Isaiah 58: Engage Charlottesville Winter Service Trip

by Ashley Wooten

Can you imagine, as a college student, giving up a week of your winter vacation to serve the poor and learn about God's heart for mercy and justice? 

This winter, from January 6 - January 13, our building was the meeting place of 20 students who sacrificially made this choice. These 20 students, led by Greek InterVarsity Grounds Minister, Garrett Trent, were here for a week they called "Isaiah 58: Engage Charlottesville Winter Service Trip". Student leaders recruited their friends from four different fellowship groups, who all voluntarily chose to give up down-time with family and friends to spend the week serving the community. Every day, as I went up the stairs to my office, I'd get to talk with some of the students about what they were learning and experiencing, and observe as they did things like make meals together (on a VERY tight budget), pack picnics for the homeless friends they had made at a local day shelter, The Haven, and discuss what they learned from that day's guest speaker.

I was so intrigued, I asked Garrett if I could share a little about what took place. Here's what he had to say:

Q: What was the purpose of the Engage Charlottesville Winter Service Trip?

We had a couple goals coming into the trip, but it all developed out of a desire to connect, in meaningful ways, with the community we live in and with each other. Our hope was threefold: to discover ways to actively love our neighbors as the body of Christ, to encounter God's heart for the poor and vulnerable in Scripture and in daily life, and to experience the fullness that is promised from "loose(ning) the chains of injustice" and "spend(ing) yourselves in behalf of the hungry" as it speaks about in Isaiah 58.

Q: Tell me the general idea of what you guys were doing during this week. Who were the students involved? How many days were you serving? What was the purpose of the time? Was it totally voluntary? What was the general structure of your day?

It was completely voluntary. A handful of students and myself did the recruiting: Cyril Chavis (Oneway Christian Fellowship), Ana Tucker (Chi Alpha Christian Fellowship), Lindsay Goodrich (InterVarsity Christian Fellowship), Sarah Jeffrey (Oneway Christian Fellowship), and Lindsey Aaron (Catholic Student Ministry).

We divided into 4 groups of 5 for the week and each put in $30 for meals. We used the groups to reflect throughout the week on our experiences and each group was responsible for buying the food for & preparing one meal for the group.

The structure of our day began with a morning devotion centered around Isaiah 58. Each day we read a few verses aloud and then meditated on them for about 10 minutes before joining back together to talk about what we experienced during that time. The rest of the day was a combination of direct service in the community (tutoring, cleaning the kitchen at a homeless day haven, tree-planting, serving food at a soup kitchen) and hosting speakers from the community at the Center for Christian Study. We ended the day with a shared meal prepared by one of the 4 groups as well as an evening activity which varied by the day.

On our last night we hosted an open-mic night at The Garden (formerly Baptist Student Center), a space at 1500 Jefferson Park Ave. that is connected with the Eunoia ministry, and invited neighbors we had met throughout the week.

 

Q: Can you share an example of something the students (or you) learned last week in the time? Any ministry highlights?

The most rewarding times were in one-on-one encounters with the kids, the homeless, and those who shared their stories with us throughout the week. Also, it was often the spontaneous and unexpected events that were the most meaningful, such as:

• driving Greg, also known as "Red Robin", all around Charlottesville in search of warm pants and hearing his stories of struggle and hope
• playing with the kids in the indoor gym at Johnson Elementary (and experiencing their endless energy) before the daily tutoring sessions
• playing a seriously intense game of spoons downstairs at the Garden with Rakeem and some of the neighbors after the open-mic night.

It was beautiful to see the times where "serving" seemed to merge into part of daily life and the walls between "us" and "them" were broken down. To me, this is a glimpse at the beloved community and the Kingdom of God.

 

Q: For students who may be interested in doing this next year, do you plan on doing something like this again?

We are planning on hosting a trip again next January. I've talked with a few of the leaders about this possibility. We recognize that this experience is meant to be a catalyst for greater involvement, connection, and engagement with the Charlottesville community, so for the most part we should have a new group of students each time we do the trip. If I were to rename the trip I might call it the "Isaiah 58: Charlottesville Experience." Feel free to get in touch with me at  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it if you're interested in learning more  or participating next year!

In addition, the group of students who went on the trip is planning on hosting events throughout the upcoming Spring semester in line with the vision of Isaiah 58. We're hoping to extend our experience to many more students and other members of the U.Va. and Charlottesville communities.

 

Q: What can students and Charlottesville residents do now to serve our community?

There are many ways to serve in the Charlottesville community. Throughout the week we realized the consistent need for more tutors. Abundant Life is always looking for more students to help tutor both elementary and middle school children, and there are many more organizations that need additional tutors. The Haven at First & Market, a homeless day haven, is also continually looking for more volunteers.

I'd also encourage people to think "outside the box" about volunteering and learn more about the needs in our community that cannot be met through a 1-2 hour/week service commitment. What many need who find themselves in tough places are people who will "be there" and who will "be consistent," and walk with them as friends and neighbors.

If you are a student, Madison House is a great place to go to get connected to a host of service opportunities in the community.

Here is a list of the organizations we worked with this past week as a suggestion of places to start serving:

• Casa Alma (Catholic Worker Movement)
• Charlottesville Abundant Life Ministries (CALM)
• Blue Ridge Area Food Bank
• OAR: Jefferson Area Community Corrections
• The Haven at First & Market
• Salvation Army

We were blessed to have some awesome guest speakers address our group, including:

• Dave Norris (Charlottesville Mayor, 2008-2011)
• Caitlin Roberts (UVA Grad, 2009, Communities in Schools - Richmond, VA)
• Johan Gous (Missionary, Hope Builders - Africa)
• Claire Moore (Charlottesville Abundant Life Ministries)
• Michael Freeman (Charlottesville resident, formerly homeless)
• Phyllis Back (Director of Programs- Albemarle-Charlottesville Regional Jail
• Lynn Horwitz (Homeless Advocate- Families in Crisis)
• Sharon Root (Coordinator of Adult, Homeless, and Migrant Education - Families in Crisis)

 

About Garrett:

This is Garrett's first year as a full-time staff with Greek InterVarsity. Greek IV has been at U.Va. for 5 years and is part of a national effort to reach out to fraternity and sorority students with the Gospel. Their vision is to see lives transformed, the Greek system renewed, and world changers developed. Greek IV meets weekly on Wednesday nights, 8 pm, at the Study Center.

During his time as a U.Va. student he became very active in the Charlottesville community, specifically with organizations striving to help the homeless, and, he says, "I feel very privileged to be a bridge for U.Va. students to the Charlottesville community, from which I have learned so much and been blessed so greatly."

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The Center for Christian Study is thankful to provide a space for many Grounds Ministries to use for weekly meetings, discipleship, prayer and special events, such as these. We also are grateful to be able to work together with so many wonderful Christian fellowships at U.Va. and be part of encouraging Christian unity at the University of Virginia. We will occasionally be sharing about some of these fellowship groups on our Study Center blog to help our readers be informed about Christian ministry at U.Va.

 

Name: Heather Bowlby

Graduate degree you’re pursuing: PhD in English Literature

How many years have your been in grad school? 7 (three in an MA program at California State University, Long Beach, and 4 in the PhD program at UVa)

Undergrad University: California State University, Long Beach

Major/Minor(s): English Education with an emphasis in Literature

Hometown: Long Beach, California

Why did you decide to go to graduate school, and specifically, why at U.Va.?

The decision to go to grad school was not an easy one for me. My undergrad major is in English education, and I had planned to be high school English teacher. During my last semester of my undergrad degree program, however—just as I was completing the gateway teaching credential course and preparing to enter the credential program the following semester—I began to have questions about my chosen career. I enjoyed the literature courses much more than the education courses I had taken thus far, and two of my papers had just be accepted for presentation at academic conferences. In addition, several of my English professors had been encouraging me to consider pursuing a PhD.

I was resistant to the idea because I realized the sacrifices involved with graduate school: earning a PhD would mean years of hard work and career uncertainty, whereas getting a teaching credential would be relatively quick and easy and would enable me to have a stable career very soon. I prayed over the situation and solicited the feedback of many people who knew me, and God gradually changed my heart. I came to believe that the PhD was the direction into which He was calling me at that point in my life, and I made what was for me the difficult decision to pursue graduate school.

Once I made that decision, God opened the doors necessary to enable me to follow this direction. I knew at that point that I wanted to get a PhD at one of the best programs in my field in order to have excellent training for an academic career. In consultation with my professors, I decided that getting an MA first at my undergrad institution, California State University, Long Beach, would be the best means to achieve this goal. (Because I had spent so much of my time in undergrad preparing for a high school teaching career, I felt that strengthening my background in literature before entering a PhD program would be a good idea.) I applied to enter the MA program at CSULB in the beginning of the December of my final undergrad semester, and—through the assistance of several professors who advocated my case—was able to begin the program at the end of January.

The English Department at UVa is rated one of the top in the country in my area of specialty, Victorian literature, and I knew mid-way through my MA program that this program was my top choice. Not only does UVa have an excellent reputation in my sub-field, but I believed that the program would be a good fit for my personal abilities and temperament. Although I applied to 15 PhD programs, UVa was always my dream program and I preferred it over all of the others. As He had done previously in my career direction, the Lord opened this door for me and granted me my desire. Although I was initially placed on the waitlist at UVa, I was eventually accepted into the program and have been at UVa since Fall 2008.

How has the experience been? Is graduate school what you expected?

In many ways, grad school has been exactly what I expected. I was reluctant to pursue a PhD because I realized the challenges involved with graduate school and would have preferred an easier life path. When I finally made the decision to go in this direction, I did so with my eyes wide open, so to speak. I realized that graduate school would be a long, difficult experience that would test me in many ways, and that I would need to work hard for many years to prepare for an academic job that I may or may not ultimately be able to secure (given the extreme uncertainty of the academic job market). 

This general prediction has proven true. Over the years that I’ve been in graduate school, I’ve indeed been tested and pushed to my limits in many areas of my life (sometimes past the brink of what I thought that I could endure), and my experience has not been easy. Many of my lingering illusions about the attractions of the intellectual life and a academic career have been shattered in ways that I couldn’t have foreseen, and I have struggled at points to maintain my sense of direction.

At every point in this process, however, God has been present, and He has enabled me to continue working towards my goals even when I believed that I had no real ability to achieve them. He has supported me at times when I couldn’t do so myself, and although my belief in my purpose and calling in academia has certainly wavered, it hasn’t died. I still feel that God has placed me within my current situation for a reason (that I may or may not ever be able to apprehend). God has been teaching me to trust Him to lead me in the way that He feels is best—whether that means an academic career after I finish my degree or not. My graduate school experience thus far has taught me to rely on the Lord’s direction to a degree that I couldn’t anticipated when I began it.

How has the Graduate Christian Fellowship been a blessing in your time as a graduate student?

The Graduate Christian Fellowship (GCF) has been an incredible blessing for me intellectually, spiritually, and emotionally during my time at UVa. I began regularly attending GCF four years ago immediately after arriving in Virginia, and have served on the steering committee for the past three years. As academia is a very secular environment, I’ve greatly appreciated the opportunity to engage the intellectual lifestyle from a Christian perspective on a consistent basis in GCF meetings. Doing so has enabled me to consider how to integrate my faith with my daily life in my area of work more productively. Participating in a para-church ministry with no denominational ties has also allowed me to hear the perspectives of Christians from different denominational backgrounds and often to broaden my horizons on various religious issues that I had not previously thought through in a serious manner. Perhaps most importantly, though, GCF has been an effective means through which I have been able to establish meaningful relationships with other Christian grad students at UVa. The fellowship and support that I have gained through these relationships with other Christians who are also dealing with the challenges of life in grad school has been invaluable. Without the social support of GCF, I would have felt much more isolated, and my grad school experience accordingly would have been more difficult.

How can others be praying for you and/or the Graduate Christian Fellowship?

Grad school is a trying period of time, and I believe that it’s a struggle for everyone in different ways. Grad students are constantly been tested according to high standards, and there’s tremendous pressure to excel. Trusting in one’s achievements is a real temptation for those who do meet or exceed these high standards, and what can be a debilitating sense of failure and unworthiness is a danger for those who don’t. Accordingly, the atmosphere of grad school often breeds a sense of isolation, and for Christian grad students, this isolation can in turn be compounded by being a Christian in a secular work environment.

For me and other grad students like me, prayer that God would use the often difficult circumstances in our lives to draw us closer to Him would be beneficial. Succeeding within the academic environment without basing some part of one’s identity on its standards of achievement or failure has been extremely challenging for me and other grad students I have known. In this sense, we would appreciate prayer that the Lord keeps our focus and sense of self grounded in Him instead of succumbing to the pressures of our environments, and that he would continue to use the fellowship of others in groups like GCF to encourage us spiritually and emotionally.

Are you a graduate student interested in attending the GCF Weekly meeting or small group Bible studies? Email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it with any questions you may have!
GCF Weekly meetings are Friday evenings, starting at 6 pm in the main meeting room of the Study Center. Dinner is provided! 

by Ashley Wooten

If you were on The Corner or on U.Va. Grounds this past weekend, you would be tempted to think the University of Virginia turned into an all-girls school. But instead, until classes resumed on Wednesday, the University was filled with young women participating in Sorority Rush, whether as a first or second year rushing, or as an upperclassman cheering and welcoming the rushees into their sorority's home. As you may be aware, the Study Center building is located right in the heart of Greek Row, across from Chi Omega and Theta and next door to Kappa Delta. 

Since I wasn't part of a sorority in college, I am learning a lot about how the rush process works at U.Va. Briefly, the girls spend Sunday and Tuesday in "round robins", where they will visit each sorority house for about 35 minutes, followed by a 15 minute break before heading to the next house. On Thursday, the girls will have narrowed down their top 11 houses, and will visit for longer amounts of time at those houses (assuming they were also "selected" by that sorority) where the sororities put on skits and give the rushees a taste of the group's personality. Friday and Saturday will be more times of the sororities narrowing down the girls they want and the rushees narrowing down their preferred choice of sorority, coming to the culmination of "matching" with their sorority and choosing which one they would like to be a part of for the remainder of their time at U.Va. 

How does the Study Center fit into all of this? For the past few years, our building has served as one of a few "warming houses" for the rushees to retreat to and rest in the down times between being at the sorority houses. On these cold January days, we open our doors to about 50-75 women every thirty minutes and invite them to rest, welcomed by a roaring fire, warm coffee, hot cocoa, and apple cider. We provide snacks (you would not believe the appreciation the girls express!), clean restrooms, and time to regain composure. Girls see the signs saying "Yummy Snacks in Here" and gasp "Is this food for US? Thank you!"

One of our Study Center regulars is an upperclassman who is serving as a Recruiting Coordinator. She is responsible for a group of first years, taking them from house to house, as well as bringing them to the warming houses. She shared the story of one of her girls asking "What IS this place?" Our student explained the Study Center ministry, about our library, small groups, exam snacks, etc. The girl then asked, "But why do they go to all the trouble to do this for us?" Our student answered, "This is what Christians do."

Wow. Couldn't have said it better. We are so blessed and thankful that in a time that can be very stressful and scary for many young women, we can be the hands and feet of Christ, who loved us without condition and asked us to go and do the same. We pray as these hundreds of young women come in and out of our doors during this week of rush, that they may be shocked by the love of Christians, who do this for no other reason than "that's what Christians do". May the hospitality we offer be an opportunity to welcome students into the body of Christ and break down barriers to change hearts and draw them to him.

John 15:12 "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you."

Look what we found!
Every once in awhile we'd like to bring out photos, articles and stories from the past to remind us of how the Center for Christian Study began and how the Lord has shaped this ministry into what it is today. This is an article found from a 1973 issue of The Daily Progress, written by Charles Hite and titled "Center for Christian Study" describing who we were at the time. Great read!

Click image to zoom and read article.