took InterVarsity as more of a social club. I was interested in the Bible studies, but I went more to hang out with the people. I was just going through the motions, but my life was feeling empty.

“It wasn’t until my sophomore year that I started to take my lack of relationship with God more seriously. I had a great friend, Todd, who really invested in me. He started to disciple me and would question me about my spiritual life. It was at this time that I started to realize that I did need Christ in my life because I was so messed up. It was in that year that I accepted Christ as my personal Lord and Savior. I really believe that God led me to InterVarsity at the UF so that I could see His love for me and how much I needed Him. Thanks to all the great people that I met and their support, I feel that my spiritual maturity has greatly increased. Even though I may hit a bad patch, I know that it won’t knock me out of the race. I believe that InterVarsity has definitely been a blessing in my life.”

Students at the UF InterVarsity chapter took the time to plan a night of games for new students and then plastered the campus with posters. At least one person saw the invitation and responded. It took Murray over a year to respond to the Gospel, but he might not have done that if he had not gotten involved in the chapter his first week on campus.