Spoke With A Friend

Charis Chiu Intervarsity Christian Fellowship

[Last Week's post....] 


The sound of the cell phone alarm at 5:30AM. Wandering in the dark to find my anti-biotics. Yes. A sinus cold has given me reason to stick to a strict regimen. In the struggle to stop the noise and fumble open the cap, a paper fell to the floor from my desk. It was another laundry list of to-dos that needed checked off as I dragged myself out of bed this morning.

>Burn CD for the songwriter contest
>Prepare skits/props for filming tonight
>Call work about that thing
>Meet friend at 1pm @ Panera
>Finish props, go to CAT TV

I know, right? Great fun list, huh? Well of course. It was my day off. BUT! Sometimes it would be nice to just see nothing listed. Anyway. Got my morning coffee. Listened to my music. And yes. Checked Twitter and Facebook. Despite the laundry list - Oh, yeah. Forgot about laundry. Technical difficulties with the CD burning. Emails told of cancellations by friends on the filming tonight. The list was beginning to unravel.

11:55AM. I'd better get ready to go see my friend. 12:25 AM, call software company for help on CD burning. Yay! Amen. It only took a 5 minute phone call and he would be sending me a link. (I have yet to know if that link has worked, the day is not yet over). Off to Panera! [Editor's note. It DID work. Praise God! I got it in the mail.]

The smell of coffee and bagels filled the atmosphere and general ambiance. Macaroni and Cheese, an apple and an Asiago bagel. Now to wait on my friend. Text a little. Pretend text. Receive glances from guys coming into the shop. Return the glances with "I'm not the droid you're looking for" eyes.
....Look at the pictures of myself on my phone.
Charis!
She walks in and we embrace.
Enjoying the company of good friends couldn't be more relaxing. We share stories and get caught up. She then mentions something she and I had discussed earlier in the year. She had asked me to help brainstorm for ideas for fundraising for a charity that she said God put on her heart. "It's about reaching people" she told me. About transforming lives for God on campuses where God is often a bad word (in more ways than one).

In those few months my small tidbits of ideas that were just based off small trials I'd had at attempting to start a student group once at Columbia College, (ideas like, "well make an information flyer or packet so people can see your vision. Something that has a link to Intervarsity's website and mission. You know, I dunno...") those ideas and more of her own had fully developed!

On the cherry wood table she slips me this nifty 5x7 blue pocket folder with an embossed Intervarsity logo that reads "Intervarsity Christian Fellowship/USA." Cool. I open it and it is a full blown information packet that feels like a mini college admissions pack. She discusses in her kind and gentle way how she currently serves with the Mizzou Asian Christian Fellowship and how she is now focusing on growing a fellowship that focuses on reaching out to the Asian/Asian American students on campus.
Not only that, she's been looking into trying to reach out to Columbia College students as well of all ethnicities. She said "Utimately, I pray and hope to see campuses as a whole reached so that no student can graduate saying they've never heard the Gospel."

I very well know what it's like going through a mainstream College Biology degree. While you're there, it's a dark silence that tries to subdue your every inner passion. Especially your faith in God. So what did I do in School?
Folded my hands before every meal with the Deans, held open my Bible proudly in the break room and the student lounges, and folded my hands before every meal no matter where on campus I was sitting. Put up pro-life flyers for annual walks for life. Made pro-life posters that explained the details about abortion and its effects on the last 30 + years of generations of women in America. Made posters detailing what Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research was and why it and cloning humans is equal to taking a life. Wrote every science project paper with well-researched content that never conflicted with my convictions. Stood my ground in class when others nodded their heads to the story that we came from fish, or other animals. Found in all my years of research and learning as a Biology major with a minor in Chem, that God and science have no conflicts. Discussed my convictions when relevant in science papers. Received respect from several teachers and other peers. I did my research and cited sources correctly.

My posters didn't stay up too long. Nor did I get enough takers to start a group. But I did get good grades on my papers. But I have seen Bible studies and Christian campus groups crop up on campus over the last 5 years, whereas, when I started, there were none to be found except one original group that was only in the catalog but never had enough members yearly to resurrect it.

I am thankful for the friends I have come to know that currently run Crossfire Campus Ministry on Columbia College's main campus. Gina and David Croft. They are how I came to know Charis. But that is for another blog. They told me that "sometimes before seeds can be planted, the stones on the stony ground must be removed. You removed those stones."  Don't know if that's really true, but it was nice to hear after the 8 years it took me to obtain my 4-year degree while working full-time and attending College in the evenings and some day classes.

So, as I looked among yet another chance at reaching those desperately silenced kids of my Alma Mater, all I could say was, "Cool beans, Charis. How do I give?"

So, with that said, I have just begun giving a monthly donation to Charis Chiu's Intervasity campus ministry. To find out more visit:  
Intervarsity Home

You can make friends with Charis and have her chat with you about it, if you'd like to know more about it to consider just praying for her ministry or whatever fits what is on your heart and in your budget. Her email is graceingreek@gmail.com

If you wanna know more about another ministry currently On CAMPUS at Columbia College, Columbia MO - check out the Fairview Road Church of Christ (Columbia, MO) and ask about David and Gina Croft's Crossfire Campus Ministry.
Search them on Facebook or email David and Gina at dagicroft@aol.com 

So glad to see the body of Christ working together in many facets to build the Kingdom and bring strong leaders out of those that are at pivotal points in their lifetime.  Praise God for both these ministries!!!

Friends, we are never alone with God. One and God are the majority. So wherever you are, on whatever campus, or soil, hold on to 1st Timothy 6:12 "Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses." (KJV).

In three simple words... Never Give Up.
Be blessed ya'll!

Debbie D.
B.S. BIOL Minor in Chem 
Beloved follower of Jesus 
Truth Seeker
Redeemed
Titles Don't Matter
You get the point 
:P