"Awesome" Outreach During Derecognition

As I wrote in my last update, InterVarsity has been derecognized at SSU and throughout the Cal State system.  Ostensibly, it could be easy to assume our leaders would be discouraged and  that the ministry would be hindered.  However, this has not been the case.  Over these first months of ministry it is clear that God is not going to let a policy get in the way of His mission moving forward on the campus!  The student leaders were excited to try new ways of outreach and be creative in reaching the campus ("Awesome" themed outreach).  Christianity Today even wrote an article explaining how InterVarsity "will reinvent" student ministry, and the article's picture is from our SSU group doing outreach on the first night! (yes I'm proud!)  Please be praying for us as we continue to pursue creative outreach under these unfortunate circumstances.

An anecdote that I think summarizes how God is at work despite the institutional situation: The week before school started a campus higher up told us that we would have "no presence" on campus, but through boldness, creativity and free speech rights, we were able to still do good outreach.  In a turn of poetic irony, for the first month of school, the picture on the front of SSU's website was a picture of several of our leaders talking to someone during an outreach the first week!  I couldn't help but laugh at the awesomeness of that.

Here a two more links to helpful articles about the derecognition:

Press Democrat Article (Opinion piece written by my supervisor)

Atlantic Article (A personal favorite that looks at the bigger picture)

Sonoma State InterVarsity Will Be Derecognized

Is it discrimination to require InterVarsity student leaders to be Christians?  The Cal State University Chancellor says it is.  A policy was signed into effect over a year that derecognizes any campus group that discriminates.  The Chancellor gave InterVarsity one year to work with him on an agreeable solution but that year is up.  (A New York Times Article on the CSU Situation)

"We can have campus access only if we change our constitution.  If we don't, we will not recognized as a club."  Our student president received the news a week ago.  The Chancellor's policy was catching up to us.  We will not change our constitution since it is imperative for influential student leaders to have Christian faith.  

Please pray for us as we try out new strategies for advertising and meeting new students.  Please pray for us as we meet with SSU administration tomorrow 8/13. Pray they will approve us renting space on campus for Large Group and tabling.  Pray for the CSU Chancellor and our national InterVarsity president to have a meeting in the next week.  Pray for our students to commit together to live out our faith on campus and be even more bold for the gospel.  

The first 3 weeks of school are when students are most spiritually open, and when we will be having many outreach events.  Pray for the gospel to spread on campus no matter what!

"InterVarsity Has Thrown Everything Off"

I met Silvia* this year during her very first week of school, at Large Group, when she got up in the middle of the speaker talking, left the room, and listened from behind a Peanuts statue in the hallway.  She appeared so uncomfortable that she was actually trying to hide, yet didn't leave.  I wanted to make her feel welcome so I went out to her and checked to see how she was doing, but she wanted to just stay in the hallway behind the statue.  Fast-forward eight months, and during a recent conversation I had with her, she decared, "InterVarsity has thrown everything off....At the first event, everything the speaker said was so relevant to my life, it made me so uncomfortable I had to leave the room and hide behind the statue, but I couldn't stop listening...I'm agnostic and I had my set beliefs about God, but because of everything I've learned this year and the signs in my life, I don't know if I can deny God any longer...I feel like every message is exactly what I need to hear and have been thinking about...I'm this close."  Would you please pray for Silvia to take that step and invite God into her life?

Hard Questions

An important part of faith is being able to ask and search for answers to hard questions; this is particularly relevant during the college years.  Many people are searching for truth, or having the truth they held challenged.  We are currently in the middle of our Large Group and Small Groups focusing on "Hard Questions" about Christianity.

In small groups we have looked at the questions "Is Jesus the Only Way to God?", "If God is Good, Why do Bad Things Happen?" and "Is Christianity Judgmental?"  At Large Group, two weeks ago I spoke on the topic of "Is the Bible Reliable?"  It was a blessing to be able to teach on how to have an understanding of the historical, reliable, authoritative and trustworthy-ness of the Bible.  I fear I may have covered too much material, but I heard good feedback from students, whom shared that they now have more confidence in the reliability of the Bible and a stronger foundation for challenges that arise to the Bible in their courses.

The next two topics are "Faith and Science" and "Creation and Evolution."  These topics are so crucial for college students to think through, would you please pray for these events?  Specifically that they would help students in their intellectual faith journey and that they could be used to outreach to the campus?