New Student Outreach (NSO) Ideas (summer 2005)

“Calling All Pyromaniacs and Apple Lovers . . .”
Coe College (IA)
Jon Doane

This was the subject line of the campus-wide e-mail that our chapter sent out to advertise our bonfire at a local private orchard last September. Our school is small, with only 1,300 students. We have a supportive administration, so our chapter’s e-mail announcement was a good way to communicate to every student. The turnout was very encouraging, and a number of students were interested in getting involved with I-V. We had a great time picking apples for ourselves and for a local food pantry. We played some football before cooking hot dogs and s’mores over the world’s largest bonfire (well, it was close). This was one of several such events we’ve hosted in order to build community and provide a way for new folks to get to know us better at Coe.

Finding the Hungry and Thirsty
Fresno State (CA)
Rob Dixon

At the end of last year, our chapter had only twelve students involved. We knew we had to hit NSO hard, so we planned to distribute welcome packets in the dorms and free sodas at our information table. That’s how we met Eddie, and this is how Eddie met us:

During Eddie’s first week back on campus, it was a rough go. Books were pricey, it was hot (amen!), and money was tight. But on one of his first days walking through the Free Speech Area, Eddie came across our booth, and it just happened we were passing out cold sodas. He took two, and then he signed up for our group!

Later that week, Eddie was coming home hungry after a full day on campus. Without much to eat and low energy to cook, Eddie was overjoyed to find a welcome pack from I-V, complete with a package of ramen noodles inside. To hear him talk about it afterward, he marvels at how our fellowship provided for him that week, but we know that it was God who, working through his people, was the real Provider. We rejoice that, since NSO, Eddie has been coming to our weekly meetings and is meeting Jesus in the process.

Now the size of our group has tripled and we have two evangelistic Bible studies. Also, our fellowship has a relatively high level of multiethnicity which has all of us thanking God for his creativity!

Water, Anyone?
Skidmore College (NY)
Danielle Bailey

For NSO, we printed our chapter information and put it on water bottles that we handed out during freshman move-in day. Our campus has around 2,000 students, and we gave away around 200-300 bottles of water. There were probably ten to twenty new students who found the Christian community on campus via a water bottle at the start of school. The chapter had so many new freshmen that we had to create a small-group Bible study just for them. The group meets on Monday nights and has been studying issues that are particularly relevant to freshmen, like transition, community, nurturing a relationship with God, and relationships with the opposite gender. We’re grateful for the freshmen who have come consistently and have helped doubled the size of our relatively small fellowship this year.

Pumphandle
Knox College (IL)
Judy Jenkins

At the beginning of the school year, our chapter eagerly joins in with a favorite all-campus tradition: Pumphandle. On the evening before the first day of classes, the faculty, staff and students of Knox College (all 1,200!) gather in the yard. A line forms, starting with the president and his wife. Everyone moves through the line and shakes hands with each person who has gone before, then takes a place at the end of the line to greet and shake hands with those who follow. By the time it’s finished, there is a snaking line of people all over the campus yard. The evening finishes with an all-campus picnic.

We have learned to maximize this famous campus tradition during NSO. Earlier in the afternoon, all of our small-group leaders go door-to-door in their dorms and invite people to the Bible study that will be meeting in their living area. Since Pumphandle happens just a few hours later, it’s a great opportunity for our leaders to reconnect and talk with those whom they met earlier in the day. And the school provides the nametags and the food!

Do Be Do Be Do . . .
University of Nevada-Reno
Mac and Amy Smith

Every year, before school starts, there is a retreat for the chapter leaders at the University of Nevada-Reno. Typically, the four days are packed with leadership information and strategic planning to get ready for the year ahead. Last year’s retreat was different. As staff, our own personal journey with God had brought about changes in us, and also resulted in some changes in the annual leadership retreat.

For the past couple years, God has been teaching us what it means to slow down and “be” with him in the midst of a very busy life and ministry. We sense that God has been calling us to do less and spend more time in his presence. As a result, we felt like God wanted to do the same for the student leaders. So we cut down the retreat by a day, and slowed the pace by including a time of Sabbath for the leaders. This was a day when they could rest and have an extended time of prayer and reflection. There were still helpful talks and training sessions in the program, but there was more time to listen to God and experience his presence.

Pioneering at Pitt (again)
University of Pittsburgh (PA)
Oliver Ferguson

After a two-year absence, InterVarsity is once again on campus at “Pitt,” as we fondly call the the University of Pittsburgh, a school of 34,000 students. Starting a new ministry has its challenges, and my staff partner, Susan Scudiere, and I had no idea what to expect. But we were confident that the Lord was with us and he had a purpose for us at Pitt.

During the summer, Susan and I went on campus to pray, asking God to show us where he was at work. The Lord placed in us a desire to see a diverse fellowship on campus, rooted in the study of God’s word and living in community.

At the beginning of the semester, Susan and I stormed the campus. We were fully armed with our brand-new InterVarsity poster and T-shirts, a few brochures and some flyers. The first weeks of the semester, we had tables set up at the campus activities fair, the student union, and the freshman dorm.

We targeted the freshman dorm by having a table there for the first three weeks. We promoted a study of Jesus & the Hip-Hop Prophets by John Teeter and Alex Gee. We had the study for the first six weeks of school in the freshman dorm lobby, with a sign to identify us. Each week we played a hip-hop song, and then looked at the themes of the song, along with a related Bible passage. This didn’t attract as many people as we had anticipated, but it gave us visibility and solidified our presence with the few students we had met at our table.

We started a Bible study on Sunday nights focusing on leadership development of our core group of eight to ten students. Last October the students caught a vision to start Bible studies in their dorms. I don’t think there is another group on campus that does this. We began a program of small-group leaders’ training that continued throughout the year. Only two students were able to attend, but it was really good.

At the beginning of this semester, one our students, Tammy, started a Bible study with four of her friends who have questions about their faith but have never been in a regular Bible study before. Other students are preparing to take new risks in launching a Bible study in their dorms. This is a key element to the future of the chapter.

During spring break we’re hoping a student or two will join us in the Urban Plunge in Pittsburgh. We want students to see God’s heart for the city and become aware of the problems of racism, injustice, crime and homelessness. These issues compel God’s people to become part of God’s work in helping with solutions.

As in any pioneering situation, it’s often hard to measure success. But we’re thankful for the students who are involved in this ground-breaking ministry, and for the favor we received from the school administration in being recognized again as a student organization, without trouble. Though we are small, the community is strong and we are actively digging into God’s word.