What XA Means To Me

Author info: Alec is a rising junior at American University studying Film and Entrepreneurship. In addition to starting a YouTube channel this August, called “The Rhodes Less Traveled”, he is preparing to bike across the US next summer to raise awareness and a one million dollar goal for pediatric cancer research. You can follow Alec’s journey on Facebook, Twitter (@Eagleboiii1776), and Instagram (the_rhodes_less_traveled).

There are multiple reasons why I absolutely love AU Chi Alpha Campus Ministries but if I had to choose three main reasons they would be the following: 

 First and foremost, my relationship with Jesus Christ has grown tremendously surpassing my wildest expectations, and I realized I’m just getting started. I remember my first Thursday Night Worship (TNW) as a freshman. I sat near one of the back pews shy and uncomfortable. When everyone started to worship Jesus I saw people in front of me with hands lifted towards the sky, eyes closed, and voices shouting to the heavens. Meanwhile I’m standing with both hands in my pockets thinking everyone is possessed. Four semesters later on the last TNW of the spring semester I’m in front on the front pew raising my hands to the sky, with my eyes closed, and my voice shouting to the heavens. Moreover, my prayer life has increased tenfold. At the beginning of my sophomore year I was asked by my small group leader to pray out loud in public to a group of freshmen. Long story short, the prayer was all over the place, I was thinking too much with my mind instead of my heart, and I just simply didn’t believe I could pray with sincerity. Flash forward, by the end of the spring semester I was asked to pray for the President of AU Chi Alpha, the pastor of AU Chi Alpha, and a senior, who was probably the nicest girl I have ever met in my life. Long story short, I faced my fear, poured my heart out to them, and just simply spoke as if the Lord Himself was right before me.  

Online fundraising for Reach the City - 2016

Second, would have to be the travel opportunities that AU Chi Alpha offers, both voluntarily and involuntarily. I’m from a small country town in North Carolina and lived there for 18 years of my life so it’s easy to say that when an option of traveling is mentioned I’ll be the first one on board. During my time in AU Chi Alpha I have evangelized strangers on the Outer Banks in my home state and helped build churches in Mexico. Moreover, I have had unforeseen circumstances in which I network with someone mutually related to AU Chi Alpha telling me of phenomenal opportunities to glorify God and grow in my faith journey. Just this summer I had the privilege of attending a conference in Grand Rapids, Michigan on how to effectively address poverty with a Christ centered focus as well as intern in Selma, Alabama to help small businesses thrive and make promotional videos for them and the internship itself! 

“Each and every encounter never ceases to amaze my spirit within because all of my “Chialfriends” have a deep desire to go out of their way to help others.”

Last but not least is the unparalleled community of Christ minded students from all over the country and the world that AU Chi Alpha attracts. Each and every encounter never ceases to amaze my spirit within because all of my “Chialfriends” have a deep desire to go out of their way to help others. Whether it’s an Oregon girl keeping myself accountable to stay consistent with my devotionals and bible readings over the summer or a Malaysian guy praying for our Uber driver, each and every one of them genuinely care for my growth in Christ and strangers alike. In addition, my lifelong friends in AU Chi Alpha have never given up on me even when I gave up on them. Despite enduring the hardships of a breakup, the overwhelming stress of almost losing my financial aid a whopping three times, and struggling with depression, anxiety and even suicidal thoughts, my friends, my saviors, pulled me out of the darkness by shining the light of hope upon me. 

Simply put, I absolutely love AU Chi Alpha, because AU Chi Alpha absolutely loves me too! #BetterTogether

Published on July 23, 2016 • Short Link: http://bit.ly/2a147sb

 

 

Reaching Brilliant Students

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.

The running joke at American University for several years went as follows:

Student A: Wait, you speak four languages fluently?

Student B: Yep.

Student A: How are you ever going to get the job you want?

Student B: I know, there are at least three people in my classes that are fluent in six languages. And they’ve declared double-majors already.

Student A: (sigh)

Student B: (sigh)

This is also personal for me. During my first year serving Chi Alpha at American University, I was part of the CMIT Training Program, and I was asked to lead a Small Group. It ended up being pretty small and mostly filled with freshmen that I met during Welcome Weeks. Well, here’s a summary: one of the young men owned an international film company, another interned for Wolf Blitzer, another ran an international NGO promoting disability awareness and lastly, one was working at the White House.

Let’s just say that the idea that ‘we have the chance to influence the influencers’ became very real, very quickly.

At first, I didn’t know what I had to offer. Like, I guess I could give them marriage advice but none of them were interested in dating. I was always taught to find a need and fill it, to find a hurt and heal it (to borrow language from Matthew Barnett and the Dream Center Movement).

Yet, for a few weeks, I believed that these guys didn’t have any needs. They were on their way to successful careers, were attending an elite university, had more financial resources that I did as a student (or as I did at that moment, as a first-year Chi Alpha Intern!).

Online fundraising for Reach the City - 2016

But then I realized, with the help of a few mentors, that everyone is looking for something. Everyone is both hungry and hurting. The language and framework of Ignatian Spirituality gave words to this that I didn’t realize I needed. The concept of our sins and mistakes being ‘disordered attachments’ reminded me of the beautiful idea of imago dei (that we are made in the image of God).

I also realized that, as Craig Groeschel says, “Everyone is fighting something.”

So, although my ministry to these guys (which was likely awkward at times) didn’t look like provided for physical needs (as it had in my previous context) but instead, building relationships and looking for the soft or fuzzy needs. They are just as real, yet harder to define.

Purpose.

Community.

To Be Heard.

To Be Known.

I didn’t do this perfectly (and at times, I still struggle) but I think that in order to reach those who are materially fulfilled or successful, we have to dig deeper and have a much clearer missiological set of goals.

So, how do you reach brilliant students? Just like you reach anyone, with love.

It’s just that love, the approach we take, must be different. We must be all things to all people (within the context of the cross, of course).

Not everyone needs a bag of groceries, although some do.

Not everyone needs a friend, although most might.

“May we see people as Jesus does and realize that we are already equipped to meet needs and to make a difference.”

But everyone needs something and by the grace of God, He wants to use you and I to be the answer to their prayers, even if their prayers have never been said aloud. Or even thought of as prayers.

May we see people as Jesus does and realize that we are already equipped to meet needs and to make a difference. One at a time. Slowly, at times painfully. But realizing that God is so big and majestic, no one has a need that He is unwilling to care for and meet. 

Published on July 22, 2016 • Short Link: http://bit.ly/29PdXKE

Reach the City: Our Big Fundraiser

What is Reach the City? Our annual, ten-day fundraising campaign to raise $10,000 which well help us connect with 400+ students during Welcome Weeks (also called Fall Startup).

The Story & Details via Blane Young:

Update (July 21, 2016 at 3:31pm): We are on Day 2 of 10 and we've already raised $1,400. Help us reach our goal, whether it's a small gift or a big one, it's going to take a team of people to make this a reality! (Give Now)

Let me tell you where that money goes. That money doesn't go to staff salaries or anything that. All of us, we raise our own funds through our personal support raising; donors, and churches, but this is a chance for you to invest directly into our ministry because between August through October we call it Welcome Weeks or Fall Startup.

We host almost two dozen events on two strategic campuses in Washington D.C., American University & Georgetown University, We're able to host those events and personally connect our current students and our staff with over 400 incoming students because of the funds raised from Reach the City that put on and allow us to host those events.

You have an opportunity to impact a freshman, an international student, a transfer student that you may never personally meet. A student like Greg. Have you met Greg yet? (read more)

And many others, like XY and Beatrice. And so many more. 

Ways to Give:

On Razoo via: https://www.razoo.com/us/story/Reach-The-City-2016. 

*** For other ways, especially for churches, please visit dcchialpha.com/invest

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. 

Online fundraising for Reach the City - 2016

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.

Reach the City Update

Online fundraising for Reach the City - 2016

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