Response to Top 10 Challenges Christian Students Face in College (6-10)

The Top 10 Challenges Christian Students Face in College is from Cedarville University which is a christian college in Cedarville, Ohio. Dr. Bill Brown shared this with the college students at chapel on March 19, 2012. It was published on the Parent Prep page on the Cedarville University website, by Dr. Bill Brown.

The sixth challenge is the Relationship challenge, which states that the freshman crave a new relationship because there are so many new options. For me this hits right at home because relationships are fun and exciting. However, I have morals and I desperately want to stick to them. I believe that God has my future husband for me and yeah dating is fun, but I'd rather wait for the "one".

The seventh challenge is the Community Challenge. This challenge says that when you get to college it can be hard to find the same Christian community that you had in high school for four years. This challenge doesn't relate to me because right off the bat I got involved in Cru and received the same loving community just like in my high school youth group. 

The eighth challenge is the Input challenge, which says that, "Freshmen usually are intimidated by college professors. The tsunami of information in classes made it difficult to think through the subject matter." This for me is so true because I was so used to being praised in high school and being the "teacher's pet" and now I feel like a number. Even though a few of my classes are small, at the end of the semester I have to start all over. That's the one thing I miss about high school, being able to be in the same classes for a year. 

The ninth challenge is the Output challenge. This challenge is about how when you're in college it is hard to volunteer and be involved in your church because you have so much homework or other schools related activities. I can relate to this challenge because this semester I feel like I am completely overwhelmed with homework, studying and papers. I really don't have time for anything. 

The last challenge is the Commitment challenge, which is how a lot of freshman don't know what they want to do with their lives and have a hard time committing to anything. As said in the article, "They did not make commitments about their priorities and set limits on behavior." I do not struggle with this. I've known since I was freshman in high school what I wanted to be. 

These challenges may come from a Christian college, but most of them relate to every single college student. I hope these challenges show you that you're not alone and a lot of people struggle their first couple years in college. I'm only in my second semester and I am a complete wreck, but I have faith in God that He'll get me through this. 

My Experience at Greek Conference

      Greek conference is a christian conference in Indianapolis, Indiana where sororities and fraternities from the Greater Northwest region (Ohio, Michigan, Indiana and Illinois) come together to learn more about God. I am not in a sorority yet but I am planning on rushing in the Fall with my best friend Rachel. We went to learn more about sororities and to learn tips on how to make Greek Cru (Campus Crusade for Christ) at UT better.
      The speaker at Greek conference was a guy named Justin O'Malley who is in charge of the summer project program for Cru. He was in a fraternity in college and had a lot of great stories to tell the 300+ college students that were there. The first night we had a session about how to get more of Jesus and less of partying. I really liked his talk because when I do join a sorority I will have advice to give my sorority sisters. After the session we broke off into the different sororities and fraternities, but since Rachel and I aren't in one yet we went with our leader's sorority she was in when she was in college, which was Delta Gamma. After that we got to play games with everyone and had a huge trivia game. The next day we woke up and had breakfast with everyone and then had an early morning session with worship. The worship band was really awesome and I had so much fun worshiping with everyone.
      At the morning session, the topic was about relationships and how to be in healthy relationships with the opposite sex and your friends. After the morning session we had lunch all together and it as fun because they split us up randomly so we could meet new people. Later in the afternoon we had our outreach opportunities. Rachel and I got to go to IUPUI and share with the college students there about Jesus. It was such a great experience for me because sharing my faith is definitely not my forte. However, the two people we talked to were very open and I had a lot of fun getting to know their individual stories. After the outreach we had campus time where you got to go to dinner with your campus. That was fun because there were only six of us all together and we went to the Hard Rock and just got to know each other better.
      After dinner/campus time we had another session where everyone got to share their outreach experiences, it was so great hearing how God worked that day in everyone's lives. After the session we had a dance party where the theme was "America" and everyone was dressed in red, white and blue. Our campus didn't know what the theme was so instead we just played games. Our guy leader Chris is such a prankster and kept daring all of to do embarrassing things. Like I had to interrupt this huge game with strangers and ask them to do the wave with me, it was funny but super awkward. The next day was the wrap-up day where Justin O'Malley recapped the last couple days. It was sad because I wish we had more time, but overall I had a great time. If you are in a sorority or fraternity and want to learn more about Jesus, I highly recommend going to Greek conference next year because you never know it could change your life.

Response to Top 10 Challenges Christian Students Face in College (1-5)

The Top 10 Challenges Christian Students Face in College is from Cedarville University which is a christian college in Cedarville, Ohio. Dr. Bill Brown shared this with the college students at chapel on March 19, 2012. It was published on the Parent Prep page on the Cedarville University website, by Dr. Bill Brown.

The first challenge is the Faith challenge, which talks about how many college students struggle with find their "faith-idenity" in college. The article states that, "In high school, their faith was associated with familiar places and people. That familiarity was replaced by a college environment that made their faith seem out of place. When they faced questions about their faith, they struggled to find answers." I completely agree with because when I got to college I was afraid I was going to start partying and drinking because that’s what my parents did in college. I know for me personally I really struggled with wanting to tell others I was a Christian. Even a lot of my friends struggled with wanting to either find their own or to do act as their parents raised them. But I always think about how much God sacrificed for me and following Him is seriously the best decision I have ever made.

The second challenge is the Freedom challenge, which talks about how priorities can change when you go away to college because you can make your own rules. I haven’t really struggled with yet because I still live at home and still have to follow my mom’s rules. However I know a lot of people who have and are struggling with this. For example, one of my good friends decided to live on campus instead of staying at home and he was wild the first few months of school. He had so many rules growing up and when he got to college he wanted to be free and do whatever he wanted. Now if you ask him, he’ll say “I love having freedom and not having to check in all the time, but the rules my parents had were for my protection.” He’s a great brother in Christ, but just like a lot of Christians he struggled with the newfound freedom of not living under his parents’ roof.

The third challenge is the Diversity challenge and this is how there's not only ethnic diversity in college, but also different beliefs, world views and morals to experience. I personally struggled with and still am struggling with. It’s so hard hearing all these different beliefs and worldviews and then on top of that hearing that everyone’s view is true. But God has worked in my life so much and I just trust Him and when I have doubts I think about everything He has done for me and how much He loves me.

The fourth challenge is the Time challenge is my everyday life. This challenge is about how stressful and time consuming college is. For example, you have to study and do your homework in order to get good grades and then on top of that you have to fit in time for friends. Trying to find enough time to do everything you want to do in college is so hard. From having loads of homework to working over 15 hours a week and then trying to fit in all of your extra-curricular activities is very stressful. Everyday I feel like there’s not enough time in the day and that I’m running around with my head cut off like a chicken. This semester especially is very stressful because I have 6 classes. But when I get stressed or overwhelmed I just pray and God always take the load off my shoulders.

The fifth challenge is the Social challenge. The article states that this challenge is about "The rarefied air of the college social life caused students to engage in activities they normally would have avoided." I’m going to talk about I haven’t struggled with because I’ve done the whole “party scene” in junior high and high school. However I know a lot of people who were Christians in high school and now have sex and drink all the time. In today’s society we are told that college is all about partying and having sex. It’s so hard to stay away from it, but if you love Jesus you will want to stay away from it because He loves you more than anything. 

Toledo Cru (Campus Crusade for Christ)

Cru is not a religious organization that goes around trying to recruit people to join. Instead we are a group of college students who love Jesus and want more people to come so we can have a huge group of people worshiping Jesus. The people of Cru are my family and I honestly can trust every single one of them. Being a freshman or a transfer student and not knowing anyone is so hard. You feel alone and you're pretty much terrified because college is so big and different. Everyone wants to fit in and find those people who they can invest their time in. If you're a Christian in college or just want to learn more about God than I strongly recommend attending the Cru on your campus. Cru isn't just learning about God and singing songs. We hang out, go to movies, out to eat, have dance parties, etc. Cru people know how to have fun and love having fun. Also, we love evangelizing, which is sharing with people on campus or wherever we go about Jesus. You're probably thinking that's scary or we shouldn't do that because not everyone believes in Jesus, but Cru trains us to not be nervous and gives us the tools to share with people without scaring them off. For example we use pictures and ask them questions and then they pick pictures correlating to that answer. It's a great way for people to visually look at how they view themselves and how they view Jesus. I love Cru because it gives me so many opportunities to grow in my faith, have fun and make friendships that will last forever. Without Cru I would be that lonely girl that goes to school and then goes home and that’s it. But now I have something to look forward to every week. If you want to join a Christian group and want to have fun and grow in your faith at the same time then Cru is for you!

Finding That "In Between"

So many people in today's society stereotype Christians as being boring, bland or stuck-up. Ecclesiastes   3: 13 says, "And also that every man should eat and drink, and enjoy the good of all his labour, it [is] the gift of God." God wants us to have fun and enjoy the life He has given us. We don't have to conform the stereotype people give us. I know I have fun all the time with my friends. There's never a dull moment in the Toledo Cru family that's for sure. However, there comes a point where fun can become too much. For example, in today's society a lot of college students believe that the only way to have fun and experience college is getting drunk, having sex, etc. Yeah I agree that you can have fun that way, but it's definitely not the only way. After Cru we always plan something fun to do together. We play games, watch movies or go out eat, but being in fellowship with other believers is the most fun thing about it. I encourage you as you look for where's the most fun in college to consider if the fun you want to do is pleasing God. I know being a Christian there are a lot rules we need to try and obey and trust me no one is perfect and everyone sins, but God loves us and we should want to try and please Him. Like in John 3: 16 which says, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." In my opinion that's enough to want to please God, don't you think? So, I really hope those who are reading this realize that God loves you and that we can have fun! I mean I'm sure God is fun and I sure can't wait to have fun with Him!

Making The Right Choices

The first day of college for me was very overwhelming and it probably will be for you too. Unless you're already in college then you know the feeling I'm talking about. There will be so many new faces and cool new things to try. However, being a Christian I had to make sure I made the right choices. So, I decided to write this blog to help new Christian college freshman or college students who recently accepted Jesus into their lives. I remember the first week we had an activities fair where most of the organizations on campus had booths. As I walked around I thought to myself, this is where I can start over and be whoever I want to be, but I realized it's not about what I want, but about what God wants. So that day I didn't sign up for anything because the one organization I wanted to join was no where to be found. This organization was Campus Crusade for Christ or as we like to call it Cru. So, think about it, I could have joined any organization, but instead I waited because I knew the right choice was to wait and see what Cru had in store. The next week I found out when and where Cru was and I was so excited to go. Although, Cru is on Thursdays and some of my new friends wanted me to go out with them. I had two options either go out and drink or go to Cru and learn more about Jesus. Now since you don't know me you're probably thinking that I went to Cru since I was so excited to go. Well you're wrong, I actually did end up skipping Cru and going out with my friends. The next morning I woke up feeling terrible so I opened my bible and read Pslam 55: 14 which says, "We who had sweet fellowship together, Walked in the house of God in the throng." As I read that I realized that I didn't make the right decision and I promised myself the next week I would be attending Cru. So, I went to Cru and I absolutely loved it! Over the past months I have made so many amazing friends who I consider family. I did make a wrong choice, but once I realized I was wrong I made the best choice I have ever made. So, my advice to you my fellow brothers and sisters is to ask God first instead of making the choice yourself. He truly does know best and always has your best interest!