Stories from Campus

“I don’t want partners because they’re not going to do the things I want to do. I realized at the core of that is sin ... It’s lighter when you’re doing things in community versus doing things by yourself.

For years, InterVarsity staff Phil Norquist wanted to re-start a ministry at Moraine Valley Community College. But after getting connected with a local pastor, a student, and a professor, he realized God was assembling a team of people called to the campus together.

I’ve met Jesus in many places throughout my life.

At church camp when I was 10 years old. At youth group worship nights. In the loft of my home church where we did Sunday school and in the worn pews of the chapel.

But I didn’t truly know Jesus—truly understand his character or how to have an intimate relationship with him—until I met him at the University of South Florida (USF).

I never thought that a decade later, I’d be meeting Jesus in a brand new way there again.

You probably haven’t thought about the things I have seen. The connections made. The smiles, the surprises, that look someone gets in their eyes when they feel seen and wanted for maybe the very first time.

Oh, dear students, how key I am to the mission you are on! I am a tether, a lifeline between you and a fresh face, a homesick individual awash in a sea of endless possibilities and ever-present absences. I am hope itself.

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.