This is a guest post by Alison Marie Smith. She works for Greek InterVarsity at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. Her and her husband, Sean, moved to Utah four years ago from the great state of Michigan. She loves reading, running, making meals for her students, and sharing adventures with her husband. Alison blogs at www.alisonmariesmith.com

As a planter, I am attracted by the idea of going where no one has gone before. Four years ago I moved from Michigan to Utah and began planting Greek InterVarsity at the University of Utah. This was the first ministry for fraternity and sorority students in the state as well as in InterVarsity’s Rocky Mountain region. When I arrived in Utah, I was the only Greek InterVarsity staff within a 600-mile radius and few Greek students were involved in Christian ministries. At the time, many people in the West were supportive of Greek InterVarsity, but few understood the unique challenges and value of working with Greek students. It was isolating.

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This is a guest post by Chizu Shimizu. She is on staff with Intervarsity in San Diego and works with Urban Projects and Student Missions. 

This is an incredible story of being committed to planting new works of God. Chizu, in many ways, was the least likely person in my mind that God would send to get this job done – her role on staff has nothing to do with planting new chapters. But I have known Chizu for almost 15 years and she has a heart that beats for the path of God. I love her obedience to a strange call of God (totally outside her job role) and her willingness to follow God’s planting scent all the way down the trail. Watch this video testimony of her telling the incredible story of a planting mission this last year.

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By Linson Daniel

This was an interesting year for me. My leadership was really stretched. 

I went from planting new chapters to planting new areas for InterVarsity/USA in North Texas and Oklahoma. Four years ago, my team started as one area with 390 students in 7 chapters. It has since grown to become 707 students in 16 chapters. Now, my area has multiplied into three new areas each with its own area director.

I’ve reflected back on the past four years to figure out which steps nurtured the apostolic impulse needed to generate this growth. As a leader, you can help foster apostolic impulse in every team member! I’ve distilled it down to these three steps:

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This is a guest post by Nick Johnson. He is the Director of InterVarsity for the State of GA and he is working hard with his team to make a culture shift to own the whole field of college campuses and commit to reaching all 90+.

Shortly after my wife and I got married we were wrestling with how we could better love the poor in our city. After reflecting on why it was hard for us to make it a priority, we realized it was where we lived. The Starbucks, nice shopping mall, and trendy restaurants nearby were a distraction. To fully press into this value we had, we needed an environment change. So we moved into a low-income neighborhood.

I wonder for how many of us our environment is hindering our abilities to fully press into our mission?

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