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.

The hope is that through this unique atmosphere, some of the typical barriers that hind Greeks from encountering and experiencing God can be removed. This year was slightly different than last year because the speaker not only fielded questions, but also presented the message of Jesus  and asked if there was anyone who would like to receive Christ’s message and follow Him. Before I share the conclusion of this invitation, I have to back up a bit.

Matt  is a member of Phi Delta Theta and has been a leader within the Greek InterVarsity chapter for a little over a year.  Matt has a huge heart and desire to see his brothers in his house to experience God.  As you might  know, starting a House Ministry is not always easy and can even be somewhat risky.  When Matt started extending invitations for a house bible study to his brothers he was met with hesitation and skepticism. Outwardly,  it seemed there was no spiritual interest in his house. However, it is here that Matt’s story takes an unexpected turn.  In preparing for Pub Theology Matt was encouraged to invite some of his brothers to check out the event, with the thought being “who wouldn’t want to hear a great band and ask about some of life’s biggest questions”.  One brother responded to Matt’s invitation and decided to attended the event.

Now, back to the invitation.  After discussing some insightful questions and having some productive discussions, the speaker explained why the types of questions we’ve been talking about are so important.  They are important because the hope is that these questions will point us to the truth – that God does exist and that He came in the flesh in the person of Jesus.  After presenting the Good News that Jesus is offering, the speaker asked any who wanted to follow Jesus to indicate their intent by standing up.  Eight people stood.  Among them, was Matt’s Phi Delt brother.  Wow.

Stories like this are why I work for Greek InterVarsity and why this ministry is so important. One never knows who God is pursuing or who is merely waiting for someone to ask them to “come and see”.  Matt has been extremely encouraged through this experience and through having his brother tell him that he should start a Bible study in his chapter.  No place is outside God’s grace and nothing is irredeemable.  May this story encourage you as much as it did Matt.

The DePauw Missions Challenge was a five-month, twenty person endeavor to pray that God would raise up missionaries, strengthen our persecuted brothers and sisters, save the unreached around the world, give us as individuals a passion for missions, and bring the international students to Christ through revival. Though we largely prayed individually and not all remembered to pray consistently, I do believe that God opened doors and answered prayers. Below is a summary I wrote in an e-mail at the Challenge’s conclusion.

God has opened many doors in the past five months. Bibles have been given to international students in their own language (at least two in Vietnamese, 12+ in Chinese, and others are in the works). A young Chinese believer was baptized at Cornerstone. DePauw Intervarsity was featured in the New York Times, an article that’s led to multiple gospel discussions. Two students have expressed interest in long-term medical missions. 5+ international students came to church for the first time in their life. The interfaith curry night grew to 30 people, many of whom heard the gospel for the first time (we hope to have a larger one in April). Many seeds were planted, and many tears shed. The other stories–prayers that affected the unreached and our persecuted brothers and sisters–we won’t likely hear until heaven. But God is good, and we’re blessed through our obedience.

The DePauw Missions Challenge was a blessing. I hope that events like this continue at DePauw and other universities, as they have since America’s founding (Read about the Haystack Prayer Meeting). In the end I am most comforted by God’s command and promise in Psalm 46:10.  Our God will be true to his word.

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!

I met Kevin [name is changed], a senior in one of largest fraternities on campus, at a football tailgate last year.  From head to toe, wearing a visor, expensive sunglasses with the strap to hang them around your neck, a button down shirt, khakis, some nice shoes, and a couple of beers in hand, Kevin looked like your typical fraternity guy.  After speaking with him for a while, I invited him out to lunch the following week where we sat down to talk about the purpose and vision for Greek IV.  Upon finishing our meal and conversation, Kevin emphatically said, “Where do I sign up?! This sounds great!”  Without much delay, Kevin and I began to meet regularly to look at Scripture and talk about what it would look like to follow Jesus in the midst of Greek Life.

Now while looking at Scripture on a regular basis may have been a new thing to Kevin, Christianity was not. You see Kevin already claimed to be a Christian. He grew up going to church, his granddad was a Methodist preacher, and he had accepted Jesus at a young age.  On paper, Kevin looked like a solid Christian, but in reality he was living in a very unchristian way succumbing to all the temptations of the college Greek system.  In many ways, Kevin represents your typical, Southern Greek student: Christian in name, but partying all the same.

However, this semester all of that began to change. One night after a small outreach event, I offered to give Kevin a ride back to his car. During our short trip around the block, he began to open up about his struggles with faith in fraternity life. In a somewhat despondent tone, he said,  “You know, I say I’m a Christian, but I’m not a good example. I still get drunk on a nightly basis. Give me a pill and I’ll take it. Crush it up and I’ll snort it.” He even confessed that he had come out to some Greek IV gatherings the previous semester extremely high. Yet right before he finished he said, “I’m done though. I’m tired of being burnt out, and I’m ready to give it up to God.”

I responded by asking him if there was ever a time he had prayed for forgiveness and assurance of grace to which he desperately responded, “I’ve probably prayed that prayer a hundred times.” I continued by explaining that forgiveness is only the starting point, but that a true follower of Jesus is marked by trusting and devoting yourself to Him above all else. “Has there ever been a time where you’ve prayed for Jesus to take all of your life NOT just the part you’re shameful of?” I asked. “No,” he responded with anticipation in his voice. “Do you want to do it right now?” I asked, and with little hesitation Kevin looked over at me and said, “Yeah, let’s do that.” While sitting in my car beside a parking deck on campus, Kevin prayed for Jesus to take not just part of his life but all of it!

Kevin may dress the same, go to the same parties, and hang out with his same fraternity brothers, but the difference is unavoidable. Everyone wants to know the reason behind the change, and Kevin is letting them know. From typical fraternity guy who claims to know Jesus to radical fraternity guy who lives like Him, Kevin is living proof of Greek InterVarsity’s vision to see Lives Transformed.

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.”

When I became a Christian and started living out my life for Christ, I was very excited to share it with everyone I knew, including some of my professors. I am pursuing a minor in philosophy and have gotten very close to one of my professors. The first semester of my junior year I was in Ethical Theory with this professor. As a new Christian I was still young and immature in my understanding of what it meant to live a Christian life, so I sought the answers in philosophy. I wondered, what is my ethical theory? This professor provided many readings on different ethical/moral theories including Christian ones. We read a paper written by a Christian philosopher who said that if you are a Christian, then your ethical/moral theory is to obey God. It clicked for me, but also made me realize that my professor was open to and respected Christianity. This revelation was very interesting to me because my professor is an atheist and a well known one in the philosophical community. He has written books on why we do not need God to live a moral life or to have moral values in life, but he also loves C.S. Lewis and Alvin Plantinga, and even has some knowledge of Scripture – go figure.

For some reason, I opened up to him once after class and shared my faith with him. I told him about how Christ had renewed my life, how I was being sanctified daily, and how much of a struggle that was. He listened openly and even offered encouraging remarks. I guess God put it in my heart to continue talking to him, because every week I would have an hour long conversation with him. It started off as just getting to know each other or discussing philosophy, but started heading in a different direction as time progressed. This semester I have another philosophy class, Philosophy of Religion with this professor and I continue to see him and talk with him weekly. God has worked a lot in my life in one semester. I am more bold with my faith and talk about it openly and am not ashamed. Paul says in Romans 1:16, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek” (ESV).

We have a duty to fulfill the great commission left to us by Christ, boasting in nothing but the cross, and sharing life with everyone who will accept it. This class should be called Philosophy of Christianity and is probably the closest thing I can get to a theology course as an undergraduate. We talk about the Judeo-Christian God and Christian thought. About a month ago, I started directing our conversations to faith and started challenging my professor. A month, ago I asked him if he was worried. And he asked, worried about what, to which I replied, “What I believe has serious consequences for what you believe.” It was funny because it wasn’t uncomfortable and we spoke about condemnation for a while.

Three weeks ago I asked him why he was teaching a class on Christianity, why he respected and loved C.S. Lewis so much, and why he was so open and respectful towards Christianity. I asked him if he was searching for anything to which he told me that he wanted to keep his options open and make sure he had all the evidence available to him. Two weeks ago, being in a bad mood, I unloaded on my professor. I told him how I was having a bad day, how I hadn’t read my Bible yet today, how I needed the word to fill me daily, how I needed Jesus to give my life meaning, how the answers to all his questions are found in Scripture. I told him that my problem with atheists is that they have these questions and make these arguments, but don’t read the word of God, which contains all the answers. I told him to read the Bible.

He opened up to me and told me that he’s been trying to make a connection to God, but has not felt anything. At that moment I saw my professor for who he was. He’s this really calm and intelligent guy who seems to have it all together, but he is lost and broken. He needs Jesus and I was really moved to pity and compassion for my friend. I told him that I believe that Jesus died for my sins out of the abundant love that God has for us, and I told him that Jesus died for his sins and that grace is open to him. I told him to read the Bible. He asked me where to start, to which I said Romans. I told him to e-mail with any questions that he has about Romans and that I would read through it with him. God put this man in my heart, and I care about my professor. He’s my friend and I want to see God save him through Christ. We must be bold with our faith.

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.

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!