Chi Alpha @ Stanford

Whether you’re a new freshman exploring the mysteries of the Facebook, a transfer student looking forward to better dorms, or a seasoned grad student who is wise in the ways of Ramen we’re glad you’re here and we look forward to meeting you. We also urge you to check us out on on the aforementioned Facebook.

Our first meeting is Wednesday, September 27th at 7:30pm in 300-300 (map). Our Bible studies will be launching within the next few days as well.

You might be curious about what our meetings are like. Tragically, holodeck technology is still beyond our abilities. So in place of a fully-orbed, three-dimensional, multisensory experience we offer these videos:

• I Believe, But Help My Unbelief
• Play To Win
• Everyone Is On The Worship Team (one of my favorites, but the video is a little amateurish on this one — sorry)
• You can see our full meeting archives at http://xastanford.org/category/sermons/

If you haven’t had a chance yet, be sure to check out our Facebook Group.

Also, we’re going to have a table set up on White Plaza (campus map, satellite photo) pretty much every day of NSO. Please stop by and say hello!

• On Tuesday, you can meet us at the Frosh & Faith Open House on White Plaza from 2-4.
• On Wednesday, we’ll be out on White Plaza from around 10-2.
• On Thursday, we’ll be set up on White Plaza from around 10-noon, and then on Canfield Court for an event called GOALIE from 12-2pm. GOALIE is a grad student thing (yup–we gots some o’ dem, too). Depending on our level of energy, we might trudge back over to White Plaza at that point. Then again, we might just go sip lattes somewhere.
• On Friday, we’ll be back on White Plaza from around 10-2.
• On Saturday, we’re going to have a brunch picnic on White Plaza from 10:30 until noon.

So why are we so obsessed with tables? Do we have stock in some sort of furniture company? Not at all–we’re just doing what we can. Consider this snippet from an official-type email:

[During NSO] new students may not be contacted by any student group, including SAR organizations, except as follows:
1) Ads may be placed in the Stanford Daily, and flyers may be posted around campus throughout NSO.
2) Information tables are permitted for SAR organizations (at their individual initiative) in White Plaza, starting Wednesday, September 21.
3) Active recruiting and informational efforts will be allowed starting Saturday, September 24.

Put that through a cost/benefit analysis (the Stanford Daily is expensive, flyers are generally a waste of time as you’ll soon see–or rather, as you soon won’t) and you quickly realize that tables are left as our last, best hope.

Take some time to stop by and make our acquaintance!

There’s a new website to help Christians bound for secular universities. So if you’re anxious about growing in your faith at Stanford, read on.

It’s called Thrive At College, and it’s a special type of website known as a wiki.

In case you’re not familiar with the term, it just means that anyone (including you) can edit any page on the site. And that means it’s an organic resource–growing and responding to the needs of its readers. So if you have a question you want answered or see an opportunity to improve existing content you can go ahead and do it without logging in or anything. Just click the ‘edit’ tab at the top of the page you want to alter and watch your will become reality!

Welcome to all the new Stanford-bound students. Whether you’re a new freshman exploring the mysteries of the Facebook, a transfer student looking forward to better dorms, or a seasoned grad student who is wise in the ways of Ramen we’re glad you’re here and we look forward to meeting you. We also urge you to check us out on on the aforementioned Facebook.

Anyway, we’ve got some articles in our archives you might find pretty handy. Each article is a mix of text and audio or video. The media can be either streamed or downloaded and in either case won’t play unless you take specific action. In other words, feel free to click on these links in the library: they won’t make noise without your permission.

• What Is Chi Alpha? includes student interviews (a three-minute video)
• Advice For the College Bound: I (fearless leader Glen) spoke at a baccalaureate service and it’s pretty much what I’d like to say to every Christian frosh (includes seven minute streaming audio).
• So You’re Coming To Stanford includes a streaming eight-minute audio devotional from Daniel chapter 1

Of course, you could always just look over everything we’ve ever written for new students.

Fill What’s Empty, Empty What’s Full, Scratch Where It Itches
(Baccalaureate Service at Trinity Christian School in Las Vegas)
Length: 7:20
Size: 5 MB
Format MP3
Speaker: Glen Davis - 5/23/2004

I (Glen) had the chance to speak at a high school baccalaureate service in Vegas at the end of last year, and a lot of what I said to them is relevant to incoming first years as well.

Giving credit where credit is due: the title came from a quote I have seen attributed to Alice Roosevelt Longworth.

A correction: I spoke without looking at my notes and misstated Carly Fiorina’s major. It was actually a combo of medieval history and philosophy (source). Oops.

Welcome–I hope you had a good journey to get here!

If you’re checking out our website for the first time, two links you might want to hit are our tips for freshmen and the story of one of the sophomores in our group.

Also, I just ran across an article talking about Alpha course, which is one of the events we’ll be running this quarter. Just thought you might find it interesting.

Enjoy Stanford!

Welcome to all the new students coming to Stanford this Fall Quarter. Whether you be a frosh, a transfer student, or a grad student we’re glad you’re here.

Please check out our group and consider looking us up once you get to campus!

You might find some helpful stuff on our new student info page.

A note about this website: we use a blog format to keep our site maintained. What that means is that articles are listed newest to oldest. Older stuff is archived and can be accessed through the links on the sidebars or the search engine.

We’ve created shortcuts to our best stuff in the menu bar at the top of the page.

Hi, my name is Shaowei, and I am an international student from Singapore. Knowing the Lord has been the best thing that has ever happened in my whole life. My encounter with the Lord has been one that is full of excitement and joy, but it has not been an easy one.

It began when I gave my life over to Christ in July 2000. As a young Christian, I was often unsure of my faith, but I always had spiritual brothers and sisters encouraging me and giving me advice in my walk with Him. When I first came to Stanford in September 2002, I was worried because I heard rumors about how college life can be a stumbling block to one’s spiritual life, because of the heavy workload and because of the intellectualism that shakes one’s faith.

So I sought out several Christian fellowship groups, and the one that caught my attention was Chi Alpha. On our first day, the students and staff were extremely friendly to the newcomers. We had a wonderful time of worship, and Glen, the pastor, gave a very hilarious talk (I still remember he had his doctor’s gear on) that was also very deep and practical to college life. I fell in love with Chi Alpha because I saw how all the students truly loved God and truly loved each other.

Since then, all of us at Chi Alpha have been through thick and thin together. We shared our feelings, prayed for one another, lead worship, ate and had fun together, went for exciting retreats, and shared our faith with others. One way in which Chi Alpha really changed my life was when one of the pastors prayed for me at the Spring Retreat and I was delivered from the frequent nightmares which I had since I was five. Since then, I was able to sleep well and peacefully! Most importantly, Chi Alpha has taught me, both directly and indirectly, how much the Lord loves me, and how to love the Lord.

College life may be busy or intellectually intimidating, but we need to continue to put our trust and hope in the Lord so that He can show us how to live it purposefully. For Jesus said, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). I pray that you will find the fellowship group that the Lord has called you to soon. Take care and God Bless : )

Thrive Spiritually At Stanford
Will your faith grow stronger or weaker over the next four years? The choice is yours, and the time to make it is now. Generations of students testify that you can thrive spiritually at Stanford, and the key is to intentionally cultivate your faith.

A brief greeting from Glen Davis, the campus pastor of Chi Alpha:

• Read tips for new students from a sophomore who’s been there and a reflection on one student’s first year on campus!
• Check out our recommended reading list for new students to prepare for the intellectual challenges you’ll find here at the Farm.
• Scope out the Christian groups at Stanford. You can find the official list on the Stanford Associated Religions website. Scroll down a little to see it. You can see another list at the Student Groups directory. It’s pretty much the same, just formatted differently.
• Pray. Specifically, pray that God would do a few things:
  1. Ask God to prepare you for the challenges and opportunities you’ll face at Stanford.
  2. Ask God to give you favor with your roommate, and that also request that He perform a powerful work in their life this summer.
  3. Ask God to help you quickly find a community of Christians on campus that you can be strengthened by and have fun with. by the way–we hope that’s us!
• Be encouraged–we’re praying for you all summer long.

Chi Alpha Is Here to Help You
We’ve mentioned plugging into a Christian community of students here at Stanford. In case you haven’t figured it out, we’d love to be the group you check out first!

We hope to help you thrive spiritually at Stanford by providing you with resources, encouragement, and a group of friends who will be there for you. If that sounds like the sort of thing you’re looking for, learn more about us!

To Learn More About Chi Alpha

• Read Chi Alpha in a nutshell.
• IM our fearless leader:
  
• Sign up for Chi Alpha’s group discussion list. Just send an email to majordomo@lists.stanford.edu with the following in the body: subscribe chialpha-fellowship
• Also sign up to receive Chi Alpha’s email announcements (the form is on the sidebar of every page). These are different from the discussion group messages. Those are student-to-student ongoing conversation. This is a weekly update on ‘the haps’ that we send out. The two lists don’t really overlap in content, so we urge you to sign up for both.
• Just poke around the site for a while! We update it regularly, so if you use an RSS reader subscribe to our feed (.92, 2.00, atom)!

Almost every prayer request I’ve received so far mentions anxiety about roommates, so I thought I should offer some thoughts on the subject.

I’ve had over thirty roommates in my educational career. They’ve ranged from seminary students to drug dealers, and I even woke up one morning to find an unknown neo-nazi sleeping in my roommate’s bed!

In other words, I speak with experience when it comes to roommates, and the best piece of advice I can give you is this: the way to have a great roommate is to be a great roommate.

1. Forbearance should be your watchword. If you don’t know what it means, look it up!
2. Be realistic. You’re not guaranteed to become best friends with your roommate. In fact, that’s kind of rare. Usually you get a good friend who’s just on the border of your inner circle, and sometimes you simply live in the same room and respect one another. Just accept whatever comes in that department.
3. Talk frankly about your expectations. If you don’t want your roommate ever touching your stuff, tell them! Be sure to phrase it in a disarming way, "Listen, I’m just a little funny about my stuff. Please don’t touch any of it without asking me first." Also, don’t make that the first thing you say to them. They’re just as nervous as you are, and you don’t want to be the roomate they had nightmares about!
4. Never ignore conflict. If you fail to address irritation it grows to frustration, then to anger, and then to full-blown animosity and resentment. A year is a long time to seep in bitterness–don’t let it happen to you.
5. Be sure to remember these words of advice from God: If you shout a pleasant greeting to your neighbor too early in the morning, it will be counted as a curse! (Proverbs 27:14, NLT) Be sure to respect your roommate’s sleep time. Remember–that one’s from God Himself!
6. And the most relevant piece of counsel in the whole Bible is the Golden Rule: Do for others what you would like them to do for you. (Matthew 7.12, NLT) Note that this is a command to engage in good behavior, not simply to avoid negative stuff. Be proactive in treating your roommate right!

Follow the above advice, and you’ll do just fine.

But Suppose My Roommate Isn’t a Christian?
What a wonderful chance to emulate Jesus; after all, Christ was known as a friend of sinners! However, if you do have a roommate who isn’t serving Jesus be sure to seek out a network of peers who will bolster your faith.

In fact, let me take a moment to strongly encourage you to find a Christian group on campus that you click with. I’d be thrilled if you chose Chi Alpha, but my prime concern is that you find someplace that will nurture your faith. Make finding a Christian community a top priority: Satan feeds off strays!

P.S. If you found this helpful, you might also want to check out Stanford sophomore Andrew Wright’s advice to freshmen.