In 2001, Tim and Melissa Kern traveled to Helena from Dillon Montana with Curtis Cole, campus minister at University of Montana–Western (UMW) to check out Carroll College. Curtis and Delyn Freeman Cole were their XA pastors and mentors who invested years in them as students at UM-W. Tim and Melissa were 26 years old and were toting around their daughter Hannah Kern who was 1 month old. That day, God birthed in them a calling to pioneer Chi Alpha at Carroll College, a private Catholic campus. Pastors Ken Ross, Norm Christofferson and Paul Feuerstein were incredible mentors and supportive of XA along with so many other pastors in Helena and Montana that helped them start XA. Levi Mielke was their first student who transferred to Carroll to help the Kerns pioneer the ministry. Emily Roehm was their first full time associate staff and Haylee Petrusha and Haley Feuerstein were their first students to “give a year” back to XA at Carroll. Keith Elder, district youth director for Montana, challenged and appointed the Kerns to establish XA at Carroll College.
Nick & Haylee Petrusha and their team took over the ministry at Carroll College. Tim and Melissa received national missionary appointment in 2013, to relocate to South Bend, Indiana to pioneer another private Catholic University, University of Notre Dame and they have! They also began ministry at the Indiana University at South Bend and St. Mary’s College.
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 God impressed him to grab a toilet bowl brush, some cleaning supplies, and start making phone calls and knocking on frat house doors.
“I started by just cleaning toilets,” John says. “Then I grabbed a Chi Alpha student, and we spent the summer cleaning frat houses free; we’d vacuum, wash dishes, clean toilets, and while we were at it, we’d build relationships with those guys.”
“I wanted to pitch the idea of having a chaplain to a lot of the fraternities on our campus, but I needed an invitation to attend the yearly frat council meeting,” John said. He started by calling frat presidents, and one of them responded. The frat president wasn’t walking with the Lord, but something had been stirring in his heart to read the Bible. He thought having a chaplain for his frat would be a good idea. He took the idea to his chapter, and they voted on it. They agreed it was a great idea! That was 2007.
“For the next 15 years, every year, I’m permitted to attend the frat council meeting and pitch to all the frats the idea of having a chaplain,” John says. “What I’ve found is that after I make that pitch, especially the last three years, students have contacted me as they’re dealing with things like anxiety, depression, addictions, suicidal thoughts, alcohol — underneath it all is a hunger for Jesus!”
John shares that two years ago, he led 16 frat members to the Lord. Last year, in a unique COVID year, he led 20 to the Lord. This year, he’s already seen 38 frat guys make commitments to the Lord as their Savior in just the first semester!
“I could speak at a chapter last week, my last chapter for the semester,” John says. “This frat has a yearly initiation process and now that includes a spiritual direction night that I’ve been able to lead in the last two years!”
“There are few subcultures on the college campus larger or more impactful than fraternities and athletes,” John says. “On the weekends, a huge chunk of what student life looks like is tied up in sporting events or Greek parties. What if God comes and breathes life into these subcultures? That can transform a university!”
Since reaching out to fraternities by cleaning toilets, John says he has now become the chaplain for many of the fraternities on campus. He can freely walk into a meeting where he is known and recognized. And as a fraternity chaplain, they permitted him to engage other fraternities that don’t have a chaplain.
“What’s really great is that recently I had a frat president contact me after a meeting,” John says. “He wanted to start a Bible study, just him and me. After a while, I encouraged him to invite other frat brothers, and now we have eight guys coming. And when that president transitioned out of leadership, the new president joined our group.”
“Imagine,” John muses, “frats taking leadership in leading campuses to Christ — it’s almost like planting an indigenous church.”
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Ryan Foster, is the primary Chi Alpha campus minister at the University of Minnesota, leading the typical Chi Alpha model with undergraduates and small groups, while John Konkel (in the article above) works in partnership with Chi Alpha and focuses on Greek life and athletes.
This is a condensed version of a full article that appeared in the AG News, January 3, 2022, “Chi Alpha Chaplain Leads Dozens of Frat Members to Christ,” by Dan Van Veen.
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 pull to the area—myself to the college and Chuck to the community. We left a very established position at a larger church a few months later so I could start XA and Chuck could plant a church. Because I did not know one student at the college and Chuck did not know one person in town this made starting two ministries a huge challenge—not to mention our kids were young. Reid was 13, Ellie was 6 and Calvin was 4. However, we felt God calling us to go even though each of us starting separate ministries was quite unprecedented.
Both the XA ministry and the Church began meeting in the former church building XA owns right across from the WSU campus. This is the same building in the early 1970s that Jim Bradford (former undergraduate student at WSU) with his mentor picked the lock to access the old empty church building to pray for revival to hit the campus. They met in the empty building numerous times to pray. Those prayers, and the hard work of the founding WSU XA pastor Dave Babler and then intern Mike Amiot, built a strong foundation so the group would thrive today.
I saw hundreds of students come to Christ at XA services. Fourteen years later God has brought over 2000 to saving faith in Him. XA has trained nearly 500 students to lead small groups. These are disciples that make disciples! Many students have been baptized in the Holy Spirit and in water.
It may look like a church but it is the Chi Alpha Student Center serving Winona State University students.
Although many have heard the Winona miracles and success stories, there have been many challenges. In the 2017-2018 we had a major exodus of leaders; my knee fell apart and put me on crutches and in a wheelchair and ultimately had to be replaced. The XA house had a fire that caused it to close for months. In 2019 the college newspaper published a very biased destructive article attacking the ministry. In 2020, the challenges to the campus ministry due to the pandemic faded in comparison to the attack my family had launched against us which is still ongoing to this day. A news station from Minneapolis was outside the building this fall as our students walked into service. They were trying to cause more chaos and division, but even fellow campus ministries in Winona were praying that the “enemy’s camp would be confused.” God did exactly that! They ended up leaving empty-handed and nothing has hit the news. We continue to pray it will stay that way.
But even in the midst of those things, we soldier on! I know I have been called to not just lead students to Christ that are disciples that make disciples but to raise front-line warriors on the most intense battlefields. One way we are doing that is by becoming a Campus Missionary-in-Training location in 2020 (yes- during a pandemic). We are entering into some of the most challenging yet rewarding days of campus ministry and I am confident God is walking us through these many struggles as a way to educate me and my staff on how to train strong resilient warriors for Christ. We look forward to what’s ahead!
Check out Winona State U XA story when they first started in 2008.
When Steph Peterson held her first XA planning meeting at Winona State University (WSU) a decade ago, the group numbered 10 students —barely enough to qualify as a campus club. Her daunting task focused on restarting the WSU XA chapter, one that had included as many as 200 students on the Minnesota campus of 9,000 in the 1990s and early 2000s. But after the departure of previous leadership, membership had dwindled to a solitary student. Steph began her time on campus by connecting with one football player, and day by day she introduced herself to more students. The small group began meeting in October 2008 with 18 students and grew to over 50 by the end of the first year. check out:
