University of Hawai'i at Hilo

Angel’s Story

ashlye.vanderworp@intervarsity.org — Mon, 22 Oct 2018 17:05:11 +0000

Ashlye Vanderworp

Angel’s Story

Angel, from Hawaii, had a difficult childhood and grew up in a broken home. Eventually, she was taken from her family by Child Protective Services and became a foster child, moving from home to home, constantly running away from abuse.

“I prayed every single night, waiting for a better day,” Angel said. “Why am I suffering? A better day didn’t come, so I left God’s side and accepted a world of pain and darkness—a world where I had to survive by myself.”

At only 17, Angel graduated from high school and had to leave her foster home at the time. She hopelessly searched for a place to live, fearing she would become homeless.

“I had already experienced years of stealing and selling myself to survive financially, and I didn’t want to go back to that life,” Angel said.

A Huge Risk

That’s when her social worker took a huge risk. She told Angel about Brenda Wong, an ��ñ�� Area Director who owned a Christian community house. Angel hesitantly accepted an offer to move into the house, not having any other choice but to be on the streets.

For months, Brenda persistently invited Angel to ��ñ�� events. Angel consistently said no because, to her, it sounded like “a place for nerds.”

Finally, Angel came up with a plan one night when Brenda invited her to an ��ñ�� event again. “I’ll go just once, tell her I didn’t like it, and never go back again,” she said, hoping Brenda would stop asking her.

That night though, the ��ñ�� staff minister who was speaking taught on Matthew 14 when Jesus calls Peter to walk on water toward him, reaching out his hand. He asked the students listening if they would take Jesus’ hand as well. Angel understood that Jesus was calling her to him.

“I felt something warm, I wept, and I cried so hard,” Angel said. “That one night I went to ��ñ��, I gave my life to Jesus!”

A New Family

Now a part of the ��ñ�� community, Angel has a family for the first time—one that loves her unconditionally. She spends her time with them, serves with them, and helps lead worship with them.

“When I first went to ��ñ��, people genuinely wanted to know about my life. That was something that was so foreign to me—this kid that was pushed to the side, no one wanted to know about me, and yet everyone was asking me, ‘Where are you from?,’ ‘What’s your background?,’ ‘Who are you?’—I felt important,” Angel said.

More than that though, Angel decided to take a risk just like the one her social worker took that changed her life. Having once dropped out, Angel decided to not only return to Honolulu Community College, but to also plant an ��ñ�� chapter there. She wants to start a small group where anyone can experience God’s love.

Already, God has used Angel to initiate spiritual conversations with classmates, helping them connect what’s going on in their lives to the life of Jesus. Her vision is to speak love to those who are hurting like she was and to see her community transformed through her own transformed life.

“Because I said yes to Jesus, God is putting my old self to death and has brought me new life. He is giving me back what was taken from me. He has prepared the fattened calf and wrapped me in his finest cloth. I am the prodigal that came home!”

Just like Angel at Honolulu Community College, ��ñ�� students and staff are living out our 2030 Calling to plant on campuses currently without a Christian witnessing community. Will you be a part of making our 2030 Calling happen so that more college students across the country, like Angel, can experience the tranformative love of Jesus? Click the button below for more information.

Give to the 2030 Calling

News Keywords

story

testimony

community

University of Hawai'i at Hilo

Hawaii

2030 Calling

Honolulu Community College

Campus Ministry on the Big Island

gordon.govier@intervarsity.org — Thu, 05 Feb 2015 15:34:43 +0000

News

Gordon Govier

Campus Ministry on the Big Island

Brennan Takayama faced a difficult decision. After graduation from Stanford University, he had returned to his home in Hawaiʻi to research native Hawaiian education issues while also volunteering with ��ñ�� on the campus of the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. Two years later he was invited to join ��ñ�� full-time. It was a life-changing opportunity.

He spent an afternoon praying about it. Following his father’s advice, he asked God to show him what he saw him doing. He felt Jesus asking him, “What are the deepest desires of your heart?”

Thinking about all of the time he had invested in learning about adolescent development and education, he knew his answer: to see the transformation of Hawaiʻi and the empowerment of young people.

He then sensed Jesus asking him, “How do you see that happening?” And Brennan responded, “Only through you, Jesus, only through you.” Suddenly he saw clearly how he should proceed.

“Something in that interaction with Jesus captured my heart,” Brennan said. “I saw that ��ñ�� was a space where I could actively pursue those passions.”

So Brennan became a full-time Campus Staff Member in 2009. In 2011 he began new chapters at the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo and then Hawaiʻi Community College. The two campuses are located just a couple blocks apart, right next to the high school that Brennan attended over a decade ago.

Brennan’s vision for Hawaiʻi is quite similar to ��ñ��’s Vision Statement: to see students and faculty transformed, campuses renewed, and world changers developed. But planting a new chapter can be a difficult job, especially on an island where there are no other ��ñ�� staff members. Brennan said that having confidence in himself and in who God made him to be, as well as abiding in God’s love have been key to the success of his ministry.

Because he is ministering on one of the most ethnically diverse campuses in the country, the training in multiethnicity that he has received through ��ñ�� has also been key. As a student Brennan was at first confused about ��ñ��’s focus on faith and culture. And when, at the end of his freshman year, he and some ��ñ�� friends decided to move into Casa Zapata (a Chicano/Latino-themed dorm) in order to reach out to neighboring freshman dorms, he was not so sure it was a good idea. Brennan was not familiar with Latino culture.

But during his junior and senior years he ended up co-leading a Bible study in Casa Zapata and was warmly welcomed into the community. “The challenges that I faced and the blessings that I received totally transformed the way I see myself in my own ethnic identity, as well as how I reach out to pursue God’s mission,” he said.

In the midst of ministry to other students of Japanese and Chinese heritage, like himself, as well as Samoan, Micronesian, and Filipino students, Brennan is also focused on reaching the native Hawaiian community.

Each summer, ��ñ�� invites students to Hoʻolohe pono, a two-week immersion into Hawaiian culture. Hoʻolohe pono means “to listen carefully, well, and rightly.” Brennan observed, “The model of listening, learning, and serving before speaking can be applied to a ton of learning communities. It’s a great training experience for reaching out cross-culturally.”

Aspects of ��ñ�� culture translate well to Hawaiian culture. Small groups are called “ʻohana groups,” which means “family groups.” The weekly large group meeting familiar to many chapters is done a little differently in Hawaiʻi. Called Kanikapila, it is more like an occasional worship jamfest with student testimonies. In both ʻohana groups and Kanikapila, students are being challenged to follow Christ, and they are responding.

As the chapter grows, and as students grow in their faith, Brennan’s vision of seeing Hawaiʻi transformed and young people empowered is becoming a reality.

News Keywords

University of Hawai'i at Hilo

Stanford University