My Unlikely Journey To Chi Alpha In The City

Author Info: Josh is passionate about studying the Bible and having deep conversations with college students at American University and Georgetown University. In his spare time, he can be found with a book, a video game, or outdoors in a hammock, normally fueled by caffeine. You can connect with him via our AU Chi Alpha Staff Page.

July 29th will be one year since my life changed. If you would have told me just two years ago that I would be here in Washington D.C., serving at American University Chi Alpha, you would have probably been laughed out of the room! 

You see, I had a plan. And Chi Alpha, big cities, studio apartment living, and support raising were not a part of that plan! However, God does amazing things, and he has a way of getting you right where he wants you. 

Two years ago, my wife Brittney and I had just celebrated our two year anniversary. I had just wrapped up my graduate degree, and for the first time in our relationship, neither one of us was in class, or preparing to turn in the next assignment. We were living in Georgia, right down the road from family and friends, involved in a local church, and serving as the makeshift “directors” of their college ministry, which was really just a very small group of 1-5 college students who would meet in our living room every Tuesday night. We loved where we were. Yes, we knew we had both been called to serve the Lord in full-time ministry, but we had not found where that was…yet. 

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Up to this point, we had worked jobs in the marketplace, ones that we enjoyed, but ones that were not totally fulfilling. After graduating from grad school, we decided to start applying for the jobs we would want to be our careers. For a few months we applied to ministry positions wherever we could, to no avail. We even submitted an application to be full-time missionaries overseas, of which we never heard a response back. But God was working things behind the scenes. 

After a rough season of personal and family loss, I received a tweet from Blane Young at American University Chi Alpha one day in early September: “Hey man, check your email!” That was it. Now, this may seem strange, but Blane and I have known each other now for about ten years. (My senior year of high school, Blane was an intern at the church I found Jesus at in Brunswick, GA.) We kept in touch through college, hung out when we could in person, and even met for a while in a virtual small-group/Bible study through Google Hangouts. Normally, Blane would have texted me to check my email, but getting a tweet was just a little odd. I opened up my email, and in it was a invite to come check out the ministry that he was a part of in Washington D.C. There were two openings in staff the next year, and he wanted Brittney and I to come up and dream about joining the team. 

Honestly, Brittney and I had no intention of joining the Chi Alpha team at AU. We were smack in the middle of the roughest season of life either of us had walked through to that point, and we just wanted a vacation. We took Blane up on the offer to travel to DC in October, and a month later we made the 9 1/2 hour drive to the nation’s capital. 

To say that God grabbed our hearts for college students and for the city of DC while we were there that weekend is an understatement. I vividly remember sitting outside the National Archives Museum with Brittney on the Monday after attending DC Chi Alpha’s Fall Retreat, and just knowing that we would be back. Over the course of three days, God allowed us to dream about the potential in Washington D.C. We would not return to Georgia the same. 

“When things seem unlikely to us, we must remember that God specializes in the unlikely. ”

Over the next few months, Brittney and I would seek God in prayer, seek advice from our mentors and family. In early December, we announced to the students at American University that we would be joining the team in August. For the next six months, we went through the grueling process of building a team of supporters that would back us financially and through prayer as we followed God’s call. At the end of June, last summer, I quit my job with under half of our support raised, and one month to go until the move. Within the next four weeks, God opened up doors like never before and all of our financial support came in. We sold one of our cars, packed up what stuff in our house we didn't sell into a UHAUL, and left small town Georgia for the big city of Washington, D.C. 

The past year has been challenging. Brittney and I have grown in ways that we could have never foreseen. We have transitioned into full-time ministry and full-time city life. And any day now, we will be welcoming our daughter into the world of ministry in the city with us. We would not have it any other way. God has been so good. When things seem unlikely to us, we must remember that God specializes in the unlikely. 

Thank you for letting us serve in the greatest city. Thanks for letting us be a part of what God is doing through DC Chi Alpha. 

Published on July 21, 2016 • Short Link: http://bit.ly/2asp7GJ

What XA Means To Me

Beatrice Hociota is a sophomore in the business school at Georgetown University. She's spending the summer working with GU Impacts in Nicaragua and will start her first year as a Lifegroup leader and Georgetown's Welcome Week coordinator this Fall. You can find her on Facebook and Instagram at @hnbeatrice.

Honestly, I don’t know where to begin. How am I supposed to explain what Chi Alpha means to me in a mere 400 words, in a mere blog post? I could go on and on about what it means to me. I could tell you about the first time I was introduced to Chi Alpha at a Protestant Service, days into the confusion of freshman year, where I instantly knew I wouldn’t be alone at college. I could tell you about going to a Life Group where week after week my leaders poured life into me and showed me God’s unconditional love or about my pastor who is quick to listen and serves her students selflessly. I could tell you about Fall Retreat, Winter Retreat, or nearly every Wednesday Open Table where I am increasingly amazed and inspired by how my peers praise God with everything they have. I could tell you about all of that and still not tell you enough. 

“...I firmly know I could not have done it without the support of Chi Alpha.”

Chi Alpha is more than just an organization, more than just a gathering of people. It is a community, a community of people that supports, challenges, inspires, motivates, and leads each other closer to Christ. This summer, I have understood that better than ever. I have spent the past 10 weeks interning for a social enterprise in Nicaragua and as I am reflecting on my experience, I firmly know I could not have done it without the support of Chi Alpha. In moments where I cut my self short in my ability to communicate and live in a different culture, felt I did not have the skills to finish my assignments, and failed to recognize God’s purpose, it was people from Chi Alpha who lifted my weary sole and reminded me I wasn’t carrying my heavy heart alone. Even from thousands of miles away, I have felt supported beyond anything I could have ever imagined or begin to deserve.

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To me, Georgetown Chi Alpha is a body of believers who continuously strive to uphold 1 Peter 3:8 in the most beautiful way. They are sympathetic, loving, compassionate, and humble. This is not only evident in how they treat each other, but also in how they care for others on campus and in DC, stand apart from negative societal pressures, and surrender their lives daily. Truth is, I could never accurately articulate everything that Chi Alpha means to me because it means so much. Have you ever walked into a room and felt immediate peace and comfort? I have and do every time I have the privilege of being surrounded by the loving community of Chi Alpha. 

Published on July 20, 2016 • Short Link: http://bit.ly/29KsMSZ

 

 

 

Thoughts on Discipleship (Part 2 of 2)

GUEST POST From time to time, we have special guests whose voices we totally love sharing with you. This is a post from Seth Collins, he is a bearded man with a heart of gold who currently serves on staff at Yale Chi Alpha. HIs wonderful wife Brooke, used to live in DC and work with Chi Alpha, so even as we root her on, we miss her deeply! You can follow him on Twitter and Medium.

Find Part 1 here: http://bit.ly/29Gm91o

It was late November and around 11pm on a Friday night. I was getting ready for bed after an exhausting week of study and ministry. Scrolling through Facebook to get one last glimpse of what my Facebook friends were up to, I received a group message notification from my small group. One of the guys decided that it would be a terrific idea to go hiking up a mountain to catch a meteor shower... 

At 11pm. In November.

Being an introvert, my initial reaction was to say, "You guys have fun; I'm calling it a night." But, then I recognized that it would be my co-leader's birthday, and I didn't want to be that guy who bailed out when everyone else didn't. 

So, I put my warm clothes on and got in the car to go on this nocturnal adventure. Even though the hike to the top was just over a mile, it was much harder to get there because 1.) it was dark and we had to use our phones to see where we were putting our feet, and 2.) there was ice on the rocks that we would be walking across. 

What was I getting myself into?

Several minutes later, we're at the top and the wind was just ripping through us. It was so cold. We all clung to the rocks as best we could, trying to find some kind of shielding from the wind. At first, I thought to myself, this is crazy; I could be home right now in my warm bed. 

But then I looked up and saw the stars. 

The night firmament was incredible. I'd never seen so many stars in my life!

We started counting how many shooting stars we saw as we watched them race across the night sky. I think we lost count at around 15.

Before we made the trek back down to warmth and security, a couple of the guys from the group had hiked up the mountain with provisions: one guy had a grill strapped to his back. Another had a bag of charcoal and a dozen eggs. They were on a mission to scramble some eggs and enjoy the co-leader's birthday before heading back down!

We ate, traveled back down, and drove home.

I could have missed all of that if I'd chose to stay at home. I could've missed the memory, the laughs, the frozen chatter, the blanket of stars, and the eggs! But I went because God sometimes reveals His character and nature in such a way that reading a textbook can't fully convey. You have to get out and engage people! Engage the world around! The disciples were role models in such endeavors and, because of their companionship with Jesus and their actions, they helped change the world we live in.

The third aspect of being a small group leader is actually my second point.

2. Mentorship

I don't know if I can say enough about one-on-one discipleship (or sometimes referred to as mentorship). I love it. If there were one aspect of ministry that I could do for the rest of my days, it would be this. 

Through mentorship, I learned how to process life with students on an individual basis. The space and meeting would create an atmosphere that would allow them to ask more personal questions that they might not feel comfortable with asking in a small group setting. 

They would often ask questions about my life or how I handled a certain situation. This would create inner-reflection on my part and allow the Holy Spirit to reveal the graces that I'd forgotten about or didn't appreciate as much. A perk for being in a mentoring relationship! 

Again, being an introvert, it's tough to engage a crowd, but a one-on-one setting is entirely different. Sure, there's always small talk to get through, but when you get to the deep stuff, then it gets exciting!

Mentorship created a deeper need to be vulnerable with the young men I was meeting with. By modeling vulnerability, I allowed the student to be as vulnerable as I was allowing myself to go. I couldn't ask them to do something that I wasn't willing to do myself. (Note: you should have wisdom in what you're willing to share. No need to air all your dirty laundry, but having something on the clothesline helps build rapport with your mentoring relationship.)

Mentorship also created deeper friendships. Five years later, I'm still good friends with the co-leaders I led my first small group with. I'm still friends with some of those guys that were in the group. I've been in one of their weddings, I've had a weekly home when I served as Interim Director for VCU Chi Alpha from one of them, and nearly all of them have been so impacted by my involvement with Chi Alpha that they have supported me financially.

You can go down the street and ask someone else what discipleship means to them and they could give you a totally different answer than what I just did. But, for me, small groups and mentorship are the key elements of building a discipleship culture: a culture that invites both insiders and outsiders to engage in the God-man, Jesus Christ, and to follow His teachings and lifestyle.

Published on July 14, 2016. • Short Link: http://bit.ly/29KZKsd

Thoughts on Discipleship (Part 1 of 2)

GUEST POST From time to time, we have special guests whose voices we totally love sharing with you. This is a post from Seth Collins, he is a bearded man with a heart of gold who currently serves on staff at Yale Chi Alpha. HIs wonderful wife Brooke, used to live in DC and work with Chi Alpha, so even as we root her on, we miss her deeply! You can follow him on Twitter and Medium.

 If there's one thing that Chi Alpha has taught me that I'm going to take with me for the rest of my days, no matter where I may end up, it's discipleship.

Growing up in the church, this was something that was not practically taught for me. Sure, I'd heard the stories from scripture how Jesus called the twelve and made them disciples. But, I had no idea what that process looked like or how they had earned that title. I eventually settled into my spirit that they were disciples because Jesus said so.

Early on in my ministry, I modeled what I'd seen on Sunday mornings and Sunday nights: preaching to the crowd and standing in prayer with those who wanted hands laid on them for the altar call. 

What I didn't see happening (because I had a job and couldn't hang out at the church all day, everyday) was the process of what happened to those who had made a decision for Christ: how were they processing sanctification? Did they even know what that word meant? How were they engaging with Jesus throughout the week and not just living from Sunday to Sunday? These were just some of the questions I had.

It was when I decided to quit my job, move 5 hours away from my family, and become a U.S. Missionary with Chi Alpha that I learned what discipleship looked like.

There were two parts to this discipleship model that will stick with me as long as I'll live. If I were  hired on at a church, I would want to ask if these two parts exist. If they didn't, I would negotiate my job description to include the development of these two parts. That is how important these two things are for me.

1. Small Groups

I was first exposed to being in a small group by leading one. As an intern with Chi Alpha, there were minimal job roles I took on—one of them being a Small Group Leader.

I, along with two student leaders, led a group of nine sophomore men. These meetings were held on another day during the week, apart from our weekly large group gatherings. 

As a leader, I was responsible for three things: leading a bible study, being a community facilitator, and providing mentorship in a one-on-one setting with a handful of guys from the group.

The small group night itself taught me to facilitate, not preach, the bible study. For me, this was brand new because I'd never seen this modeled before growing up. I had to be okay with the hanging silence when one of us leaders asked a question and no one made a move to answer. I had to make the room feel less awkward when one of the guys would ask a question that I felt everyone should know who had spent anytime at all in the church.

The small group taught me that life can be an adventure and that we don't have to have our noses in the Bible 24/7 to learn more about Jesus (though, it is a good place to find him). Through community, I saw elements of the guys in my small group that I did not perceive when we were in our bible study. One of the guys was a huge Pokemon fan. Another guy loved to be crafty (he made a ping pong table out of chicken wire and four desks once). Yet another loved to be at the gym and would constantly be marinating chicken to get his protein intake throughout the week.

Community exposed me to these guys in a way that I recognized that God does not make us the same. His creativity allows us to be different in healthy manners that reflect His nature.

Speaking of community, I'll never forget one of the events we did as a small group...

(Part 2 of this post can be found here: http://bit.ly/29KZKsd) 

Published on July 14, 2016. • Short Link: http://bit.ly/29Gm91o

 

Reflections on Five Years

Author Info: Blane has served on staff at AU Chi Alpha for several years and became the Director in the Fall of 2014. This New Mexico native is a proud graduate of the University of Alabama but has fallen in love with the big city. He and his wife (Hannah) moved to DC to complete the DC Chi Alpha CMIT Program under Mike & Jen Godzwa. They are parents to a pretty amazing toddler, Jeremiah. You'll find him biking around DC in search of a coffee by day and pouring over a book by night. You can find him at www.blaneyoung.com, and connect with him via our AU Chi Alpha Staff Page.

 

As many of you know, most of the staff from AU Chi Alpha and GU Chi Alpha recently attended a staff development conference called INCITE. For those that are Chi Alpha students, it’s basically SICM but for staff! 

One of the speakers was Dave Gable. He is seventy years young and has served as a pastor, Chi Alpha Staff and even the National Chi Alpha Director! Currently, he serves as an overseeing chaplain at the National Parks Service in California. He shared key moments, of success and failure, from over four decades of full-time ministry experience. He was one of those guys with a hundred stories and even more wisdom. He talked at length on the themes of cultivating the mind you want to have through Christ and creating habits that will help you forty years from now. Talk about perspective! 

I was also honored for five years of service to Chi Alpha. I can’t believe I’ve been at American University longer than I spent at my own school, the University of Alabama. What was even cooler, was that some friends of mine, Mark and Sue, were honored for twenty-five years of service to Chi Alpha! It makes me want to try and catch them! 

Due to Dave’s insightful sessions coupled with realizing that I’d reached one of my first longevity milestones (albeit five years isn’t that long!), I’ve begun to process some of what I’ve learned throughout the past five years. And like any helpful, slightly cheesy pastor, I thought I’d organize this post with that prayer framework that I seem to always be sharing with students – Jesus. Others. Yourself. 

Jesus

I’m constantly reminded that Jesus is both worthy of all of our praise and yet He’s a humble friend. He cares more about my ministry than I do and even more, cares more about my soul than my productivity. Of course, I would’ve agreed with all of these things five years ago, but I think they have really started to sink into my being, by the grace of God. 

I’ve also learned that He’s never let me down and He isn’t planning on starting now. I love this quote from Tim Keller, “We can be sure our prayers are answered precisely in the way we would want them to be answered if we knew everything God knows.” That sums it up so well, doesn't it? 

This list is by no means exhaustive, but I keep coming back to my favorite chapter in the Bible, James 4. If I draw near to Jesus, He will draw near to me. I always joke with students that if you ever come up to me for prayer at one of our worship services, I’ll likely pray that verse over you. And by likely, it’s pretty much guaranteed. Lately, however, I’ve been focusing on the second part of that verse which encourages us to check ourselves, so that we aren’t ‘double-minded’ in our expectations. In other words, ask confidently. Pray with anticipation. Seek God knowing that He will answer. I knew this was an area of my life that needed some work when I realized how big my prayers were for others yet how small they were for myself. 

I would pray that God would help new Chi Alpha CMITs (Interns) raise their budget, I would even boldly pray for monthly supports at $500 a month and for $1000 one-time gifts. Yet, when it came to my own finances (when I finally did pray), I would ask God for a $30 monthly supporter and even then, I asked half-heartedly! So, this verse has been so convicted but has also led me to walk hand-in-hand with the giver of all good things. 


Others

I’ve learned that boundaries are there to help me so that I can help others. They aren’t there to protect my heart but instead, to protect or ensure that I am always able to pick up the servant’s towel. 

This quote from Henry Cloud has been revolutionizing (I mean that!) my thinking and decision-making lately. “Some people are wise, some are fools, and some are are evil.” He’s basically talking about the types or roles that people can play in your organization, or team or community. For the longest time, I thought there were only two groups: right and wrong. Or to use his language, wise or evil. But then I realized that most of my life I spent as a ‘foolish’ Christian. One whose intentions were well-meaning but I was off the mark (in so many ways!). This has helped me in my mentoring and leadership because each of these different types of people (or it could be thought of as moods), needs a different approach. And what I love about this, is that we are called to minister to all people – regardless of their motives or mood. However, it’s difficult to serve someone when we don’t know where or how they are in need. Plus, if I don’t have a category for ‘foolish’ or ‘unlearned’ or ‘clueless’, then the stakes are so high every day. I love when people don’t know things, it is the perfect time and chance to share and teach! 

Yourself

Well, this should be “myself” but then the acronym falls apart, so, yeah. Anyways.

I’ve learned that I have limits (Jeremiah, my son, really helped me with that!). I’ve learned that it’s okay to not be okay but it’s not okay to stay there (I stole that from Matt Chandler). I’ve learned to ask for help, that what burdens me be a blessing for someone else. 

I’ve learned that I need to meet with a therapist often and take my medications daily. 

I’ve learned that God created me and wired me in a certain way, and I should embrace that and allow Him to sanctify parts of me that are messy and sinful. 

I’ve learned that leadership is the willingness to be misunderstood but I love being understood and liked, so that’s a daily tension. 

I’ve learned that I am surrounded by some of the brightest students in the world, and some of the most loving and amazing people in our staff team, city team and church partner network. 

I’ve learned that I married up. Hannah is the reason I’m still in Chi Alpha, she’s an anchor to me and a wonderful mother. (I’ve also learned I may never even get close to beating her at LetterPress.) 

I’ve learned that watching films with a friend is recharging, cooking is fun (when there isn’t a rush) and that I’ve become a coffee snob. 

Published on July 12, 2016 •  Short link: http://bit.ly/29C8QQF