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!

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.

“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.”

Sally continued to attend Greek IV sporadically and she began to get to know one of our guy leaders, Sam.  Sam lives a very sacrificial life style, both with his time and money.  He serves the Lord through Greek IV, his church and volunteering with those less fortunate in our town.  Every Sunday, Sam takes the same homeless man to Church and then the two enjoy a bite to eat.  One day, I called Sally, and asked her again about where did God fit into her life.  She told said that it was funny I asked because the day before she had gone to church with Sam.  Sally was surprised when Sam picked her up and then drove down to the tent city to pick up his homeless friend.  She was even more surprised that Sam treated the man like his friend and wasn’t afraid to share his life or wealth with the man.  When she asked him why he was so willing to give to this man, he told her because Jesus had done the same for him . She was honestly surprised, and asked him what Sam had ever done wrong that was really that bad. He began to talk about things that she did all the time.  On the phone, Sally was shocked.  She couldn’t understand why Sam’s faith caused him to act differently.  She started to talk about all the older students whose lives were different and she said she wanted to have that type of faith.

Sally is loved by our community, and that love has begun to share the gospel with her.  It is exciting to see Sally inspired to have a relationship with Jesus. Equally exciting, is seeing a new community reaching out as a community.