Students Transformed at Purdue

_Mark Slaughter is a regional evangelist in the Great Lakes Western region. He was on the campus of Purdue University recently for an evangelistic outreach and had a chance to hear from two students who were transformed through InterVarsity’s Greek ministry_.

“Church is boring.” That is exactly how one Purdue fraternity student described church (and Christians) until he met two Christian guys in his house who were not boring. He had been heavily involved in partying, drinking, vandalism, and lived through three major car accidents.

Through his fraternity brothers who were involved with InterVarsity, he began exploring God. Then at InterVarsity’s Greek Conference, the emptiness inside him was filled by placing his faith in Jesus Christ. However, that didn’t make his life easy or perfect. He shared how one of his parents had an affair and now his family may break up. Instead of reacting with anger, as he would have previously, his first response was to go to a church and pray. There he sensed God’s presence and peace, even in the midst of his life’s storms.

One Purdue sorority woman described her life as the classic “party girl,” both in high school and college. However, last year she began wondering more about God. At that same InterVarsity Greek Conference, she realized how far away from God she was and asked his forgiveness for all of her past sins. She radiantly shared how peaceful she felt. “My life has been completely changed.”

Her first area of obedience was giving up drinking since it had been the center of her life. She said, “That was really hard, but I knew that if God could forgive me of my sins, I could do anything with his help!” She now sometimes faces ridicule from her sorority sisters. “You’re not cool anymore,” they tell her. “The journey is hard sometimes,” she admits, “but it’s worth it because my life is completely changed!”

InterVarsity’s next Greek Conference will be held November 3-4, 2006, in Los Angeles.