January 2004

ARTICLE TOOLS

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The college years are a time when students work out what they can achieve as adults in society, what kind of world we live in, what constitutes the good life, the relationship between intimacy and sex, what is truth—among many other issues. If they are Christians, they need help connecting to the rich biblical and theological truths that help them sort out these questions.

I spent six years as a campus pastor and religion teacher. I remember with special fondness the intense and authentic relationships I had with those students.

Between my years of campus ministry and my now nearly 19 years at Christianity Today, I spent four wonderful years working for InterVarsity Christian Fellowship (IVCF). The organization gave me an opportunity to combine my communication skills and my campus experience and work on HIS, IVCF's magazine for college students.

One of the student readers of HIS became a good friend and is now an associate editor of CT. While studying journalism at Louisiana State, Doug LeBlanc helped critique each issue of HIS and kept us editors in touch with the campus. I asked Doug to summarize InterVarsity's contribution to his life. "InterVarsity was the evangelical ministry most willing to take my doubts and fears seriously," Doug wrote, "and to help me move toward a confident and informed faith in God."

Managing editor Mark Galli also counts himself as an IVCF alum—though his student fellowship at the University of California-Santa Cruz had an "anti-establishment mood that precluded being attached to any national organization." That didn't stop a nearby IVCF staff worker from supporting the group and including them in area conferences. The bottom line for Mark? "InterVarsity helped me think about and live out my Christian ...