A Chi Alpha Story

More than 100 campuses and 225 students participated in XA Spring Breaks Nationwide Most Spring Break student missions teams were stateside campus to campus ministries and service and compassion outreaches, and a few were international teams. Domestic Teams Nicholls State sent teams to Arkansas Tech, and 3 campuses in Texas: Texas A&M, Sam Houston State U, and Texas Tech.  New Mexico State […]

In 2007 Mike Amiot, the Minnesota District XA Director approached me about re-starting XA at Winona State University (WSU). At the same time, Roger Stacy, of the Minnesota AG Church Planting Network, was recruiting my husband Chuck to be a church planter. We went to visit Winona just to “get them off our backs” but were surprised when we felt a strong […]

In high school, I became a Jesus follower. I joined Young Life and was encouraged by the leader, John Hartle, to grow in my faith. John’s roommate was Brady Bobbink. So, when I graduated, John passed me off to Brady, who put me into his XA leadership training group at Western Washington University.             I spent the next 5 years living in […]

John Konkel is a Chi Alpha campus pastor at the University of Minnesota. When he started in 2005, he walked by frat row and God placed a burden on his heart. Was anyone reaching out to these guys? He asked, “How does a campus minister (chaplain) get invited into frat houses, which have a stereotypical reputation for not being havens of morality?” John felt […]

by Abigail Sawczak A Chi Alpha Story from the University of Wisconsin Madison It’s amazing what God can do with a simple yes. I grew up in Northwest Indiana and, from a young age, felt drawn to missions and ministry. Yet when it came time for me to graduate from North Central University with my degree in Pastoral Studies, I had no […]

I never thought I would pioneer a ministry. This was affirmed to me in multiple ways. Indirectly, I remember listening to someone I highly respect publicly teach that pioneering ministry requires an outgoing, “type A” personality. I am an introvert who needed to overcome his shy tendencies and risk-averse nature. Besides this public pronouncement of what it takes to pioneer campus ministry, […]

I always chuckle when asked how I came to Chi Alpha (XA) because my route has been anything but normal. In 2014, I first experienced the transformative community of XA while serving a three-month summer internship with Kelly Brown, campus minister, at the University of Texas at Austin. I was a fish out of water: a Nebraska boy, bible college student, with plans […]

Chaplain (CPT) James R. Damude—US ARMY As a senior in college, James Damude walked the campus of Northwood University, Midland, MI, with the XA campus pastor. The campus pastor asked James, “what do you see when you look at all these students?” James paused, allowing the Holy Spirit to work in him, and said, “I see spiritually dead people.” It was on […]

Clint and Vickie Bryan, Cameron University, Lawton, Oklahoma     In the fall of 1979, Clint Bryan left home to attend the University of Arkansas.  As a freshman who would live away from home for the first time, he did not know what to expect, as he was the first in his family to go off to college and, ultimately, get a degree. The dormitory […]

James Madison University Although he uttered a “sinner’s prayer” as a Baptist youth because he feared going to hell over unconfessed transgressions, Joshua Moran rarely attended church. Parties where he got drunk and swore a lot turned out to be more frequent gathering places. But soon after he began attending college, his life turned around. “Chi Alpha found me at the University […]

Steve graduated from Georgetown University and served three years active duty in the U.S. Army.  He was led to the Lord by a college student and experienced a dramatic conversion to a real faith in Jesus Christ.  Steve received divine direction to State College, Pennsylvania, home of Penn State University. He began doing outdoor preaching. He became a member of the local State College […]

Scott Barnett just completed his 20th year on staff with Chi Alpha. In August 2001, Scott moved back to Missoula, MT to serve as a campus minister at the University of Montana while finishing up three classes he needed to complete a teaching certificate. He had just migrated from Milwaukee, where he had helped plant a church for the Assemblies of God […]