Saying Yes to Jesus: From Andrew

The Beginning

During Fredonia Chapter Times at Basileia, God broke down walls with a spiritual hammer as I (Andrew, the President) call it.  Altogether, the e-board and other students began to Stop Faking It and to be honest and real with each other beyond just a simple, “How are you?” “Good” or “Tired” response.  We were honest and some people confessed stuff like pride, anger, and unforgiveness toward parents.  I confessed my deep fear of others criticizing me for what I do, whether it’s big or small.  It would dominate my thoughts frequently.

The second night I believe, Jason Gaboury the Regional Director, allowed students to respond to God after the message he gave from the Sermon on the Mount.  He talked about on how disciples of Jesus treat others differently and how Jesus changes everything, before allowing students to accept Christ for the first time.  Five students got saved!  From that, God put it on my heart to hold a call to faith as I led our Chapter Time right after.  When I started to question whether God put it on my heart to do this, at the end a woman said, “When God is speaking, don’t change the topic.”  I knew this was from God! Though I was nervous, I trusted God to give me the words to say and I prayed just that.  

Once the Chapter Time started I said that “When God is speaking, don’t change the topic” and that God put something heavy on my heart to share about our salvation and I wanted to allow us to recommit to Jesus whereas Jason allowed first time commitments.  God has everything flow perfectly!! (better than what is written down here)  I asked everyone to close their eyes, and I spoke about God’s love and freedom that He offers through Jesus, and asked them to raise their hand if they wanted to recommit to living for Him.  As I waited, God eventually gave me scriptures to recite that I memorized like 1 John 1:8-9, Romans 3:26, and the verse in Romans about how whomsoever calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved.  In all, 4 people raised their hands!!!!! That could only be God!!

The Rest of the Story

Right after chapter time, I felt God calling me to go to the Club Room, and then Prospect Point (book store) to find Jason and tell him about what God lead me to do to encourage him!  I walked with Andrea, and when she asked what if he isn’t there, I said we must walk by faith and not by sight.  He wasn’t at the club room, but then we easily found him in the book store! #GodRocks!  Andrea and I sat down with him on a couch in the back of the room and I told him what happened and it went great! I also shared that the thought from scripture connecting why I should tell him came from how when Jesus healed some people with leprosy, he told them to go show themselves to the priest to show that they are cleansed.  Jason shared with us that he reads Psalm 100 and 95 regularly.  He pointed out where it says that when you heed God’s voice to not harden your heart.  He also said that he is happy that I am going to be President at Fredonia, which was super encouraging and made me happy.  He then prayed for us before heading off for the night.  What a great testimony of God’s faithfulness when we listen to him. 

Medical Story and Work Crew at Basileia 2014

My first Basileia turned out to be a lot different than I expected. When I arrived the first day, I was suffering from an infection that would need antibiotics. I had been trying to treat it on my own and was going to wait until the next week day to go to the doctor, but by the end of the first day of Basileia I was in too much pain to wait another few days. That was when I met the nurse, who turned out to be the only new friend I made during the week. Looking back it is kind of weird that we bonded over me having a really bad infection that required two visits to the ER and a trip to a surgeon, but I am grateful to have met her either way. Every time that I returned to camp after visiting the fancy Adirondack Medical Center I would check in with her and give her an update on how things went. For example, I told her about the antibiotics that I was put on, and later she hunted me down after lunch to warn me that the amount of drugs I was taking was pretty toxic and that I should be very careful about when I took them. I ended up visiting the nurse so much that Kathryn joked that we had become best friends. From this experience I learned that friends can be made through almost any situation. I think that God had the right idea in mind for me to make one close friend rather than a bunch of acquaintances that I would not keep in contact with after Basileia was over. That being said, go to Basileia! God will be sure to surprise and bless you with the people you meet. During track week I didn't make many new friends, but there is a great opportunity to get to know new people during meals and free time. I made one new friend and that was enough for me.

Overall, Basileia is a wonderful experience where you can spend a week in the beautiful Adirondacks surrounded by other Christian students who would love to talk with you about anything and everything. It is a great learning experience and I left Basileia feeling much better equipped to evangelize and share my faith with other people.

Work Crew: After a wonderful week in track week, I had the opportunity to spend another week at Basileia on work crew. I volunteered for housekeeping, where I cleaned bathrooms three times a day and did laundry in between that. There were a lot of sheets, tablecloths, and towels to fold, but it was fun. Being on work crew allowed me to get to know a smaller group of people a lot better than just meeting people during meals during track week. The work kept me busy and it was an awesome experience to help out around the camp and see what goes on behind the scenes to make sure the people in tracks are having a great time. Work crew is a great way to both give back to people around you and to help pay for a track week. I loved working with housekeeping, and I plan to do work crew every year that I attend Basileia.


Check out what the work crew does behind the scenes by clicking the picture.

Picture/Video of Work Crew Week 3 courtesy of Tim Peterson

What is InterVarsity at Fredonia

What is InterVarsity at Fredonia?  2014 Graduates Alex and Aaron recorded this video two years ago and the chapter is continuing to grow and change the lives of students.  Today, these students are changing the world as they serve and work vocationally or continue their education.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qI82qcl5bWc&feature=youtu.be

Andrew is serving as the chapter President at Fredonia leading the chapter of 60 students to establish and advance witnessing communities on campus after deciding to extend his education so he could follow God's calling to teach.
Kathryn joined staff with InterVarsity and works to transform lives, change Fredonia, and develop world changers full time at Fredonia.
Erin just served as the Outreach Coordinator, heading up the Winter Service Trip and beginning the change in the Fredonia chapter's evangelism culture.  She will graduate in December from Fredonia.
Derek just graduated from Fredonia and is serving as a Christian camp counselor
Christine just finished her Masters at Roberts Wesleyan College
Darren just graduated from Fredonia and will be looking to teach HS Biology.
Danica is continuing her Masters in Speech-Language Pathology at Ithaca College.
Lindsay is continuing her education in to teach English as a Second Language at Nazareth College.
Josh is serving as a campus intern with Campus Ambassadors after transferring colleges and will join as a full time missionary staff after he graduates.
Jonn is using his Film degree to create films and advertisements in Atlanta with a Christian mindset.

*Recent updates on all students are not available.

Nine More Hours

Currently, I’m only 70% funded which means that instead of working full time at 30 hours a week, I only spend about 21 hours a week on campus.  (Honestly, most weeks I spend extra time between planning and the flexibility of meeting schedules.) I've been stuck at this level for the academic year with limited time to increase partners and a few unexpected losses.  

As the new leaders and I begin preparing for next semester, I’ve been thinking…what would 9 more hours of time on campus each week look like? 

1 hour per week would help further the development of up to 10 sophomore/junior students as leaders and potential leaders in Leadery 201 through biweekly meetings.  The current Leadery students desire another year of more in depth study and training on how to be a Christian leader.

2 hours per week would be dedicated towards a small group for international students reaching other international students

2 hours per week would focus on seniors to help combat the typical trend of disappearing by encouraging them toward the vision in new ways and providing monthly gatherings to discuss topics specifically prevalent in their life. 

1 hour per week would be dedicated to inviting students individually to start something new where they are, ex. in their major, dorm, or team, and providing resources for them.

2 hours per week would be spent enhancing the ministry partnerships with church, volunteers and others through communication and guiding new volunteers on campus

1 hour per week would be spent with faculty and staff members with the plan to begin prayer or bible studies on a regular basis. 

The vision of InterVarsity is to see Students AND Faculty Transformed, the Campus Renewed, and World Changers Developed.  As my first year on campus ends, I invite you to join with us on campus for another year.  Partner with us prayerfully for the events, financially to enable me to reach my full time goal, and with your time as I help develop new ways for volunteers to participate with the activities on campus (in short term and long term ways).  

Travis shares about ST14

Travis's story of the Winter Service Trip.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmZYnNQ-sPk

Money or Trust

I (Kathryn) teach my church's 8th-12th grade youth group with a few InterVarsity students helping out. This last week the topic was money after watching some of Linsanity and discussing NBA contracts.  It seemed like we all needed to check where we put money on our list of priorities: where we serving it or God?  I used this lesson plan and cut out a few of the verses due to time.

The top of the lesson says to get a bill, the more valuable the better.  My original thought was to get a $50 bill and use that to see how students would spend that money.  Then I finished reading the lesson... which at the end says to rip up the bill.  I decided that a $10 bill would accomplish the purpose without putting too much money at risk (as I'm still not fully funded).  As I went through the lesson, asking the students what they would use the money for and realizing that we held money strongly, I debated internally if I would actually be able to rip up that bill.  But I figured if I did not, then I held money in too high of a regard and that I should know by now that God would provide for me trusting Him.  It was hard for me to rip it and the students flipped out as I tore the bill not just once, but into eighths.
One student tried to tape it back together then took the bill home.  I said and really wanted to continue to trust that God would bless me for ripping it.

The next night in Walmart I ran into his mom who said that he had taken the bill to the bank and they actually gave him a new $10 bill in exchange for all of the pieces.  So he gained $10 from the lesson.  Now it was up to me to really decide if God would bless me for following Him and doing this dramatic lesson.

One more day later, I was at a pot-luck dinner and as the basket went around for people to contribute cash towards the general cost, I realized I only had $1 left in cash in my pocket.  I put that in then the person next to me turned and handed me a $10 bill.  I asked her why and if she wanted me to put that in the basket for her.  She stated that it was for me to keep and that God had told her to give it to me.  After a few times, she's learned to not question God's promptings.  I then explained how $10 was exactly how much I had used of my own money to help try to teach the proper place of money in our lives as Christians.

God wants to be the person that we rely on to take care of our needs.  He uses money to provide for things, but He wants us to listen to Him about when to share the money/possessions He's given us and when we should keep them.  In the end, all things we have are His and we are only responsible for the money for as long as He wants us to have it.  Where is money in your heart?

Remember Matthew 6:24.  “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

Service Trip Willow Mission

“The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). Sleeping, playing video games, and relaxing with some Netflix may be what most college students did for their last week of break, but not for SUNY Fredonia’s InterVarsity Christian Fellowship! I was blessed with the opportunity to be on a Servant team of 20 fellow students whom spent their week serving the communities poor, youth, and elderly. The locations we served at included the WCA Home, Dunkirk Historical Museum, Salvation Army, Saint Columbans, Meals On Wheels, Fredonia Place, Concord Estates, Rural Ministries, Dunkirk First Baptist, and my personal favourite Willow Mission through the Dunkirk First United Methodist Church. For those of you whom don’t know, Willow Mission is a project that was created to house and serve the poor, homeless, underprivileged of Dunkirk. Upon my first day of arriving to the women's house, located next to the church where the guys sleep, I thought to myself ‘Wow. They want to have the first person moved in here in about a week or two?!’ However, that didn’t discourage my friends and I. Our head chief was donating his time the whole week to make sure construction went smoothly and we assisted him in every way we could whether it was painting, waxing floors, electrical work, drywalling or whatever. With 20 students coming 5 hours a day in groups of 6 on 4 different days of the week we put in nearly 130 hours of an individual’s workload. One hundred and thirty hours… Upon the last hour we spent there I went around and prayed for each room and the futures that would soon be made in them. Each room had it’s own colour, furniture, and personality which would soon develop lives that hadn’t had the chance to prosper until now. Meeting with the pastor on my way out of the house she broke down in tears overjoyed in how much work went into this house and how through Christ we were all able to come together to make it happened. The last thing our head chief said to us before he left was “Thank you. For everything. You’ve restored my faith in the youth and a lot of faith in myself alone. I have learned so much from you kids.” I think I stand for all of my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ that participated in our Winter Service Trip when I say that it would behoove you to ask around to come join us next Winter and “serve the Lord with gladness.” (Psalm 100:2).