staff

On the Way Home

ashlye.vanderworp@intervarsity.org — Mon, 09 Jul 2018 20:23:40 +0000

Drew Larson

On the Way Home

When Taylor started college at the University of Rhode Island, she had one goal: to be a normal college student. She wanted to make friends, get involved on campus, and learn to impact the world after she graduated.

There was only one thing she wasn’t interested in: having anything to do with God.

“I grew up nominally, culturally Christian, and it all meant absolutely nothing to me,” Taylor said. “Faith didn’t seem relevant at all, and I had no intention of exploring it when I went to college. I considered myself done with church.”

A Noticeable Faith

That intention lasted a semester and a half, until Taylor realized she was hungry to serve others with her spring break. She agreed to go with ��ñ��, whom she had met during one of their outreaches when they knocked on her door months earlier, on their annual service trip to New Orleans to help those affected by Hurricane Katrina.

While there, she couldn’t help but notice the faith of the people she served with—and the people she served.

Taylor’s curiosity was piqued.

“I started thinking that this couldn’t just come from nowhere,” Taylor said. “I had never been given a reason to believe in God, but I wanted to know where this kind of faith came from.”

One evening of the trip, Taylor’s small group leader encouraged her to pray. She agreed and experienced the presence of Jesus in her heart for the first time.

Then, on the way home, she gave her life to Christ.

“I gave my life to Jesus,” she said with a smile, “somewhere on a bus in the middle of Georgia."

A Broken Heart for Others

After that, Taylor’s life changed dramatically. As she became more involved in her ��ñ�� chapter, she discovered a community of friends who encouraged her and invested in her relationship with God.

She had always had a passion for helping others, but as a new Christian, Taylor’s view of service changed. She began to view her whole life as an extension of Jesus’ mission, and her enthusiasm for sharing the love and patience of Christ to others on campus was ignited.

“[Because of Christ] I have felt love for people that I don’t really want to love sometimes, and I’ve had my heart broken for people and campuses that could not have possibly come from my own heart.”

Taylor eventually became a student leader of her chapter and now works on campus full time as an ��ñ�� campus minister. Her eagerness to lead others into new life in Christ has only grown since that day on the bus, and, having seen what God did in her own life, her hope of what God can do in students’ hearts is almost limitless.

“I’ve seen that when I submit myself to him and open my hands in surrender, he shows up in bigger ways than I could have imagined.”

��ñ�� chapters across the country provide spaces for students like Taylor to experience the love of Christ in community and serve others through that love. You can be a part of creating more communities on campuses without one by giving to ��ñ��'s 2030 Calling. Click below to find out more.

Give to the 2030 Calling

News Keywords

Evangelism

��ñ�� Staff

Orientation of New Staff

New England

serve

university of rhode island

serveup

Spring Break

spring break mission trip

A Generation of World Changers

gordon.govier@intervarsity.org — Thu, 12 Jul 2012 19:07:45 +0000

News

Matt Sally

A Generation of World Changers

“Changing the world happens one life at a time, and we can start now.”
-Greg Little, new ��ñ�� staff in North Carolina

New staff from around the country recently gathered at ��ñ��’s Orientation for New Staff (ONS) in Madison, Wisconsin, and were equipped to serve the kingdom and share the gospel. Transformed as students and called to shepherd the next generation of world changers, God is sending 127 new staff to establish and advance ethnically diverse witnessing communities at universities across the U.S.

“At ONS, God helped me see that common, ordinary people like me and the students on my campus can become world changers,” said Greg Little, who will be at Lenoir-Rhyne University in Hickory, North Carolina. Esther Cho, new staff at the University of California, Irvine, added, “I am excited to develop more world changers on my campus.”

20/20 Vision

��ñ�� President Alec Hill spoke to new staff about the fellowship’s vision and purpose, and ways the Holy Spirit is moving on college campuses across the country. Longtime ��ñ�� staff member Tom Trevethan spoke about how ��ñ��’s Doctrinal Basis is rooted in the Trinity, fueling our vision and ministry on campus.

“God impacted my view of ministry on campus in a large way through ONS,” said Marsha Tam, new staff assigned to the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. “Learning and knowing the historical background of ��ñ�� and the ways God has transformed ��ñ�� through evangelism, multiethnicity, and risk-taking has placed a burden on my heart to be part of an organization with such high values.”

Garrett Trent, new Greek ��ñ�� staff at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, added, “Seeing how God has used ��ñ�� over the years, and where we are today, was incredibly helpful in affirming what he can do through ��ñ��’s ministry at UVA.”

“God called me to be bolder in my prayers and in my actions at ONS,” said Stephen Wiley, new staff ministering at the University of North Carolina at Asheville. “I now think more critically about what it means to serve in a multiethnic context.”

Weley Lai, new staff from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, summed up how God prepared ONS class of 2012 for the coming school year: “After these 10 days at ONS, I’m deeply committed to this ministry. I’m coming to campus with more boldness, and I can’t wait to lead the students into evangelism.”

God has equipped and is sending this class to help develop the next generation of world changers. We are praying that God is glorified through ��ñ��’s new staff members’ preparation this summer and ministry on campus this fall!

Click on top photo to see what the ONS class of 2012 looked like just before the action photo was taken.

News Keywords

staff

ONS

Professor of the Year

AD-16225 — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 20:47:11 +0000

News

Sarah Kirk

Professor of the Year

Lendol Calder, ��ñ�� alumnus and history professor at Augustana College, was recently named the 2010 Illinois Professor of the Year, an award recognizing professors who excel in undergraduate teaching and mentoring. With over 300 professors nominated for this award, it's quite an honor that Lendol was chosen.

Lendol has earned the attention of the academic world in recent years with his belief that there is more to history classes than memorizing events, names, and dates. “Every course I teach is built on the foundation of this question: How should we live yet do not yet live?” says Lendol. “For example, I’m teaching a course for freshmen right now called To Love and to Wed: A Different Kind of Sex Ed. I can hardly believe I get paid to talk to young people about what love is historically and what kind of lovers we strive to be now.” (see Uncoverage: Toward a Signature Pedagogy for the History Survey)

Some of Lendol’s current teaching style can be traced to his ��ñ�� days at the University of Texas – Austin. Lendol remembers the day when a senior in his dorm invited his roommate to a Bible study. Lendol says, “My roommate wasn’t interested. But I chased the senior down and asked if I could come.”

From that point on, God began to use ��ñ�� in Lendol’s life. “As an undergraduate, ��ñ�� provided my education,” Lendol says. “Colleagues look at me funny when I tell them this, but it’s true. It wasn’t professors who taught me how to read, how to speak in public, or how to think. I learned these things through ��ñ��. For example, in our small group Bible studies and at Bible & Life conferences, we learned the inductive method of reading: observation, interpretation, and application. I’m still teaching this way of reading with my students today.”

It’s tempting to think that teaching must come easy for anyone named Professor of the Year; however, that is not always the case. “You see, teaching is hard, exhausting, frustrating, intimidating, and uncertain work. It’s an act of faith, really.” Lendol says, “You pour your heart and mind into creating learning environments for students, only to find that most don’t care nearly as much as you do about the subject. I often walk back to my office thinking, ‘Did anything get through?’”

“Students today are like adventure tourists walking through a jungle,” says Lendol. “‘Nothing here but trees and grass,’ says the student while their guide shouts ‘Look! There’s a tiger in the grass!’ Except that young people today don’t have guides. They have iPods, they have cable TV, they have each other. But no real guides. We may be the first society in human history to create a cultural environment in which the young are turned loose in the world without benefit of the wisdom of elders telling them how to find a vocation, how to find a mate, how to make love last. Cut off from adults and entombed in their peer culture, they are expected to make maps of their own. No wonder they don’t have time to read and prepare for class. They’re too busy trying to figure out how life works.”

Lendol is not only making a difference in the lives of his students, but is changing the way history classes are taught at universities around the country. “This is why being named Professor of the Year is so meaningful to me. Since news of the award was announced, I’ve received over a hundred letters and emails from former students. The wonderful thing about these letters is that they don’t just offer congratulations, they also tell me what they’ve learned from me, what they remember years later, and how it matters to them. This is feedback teachers rarely get. It’s been a wonderful gift and has made this a joyful year for me.”

_{Lendol Calder graduated from the University of Texas – Austin in 1980 and worked for ��ñ�� in the Red River Region for five years before pursuing his PhD at the University of Chicago. In 1999 he wrote Financing the American Dream: A History of Debt in America and Lendol currently teaches history at Augustana College. One of Lendol's former ��ñ�� students, Steve Mitchell, was profiled in 2008.}

News Keywords

staff

Professor of the Year