greek iv stories » Greek Life http://greekintervarsity.org LIVES CHANGED. THE GREEK SYSTEM RENEWED. WORLD CHANGERS DEVELOPED. Thu, 17 May 2012 15:34:18 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v= Delta Tau Delta Renewed http://greekintervarsity.org/2009/04/delta-tau-delta-renewed/ http://greekintervarsity.org/2009/04/delta-tau-delta-renewed/#comments Tue, 14 Apr 2009 14:00:35 +0000 Tyler Riffe http://greekintervarsity.org/?p=371 Two years ago there was no one living out their faith actively in Delta Tau Delta (Delts) at Purdue University. When Payton Miller first came to a Greek IV House Ministry Leader (HML) retreat as a junior, he mentioned how there was no one living out their faith in their house… let alone a Bible Study going on and initially thought the idea of one sounded crazy. However, God seemed to have had a different idea. A fellow HML approached Payton because she thought it would be great for there to be a joint Bible study between them one week, because their houses were “Football Buddies”. Payton went along with the idea, and was stunned at the response of his fraternity brothers. There were a handful of guys who thought it was great idea, and after that first one, Payton just kept leading Bible studies… and pouring himself into sharing his faith and life with his Delt Brothers. Today, 4 of Payton’s good friends in the fraternity have made decisions to follow Jesus Christ, are active in the Greek IV and Christian community, their lives are transforming, and they are excited to continue the work in Delts that God has started through Payton. Along with those 4 brothers of his, the full impact that he has had on the house as a whole has reproductions for God’s Kingdom that we will never fully be able to grasp completely.

Payton has spent his senior year as President of our Greek IV student leadership team, and will be joining staff to plant a Greek IV chapter on a campus that currently does not have one, taking his experience of how God used him at Purdue and in his house along with him.

However, Payton will be graduating this year. So what is next for Delts? Along with those 4 that we have literally seen God transform, Payton has encouraged and motivated a freshmen, Carl, to slowly take the mantle of leadership for next year, thus securing active ministry in Delts for generations to come. Carl… is pumped about what God has done in Delts thus far, and is eager to join the process of calling his fraternity brothers to Christ!

To read more about Carl, CLICK HERE!

To read Mike’s story, one of Payton’s 4 guys… CLICK HERE!

]]> http://greekintervarsity.org/2009/04/delta-tau-delta-renewed/feed/ 0 Simple invitation to spiritual conversations http://greekintervarsity.org/2009/03/simple-invitation-to-spiritual-conversations/ http://greekintervarsity.org/2009/03/simple-invitation-to-spiritual-conversations/#comments Tue, 31 Mar 2009 19:41:32 +0000 Ryan Mercer http://greekintervarsity.org/?p=321 At Greek IV, we desire to be a witnessing community, not a community of witnesses. However in the Greek System it can be rare to interact with people outside your fraternity or sorority. I was inspired by an event I attended with some friends involved in a different ministry. They intentionally invited their friends who were seeking Jesus to an event and prayed specifically for opportunities to talk about Jesus throughout the evening. I thought, we could do this in Greek IV! We could have meaningful spiritual conversations in a relaxed setting among a community of friends.

During Happy Hour (our weekly prayer meeting) a few weeks ago, as we were praying towards our Greek IV vision of seeing our Greek system renewed, the thought popped in my head to plan a similar outreach dinner with friends from Greek IV. I presented the idea to the group right when we finished praying and things kind of took off from there.

The goal of the event was to create a comfortable atmosphere for spiritual conversations to take place. We wanted to make it a place where our friends who are seeking Jesus could feel free to ask questions. We also wanted House Ministry Leaders to be excited about evangelism and reaching out to individuals in their houses.

So I sent an email to all the House Ministry Leaders who were at the Happy Hour when we talked about it, encouraging them to set aside their Saturday evening and pray for 1 or 2 people they could personally invite to the dinner who might be searching for Jesus, or would benefit by getting better connected to the Greek IV community. As with anything, about half of the people we invited couldn’t come, but we had 7 non-christians come! We all ate dinner together and then left the night open for whatever people wanted to do. Some people played cards, some people roasted marshmallows around the fire pit and others just hung out and talked. There seemed to be just the right amount of Greek IVers there to keep conversations going and to make sure that all our guests felt welcomed.

I brought my plege kid, *Jose because I know that he really wants to investigate Jesus right now. While we were driving to dinner, I mentioned that it would be a great chance for him to ask people about their faith journeys, so that’s what he did. He was able to hear several people’s testimonies and help start some great conversations around the campfire.

I also brought my other plegde kid, *Andy, along with 2 of his friends from another school. We’ve had some spiritual conversations in the past and he has come to our seeker discussion group at the house. Although we didn’t have any deep conversations that night, he told me afterward that he really enjoyed the evening and the people he met.

We intentionally invited a few people from fraternities and sororities new to Greek IV. They were able to talk with a few Greek IV leaders for a while and I think they really enjoyed getting better connected to the Greek IV community.

One House Ministry Leader, Ric brought a friend from his fraternity who seemed to be really engaged with the conversation around the fire pit about a broad range of spiritual topics. As we were driving home, he said something to Ric about wanting to get more involved in the house Bible study.

It was an awesome night. We were encouraged by what God did that night and know God is doing more than what we see. We are planning to have another dinner event like this before the school year ends. I pray that this is something God will continue to use to inspire us to be reaching out to our brothers and sisters as a witnessing community.

*Names have been changed
]]> http://greekintervarsity.org/2009/03/simple-invitation-to-spiritual-conversations/feed/ 0 The Six and a Half rule http://greekintervarsity.org/2009/03/the-six-and-a-half-rule/ http://greekintervarsity.org/2009/03/the-six-and-a-half-rule/#comments Tue, 31 Mar 2009 19:18:15 +0000 RJ Clouse http://greekintervarsity.org/?p=319 6.5*, that’s the rule. The Indiana University Senior Challenge requires a Greek senior to go out 6.5 times per week; it might as well be Greek law. But here is a question, how can someone go out 6.5 times a week and have any involvement with anything else? It’s a major commitment! There are so many other things going on between class (optional), organizations (expected), meetings (mandatory), groups(necessary), and something less conventional… faith. Students in the Greek system are asking questions about faith and making time to find answers. Can these Greeks look at faith without compromising their Greekness?
That’s what Greek InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, also known as Greek IV, is trying to figure out. Greeks across campus are getting into small gorups, question forums, and one on one discussions to figure out what faith is all about. So many of us already confess some sort of religious heritage, be it Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Muslim or something in between; there has to be something worth talking about. Greek students are not looking for their parents’ religion. They are challenging what is true and what is important. Students are finding out that partying hard might be more than just the challenge of 6.5. If you’re a person asking similar questions about issues outside of where to go on Wednesday night (I’m still confused), reach out. You can check out Greek IV on Thursday nights at 7 PM in the Dogwood room in the IMU, or ask someone in your house looking at the same issues. If you have questions, there are answers; you might just have to take the first step.
Can all of this take place on Thursday night and not be hypocritical?

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