The weekend started off with a retreat of silence. We gave students a Bible, a psalm to read and 2 hours to be alone with God. Because of the fast-paced nature of Greek life, this was a first-time opportunity for most them. After that we split everyone into teams for competitions. Through competitions like relay races, popping balloons and racing to pull tissues out of a kleenex box, the students built connections with people from other houses on campus. Each team had time to study the Bible together and discuss the challenges of living out faith in a fraternity/sorority. They were so glad to talk with other Greeks struggling with the same issues. By the end of the weekend, 17 committed to meeting one-on-one with God daily and a third of them recommitted to their faith in Jesus. Check out the highlight video here.

One of Allie’s (name changed) sorority sisters dragged her along to Greek Getaway this year and even paid the registration fee for her. Though hesitant to sign up, Allie had a great experience and is excited to renew her Christian faith. She is now regularly attending Greek IV events and wants to lead the Bible study in her sorority. Greek Getaway was a defining moment in her faith journey!

That was over four years ago and looking back the risk I took by joining my Fraternity was the single best decision I have ever made in my life. Quickly after joining I was invited to numerous Greek Intervarsity events by amazing leaders in my Chapter; through large groups, bible studies, and social events I soon felt like I did fit in here and that I could maintain my values and beliefs while being Greek. My four years in Purdue’s GIV Chapter were incredible for both my spiritual and personal growth. I was transformed from a lukewarm churchgoer to a bible study and ministry leader to those around me.

As I graduated last spring I couldn’t help but reflect on what an immeasurable role my Fraternity played in shaping the person I had become. Graduating, however, opened up an entirely new set of challenges and opportunities. One of my biggest challenges was how I was going to continue to grow in my relationship with Christ now that I didn’t have my GIV community. After a ton of thoughts I made the decision to spend part of my summer in Kenya on a Global Project. Similarly to pledging, this was a huge risk but would hopefully pay off with huge rewards.

In late June I packed up and headed to Chicago to meet the rest of the team, a group organized by Northern Illinois’s IV Chapter. Over the next five weeks I would encounter too many life changing experiences to count. We spent our time in a variety of mission related activities. A majority of those activities revolved around a group called Homeless Children International (HCI). HCI is a ministry to serve children in need; whether orphaned/abandoned by their parents or taken off the streets, HCI was able to provide children in need with shelter, education, and a place to call home. I quickly grew attached to these amazing children. I loved every minute I spent with them: whether teaching them some new math, pushing them on the swings, or just being there to show these children the love they so desperately deserved. I felt like I was truly making a difference in these kids lives.

I was so blessed to be able to share my love and God’s love with these children. This trip once again stretched me out of my comfort zone and once again allowed me to grow even closer to God. My experience in Kenya was life-changing in so many ways. I thought that I would find myself broken by the extreme poverty of the country and to an extent I did, but more importantly was the joy I found in an amazing group of people. Despite the fact that they didn’t have an Xbox 360, nice clothing, or even a person to call mom or dad these children were far happier than anyone I have ever encountered. They took great joy in the simplest of things: a $.10 piece of fruit at the market, someone to push them on the swings, or most importantly the chance to praise and worship the Lord for their many gifts. Their faith and desire to live a Christ-worthy life was remarkable and in many ways it was the people of Kenya that were making an impact on my life and not vice versa.
No longer sheltered by my safe and comfortable American university life, I was able to find God in new and powerful ways.

Our God is an amazing being; He is big enough to influence the entire universe and people of all walks of life yet small enough to personally impact each and every one of us. I look back on my nervous and scared self four years ago and am amazed at how God has been able to not only work in my life, but to influence those around me. Through Fraternity life (Yes, Fraternity life) and with God at my back, I truly have been able to further my personal relationship with Christ, bring God into my Chapter house, help renew my campus, and bring about some positive change in the world!

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.

To make a long story short (at least for now), Jimmy came to Greek IV that very night and joyfully shared his new commitment of faith in Christ with other Greeks… and we celebrated with him.

It is much more fun hearing him tell it … read his side of the story:  http://greekintervarsity.org/2009/11/invite-week-accepted/

And if you want to read about Jimmy and I got started on this journey read an earlier story:  http://greekintervarsity.org/2009/10/a-seeking-sigma-chi/

“I had tried to get a Bible Study started in my house with little success for the past 2 semesters. This Summer I prayed that someone could help me… or some group. When the school year started, Tyler contacted me out of the blue to tell me about Greek IV”
-Chris, a new student House Ministry Leader (HML) in Delta Upsilon

Chris is now getting plugged into Christian community with us. It has been fun to see his eagerness to get involved and make an impact on the Greek System at Purdue.

This is how we got connected to Chris:

Our EXEC members did a series of “table talks” (going to a fraternity dinner and make an announcement about Greek IV) to a few fraternities, one of them being DU. At this table talk, they asked the brothers if they new of anyone that would be interested in “this sort of thing”. They immediately gave us the name of one of their brothers, Chris. I sent an email to Chris asking to get together to talk about what could happen in Chris’ house if he got plugged into Greek IV and if he started a ministry in his house. When we met for coffee I could tell that I was saying was ringing true. Come to find out, Chris had tried to lead a Bible study for the past few semesters without much luck… and he had been praying for help.

God answered Chris’ prayer with Greek IV. Little did Chris know that he was being prayed for all last year as DU has been on our hearts as well. God answered our prayers with Chris. He has started to meet weekly with me and other Greek Christian leaders… and since then, Chris has held a Bible study each week. STILL not one of his brothers has showed up. But Chris now has the support of an entire Greek Christian Community supporting him… and he is not in the least bit discouraged (amazingly!). It is only a matter of time before God breaks through in DU.

I look forward to writing my next story about Chris and DU and hopefully telling you all about how God has started to use Chris.

Please be praying for Chris and DU.

Delta Upsilon

Our EXEC members did a series of “table talks” (going to a fraternity dinner and make an announcement about Greek IV) to a few fraternities, one of them being DU. At this table talk, they asked the brothers if they new of anyone that would be interested in “this sort of thing”. They immediately gave us the name of one of their brothers, Chris. I sent an email to Chris asking to get together to talk about what could happen in Chris’ house if he got plugged into Greek IV and if he started a ministry in his house. I could tell what I was saying was ringing true… Chris had tried to lead a Bible study the last semester without much luck… and he had been praying for help. God had brought Chris and Greek IV together. Chris has started to meet weekly with me and other Greek Christian leaders… and since then, Chris has held a Bible study each week. Still, not one of his brothers has shown up. Chris now has the support of an entire Greek Christian Community supporting him; and he is far from discouraged about the situation. He sees it as only a matter of time before God breaks through in DU.

Lambda Chi Alpha

Our EXEC members brainstormed who they knew in houses that didn’t have Bible studies going on. I contacted the student names that they gave me. One of them was a Lambda Chi named Jack. Currently Jack meets with me and other leaders from houses across campus weekly to study the Bible and share and pray for their houses. Jack has asked a few of his fraternity brothers to help him lead the study. There are now three Lambda Chi’s that are working together to get this Bible study off the ground so that their fraternity brothers can have a place to come to know Jesus.

Sigma Chi

For the past three years I have tried to start at ministry at Sigma Chi, but all my efforts seemed to be failing. This year a Sigma Chi that I had been meeting with the past two years sent a few of his brothers to “check-out” our large group. They came. One of those who checked out Greek IV was Dave. Dave is a sophomore who also “happened” to also be their house chaplain. He likes what he has seen so far in what God is doing in Greek IV, and he is going to begin meeting with me weekly for the next few weeks to connect with other leaders and to catch a weekly vision for reaching his brothers in his house. He hopes to get the Bible study started soon, and looks to be connecting with our community. God has been at work in Sigma Chi over the past 3 years… and Dave might be the one that God has been raising up to finally kick the Sigma Chi ministry into gear.

Alpha Phi

I talk about fraternities a lot compared to sororities because, well, fraternities are more my thing. However, I can’t help but mention what God is doing in Alpha Phi. To start the semester, there was no Bible study or ministry of any kind going on in Alpha Phi. I received an email from another staff at a different school telling me there was a recent alumni of theirs that was coming to do grad work at Purdue, and wanted to help out. She happened to be an Alpha Phi. Sarah (the other Purdue Greek Staff) and I, encouraged Jessa to “stick with Alpha Phi” – build relationships with those girls, and maybe get something started there. Last week, Jessa ate dinner at the Alpha Phi house and the next day she brought three girls to Greek IV – two who now want to get a Bible study going in that house. We are pumped and Jessa is excited to continue building relationships with girls in that house and help launch this Alpha Phi ministry.

Read what happens with Jimmy from his perspective… http://greekintervarsity.org/2009/11/invite-week-accepted/

And  from my perspective… http://greekintervarsity.org/2009/11/a-recieved-invitation/

That day I shared this Good News with John…

God created the world and everything in it… and all this brokenness and pain that we see and experience in our world, well it wasn’t meant to be this way. He loved us and created everything to be good and created us to be in intimate relationship with God. But he also gave us the ability to choose, and we chose to turn our backs on Him and make our selves the center of our lives, this is what the Bible calls sin. This sin is the cause of that pain and brokenness. Because God is perfect and Holy and Just… our relationship with God is broken… as is our relationship with the world and the people in it. BUT thankfully, God loved us enough to not let it stay this way. He loved us so much that He sent His own Son, to experience our pain… and died on the cross to save us from our sins… and restore our relationship with God. This bridged the gap that divided us and God and it is by putting our faith in Jesus Christ that we can have eternal peace with God as a result. And even now, our lives can be changed by allowing Jesus to be the center of our lives… where He belongs. God has extended this gift to us… all of us… no matter what we’ve done or where we’ve been… and all we have to do is receive it.

John 3:16-18, Romans 6:23, Romans 3:23-24

Fraternities are random. Each night that I crash in one comes with its own blessings and challenges. Each night is different. Who I meet, the conversations I have, the challenges and questions I face, and the excitement that follows. Sometimes I hang out with just my House Ministry Leader (HML), and others I hang out with him and his non-Christian brothers and friends. And of course, each night I am bound to get only a few hours of sleep.

I have a whole load of stories that I could share from each of these nights… but for now, I will share just one. I was crashing Delta Tau Delta one particular night and the Delt HML and I hung out for a while, getting to go beyond the typical “coffee shop” conversations. Soon however, his room was invaded by 4 of his fraternity brothers, all coming in from campus, and each excited to put their academic worries behind them and play a few hours of the video game “Super Smash Brothers”. As they took turns playing and shouting at each other and laughing, I soaked it in. This time was priceless. I got to support my student leader who is doing ministry in a challenging place… from HIS turf. I noticed that his brothers know him, love him, and trust him… and each “Super Smash Brothers” hour is another hour of friendship built with him. Not only that, but his brothers got to know me apart from my “Greek IV Staff role”. For me personally, I got to see and experience our ministry from the front lines and be refreshed in the challenges and the beauty of what God is doing in houses. This time was priceless… for everyone in the room.

Nobody shared the Gospel that night. Nobody came to faith in Jesus for the first time that night. But it is times like those that are what God uses to build relationships of trust, respect, and love. And when the Good News of Jesus Christ is finally shared and discussed… faith barriers are down so that maybe, just maybe, they might finally “hear” it for the first time.

I remember first hearing this guy’s name in a prayer request; the House Ministry Leader (HML) asked me to pray for his fraternity brother. Payton and this guy were great friends, but Payton’s buddy didn’t know his need for Jesus and was living the “typical” fraternity life.

Soon, he started coming regularly to Payton’s Bible Study in the house. Payton started meeting regularly with him outside of that study to further discuss the claims of Christ. I remember throughout this time, Payton had a mixture of frustration and joy as his friend wrestled with God.  He continued to show more and more interest. Greek Conference 2009 comes around, and by this time, Payton’s fraternity brother is ready to hear what God has for him.

3 months later, after going deeper in his newly found faith in a Purdue Greek IV Inter-Fraternity Bible study… Payton’s fraternity brother is a completely new person.  He attended Small Group Leader’s Training at the year end Chapter Focus Week, and is excited to help the new HML in that house and continue a tradition of reaching and transforming his brothers with the gospel of Christ.