Ethnicity, Reconciliation, and Justice

Kaitlyn Doty

Kaitlyn Doty is a writing and social media intern on ��Ƶ’s 2100 team in Madison, WI. She is passionate about books, cats, dragons, and writing for Jesus! You can support her in her ministry here.

Finding Home on Campus : Black Campus Ministry at Michigan State University

emily.baez@intervarsity.org — Fri, 27 Feb 2026 17:19:59 +0000

February 27, 2026

Kyia Hernandez

Finding Home on Campus : Black Campus Ministry at Michigan State University

At Michigan State University, Brittany, ��Ƶ Black Campus Ministries (BCM) staff, says, “There are many Christian organizations on campus, but they don’t necessarily celebrate Black culture in Christianity. They don't carry the same intentionality around reaching Black students on campus.” 

Michigan State has a relatively small community of Black students, with less than ten percent of students being Black. Often, these students feel the need to mask parts of themselves and who God made them to be, and they struggle to find Christian spaces where they feel accepted.

“I think about [how] Black students like to talk back to the pastor, or they like a different cadence in how the speaker is connecting,” Brittany said. "Students [can] more freely enter into the worship and surrender. They can more readily think about what the Lord is inviting them to do or what he's doing in their heart."

BCM’s mission is to “[equip] Black students and faculty to lead with faith from the fullness of their identity.” This allows students to not have to choose between being Black and Christian –– they can celebrate both.

Additionally, many BCM students at Michigan State are also part of other campus clubs and organizations, which opens doors to influence so much more of the campus culture.

A’Lvinia and Neveah are two BCM student leaders who are well-connected like this on campus. They desire to see their friends and the whole campus find a place where they can experience the love of Jesus.

A'Lvinia: Healing and Finding Her Voice

At a young age, A’Lvinia lost her mother, leaving her feeling abandoned, sad, and angry. One night, she reached a breaking point.

Alone in her dorm room, she sat crying on the carpet. “I can't keep walking around with this much anger in me,” she said. “It's harming me [and] my relationships with people.” In her desperation, she cried out to God.

A’Lvinia thought she could grow in her walk with God on her own and didn't expect there was a place for her to do that on campus, at least not a place where she could fit in. “Sometimes, it can be intimidating to be one of the only people of color or one of the only Black people when you go to an event on campus,” she said.

Not long after, A’Lvinia went to an organization fair on campus. From across the way, she saw a table of giving away free ramen noodles –– one of her favorite foods. She met an ��Ƶ staff who invited her to fill out a contact card.

When her schedule didn't enable A’Lvinia to make Bible study, Shaylen Hardy, National Director of BCM and former Michigan State staff, offered to disciple her personally. As they met for coffee, Shaylen explained what ��Ƶ was and the vision for BCM.

“It just clicked with me,” A’Lvinia shared joyfully. “I wanted to be part of this community.”

Through the intentional investment of Shaylen and Brittany, A’Lvinia found a place where she could authentically be herself and grow with Jesus, surrounded by other Black students with similar experiences. Over time, God replaced her anger and despair with his joy and love that she wanted to overflow to others on campus.

As A’Lvinia leaned into the fullness of who God created her to be, something even more surprising happened. She began to believe he could call her to lead.

“We’re conditioned from a young age to believe that we are not able to be in leadership positions…But when you see a Black person leading, it's like, ‘oh, maybe I can do it!’” A’Lvinia said.

Now A'Lvinia is the president of BCM at Michigan State and hopes the ministry can be "the most welcoming Black community on campus."

A'Lvinia's leadership extends far beyond the ministry as she connects with other campus clubs and organizations, including the campus's African Student Union. She is influencing campus culture in profound ways, inviting students to Bible study or getting her community together to offer prayer to strangers on campus.

And the positive reception from Black students on campus has been overwhelming. When students learn that BCM exists at Michigan State exists –– not only as a place to discuss religion without judgement, but also as a space created specifically for them –– their excitement is contagious.

“I really feel like there is [spiritual curiosity on campus]. There’s so much going on in the world that people have to turn to something,” A’Lvinia said. “People are searching for community, especially Black people on campus."

Four years after that night in her dorm room, A’Lvinia has seen God move in incredible ways, not just in her chapter's growth but also in her own transformation. She’s prayerfully considering where God is calling her after graduation, and she’s excited to pass on a legacy of servant leadership in BCM to other students like Neveah.

Neveah: Welcome Like Jesus

Before college, Neveah often felt invisible. She went to a Christian school she describes as a “very mixed environment” that sometimes made her feel lost in the crowd, unnoticed and pushed to the side.

When she started college at Michigan State, she was determined to experience something different.

“I appreciate[d] all of the spaces for Christians here [on campus],” she said. “But I wanted a space that feels like home.”

Neveah scrolled Instagram one day and saw a post from a friend about BCM. Her curiosity quickly became an answered prayer, as started attending Bible study and making friends. That feeling of home she had never received before is exactly what she got.

“It felt like a safe space, not just a Bible study that meets once a week,” she said.

Neveah for the first time felt cared for by other students like her. She watched how Shaylen and Brittany poured into all of them, answering their questions about Jesus, showing up for the big and small moments in their lives, and celebrating how God was moving.

In this environment of true belonging, Nevaeah felt called by God to do create that belonging for others.

“I'm going to try to provide warmth for people or try to provide some type of comfort,” she thought. “[That’s] the same love Jesus showed me.”

Even with this call, however, doubt and self-consciousness crept in, as Nevaeah felt like no one would trust her or want to listen to anything she had to say.

But one day, that all changed. Freshmen began coming to Nevaeah, confiding in her about feeling lost or having trouble making friends on campus. They then each told Neveah how thankful they were to have her around as a listening ear.

Through this, Neveah started to see herself differently and believe in the gifts of empathy and hospitality God had blessed her with. Her BCM community affirmed this, with Brittany even telling her, “I would have loved to have a Neveah when I was in college!”

Now, Neveah no longer sees herself as invisible, but instead sees herself the way God sees her. She understands the unique and essential role he has for her in the BCM community, to help others find a home where they're seen and known.

“It's cool to see new people come and bring their friends,” Neveah said, excited for her chapter to grow and for more people to experience the same God-affirming community she has. She understands that there is something profound about what BCM offers and the way it's meeting a great need on campus.

“As students, we spend a lot of time in our rooms, thinking, I'm here alone. I think people on campus need a reminder that God is there for them.”

��Ƶ’s Black Campus Ministries is working on college campuses across the country to reach Black students with the gospel and send them out as leaders who can impact everywhere they go with the hope of Jesus. To learn more about and support BCM, go here.

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Kyia Hernandez

Kyia is a content coordinator for ��Ƶ's editorial team. She is based in Milwaukee, WI. She loves creating, especially with bright bold colors! In additional to her editorial work, she enjoys mentoring the LaFe Bible study at Marquette University. You can support her ministry here.

Coming in a Good Way at Tribal Colleges

emily.baez@intervarsity.org — Tue, 30 Dec 2025 19:29:27 +0000

December 30, 2025

Rashawn Ramone

Coming in a Good Way at Tribal Colleges

Imagine going to a new area without knowing the best spots to eat or the history of the place. You can’t use any resources to help you either.

I want to invite you to learn about a process called “coming in a good way.” It’s a protocol that Native ��Ƶ uses when arriving in a place where an invitation is needed. When we’re invited somewhere, we’re guests, and we want to be respectful and honorable to those who came before us.

Being Invited by Creator God and Learning How to Listen

Tim Webster, Native ��Ƶ Resource Specialist, stated, “Coming in a good way finds a path to the kind of resilient, empowered faith that transforms communities.”

Coming in a good way means asking permission when arriving at a new space and being invited there by Creator God and the local community. It involves taking initiative to build relationships and connections with people you meet and thanking Creator God for witnessing his works. Eventually, it should lead to partnership, affirming the gifts God has already given the community, and redefining success done among the community.

Since 2022, Native ��Ƶ has been attending a Tribal college student conference called American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC). AIHEC started in 1972 by leaders of the first Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs) in the United States and Canada. Their focus is to strengthen higher education for American Indian College students. At AIHEC, coming in a good way has meant initiating conversations with the coordinators about how we can support Native students well on their campuses.

While tabling at AIHEC, we ask students or faculty if Jesus would eat frybread. Several of them see humor when answering yes, no, or maybe, while others reveal how complicated this question can be for them. It helps Native ��Ƶ staff build relationships with university and college faculty and students, and we follow up to see if we can gain their permission to come to their campuses.  

Coming in a Good Way at NTU 

AIHEC has helped me connect with Tribal Colleges within the Four Corners region, specifically. One example of this is Navajo Technical University (NTU), the largest campus of these Tribal Colleges. We had been praying for revival and for a small group Bible study to start at NTU since 2016! And so, partnering with AIHEC was an answer to our prayers, asking God to show us how to come in a good way as we waited for a person of peace to build connections on campus.

After AIHEC in 2023, we began hosting a Bible study at NTU’s main campus. A handful of students met online and in-person, and many shared how important it was to have a safe space where they could talk honestly about being Native and a follower of Creator Sets Free (Jesus).

This didn’t come without challenges. Several students soon found themselves facing family situations that put their faith to the test.

Over my years on ��Ƶ staff, I’ve seen spiritual warfare on several Tribal college campuses — NTU has been no exception — especially when safe spaces are created for Native students and staff to grow spiritually. But God is always working to provide what Native students need to be able to strengthen their walk with him.

Coming in a Good Way in Scripture

This experience with NTU reminds me of Acts 10 and the powerful vision God gave Cornelius to send for Peter.

When Peter arrived, he entered the home of Gentiles, the home of another nation, which was considered unholy. But the Spirit led him to come in a good way.

Peter shared the gospel with Cornelius and his household, and they were all baptized in the name of the Chosen One, Creator Sets Free (Jesus), welcoming them into the sacred family. 

In the same way, Native ��Ƶ trusts the Holy Spirit to welcome us into places where we’re needed. We want to keep trusting in the Spirit and always come in a good way.  

Please pray for Tribal College students and faculty throughout the nation, for God to empower their faith as we continue witnessing God’s good work.

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Rashawn Ramone

Rashawn Ramone is a campus minister working with Native ��Ƶ at San Juan College in Farmington, New Mexico. He is from the Eastern Agency of the Navajo Nation.

Being Mixed – Fearfully and Wonderfully Made

kyia.hernandez@intervarsity.org — Fri, 10 Oct 2025 21:31:18 +0000

October 10, 2025

Kyia Hernandez

Being Mixed – Fearfully and Wonderfully Made

What does it mean to be mixed? I’m both white (European American) and a person of color (Mexican American). Those of us who are mixed bring together two or more ethnicities into one body. We have a unique gift of seeing the world through multiple lenses, but it often can be hard and complex. But I believe it is also a gift to steward.

Just like everyone else, every part of me was intentionally knit together by God. He knows every single part of us, down to the number of hairs on our head. Mixed or not, we are fearfully and wonderfully made by God on purpose for a purpose.

My Origins

My dad is Mexican American, third generation American on his father’s side. My mom is Ukrainian, but also German, Irish, and Danish or Dutch (we’re not sure which). My mom is also third generation American on her mother’s side.

Coming from a divorced family, I spent a lot of time with my mom, raised primarily in midwestern white culture.

As a child, I didn’t understand my mixedness, but I did understand yummy food. Chorizo and eggs in the morning, chicken enchiladas at Christmas, homemade pierogis fried in butter and topped with sour cream, holubtsi, and kielbasa and sauerkraut. Food was the main way my family retained connection to our cultures, since our languages and customs didn’t shape my upbringing as much.

Not Feeling at Home

The term ni de aqui, ni de alla is a phrase many in the Latino American community say to describe how we feel neither from here, neither from there. When I learned this phrase as an adult, it resonated so much with how I always felt as both a Mexican American and as a mixed person. While there’s beauty in carrying stories of my ancestors from across the globe in my body, it’s hard to feel at home in any one place. I don’t feel fully comfortable in majority white spaces or in spaces of just people of color, even as I’ve embraced more of my identity over the years. But thankfully, this earth is not our home, as God is preparing a home for us (John 14:2-3), filled with every nation, tribe, people, and language (Rev. 7:9).

In middle school, I made a friend on the school bus who was from Mexico and shared candy and stories about her family with me. Then I met a new boy in class who had moved from Mexico too. While I loved learning more about my Mexican culture from these friends, my experience wasn’t the same as theirs, and I didn’t fully fit in with them either.

Not Feeling Enough Because of Appearance, Language, or Upbringing

I’m white passing, meaning to most people, I appear to only be white. This is one reason it took me so long to fully claim my mixedness, to fully embrace all of myself and know that God made every part of me. I thought because of my upbringing, my skin color, my mixedness, and my lack of language, I was disqualified from identifying as Mexican American.

I saw beauty in my family members on both sides. But I felt different for not looking fully like anyone else I was related to. Like many who are mixed, I struggle with not feeling enough, even though the nations of my family origins run through my veins.

In high school, I had a Spanish teacher who planted seeds for me to embrace all of who I was. Even as a white woman herself, she celebrated Mexican and other Latino cultures, and displayed the joy of them, helping me realize I could celebrate my heritage.

At the national LaFe conference in 2013 when I was a student, I attended a Latinidad 101 track. In this track, we explored what it means to be Latino. I remember walking into the room, seeing an interactive display filled with faces of celebrity Latinos of all skin tones. Looking around the room, I also saw every shade of skin tone you can imagine, including ones close to mine.

Also in college, I was invited to a month-long leadership camp called ��Ƶ Leadership Institute. There, I was welcomed into a lounge for students and staff of color to engage with each other. One of the Asian American staff made sure I knew they wanted me there. When I walked in, I was immediately met by students stating, “You’re Mexican, right?” To me, it was as though they were saying, You belong here.

Choosing to Embrace All of Who We Are

Scripture tells us that every nation, tribe, and tongue, will someday surround the throne of God (Revelation 7:9-10). What a beautiful gift it is to get a glimpse of that here and now in our diverse communities. And for those who are mixed like me, we get to experience that in our very bodies!

Choosing to embrace my Latinidad isn’t about rejecting my whiteness. It also doesn’t mean rejecting any sides of my families. While whiteness has often been used against people of color throughout history, there is still good and beauty in many aspects of my white cultures. God made them. Embracing my Latinidad and whiteness is about fully accepting how God made me. Jesus understands this as mixed himself –– a Palestinian Jew who was fully God and fully man.

When I started college at the University of Wisconsin-Wood County/Marshfield, I met my ��Ƶ staff Tara. One day at the end of freshman year, she was filling out the form ��Ƶ staff use to track who is involved in our communities. I looked at the document and saw that our chapter had all white students except one. I asked who she indicated as multiethnic. She looked back at me a little surprised and said, “You!” I hadn’t been identified as multiethnic before, and this began a snowball of me accepting all parts of me in college.

Doing Good for Others

God has given me my ethnic identity to steward for his glory, my good, and the good of others. I’ve always had tensions about being white passing, not wanting to take space from others with more melanted skin. But in college, I recognized that being mixed didn’t disqualify me from serving my Latino/a community.

As I was going through my ethnic identity journey as a student in ��Ƶ, I discerned transferring to a school in a more diverse area of Wisconsin. I chose to go to the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM) and to take classes in Ethnic and International Studies.

By my senior year, I was invited by my community’s leadership team to co-lead a LaFe small group. Feelings of not being enough trickled back in. I was so intimidated and fearful, but my friends and leaders encouraged me and said, “You’ve been talking about wanting a space specifically for Latino students since you arrived at UWM. You can do this.” God taught me so much through this experience and showed me I could lead in Latino/a spaces. It also taught me to advocate for Latinos and those who are mixed and navigating their identity. Even to this day, it’s humbling and scary if I’m honest, but I still get to serve with LaFe as I’ve come on staff with ��Ƶ, including mentoring LaFe student leaders at Marquette University and serving at the LaFe24 national student conference last December.

A Continuous Journey

Whether you’re mixed or not, we are all arriving and learning to embrace every single aspect of ourselves. This journey takes understanding yourself and being willing to be vulnerable in community. We must take time to reflect and step into the areas God is calling us to.

God is our qualifier. He knitted us in our mother’s womb and knows every single part of us.

For more resources on mixed ethnic identity, check out Being Mixed Reflections | ��Ƶ.

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Kyia Hernandez

Does God Condone Killing the Innocent?

emily.baez@intervarsity.org — Fri, 07 Mar 2025 19:36:16 +0000

March 07, 2025

Kevin Boyd

Does God Condone Killing the Innocent?

In ��Ƶ, we believe that the best way to understand difficult texts in Scripture is by digging in, asking honest questions, and contextualizing. Of all the difficult texts in the Old Testament, the Conquest narratives in Joshua may be the most challenging.

Joshua tells the story of the Israelites entering into and conquering Caanan, the Promised Land. As we read it, we are rightly troubled by a picture of ancient Israelite invaders marching into someone else’s homeland intent on slaughtering innocent people who were just minding their own business.

It gets even worse when the justification for such genocidal injustice is supposed divine fiat: “Our god told us to do this, so that makes it right.”

What I’ve come to understand is that the saga of the Conquest is not that simple. And in struggling to make sense of the Conquest narratives, a very helpful resource for me has been Matthew J. Lynch’s book Flood & Fury: Old Testament Violence and the Shalom of God.

In his book, of all the things Lynch gives us to consider if we want to understand the God of the Bible that Jesus read, here are three that stand out to me.

1. The book of Joshua paints a complex, layered picture of the Conquest.

This may come as a surprise, but Joshua doesn’t speak with a unified voice about what happened when Israel entered the Promised Land with the goal of displacing its inhabitants.

Consider these two statements:

So Joshua subdued the whole region, including the hill country, the Negev, the western foothills and the mountain slopes, together with all their kings. He left no survivors. He totally destroyed all who breathed, just as the LORD, the God of Israel, had commanded. (10:40)
Yet the Manassites [an Israelite tribe] were not able to occupy these towns, for the Canaanites were determined to live in that region. (17:12)

So which was it: dramatic and total success, or mixed results against capable enemies?

Joshua seems to report both!

Lynch explains:

“Israel engaged in occasional warfare against major Canaanite strongholds, were often unsuccessful, and ended up settling the less populated central highlands of a land still full of Canaanites.

Moreover, what Joshua reports as victories were often short-term victories over kings and not the annihilation of their subjects (Joshua12)” (Lynch, 2023, p. 120-21).

The Conquest was anything but a quick and straightforward story of nationalistic triumph.

Still, why did there need to be a conquest at all?

2. The Conquest represented the completion of Israel’s exodus and their final liberation from the oppression of Egypt.

To understand what this means, first look at history.

In the time of Joshua, Egypt controlled the land of Canaan through a network of local kings who ruled city-states and whom they propped up in exchange for loyalty and tribute. As long as these kings cooperated with Egypt’s agenda, they got to run their own show and treat their local subjects however they wanted—which wasn’t great.

When Israel entered the land that God had promised to them, Egypt was still in charge—and still a threat to this small, vulnerable group of Israelite former slaves—in Canaan. Overthrowing their network of warlord-like kings was not only necessary to their survival but also to demonstrate Yahweh’s victory over the false rival gods that kept people enslaved and oppressed.

Next, look at the way the story is told.

Biblical authors often employ a literary device known as a chiasm, one type of which has the events in a sequence reach a key point before retracing their steps back to the beginning.

Rather than directly tell the reader what to think (“this is the main point…”), these authors brought out their emphasis through the way they structured their stories. It takes some work as a reader to notice this, but that’s an important part reading the Bible (or anything) well!

Here’s what it looks like when we step back and squint at the entire Exodus-Joshua storyline:

A. Israel in Egypt (Exodus 1-10)

B. Passover and Crossing (Sea of Reeds), Manna begins (Exodus 11-16)

C. Journey in the Wilderness (Exodus 15:22-18:27)

D. Covenant at Mt. Sinai (Exodus 19:1 - Numbers 10:10)

C'. Journey in the Wilderness (Numbers 10:11 - Deuteronomy)

B'. Crossing (Jordan River) and Passover, Manna ends (Joshua1-5)

A'. Israel in Canaan (Joshua 6-24)

The Conquest completes the Exodus by finally breaking Egypt’s power. It’s the finale of a unified event of divine liberation.

3. The book of Joshua subverts readers’ expectations of who’s an insider and who’s an outsider.

The Conquest narrative, properly understood, cannot be reductively portrayed as an ethnocentric crusade.

Paying close attention to the book as a whole, Lynch remarks: “Joshua is not a straightforward tale of genocide. The book complicates that sort of reading from the outset. In fact, the book is designed to critique the ethnocentric and nationalistic assumptions on which a genocidal ideology depends” (p. 109).

If we assume that God is on Israel’s side and that therefore all Canaanites are unwelcome enemies who must be destroyed, we will end up puzzled by two stories that the Joshua narrative highlights.

First, a Canaanite prostitute named Rahab shelters Israelite spies and enters into a covenant agreement with them to spare her family when the city of Jericho is conquered (Joshua 2). She is commended as an example of faithfulness and generations later, included in Jesus’ family tree (Matthew 1:5)!

Second, an Israelite soldier named Achan breaks God’s command by stealing some of the plunder from Jericho to enrich himself. He and his family are put to death, cut off from the blessings of the community (Joshua 7).

These stories are prominently featured for a reason: “By highlighting these two specific cases, Joshua sends a signal that ‘not all Israel is Israel; not every Canaanite is a Canaanite’” (see Romans 9:6) (p. 111).

Yahweh’s intention is not to kill all the Canaanites and elevate all the Jews. Something else is going on. As God’s people settle in the land, the key distinguishing marker that will determine blessing versus destruction will not be ethnic identity but trust in Yahweh.

Rahab the Canaanite is portrayed as someone who models exactly this quality. Despite our expectations, a foreigner is included while an Israelite is excluded.

Complexity is certainly a key feature of the Conquest story, which includes a final plot twist.

Plot Twist in the Conquest Narrative

In his farewell address at the end of his life and the end of the book, Joshua reveals that as a whole, Israel has actually failed to act in the ways that God instructed.

As they are gathered for a covenant renewal ceremony, Joshua gives the people a surprising rebuke: “Now then,” said Joshua, “throw away the foreign gods that are among you and yield your hearts to the LORD, the God of Israel.” (24:14-28).

This would be a completely unnecessary command—unless Israel was actively engaged in idol worship. The Conquest is not a simplistic narrative of triumph; despite Yahweh’s abundant goodness to them, Israel has been disobedient the entire time they were moving into his promise. Like a movie with a final-act twist, once you’ve read the whole book you can’t read it the same way again.

The ending changes everything that came before it.

Jesus’ Formative Curriculum

Granted there may be more to this story than we first expected, but should we really be reading and embracing a story that sure looks like nationalistic propaganda? Don’t the risks far outweigh any rewards?

How can something like this possibly exercise any authority or helpful influence in our lives?

Remember that the Old Testament is the Bible Jesus read. Jesus grew up hearing and reflecting on all of it—including the stories of conquest recounted in Joshua. He sat at the feet of teachers and wise family members who talked about the Conquest in light of the entirety of Israel’s story.

If, as Paul says to his young trainee Timothy many generations later, “all Scripture is God- breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness” (2 Tim 3:16), we can trust that this part of the story of God’s people can and will also point us in the direction of Christlikeness as the Spirit works in our lives.

This perspective of the Conquest narrative doesn’t erase the tensions we might feel when we read and reflect on it. But it does help us get a more faithful picture of the God who led his people out of oppression as part of his mission to rescue the entire creation from its bondage to sin and death.

Even though we are outsiders like Rahab, through the faithfulness of Jesus—the true and better Joshua—we are included in that story. For that we can be thankful.

Interested in further reading on this topic? Check out The Story of God, the Story of Us and Bloody, Brutal, and Barbaric? from ��Ƶ Press!

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Scripture

Kevin Boyd

Kevin serves as the Associate Director of Scripture Engagement for ��Ƶ. He and his team create Scripture tools and experiences that equip staff and student leaders to reach the next generation with the gospel. Kevin holds an MA in Biblical Studies from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and lives with his family in North Carolina. You can support his ministry here.

"Five Loaves and Two Fish" — Growing a BCM Chapter at Indiana State

emily.baez@intervarsity.org — Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:00:23 +0000

February 21, 2025

Andrew McCarty

"Five Loaves and Two Fish" — Growing a BCM Chapter at Indiana State

Friday afternoons for most people are a prized weekly time spent with friends or family or looking forward to the weekend. Fridays are a joy for me too. But before the fun and powerful Friday afternoons my chapter experiences now at Indiana State University (ISU), God had to move in some unexpected ways.

In the fall of 2022, I asked my friend Chris to invest weekly chunks of time trying to rebuild an ��Ƶ chapter and a Black Campus Ministries (BCM) small group with me at ISU. I wanted ISU to not just have a space for students to encounter Jesus, but I also saw a need for Black students to have a space to come together.

Before he graduated from ISU in 2019, Chris had been a critical student leader in an era when we had a strong multi-ethnic fellowship taking root. However, he was often one of only a couple of Black students in any given ��Ƶ meeting, and he’d also dreamt back then of starting a weekly Bible study specifically for Black students like him. So his ‘yes’ to help plant BCM as an alumnus was especially sweet. This new partnership felt like a chance for Chris and me to reengage old dreams, prayers, and efforts. 

Together, we prayer-walked the campus and approached students with invitations to study the Bible weekly. We then hosted large group gatherings and had discipleship conversations with the students God brought along. We also did our best to revive a floundering Instagram page to drum up new followers and make new contacts. After a little while, Chris was able to start a weekly Bible study for Black students. We thought the dreams God had given us were quickly coming true.

Multiply It Into Something Greater

I wish I could say that Chris and I saw the fruit of our labor immediately. I wish I could say God filled our meeting rooms with an increasing flow of students. Instead, despite our efforts, only a few students attended our chapter events and only a couple attended the BCM small group Chris was leading.

By spring break that year, we had to cancel all our weekly meetings as attendance kept dwindling.

In May of 2023, Chris got married and moved to New York City. And by August, there were only 10 students involved with ��Ƶ as a whole at ISU, including two Black students. Even as a white man, I was still passionate about making space for Black students on campus to explore Jesus. But at that point, my goal became less about building a BCM ministry and more about keeping the general chapter alive. Plus, I knew I wouldn’t be the best person to lead and sustain a group of students who weren’t from the same background as me.

This season was discouraging. I questioned my competency and calling as a campus minister and wondered if the investment at ISU was worth it. But then, God began moving in ways I didn’t expect.

First, a weeklong social media intensive showed promising results with close to 50 new students following our chapter Instagram account and over 30 new messages from students we hadn’t met.

Of these, many Black freshmen women in particular responded and actively shared prayer requests with us. I cast vision to them about the type of community we longed to build on campus for Black students and invited them to come meet us in the first few days on campus.

I prayed that God would continue to take our “five loaves and two fish” and multiply them into something greater.

Why We Created This Space

One of the students who had been around since the beginning, Morgan, was a junior I’d met with weekly for two years. She was excited about other Black students finally coming, but was unsure that there was enough interest for there to be a BCM Bible study again. She was also hesitant to lead it herself. But Morgan was the only potential student we had for the BCM space. So, in the meantime, and despite not quite relating to them and their experiences, I helped launch the Black women’s small group.

Even though she wasn’t technically leading at first, Morgan still agreed to take steps in leadership by being faithful and helping facilitate the sense of community in the group.

For the first Friday meeting, Zion, a freshman we met through Instagram, and two other students showed up. Zion immediately showed leadership potential when she brought two of her friends in the first few weeks. By the fifth week, six women attended the Bible study and began moving past surface-level topics and towards deep conversations.

During one Bible study, some of the women began sharing particularly vulnerably. In response, I said, “Wow. Thanks so much for trusting us with everything you just shared. Being able to share like this is why we created this space. At the same time, can you imagine how much deeper you might have shared if the facilitator of this group wasn’t a 35-year-old white man?”

The women agreed. Then, I shared what it would look like for this group to support itself without my direct involvement and told them that students leading students is the beating heart of ��Ƶ.

By the last few weeks of the semester, I stopped attending the group and Morgan and Zion began leading it, helping more women feel comfortable to share with each other and explore Jesus together in this space. They grew as each of the women took risks and strengthened their walks with Jesus. Zion continued bringing friends all semester. One of them recommitted her life to Jesus and brought 10 more friends to Bible study.

In August 2023, Morgan introduced me to her friend, a young man named LeJuan. While Morgan and Zion were leading the women’s small group, God was slowly preparing LeJuan for the next stage of his divine plan for ISU. A year later, LeJuan gathered a group of students for the first Black men’s small group at ISU in at least 20 years! Since then, God has grown the group to be in the double digits! 

God's Unexpected Ways

Even though Chris graduated from ISU way back in May 2019 and saw very little tangible ministry fruit from his prayers and efforts, God continued to move to make the dream he had given him a reality. He continued the work long after Chris left ISU. And in ways only he could, God multiplied the loaves and fish we brought: not in our expected ways, expected timeline, or even through the expected people.

In John 1, two followers of John the Baptist started following Jesus and inviting a guy named Peter to come see Jesus too. Jesus then called Phillip to follow him, and Phillip told his friend Nathanael to come check Jesus out. I can’t help but feel blessed that Jesus called Chris to follow him and invite his friends years ago. And then Morgan and Zion couldn’t help but invite LeJuan and a bunch of their friends.

Who in your life needs to be invited to check out Jesus? Who might Jesus be calling you to that you wouldn’t expect to minister or witness to? How might he multiply the loaves and fish you have?

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Andrew McCarty

Andrew McCarty lives with his wife, Steph, two sons, Josiah and Ellis, and a mini zoo of animals in Indiana. He's in year 15 with ��Ƶ Christian Fellowship, currently serving as a Senior Campus Staff Member. Andrew loves reading, being outdoors, and following all kinds of sports. He's passionate about spiritual formation and disciple-making. You can support his ministry here.

Is This Revival? Tuskegee University

emily.baez@intervarsity.org — Thu, 24 Oct 2024 19:25:40 +0000

October 24, 2024

Ashlye Elizondo Vanderworp

Is This Revival? Tuskegee University

"For the first time in a while, I want to live again." 

In east central Alabama lies Tuskegee University, a private, historically Black university of around 2,000 students. The university is associated with historical figures like its co-founder Booker T. Washington and George Washington Carver. Celebrity alumni include people like Lionel Richie and Keenen Ivory Wayans. It’s also recognized as a National Historic Landmark.

But even with all its historical significance, what Tuskegee might not be known for — at least not yet — is revival.

Early Signs of Revival

Campus minister Summer Richardson began planting a Black Campus Ministry (BCM) at Tuskegee during the pandemic after hearing, as an ��Ƶ student at the University of Alabama, that HBCUs rarely had official Christian student organizations. And after a slower start to her ministry efforts, God’s movement soon began to snowball, particularly after she began praying every day for the campus.

In the 2023-2024 school year, ��Ƶ at Tuskegee grew from 20 students, to 50, to well over 100 students who attended Bible studies and events. And, nearly every week, students responded to give their lives to Jesus (around 100 students total that year)!

As the ministry grew, they began making an impact far outside their own small groups and regular student participants. They made homeless care packages, did clothing drives, and started a program where students could rent professional clothing for interviews for free. One student even joined Summer for a mission trip to Rwanda this past summer.

This School Year...So Far

This past summer before classes began, the chapter decided to do a prayer walk on campus, inviting God to do even greater works this year through the ministry. As they walked, they met many students and even prayed for some of them on the spot.

At the end of August, Summer shared with her ministry partners and donors that the chapter would be engaging in a Bible study series on healing this year.

“I believe this topic will resonate deeply with students as they navigate the challenges of faith and life,” she said.

At the first large group of the semester, over 160 students attended. Acting on the conviction about the topic of healing, the Bible study ended with a call to receive prayer for healing and a call to faith. Over half the students in attendance responded to the call for healing. What’s more, 20 students gave their lives to Jesus that night.

One of these students went up to a student leader of the ministry afterwards. He shared how he was struggling with thoughts of suicide just the day before.

“For the first time in a while, I want to live again,” he said while processing what he’d experienced that night.

This was especially encouraging and meaningful for the student leader who, last year, also went through a season of anxiety and suicidal ideation. But after seeing a therapist and leaning on the support of the BCM community, she entered this year with joy and excitement of all God would do on campus.

“She got to see how God is working in the lives of others as well!” Summer said.

Building an Ongoing Foundation

Since that first large group, there’s been a prayer training to help these new Christians learn the basics of developing their faith. A couple of them shared that they had experienced hurt from previous church experiences and had never made their faith their own, even after growing up in church. They also expressed how BCM was a space where they were able to ask questions and learn spiritual disciples to continue walking and growing with Jesus.

As new students flooded into the chapter, the ministry launched six student-led small group Bible studies and an apprentice group to train up future student leaders.

“God is moving through students and through them as leaders,” Summer said. “They are people with faith and hearts that are willing, and God is doing a lot through them.”

Pray with us for more continued fruit at Tuskegee. You can also consider supporting their chapter by making a gift to Summer’s ministry here.

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Ashlye Elizondo Vanderworp

Ashlye works as the Managing Editor for ��Ƶ's Communications Team in Madison, Wisconsin. She enjoys deep conversations with friends and adventures with her husband (a Video Producer for ��Ƶ) and their corgi, Penny. You can support her ministry here.

��Ƶ Volunteer Partners With Student to Re-Build LaFe at UC Santa Barbara

emily.baez@intervarsity.org — Wed, 16 Oct 2024 14:57:35 +0000

October 16, 2024

Emily Baez

��Ƶ Volunteer Partners With Student to Re-Build LaFe at UC Santa Barbara

“For an ethnic minority to walk into that [majority culture] space, it can be super intimidating because you're thinking, I'm clearly the only one that's not of the same culture,” Alison Cuevas, an ��Ƶ volunteer staff, said.

When Alison was a student at Virginia Tech, she learned the importance of having a space on campus for Latino/a students to grow in their faith. After graduating, she spent a few years working for a campus ministry and a megachurch.

That experience was “good and tough for a lot of reasons,” she said. “So, I stepped down from ministry thinking I wasn't going to go back for a while.”

Alison began working for a non-profit that had her move to Santa Barbara, California. Two months after her move, her company decided to go fully remote.

“I thought, Well, I don't know why the Lord has me here, but we're going to lean in,” she said.

At her new church, Alison became close friends with Kelsey Schuett, an ��Ƶ staff minister at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB). When Alison felt God nudging her to consider getting involved in ministry again, she asked Kelsey about opportunities at UCSB.

“I used to do Latino ministry at my college campus, and I want to support any way that I can,” Alison told Kelsey.

The Way the Lord Created You

One of Kelsey’s students, Jimena, was working to revive a LaFe chapter at UCSB. Kelsey asked Alison to disciple Jimena, thinking it would be good for Jimena to have a Latina woman to look up to. Alison poured into Jimena by mentoring her, praying for her, and simply being a friend she could talk to about life.

“A lot of times it was just being a cheerleader, like, 'You got this, you could do it!' She's a natural leader,” Alison said about Jimena.

“We hang out and just talk about life. My life is not easy but having someone that can listen and relate is nice,” Jimena said.

Together, Alison and Jimena hosted Latino/a students for Bible study in Jimena’s home. Through their leadership, LaFe grew dramatically at UCSB and Latino/a students found a spiritual home on campus where they could learn more about their faith and their ethnic identity.

“A lot of us feel like we have to leave [our ethnic identity] at the door of church, or that it's an accident, or we’re Christian despite our ethnicity,” Alison said. “But the Lord is the Lord of the whole world.”

Understanding the need for contextualized ministry, Alison and Jimena invited LaFe students to do inductive Bible studies in English and Spanish. Reading in both languages helped the Latino/a students in the chapter understand Scripture in completely new ways. It also helped them grow a deeper appreciation for their language and culture. The group regularly prayed and worshiped in Spanish and English as well.

Some of the students that attended LaFe didn’t come from a Christian background at all. Some came from Latino/a church backgrounds and found it comforting to be able to read Scripture in their heart language. Others had only ever been in predominantly white churches, and LaFe was a way for them to connect with their culture.

“There are students that come and say, ‘I don't speak Spanish, and I want to go back to my roots.’” Alison said. “And so, we can say, ‘Yeah, that's a Christian thing. We want you to be proud of the way that the Lord created you.’”

A New Passion

Volunteering with LaFe renewed Alison’s passion for ministry and changed her understanding of how ministry could look outside of her day job.

“It was really awesome,” she said. “I wasn't on staff, so it wasn’t the same obligations, but I could show up to anything.”

Alison’s role as a volunteer gave her the flexibility to take on more or less ministry responsibilities depending on her capacity. When she had more free time her first few months volunteering, she was able to attend almost every ��Ƶ and LaFe event. But when work picked up, she prioritized meeting with students like Jimena for one-on-ones and pouring into the ministry that way.

“The intent is just to be available. It doesn't mean that I'm doing Bible study with them every single time, but as long as they know that they can count on an older sister here in town, that makes me happy,” she said.

Volunteering also gave Alison the chance to do what she missed most from her old ministry jobs, like leading small groups. When she wasn’t doing that, she was also able to stretch herself and try new things, like teaching some of the sessions at a Mark Camp.

“I remember I was super nervous, and Kelsey did such a good job of really holding my hand through that,” she said.

Alison wasn’t sure she would ever work in ministry again, much less create a much-needed space for so many Latino/a students, but she’s grateful for all the ways God decided to use her at UCSB.

On Purpose, For a Purpose

“I'm very passionate about students knowing that they are created in the image of Christ and that those things that make us different are on purpose and for a purpose,” Alison said.

Through her volunteer work with ��Ƶ and LaFe, Alison learned that while all Latino/a students have different lived experiences, God could meet them wherever they were. Her dream is to point more Latino/a students to Jesus, trusting that he will show them the beauty and power of their ethnic identity.

“They’re not by accident,” Alison said about the things that make her and her students Latino/a. “They're not things that we have to suppress or put down. In fact, the Lord will use those things to make us a bridge to our communities.”

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Emily Baez

Emily Baez is a writer for ��Ƶ’s communications team. She lives in Tampa, FL, and enjoys long hikes, watching movies, and overly competitive game nights with friends. You can support her ministry here.

Would Jesus Eat Frybread? Can I?

emily.baez@intervarsity.org — Wed, 22 Nov 2023 20:50:25 +0000

November 22, 2023

Nathan Peterson

Would Jesus Eat Frybread? Can I?

I sat off to the side of the small stage, listening as the conference speaker wept, as people around the room wept. Wept and prayed. There was just so much pain.

…

You don’t belong here. You shouldn’t even be in the room, the thoughts barged into my mind.

Questions

Months earlier, when one of my good friends invited me to volunteer at the 2022 Would Jesus Eat Frybread? Conference (WJEF?) in Oklahoma, I had lots of questions. What would I do there? I’m not Native myself. … But after prayer, I decided, a little nervously, to say yes.

As I landed in Oklahoma City and prepped for the conference, doing everything from tagging along with staff as they stocked up on conference goodies at Sam’s Club to (trying) to help set up livestreaming for the event, the questions remained.

Frybread

Ultimately, my questions had a lot of connections to the main question of the conference itself: Would Jesus eat frybread?

For context, frybread is about the size of a tortilla but probably four times as thick. It’s equal parts flour, flavor, and all-around amazingness! But it has a complicated origin story. When Native peoples were forced to move from Arizona to New Mexico, part of the rations they were given became the ingredients for frybread. It’s simultaneously a painful reminder of past hurts and an emblem of Native culture and resilience.

So the question “Would Jesus eat frybread?” is really asking “Would Jesus be willing to step into the complicated story of Native people?” Does he care, does he see the pain, does he see the strength there? Is it okay to be Christian and Native?

Historically, the answer that’s been far too often perceived and communicated has been no. In the heaviest moments of the conference, we lamented these things. As story after story was shared about the traumas of missionary boarding schools. As we heard how the good news of the gospel, meant to be a source of healing and life, was so often misshapen and twisted into something else when shared with Native people.

Something I’d been carrying for many years surfaced in my heart: As I grew up and went off to college, I’d been confronted by just how many awful things had been done by people who looked like me. And though I hadn’t done them myself — and my immediate family hadn’t either — somehow I couldn’t shake the feeling that I represented these past sins. Sitting there right next to the stage at WJEF?, I couldn’t help feeling like I was a symbol for the source of so much pain that Native people have experienced.

Even as Native students and staff were asking “Would Jesus eat frybread?” I realized I was asking “Should I, as a White man, I be allowed to eat frybread?”

YES!

Up to this point, my description of WJEF? may make it sound like it was two and a half days of only lamenting and pain. It wasn’t. It was full of laughter and warmth, beauty and welcome. From the steady string of jokes from our emcees to an amazing seven-on-seven basketball game to culture night where people sang and danced and shared stories, it was an incredible time. Our main speaker, Terry Wildman, brought messages of hope and healing from Isaiah 60. We heard testimonies of how Creator Sets Free (Jesus) had called many Native people to himself. Students and staff received copies of the First Nations Version (FNV) of the New Testament.

All these experiences together combined to answer the question “Would Jesus eat frybread?” with an emphatic yes! Yes, Jesus does want to enter the story of all Native people and bring healing. Through the hard work of Terry and scores of other people over five years, Jesus has even provided a version of his Word that captures the simplicity, clarity, and beauty of Native storytellers in English while remaining faithful to the original language of the Bible!

Even as I heard these stories of forgiveness and people being set free from past sins and struggles, even as I experienced the warmth and hospitality of everyone around me, I felt like Jesus spoke to me too about my question: You do not need to carry this shame and guilt anymore. You are free too.

It was beautiful, it was powerful, and it was healing. I enthusiastically joined in on our feast of frybread and buffalo stew (and helped myself to some leftover frybread as the conference was winding down!). Getting to take communion at the end of the conference with Native students and staff, as a symbol of the bond between us in our love and pursuit of Creator Sets Free, was a moment I will deeply cherish.

The Great Spirit loves this world of human beings so deeply he gave us his Son — the only Son who fully represents him. All who trust in him and his way will not come to a bad end, but will have the life of the world to come that never fades — full of beauty and harmony. Creator did not send his Son to decide against the people of this world, but to set them free from the worthless ways of the world.

— John 3:16-17 (FNV)

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Nathan Peterson

Nathan served as a writer for ��Ƶ for five and a half years. He currently works for a ministry serving adults with disabilities. He enjoys writing and drawing and staying in shape.

Why Filipino American Students Are Essential To Reaching Every Corner of Every Campus

emily.baez@intervarsity.org — Thu, 19 Oct 2023 20:01:58 +0000

October 19, 2023

Justin Casiano-Sebastian

Why Filipino American Students Are Essential To Reaching Every Corner of Every Campus

What happens when you plan a party but don’t send out invitations?

A party is not a party without the people who come, and people won’t come to the party unless they are invited! In ��Ƶ’s 2030 Calling, we seek to catalyze movements that call every corner of every campus to follow Jesus by 2030. To do this, we need people who God has gifted with missional invitation and sacrificial hospitality. Filipino American students bring these gifts to our movement.

Out of deep love, humility, and conviction, I firmly believe that God has uniquely positioned Filipino Americans on our campuses as both seed recipients and seed scatterers of revival. Here is what I’ve learned as a Filipino American campus staff from doing ministry with Filipino American students over the years and how it applies to pursuing God’s call to witness on campus.

1. Filipino American students are cross-cultural partners in the mission.

As we celebrate Filipino American History Month, we commemorate important facets of our diasporic history. Students of the Filipino diaspora are impacted by Spanish, American, and Japanese colonialism along with many transnational and socio-economic factors which have contributed to their migration and Christianization. While much of these parts of our history are a result of evil, God has turned what was meant for evil into good (Genesis 50:20).

As a result of God’s redemptive work, Filipino Americans are well connected to people of different cultures, both in the broader society and on campus. Each Filipino student on campus holds a rich network of people that represent many corners of campus. It’s been very common on the campuses that I’ve served at to see the Filipino cultural organizations having both Filipinos and non-Filipinos on their executive boards, and conversely, other cultural organizations have Filipinos on their executive boards! In fact, one of our student leaders of one of our Filipino bible studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago is a Black student!

Moreso, God has fashioned Filipino American students to be both reconcilers and healers. Because of Filipino Americans’ rich legacy of faith-filled activism all over the world such as the Delano Grape Strike and the EDSA Revolution, God has used and will use Filipino American students of faith as agents of revival and justice. Our unique position between people groups and between the margins and privilege will be a blessing to everyone on campus. The legacy of our ancestors who faithfully resisted oppressive powers lives on through this generation through Filipino American students on campus. When revival comes on our campus, this will not only include students giving their lives to Jesus. It will also include entire corners of campus having a foretaste of the kingdom of God, experiencing the just and righteous norm of heaven on campus.

Lastly, we will see healing on campus through Filipino American students. At the University of Illinois at Chicago, Filipino American students have embodied God’s healing through planting small group bible studies for students looking to be healed by painful religious experiences as well as another small group for Filipinos in pre-health, looking to integrate their ethnic identity and faith as they pursue the healing professions. Our hope is that students that we have never seen in ��Ƶ chapters will both come and be healed in Jesus’s name. I wonder if God will use Filipino students to bring them, heal them, and send them! May it be so, Lord.

2. Filipino American students bring joy and hospitality to the campus!

Have you ever been to a Filipino party? I might be biased, but they’re the best. Whether you’re Filipino or not, you can expect a few things: you will feel welcomed from the moment you step through the door until the moment you leave, you will be loved by the amount of food that you will be offered to eat, and you will experience extreme joy through laughter, deepening of relationships, and probably belting it out through singing karaoke with everyone. You will likely leave having the time of your life and with plenty of leftovers to bring home!

Filipino Americans are not only gifted by God in inviting others to the party, but they are gifted by God in hosting the party through our hospitality and joy. When the Lord starts bringing students from different corners of campus to your fellowship or when the Lord leads you to go out to different corners of campus to catalyze a Jesus-following movement, we have much to learn from Filipino Americans about how to create spaces of community where people feel welcomed, fed, and leave having experienced the joy of the Lord.

One unique aspect of Filipino American student hospitality is that among the roughly 90% who identify as Christian, we represent different streams of the Christian faith, both Protestant and Catholic. Some strongly identify with the Christian tradition of their upbringing while others have had experiences in multiple traditions.

As God brings students who have little to no church experience and students who have various church experiences into our communities, Filipino American students are well positioned to welcome them in, relate with the diversity of experiences represented by these students, and help them feel at home. Filipino American students can help foster ecumenical faith spaces. Who wouldn’t want that?

3. Filipino American students reflect God’s welcoming heart for all people.

In Chicago, where my wife Melissa and I are serving Filipino American students on multiple campuses, God has given our movement the parable of the feast of the Kingdom of God in Luke 14 as our anchoring story, vision, and hope. In the parable, we see God’s heart for people to come and eat the feast that he prepared. While the initial invitees rejected his invitation, the host, representing God, expanded the guest list and sent his servants to those on the margins of the community, compelling them to come to the party.

Our hope in Chicago and beyond is that as we pursue the 2030 Calling together, Filipino Americans would come and eat the feast of the kingdom of God. As they eat, we hope that they would deepen their love for God, themselves, their people, and others. On top of this, we desire these students to participate in the feast by preparing, inviting, and serving this meal to others on campus, both our own people and to the corners that we are called to.

Do you have Filipino American students that you are already connected to you and your ��Ƶ chapter? If so, love them, disciple them, and participate on God’s mission with them on your campus. Some might be called by God to fellow Filipino Americans on campus while others are called to reach different corners. Sometimes, they’re called to both! Wherever and whoever they are called to, they have a lot to teach us about God’s heart for every corner of every campus.

On top of this, invite them to attend the 2023 ��Ƶ Kapwa Leadership Institute (KALI), where they will be developed in their Filipino American Christian leadership with Filipino American ��Ƶ student leaders from across the country. Find out more about KALI 2023 here.

Are you not yet connected to Filipino American students on campus? Ask God how he is already at work among Filipino American students on your campus or in your area and ask how you might be led to catalyze a Jesus-following movement with them, even if it starts through one student. May the Lord bring revival on our campuses, both in and through my people.

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Justin Casiano-Sebastian

Justin is an ��Ƶ ministry team leader at the University of Illinois at Chicago, working primarily with Filipino American students. He is also an MDiv student at Fuller Seminary. Justin loves cheering on the Bulls and Cubs, drinking boba, and trolling his son. You can donate to his ministry at donate.intervarsity.org/donate#18823.