����

As a freshman, Kathy was shy and dealing with a dark season of depression. But then, two friends invited her to ��ñ���� and she immediately felt drawn to the community. “Once I walked in, I felt like I was welcomed.” She felt comfortable and cared for by the friends she met and even opened up about her mental health.

When asked if she would be willing to help invite new students to ��ñ����, Kathy said yes –– despite not yet being a Christian.

“I just want everyone to feel welcomed, which is the reason why I did [New Student Outreach] … When I first started, I wasn’t a Christian…I was nervous. I didn’t know what to say.”

Yet in just a few weeks, Kathy connected with over 2,000 students.

Kathy saw how her ���� friends, including those she invited into the community, were changing and healing. As she thought about her own faith, she realized she wanted to take the next step.

“I was like, ‘I think I’m ready –– I think I’m ready to accept Jesus!’” she said.

Now, Kathy eagerly continues inviting students into the community she loves and into relationship with Jesus. She saw how simple invitations can help people find a place of belonging and how that belonging can lead to being transformed by Jesus.+

When he was released from prison, he began college at California State University, Bakersfield. As an older student who had been through much more than his classmates, Silbano searched for a place where he could belong and explore his new faith despite his background. More than anything, he wanted a way to make sense of the Bible, which he found overwhelming and confusing.

“This is how illiterate I was in the Bible: I didn’t even know there was an Old and New Testament,” Silbano said. “��ñ���� taught me everything I know. Everything I was hungry for, ��ñ���� gave it to me.”

Through joining ���� and attending inductive Bible studies, Silbano learned to study Scripture and deepened his understanding of what it meant to follow Jesus. He began seeking to live a life like his.

Now an ���� campus minister, Silbano is uniquely positioned to help students explore Scripture and find purpose and hope in Christ just like he did.+

But when he met ��ñ���� students, something felt different. “One of the blessings was seeing people so passionate for God that are my age,” he said. Lucas was inspired by older ��ñ���� students who invested in him his freshman year. They were persistent and committed to ministering to the campus even through rebuilding the chapter and the challenges of COVID.

As a small group leader himself, Lucas’ faith was accelerated even more, both by those who led him and those he led. Seeing how transformative of a season this was for him, he gained a deep desire to develop other student leaders, hoping to “wash their feet the way Jesus did.”

Lucas saw God work through him as his ��ñ���� chapter grew and the new leaders he shepherded reached students on campus who were open and curious about Jesus. “You have to trust the promise that God gave you when leading. The path I took was exactly purposed by God for this very reason.”+

At Wayne County Community College this year, for example, students wanted to start a chapter but needed a faculty advisor to be an official club. They met in the cafeteria to pray. “Lord,” they said, “please send us a faculty advisor.”

At that very moment, a faculty member walked by and overheard their prayer. “I just heard you praying for a faculty advisor,” she said. “I’ll volunteer!” As an adjunct faculty, this professor came to campus once a week for just half the day — which happened to be when these students met to pray! God truly provides in extraordinary ways.+