New York

Partnership, Commitment, and the Power of Cookies

ashlye.vanderworp@intervarsity.org — Wed, 23 Oct 2019 15:26:26 +0000

Emily Baez

Partnership, Commitment, and the Power of Cookies

When asked about outreach, students couldn’t agree on the best part.

“Outreach is great because it’s so easy” and “I like it for the calm feeling you get when you invite strangers to Bible study” were common answers.

Others mentioned how much they love being ignored or never hearing from someone again after a meaningful conversation they had while doing outreach.

If what you just read sounds made up, that’s because it is.

For a lot of Christians, efforts to spread awareness of our ministry, and of the gospel, and welcome others into our lives (aka outreach), can be challenging, to say the least. It’s not that we lack confidence in a good and faithful God. Often, the difficulty is rooted in the anxiety we feel when we share our core values with others, only to face rejection. Because outreach can be an awkward experience, some avoid it completely. But it doesn’t have to be this way.

��ñ�� students at Russell Sage College and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, made this discovery. Two years ago, they decided to try a cookie drive as a way to engage their campus. Their plan was to deliver cookies weekly through a sign up sheet in which students could receive cookies up to a few times a semester–for free.

“I didn’t believe there were good people in the world,” a student said when ��ñ�� campus staff, Niki, explained the no-cost, no-catch, baked goods service.

“Me neither,” Niki replied. “But I believe in a God who helps me do better.”

Before the cookie drive, the highest number of students the Russell Sage and Rensselaer ��ñ�� chapters had met in any new student outreach was 500. Their first year doing the cookie drive, they met 1,000 students. This past year? 1,400. That’s 2,400 students who received cookies and an introduction to “that ��ñ�� club.”

The way they’re pulling it off is simple: partnership, commitment, and the power of cookies.

Partnership

Local churches partnered with the ��ñ�� chapters at Rensselaer and Russell Sage to prepare and bake the cookies each week. Then, as word got out about the drive, neighbors and other church members got involved. They reached out to Niki and asked how they could be praying for students. One man in Troy offered to bake cookies every Monday and has now been doing so for the past year.

At both schools, the chapters have received an encouraging amount of support from Resident Assistants on campus. Over at Rensselaer, RAs were so moved by the drive, they started advertising it to their dorms. And at Russell Sage, though the cookie drive had a seemingly rocky start, an RA remains one of their biggest fans. She confronted the group one day as they were spreading the news about their drive near a freshman dorm. At first, the group worried they were in trouble. But they were instead met with enthusiasm. The RA told them that because Russell Sage is such a small school, it’s hard to get students excited about anything. She asked them to keep it up and is grateful that their outreach is bringing some liveliness to that part of campus.

Commitment

The students running the cookie drive collect names and addresses, sometimes help bake cookies, and deliver them. If they deliver cookies to a dorm and the recipient isn’t there, they’ll leave the cookies and ask any roommates if they’d like the free treats next time. The opportunities to expand not only their reach, but also their workload, never end.

Their committed efforts mean they’ve become a well-known group on campus. Even professors and graduate students have asked the group to deliver cookies to them.

It’s a lot of responsibility, but they know it’s worth it. They rotate groups throughout the school year and even have students handling it during the summer. And yes, they do this every week without missing a beat—often, more than once a week.

The Power of Cookies

Everyone loves cookies. In fact, students came out in droves to bake alongside ��ñ�� when they organized a cookie delivery during finals week. This gathering gave students of different beliefs and backgrounds a shared space to not only work together on something they can all agree on—cookies and the happiness they bring—but to also begin conversations about faith. They invited students to Large Group, and some came. But those who didn’t left knowing that ��ñ�� exists, and it’s a place on campus where they’re always welcome.

Recently, the chapter tried something a little different and put on a cupcake decorating event. A student approached them and said, “I knew you were the Christian group.” He continued to explain how their presence was a comfort to him. If he ever felt stressed or faced a time of crisis, he knew there was a group of people on campus who cared, and he wouldn’t hesitate to reach out.

So yes, fresh, warm cookies (or the occasional cupcake) are a blessing. Few would deny that. But it’s not just the cookies that make this such a successful outreach. People are moved by generosity. These students and those partnered with the chapter sacrifice time, resources, and labor to provide this service. And while reactions range from excitement to curiosity to skepticism, all can agree that the free cookie drive isn’t ordinary. That’s why it’s so effective.

The Result

Niki says that since starting this outreach, her students are less timid to “out” themselves as Christians. They know that in certain contexts that label can carry some uncomfortable weight. Not every Christian regularly reveals the nature of Christ. But students and faculty on both campuses are witnessing that nature now from these ��ñ�� chapters. Jesus came to serve and to be a light in the lives of those around him. ��ñ�� students at Rensselaer and Russell Sage have become that light to others. As a result, they’ve dispelled many of the stigmas surrounding religious organizations on campus.

While it may initially seem like these two groups in New York are just running a mobile bakery, they’re really accomplishing so much more. In the process, they’re meeting people they otherwise wouldn’t, having meaningful conversations, and becoming a constant, friendly presence in the lives of their peers. Although this method of outreach still isn’t easy (because outreach will probably never be easy), it’s happening . . . and it’s changing the culture of the campus as it does.

***

As ��ñ�� seeks to see every corner of every campus reached with the real hope of Jesus by 2030, we know we can't do it alone. That's why we're engaging partners–alumni, other organizations, and churches, like the ones who bake cookies for Russell Sage College and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, to join us. Find out more about our 2030 Calling by clicking the button below.

Read about the 2030 Calling

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Russell Sage College

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

outreach

New York

Making Campus a Place Where People Encounter God and Find Joy

gordon.govier@intervarsity.org — Tue, 23 Jul 2019 13:00:31 +0000

Nathan Peterson

Making Campus a Place Where People Encounter God and Find Joy

“Jocin means joy,” Jocin Thomas said, and it’s pronounced JOE-sn. And if it wasn’t for ��ñ�� there would have been a lot less joy during her days as a student at Baruch College in New York City.

“��ñ�� is what made my college experience and where I grew the most, spiritually, professionally, and in leadership,” she said. She commuted to Baruch each day from her home in Long Island and, without an ��ñ�� community, Baruch would’ve been just another thing to do. “It would have felt like high school all over again.”

Someone in her church recommended ��ñ�� to her, so she connected with the chapter early in her freshman year. It was a dissonant connection at first. People were seeking God, experiencing God, and studying the Bible differently than what she knew from her church. But since their love for God was unmistakable, she stayed with it.

“I didn’t realize what the gospel was, and how to share it,” she said, describing her spiritual life before college. “Starting to see my faith outside of the four walls of the church and developing an authentic relationship with God was huge.”

��ñ�� gave her college years purpose, something she missed after she graduated with her Human Resource Management degree and worked in retail for two years. When she switched jobs and began working at a church, she found a mission but she wasn’t sure that was God’s purpose for her.

“I was sitting by the pier in Bay Ridge, saying, ‘God what do you want me to do next?’” She thought of ��ñ�� and how campus ministry had changed her life. She had been helping as a volunteer but joining staff seemed too challenging. Her parents had emigrated to the US to seek a better life for their family and it was shameful in their culture to ask for financial assistance.

And yet, she didn’t see any other option. “My life changed through campus ministry. I wanted to be a part of that and see that happen for other students, and faculty,” she said.

She wrestled with the decision for months before finally plunging ahead. She found a way to present her ministry challenges that resonated with potential partners and overcame some of the cultural barriers.

“The way the Lord worked was so great because now it is the most favorite part of my work.” She said. “I love being able to tell people about the work that God is doing. I thought my culture would have rejected me but to see 80 percent of my network being the ones who are supporting me, that has been such a blessing.”

Jocin started in an administrative role, as Operations Director for ��ñ��’s New York City Area. Then she became an Associate Area Director, and is now an Area Director.

She loves working with her fellow New York City Area Directors, and is constantly thinking about her time as a student at Baruch. “What helps me in my role as Area Director has been having a healthy example of what a chapter can look like,” she said. “That has really helped.”

As a student, Jocin knew little about ��ñ�� beyond her campus. Now she has the bigger picture and a bigger purpose.

Over the decades, ��ñ�� has typically ministered on about 15-16 New York City campuses. Today that number has grown to 25. But all five boroughs of New York have 85 campuses, with 600,000 students. Jocin is always looking to see where to go next, where to have the biggest impact.

“This is a place where I can see people encountering God,” she said. “I see God at work in all these different areas. And being able to work with people to make it happen, seeing God at work, it never gets old." That’s joy for Jocin today.

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Chapter Camp: Powerful Moments of Clarity on Character of God

gordon.govier@intervarsity.org — Mon, 01 Jul 2019 14:38:29 +0000

Gordon Govier

Chapter Camp: Powerful Moments of Clarity on Character of God

Deep in the Adirondack Mountains, on the shore of a scenic lake, about 100 ��ñ�� students from New York and New Jersey campuses spent a week in May in the gym at Young Life’s Saranac Village camp. They divided into 12 tribes, “stoned” prophets with paper wads, and engaged in other experiential activities to help them better understand the Old Testament.

They were attending Origins, a survey class of the Old Testament offered during two separate weeks of Basileia, the region’s Chapter Camp. (Basileia means kingdom in Ancient Greek, i.e., God’s kingdom, and Chapter Camp is a week of leadership training and Scripture engagement held during spring break or after the end of the school year.) Jason Gaboury, ��ñ��’s New York/New Jersey Regional Director, shared teaching duties with Lindsay Olesberg, ��ñ��’s Scripture Engagement Director, who developed the Origins class.

“What was really beautiful from my perspective is that students began to see the same character of God in the Old Testament that they see in Jesus,” Jason said. “When students begin to see that, it is really powerful. I think that happened when they began to see that the loving kindness, faithfulness, longsuffering, and generosity of God isn’t a New Testament idea. It goes all the way back to Genesis.”

��ñ��’s Chapter Camps are famous for immersing college students in a week-long, in-depth Bible study of the Gospel of Mark, but other portions of Scripture are also studied. Often students have the misunderstanding that the God of the Old Testament is different than the God of the New Testament. The Origins class shows that God’s character is consistent throughout the Bible.

During Basilea, Jason shared comments on Facebook from students about how their week away from campus was changing their lives, including one from Rutgers student Chenghui: “I learned from Basilea this week that God is gracious and holy, to be revered and feared. But I learned from Origins track that he is not just a God of judgment but also a God of mercy and grace. His love is actually far greater than I could have ever imagined.”

Jason described another student who made the connection at the beginning of the last day of the class. “He had one of these powerful moments of clarity,” Jason recalled. “He said, ‘I never really understood the New Testament before; now I get it. I’m so excited to go back and lead my fellow students in studying the Old Testament and understanding who God is from that perspective.’”

Seventy colleges in New York and New Jersey have an ��ñ�� presence. Most sent representatives to one of the three weeks of Basileia. This was Jason’s first chance to teach Origins. “Having seen how transformative it was for the students, we will absolutely teach it again,” he said.

After all, how often do you get a chance to stone prophets?

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In the Crucible of the Workplace

AD-16225 — Thu, 29 Jun 2017 20:57:56 +0000

News

In the Crucible of the Workplace

On the first weekend of April, 252 students and business leaders from around the country gathered in New York City to learn about good business practices and following Jesus, and how to connect the two.

It may seem an unusual connection but it’s not. “Most of Jesus’ miracles occurred in the marketplace, so the marketplace is a valid mission field,” said Henry Kaestner, a successful entrepreneur who was one of the main speakers for the weekend. As former ��ñ�� Vice President Pete Hammond used to point out, most of the people God used in the Bible were not professional clergy.

This was the 12^th annual Believers in Business conference. Planned by MBA students who are involved with ��ñ��’s MBA Ministry, the goal is for them and their peers to learn from more experienced business leaders who apply their Christian beliefs to their business practices.

Henry was a co-founder of Bandwidth.com, a communications technology company. He left the company to get involved in philanthropy but then felt called to return to the business world. Now he mentors entrepreneurs whose projects have a connection to their Christian faith.

During the conference Henry used stories from his own experience to encourage students to be faithful business leaders. “You’re being commissioned to be able to do God’s work in his marketplace,” he told attendees. “Lord willing, you’ll be a part of the cultural transformation that’s bringing about God’s kingdom.”

Business mentors participating in the Believers in Business Conference also included the Dean of Pepperdine University's MBA program, the head of Women in Technology at GE, and leaders from finance, marketing, entrepreneurship, and management fields. Students appreciated the opportunity to hear from business leaders who had not only a depth of experience but also a faith perspective.

In comments afterward, one student said, “The conference gave me more clarity for my calling to missions in business.” Another commented, “The conference allowed me to rededicate myself to following God's plans for my life. I am at a position where I will be making important decisions about my life and career. This conference reset me on the path of obedience and faithfulness.”

The significance of the workplace focus was summarized by one speaker: “Work is the primary crucible where God sanctifies you, where he makes you more like Christ, where he makes you more of a disciple.”

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