The least I can do is try leading for one year and pour back into the students.
Stories from Campus
“The Lord met me face to face and showed me the revival starting in our generation,” said Nina, a student in the Greek InterVarsity chapter at San Diego State University.
For more than 80 years, InterVarsity has been spreading the hope of Jesus on campuses throughout the country, and across the world.
It started on November 14, 1941, when InterVarsity Christian Fellowship was officially recognized as a nonprofit organization in the United States. Since then, God has been using us to reach college students through seasons of war and revival, division and peace, sickness and hope.
Neil, now an alumnus of the University of Texas at Austin, encountered InterVarsity not through an invitation, a roommate, or a table, but from a humble flyer.
As a freshman, Neil already had a stack of flyers clutched in his hand as he navigated his way past the student organizations vying for his attention on the way to class. When he was approached by yet another student offering him a flyer, Neil accepted it, only concerned with making it to his class on time. It remained unread for two weeks.
At The University of Texas at Austin in the early 2000s, a group of South Asian students noticed that their corner of campus was overlooked. No campus ministries or churches sought to evangelize to or create Christian community for the growing population of Indian students on campus. The South Asian community on campus embodied a variety of cultural identities — children of immigrants, Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, and nominal Christians — yet none were being reached by existing ministries.
The more time Avelino spent growing close to his InterVarsity community and reading the Bible, the more he wanted to invite others to have the same experience.
Of all the organizations and clubs vying for Diana’s attention, one poster advertising a Bible study caught her eye.
“I got here, and it was like, dead,” said Juliet, a Moraine Valley student who was disappointed when she started college that it was nothing like what she saw in the movies. “It [was] hard to seek community.”
The more students I spoke to, the more I felt drawn back to the campus that changed me.
To some, I am just a nosy piece of paper on which you hesitantly part with your personal information. But do not be mistaken. I am much more than that. I am a contact card.