Many students use their experience in college to find themselves and who they really are.
For many of these students, taking part in a campus ministry will help them on their path to self-discovery.
East Tennessee State University has many campus ministry programs. No matter what students’ religious preferences are, they are sure to find a group at ETSU that will meet their needs.
Christian Student Fellowship (CSF) is one of the oldest ministries on campus. “We have been here for close to 50 years,” said Mike Luzadder, director of CSF.
“CSF joined the ETSU campus in the mid to late 1950s. There are other groups that are close to that, like the Baptist Collegiate Ministry.”
Luzadder feels that students come to college and want to change something about themselves.
“Some students want to come to college and lose their faith,” he said. “That’s hard to do in a college in the Bible belt. When they are first on the campus, they see all the programs that there are and they usually end up coming.”
While there are always new faces at the CSF meetings, there are never as many as Luzadder would like to see.
“New people come a lot,” he said. “The response is never what I want. I would love to see this place full.”
“When students come to college, they don’t really know what to do with their faith,” Luzadder said. “It has never really been theirs before because their parents usually make the decisions when they are growing up. Campus ministries help students make their faith their own.
I get to watch the students grow in their faith. It’s amazing to see the difference between a 17-year-old freshman and a 20-something about to graduate.
We have even had members who want to go on and make their career in the ministry. It is really amazing.”
When students are at their orientation, they are given an interest card to fill out. That is how the campus ministries find the students who could possibly be interested in joining them.
“These cards are sent to us from the orientation,” Luzadder said. “We usually get a couple of hundred and there are some groups that get thousands. We write these students postcards that invite them to our group.
We also let people know what we are doing by placing signs around campus, we have our Web site but the best way is word of mouth.
It’s hard to get students involved.”
There are many activities that are held at CSF for students to get involved in. “Wednesday Night Worship is our big thing,” Luzadder said. “We have it every Wednesday night at 6:30 here at Campus House.”
Campus House is the building that the CSF is located in. Luzadder is not sure how the name Campus House came to be.
“I don’t know why it is called that,” he said. “We are sponsored by the Independent Christian Churches and that it what they traditionally call their ministries. I guess they just called it that and it stuck.”
Other than Wednesday night meetings, the CSF has Tuesday lunches that are free and open to anyone who wants to come. “We have people stop by all the time,” Luzadder said.
Every semester, the members of CSF go on a mission retreat.
This summer they will be working with local organizations, including the King Benevolent Ministries in Bristol, the Appalachian Christian Camp in Erwin and the East Tennessee Christian Children’s Home in Elizabethton.
CSF will also be holding their Wednesday night meetings all summer.
“Come and stop by,” Luzadder said. “We will be having activities all summer.