Being a sophomore, I had become quite adept at avoiding street vendors, whether with my cell phone or a brusque “I’ve got class.”  I was almost past the table about to put my hand up to tell the voice that I was late, but I couldn’t.  Something that day made me freeze, turn around and look up to see a man wearing frat glasses and Sperry’s.

I grew up in a Christian household.  We went to church most weekends and my parents waited for me to get baptized until I fully understood the commitment.  As I got older, we went to church less when the usual sports or work got in the way.  I left high school a believer, but a convenient one who turned his Christianity on and off.

I came to Northwestern not thinking about fraternities.  I had no idea what they were all about so for the first few months I pretty much ignored their rush posters.  January was the first week fraternities could give out bids.  That first night, I meandered up to the fraternity quad for one reason, the free food.

The first and only house I visited was Delta Chi.  I did enjoy a delicious meal but beyond my growing pile of wings, I found something else.  A bond between brothers that I couldn’t explain.  They weren’t just friends, something else held them together.  I left that night with a new view on fraternities, or at least Delta Chi.

The next night I was given a bid.  I accepted the greatest gift college has given me so far.  What I didn’t know at the time was it would also be one of the greatest challenges I would have to face.

After initiating 13 new members in my pledge class, our fraternity faced deactivations and leaving seniors.  We came into this year with only 28 active members.  With the realization that we would not be able to stay viable unless we found a great rush class, my fraternity faced a culture change.  It started with a realization that we were not very good at rush but it quickly morphed into a realization that our chapter was facing deeper problems.  Brothers were content with where they were as a chapter.  Simply put we got lazy.  Not just in rush, but in brotherhood and the betterment of our community.

It took a few months but our chapter did change, and with it came 27 new members, doubling the size of our fraternity.

This brings me back to the day I met Ryan Mercer in the fall.  I wasn’t actively pursuing a Christian group on campus but to this day, I believe Jesus told me to stop turn around and tell Ryan yes, that indeed I actually was looking for a Christian group.  That group turned out to be Greek InterVarsity.

Religion was sort of a taboo subject in my chapter.  It wasn’t persecuted but it was just something that was not talked about.  I bought into this culture my freshman year.  I would quietly pray but I doubt any of my brothers actually knew I was a Christian. I think God stopped me that day because he wanted me to stop making my faith convenient and quiet.  I was put in a transitioning fraternity so I could make a difference.  Greek InterVarsity has helped me get over my fear of talking about my faith.  Through it, I’ve found other quiet brothers who want to talk about Jesus.

This has culminated into Sunday nights at 6 p.m. when Northwestern’s Delta Chi holds it’s Bible study.  Ten brothers meet together and have real discussions about faith.  I joined a changing fraternity and I think God wanted me to join Greek InterVarsity to change it even more.

Greek at New Hampshire – Johnny and Ross from InterVarsity-twentyonehundred on Vimeo.

During my first semester of college, I came to believe in that message, and it changed my life. The next semester, I decided to pledge Sigma Chi. Throughout the next year, I got to know my fraternity brothers and much of the rest of the Greek system. They were great people, having a general knowledge about God, but many did not know they were missing out on a real relationship with God. In so many ways, they were exactly like I used to be. In light of this, God broke my heart for my brothers.

My sophomore year, my InterVarsity staff told me about Greek InterVarsity and Greek Conference. For months I tried to get my brothers and other Greeks on campus to come with me to check out Greek Conference. When February rolled around, I was still the only one registered from Louisville, so I packed my bags and headed to Indianapolis alone. While there, I had a phenomenal weekend of meeting other Greek Christians and hearing tons of encouraging stories.

I headed back to Louisville excited about improving Greek ministry. However, it was hard to get moving on all these great ideas when I seemed to be the only one who cared about them. I prayed for God to raise up Christian leaders to help out with the ministry. The next year, Fall 2010, God answered my prayers. A girl in Kappa Delta, Robin, approached me about the Greek Bible study she heard I was involved in. Fresh off a year of spiritual growth capped off by a trip mission trip to Africa, Robin was eager to share her newfound faith with her sisters and the rest of the Greek system.

Although we had no Greek IV chapter at U of L, Robin was excited about the possibilities of ministry in her sorority and the rest of the Greek community. We talked about how we could reach all Greeks with the gospel message, while still being faithful within our own houses. We knew getting students to Greek Conference would be key in launching Greek-wide ministry on campus. Later that year, when Greek Conference rolled around, I didn’t go alone this time. Eight other Greeks from Louisville attended, largely because of Robin’s recruiting efforts. In addition, my sister, who attends Western Kentucky University, recruited ten students to attend from her school, where no students had ever attended GC! God had taken two campuses with virtually no ministry and sparked movements on both of them!

Today, God continues to move in amazing ways in Louisville’s Greek community. Last year’s semi-fruitful all Greek Bible study has turned into two amazing house Bible studies in KD and Sigma Chi, where students can open up and discuss big questions with their fraternity brothers and sorority sisters. Non-Christians have been hungry to pursue a true relationship with God, while leaders in other organizations have stepped up and are eager to start Bible studies in their houses! We continue to pray for our Greek system and can’t wait to see God move even more at U of L!

The first weeks were comprised of just students who had been attending Greek IV and there was time for relationships to build on something deeper than a just a Tuesday night Large Group meeting. As the weeks went on, new faces began to show up as we each wanted to invite our friends who may or may not be willing to make the step of coming to a meeting during the year. The fact of the matter was that when you experience a community like the one we have been building, you want others to come experience it too, and that’s what happened this summer.

Friends who had never come to a Large Group meeting or to their house bible study came and enjoyed the company of a group of friends dedicated to the pursuit of God. Whether we all realized it then or not, many of the values of community that a few of us had been reading in the book had never found a better place for application. I learned more and more as the summer went on about how to create space for God to work through hospitality. Offering for someone to come into your home, enjoy a meal that they did not have to worry about paying for, and spend time with people who cared to meet and get to know them was such an impactful experience that generally if you came once, you’d want to keep coming. It caused people to want to know why this group was getting together, which opened the door for an explanation about our ministry and what we are about. These summer hang outs were whetting the appetites of our friends to come be a part of us, to share in our vision, and to get involved with this ministry.

The most beautiful part is that this was not because of anything we did or planned, but because a community of believers pursuing Christ together is something so foreign, contagious, and desirable that it drew people in through Him. He moved in hearts and relationships, built up community, and prepared for Himself hands that He wants to use. All this has led to momentum going into the busy school year instead of coming off of a summer lull, which has all of us that were involved very excited.

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.

As a freshman at Willamette University I was excited to get involved in as many different places as I could. I hadn’t really done that in high school and in college I wanted to make up for lost time. I joined InterVarsity right away and got involved in Bible studies and leading worship. I had filled my time with all kinds of activities and wasn’t really looking for more. Greek life wasn’t even on my radar, because we have delayed recruitment. I honestly didn’t know much about the Greek system. I don’t even remember having conversations with friends about it. I knew about the Greek houses. I had been to the fraternities with friends, but I still didn’t know what it was about.

Right before Recruitment, I was at an InterVarsity gathering and this guy, Cooper, a sophomore in Sigma Chi, asked me if I was going to rush. I was honest and told him I hadn’t really considered it. And he said to me words that changed my life, “The Greek system really needs Christians and I think you’d do a great job.” I was flattered that Cooper thought I’d make a great Greek. I was also flattered that he would entrust the Greek system to me as a Christian and that he saw it as a place that Christians should go. Just as Jesus sent his disciples into surrounding communities, Cooper believed that Christians should go Greek! To make a long story short, I took Cooper’s advice and I joined Delta Gamma.

My favorite part of Greek life was living with a diverse group of women whom I would otherwise never meet. They are my sisters all over the world and I miss them. My life is forever changed, not just because I’m a Delta Gamma, but also because I am now on staff with Greek InterVarsity. In the last year, I’ve had the opportunity to see God start Greek ministries on two campuses in Oregon. God is at work in the Greek system out here and I’m excited to be a part of it. I can’t imagine what my life would be like without being Greek!

All year long we’ve been praying for underclassmen to step up and lead in Greek Ministry at DePauw. We are graduating a senior class that simply ‘gets’ Greek Ministry. Many of them participate in the Interfraternal Bible study, which seeks to reach any Greek men on campus who are looking to connect with God in a deeper way. One of the seniors just updated me on what has been happening the past weeks. Here is his story:

“In the past two or three weeks, we have had about 4 or 5 totally new guys (underclassman) showing up and they are really excited about the Bible Study. They have been saying that it is exactly what they had been looking for. And, this week we had 16 guys attend (which is the most we have ever had) But the best part about it is that for the first time all year, there have been more underclassmen than seniors attending for the past two weeks. This sudden rise in interest from the underclassmen really has made me excited about what the Bible Study and Greek IV will be able to accomplish next year.”

After attending Greek Conference in Indianapolis back in February, I made a vow to share the word of God with people in my house. That started with having individual conversations with people about God. It didn’t always feel natural, but I have had a handful of great conversations with people about their religious backgrounds and beliefs. Then, I decided to make an announcement during my chapter meeting about wanting to have a time where brothers in the house could come together and talk about religion or any other topic they had on their mind.

I picked Wednesday night during our dinner time to have the discussion. Amazingly, 16 guys showed up. We started by all sharing our religious backgrounds and upbringings. Then, we moved to current beliefs or questions that we have. The discussion flowed form there and we had an hour discussion about religion. A lot of people posed difficult questions, questions I didn’t have answers to. Even though I didn’t have the answers, we had a really great dialogue between all of us.

I know this discussion doesn’t resemble the typical house bible study, but I feel like I need to take baby steps and my house needs to take baby steps before I feel comfortable incorporating scripture. I will keep praying for God to work through me in my house and I appreciate any prayers from people reading this. If you are reading this and are in a similar situation as I was, I would love to talk to you. I still have a lot of work to do, but I feel great about where my house is right now and I think this Spring will be a great opportunity for me to continue sharing the word of God.

Finally, over the summer of 2009, God worked on me and my heart in so many different ways. After meeting with our Greek IV staff, Kristina, at the end of the Spring 2009 semester, I joined Greek IV leadership and began to embark on the journey that God had called me to two years earlier. I spent the summer praying for courage and boldness and seeking wise counsel from my family. When fall came around the butterflies in my stomach began to multiply, but so did God’s faithfulness. I have seen God work in so many tangible ways during my college experience, but this fall He has shown himself to me in powerful ways.

Every semester, I ask the Lord to show me a verse that I can call my “semester verse” that I will apply to that semester. As I started praying about that, the scripture that came to mind was Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” I started to think that it was such a prevalent verse and didn’t have the depth that I wanted, but the more I thought about it the more I realized that that scripture was about as deep as it gets- I can do ALL things. After that, God confirmed this verse to me in two ways- through my boyfriend Josh who suggested that I meditate on that verse, and through Kristina who brought it up at our first Greek IV leader meeting… He is so good! He showed me the depth and meaning of this verse and its application to my life this semester.

Every time I let those thoughts of fear and disbelief about my starting my study in Pi Phi, I was reminded of that verse. I finally took the plunge at our first meeting of the semester. I asked just about everyone that I could for prayer that day- I needed it, I was so nervous! I stood up at our meeting, and announced to the sorority chapter that I would be starting a faith group- a safe, non-judgmental place to come, ask questions, create meaningful relationships and explore who God is in our everyday lives as Greeks.

My biggest fear was that after I passed around a sign up sheet that I would receive it back blank. Ten names were on it when I got it back!! All I could think was, “God, you are so faithful.” That next night, five young women came to my study and we had an amazing time of sharing together about their hopes for the study and how we could invite other chapter members to join. I know that God is going to use this in the Pi Phi house and the lives of its members, and I am continually praying for His guidance to be ever-present in my life as I lead these young women.

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!