Serving Bread

In my tiny little office, I have a picture posted on the wall. It’s a picture taken back in 2001 of my first Bible Study Small Group here at Cal State Northridge. There are six black students, an asian woman (my co-leader at the time) and myself, smiling for the camera at a Bible Study outing at Chuck E Cheese.

I have kept that picture on my wall for several reasons: First, it reminds me of the mission to build community of believers on the campus; second, it reminds me of the call to love all students, particularly students of color; and third, it keeps me in check that whatever happens on campus and whatever people say (or curse), community is possible at a commuter school.

For six years, I have heard lies about developing community at a school that has the highest drop-out rate in the state (39%), the longest average graduation rate (over 7 years), and a diversity that drew the attention of President Clinton in 1995. Is it really possible to build a multi-ethnic witnessing community on this campus?

This past weekend, God kept the windows of the spiritual realm open. Thirty-two students spent their weekend with us at Catalina Island. It was not an easy weekend. On Friday night, the channel (which we have to cross by ferry to get to the island) was closed for the rest of the evening due to high winds. We scrambled to keep the conference alive at a local church. As the conference director (in addition to leading my community of students), I felt stretched in my leadership and my energy level was spent by Sunday afternoon (I slept for 14 hour that night).

But praise God for what he has shown me about our community! Thirty-two students is nearly three times larger than any community of CSUN students that have stepped foot on the Island since 2001. Last spring, we had one white student at our conference, but this past weekend, we may have had the largest ratio of white students of any of the other campuses present. And our Black and Latino students continued to be invested in building the community.

Older students were moved by the faith and commitment of younger students, and younger students appreciated the perseverance of those of us who have “stuck it out” to develop the community. One student testified in tears that she is glad we didn’t give up because she needs this community on the campus. With tears, I appreciated her gratitude and expressed how my heart breaks for the thousands of students like her who live with loneliness on our campus because they have not been connected to a loving, witnessing community.

One student (from a nominal Jewish background) found new life. It was beautiful to see the community surround him with love and affirm his choice to respond to Jesus in his life.

I love what God is doing on the campus and through InterVarsity Matador Christian Fellowship. I am convinced that community is a blessing to the community itself and to our campus. God is doing a new thing and my prayer is for wisdom in leading and stewarding the vision of this community.

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