InterVarsity New England

I'm a language nerd. And not in that cool "phonetic alphabet origin of words" way. I suck at Scrabble, Boggle and other dictionary games. What I love is describing things: finding new ways to understand the human mystery through words or discovering an alternative to the current story and sharing it with as many people as possible. I am unashamedly a student of communication and story.

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InterVarsity Senior Vice President Jim Lundgren is calling on InterVarsity's staff, students, faculty supporters, alumni, and friends to be in prayer about campus ministry at Vanderbilt University.

The leadership of Vanderbilt University has decided that several campus Christian organizations, including InterVarsity's Graduate Christian Fellowship, should be placed on provisional status until coming into compliance with Vanderbilt's anti-discrimination policy. The policy, as it currently stands, would prohibit a Christian organization from using any religious criteria when selecting leaders.

We believe such a policy not only flies in the face of common sense but also violates the Freedom of Religion protections in the First...

It might be 2012 now, but the Occupy movement still continues...witness Occupy Congress as its most recent incarnation. What will they Occupy next? I've been watching from the sidelines - following along through the news and unintentionally driving past Occupy camps in DC and Philadelphia. 

It all feels a bit like, "he said, she said." On one hand, I

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Lindsey graduated six months ago and is still struggling to figure out her next step. She has changed her mind three times already. She likes the idea of being a missionary in the Dominican Republic. She also sees practical good in working for a while to pay off college loans. Then there is the chance to join InterVarsity staff. They all seem like good and right options. She feels stuck at the crossroads and overwhelmed with the weight of the decision, wondering why God doesn't make it easier.

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Jefferson Bethke's poem, "Why I Hate Religion But Love Jesus," has gone "viral," as they say, and with all youtube videos come comments, both positive and negative, hopeful and discouraging. In reading the comments and blogs and listening to the poem written by Jefferson again and again, I believe there is a gulf between the artist and the theologian. There are limits to both perspectives but, because of social media and its vast influence, they must engage one another.

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Living in a tiny apartment with no air conditioning, a week's worth of clothes, and $20 for groceries isn't how most students choose to spend their summers. Add to that a houseful of strangers in a tough Chicago neighborhood, and most people would pack their bags and head back to school in a second.

For Amy Wells, a junior at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, spending her summer this way with InterVarsity's Chicago Urban Project (CUP) and learning about God's heart for justice and racial reconciliation deepened her faith and changed the way she viewed her campus. She even added sociology...

It never would have occurred to my parents to select readings for our family story time that reflected the Christian year. They were unfamiliar with it, as was I for many years. For example, in my senior year of college, my literary-minded apartment-mate proposed throwing a Twelfth Night party à la Shakespeare. Well, I knew about the play but had never connected its title with the twelve days of the holiday song, nor did I realize that

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