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April 23, 2007 —
Matt Kiley used to walk by the Alumni Lounge his freshman year and see a group of Christian students singing songs and raising their hands in reverence to God.
"And I just thought, 'These people are weird,'" he says. "It kind of freaked me out. I didn't want to be part of a group like that."
Today Kiley's a senior and grateful to be part of a group like that. The group? His House.
Anyone who's glanced at a SVSU bulletin board has likely seen flyers for not only His House, but for several other Christian ministries on campus.
His House is the big one. With approximately 150 members, a piggy bank of $22,000 and Minister Troy Andreasen's plan to build a 6,300-square-foot group house, His House is one student organization that has dreams bigger than bake sales.
So what's the need for all the other Christian groups if His House seems to be taking care of business?
"There's a need for the other groups because it's important for students to get close to God," says Rocky Coleman, recent SVSU alumnus and His House intern. "And it doesn't necessarily matter which meeting a student goes to in order to do that."
But some say it does matter.
"The reason people like us in comparison to His House is that we're a small group circled around fellowship," says senior Jason Flores of Campus Crusade for Christ (CRU). "We're here to build relationships with other students."
CRU is a student-led, 25-member volunteer Christian ministry that gets involved with campus events, eats out together after meetings and has a refreshing absence of cliques.
"I joined CRU because I liked that I could come to a place that will welcome and accept you," Flores says. "The people in the group come up and talk to you."
Then there's Standing in the Gap, a brand new campus ministry led by Pastor Nate Polzin who recently moved to the Saginaw area from Mount Pleasant, where he founded the first Standing in the Gap at CMU.
"Last week was our biggest week for attendance; we had 13 people," Polzin says, laughing. "That's definitely a difference between us and His House."
Polzin says Standing in the Gap is a Christian fellowship centered on the idea of closing the perceived gap between God and college students.
Local churches and individuals fund Standing in the Gap as well as His House and CRU. While Polzin receives a small salary from Saginaw's Church in Drive, an organization he also pastors, Andreasen is paid through the statewide His House network.
Of the three noted campus ministries, His House is the only one that takes an offering from its SVSU membership.
"Students do give a small offering at His House," Andreasen says. "But most of our funding comes from people who believe in campus ministry."
"Plus college kids aren't usually loaded," Polzin adds.
His House, CRU and Standing in the Gap all consider themselves to be contemporary worship, Bible-based teaching ministries. Whereas His House and CRU meetings offer a sermon, Standing in the Gap is currently in Bible-study mode. All three assemblies conduct group prayer and worship as well.
His House is known in particular for using technology to enhance its meetings with prerecorded comedic skits that correlate with its weekly sermons.
Members of all three groups believe one thing holding many students back from attending a campus ministry is the misconceptions people have toward Christianity. They say many students have had a negative experience with the religion, some think it's hypocritical, and others think Christians just don't know how to have fun.
"I used to have misconceptions about campus Christian groups, too," Kiley of His House says. "But now I understand that these groups are just about getting together to help improve lives through God and have some fun. Not all Christians are freaks... just some of them."