CSU

Staff Life Is a Journey

gordon.govier@intervarsity.org — Mon, 06 Feb 2017 15:47:58 +0000

February 6, 2017

Gordon Govier

Staff Life Is a Journey

Five colleges in four years meant that once Gent Grush finally settled at San Diego State University (SDSU) as a student it took him an extra year to get his psychology degree. But those two final years at SDSU also solidly grounded him in his faith.

Gent (who is named after his great-grandfather) had a very practical reason for checking out all of the SDSU Christian fellowships when he arrived: he needed to find a roommate. Three of the leaders of ��Ƶ happened to be looking for a fourth, and so he found a home in ��Ƶ at SDSU. “��Ƶ proved to be the perfect place to grow my faith,” he said.

Gent’s three roommates were Asian American, and it wasn’t long before he began to be confronted with his own ethnicity—a journey that continues today. He is thankful that his roommates understood how to deal with ethnic differences in a helpful way, starting with food and other aspects of their culture that opened up avenues of conversation. “That was a great on-ramp for a White guy from Colorado,” he said.

His last year at SDSU he discovered he was on another on-ramp, this one toward joining ��Ƶ staff. He became a Resident Assistant (RA) in one of the largest dorms on campus. That opened a door that had been closed to dorm-based Bible studies, which he then began to invest a lot of time leading. ��Ƶ staff members at the time also needed to shore up lagging ministry support, so they concentrated on that, turning over all of the chapter leadership to student leaders such as Gent.

“I always had a desire for ministry, so this seemed like the right first step,” he said. The SDSU chapter was thriving, having doubled in size from 40 to about 80 between the time he first began participating and the time he graduated. Gent joined ��Ƶ staff upon graduation and continued the work that he enjoyed: discipleship training and leadership development.

However, someone who really loves ministry can easily get burnt out. And after three years that’s what happened to Gent. “I thought my staff career might be over,” he said. “I needed a vacation.” But what he got was something even better, even though it didn’t look that way at first.

The SDSU staff team wanted to send their student leaders to the Los Angeles Urban Program (LAUP) for the summer. And because the other team members had families, Gent was the obvious choice to lead them. “In my opinion the last thing I needed was an Urban Program,” he said. “But God did a miracle.”

Gent’s ethnic journey, which had begun five years earlier with his three Asian American roommates, took another giant step forward during his first LAUP summer. As he participated along with his students, the urban experiences challenged many of his social assumptions, and reading Bible texts that were new to him challenged his theological assumptions. When his group traveled to Tijuana and spent a night in a homeless shelter, for example, he understood better the fear experienced by many in the immigrant community.

LAUP required Gent to be closer to God than he had been all year long. It exposed him to God’s concern for justice and God’s care for the vulnerable and the exploited in a way that refreshed his soul. He knew that he would not have experienced the same renewal had he taken an ordinary vacation, as he had hoped to do that summer.

Gent returned to SDSU refreshed but soon found himself being drawn back to Los Angeles. The staff team at SDSU was changing, the woman who would soon become his wife lived in LA, and there was a staff vacancy at the ��Ƶ chapter at California State University, Los Angeles.

He arrived at Cal State LA in the fall of 2013, just as the California State University System implemented a system-wide policy requiring recognized student groups to accept any student as a potential leader, which conflicted with ��Ƶ’s requirement that all chapter leaders affirm ��Ƶ’s Doctrinal Basis. Implementation of the policy varied widely from one campus to another in the 23-school system. Gent found a professor who attended the same church he did, who would reserve a room for ��Ƶ. The chapter was able to keep meeting with few problems.

The student population at Cal State LA provided another cross-cultural ministry opportunity for Gent. As he mentored the Black and Latino women who made up the leadership team, he realized their experiences and discipleship needs were far different from students he had worked with elsewhere. Once again he was confronted with the contrast between the assumptions he was used to and the ways other Christians responded to the gospel message.

Last year Gent made another transition. He became director of LAUP. He was ready for a change but the change became a challenge. He discovered that although LAUP works well for students who, like Gent, come to college with little exposure to ethnic and cultural differences, it’s not the same experience for those whose lives have included cultural displacement, poverty, and injustice, like many of the students at Cal State LA.

Over its 36-year history LAUP, has been transformative for many students and staff. But Gent believes LAUP must change if it’s to be effective for every student. “LAUP’s responsibility is to disciple all students properly,” he said.

Tom Allen, ��Ƶ’s regional director for Southern California, marvels at how Gent faces ministry challenges with courage, humility, and conviction. “I praise God for the way Gent’s leadership is forming student disciples who love God deeply, care for their neighbor compassionately, and engage our complex world thoughtfully,” he said. “Rather than despairing over the challenges of LAUP, he sought the Lord with a deepened humility and greater confidence in a God who can do immeasurably more than we ask or imagine. I am eager to see what Gent re-imagines for LAUP and how our big God multiplies that vision to something more than Gent even imagined.”

Gent doesn’t know yet how LAUP will change. But using what ��Ƶ has taught him about how God values justice, he believes it will become better. He is trusting in God’s faithfulness to help him meet this new challenge.

News Keywords

San Diego State University

Cal State LA

LAUP

Los Angeles Urban Program

California State University

CSU

CSU Derecognition – The First Month

gordon.govier@intervarsity.org — Wed, 08 Oct 2014 18:33:58 +0000

News

October 8, 2014

Gordon Govier

CSU Derecognition – The First Month

New Student Outreach (NSO) season at the beginning of the school year is always busy, but for ��Ƶ staff and student leaders on California State University (CSU) campuses, NSO was crazy busy this year. CSU derecognized many chapters because ��Ƶ’s leadership selection process requires that their chapters be led by Christians, which violates CSU’s new non-discrimination policy.

So our chapters on most of the CSU campuses continue to operate but without the ability to participate in student organization fairs and enjoy the other perks of official recognition, such as free use of on-campus meeting spaces. CSU chapter life has gotten more creative but also more expensive.

Creatively, the use of backpack banners has become a new way to contact students and tell them about ��Ƶ. A photo of Sonoma State students wearing backpack banners (above) taken by Jenny Klouse and posted on Facebook was shared on the ��Ƶ webpage and then picked up by a number of news outlets.

Even though CSU has so far been unyielding on the new policy in spite of widespread criticism (more on that later), and some chapters need outside financial assistance to cover the cost of room rental, campus ministry continues. Some of our staff have had positive experiences with campus officials and we have already seen great responses from students to the gospel message this year.

A Warm Campus Welcome

Gent Grush at CSU-Los Angeles dropped off a student on campus with banner backpacks, flyers, and contact cards, and went to park. “Upon my return I discovered we had already been asked for papers for our group’s presence on campus. We had none. I thought we were busted,” he said. “I began to talk with the woman asking for papers and introduced myself when she responded, ‘Oh you’re Gent!’ And then she gave me a huge hug.”

It turns out that this was the person that Gent hadbeen calling almost daily since early August to secure rooms and promotion space on campus in the face of derecognition. “She immediately began to help us know what we can and cannot do and extended much grace because of her understanding for our situation,” he said. “She personally walked me to the Public Affairs Office to help me apply as a non-profit group to promote on campus. She was a blessing, a person of peace in the midst of the changes on campus.”

On the way to the Public Affairs Office the pair stepped onto an elevator, that also happened to be occupied by the CSU-LA president, William Covino. “She introduced me to the president and shared with him that I represented ��Ƶ on campus,” Gent reported. “I shook his hand and he said thank you for serving our students.”

Students Respond to the Gospel Message

After all of that, the CSU-LA ��Ƶ students easily made contact with 25 new students in their first
hour and a half on campus as a non-profit group. The new contact methods seemed to work well on other campuses too; at California State University-Fullerton 338 students filled out contact cards.

As these new contacts attended Large Group meetings, many responded to the gospel. At Sonoma State, 27 students made first-time or adult decisions to follow Jesus the first week. The next week 15 more students came to faith in Christ at Sonoma.

Derecognition Derided

While campus ministry continues at the CSU schools, the CSU situation has received a lot of media attention, overwhelmingly in support of ��Ƶ. The links to news stories and commentary on our CSU derecognition resource page expand on an almost daily basis; the much anticipated coverage by the Los Angeles Times gave a balanced treatment of the issue.

Here are quotes from some of the other coverage:

“The bigger, and ongoing, issue is the continual sanitization of unacceptable religious voices from universities. It’s ironic—those who champion nondiscrimination, in the name of nondiscrimination, are creating rules that push out those who “discriminate” based on biblical belief statements.”

- Ed Stetzer, The Exchange, a Christianity Today blog

“This is a group known for such high-pressure tactics such as inviting students to inductive Bible studies. Presuming one likes people who tend to be thoughtful, respectful, and service-oriented, these are about the least annoying evangelicals non-Christians are likely to meet. On the other hand, IVCF chapters want Christians to lead those Bible studies. The nerve. Seriously, anyone who cannot stomach these evangelicals needs to rethink that lip service about diversity and inclusion.”

- John Turner, The Anxious Bench, a Patheos blog

“’Derecognition’” might finally be the catalyst on our campuses to see the gospel run like wildfire.”

- Matt Reagan, Desiring God blog

“CSU has helped set off what is likely to be a chain reaction of embarrassing events destructive to free thought, free inquiry and free association at America’s colleges and universities.”

- Editorial, Orange County Register

“Attendance and membership should be open to all, but the basic tenets of a group’s existence are at risk to be altered if people with differing opinions are allowed to come in and assume leadership. The authentic character and values of these groups must be protected.”

- Editorial, Deseret News

“…the policy is a gratuitous insult, forcing groups to deny their core values and sign symbolic statements they don’t really believe. It’s a way for the university to pledge allegiance to diversity without embracing pluralism.”

- Virginia Postrel, Bloomberg View

“This policy guts the free association right that was enshrined in the First Amendment precisely to protect minority or unpopular views.”

- Harvey Silverglate, The Wall Street Journal

“The very existence of the religious organization is tied up in the selection of those who teach its message and practice its doctrines. Once the state begins interfering with those decisions, the ability to exercise one’s religious beliefs freely is fundamentally undermined.”

- Professor Stephen Bainbridg, UCLA School of Law

“This notable exception—that sororities and fraternities can discriminate on the basis of gender—is illustrative. The university seems to accept that the essence of a sorority and fraternity is gender, while refusing to recognize that the essence of a religious club is, well, religious belief. Just as a sorority required to admit men would no longer be a sorority, so a religious club run by non-believers would cease, by definition, to be itself.”

- Karen Swallow Prior, The Atlantic

“When colleges and universities enforce ‘inclusion’ by excluding some religious voices, they cripple the spirit of free inquiry and robust debate that should be at the heart of their mission. The ‘marketplace of ideas,’ it should be remembered, is not confined to the ‘marketplace of ideas we like.’”

- Charles Haynes, Senior Scholar at the First Amendment Center (in a widely syndicated column entitled “Welcome to College, Where Religious Freedom Goes to Die”)

“The ‘all comers’ logic tramples on these principles. It ignores a commonsense recognition that the university ought to be about inquiry, not orthodoxy. That is a loss for the university, and a loss for us all.”

- John Inazu, Library of Law and Liberty

While ��Ƶ was the first campus Christian group to be derecognized, other Christians groups such as Chi Alpha and Athletes in Action are also being derecognized. In addition, a grass roots student coalition called CSU Student Organizations for Free Association (CSU SOFA) has sprung up on two CSU campuses to seek an end to CSU Executive Order 1068. Please pray that sanity will prevail and that the CSU policy will be rescinded or changed to allow faith groups to choose leaders who hold to the group’s beliefs.

News Keywords

Derecognition

CSU

California State Universities