Dickinson college / en Bennett's Story /bennett <div class="layout layout--twocol-section layout--twocol-section--33-67"> <div class="layout__region layout__region--first"> <nav role="navigation" aria-labelledby="-menu" class="_none block block-menu navigation menu--about-us-menu"> <h2 class="visually-hidden" id="-menu">About Us Menu</h2> <ul class="clearfix nav" data-component-id="bootstrap_barrio:menu"> <li class="nav-item"> <a href="/about-us/what-we-believe" class="nav-link nav-link--about-us-what-we-believe" data-drupal-link-system-path="node/9386">What We Believe</a> </li> <li class="nav-item"> <a href="/about-us/our-purpose" class="nav-link nav-link--about-us-our-purpose" data-drupal-link-system-path="node/6927">Our Purpose</a> </li> <li class="nav-item"> <a href="/about-us/financial-info" title="Financial Info" class="nav-link nav-link--about-us-financial-info" data-drupal-link-system-path="node/6926">Financial Info</a> </li> <li class="nav-item"> <a href="/about-us/2022-2023-annual-report" class="nav-link nav-link--about-us-2022-2023-annual-report" data-drupal-link-system-path="node/4976">2022-2023 Annual Report</a> </li> <li class="nav-item"> <a href="/about-us/leadership" class="nav-link nav-link--about-us-leadership" data-drupal-link-system-path="node/6928">Leadership</a> </li> <li class="nav-item"> <a href="/about-us/intervarsity-and-ifes-history" class="nav-link nav-link--about-us-intervarsity-and-ifes-history" data-drupal-link-system-path="node/6925">ñ and IFES History</a> </li> <li class="nav-item"> <a href="/about-us/news" class="nav-link nav-link--about-us-news" data-drupal-link-system-path="node/6929">News</a> </li> <li class="nav-item menu-item--collapsed"> <a href="/about-us/press-room" class="nav-link nav-link--about-us-press-room" data-drupal-link-system-path="node/6931">Press Room</a> </li> <li class="nav-item"> <a href="/contact" class="nav-link nav-link--contact" data-drupal-link-system-path="node/9383">Contact Us</a> </li> </ul> </nav> </div> <div class="layout__region layout__region--second"> <div class="_none block block-layout-builder block-field-blocknodenewsfield-author"> <div class="content"> <div class="field field--name-field-author field--type-string field--label-hidden field__item">Gordon Govier</div> </div> </div> <div class="_none block block-layout-builder block-field-blocknodenewstitle"> <div class="content"> <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden"><h1>Bennett's Story </h1></span> </div> </div> <div class="_none block block-layout-builder block-field-blocknodenewsfield-square-image"> <div class="content"> <div class="field field--name-field-square-image field--type-image field--label-hidden field__item"> <img src="/sites/default/files/styles/300x169/public/news/IMG_8112.JPG?itok=X__v9uKK" width="225" height="169" alt loading="lazy" class="image-style-_00x169"> </div> </div> </div> <div class="_none block block-layout-builder block-field-blocknodenewsbody"> <div class="content"> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>When the Dickinson College ñ chapter solicited questions about God, in exchange for a grilled cheese sandwich, freshman Bennett Briante was curious.</p> <p>“Doesn’t your religion depend on where you were born?” He thought.</p> <p>Bennett&nbsp;got the sandwich and an answer to his question. He signed up to get more information about ñ, but every time Campus Staff Minister Andrew Berg&nbsp;invited him to the chapter’s activities, Bennett was no longer interested.</p> <p>What Bennett&nbsp;<em>was</em> interested in was the party scene at Dickinson. He spent his time partying and hanging out with his&nbsp;baseball teammate Chris.</p> <p>Then, on Halloween,&nbsp;Chris got in trouble. He had his ROTC scholarship revoked&nbsp;and&nbsp;dropped out.</p> <h2>A Friend that Changed His Life</h2> <p>The next April,&nbsp;Chris came back to visit the campus, and Bennett was surprised at how much he had&nbsp;changed.</p> <p>“The last time I had seen him he had been in a very low place,” Bennett recalled. “Six months later, seeing him in the most incredible, peaceful, happy state, I said, ‘Chris, what happened?’ and he explained to me about God and Jesus. And I said, ‘I want that.’”</p> <p>That summer Bennett&nbsp;stayed with Chris for a month. His time with him&nbsp;confirmed that he wanted to follow Jesus himself.</p> <p>When Bennett arrived back on campus to start his sophomore year, he knew he had to make some changes, but he wasn’t sure how. Then he discovered that he still had Andrew’s number on his phone.</p> <p>Bennett&nbsp;gave Andrew a call and started going to Bible study.</p> <p>This time, Bennett responded to Andrew’s invitations and plugged into ñ, and by his junior year, he was a member of the leadership team. He led prayer events, shared his faith with his friends, and also, ironically, led the grilled cheese outreach that first introduced him to ñ.</p> <h2>Changing Someone Else's Life</h2> <p>In his senior year Bennett signed up to go to Fall Conference for the first time, after avoiding it for two years.</p> <p>“This fall, I really felt the Holy Spirit say, ‘You should go to this one.’ I did, and by God’s grace this amazing thing happened.”</p> <p>Bennett found himself in a small group at Fall Conference that included a student&nbsp;from Penn State Mont Alto named <a href="http://intervarsity.org/carlos">Carlos</a>, who wasn’t a believer. Reminded of where he was himself a couple of years earlier, Bennett invited Carlos on a hike where he made his own decision to follw Jesus.</p> <h2>The New Bennett</h2> <p>Bennett looks back to where he was two-and-a-half years ago.&nbsp;People that knew him back then even refer to when he was the&nbsp;"Old Bennett" verses now as the&nbsp;"New Bennett".&nbsp;</p> <p>“ñ created a friendly environment, allowing me to meet Christians and have friendships with them for the first time," Bennett&nbsp;said.&nbsp;"It’s so incredible what has transpired over the past three years and how rapidly my faith has grown, and how rapidly my life has changed. The things that I used to do I don’t do any longer. It’s been a total 180. Everything has changed.”</p> <p>ñ wants to see more students, like Bennett, hear about the good new of Jesus and experience his love for them. But more than half of the college campuses in our country don't have a witnessing community of Christians. That's why God has given us the 2030 Calling, to reach every corner of every campus. You can be a part of it by giving a generous gift to ñ. Click the button below for more information.&nbsp;</p> <p class="rtecenter"><a class="button-action mega deep-button" href="https://donate.intervarsity.org/donate#s22362">Give to the 2030 Calling</a></p> </div> </div> </div> <div class="_none block block-layout-builder block-field-blocknodenewsfield-news-keywords"> <div class="content"> <div class="field field--name-field-news-keywords field--type-entity-reference field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News Keywords</div> <div class="field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/2187" hreflang="en">transformation</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/2347" hreflang="en">story</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/2380" hreflang="en">Dickinson college</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/2381" hreflang="en">Andrew Berg</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/2364" hreflang="en">Penn State Mont Alto</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/2348" hreflang="en">testimony</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/829" hreflang="en">Fall conference</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/taxonomy/term/715" hreflang="en">Bible Study</a></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> Thu, 09 Aug 2018 17:16:15 +0000 ashlye.vanderworp@intervarsity.org 2461 at