Building First Impressions

This is a guest post by Mike Godzwa, the American University Chi Alpha Campus Director, and also a runner, coffee-connoisseur, and dad. You can connect with him via Twitter.

I did my internship year with Chi Alpha @ Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti, MI.  It was right down the road from the University of Michigan. Every now and then, when I wanted to get a taste of the Big 10, I would wander over to Ann Arbor and walk the campus. I'll never forget what I heard on one of my visits.

I was talking with Steve, a guy in my small group, on the main quad when a tour group passed by.  The guide stopped the group just a few feet from us and pointed out some of the buildings.  He gestured to the Undergraduate Library and gave this explaination: “Over here we’ve got the Undergraduate Library. We call it UGLY for short.  There are side room that you can reserve.  I think people use them for hook-ups.”  That was it. That was his official description of the what to expect in the library.  For the high school seniors, this was part of their first impression of college life @ UM. First impressions are powerful.

In just a few weeks, students will be arriving on university campuses all around the DC area.  Each one will be forming their first impressions of college life.  That’s why Chi Alpha’s outreach during this time is so vital.  As we hand out water bottles to international students and free ice cream to freshmen, we help to form their idea of what their next 4 years will be like.  Each one of our events is designed to help us reach out in relationship, helping Jesus followers know they can continue their journey as college students and inviting others to see what He’s all about.

Erica was one of those incoming freshmen @ AU several years ago.  She was a soccer player and was overwhelmed by the pressure to party with her teammates.  Although she had been a part of a church for most of her life, she was finding it hard to represent Jesus all by herself.  She found Chi Alpha at one of our welcome week events and got plugged in.  Not only did Erica stay connected to her faith, she invited others to join her by becoming a small group leader the next year.  She was able to form amazing friendships--she even met her husband in our group.

Erica’s life was changed because we were there to meet her.  Will you help us meet more students like Erica? Join our 100 for $100 campaign today. It will help us get the resources we need to do it.

A Crucial Time is Approaching

Anna w/ Raphael (A Student From Australia) 

This is a guest post by Anna Beatty, who is currently a senior at American University and has a passion for all things German. You can connect with her via Facebook. 

I like to use the word “anomaly” to describe the social atmosphere at American University, which is a liberal private university with strong political science and international relations departments. Students pride themselves in being open-minded and accepting of all cultures and backgrounds, and they get a chance to meet people from everywhere from Virginia to Bahrain. Among the 6,000 undergraduates who live on and around campus, students know enough people to not recognize everybody but to still encounter a good handful of acquaintances and friends on a walk across the quad. Chances are good that when they meet a new classmate or fellow activist, they’ll have at least ten mutual Facebook friends already, which makes it easier to connect from the get-go. Once the conversations get deeper, politics, your own adventures abroad, and the cultural implications of the latest blockbuster are all fair game.

God, however, is something that is discussed as something that is “good for you but not for me.” Christians have gotten themselves into all kinds of anthropological, political, and international relational conundrums. Anyway, truth is relative. To each his own, right?

For about a week and a half, though, this social box is shattered. During their first days on campus, none of the new students have friends yet, so they are genuinely eager to meet people, to make connections and to test the waters.

During Fall Kickoff anyone meets everyone. Students ask each other “What’s your name?”, “Where are you from?” and “What’s your major?” until they’re blue in the face. It’s not weird to go for frozen yogurt with someone you met two hours ago and their roommate and their friend from orientation and the guy down the hall and his roommate. It’s not weird to show up for Cones & Chi Alpha – but it’s also not weird to show up in line for a ride from an unknown upperclassman to the off-campus fraternity party with no clue how you’ll get back. This makes Fall Kickoff a more than crucial time in the spiritual lives of the student body and, inevitably, their circles of influence beyond the university campus both domestically and internationally.

An Unforgettable Story

Let me give you an example. I met an incoming freshman, who we’ll call Sean, during Welcome Week when we helped move him and his roommate into their dorm room. Later that night, he came with us to Dinner Out and I got a chance to explain that Chi Alpha is a great community to explore your faith in. He said he had been involved in his Catholic church at home and seemed interested in some faith exploration, so I wasn’t surprised when he showed up regularly to our worship services and heard he was attending a guys’ small group (Bible study).

Only at the end of that school year did I have a chance to ask Sean more about his faith journey and what made him want to stick around Chi Alpha. Come to find out, Sean had been cutting himself, was very disillusioned with his church experience, and would have turned away from God completely. Except that one of the Chi Alpha guys happened to invite him to small group and Sean – in classic Welcome Week spirit – decided to give it a go. And he just didn’t stop going.

Sean will tell you that he became a Christian during his first semester at American University. This summer I have been so encouraged to hear about how God is answering his prayers. In addition to starting a process of personal healing, God has brought Sean’s reluctant parents to his new church, and they loved it. God also allowed Sean to reconnect with his estranged former best friend from high school and tell her about his new faith.

The way that God granted us access to incoming students during Welcome Week has made way for Him to work in and through students who might never have even given Jesus a second thought had it not been for a connection made during those critical first few days on campus.

 Our 100 for $100 Project will go towards each of the Chi Alpha Campus Ministries in the DC area and has the potential to transform their Fall Kickoff. Are you interested in donating or reading more? Click here. 

Some News

As many of you know, we are in the middle of our 100 for $100 Project. You can read more about it here but in short, it's a social media fundraiser to get all of our DC Chi Alpha Ministries funded for an incredible Fall Kickoff. If you're curious about the effectiveness of events (and haven't we all been), we'd love for you to hear a former student's thoughts (here). 

We've decided to extend the project through July 31. Well, July 31 at 11:59pm to be exact. We have already had 20 people donate $100 each, which is amazing! We need 80 more people to join us in order to meet our goal and with your help, we believe that we can make it happen. 

Is it a long-shot? Perhaps. But we believe that students are worth the sacrifice. Maybe you've considered giving, we invite you to be a part of this project today! Have you already given? You can help us by telling your friends, neighbors, pastors and relatives about this! We've always believed that ministry is a team sport, and that is certainly still the truth as it comes to raising funds in order to be able to create events and environments that impact students. That help that student get connected, the one that didn't come searching for us but we were there. 

Yet, your investment doesn't just impact freshman in the city (although that would be pretty cool in itself) but we have five college grads interning with DC Chi Alpha this Fall! That means, that as we prepare for what we hope is the greatest Fall Kickoff of all-time - you are providing more and more opportunities for them to learn, grow and minister to students.  

I think I've said enough and I want to close with a few words from Bethany, a former student involved in DC Chi Alpha! (Written by Blane Young) 

A hundred dollars might not be that big of a deal to you; it could mean skipping a few weeks of eating out or holding off on buying a new iPad. Maybe you are barely making ends meet, and $100 sounds like a huge sacrifice. Either way, let’s be real: it’s a pretty cheap price to change a life.

Our Project 100 for $100 will go towards each of our campus ministries in the DC area and transform their Welcome Weeks to a 'hole 'nutha level. Give here!  

Going to More than Just Events

This is a guest post by Bethany Turley, a recent graduate of American University. You can connect with her via her blog here. 

I walked up to the steps of Spiritual Life Center, where “Cones & Chi Alpha” was kicking off. I had been on campus less than 36 hours, so everything was new and overwhelming. One thing that wasn’t new to me was Chi Alpha. My parents had worked with Chi Alpha while I was growing up, but I felt unsure about getting personally involved. I wasn’t sure the Christians were the people I wanted to hang out with at college.

The next night I came back for pizza. Then I made cupcakes with Chi Alpha on the quad. That weekend I went to church with them, and then ran around the National Mall on a “Riddle Quest.”

By the end of that first week, I knew these were people I wanted to spend more time with. The girls I had run into repeatedly at the Welcome Week events became the small group that surrounded me during one of the most transformational years of my life.

Every year since then I have been part of the massive undertaking that is Welcome Week at AU. We pass out thousands of cards, pounds of pizza and gallons of soda. From pancakes and board games to massive Glow-in-the-Dark dance parties, Chi Alpha has it all. However what matters isn’t the scale of the events, but the students whose college experiences are irrevocably changed by them.

During Welcome Week my senior year, I met a group of girls who kept coming back to our events. Because of the connections we made, they joined my small group, and two months later I had the privilege of baptizing one of them to celebrate her decision to follow Christ made a few weeks before.

That is why Welcome Week matters. That is why your contribution matters. A hundred dollars might not be that big of a deal to you; it could mean skipping a few weeks of eating out or holding off on buying a new iPad. Maybe you are barely making ends meet, and $100 sounds like a huge sacrifice. Either way, let’s be real: it’s a pretty cheap price to change a life.

Our Project 100 for $100 will go towards each of our campus ministries in the DC area and transform their Welcome Weeks to a 'hole 'nutha level. Give here!  

God Uses the Ordinary

This is a guest post by Meredith B Daniel, a recent graduate of American University. She blogs her thoughts here! 

I started my freshman year at American University in a fragile state. I was still reeling from the pain of my parents' divorce, and I struggled with an eating disorder. Though my parents raised me in the church, I wanted to make a fresh start in a new place as my own person. I wasn't sure how, or if, God fit into that. 

During one of the Welcome Week activities I spoke with a girl named Heather at the Chi Alpha booth. She invited me to her small group, and for some reason I decided to go. That one decision connected me with the community of AU Chi Alpha for the next four years. 

I couldn't believe how honest and vulnerable and loving the girls in my small group were about their struggles and their lives. I realized that if I wanted to be whole and confident, I had to stop hiding who I really was from other people. Spending time with Christians who lived fully and loved fully helped me learn that I was capable of that too, if I would only let God transform me.

As time went by, my experiences in Chi Alpha facilitated healing and restoration. Through small group and great friendships, God gave me the support and love necessary to lead me into positions of responsibility and leadership both within and outside of Chi Alpha. Though I had a rough start, college ended up being the most liberating and amazing time of my life.

God used the ministry of Chi Alpha to impact me and change my life's trajectory at a crucial time. He's just great at using people, like you and me, to reach each other at the most important times in our stories… which is a really humbling thing. I want to give back what I've been given in whatever way I can, so my post-grad plans are to give a year to missions in Granada, Spain! I'll be working with college students at the university there through a non-profit called Raices. God used Chi Alpha to write a better story in my life; I feel really blessed to be a part of something that gives other students that same opportunity. 

Join Meredith in supporting campus ministries by being one of our 100 people today! You can give here! Thanks for stopping by.