This year, however, I was not looking forward to the start of school. I was excited to see my students, but I was tired from the year before. We have a lot of students coming to our in-house ministries, but a very small percentage attending our events! And I was tired of trying to get students at events, being told no, and most of all feeling like an event planner!

So I came back to campus a bit fearful and anxious of the year ahead.

Due to the fact that women must be at recruitment two weeks early and fraternity men drag their heals as they back to school, we couldn’t find a time for a back to school retreat. Fearful of another event to have to recruit students to, I decided that we would start with a praise and worship night.

Partnering with Colton, a Junior from Sigma Epsilon Phi, we hosted a worship night on Herdy Field. A week before the evening I asked our partners to help by praying during the 24 hours before the event. During those 24 hours I felt God give me peace about the event. Emails came all throughout the day about how our partners were lifting Greek InterVarsity up in prayer.

Later that night as I walked onto Herdy field I began to get nervous. Was this going to be another event that nobody to came to? Do I really have to offer free food to get students to show up? But as my brain starting spinning into worry mode I felt embrace from all the prayers throughout the day.

As Colton began to play more and more students joined us. A new freshmen even wandered into the mix. While there were a few a hiccups (the guitarist played a couple songs we didn’t have words to and one of our leaders lit the grass on fire), the majority of our night was amazing. As we lifted our voices up in praise we were united as one body. For the first time, Greek InterVarsity praised the Lord as one movement!

Today I left a group of students who were passing out fliers for Greek InterVarsity. For the first time the students are unified and ready for the new year. They are excited about what God is going to do, not just in their fraternity/sorority, but excited about how they are going to transform the entire Greek System.

God, through a powerful night of worship, unified students in a way that will transform the UGA Greek System.

During the Saturday evening session, the Penn students started a little mosh pit of sorts in front of the stage. They experienced such joy in dancing to the worship music! I had to smile to myself, just thinking of their typical Saturday night experience with friends at Penn, compared with this one. As the energetic worship died down, the speaker led us into an understanding of the gospel. He challenged us to allow Jesus to take those things which prohibit us from fully embracing Him. The Holy Spirit enabled many of the Penn students to do just that. During the time of prayer that followed the talk, these students huddled together in a circle and earnestly prayed for one another. The sense of Christ-centered community was overwhelming. As the band concluded this prayer time with a worship song and dismissed us for the Saturday night party or “hall crawl,” the Penn students raised their voices in protest! “No! We want more worship! Play more worship songs!” And so, the band did.

This sense of wanting to continue in worship of God did not end that Saturday evening. As the students converged back on Penn’s campus in West Philadelphia, they felt called to lead their friends into such love and worship of God. Over the past few weeks, they have started 5 new Bible studies in Penn’s Greek system! Praise God for the work He has begun and will continue and complete at the University of Pennsylvania.

If I wasn’t there, what would happen? Would God continue to stretch and grow the students, while I was home alone? Funny I should ask. Their assignment for the week was to spend an hour away from the house (or face the threat of 10 push ups upon my return) with a guided retreat of scripture and questions about their current circumstances. Each of the scriptures were the many times Jesus got away from it all: his friends, popularity, responsibilities… and went to spend time with his Father. He needed to be renewed and refreshed through conversation about who he was and his purposes. And through the silence of just knowing who his Father is.

So the students set themselves apart. They went to cafes, libraries, museums, and parks. Phones were forgotten, minds meditated, and hearts honed in on the voice of Jesus. They were asked tough questions about pressures they were feeling, anxieties they were bringing to situations, dark clouds that were looming ahead, and what they might need to turn their backs away from in order to take steps forward. And as we discussed some of these ‘not fun to think about’ issues, and examined the ‘negative’ influences in our current situations, we actually found it was ‘just what we needed!’ In a culture that bases its pride on being ‘so busy’ we’re somehow surprised that we need to retreat from it all… just like Jesus did.