It's that time of year again... back to school! For San Diego, that means hundreds of thousands of college students flooding back into our city and onto campus. Almost all of the campuses have begun their New Student Outreach, trying to meet as many of these students as possible!
How can we meet this wave of students?
Every student needs to find a community that cares about them, yet so many of them struggle to find good friends and a place to be know. Currently, we have 19 staff on the ground, on-campus, reaching students. That's not enough! We need more staff to be able to reach these 200,000 students.
God has heard our cry, and he has raised up 7 new staff in the past 5 months. These 7 men and women have heard God's call to the campus, and I (Sarah) am working with them to prepare them for campus. They are in an intensive fundraising process, and hope to be on campus as soon as possible.
Here's a little bit about each of the new staff.
Nick: Recently graduated from SDSU, Nick came to faith through GreekIV, our ministry to Fraternity and Sorority Students. He worked for his fraternity, SigEp for a year, traveling the country working with fraternity guys. Now, he's committed the next four years to work with GreekIV, and reach fraternity and Sorority students for Christ at San Diego State!
Jonny: This new staff is exciting for both BJ and I. Jonny has been a student at UCSD, and a leader of the surfing ministry with BJ. He also came on the first San Diego Urban Project with us. Jonny will be working at UCSD, continuing to reach out to surfers, and help college students get involved in our city. He is pictured here with his fiancée, and they will be married in October!
Kelsey: Kelsey is our first student from CSU San Marcos to come on staff! This is an exciting moment for our division. Kelsey chose to follow God's call to minister to students, even though she had already been offered a prestigious physical therapy position in San Diego. She lived in and ministered to the dorms at CSUSM, and is excited to get back on campus.
Pat: Another SDSU Greek IV graduate, Pat also came to faith in the Greek IV. He is our youngest staff, having graduated in 3 short years! Pat will go back to San Diego State and minister to the Greek system there with Nick. These are our first two fraternity men that we've hired in San Diego. They will surely transform a Greek system that is fraught with drug use, promiscuity, and a pervasive loneliness.
Aaron: (Pictured here with InterVarsity USA's president) Aaron is a product of our community college ministry. I knew him as a student at Southwestern, when he helped lead worship for the group there. He transfered to San Diego State and got involved with InterVarsity, and came on as an intern last year. He is transitioning to part-time staff this year, and is excited to continue to reach students in the Filipino community on campus.
Jenn: Jenn also graduated from San Diego State, and will be returning there to work with the undergraduate fellowship. She helped lead worship for the fellowship after returning from studying abroad. Jenn has been a strong leader her entire time as a student. We are so excited to be sending her back to minister at SDSU.
Patrick: Our most recent new staff, Patrick (on the left in the photo) is coming on staff part-time to help reach our community colleges. He has been volunteering at San Diego City College for the past two years, and now will join Alan (on the right) at Mesa Community College. Patrick has a heart for those on the margins, and will help us continue to pursue community college students.
As so many students arrive on campus, will you pray with us that God would send out these new workers into the harvest soon? They are currently developing their support team, an important step in being sent out to the campus. If you're interested in joining any one of these new staff's team, please email me!
Jonny: This new staff is exciting for both BJ and I. Jonny has been a student at UCSD, and a leader of the surfing ministry with BJ. He also came on the first San Diego Urban Project with us. Jonny will be working at UCSD, continuing to reach out to surfers, and help college students get involved in our city. He is pictured here with his fiancée, and they will be married in October!
Pat: Another SDSU Greek IV graduate, Pat also came to faith in the Greek IV. He is our youngest staff, having graduated in 3 short years! Pat will go back to San Diego State and minister to the Greek system there with Nick. These are our first two fraternity men that we've hired in San Diego. They will surely transform a Greek system that is fraught with drug use, promiscuity, and a pervasive loneliness. 
