Chapter Planting at the University of Tampa - Ministry Exchange (MX)

This document is part of a larger cluster of articles about InterVarsity
chapter planting at https://www.intervarsity.org/mx/page/chapterplanting

University of Tampa by Michelle Verrill

The Campus

The University of Tampa is a relatively small private, residential campus
of about 5,100 students. About 65 percent of the students live on campus.
The students are mostly from the northeast (although the school claims that
half of the undergrads are from Florida, I have yet to meet many). They are
predominantly from white, middle-class families. There is a large
international student population of about 700-1,000.

Campus Contacts

In fall 2004, Area Director Jason Thompson stepped onto the University of
Tampa campus with one eager student and one Bible study. This student had
come out of the ministry at Hillsborough Community College and had a dream
of establishing an InterVarsity group at UT. The dream was also made
possible with the help of a faculty member who graciously agreed to be our
faculty advisor. She had been a part of InterVarsity when she was in
college. We had some other resources, but the faculty member was essential
to getting the group started. Since then I’ve found several other faculty
members who know InterVarsity and have been supportive in our work. This
has helped us to gain a voice and a face so that we aren’t just another
campus group. The students who are involved now are young, but they are
willing to serve and lead.

The Challenges

I graduated from a college that was similar to this one, so coming onto
campus for the first time was a little less nerve-wracking. The chapter had
only been established for nine months when I took over for Jason. Even now,
after our second year, I often feel like we are still in a beginning
planting stage. With such a large percentage of students living on campus,
meeting people is easier, but there are challenges that have been difficult
to overcome. Here are some of them:

. The key student leader who helped establish the chapter is graduating this spring. She does so much that it will take several students to replace her. . It is hard getting students to be committed and stay involved. There is a dominant culture of busyness on our campus. Students try to get involved with everything that they possibly can. As a result, they have strong leadership skills, but they rarely have time to stick around. Many feel that they are too busy for God. They will come sporadically but, when asked what they are doing on campus for God, their response is usually something about knowing that it’s important and they’ll get to it later. . We haven’t started a culture of camps and conferences. It is hard to get people excited about going somewhere when no one in the chapter has been there before. . There is a lack of men in the group (out of 35 students, there are four guys). . Sometimes I still feel like I don’t really know what’s going on or what I’m supposed to be doing. It’s hard being the only staff on campus at times. . And then there is the challenge of people not knowing who we are. What is InterVarsity? Isn’t it the same thing as Cru? InterVarsity and Campus Crusade are the only two really active ministries on our campus.

What We’re Doing

Despite the challenges, I believe we are getting a pulse for the campus and
have come on strong in terms of evangelism. We have established witnessing
communities of small group Bible studies in three of the seven dorms. There
is an outreach table for a week at the beginning of each semester.

We have done several evangelistic outreaches, including a justice week
project. We set up 1,600 spoons that represented the number of children who
die each hour from hunger- related causes. We set up a table, had info
pamphlets and shared the hope of Jesus with those who walked by. Our campus
has a strong emphasis on service and social justice so this was quite
successful.

By far the best outreach we have done was an open-mic coffeehouse. Over 100
students showed up. We were amazed. We invited anyone who wanted to perform
to do so. There were two rules: keep it under two minutes, and no graphic
sexual language. The gospel was shared from up front and conversations
happened all over the room. Students asked when we were going to do another
one. We have learned that we can have events and outreaches but if the
campus doesn’t feel like they are actively participating and have
ownership, then they won’t come. They really enjoyed coming to this one.

We have also worked hard to reach the many international students on our
campus. They are a high percentage of the student body. This has been a
unique challenge, but has proved to be worth it. We simply show up at their
events. If there is an international student pizza party, we are there. If
they have an event, we volunteer to help. This has begun an amazing
partnership.

The Vision

There are so many things that we hope to do. We are excited by seeing what
God has already done. The majority of our students are freshman and
sophomores, so we have the opportunity to keep them around for a while.
Nine students have become followers of Jesus in the last six months. We
have formed good relationships with students and have had successful
outreaches that we will continue. Since fall 2004, the group has grown from
one student to 35. There are eight students planning on doing mission trips
this summer.

God is Working

Honestly, I am amazed. God is blowing me away. He wanted to start something
new at the University of Tampa and he’s doing it. He gets all the credit
and glory. I just show up. I think that I have learned a lot about
faithfulness this year; both in God being faithful and the importance of me
being faithful. I try to be on campus as much as possible to build
relationships and meet new students. Giving those students ownership has
been so important. It’s been so worth it. All the challenges just push me
to go deeper with God.

Help Needed

Planting a chapter really does feel like the work of a gardener. You’ve got
to care for it and water it. It takes patience and perseverance. You’ve got
to pull up weeds and cultivate the land. And when you see things start to
grow, it’s exciting. There are moments of victory and of defeat. But to see
God at work and to be a part of a new thing is fun, faith-building and
definitely worth it.

Chapter_Planting_4yr_Sm_U_Tampa.doc