It is through working with Chi Alpha that I find my passion to be aiding college students in coming to know Jesus! There is nothing more gratifying than to be apart of God’s awesome plan for his sons and daughters. After two amazing Chi Alpha “Plug” services God has moved in such a spectacular way.
This story was written Sept 1st 2011 by a freshman student who attended “The Plug” for the first time. This students experience is one of those encouraging and heart melting moments I hope and wish all students at Georgia Southern University experience.
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“My First Campus Ministry”
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My first week, I focused on surviving. I was at Georgia Southern University by myself for the first time, I mean truly by myself. So my first week instead of looking for ministries I was getting a crash course in time management, memorizing key dates, not to mention being told what to do at 4:30a.m. (I’m used to telling cadets what to do at about 4:30pm.)
This week, my second week, I dedicated time to finding a campus ministry where I can be connected to followers of Christ here at southern. I found a couple online on the Student Organizations page and lined up the schedule so that I could check out a few. All around campus, and I mean literally ALL AROUND CAMPUS, I saw advertisements for Chi Alpha, a Christian ministry that always starts its ad with; “We are not a fraternity or sorority” just a group of students finding out what it means to follow Jesus.” So do to the great marketing of Chi Alpha I decided I would try there first.
I was embarrassed. For the first time, I think in years, I was embarrassed to say that I as going to a ministry meeting. I mean who does that? This is college; we’re supposed to leave those “childish” religious beliefs at home. Instead we should live and believe how and what we want. Only holding on to our religion as something that we are born with, something that has no purpose something that is just there… almost like a birthmark. So walking sheepishly out the door, one of my roommates asked me where I was heading to, “to see Jessica,” I quickly replied. Knowing this was a blatant lie and a violation of Matthew 10:33. I could almost hear the rooster crow as I got on my bike and went to the IT building where the meeting was to be held. I passed a small mostly African American ministry group doing devotion under a gazebo looking thing on my right, that was a little encouraging, but still doubt crept into my mind. I wondered if there wasn’t really any meeting, what if I just walked into an empty room, what if it was just me and the preacher-guy, what if there all crazy, what if there’s nothing but overwhelmingly southern rural white people, what if, what if, what if… you get the idea my mind went on a full sprint down interstate what if and it was hard to see the upcoming exit.
I saw a sign in front of the IT building advertising the event. I finally left interstate what if as I confirmed that there was actually a meeting. As I walked in God answered a whole lot of what ifs and then some. I was greeted by a director-like lady, who was a senior at the university, and she told me about Chi Alpha being an abbreviation of the Greek “Christou apostoloi” written by Paul meaning literally “Christ’s sent ones.” I love languages and stuff (international studies major/ history nerd!) like that, so it was a great way to start a conversation with me.
Then the doors opened. As we walked in I looked around and just kind of observed what was going on, and I as truly amazed by what I saw. I saw a group of college students, larger than my congregation in Augusta, gathered talking, laughing, and when the time came praising God, reading Bibles, taking notes, etc, etc. Here’s the craziest part, you ready? It was on their own time. Like me they were all college students who just came, not because of parents, or grandparents made them, not because their friends or roommates would think its cool (I KNOW it was not that one lol), but simply because they loved the Lord. They could have been studying, a lot were over 21 and could have been chilling at the bar, to be honest even the ones under 21 could have been chilling at the bar (that’s for another reflection though). They could have been literally anywhere but they wanted to be here. There are universities where students are required to go to chapel and stuff like that, I promise I don’t mean to bash these schools, but to me this was way more beautiful.
This was very much different. The next thing I noticed was just how diverse college Christianity is. By diverse I could have simply meant there was a good mix of both black and white students, and there were. As a matter of fact the band played a mix of music. Some was contemporary stuff that you would hear on 88.3 others are the gospel stuff that you would hear on BET Sunday mornings. This is good, different, but good. Let me remind you though that this is still not the diverse that I am talking about. Alongside the blacks and whites, there were Hispanics, Asians, and a ton of other cultures! Behind me sat a VERY middle eastern looking guy who if I would have saw anywhere else on campus I would have pushed off as Islamic (but I have a stereotyping problem to be honest lol). Here at there’s Georgia Southern even a Japanese’s foreign exchange student that believes in Christ, a country that is “Proud of their secular society, most Japanese aren’t religious in the way Americans are” according to Dan Gillgolf, religion editor for CNN. Some didn’t like certain songs, I personally HAT, excuse me STRONGLY DISLIKE southern gospel, but we all seemed to put that aside to embrace unity in diversity. I liked that though because I my mind as the Church we should truly be the epitome of the Latin phrase E pluribus unum, meaning “Out of many, one.” I saw this amongst Christ’s sent ones Tuesday night.
People doubt all the time the ability of God to do his work, especially in the United States, and I don’t judge them because I think that too, a lot more that I would like to admit. I expected to see Christianity at a stand still here, on the ropes in a fight against postmodernism, atheism, and simple apathy. Instead I saw a group of believes still running the race that Paul tells us about in 1st Corinthians 9:24. I saw them doing it in a place that I personally consider more hostile to Christianity than the famous “10-40 window.” Audrey Assad, a Catholic singer, wrote her most famous single “It’s You I’m chasing after cause I am captivated by who You are and how You move I’ll follow You forever.” (Italics are mines). Like Mrs. Assad I am truly captivated to see Christ move especially as I remember that this is only the first ministry I’ve looked at. I hope that my optimism last as I go through the years (I like to live in terms of semesters now actually).
-written Sept. 1, 2011
by: Jonathan Quintyne
