Basketball and Bible Study

ashlye.vanderworp@intervarsity.org — Mon, 12 Feb 2018 19:54:35 +0000

Ashlye Vanderworp

Basketball and Bible Study

Gabby was a college basketball star who went to church “maybe once a year.” She believed in God—mostly because she was afraid of what would happen otherwise.

“I couldn’t understand when people would say Jesus died for me. In my head, he didn’t even know me,” Gabby said. “I used to question God all the time, and I didn’t understand the Bible and its meaning.”

“God, like the real God, spoke to you?”

On a road trip in 2015, Gabby’s best friend and fellow basketball player on another campus talked about Rec Week, an annual ��ñ�� conference. Gabby’s friend shared how at Rec Week she grew in her love for Jesus and engaged in listening prayer.

Gabby was shocked, “God, like the real God, spoke to you? How?” Her curiosity was sparked, so she agreed to study the Bible with her friend over the summer.

The next semester, Gabby transferred with a basketball scholarship to Our Lady of the Lake University (OLLU) in San Antonio, Texas, her best friend’s school. Excited to join the same life-changing ��ñ�� chapter as her friend, Gabby regularly attended a Bible study led by Patrick Farris, an ��ñ�� staff minister.

Patrick convinced Gabby, along with her teammates, to go to Rec Week, the same conference her friend attended a year earlier. A call to faith was made. Gabby said yes and decided to follow Jesus.

“Jesus does know me! I know that now. I don’t have it all together, and I need him.”

“��ñ�� changed my life.”

The following year, after co-leading a Bible study for basketball players at OLLU, Gabby and her team attended Rec Week for the second time. There, they prayed for campuses with no ��ñ�� presence, including Sul Ross State University—the same campus where Gabby already accepted a role as Graduate Assistant Coach of the women’s basketball team.

“That,” Gabby said, “presented a great opportunity to start a chapter!”

Today, Gabby leads Wednesday night Bible studies for the Sul Ross women’s basketball team when they’re not on the road. Just like Gabby’s team at OLLU, God is transforming the lives of the players at Sul Ross. They’ve become more open and are reaching friends outside of the team. Plus, this May, three years since her best friend told her about the conference, four of the women agreed to attend Rec Week with Gabby—the first time for Sul Ross students.

“��ñ�� changed my life,” Gabby said. “It not only strengthened my relationships with friends I already had, but also brought into my life people whose faith kept my faith growing even more. I thought I was good before, but when I gave my life to God and felt his love for me, I realized I was far from good. I actually lacked everything.”

Will you consider giving to ��ñ��, so more students like Gabby and her team can come to know the God who knows them already? Just like Gabby, ��ñ�� wants to see more future leaders developed on campuses across the nation. For more information and to give, click the button below.

Donate to Develop Future Leaders

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Standing for Christ on Campus, in the World

gordon.govier@intervarsity.org — Mon, 12 May 2014 18:14:55 +0000

News

Amy Hauptman

Standing for Christ on Campus, in the World

“God doesn’t just want to save you. He doesn’t just want your soul. He wants redemption in your life, your family, in everything—i.e., in our relationships, our homes, our jobs, etc.”

This challenge has stuck with Mike Poole ever since he heard it at ��ñ��’s 2011 Basileia Conference in a track called “Engaging God’s World.” Not only did the track address issues of social justice, but one of the speakers also preached on the importance of God’s global mission for redemption in the entire world.

“The thought that God wants everything, literally everything, and that he plans to take it all back, is crazy. It’s huge. It’s amazing,” said Mike. “And Christians have a part. Just as Adam was entrusted to take care of the Garden of Eden, we are also entrusted as stewards of God’s world.”

Mike walked away from the conference with a new perspective on God and on our role as Christians. He realized that, while stopping pollution, poverty, crimes against humanity, and injustice may not be part of bringing people to Christ directly, God cares about these issues and how they affect people. And if it matters to our Lord, then it should definitely matter to us as Christians.

Standing Firm on Campus

Back in 2007 (before Mike had arrived on campus), Montclair State University derecognized the ��ñ�� chapter there because they felt ��ñ��’s requirement that their leaders be Christian was discriminatory. So, from 2008 to 2011, ��ñ�� remained on campus as an unrecognized Christian student organization, which meant that they did not have the same kind of access that other student clubs did.

“My junior year (2012-13), our ��ñ�� chapter tossed around the idea of applying to be rerecognized by the campus,” said Mike. “And I took on that challenge: we made a constitution, tweaked it to match our core values, made a presentation, gathered signatures, attended meetings, and filled out paperwork.” The result? The Student Government Association (SGA) at Montclair voted to accept ��ñ�� back as a student club.

As a senior, Mike is now president of the ��ñ�� chapter as well as the point person who interacts with the SGA every week. “Mike is one of the hardest-working students on this campus and everyone knows it,” said ��ñ�� staff worker Travis Skinner. “He worked very hard to get our chapter recognized by our school’s student government again. Without Mike, ��ñ�� would not be a recognized club on campus.”

Engaging God’s World on Campus

Even while Mike continues to foster the chapter’s relationship with the SGA, he has also been inspired to invite other ��ñ�� students to focus on raising awareness about human trafficking.

“After the New York City Price of Life (a city-wide anti-human trafficking campaign, spearheaded by ��ñ�� Christian Fellowship) and the Super Bowl (a huge anti-human trafficking campaign related to the sporting event), our ��ñ�� chapter decided we wanted to do something,” said Mike. “I gave a series of lessons and activities that spanned three-to-four large groups all about human trafficking.”

Mike and ��ñ�� staff also organized a small Price of Life campaign on campus in April, which included a “Tunnel of Oppression,” an open mic night, speaker, a workshop, and a night of worship. But when their main speaker for the event fell through, Mike stepped up and gave a presentation for the main event instead.

So, whether it’s helping plan out large groups, coordinating with the SGA, working with other clubs, or networking, organizing events like the Price of Life campaign, or stepping up when planned speakers fall through, Mike said, “I do the background work so that God can take center stage.”

News Keywords

Student leader

Montclair State University

Student leader

Basketball and Bible Study

Basketball and Bible Study

“God, like the real God, spoke to you?”

“��ñ���� changed my life.”

Standing for Christ on Campus, in the World

Standing for Christ on Campus, in the World

Standing Firm on Campus

Engaging God’s World on Campus

“��ñ�� changed my life.”