ZagRodny Ministry Team

Religious organizations at Vanderbilt University have come under fire for refusing to sign the “all comers” policy for student organizations - which requires that any student be allowed to serve in leadership, regardless of whether the student shares the group’s beliefs.

13 campus ministries including Cru (Campus Crusade), InterVarsity, Navigators, AACF, Graduate Christian Fellowship, Lutheran Christian Fellowship, St. Thomas More Society, Vanderbilt Catholic, Fellowship of Christian Athletes, and the Christian Legal Society – are choosing to take a stand by refusing to sign the new policy. 

 If Vanderbilt’s Board of Trustees continues to hold to this, these ministries will be forced off of campus. Other universities are considering similar policies.

Two links: first, a position paper on why Cru at Vanderbilt is continuing to have faith-based leadership requirements. And second, some excellent thoughts and perspective from the InterVarsity staff ministering at Vanderbilt.

As you remember, please pray for Vanderbilt’s Board of Trustees to reverse their decision, for wisdom and direction for the 13 campus ministries that are taking a stand regarding this policy, and for the Christian students and faculty affected by this policy.

Below is an extended quote from the Cru position paper by Lori Kepner, Cru Staff Attorney (the entire paper can be read here).

Why is Cru at Vanderbilt continuing to have faith-based leadership requirements?

[Because] the interests of diversity support it.  We believe that the desire for diversity that many universities articulate, including Vanderbilt, is best served by student groups that maintain diverse perspectives.  The thinking of individuals is best sharpened when different, well-reasoned outlooks are consistently and passionately represented in a respectful manner.  It is not well served when many viewpoints are gradually merging with the mainstream perspective because the proponents of less popular beliefs are unable to preserve and promote them.

 We believe it is inappropriate for a University to impose its particular values on RSOs instead of allowing for diversity among organizations that represent strongly a variety of viewpoints.  It is wonderful to see diversity within the membership of each student group, and it is also wonderful to see diversity among the perspectives represented by those student groups.  We believe both are possible if groups are able to maintain their voices through the selection of leaders that believe their group’s purpose and yet are expected to be respectful and welcoming as their groups participate in the marketplace of ideas on campus.

 When religious voices are diluted or even forbidden from being clearly represented, it does a disservice to the goals of diversity at Vanderbilt. The leaders are the group’s primary voice, both internally to its members and externally to the University community. A committed leader can determine whether a group thrives or withers.  Religious student groups need to be allowed to maintain their unique religious identities.

 In fact, when the messages of religious groups are not able to be preserved, the university will end up violating its own nondiscrimination policy.  It will discriminate against any religious groups that hold to well-defined doctrines, and will end up suppressing unpopular or minority religious viewpoints. Religious diversity cannot remain in such an environment.

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Tuesday night April 3rd, 800+ students listened intently as four faculty members shared about their common faith in Jesus Christ and how God is using them in the lives of students and colleagues on campus. 

A highlight was the Question & Answer time: students texted in questions, which were then answered from up front, including: 

• ”How would you offer advice in speaking up in class and being bold in our faith without disrespecting the professor?”

• ”How do you talk about your faith to your non-believer colleagues?”

• “How does your knowledge and research affect your understanding of God?” 

Students were so enthusiastic about hearing from faculty! Many flocked around afterwards, talking and interacting.

Another student introduced herself to me saying, “tonight was my first time here, and this was fantastic.  I’m really excited about coming back and getting involved.” 

Years ago a professor on another campus shared “if a student goes through four years of the university without ever hearing from a Christian professor, he or she will most likely assume that Christianity is either irrelevant or untrue.”

It’s our hope and prayer that God will continue to uses these professors – followers of Jesus Christ with earned Ph.Ds – to serve as a strong witness that Christianity is both relevant and true. Thank you for praying for this event!

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Please join us in praying for our SLO Crusade Faculty Panel, Tuesday night April 3rd.

Four Cal Poly professors from Architecture, Business, Physics, and Nutrition will be sharing about their personal faith in Jesus Christ, what it means to be a Christian professor in a public university, and how Christian students can appropriately share their faith with their professors and fellow students in the classroom.

If you’re in the area, we’d love to have you join us for this event: 8pm Mountain Brook Chuch in San Luis Obispo. 

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Thank you for praying for our El Salvador Spring Break outreach. We’ll share more in our next monthly update, but hightlights include:

• Cal Poly students and Cru (Campus Crusade) staff initiating pesonal spiritual conversations with over 200 students on at Universidad Matias Delgado, the small but very influential university campus we ministered on. While knowing Spanish was a plus in terms of ministry, the majority of Salvadoran students (like most university students around the world) were also very comfortable speaking in English. 

• working alongside the Salvadoran students as they ministered on campus. Our Spring Break ministry was part of a much larger strategy to eventually see a nationally led campus ministry raised up. 

• “For the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve . . . ” (Mark 10:45). Mid-point in the week, the Salvadoran and Cal Poly students took a day to serve in the community by painting a public elementary school. It was a chance to meet a physical need, to build bridges beyond the campus, and to model servanthood in Jesus’ name. 

• the four American professionals who joined us were able to speak in SIXTEEN DIFFERENT CLASSROOMS to over 400 students about their profession (industrial engineering, journalism, business) AND about their personal faith in Jesus Christ. This was amazing – and a huge answer to prayer. 

• several Cal Poly students are now seriously considering returning to spend a year ministering in El Salvador. In many ways the week served as a vision trip for future involvement. Please join us in praying that God would raise up at least one more male team member to be part of next year’s STINT (Short Term INTernational) team. 

Thank you again for partnership – both prayerfully and financially – in the lives of the Salvadoran and Cal Poly students we were able to minister to. 

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March 16-25 David will be ministering alongside the Cal Poly Cru (Campus Crusade) Spring Break team of students, staff, and – this year – four American professionals.

We hope these photos from last year’s trip give a taste what we’re expecting to see God do. Please join us in praying for:

1) Traveling safety: we’ll be driving from Cal Poly SLO to LAX, flight down with a layover in Guatamala City, and then San Salvador (El Salvador). 

2) Opportunities to share the gospel on the two campuses we’ll be ministering on. Of course, Spanish is a huge plus – but many of the university students we’ll be reaching out have studied English and enjoy practicing their English. 

3) That God would give the four adult professionals coming down a platform to speak in both classrooms and to faculty and administrators. 

4) It’s our desire to see the gospel impact the two major universities. Pray that God would supernaturally open up doors of ministry among students – and among those who shape the campus culture: faculty and administrators. 

Thanks!

The last forty years, there has been a real openess to the gospel among the poor in El Salvador, but it has yet to have an significant influence on the decision makers and ruling elite of the country. 

Our Spring Break ministry is part of a much larger strategy to build a nationally directed campus ministry in El Salvador.

It is our prayer that God would work through the faculty and students on these two key university campuses – to see the country transformed by the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

Thank you for praying, and for your partnership with us. 

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