National Advisor
I did a great job of trying to end my chapter visit to Texas Tech before it even started. It turns out, much to my chagrin, that there is a substantial amount of rush hour traffic in the mornings in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. My morning commute normally consists of me walking from my bedroom to my desk, a trek of about 30 feet, so when I left at 7:45 for a 9:20 flight, I thought I had plenty of time. Wrong.
Thanks to some fast driving, equally fast walking through the airport and zero regard for the three-year-old I may or may not have knocked over with my duffle bag, I made it to my plane with seven minutes to spare. I was stressed, tired and ready to go home. Then I got to start my visit.
The mess that was my commute to and through the airport was fortunately the lowlight of my visit with the Eta Chapter. In just over a year of working with the Eta Chapter, the Lord has allowed me to witness a substantial amount of progress and fruit within the chapter. The most evident fruit is the 46-member pledge class they inducted while I was in Lubbock. The chapter started the semester with 48 active members. They’ll nearly double this semester.
Monday night at midnight, the chapter held its pledge induction ceremony. The ceremony is similar to a bid ceremony. The officers, clad in black suits, white shirts and purple ties, presented all 46 pledges with their pledge pin. Everyone involved treated the event with such great reverence and respect. The pledges were absolutely silent. President Chris Draper and Pledge Captain Andy Nichols did a great job of challenging the pledges and telling them how close they will get as a pledge class.
I have a great feeling about this pledge class. I had a good time sharing meals and conversation with a handful of them. During pledge induction, I sat back and observed the pledge class. I feel like you can learn a little bit about the type of person someone is by how they shake hands and how they “clean up” for special occasions. Do you make eye contact? Is your tie straight? Do you have a Dennis the Menace cowlick going on? The bulk of the group passed the eye test. I feel like there is a lot of leadership potential in this class, and I trust that Andy and the rest of the officers will do an awesome job of bringing that out. I was blessed to be a part of such a meaningful way of kicking off pledgeship.
I didn’t waste anytime jumping off the plane and into one-on-ones. Chris picked me up, and we spent an hour-and-a-half talking about BYX, life, movies and video games while scouring the student union for an empty table during lunch time. Chris is a laid back and approachable guy that also seems capable of inspiring action in his brothers. Throughout the trip, I was impressed with how he led the chapter in humility.
I met with Treasurer Eric Tuzin next. The chapter will face some unique challenge with the huge jump in numbers. Eric, however, will benefit from it, since he’ll have substantially more money to play with throughout the semester. That’s assuming he can learn to chase down 94 members for dues. It was evident in talking to Eric that he was still awestruck to a certain degree at how faithful God was to provide the large pledge class.
I snagged some lunch with Pledge Captain Andy Nichols. As a show of gratitude for Andy bringing in 46 pledges, I bought him chips and a powerade. My big question for Andy was what made this pledge class so much bigger. Like Eric before him, he said it was all on God. He went on to say that the men in the chapter are becoming more involved on campus and more people are seeing the quality of men that are joining BYX, so more men want to be a part of that. Their involvement on campus and willingness to reach out and love on people paid off.
I love Andy’s drive and focus. He wants so badly for his pledges to draw nearer to Christ and gain a deeper understanding of Him. He’s going to push them, but all the while he intends to honor God with their efforts and push the pledges toward a Savior that is madly in love with them.
Chaplain Cody Carlisle has his work cut out for him, but I have confidence he can handle it. He’ll be handling twice as many cell groups and big brothers than in the spring. He’s been diligent in prayer for guidance on how to match up cell groups, and, after our conversation, I feel good about the direction they are headed.
The officers cover all of their decisions in prayer. Prayer isn’t an afterthought to these officers. I was continually impressed with the humility the officers showed and how quick they are to turn to the Lord for guidance and direction.
Chapter meeting was completely different this semester, but that will happen when you add 46 new faces. I joked with the members that I intended to use them as a warm up to get the kinks out of my chapter address before I visited my bigger chapters. What stood out the most at chapter was worship in song. Kyle Parker and Scott Bryan were both well-prepared and talented leaders. It was a loud and genuine cry to the Lord from all the men in the chapter. I loved it.
After a crazy Monday, Tuesday moved at a much more leisurely pace. Before lunch with some members, I met with National Initiatives Chair Forrest Stovall. Forrest has a great grasp of the position and does a great job of keeping the chapter updated about what’s going on across the country. He said there is a lot of interest in Summit Ski Week, as there should be. This is my shameless plug for Summit Ski Week. If you are a BYX pledge, member or alum reading this, you should be there. All the cool kids are doing it.
I met with Secretary Stephen Irvin-Mims that afternoon. I had a good time hearing about what the Lord is doing in Stephen’s life and talking about where the Lord may be calling him in the near future. Stephen has a great heart and is a great servant to the chapter.
God is faithful. He continues to move mightily in the Eta Chapter. I’m so humbled to serve such an amazing group of godly men and blessed the God has allowed me to see so much fruit in such a short amount of time.
0 comments:
Post a Comment