To walk the USC campus today is to be impressed. The image of the powerful, confident, determined Tommy Trojan captures the students of the campus: they're young, attractive, and they've got things together. At least that's what you would think until you read their secrets.
Last week the InterVarsity students of USC set up a booth on campus that asked, “We all have a secret...What's Yours?” Students across campus were invited to write something they’d never told anyone on a 3 x 5 card, place it anonymously into a box. Those cards were posted on the walls of the booth every hour, and they tell a whole story all by themselves. In truth there’s a hidden reality on campus today: underneath the veneer of confidence and health, students live their lives in pain, confusion, and emptiness. They are dealing with real issues, and they need real healing, and real hope.
As students viewed others’ secrets on the booth, and put their own into the box, they were invited to hear a Christian perspective on being freed from the shame of secrets. Last Thursday evening, over 100 students showed up. InterVarsity staff Larissa Marks shared some of her own failures and secrets, and how she experienced God offering her forgiveness, healing, and freedom. Two students ended the evening making new commitments of faith, six committed to attending an exploratory Bible study to learn more about what Jesus could offer them, and half the room stood to commit to living more openly and honestly.
As I stood on campus last week, watching InterVarsity students engaging their peers, I was moved. And I was reminded: this is why I do what I do. To get to lead students deep in their faith, and then empower them to offer the healing, the love, and the direction of God to their peers...this is the mission of InterVarsity, and it's one our world is dying for. Yet upon first glance, you'd never know it.
The work is far from over...but the healing and hope of God are as relevant today as they've ever been.
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