greek iv stories » National Invitation Week

Invite Week: An unforgettable day

nkwok — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 15:31:55 +0000

I love October 26th. It will always be the day I remember as the day that I witnessed one of my fraternity brothers come to Christ!

We have interviews in our fraternity where our new members have sit downs with the actives and have a nice little interview session with them. I was having a phenomenal interview with one of the new members named Robby. We ended up talking for a solid hour and a half – way longer than any of the other interviews. After exchanging personal question after personal question, I definitely noticed how selfless and big his heart was. Before the very end of our interview, I ended up asking him about his spiritual background.

Robby told me that he prays every now and then but doesn’t really know what higher being he believes in. I thought that was interesting he’s not really sure who he prays to, but he prays for guidance and even says he receives it every now and then. I then asked what his thoughts were on Christianity and Jesus Christ. He said he didn’t know a lot and wanted to know about him. I then asked him if he wanted hear me talk about it because it was going to be for a while (especially since we’ve already been talking for such a long time) and he said, “yes.”

First thing I did was rip out a page in his notebook and draw him the four circles diagram! After going through it, he said that it makes so much sense and then he started asking me some questions about common misconceptions. I explained how Christianity isn’t all about ‘religion’, ‘laws’ or ‘rules’ but about an intimate relationship with God. I explained how sin isn’t necessarily bad acts towards others but it is merely the absence of good; just how darkness is the absence of light.

He continued to reaffirm how much it makes sense and then I shared with him my very first testimony when I was unsure about accepting Christ and I told him how I experienced the Holy Spirit. After I said that and him saying how much it makes sense, I asked him, “Is this something that you want in your life?” Thinking that he’d say no since that’s how most of my conversations went and he said, “Yes, I want that.”

I FREAKED out. I asked him twice just to make sure I wasn’t dreaming and he still said, “yes.”
I started thinking, “Oh my gosh, training didn’t help me with this part!” After that, I explained to him how to accept Jesus in his life with prayer and told him what kind of prayer to pray and he was very nervous about it so I ended up having him repeat the same prayer that I had prayed at an event earlier.
After the prayer, Robby said, “Man, I feel really, really relieved.”

I bought him a bible and wrote, “October 26th is a day that the angels rejoiced for you in Heaven” and told him to start reading Matthew. He’s coming to the bible study tomorrow!!!!

Invite Week: Invited, now inviting

Krystal Bridges — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 20:42:05 +0000

Sarah is a student that started coming around to our weekly meetings the fall of last year. In the spring of last year, I started meeting with her and one of her other friends that was not walking with Jesus for a GIG. The transformation I have seen in Sarah’s life over the past year has blown me away! At the beginning of this fall semester during rush, Sarah stood up and shared her testimony in front of over 100 women! She then started an investigative bible study in her sorority, Alpha Delta Pi- where between 15 and 20 women have been coming each week! Here is Sarah’s story of the transformation in her life over the past year:

“My freshman year of college was full of new friends, parties, and late night food. And don’t get me wrong, it was a blast. But I knew something was missing, and God knew it too. He began to pursue my heart and Greek IV fell right into my lap. Krystal reached out to me and gave me the encouragement I needed to get plugged in and to get involved. This organization, through God, has literally changed my life and heart around. I have never experienced the kind of community I have with those people.

Greek IV has given me opportunities to lead, to talk about Christ with my sorority sisters, and even to do mission work in Haiti. I have learned what it means to walk with Christ, even amongst the craziness of college life- and I cannot express how much joy it has given me.

And the only thing better than the incredible peace that has entered my own heart, is seeing it enter in others. My sorority sisters have been so eager each week to come to Bible Study-another outlet of Greek Impact. I could think of nothing better for my college experience than exploring God’s truth with my best friends. Greek IV, for me, has been the most tangible evidence of God’s incredible love.”

Invite Week: Accepted

Jimmy Castek — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 03:51:18 +0000

I just wanted to share my story of letting Jesus into my life. A couple months ago I got an email from the bible study leader in my house, about an opportunity to learn about God. It turns out that it was Greek IV. The leader sent me an email, and asked if we could meet up. I thought, “Hey, why not it’s not going to kill me. And it might be pretty cool.” I ended up talking with one of the leaders, Tyler Riffe and I found that I really liked talking about God. We started going more in depth in the following weeks, getting into studying the book of John, and I started to pour my whole heart into the sessions.

Basically, this semester has been the most stressful time of my life to date. Whether, it has been dealing with becoming suspended from the athletic program, dealing with family issues, and relationship stuff, it’s been pretty rough. But on November 10th, my whole life changed. After having one of the worst nights of my life, I met up with Tyler and we dove into chapter 3 of John. It was the first time that The Word, the bible, really spoke to me. I was able to internalize a lot of what was going on around me and the only thing that kept me going was knowing that God has a plan for all of us. If I didn’t have this Bible Study this day my life to this day would be completely different. Anyways, I’m getting on a tangent.

Tyler knew I was at a turning point and finally posed a question to me. He asked me where I was at with Jesus. I drew it out on a piece of paper to visualize it not only for Tyler, but for me as well. I started with the bridge diagram. With people on one side of the cliff, God on the other, and Jesus on the cross connecting us to God. Jesus died so that we could be close to God. So, I told him when I started with him going through these Bible studies I was living only for the moment. I was living for my own satisfaction, and stuff all around me was all crashing down. I didn’t know why. However, each day I met with Tyler I could feel myself that much closer to God.

So, Tyler posed another question to me. Are you going to let Jesus into your life? I sat there and knew that I was at the biggest turning point in my life. Before I even verbally responded, I just felt this rush of emotion and energy in my heart. I let Jesus into my heart, and everything else since that point has not mattered. It was and forever will be the best day of my life. I’m excited to see how much I can grow, and help other people grow through my experience. To anyone who reads this, please know that God has a plan no matter how dark it seems. There are always strong arms around us through Christ.

Invite Week: Investigating the Invitation

Taylor Register — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 20:39:58 +0000

I first met Alex last year when her friends from her sorority would bring her to our Greek IV large group. We realized we had a lot of common interests (rock climbing, running, books, etc.) so by the beginning of this semester we started hanging out on a regular basis. Because we love the same books we got to talking about our all-time favorite books and I mentioned that I love to read the Bible. She looked at me weird and said, “really? I have never even opened up a Bible before.” Alex then began explaining that she did not believe in God and did not think the Bible was relevant. When we got together the next week I brought some novels that I loved for her to borrow, along with a Bible. She then asked me if I would help her begin to read the Bible because she realized that her sisters and people at large group were always “positive.”

Since then we have been meeting weekly for a GIG (Greeks investigating God). Last week I invited her to become a Christian after she told me she was beginning to understand God, starting to pray, and even seeing God answer her prayers. Alex was not sure about completely submitting her life to God because, “most Christians I know do it half-way and I don’t want to do that. If I am going to become a Christian I want to do it 100% and I still don’t know how.” Alex is continuing her journey but I know that she is going to become a Christian, and I even invited her to do it again this week. God is working in her life–pray with me that he would continue to reveal himself to her in ways that she cannot deny!

Sex and Other Embarrassing Conversations

Paula Frances Gay — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 21:31:05 +0000

For National Invitation Week, we wanted to do something bold. Our students have been asked to lead GIGs; but throughout the semester, I’ve noticed that students have been reluctant to ask their friends if they want to know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. When we began to talk about why, many of the students admitted that they didn’t want to ostracize their friends or alienate themselves from their house. The more we talked the more I started to understand a deeper issue that exists among the Christian community here at UGA.

In the south, specifically in a small Georgia town, everybody is Christian. When somebody asks you what religion you are, they are questioning which Christian Church you attend. It’s rare that you will find somebody that doesn’t know who Jesus is; following him is therefore socially acceptable. When people here say they lead a bible study, even their non-believing friends applaud their belief. It’s almost become cool. As we’ve tried to be in the world, to relate to our friends, we have blended in too well. It seems as Christians we have begun to live for our brothers and sister’s praise and adoration, instead of finding our worth in the Lord’s eyes. As National Invitation Week approached us, I tried to think of ways that we could be bold for Christ, but also do something that made us rely on the LORD and not on other’s opinions.

It’s pretty cool to lead bible study for non-believers; however, it’s really not cool to ask somebody how much they are willing to pay for sex, especially if you are the one person in your house currently not sleeping with anybody. We decided as a chapter, in order to step out in faith, we were going to host the Sex Bed proxe station, and use the questions about how much you are willing to pay for sex to lead into an opportunity to raise awareness about child sex slavery and ultimately share the gospel with strangers.

While this has been hard for many students, those who have chosen to join us in this endeavor have had the opportunity to see God reward their faithfulness. One of the students even said that he now saw every opportunity to share his faith with his friends. Another woman got the chance to share the gospel with one of her sisters that she has been looking for an opportunity to share Christ with.

All the students who have taken part so far have experienced both challenging conversations and also personal growth. It’s easy to do cool things for God, but when we are willing to get out of the boat and follow Jesus when it’s hard, we learn to trust in his faithfulness, and not our own strength. This week Greek InterVarsity at UGA has had the opportunity to experience Christ’s strength made perfect in our weakness.

Who Invited You? Ryan from Indiana University

rtaylor — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 16:29:33 +0000

I met Will on freshman move-in day at the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity at Indiana University (IU). We were both about to embark on a new phase of life…college. I didn’t know it at the time, but over the next four years the Lord would work through Will to reveal Himself and the precious news of His gospel to me. He’d also completely transform my life and its trajectory.
At the beginning of my freshman year if you would have asked me, “Are you a Christian?” I would have quickly responded, “Yeah, of course.” After all, I grew up attending church, believed in God, Jesus, and on top of that, I was a pretty stand-up guy when I compared myself to almost all of my peers. Looking back now though, it’s clear my earliest sentiments toward God and his Church were merely ones of duty and reluctance. My family attended church because my mother insisted it was the “right thing to do”.
Once I reached high school, where church attendance was optional, I opted not to attend. As my thoughts towards God continued to evolve they took the form of mere acknowledgment (i.e., I acknowledged that He existed) and superficial respect (i.e., I accepted that He was God and I was not). Although my thoughts of God weren’t marked with a particular aversion to Him, they lacked anything beyond a surface level interest. My view of God and my relationship to Him remained largely unchanged until my senior year of college.
During the time between freshman move-in and the beginning of my senior year at IU, Will had become one of my closest friends. We took the same classes, played intramurals together, launched potatoes at the fraternity across the street together (not an endorsement), and served on the fraternity leadership board together. In the midst of walking through college together, I’d come to cherish Will’s steadfast yet humble commitment as a friend. I knew that there was something very different about Will. Although we shared a similar academic load, extracurricular involvement, and intended career path, his life and his pursuits were very different than mine.
The uniqueness of Will’s pursuits became abundantly clear to me when he returned to IU after spending junior year studying abroad. When he left for London he was the Treasurer of our Fraternity, the VP of the honor society, on the Greek InterVarsity (GIV) leadership team, co-captain of the club soccer team, and held a hand full of other prominent positions on campus. When Will returned to IU to start senior year he didn’t reclaim all those positions of prominence; he chose to pass on them. Instead, he chose to devote himself to two things: academics and sharing the gospel with our fraternity through a weekly Bible study. Will invited me to join for the first study, and even though my schedule was filled with commitments, I accepted.
Now, I’d attended a few Bible studies in the past so it wasn’t monumental that I accepted that first invitation. What was monumental, however, was that I kept coming back…every week! This was the first time that anyone had ever taken the time to walk through the Bible with me. Soon, the weekly study wasn’t enough; I needed to be diving deeper into the Bible. So Will invited me to start meeting with him two mornings a week before class to study the book of Mark.
About the same time I started attending the Mark study, I was invited to join GIV for their fall “Greek Getaway.” We spent one of the first weekends of the fall semester at a lake house in Northern Indiana just, well, getting away. That weekend I was surprised by the warmth and hospitality extended to me, basically a stranger, by the GIV community. After that weekend, I became a regular attendee at GIV’s weekly large group gatherings and I found myself spending more and more time with that community. To my surprise, these Greek students who identified themselves with Jesus, before anything else, started to become my primary community. I started to develop relationships within GIV of a depth that I rarely experienced anywhere else.
The year-long period of Scripture study, Mark-centered discipleship with my dear friend Will, and life shared with the GIV community brought me to a distinct point on February 10, 2004 where I made a resolute decision to place my trust for salvation and life on the accomplished work of Jesus Christ, alone. The gospel had melted me. As I’d been informed, but would only later come to experience, my faith journey and dive into the depths of the gospel was just beginning.
Since that point of consciously responding to God’s effectual call my senior year at IU, my life has followed a path that I never expected. After graduation I accepted a finance position with a firm in New York City. Once in New York, I found myself surrounded by a fellowship of godly people at my church and at home, Will being one of them. As I came off the initial spiritual high of my conversion experience, I began to wrestle with the realities of living my faith daily in my new environment. However, as I continued attending and building relationships in my church, I began to experience community in a local church for the first time in my life. God began to plant in me the seed of a future in vocational ministry as opposed to the one in business for which I had spent my undergraduate years preparing
Currently God is preparing me to serve as a pastor. As I come to more deeply understand and experience God’s love for me through Jesus, this same Jesus I was introduced to at the Phi Gamma Delta Bible study, I’m further compelled to leverage every ounce of my life for His purposes and the praise of His glory.
It didn’t make much sense to me at the time why Will would give up all those prominent positions on campus just to lead a Bible study. God’s intent in it is astoundingly clear to me now. I’m overwhelmed with thanksgiving that Will answered God’s call to give up the temporal to devote himself to the eternal. My life has been forever changed as a result. Will, thanks for inviting me.

Who Invited You? Joey from Indiana University

Joey Elliott — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 20:10:37 +0000

For a pledge who was able to start a Bible study in a fraternity of 100 guys, it was certainly no problem to ask his roommate and pledge brother, me, whether I’d like to bring the Bible gathering dust in my room and come hang out with some guys on a Tuesday evening. So that’s what Bob Ravensberg did with me in 2001, and despite my initial hesitation and reluctance, I now look back with wonder at the earliest experience of my journey into a saving relationship with Jesus Christ. Being confirmed in the Episcopal Church and having given a Youth Sermon as an 18 year old kid at my church seemed to qualify me to be the hot shot of the Bible study. Surely I would know the most and have the most profound things to say. It wasn’t until I actually went that I realized I had a personal dilemma.
With the gentle encouragement and honesty from my pledge brother Bob, I encountered the reality of the holiness of God, the sinfulness of myself, and the perfect grace of Jesus Christ. So I was mostly quiet as a sophomore attending Bible study. But God was working, and Bob knew that and was by my side the whole time.

Junior year I had the unique opportunity to run for president of my fraternity, and with the coaxing and convincing of my pledge brothers and others in the house, I decided to go for it. I put my whole heart into the election. I had built it up so much in my mind and heart that only God knows the brokenness I felt when I realized I had lost by a single vote. Perhaps knowing what God was doing, Bob offered words of encouragement and support as I dealt with the disappointment of failure. He didn’t wait very long to invite me to the 2002 Greek Conference in Indianapolis, which was a couple months later, and which I would have had no opportunity or interest in going to had I been president. It was at this conference that Christ completed the work in my heart that he had been preparing me for the last several months. I was invited into a relationship with God and into a community of believers that was as authentic and lasting as the first invitation I received from a bold pledge brother about hanging out and studying the Bible.

Who Invited You? Central Michigan University

Aaron Wippold — Fri, 06 Oct 2006 19:56:19 +0000

I had been praying for Michelle* even before I began the Bible study in my sorority.
On the first night of the Bible study I went upstairs to see who was around and to ask if anyone wanted to come down for the study. Michelle was making dinner, and I honestly avoided her at first. She was one of the biggest partiers in my sorority, so I figured she would shoot me down faster than I could invite her. I realized that I was being a coward and that if anything I needed to at least try! When I asked her if she would like to come down for the Bible study she said she was making dinner so probably not. I said she could bring it down with her and eat with us. She said alright but she probably would not stay the whole time, but she ended up staying after too! Throughout the semester she was the only girl who came regularly to Bible study. She and I had several conversations about God. Then one day she texted me asking what it meant to be saved. We met at the prayer room near campus later that night and talked more about why she thought she wanted to get saved and what she thought it meant. Then I had her pray out loud with some basic help from me. I told her the general stuff like, to acknowledge that she is a sinner and needed Christ to come into her life to save her, and to ask for forgiveness of her sins. By the end we were both crying! Then I prayed over her asking God to keep His hand on her and guide her as she was striving to live for Him. It was an experience I will never forget!

* Name changed for privacy.