Every year, we have a special Large Group called Invite Night where we invite our non-Christian friends.
It’s geared toward people who have been hurt by the church, are skeptical about Christianity, and who are weirded out by typical church type services.
There’s no musical worship, no Christianese, and lots of opportunity for discussion.
Two years ago, I spoke about Jesus and our secrets.
Earlier this month, we polled students on campus, they chose the question they were most curious about concerning Christianity (Is it rational to believe in God at all?), and then my boss Steven gave a 30-minute presentation tailor-made to spur on authentic discussion.
The talk was extremely well received, discussions went deep and long, and students in our community got a chance to talk with many non-Christians about Jesus in response.
That’s the scoop on Invite Night.
Say hello to the coolest small group in the whole wide world.
This past weekend, 8 out of 9 of us went on a small group retreat at a cabin located in the middle of nowhere.
The highlights include:
Kind of playing football. We made up our own special football game that’s way too hard to explain for the interwebs. All you need to know is it was fun, painful at times, and Nate Dunn won.
Really tasty food. Pancakes, bacon, hamburgers, tortillas, breakfast burritos, dinner burritos, Hawaiian Punch, alfredo, and good ol’ sandwiches.
The power going out. We were staying at a cabin off the grid. Meaning, the whole place was powered by golf cart batteries and a generator. On Saturday night, the power went out around 9pm, we lit a fire, put mattresses on the ground, and talked the night away until 2am.
Books and a blanket. While our dear friends were exploring Sunset Crater, Michael Zowada read like it’s our job. Shoot, I finished a whole book.
That’s what happens when eight dudes spend the weekend in the middle of nowhere.
Overall, the whole weekend is one of the coolest things I’ve experienced this year and moves me to gratitude that I’m a part of the coolest small group in the whole wide world.
Our InterVarsity chapter loves hanging out…in the woods.
Our bonfire the first weekend of school has been, and probably always will be, our most attended event. I don’t get it. We drive to a random spot in the woods, burn some stuff, and just stand there. But people love it, anyway.
There’s something about the graham crackers and marshmallows filling our stomachs and the guy in the gorilla suit (yes, really happened) that just makes everyone feel comfortable meeting a bunch of new people.
Personally, I got to catch up with a lot of our older students and I met a handful of younger students.
One girl I met, named Danielle, is really good at abbrevs. As in, abbreviations. It’d be like shortening “cool” to “coo” or “totally” to “totes.” I think I might start going by “Bri” — since it’s an abbrev.
Just kidding.
Anyway, bonfire = success. Let the craziness of New Student Outreach continue on…
One of the essentials in campus ministry is to build rapport with students you have to be able to have fun.
Life isn’t always serious (even though some of us are naturally serious all the time) and if all your time with students is serious, serious, serious, they end up trying to avoid you at all costs once they get burnt out.
Not to mention, games are really low commitment for students wondering if InterVarsity is the community for them, and it’s an easy way to get to know people.
We hosted a game night in one of the freshman halls on campus. We had like 15 games, and around 80ish people, a handful of which just wandered by and wanted to hang out.
I, personally, didn’t play any games at game night because I spent the majority of the time welcoming the stragglers who just kind of wandered in. A boring, but necessary job.
Some of the games present were Apples to Apples, Monopoly, good ol’ fashioned cards, and other games I’ve never heard of.
Overall, the night was a success. We had fun, met a lot of new students, and gamed the night away.
I’m not mad in this picture. I’m just squinting because of the sun.
Doing ministry = fun.
If I may say, I think our booth was the coolest one at the whole orientation expo.
We asked people the question….”What scares you the most about college?”
All smiles. Again.
We put on a picnic in the middle of campus to engage with students in spiritual conversations and eat chicken wings.
This is a picture of yours truly facilitating a prayer walk for potential leaders on campus.
This is Aziel (one of our student leaders) praying for another staff (Theo) before he shares a message to kick off Vision Week.
Another picture from the picnic.
Esther, Chelsea, and Crystal (another staff!) after a leadership meeting.
A response board we asked students on campus to contribute to. The point: start conversations.
Another response board we asked students to contribute to. The point: start conversations.
8:33am - wake up from my slumber
8:42am - brush teeth, wash face, and finally wake up
9:01am - quiet time of Bible reading and prayer
10:37am - work on email newsletter update to supporters
11:43am - ride my bike to campus
12:05pm - mmm, smoothie at Jamba Juice at NAU
12:30pm - hang out with random InterVarsity students in Starbuck’s
1:07pm - facilitate our prayer walk for our vision week of inviting people into leadership
2:29pm - hang out with another staff; talk about the ins and outs of ministry.
4:15pm - schedule meetings for next week with students via text messaging.
4:31pm - play mafia with InterVarsity students visiting from Colorado
5:30pm - ride my bike home to grab a jacket and end up running into one of our small group leaders
6:03pm - drive to campus with one of our small group leaders for dinner meetings
6:10pm - dinner together with a future InterVarsity intern
7:02pm - arrive at Onetribe (the native student ministry)
7:43pm - speak at Onetribe about choosing love over lust
8:30pm - get dropped off at home by an old roommate who is a leader in Onetribe
9:05pm - visit a friend to talk about her blog and a controversial book that just came out
9:23pm - spur of the moment dance party a friend’s house.
11:31pm - arrive at home after hanging out with friends
11:42pm - lay on my couch to relax before I start my evening routine
12:47am - go to sleep, exhausted from a worthwhile day of campus ministry
Note: This is a busy day : )
We had a prayer and worship night to kick off our week of outreach and social justice campaign called Release 2011.
Here’s some pictures from the night:
