#good4campus

Hallowed Halloween: Trick-or-Treating for the Kingdom

ashlye.vanderworp@intervarsity.org — Wed, 11 Dec 2019 21:58:29 +0000

Drew Larson

Hallowed Halloween: Trick-or-Treating for the Kingdom

Halloween in Columbia, Missouri, is much like Halloween anywhere else. Pop-up stores appear in non-descript strip malls, filled with the standard array of ghoulish kitsch: witch masks and Jack Skeletons, string cobwebs and tombstones. At dusk, trick-or-treaters swarm neighborhoods like costumed locusts. Candy is given out and eaten, as often by parents as by the children that collect it.

But Halloween is different here in one particularly interesting way. For the past three years, the ��ñ�� chapter at the University of Missouri has trick-or-treated, not for candy, but for household items that support survivors of human trafficking.

This tradition began in 2017 when Danny Poon, Campus Staff Minister of the Asian American ��ñ�� (AAIV) chapter at Missouri, was working at a local Korean restaurant in addition to his staff work. A customer saw Danny’s jade cross necklace and recognized it as a symbol of Asian Christianity. The two struck up a conversation. It turned out that Nanette, an energetic Japanese American woman, oversaw the Central Missouri Stop Human Trafficking Coalition.

“It was a slow day, so I got to chat with her. We bonded over the ways that God called her into working with [human trafficking victims] and how I’m in ministry as well,” Danny said. “We met up again a couple weeks later, and I thought, ‘This is something my students need to hear.’”

God had been preparing them to hear it. In Danny’s AAIV chapter, conversations around justice and community outreach had begun to percolate after an earlier outreach event in Chicago. Challenged by the experience, students began to ask missional questions like, “How can what is happening in our chapter expand to serve the whole city of Columbia?” A partnership with Nanette’s organization was a natural fit, and the students were enthusiastic. But what could they, as mere college students, do to help human trafficking survivors?

The students brainstormed together, finally landing on the idea of combining service with trick-or-treating—a student-friendly, nostalgia-filled night of fun that doubled as a way to provide basic needs, like food and household items, to newly freed survivors of trafficking. What began with 10 Missouri students has now, after three years, grown to a group of about 30 trick-or-treaters helping to serve some of the most vulnerable in Columbia.

The logistics of the event are impressive. A week before Halloween, students canvass different neighborhoods with flyers letting residents know that they’ll be seeing some students in costumes trick-or-treating and inviting them to partner by donating items when they come to the door.

That night, students dress up. “There have been some good costumes,” Danny recalled. “The inflatable dinosaur is always a fun one. And last year, a bunch of students dressed up like all sorts of fruit.” They fan out through different neighborhoods. Six or seven cars wait at strategic locations to collect the donated items from students and deliver them. Then everyone heads back to Danny’s house for a massive bonfire.

This event has given incalculable help to those who are newly freed from human trafficking.But Danny has also seen it galvanize his students and chapter. “My student leaders are now seeing creative ways to engage a campus and invite people to see Jesus through service,” he said. “On our campus, I’ve loved the way that students have become fired up to make change in the world. To see them connect [with God’s mission] has been amazing.”

The campus has taken notice. Students at Missouri’s School of Journalism, one of the largest in the country, have interviewed Danny every year about the event. With more and more students interested in conversations about social justice, Danny’s chapter, and their ‘hallowed Halloween’ event, is helping bridge the gap between these discussions and the good news of Jesus. By embodying Christ’s servant heart, they’re helping Missouri students see an important truth.

“Being a Christian isn’t just about planning the best Bible study or being the best preacher,” Danny said. “It’s about finding ways to walk alongside Jesus like this [event], even if people don’t recognize that it’s because of Jesus. The hope is that it will spark conversations later . . . but the end goal is just to draw closer to him.”

News Keywords

#good4campus

University of Missouri

Steps of Faith—Reaching the Houseless

ashlye.vanderworp@intervarsity.org — Mon, 11 Nov 2019 23:23:55 +0000

Nathan Peterson

Steps of Faith—Reaching the Houseless

White sandy beaches. Turquoise water. Clear skies and beautiful sunsets. They’re usually the first things that come to mind when people think of Hawai’i.

But what about not knowing where your next meal will come from? What about not knowing where you’ll sleep tonight? For the members of Maui’s community who are houseless, those questions are very real.

They’re just as real to God. And he laid these struggles on the hearts of one ��ñ�� chapter, from the University of Hawai’i Maui College, and called them to act. They were inspired by two stories—one helping them truly see the realities of their houseless brothers and sisters and another encouraging them to step out in faith to serve.

Faith Renewed

Last year’s spring semester wasn’t easy for Kahala. By 4:45 a.m., she was up already and moving the van she’d slept in. By 6:30, she needed to be done getting washed up after finding an open bathroom. An hour later, she had to be at her school’s student lounge with microwaveable meals ready to heat up for breakfast. And she had to do all this with three children. For six weeks.

The day Kahala had to gather up the kids, hurry them into the van, driving away from their home, it started pouring across Maui. “The entire time we were homeless and sleeping in our van, that same heavy rain continued,” she said. “I felt as though the heavens were crying with me.”

Kahala did her best to stay strong and confident for her kids, attending small group Bible studies and church just like normal. “This was tremendously hard,” she said. “But we knew that we were doing the right thing, which solidified our faith. We knew it was a matter of time and any other thoughts were banished from existence, even if we cried all night.”

Having lived on the streets of Philadelphia’s inner city when she was younger, Kahala couldn’t help thinking of those times as she tried making the best of her situation in Maui with her kids. “Each day brought plenty of obstacles, emotional baggage, and an ounce of despair,” she said. “Each day equally brought new people who would try to help.”

Throughout this challenging season, God faithfully provided for Kahala and her family through the generous love of her community. Classmates opened up their homes. Kahala was able to deeply connect with new people. And on Valentine’s Day, just when it felt like she couldn’t handle much more, God provided Kahala with an affordable apartment. The landlord, knowing her situation, even covered the first month’s rent.

“Our faith [has been] renewed, and our family reminded of why we are supposed to stick together,” Kahala said.

Faith Over Fear

“Have you thought about planning that outreach event I mentioned a few months ago?” asked Brennan, ��ñ��’s Area Director for Hawai’i.

“Uh . . .” Naomi’s eyes dropped to the floor as she answered her supervisor. “Not yet.”

Brennan’s voice came over the phone, gentle and gracious. “How come? Is there something holding you back?”

“I’m not sure,” Naomi said.

Overall, this past school year had been really encouraging for her. Serving as the campus minister of a newly planted ministry, Naomi had seen 15 students drawn to the chapter at the University of Hawai’i Maui College. Four had either made first-time decisions to follow Jesus or recommitted their lives to him. God had also renewed Naomi’s passion for ministry and Maui, her home island. He’d even giver her the opportunity to serve as the prayer leader for the school’s Hawaiian Club.

But still there was this outreach event . . . she’d been putting it off for months.

“Naomi, are you still there?” Brennan asked.

“Yeah,” she switched the phone to her other hand. “Honestly, I’m not sure what’s holding me back.”

Brennan continued asking questions, listening carefully. Together they discovered the reason behind her procrastinating: Naomi was afraid of failure.

“I didn’t think that talking about not planning and doing one specific event would lead me to such a deep revelation about the internal, emotional work that God was doing,” she said later. “I felt God’s challenge to be unafraid and move forward. Brennan reminded me it wasn’t about just crossing something off the list but about the heart behind it. It was clear that my heart wasn’t fully in it, and that needed to be changed.”

Brennan went on to ask Naomi to pray for faith over her fears. “[Those prayers] would help her to lean into Jesus for his mind and heart,” he recalled. “Naomi responded faithfully . . . and saw God show up in transforming her heart and mind.”

Reminded that God wasn’t asking her to come up with a perfect event but rather was just asking her to try, Naomi took a step of faith planning an outreach event for Maui’s houseless in the city of Kahului to offer them help and hope, tangible encouragement.

Faith Together

Naomi began the outreach by gathering five students together around a picnic table on campus. Kahala was among them and felt led to share. “One thing I have learned very early on is that we need to be the living example of what we need to see,” she said, looking back on that moment. “This leading by example is inspiring to others.”

Kahala began opening up about her own experience of houselessness and how she had just found an apartment a few weeks earlier. She spoke of how her faith has grown in God’s provision, how he’s called her to give generously to other families who are struggling, even when she didn’t have much. The others listened intently, coming around to comfort her as she began to weep.

“The students . . . could tell that even though [Kahala] shared about her own generosity, there was much more she has given but wasn’t sharing,” Naomi recalled. “They were able to see [her] heart of generosity, aloha, and humility.”

Naomi went on to read Acts 2:42–47. Her longing to see this kind of beautiful community, when combined with Kahala’s testimony, inspired the students to give their own money to cover some of the supplies for the outreach event.

They then took to the streets of downtown Kahului to hand out blankets, towels, and feminine products, spending time listening and talking to their houseless brothers and sisters. Moved by all they’d heard, the students boldly stepped out in faith, inviting many people to upcoming chapter events.

“Being seen on the streets . . . meant that folks who knew the students might have seen them and been concerned or worried for their well-being or just wondered what they were doing out there in the middle of the afternoon talking with houseless folks,” Naomi said. “This would provide opportunities for these students to have conversations about their faith or about God.

“I saw students grow in determination and their heart for other people,” she continued. “I knew they loved each other, the small group on campus, and their classmates, who they were close with, but seeing them reach out to strangers, to talk and even pray with them was a side of them I hadn’t seen all the time.”

“[We] listened to the hearts of those who wanted to share their journeys with us,” Kahala said. “We were able to pray with them and provide support. It felt great to do this with our brothers and sisters in faith and not through an existing human service provider. It showed us how much our friends in faith truly cared and that we were all ready to stand to make a difference.”

As Kahala continued to cling to her faith through a difficult season, as Naomi faced her fears head-on through God’s grace and power, many lives were changed. Maui’s houseless tangibly experienced the love of Christ.

News Keywords

#good4campus

Hawaii

University of Hawai’i Maui College

Maui

outreach

houseless

Laborers of Many Harvests–Transformation of a Middle School, College Campus, and City

ashlye.vanderworp@intervarsity.org — Wed, 06 Nov 2019 17:16:15 +0000

Ashlye Vanderworp

Laborers of Many Harvests–Transformation of a Middle School, College Campus, and City

If you ask Campus Staff Minister Jamal Morris what makes his ministry unique, he’ll laugh and say, “It’d probably take an outsider to tell you . . . It’s just second nature to me.” When he came on staff with ��ñ�� almost 12 years ago, he kept encountering the same problem. Students he met at the University of Tennessee Chattanooga (UTC) didn’t want to have anything to do with Christianity because they didn’t see how it made an actual difference in the world. They wanted to be a part of something real, particularly something that could alleviate pain in the inner-city.

Jamal coined a term for these students: the “unchurchable.” He recognized that these students were done with church, and ��ñ��’s traditional method of ministry wouldn’t enable him to reach the unchurchable at UTC. He needed to do something more.

Through his connections as a former youth pastor, Jamal began reaching out to local middle schools to see if there was a way they could partner with his campus ministry. These were some of the lowest performing schools in Tennessee, plagued by generations of segregation and gentrification, and were often seen as “gang initiating” schools.

Orchard Knob Middle School, where UTC ��ñ�� currently serves, responded. “I asked the principal if I could observe the students and build relationships with them,” Jamal said. “Then, I asked the college students to come with me and observe their conversations using the OIA [observation, interpretation, application] method.”

This birthed ��ñ��/Urban Initiative, a turning point for Jamal’s ministry at UTC. Since then, ��ñ�� students have hosted SHINE and RARE, one-and-a-half-year mentoring courses for female and male students, respectively, at Orchard Knob. Students there normally have no access to college students, so they’re seeing a picture of what their lives can be like in the years to come that they wouldn’t otherwise.

In order to put on SHINE and RARE, the format of ��ñ�� at UTC looks a little different than it does at most other campuses. In small groups, college students do inductive Bible study that then helps them prepare curriculum for the middle school students. They look at Scripture, think about what the students are needing, and then ask God how to apply Scripture to the students’ situations.

SHINE has covered all sorts of topics, such as body image, often through some sort of craft or activity. RARE discussions also range widely and have included topics like what to do when you feel like taking revenge on someone who has hurt you, followed by some sort of sports activity like dodgeball.

“We’re helping them learn how to make the right decisions,” Jamal said. “It’s discipleship from a place of foolishness to a place of wisdom.”

And ��ñ��/Urban Initiative has seen God move in powerful ways in the lives of students and in the community as a whole.

Influencing Life at Orchard Knob

Of the many stories they’ve been a part of, ��ñ��/Urban Initiative most recently played a major role in the life of eighth grader, Tyler. Tyler never saw schoolwork as important and saw being intelligent as a feminine trait. This became such a problem that he was expelled in the 2017–2018 school year. Getting a second chance, Tyler came back to Orchard Knob in the fall and joined RARE. Being around and learning from college-aged men was new for him, and he was able to see through them how it’s possible to be both manly and smart. As he also learned the importance of setting goals, his life did a complete 180, and he finished the school year with a 4.0 GPA. On top of that, Tyler was the winner of the city’s middle school wrestling tournament.

��ñ��’s influencing extends to Orchard Knob administration as well. When the school experiences difficult situations such as gang or mental health issues, ��ñ�� is who they call. They also continually involve themselves in Orchard Knob life and community, hosting festivals, attending students’ basketball games, and more. They’re caring deeply for the school and helping fix problems that are neglected by other community groups, the city itself, and even churches.

Influencing the College Campus

But it’s not just the lives of middle schoolers that have been influenced through ��ñ�� at UTC. The college students, as well, are experiencing their worldviews shifting. Students who used to see their future careers, including multiple pre-med students, as a way to live a wealthy and successful lifestyle to escape the injustices of the city now see their degrees and professions as an opportunity to pour back into the community.

Students involved in ��ñ��/Urban Initiative now also have an easier time inviting classmates and friends to Large Group and other events because they can easily point to how they’re a part of real change. They’ve learned how to talk about Scripture and Jesus’ love for the world with specific examples of what they’ve seen, and that’s appealing to others.

“It’s not a sheltered belief system,” Jamal said. “It makes it more ‘cool.’”

Their Large Group strategy also seeks to better contextualize ministry for UTC students’ needs. Rather than coming up with content at the beginning of the semester, they pay close attention to what’s happening in the culture on campus. Then, Large Groups alternate between more typical inductive Bible studies and topical discussions based around addressing some sort of event or situation on campus. They also use Large Groups as a chance to invite more students to serve with them at Orchard Knob.

Growing in Influence

In 2018, ��ñ��/Urban Initiative was awarded Best Student Organization by UTC. Others are seeing the value of what the organization does on campus and in the community. That year, the student leadership team’s principles were relevancy and relationships, and they based everything they did on Matthew 9:36-38: "When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, 'The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.'” They wanted to have compassion for the issues and the students at both the middle school and college campus, as they sought to be laborers of both harvests.

��ñ��/Urban Initiative’s influence continues to grow, and they look forward to serving an additional middle school this year. Jamal is also working to expand this model of ministry to Tennessee State University, so that another group of middle school students, another college campus, and another city will experience the transformative, healing power of Jesus in the unique way Chattanooga has.

News Keywords

Campus Partnerships Open Opportunities for the Gospel at U of Oregon

ashlye.vanderworp@intervarsity.org — Tue, 29 Oct 2019 20:57:20 +0000

Gordon Govier

Campus Partnerships Open Opportunities for the Gospel at U of Oregon

Gently used clothing, water bottles, school supplies, and other items can find a new home through the University of Oregon (UO) Student Sustainability Center’s Free Store, which popped up on campus several times during the past semester. The Center is a part of UO’s Erb Memorial Union, and coordinator Zaida Hatfield hopes that the Free Store will soon become a year-round institution that will help students affordably (as in free) find things that they need.

The Free Store originally came about several years ago through the UO ��ñ�� chapter’s 21 Day Project, which challenged students to live sustainably by wearing only 21 items of clothing for 21 days. “We partnered with the Student Sustainability Center because we thought they would enjoy being involved in the sale of student surplus items,” said Zach Schwartz, ��ñ�� Campus Staff Minister at UO.

Zach said the chapter seeks to partner with other student organizations on campus because they share similar values in terms of caring for the campus, the campus community, and God’s creation. Students in the UO ��ñ�� chapter intentionally seek involvement in other campus organizations as a way to find opportunities to share their faith.

“Partnering with student organizations has helped our own reputation as a Christian organization that really cares about the campus,” Zach said.

News Keywords

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

News Keywords

#good4campus

Russell Sage College

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

outreach

New York

Native ��ñ�� Family Dinners—Being Fed Body, Spirit, & Soul

ashlye.vanderworp@intervarsity.org — Fri, 11 Oct 2019 21:04:30 +0000

Nathan Peterson

Native ��ñ�� Family Dinners—Being Fed Body, Spirit, & Soul

Standing outside the house in the cooling air of a New Mexico evening, you hear laughter. Warm yellow light spills through the windows as you cross the sidewalk to the front door. Rashawn, the man you met on campus, welcomes you in with a big grin. Inside the laughter and conversations buzz even louder.

Past the sand-colored dining room walls you see two bulging bags of flour on the kitchen counter. People are bustling between the oven and sink. The savory smell of chicken and frybread thickens the air. Suddenly, you’re more hungry than nervous.

As more people greet you—one of them who you’d just seen in class a few hours ago—you feel a warmth that has nothing to do with temperature. From movies to bowling, they start asking you about your hobbies. Then someone pulls out the card game UNO, and everyone groans, “Not that again!” even as they settle down to play.

What you’ve just begun to experience is your first family dinner with the Native ��ñ�� chapter at San Juan College.

* * *

Everything you saw traces back to when Rashawn Ramone, of the Nambé Nation, went to his first family dinner in 2008 as a student at Fort Lewis College in Colorado. As the night went on, and he continued coming back week after week, his homesickness and anxiety began to melt in light of the laughter and deep conversations he was having.

After graduation, Rashawn became an ��ñ�� campus minister at San Juan College, a two-year community school. With no dorms on campus and a lack of community events, especially for Native students, he sensed a perfect opportunity to start hosting family dinners. Framed as a chance for a free meal and a break from the stress of schoolwork, the biweekly event immediately caught students’ attention.

“They always tell me this is a way of helping them to know the community,” Rashawn said. “It can definitely help them to be together, share laughs, know each other, see what the whole community’s like, and see the people. They never really had time to be able to sit down with other people and listen to them before.”

“I remember we had a slow start in the beginning trying to grow as a club,” said Shylasha Nunez, who belongs to the Navajo Tł’izí lání, Naakai dine’é, and Lók’aa’ dine’é Clans. But after four years of being involved with Native ��ñ��, Shy has seen it grow. “As we got to know our club members more, we became a family. Each family dinner, we have gotten closer with each other. Also inviting friends and family to join us made everything full of joy.”

A Thriving Family

By the time the food is all ready, the small dining room is overflowing with people. And they’re not just college students. Grandparents, moms and dads, even nieces and nephews playing tag, weaving between the grownups—it really is a dinner with the whole family.

Rashawn and several others carry over baskets of steaming frybread and plates of grilled chicken covered in a sweet, tangy sauce. After pausing to pray, everyone digs in. Rashawn goes on to explain that the chicken—luau chicken actually—is based on a recipe he got while visiting fellow ��ñ�� campus ministers in Hawaiʻi. He shares more about his trip and the many ways students are growing closer to God.

The meal continues, and someone asks what they should make for the next family dinner. The answers vary: green bean and mushroom soup casserole, dumplings, pork chops and mac and cheese, even spaghetti tacos, inspired by the iCarly show.

Whatever it ends up being, there’s an unspoken guarantee that it will be a family event, everyone chipping in to help, whether buying supplies, doing the cooking, or just bringing plenty of laughter and lively conversation.

* * *

Rashawn had originally started out doing all the cooking for family dinners and budgeting all the supplies as part of his ministry. But as the event has grown in popularity, several students asked if they could help. “This semester, they started to make the meals that their families make,” he said. “In a way, they’re sharing their story with other people. The food tells a story. It tells a story about where they’re coming from, how they learned to make the food.”

And once they saw the positive influence family dinners were having on Native students, San Juan College stepped in to cover all the costs for the event and help publicize it on campus. “There’s certainly not a lot of loneliness anymore on campus,” another student, Kelsi L’u Beth Monroe, said. “Our Native ��ñ�� chapter is the most active club on our campus right now. It feels like we’re this plant that was put into the ground, and it came up and has light on it, like a sunflower. It feels like we can be this beacon of hope to help everyone find their way in the darkness.”

Excited by the ways everyone was growing and connecting with each other, Kelsi brought her uncle to several dinners. “He was incredibly welcomed,” she said. “He said it felt like one of those old-style powwows in Oklahoma, when they get together and eat, like a feast.”

Rashawn has seen these events have quite an influence on students within the chapter, especially those who help host or cook. “They do have a better, healthier relationship with their families,” he said. “When Native students invite their nephews, parents, grandparents, or relatives, they always tell me that doing family dinners is really good for them.”

Sharing Stories, Finding Healing

After the food is cleared away, everyone settles back, and Rashawn says that Kelsi, a woman with cheerful laughter holding an infant, is going to share some of her story.

Kelsi begins explaining how her heritage is a little different than many Native people living in New Mexico, who are mainly Navajo. She is an enrolled member of the Southern Indian Tribe, a member of the Kitkehahki band of the Pawnee Nation, southern Cheyenne, Oglala, and Sicangu Lakota.

She shares how she first came across Native ��ñ�� back in 2008. One afternoon while sitting in her dorm at Fort Lewis College, Kelsi started hearing music and laughter. The smell of frybread wafting in through her window was the deal breaker; she had to go check it out. Walking outside, she discovered a crowd of people, many of them wearing Frybread Power T-shirts, like the ones from a favorite childhood movie of hers, Smoke Signals. “I wanted to see how to get one of those shirts,” Kelsi grins.

She explains that she’d just unknowingly stumbled across Native ��ñ��’s annual Would Jesus Eat Frybread? (WJF) conference. As she continued getting more involved with the ministry, Kelsi would return to WJF in 2016. “It made me feel very healed and renewed as an American Indian woman,” she says. “I already knew I could be a Christian and still be practicing my traditional ways and beliefs, but WJF just affirmed everything.”

The more she speaks in that packed little room, still smelling of frybread and luau chicken, something deeper happens than just a casual meal. Trust is being built.

* * *

Over the course of five years, many have shared their story during family dinners, including several pastors and priests who have partnered with Rashawn. Some moments have been light-hearted and encouraging, but many times as people begin to feel more comfortable with the group, they share more vulnerable moments, like how they’ve personally struggled with the historical trauma interwoven throughout Native history.

“There’s a lot of stuff like that, like alcoholism or drugs or spiritual brokenness. Some of the things the students share, they feel like it’s a normal thing,” Rashawn said. “The sin is telling us a lie. That it’s normal. Keep doing it. And that’s been passed down from generation to generation. It’s a spiritual brokenness, a spiritual lie to ourselves. But we don’t actually know it’s not normal for us until God reveals it.”

Rashawn has experienced this journey firsthand. For many years, he didn’t even notice the ways that the past’s darkest moments had been affecting him. But as he began receiving personal healing from Jesus, he knew he had to share this with others.

A huge part of this involves contextualization. “I think the family dinners are a way of contextualizing,” Rashawn said. “Contextualization opens the conversations about what it means to be Native and a follower of Jesus and the common ground of Native culture and Christianity. [Students] do want healing. They do want to receive the gospel in a way that they can understand. [We are] helping [students] understand how to contextualize the gospel into a Native context that can be seen through their families. The food, laughter, stories, community are actually helping Native students to heal. I think Jesus is definitely telling me that he can receive [this trauma] and help us to heal. And that this won’t go on to the next generation. It won’t hurt more Native families.”

Healing has taken many forms. A number of students have either rededicated their lives to Jesus or chosen to follow him for the first time. For others, their relationships with their families, communities, and churches are being restored thanks to the Spirit’s work through family dinners and Native ��ñ��.

“I have never been any happier to make changes and see healing in the future for our people and with God,” said Shy Nunez. “One of my greatest moments I remember is being involved in our community and learning a better understanding of what it is to be Native. I am not traditional, but learning the knowledge of caring and working together has changed my perspective and views of the world in a different way, where I deeply felt I can take bigger actions to help others.”

Many are discovering for the first time how their culture is a God-given gift and opportunity to praise and honor him. “God used Native ��ñ�� to bring me closer to my ancestry and also remind me of the wonderful and amazing and strong and resilient people that I come from,” Kelsi said.

“My grandpa always told me when you feed someone, you’re giving them life,” she added. “Family dinners give each of us life by nourishing our bodies through the sharing of food, nourishing our souls in sharing in the glory of God’s creation, and nourishing our spirits in fellowship with one another. It doesn’t just nourish our physical bodies. It helps our mental states to know that we’re not alone, our emotional states to allow us to open up to each other, and spiritual states in which each of us pray for one another. And we’re growing in a community and family.”

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Indigenous Peoples Day