The hope is that through this unique atmosphere, some of the typical barriers that hind Greeks from encountering and experiencing God can be removed. This year was slightly different than last year because the speaker not only fielded questions, but also presented the message of Jesus  and asked if there was anyone who would like to receive Christ’s message and follow Him. Before I share the conclusion of this invitation, I have to back up a bit.

Matt  is a member of Phi Delta Theta and has been a leader within the Greek InterVarsity chapter for a little over a year.  Matt has a huge heart and desire to see his brothers in his house to experience God.  As you might  know, starting a House Ministry is not always easy and can even be somewhat risky.  When Matt started extending invitations for a house bible study to his brothers he was met with hesitation and skepticism. Outwardly,  it seemed there was no spiritual interest in his house. However, it is here that Matt’s story takes an unexpected turn.  In preparing for Pub Theology Matt was encouraged to invite some of his brothers to check out the event, with the thought being “who wouldn’t want to hear a great band and ask about some of life’s biggest questions”.  One brother responded to Matt’s invitation and decided to attended the event.

Now, back to the invitation.  After discussing some insightful questions and having some productive discussions, the speaker explained why the types of questions we’ve been talking about are so important.  They are important because the hope is that these questions will point us to the truth – that God does exist and that He came in the flesh in the person of Jesus.  After presenting the Good News that Jesus is offering, the speaker asked any who wanted to follow Jesus to indicate their intent by standing up.  Eight people stood.  Among them, was Matt’s Phi Delt brother.  Wow.

Stories like this are why I work for Greek InterVarsity and why this ministry is so important. One never knows who God is pursuing or who is merely waiting for someone to ask them to “come and see”.  Matt has been extremely encouraged through this experience and through having his brother tell him that he should start a Bible study in his chapter.  No place is outside God’s grace and nothing is irredeemable.  May this story encourage you as much as it did Matt.

I’ll never forget Andy Dalton talking about leaving a legacy at Greek Conference 2009. It was then I knew that our bible study needed to be 100% God-focused and God-dependent, and it needed to continue after I left the house. That was before my senior year of college. The summer in between junior and senior year I prayed that God would draw Christians to our house during fall rush, or even that girls would potentially hear about the bible study and Greek IV while rushing. I was also on our leadership team for Greek IV and I made note of the freshman that came to Greek IV events. After rush, a few of the girls I had seen at Greek IV’s events joined my house.

That fall multiple girls began coming to my bible study as well. God was answering my prayers. A senior even messaged me on Facebook saying that she had been too scared the year before to approach me about the Theta Bible study (TBS as I affectionately called it,) but she was going to begin coming to the study and she was going to bring other seniors. I began relying on God even more for direction in my study and for praying for the Thetas that were coming. By the end of the school year Thetas were always reppin’ at Greek IV on Wednesday nights. Only two other Thetas were able to come to Chapter Focus Week during the beginning of the summer but one of them made the decision to follow Christ, while the other learned how to lead a bible study.

Since I am going back to Illinois for my masters program, I will be able to continue coming to our bible study at the house. I am excited to see God’s legacy and the bible study I felt called to lead my junior year-continue on. I can’t wait for the younger girls to influence other young girls in Theta. Through some Greek IV connections I also was offered to be the assistant to the house mom of Sigma Kappa at U of I. Although this is not my sorority house, the offer came after I was praying that God would lead me to who I was to live with in grad school.

Through Greek IV leaders and friends, I was emailed that the house mom was looking for a Christian grad student to live in and help her since she is moving out. I accepted and I’m excited to see what God will do through me in that sorority house as well. I’m planning on helping the Sigma Kappa Greek IV’ers lead their bible study as well. The more I rely on God and trust Him, the more shocked I am in what He can truly do in the Greek system if we let Him take hold of it. Lives transformed, the Greek system renewed, and world changers developed-God can do it all.

During Happy Hour (our weekly prayer meeting) a few weeks ago, as we were praying towards our Greek IV vision of seeing our Greek system renewed, the thought popped in my head to plan a similar outreach dinner with friends from Greek IV. I presented the idea to the group right when we finished praying and things kind of took off from there.

The goal of the event was to create a comfortable atmosphere for spiritual conversations to take place. We wanted to make it a place where our friends who are seeking Jesus could feel free to ask questions. We also wanted House Ministry Leaders to be excited about evangelism and reaching out to individuals in their houses.

So I sent an email to all the House Ministry Leaders who were at the Happy Hour when we talked about it, encouraging them to set aside their Saturday evening and pray for 1 or 2 people they could personally invite to the dinner who might be searching for Jesus, or would benefit by getting better connected to the Greek IV community. As with anything, about half of the people we invited couldn’t come, but we had 7 non-christians come! We all ate dinner together and then left the night open for whatever people wanted to do. Some people played cards, some people roasted marshmallows around the fire pit and others just hung out and talked. There seemed to be just the right amount of Greek IVers there to keep conversations going and to make sure that all our guests felt welcomed.

I brought my plege kid, *Jose because I know that he really wants to investigate Jesus right now. While we were driving to dinner, I mentioned that it would be a great chance for him to ask people about their faith journeys, so that’s what he did. He was able to hear several people’s testimonies and help start some great conversations around the campfire.

I also brought my other plegde kid, *Andy, along with 2 of his friends from another school. We’ve had some spiritual conversations in the past and he has come to our seeker discussion group at the house. Although we didn’t have any deep conversations that night, he told me afterward that he really enjoyed the evening and the people he met.

We intentionally invited a few people from fraternities and sororities new to Greek IV. They were able to talk with a few Greek IV leaders for a while and I think they really enjoyed getting better connected to the Greek IV community.

One House Ministry Leader, Ric brought a friend from his fraternity who seemed to be really engaged with the conversation around the fire pit about a broad range of spiritual topics. As we were driving home, he said something to Ric about wanting to get more involved in the house Bible study.

It was an awesome night. We were encouraged by what God did that night and know God is doing more than what we see. We are planning to have another dinner event like this before the school year ends. I pray that this is something God will continue to use to inspire us to be reaching out to our brothers and sisters as a witnessing community.

As long as we have been at U of I (10 years), there has not been a ministry at Kappa Alpha Theta! Praise God with how He has connected these women with Greek IV. Katie wrote an explanation of why she wants to start a ministry in her sorority…

“My desire to be a leader derives from the profound change that’s happened in my life because of my faith. I want to share my experience and my knowledge with other people who may also be going through difficult times and don’t know where to turn. Especially given that my house has never had a successful, ongoing Bible Study, I want to create a place of discovery that will continue on after I graduate. I feel that leading girls in my house in discussing the most important life quest would be the most significant way I can give back. I want to be a guiding source of light and encouragement in such a formative time in these young women’s lives.”

We are excited to see how God uses Katie’s step of faith to lead a ministry in her sorority. Please pray for Katie and Kristen as they start a house ministry for the first time in Kappa Alpha Theta. We desire to see a house ministry in every fraternity and sorority house on campus led by a student in that house. It is exciting to think a whole new network of sorority women will be exposed to the truth of the gospel.

We saw that as Caucasian, upper middle class Americans we were oblivious to what was going on around us…just a few neighborhoods away. We learned about God’s heart to make right all that has gone wrong in the world as a result of sin. We were challenged to think about what our role as individuals could be in this redemption process.

Lauren’s service for three days was in the neighborhood of Cabrini Green working with Kid’s Club, an after school program. The kid’s received help with their homework, learned about Jesus through chapel and other fun activities like chorus, praise dancing, bucket drumming and art. Lauren will never be the same as a result of this week, and neither will the three Greek IV women who went with her.

God also moved mightily on the Habitat for Humanity trip Brian led. There are three reasons why we go on a Habitat trip each year: first, to serve those in need and fight against poverty, second, for the students in Greek IV to grow deeper friendships with one another as they serve together, and third, to bring some non-Christians on the trip to see God through experiencing scripture and Christian community. All three goals were accomplished this year.

Of the 13 students on the trip, three were not yet Christians. One student in particular, James, had not come to any Greek IV activities at U of I before going on the Habitat trip. He went on the trip because one of his fraternity brothers was going and invited him to come along. James said that the Habitat experience has motivated him to look for answers to the tough questions that were preventing him from believing in and following Jesus. Since returning to campus, James has joined the Greek IV community and also attended Chapter Focus Week after the semester ended.