For National Invitation Week, we wanted to do something bold. Our students have been asked to lead GIGs; but throughout the semester, I’ve noticed that students have been reluctant to ask their friends if they want to know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. When we began to talk about why, many of the students admitted that they didn’t want to ostracize their friends or alienate themselves from their house. The more we talked the more I started to understand a deeper issue that exists among the Christian community here at UGA.

In the south, specifically in a small Georgia town, everybody is Christian. When somebody asks you what religion you are, they are questioning which Christian Church you attend. It’s rare that you will find somebody that doesn’t know who Jesus is; following him is therefore socially acceptable. When people here say they lead a bible study, even their non-believing friends applaud their belief. It’s almost become cool. As we’ve tried to be in the world, to relate to our friends, we have blended in too well. It seems as Christians we have begun to live for our brothers and sister’s praise and adoration, instead of finding our worth in the Lord’s eyes. As National Invitation Week approached us, I tried to think of ways that we could be bold for Christ, but also do something that made us rely on the LORD and not on other’s opinions.

It’s pretty cool to lead bible study for non-believers; however, it’s really not cool to ask somebody how much they are willing to pay for sex, especially if you are the one person in your house currently not sleeping with anybody. We decided as a chapter, in order to step out in faith, we were going to host the Sex Bed proxe station, and use the questions about how much you are willing to pay for sex to lead into an opportunity to raise awareness about child sex slavery and ultimately share the gospel with strangers.

While this has been hard for many students, those who have chosen to join us in this endeavor have had the opportunity to see God reward their faithfulness. One of the students even said that he now saw every opportunity to share his faith with his friends. Another woman got the chance to share the gospel with one of her sisters that she has been looking for an opportunity to share Christ with.

All the students who have taken part so far have experienced both challenging conversations and also personal growth. It’s easy to do cool things for God, but when we are willing to get out of the boat and follow Jesus when it’s hard, we learn to trust in his faithfulness, and not our own strength. This week Greek InterVarsity at UGA has had the opportunity to experience Christ’s strength made perfect in our weakness.