Planting and Building:

Pruning and Growth: The Work of the Master Gardener
by Mae & Alex Moore

At the end of the 2003-04 school year, the chapter at Washington State University in Pullman had been “pruned” by God. Our group had only four or five students returning in the fall. In the midst of the pruning process, we felt convicted that small groups and dorm outreach were foundational to an ongoing ministry, so we began the next year with some very small-scale activities. We had an informal worship and social get-together in a dorm lounge each Wednesday. In addition, there were three pairs of leaders starting Bible studies, each pair taking one dorm.

It was difficult to abandon classic symbols of fellowship success, like large-group meetings with speakers and a worship band, but as we focused on simpler get-togethers and small groups, God gave us what we needed in our pruned state—new students. One student-led Bible study saw seventeen people come the first week, much to the delight of the surprised leaders. Not all the Bible studies saw such amazing involvement, but by the time first semester ended, there were 28 students who were regularly involved in our fellowship, and only five of those were students who had returned from the previous year.

Nick, a student involved in the chapter, worked for the campus fire department, so his schedule was fairly restricted. Early in the year he asked if anyone was interested in meeting to pray with him at 7:30 a.m., and, to his surprise, many students responded. There was a lot of excitement when a group of ten students met in a dorm room early the next morning, sacrificing sleep to lift up one another’s needs and orient themselves spiritually for the day. Afterward they went to the dining hall together to have breakfast. “Early morning prayer” became so popular that students met three mornings a week for the rest of the year! Nick even contributed his coffee maker to the cause. As they continued to meet, the group saw God answering their prayers, and they all became closer friends.

At the end of the school year, we encouraged our largely freshman group to think about serving and reaching out to the new students who would arrive on campus in the fall. We passed out sheets of paper with the title, “I’m interested in . . .” Students signed their names to things like, “I’m interested in helping lead a Bible study,” or “I’m interested in Web page design,” or “I’m interested in organizing fellowship fund raisers.” Other students expressed interest in using their music, art, poetry or cooking skills to serve the fellowship. Some even created their own categories for things we hadn’t thought of.

It’s exciting to see how God is restoring our fellowship, empowering these students to use their gifts and talents to reach out to the people around them with the good news about Jesus.

—Alex and Mae Moore are on staff in Pullman, WA. Alex likes the beginning of the school year the best, but Mae prefers mid-semester the most. Together they enjoy baseball and garage sales.

Starting from Scratch at a Community College
by Joel Sommer

A year ago, my wife, Sabrina, and I moved to Yakima, Washington, which is widely considered the backwater of the Northwest. Yakima leads the state of Washington in ethnic diversity, teen pregnancy, gang activity and drug traffic. This is where our baby was born. This is where I work as an InterVarsity staff member. My assignment was to begin an InterVarsity group at the local community college where some of the area’s young people attend school.

Yakima Valley Community College is a typical two-year commuter school. Most of the 7,000 students walk through campus with tunnel vision, blandly on their way to whatever they are expecting their day to be. They are just passing through, not always interested in making friends or developing new relationships. Student clubs on campus frequently consist of just six or seven members. Many students seem to struggle with a sense of inferiority, or lack of purpose. Issues of racism among students and staff generate a shadowy presence on campus. Some faculty convey hostility to the Christian faith in their classrooms. In this climate, how does InterVarsity plant a ministry at a community college like YVCC?

In our first year at YVCC, we have seen God grow the InterVarsity group into one of the most active, visible, well-attended student groups on campus. We started with a weekly on-campus worship meeting under the sponsorship of an already existing Christian club. By spring there was a small but enthusiastic group of about seven students who attended the worship meetings. When we added a weekly prayer meeting, ten students attended the second meeting. By the end of the year, about a dozen students were regularly attending the worship meeting. Several of the leaders that have emerged have made an extended commitment to the group for the following year, or more. In May the chapter hosted an outreach barbeque that was a massive success. They fed 130 students and had to send away 50 more when they ran out of food and drinks. This was a huge confidence booster for the students in our fellowship. The group is planning another barbeque for the fall, and they’ll definitely bring more meat!

Last spring I was optimistically hoping that maybe one of the students would decide to invest two weeks of the summer in “Summit,” a service and mission project in inner city Portland. I was shocked when four students signed up, eager to learn more about God’s work in the world. These students are returning to school with a new understanding of the truth and grace which Jesus offers, excited to share the good news with others on their campus.

The small group of Christians at YVCC has been faithful in witnessing to non-believers, meeting for worship, and praying in public. Jesus said, “What shall I compare the kingdom of God to? It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked all through the dough” (Luke 13:20-21 NIV). Like yeast in dough, we are beginning to see how these activities are beginning to affect the atmosphere of YVCC. We have prayed big prayers for the campus, and we believe that our small fellowship is growing into something that will change the day-to-day experience of every YVCC student. The kingdom of God does that.

—Joel Sommer has been on InterVarsity staff four years. He lives in Yakima, WA, with his wife and staff partner, Sabrina, and their son, Nicolás.

Commute and Commune?
by Dave Nielsen

The daily routine: Drive to class. Sit through class. Go home.

Life at a commuter campus brings up challenging questions: What’s the point? How do I make friends here? Do I want to bother trying?

The attitude: Waste no time. Get it over with. Graduate.

Homework, lectures and responsibilities stack up. Things get frantic. In the swirling frenzy are hopes: I hope I figure out what I’m doing with my life. I hope what I’m doing means something. I hope I meet someone special.

The plan: Get your degree. Transfer. Just get in and get out.

Building community (and for believers, growing in discipleship) would be nice but it’s hard to achieve with so many competing priorities.

So what does ministry look like at a commuter campus? For two years, I was a leader in Parkland Christian Fellowship (PCF), a small ecumenical group of believers at a community college in Champaign, Illinois. Our mission statement was “to develop more passionate followers of Jesus Christ and share the message of his love with our campus.” I suppose we achieved that in varying degrees, but the deepest success of PCF was providing connections for believers in a sterile and secular environment.

There were times when PCF tried too hard to be proactive. Everyone had ideas of how we could or should be impacting the campus as an organization. There weren’t very many of us (30-40 total and eight on the leadership team), so sometimes we stretched ourselves a little thin. There was often pressure to be “doing more,” which only added to the stress many of us were already feeling.

PCF functioned best when the agenda was to nurture personal and group spiritual growth, which naturally overflowed in our daily actions on campus. It functioned worst when the group tried too hard to push a complex, active agenda. For instance, hosting an all-day concert with the intention of building contacts with non-believers could be an example of dreaming big. Or it could be an example of expending too much energy “doing” ministry instead of “being” God’s people on campus. Building friendships with non-believers is a good thing. However I believe PCF made more effective contacts through community growth and personal friendships than by pulling out all the stops for a big event.

My answer to the question of ministry on a commuter campus is to counter the rushed mentality by slowing down and cherishing community with God and other believers. Really cherish it and “dream big,” not in terms of fast and measurable results, but in terms of the infinite blessing that seeking God can be to yourself and others. Grow together in wisdom and passion. Encourage each other in personal evangelism. Then, let the “message of his love” spread more naturally, flowing from the witness of your community life together.

—Dave Nielsen will be a junior at Illinois State University in Spring 2006 majoring in graphic arts. He spent the summer in Madison, WI, as an intern with 2100 Productions. His hobbies include playing the bass, southwestern cooking and making fun of cheesy B-movies.

A Visible Ministry at an “Invisible” Campus
by Aimee Mosser

I learned last year that God was doing a visible work at a school that was invisible to me. This campus wasn’t even on my radar as a place where there could be a viable Christian witness. The school is Southeast Technical Institute (STI) in Sioux Falls, SD, and I barely knew it existed. But God was actively present in some of the students and faculty there. This is how I found out about it.

Every year, a Christian music festival is held in Sioux Falls. Last fall we set up a big InterVarsity booth with sign-ups and give-aways for college students. After a few days at the booth, someone mentioned that there were a lot of students from STI who wanted to start an InterVarsity chapter. STI is located about 60 miles away from Brookings where I live and work at the university there. But I was already driving to Sioux Falls once a week, so I took on the task of seeing what could happen at STI.

I soon discovered that ministry at STI came with a lot of challenges. It’s a two-year technical school, and there is only one building of student housing on campus, so most of the students commute. The students, especially leaders, would come and go quickly within two years. Also, finding a time to meet when students were there together seemed like it would be difficult.

Then, when we asked to become an officially recognized campus group, we ran into a few more issues. STI is part of the Sioux Falls public school district which places more restrictions on it than at other colleges or universities. They only recognize student organizations that correspond to their programs, and that did not include our group. So we were notified that we couldn’t meet on campus between 8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. and that we couldn’t hang up posters or fliers. I got very frustrated with all of this, wondering if we could do anything to establish a group at the school. This was a challenging and completely new situation for me.

At the same time, I grew excited about the possibilities at STI. There were no other Christian groups there, so starting an InterVarsity chapter would be phenomenal for the students and faculty. The administration was gracious in allowing us to use a room on campus for free since we provided a service to their students. So I decided that we would try to meet at 6:45 a.m., giving us an hour before our 8:00 a.m. deadline. I questioned whether any students would come that early.

The first week we met, four students came. We started a manuscript study of Mark, and as the semester went on, attendance fluctuated. Some weeks there was no one; other weeks there were five people. By the end of the semester, three guys showed up consistently, two of them commuting 45 minutes to arrive at the study! I was amazed at their dedication. There aren’t many people who would meet at 6:45 a.m. for Bible study, especially college students!

The Lord provided unexpected surprises through contacts who introduced me to a Christian professor at STI who then put me in touch with more students. I’m excited to see what God does as I work together with these students and faculty to get InterVarsity going strong at STI. While STI doesn’t seem like the ideal place for starting a chapter, I know that there is huge opportunity for growth if God is in it.

As we start up the small group again this fall, we’ll look at some changes and opportunities for growth. When to meet is still a challenge. More students would probably come if we had the study in the middle of the day, but then we’d have to go off campus and work around class schedules. My goal is to eventually have a large group and some small groups going each week. I’m also hoping that the STI chapter will connect with other chapters at our fall retreat, Source (winter conference), leadership training, and the Minneapolis urban dip. These training conferences are a rich opportunity for embracing fellowship and vision for ministry.

The group has been going for less than a year, and much remains to be seen about how the challenges and opportunities will play out. Even though I was blind to the possibilities of establishing a Christian witness at this school, now I see how God is using InterVarsity to be a blessing to the students and faculty at Southeast Technical Institute.

—Aimee Mosser is in her second year on staff in South Dakota. Her hobbies include singing, drinking lattes, and practicing the phrase “Be careful, the doors are closing” in Russian.