My story began in fall of 2006 when I came to the University of Oregon. I knew I wanted to be in a sorority, because I was a “homebody” and needed a support system away from my family. I went through recruitment and joined Pi Beta Phi sorority, which I still stand by as one of the best decisions of my life. Filled with both friendships and hardships, ups and downs, challenges and one of-a- kind experiences, Pi Phi gave me the home away from home that I was looking for. Then during my junior year, I joined Intervarsity and saw a whole new type of community that I could be a part of. I made a lot of great friends and challenged the way that I saw Jesus and how He taught and loved those around Him.

One day my IV staff worker Joel introduced me to Bethanee, a Greek IV staff worker from Willamette. During our first conversation, Bethanee brought up the possibility of starting a bible study in my house. My first reaction was skepticism, because spiritual conversations are a taboo in Greek life during recruitment, which ends up carrying on through the rest of the year. However, God showed his power through the people He brought together in community as Christians and Greeks. I’ve also had opportunities such as Greek Conference in SoCal, where I was inspired by other Greek IV stories, and girls prayer group with our InterVarsity chapter, where I received courage and acceptance through the whole process of establishing the bible study. God has shown me amazing support from both Christians and non-Christians, both Greeks and non-Greeks.

God hardly ever shows us the path ahead of time that he is going to place us on, but it is amazing to look back and see where he’s taken me during my four years at the U of O. Placing me in Pi Phi allowed me to build a foundation with the women of the chapter and solidify my leadership within the house. Then He gave me the opportunity to lead them in a whole new way and build on my Greek foundation with His love. He gave me the courage and the means to start a Greek ministry on campus and shine His light brightly in traditionally dark places. I am so grateful for the opportunities and experiences I’ve had, because they’ve not only changed our campus and Greek system, they’ve shaped me into who I am as well. As I look into the future of Greek InterVarsity at Oregon, I am extremely optimistic. I see it growing into a powerful organization on campus and impacting every chapter, both fraternities and sororities, to empower Greek men and women on our campus to change the world.

During the Saturday evening session, the Penn students started a little mosh pit of sorts in front of the stage. They experienced such joy in dancing to the worship music! I had to smile to myself, just thinking of their typical Saturday night experience with friends at Penn, compared with this one. As the energetic worship died down, the speaker led us into an understanding of the gospel. He challenged us to allow Jesus to take those things which prohibit us from fully embracing Him. The Holy Spirit enabled many of the Penn students to do just that. During the time of prayer that followed the talk, these students huddled together in a circle and earnestly prayed for one another. The sense of Christ-centered community was overwhelming. As the band concluded this prayer time with a worship song and dismissed us for the Saturday night party or “hall crawl,” the Penn students raised their voices in protest! “No! We want more worship! Play more worship songs!” And so, the band did.

This sense of wanting to continue in worship of God did not end that Saturday evening. As the students converged back on Penn’s campus in West Philadelphia, they felt called to lead their friends into such love and worship of God. Over the past few weeks, they have started 5 new Bible studies in Penn’s Greek system! Praise God for the work He has begun and will continue and complete at the University of Pennsylvania.