Long hiatus from the blog…and now the Sidewalks Urban Project is in full swing

Posted on June 23, 2011 | Leave a comment

Quick link to the Sidewalks 2011 blog: http://sidewalks2011.blogspot.com/.  Check it out for several updates a week from college students living in southeast Lancaster city for six weeks this summer.  Five InterVarsity staff are present with 11 students from Bucknell, Lehigh, Bloomsburg, York, and Millersville.  We’re partnering with long-term city ministries Water Street, Community Homeless Outreach Center, Transitional Living Center, Church World Services, and Arbor Place.  Keep checking the Sidewalks blogs for the latest news and reflections!

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Connecting to the corners of Our Campuses

Posted on March 22, 2011 | Leave a comment

Some exciting things have been developing this semester as college students across South Central Pennsylvania press out to the corners of their campuses.

At York College, students wrestled with how to engage their friends during St. Patrick’s Day festivities.  From their InterVarsity staff worker’s blog:

As more and more young adults become convinced that this is the one and only standard by which to measure the good life, we see campuses devolving into communities of nascent alcoholism, addiction, and escapism. St. Patty’s Day offers an excuse get drunk in so spectacular a fashion that friends will be talking about it for weeks, though you yourself will have no memory of it.

Jesus managed to hang with some pretty unsavory types. He liked them. He went where they lived, he ate their food, he sat on their couches, and he listened to their stories. Jesus loves broken folks, dirty folks, poorly-behaved folks. Why? Because like a doctor making house calls, he’s come for the sick.

As a broken, dirty, poorly-behaved dude myself, I’m grateful.

Fast forward 2,000 years to this Thursday. Based on the kind of folks Jesus went out of his way to befriend, where would you see him? Some student friends and I have decided where we’re spending our Saint Patrick’s Day – How about you?

At Dickinson College, students are gathering their friends and new acquaintances to have spiritual conversations.  A recent update from their InterVarsity staff:

Our spiritual discussion group this past week went well. Those who came said that they were happy to see something like this on campus. They were engaged and actively participated in the discussion. One girl kept saying, “This is blowing my mind!” Our discussion really caused her to think in a new way. We are hopeful that this discussion group will gain momentum.

At Penn State Harrisburg, their InterVarsity staff has been working on calling students to a vision of connecting across campus.  A recent text message from the staff:

I stated the vision 100 times today.  Result: could interpret need to invite to “dessert party” after bible study today and participate in open mic night missionally. More students excited and articulate about mission.

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Two Great Video Links

Posted on February 16, 2011 | Leave a comment
  1. It’s time to start thinking about plans for the summer.  What not consider spending 6 weeks in Lancaster city with Sidewalks Urban Project?
  2. This semester is quickly passing, so start thinking about the best way to spend that first week after Finals.  Why not spend it soaking in scripture, playing with friends, and soaking in the beauty of God’s creation?  Check out Chapter Camp!

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Soularium

Posted on February 13, 2011 | Leave a comment

An update from Kelly, Campus Staff at Dickinson College:

At the end of last semester, we (the student Soularium team & I) had decided to try another run of Soularium early in the spring semester with a follow-up discussion group meeting.  One of my favorite moments was at one point when this one girl was taking the survey while her friend watched. “I’m just watching,” the friend said at first when I asked if she wanted to do it at the same time. After the girl was done, her friend, intrigued after having observed, said “Can I do it!?” “Of course!” I replied.

A couple of days later, during the second round of Soularium, I was particularly struck/amused by this pair of friends, two sophomore guys, who did it together. I had stepped out and went through my usual plea, “Hi I’m with Dickinson Christian Fellowship, and we’re doing this survey to find out more about the spiritual lives of students on campus, do you have a few minutes to do it? It’s sort of connected to the pictures.” They looked at each other. One said, “Do we want to do it?” The other replied, “Sure, let’s do it!” They went on to absolutely love it. They said multiple times, “This is the best survey I’ve ever done!” They gave extremely long in-depth answers to each question. They loved the whole idea of it- answering using the photographs, as well as the spiritual nature of the questions.

These ended up being the two students who showed up to our follow-up discussion group this past Tuesday. The theme of the meeting was peace & serenity, since it was a big common theme from our Soularium surveying- students feel that they are lacking it in their crazy college schedules but really want it in their lives. Our outline for the meeting looked something like this:

  • Intro:  What does peace mean to you?
  • Where do you find that peace? Can you find it on campus?
  • Philippians 4:4-7  Do you pray? Do you see any purpose or value in prayer?
  • For you, is there a connection between peace & prayer?
  • John 14:27, 16:33  The world is not a peaceful place. However, Jesus claims to bring peace/be a source of peace.
  • What do you think about Jesus?

We all participated in the discussion. The two friends really liked sharing their personal ideas and experiences, but also hearing ours. We had a lot of interesting discussion on peace, prayer, the Bible and Jesus. One of the guys is an atheist, and the other Quaker. So they had varying ideas and experiences but both really liked to talk about them with us. They were interested in what I had to say and share.

Something particularly intriguing was the atheist student. He had attended one or two of a secular students organization’s meetings. He (and his friend agreed with him) said that they are very anti-Christian in their atheism. They don’t even talk about other deist religions (theoretically they would disagree with them as well) but tended to just be against Christianity. It caused this student to lose respect for them- even though he is an atheist. He doesn’t even like to be associated with them. He specifically said that even though he technically identified with them belief-wise, he preferred talking with us- the Christian Fellowship- about spiritual things. Both friends said they really enjoyed our discussion and would like to come to more of them.

Interested in hearing what people are saying in response to Soularium?  Read here.

Interested in conducting your own Soularium surveys?  Order here.

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Renewing Campuses begins with RESTORE

Posted on February 8, 2011 | Leave a comment

About a week ago, on January 29, about 70 college students from across South Central Pennsylvania gathered at Lebanon Valley College’s campus in Annville PA.  The gathering was for Restore 2011, a one-day conference focusing on restoring our own inner beings for the sake of then turning to restore the world around us, titled “Life on the Road”.

Students from Millersville University arrive at Restore 2011.

Students were led in a moving time of musical worship led by Nick Peterson, and then offered some insights into a conversational relationship with God through two short talks by Dan McWilliams.

There was time to put these new ideas into practice.  Students took an hour in silence to simply be present with God and listen, followed by many lively conversations between students from different schools.

Finally, in the afternoon, students broke into more focused practice groups to help put into practical terms this journey of following Jesus, both on the college campus and in life after college.  Seniors preparing to graduate played a Time Management game to simulate decisions they will soon face as they balance home life, work, friendships, and church.

Students pondering their next moves in a Time Management Game.

Students playing the Time Management Game.

Curious about time management and what these seniors are wrestling with?  Check out this video of Scott Belsky over at the 99 Percent.

Here’s what Kelly, InterVarsity staff at Dickinson College, had to say:

Students enjoyed the opportunity to get off campus and attend an event with other Christian students, a change from the usual campus fellowship atmosphere. At dinner together in my apartment afterwards, students shared that their favorite part of Restore was the hour of quiet time with God they had after the first speaking session. The speaker had provided a few questions to reflect on for this time.  Each of the students felt that it was an expectionally good quiet time, with no distractions and silence–something hard to come by on Dickinson’s busy campus. We brainstormed ways they could find such spaces, which led to sharing of some of the more obscure little known places on campus that we have found.

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Video: InterVarsity at Dickinson

Posted on December 15, 2010 | Leave a comment

Kelly, InterVarsity staff at Dickinson College, explains what InterVarsity is and why we do what we do.  Enjoy!

http://kellyatdson.blogspot.com/2010/11/video.html

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Final Exams

Posted on December 8, 2010 | Leave a comment

As we head into final exams at our college campuses around South Central PA, here are a few reflections from campus staff Jesse Stowell, serving students at Penn State Harrisburg and Lebanon Valley College.

Finals are a melodramatic time in the life of a college student:
Sometimes you wake up in the library at 3am, surprised that your body is still functioning.
Sometimes you realize that you’ve given yourself 100 hours to research, but only 10 hours to write the term-paper…
And sometimes romantic difficulties make a final project nearly impossible to concentrate on.

As the end of the semester looms, college students everywhere are under pressure to write term papers, study for final exams, and place the finishing touches on senior projects.

Please pray for the college students you know!
Send an email of love and prayer to encourage them!

Many students will need strength from the Holy Spirit to stay motivated (I know I did), and reminders of love will help them to remember God in what often feels like an endless, sleepless, over-caffeinated week of madness.

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