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.
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 Assemblies of God church, pastored by Rex Bornman. Rex asked Steve to organize a XA group at Penn State. Steve would direct XA a from 1980 to 1985. During that time, he met and married Charlene Bernhardt in 1984 who had come to PSU from Evangel University to pursue a Masters degree.
In 1990, Pastor Arnold Lastinger invited Steve to preach two services at the First Assembly of God in Gainesville, Florida. He was looking for someone to develop XA at the University of Florida. The pastor then referred him to the AG Peninsular Florida District Council (PFDC) in Lakeland for an interview. The district presbyters approved Steve as the first full-time XA campus minister in Pen Florida.
Steve and Charlene implemented the XA principles of prayer, worship, discipleship, fellowship, and evangelism as a foundation for university ministry. XA meetings were held on campus. Student leaders equipped their peers for spiritual growth. Bible studies met in dorms and apartments. Those with musical gifts led in worship. Over the years, hundreds of students participated in the UF XA ministry. They witnessed salvations, water baptisms, fillings with the Holy Spirit, and healings.
Chi Alpha students at the University of Florida
UF influences students from many nations and cultures and with a diversity of backgrounds. For twenty-five years (1991 – 2016), they directed XA at UF. In 2016 Steve (age 71) and Charlene stepped away from full-time XA to focus on international students and scholars representing fourteen nations. Through the years, UF XA students have traveled to fifteen countries on mission trips. Here at home, students helped hurricane victims in New Orleans and migrant workers in South Florida.
The global impact of campus ministry is represented by a journalist who came to UF from Taiwan on a Fulbright scholarship. Her major was media management. One day, she called the Michaels to let them know that she was setting aside three days to seek the Lord, and wanted to meet to talk about the Holy Spirit. She received the baptism with the Holy Spirit in the Michaels living room after a Bible teaching from Acts! This scholar returned to her nation knowing that Jesus gave “power from on high” to be a witness to her unsaved family and her nation.
National XA provided the Michaels with an opportunity to fulfill God’s assignment. The network of relationships and oversight helped them to continue these many years. Steve explained, “We are grateful to the Lord, our supporters, and all the college students who made this mission an exciting adventure!” At 75, Steve’s ministerial credential card reads, “Senior Retired,” however he and Charlene continue to minister to internationals as retirees.
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.
