University of California-Davis

"Serving Jesus is not a Seasonal Thing"

gordon.govier@intervarsity.org — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 14:53:04 +0000

Gordon Govier

"Serving Jesus is not a Seasonal Thing"

The aroma of barbecue, wafting across campus, creates a mouth-watering attraction that is difficult for students to resist. Some ��ñ�� chapters use a barbecue event to meet new students at the beginning of the school year. But John Cheng decided the chapter at the University of California-Davis was going to scrap the barbecue last year.

Reprioritizing Evangelism
John decided to start the first semester with open-air evangelism instead. He trained his student leaders to use Proxe stations, image-based display panels that create conversations that lead to spiritual discussions. They met just as many new students using proxe stations as they had before. But there were other changes.

“We have seen a culture of inviting seep into our fellowship,” John said. “It’s created a mind-set that inviting and reaching out is something that’s rewarding. And it’s not scary.” At the chapter’s first Large Group meeting of the year, four students stood up to indicate their decisions to follow Jesus.

Casting a vision to challenge students and doing evangelism are two of John’s favorite parts of being on staff with ��ñ��. His participation in ��ñ��’s Chapter Building Cohort is an ideal outlet for his creativity and allows him to experiment with innovations. He’s pleased that his UC-Davis students have responded so energetically.

A Turning Point
A turning point for the UC-Davis chapter came in 2010, after some of the students had attended Urbana 09 and heard the powerful message by Brenda Salter-McNeil on the importance of racial reconciliation. At the beginning of the spring semester about 90 students came together, including students from BCM (Black Campus Ministries) and LaFe (��ñ��’s ministry to Latino students).

At this meeting, John and the other speakers challenged the students not to be complacent about the size of their comparatively large chapter of 200 students. “The campus has 30,000 students. Where are we in that?” he asked. Posters hung on the walls in the room where the students met, surrounding them with the names of the various communities on campus that needed to hear the gospel. “Prayerfully consider going to these groups,” John entreated.

The students responded as he had hoped. “This was the first time I felt like we were becoming the fellowship that I wanted to see,” John said. As the students reached out to other groups on campus, one of the outcomes was an opportunity to engage in interfaith dialogue with Muslim students.

John encourages ��ñ�� students to develop relationships with other students whenever possible. “I tell them, ‘Stay in the dorm room, and if they have food to share, take it and eat it and just hang out there,’” he said.

Sticking With It
John graduated from UC-Davis in 2009, so his own student days are not far behind him. He led Bible studies for all but his first year on campus. He saw the studies grow from a handful of students his first year to 25 or more by the time he was a senior.

He learned a lot through the challenges of leading the Bible study. But the opportunity to go on an ��ñ�� Global Project to China after his sophomore year was formative.

“That was the most incredible experience, because my life had never been so in tune with the Spirit on such an everyday level,” he said. “It really transformed what I thought living a Christian life would be like. I’ve never depended on the Spirit so much, and I’ve never seen Him work so clearly on an everyday level.” That was the first time that John thought about going on staff with ��ñ��.

Today as John works with UC-Davis students, he tries to offer them skills that they can use for the rest of their Christian lives. Wherever God places them, he wants them to pursue the purposes of the Kingdom of God. “I think that is how Jesus would have us live as Christians,” he said. “I don’t think serving Jesus is a seasonal thing, and I hope they don’t think so either.”

This past school year 24 students became followers of Jesus at UC-Davis. John sees how students are being transformed by their faith in God. He believes transformed students can change the world.

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University of California-Davis

��ñ�� alumni - Mark Edwards

webteam@intervarsity.org — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 05:00:00 +0000

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Gordon Govier

��ñ�� alumni - Mark Edwards

Faculty members have all heard the stories about dying grandmothers and various other reasons that students can’t make it to class or complete an assignment. In many cases, they are just stories. In some cases the death of a grandmother, or another family tragedy, actually occurs and affects a student’s ability to complete assignments.

Students Need Someone to Listen

“I’ve been surprised at the number of times I’ve had students in my office who will be in tears about something,” said Mark Edwards, a Sociology professor at Oregon State University. “Students do have difficult things going on in their lives. Being able to listen and pay attention to them has a big impact.”

Mark recalled counseling first generation college students whose parents were out of work and the student was struggling to stay in school. Gay and lesbian students shared about how lonely and hurt they felt. One student showed up at his office drunk and in tears because his wife had left him. At those times Mark reflects that being a professor is not that different from being an ��ñ�� staff worker.

“Over the years I felt like what the Lord was leading me to do was actually to engage students in more of a pastoral way, in more of a ministry of mercy or compassion,” he said. “Students are surprised when they’re treated with respect or civility or with a little bit of generosity. That has been the most effective way for people to detect that perhaps there’s something different about me as a Christian.”

Attracted to Academia

Mark was a student at the University of California—Davis when he first got involved with ��ñ��. He graduated with a degree in Food Biochemistry in 1984 and joined ��ñ�� staff. During the six years he was on staff, he discovered how much he loved the university and being around students.

He also met several Christian sociology professors who he admired for the way they engaged moral issues in their field in a professional way, but also provided a vibrant Christian witness in the classroom. Rather than pursue a career as a food scientist working for a large corporation, he decided to stay in academia and become a sociologist.

Today he also serves as the faculty adviser for the ��ñ�� chapter at Oregon State University, and he is a lay leader in a local church. “I find that the kind of skills that ��ñ�� gave me as a student and staff worker are also the skills that my pastor says that he needs to see more in the church,” Mark said.

His academic research most recently has focused on hunger and food insecurity. He’s concerned about families which are struggling to put food on the table. And he’s pleased that organizations dealing with hunger issues have been able to use his information in their dealings with lawmakers to initiate programs that help low income families. “I’ve chosen to do projects that are not high-powered, big academic projects but are simple research projects that are trying to deal with social justice questions in our state,” he said.

Renewing the Campus

After spending all of his adult life on campus, as a student, staff worker, and now a professor, Mark is thankful for the presence of a campus ministry like ��ñ��.

“The university does a good job identifying where there are problems, helping students to maybe even care about them. But often we don’t have solutions to offer the students, except maybe some new government program or something that isn’t very practical for students. ��ñ��’s programs and activities are helping the university fulfill its mission, even if it doesn’t know that ��ñ�� fellowships are doing that.”

Because of his ��ñ�� experience, Mark’s students have a professor who cares about more than just what he can teach them about Sociology.

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Graduate Faculty Ministry

��ñ�� alumni

Oregon State University

University of California-Davis

University of California-Davis

"Serving Jesus is not a Seasonal Thing"

"Serving Jesus is not a Seasonal Thing"

��ñ���� alumni - Mark Edwards

��ñ���� alumni - Mark Edwards

��ñ�� alumni - Mark Edwards

��ñ�� alumni - Mark Edwards