Beta Upsilon Chi

Why I'm Wearing White

2012-01-30T08:50:00.000-08:00

By Brant Bonetti

Senior, Vanderbilt University

Beginning last spring, Vanderbilt began implementing a new non-discrimination policy that undermines the integrity of many student religious organizations. As a student leader in one of those organizations, I had a front-row seat to the drama that unfolded behind closed doors as many in the religious community attempted to dialogue with the administration. Like so many others, I was dedicated to pleading the case of religious life – but only in private.

Then I received the Chancellor’s email last week and something inside of me snapped. I realized that rest of the Vanderbilt community deserved a more accurate picture of what had been transpiring privately for so many months. So this is a public plea. A public and passionate plea for myself and any other student who wants the opportunity to make choices for religious organizations based on their religious beliefs.

It’s that simple.

Yet throughout this process the University has consistently obscured the facts in an effort to gain acceptance for a policy that is widely unpopular amongst those whom it will affect. I’m going to try to clear up a few of those facts, and then I’ll go on to explain what I believe.

From the beginning, Vanderbilt has denied crafting a new, more expansive non-discrimination policy. Instead, administrators have tried to convince us this is actually a case of a few organizations being asked to conform to a longstanding practice. According to this story, various offices are finally ‘catching up’ with a policy that has been in place across the University all along. But no matter how the facts are framed, the reality is that the student organization handbook was altered last December, when a section specifically protecting religious association was removed, as highlighted by the Hustler in September 2011. Then, in April, a number of organizations were placed on provisional status as constitutions that had been easily granted approval in previous years were evaluated under this new standard. Call it a policy change or call it ‘catching up.’ Either way, something changed. And that change will have real consequences for student organizations.

So far, the refrain echoed by a variety of university officials is that for all intents and purposes, business will continue as usual. But in a meeting with the Interfaith Council last Tuesday, Dean Mark Bandas went so far as to admit that religious organizations could come under investigation if there was suspicion that members used religious criteria in voting for their leaders. Let’s say that you’re a member of Fellowship of Christian Athletes and that you’re running for president of the organization. You win the election, but the student that you beat feels that he lost because members of the organization case their votes based on his religious beliefs. According to Dean Bandas, Vanderbilt would have grounds to investigate your organization for discrimination if the other student lodged a formal complaint. That hardly seems like business as usual to me.

Many students and administrators have also asked why students who don’t agree with an organization’s beliefs would try to lead that organization. Do I actually believe that an atheist student would want to lead Navigators? No, I don’t believe that ‘hostile takeovers’ are a real threat. But that doesn’t make this new policy viable. One main reason being that it exposes religious organizations to other threats. What if a student leader goes away for the summer and has a change of beliefs? And if she doesn’t believe in the shared values of the organization, how can she lead people in putting those beliefs into practice? Under the new policy, asking her to step down qualifies as discrimination, yet keeping her in that leadership position undermines the integrity of the organization. This is only one example of the kind of catch-twenty-two this policy creates for religious organizations.

There has also been a lack of transparency about which groups this policy will affect. While it is still unclear who will be kicked off campus in April, members of several groups have expressed their opposition to the implementation of the policy, including members of: Vandy Catholic, the Baptist Collegiate Ministry, Navigators, CRU, Beta Upsilon Chi, Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Asian-American Christian Fellowship, Bridges International, and the Lutheran Student Fellowship as well as graduate organizations like the Christian Legal Society, Medical Christian Fellowship, and Graduate Christian Fellowship. The current narrative also fails to represent the concern of hundreds, if not thousands, of parents and Alumni from across the country who have called, written, and recently purchased radio ads expressing their discontent with Vanderbilt’s new policy. This is not a case of a few rogue groups flaunting a well-established and accepted policy; this is a story of Vanderbilt enforcing a new, aggressive policy that has been met with widespread resistance from across the Vanderbilt community.

At various times the University administration has also argued that they must enforce this new reading of the non-discrimination policy to protect Vanderbilt’s federal funding. This claim holds absolutely no weight. In a letter sent to the Chancellor and the Board of Trust in December, six prominent law school professors, including the Director of Stanford’s Constitutional Law Center, expressed their “collective opinion that no court decision, administrative regulation, or federal or state statute requires Vanderbilt to prohibit religious student groups from requiring their leaders to share the groups’ religious beliefs.”

On numerous occasions the University has also advanced the argument that this new interpretation of the non-discrimination policy is necessary to protect students against discrimination based on their sexual orientation. Yet even if you believe Vanderbilt’s previous policy allowed for discrimination against LGBTQI students, this sweeping new restriction on religious association is overly broad. Protecting LGBTQI students does not require the kind of policy that prohibits members of religious organizations using religious beliefs to choose their leaders.

But let’s look past the administration’s position. Here’s what I believe.

I believe that groups that challenge beliefs and promote dialogue are critical components of Vanderbilt University. I also believe that groups that exist to support members in expressing their commonly held convictions are essential for a healthy campus community. Some groups aspire to meet both purposes, some focus on one over the other – and I believe that an institution like Vanderbilt should promote and encourage both kinds of communal expression.

Vanderbilt’s new non-discrimination policy undermines those groups with common interests, especially communities that meet to express commonly held religious beliefs. By preventing students and organizations from choosing leaders based on principles of faith, administrators are charting a new course that inhibits student efforts to create communities that can adequately meet their needs. This new policy also prevents students from maintaining the purpose and integrity of their communities over time. As Supreme Court Justice Alito wrote in a recent 9-0 ruling for the high court regarding religious association, "a religious body’s right to self-governance must include the ability to select, and to be selective about, those who will serve as the very 'embodiment of its message.'" That same right is necessary for religious groups at Vanderbilt to accurately represent and adequately serve students.

Over my four years here, members of various religious organizations have supported, strengthened, and stretched me as person. Organizations like BYX, the BCM, and Navigators have truly changed my life, and I know religious organizations of all types have contributed in important ways to the lives of hundreds of other students at Vanderiblt. So tomorrow I’ll be wearing white to express my love for Vanderbilt, my conviction that religious students should be allowed to make decisions in religious organizations based on their religious beliefs, and my hope that this new policy will be changed in order to protect religious life for future Vanderbilt students. If you share the same feelings, I’d love to have you join me.

A Message from the Executive Director

2012-01-30T08:38:00.000-08:00

This letter was originally written to the parents and alumni of the Nu Chapter of BYX at Vanderbilt University.

--

Brant Bonetti (2011 President) and Alex Whitmore (2012 President) have done a fantastic job of keeping each of you up to date with the happenings at Vanderbilt University. I wanted to take the opportunity to write you myself as Executive Director of BYX and assure each of you that I personally have been working with the officers of the Vanderbilt BYX chapter on a weekly basis since the Spring of 2010. Last Friday, Chancellor Zeppos in an email to all of the Vanderbilt students and faculty announced the change in policy that will affect every religious organization on campus. In the email, the Chancellor said the following:

"I want to assure you the university does not seek to limit anyone's freedom to practice his or her religion. We do, however require all Vanderbilt registered student organizations to observe our nondiscrimination policy. That means membership in registered student organizations is open to everyone and that everyone, if desired, has the opportunity to seek leadership positions."

Vanderbilt officials have explicitly told BYX that while we may maintain our core beliefs as a Christian fraternity, we may not require anyone in the fraternity to agree or adhere to those core beliefs. BYX has always been a fraternity in which anyone is able to come to our open parties and events, and any young man is able to come and seek membership through rush. Through our process of interviews during rush with young men, we learn about their history and their faith journey with Christ. The interview process is essential to maintaining the core of Beta Upsilon Chi as our founders intended. Young men who are seeking to fulfill the purpose of BYX and desire to further their relationship with Christ and their brothers are offered bids to become pledges of Beta Upsilon Chi. Vanderbilt officials have told us that we may no longer require those seeking membership in our fraternity to desire the purpose of BYX or desire to further their relationship with Christ, and that we may no longer require this of our leaders either.

Earlier this week, I traveled to Nashville to encourage the brothers. My time with the chapter on Monday night was exceptional. The Vanderbilt chapter of Beta Upsilon Chi excels in the vision and purpose of BYX. The leaders and members are passionate about their faith, passionate about BYX, and love to have God-glorifying fun while pursuing the Christian life together. I was delighted to watch each pledge class performing its pledge dance at the end of the chapter meeting on Monday. BYX is truly a safe place for the brothers to grow in their relationship with Christ and one another. In my 8 years serving as Executive Director of BYX, I have not witnessed such brotherhood and unity in Christ as was present in the attitude and actions of the brothers of our Vanderbilt chapter. I am proud to serve these men.

I also wanted to assure all of the parents of members, alumni brothers, and members of the Vanderbilt chapter that nationally we will continue to support the Vanderbilt chapter no matter what happens in the days ahead. BYX is not the Vanderbilt administration's to give or take away. BYX is the Lord's and He has given us the opportunity to steward and lead this fraternity. The university can not prevent the Lord from changing lives through the fraternity of BYX. They can not prevent BYX brothers from going to cell group and they can not prevent BYX from meeting for chapter and throwing the best parties the Vanderbilt community has available to it.

I ask that you remember BYX in your prayers in the coming days. On Tuesday, January 31 from 6:15 to 7:45 PM in Furman Hall Room 114, the university will hold a town hall meeting to discuss the new policy. If you live in Nashville, I would encourage you to attend. If you are unable to attend, I would ask you to consider withholding your financial gifts to Vanderbilt University and communicating the reason therefor to the university administration. If you would like to express your concern for the new Vanderbilt policy that will affect every religious organization on campus in their choosing of members and leaders, I would encourage you to call or email:

Dean Mark Bandas: 615-322-6400
- mark.bandas@vanderbilt.edu
Provost Richard McCarty: 615-322-4219
Chancellor Zeppos: 615-322-1813

The days ahead seem to be challenging for the religious community at Vanderbilt and for BYX. The religious community at Vanderbilt across all religions seem to be uniting together like we have never seen. We believe that God is not surprised by this and that He has shown Himself faithful to us throughout the last two years and will ultimately bring glory to His name through these challenges. I can assure you that our Board of Directors and each of our Vanderbilt officers have handled themselves with the highest integrity throughout these difficult circumstances and we will continue to do so.

In One Spirit,
Jason Hoyt
Executive Director

Explaining the difference between rush and recruitment

2012-01-12T08:23:00.000-08:00

By Robert Bember

National Advisor

Backpack and bookbag.

Couch and sofa.

Pop and soda and coke and soft drink.

Same difference. All the paired terms are synonomous with each other. Suggest playing a game of soccer down at the field and your British friend may slap the taste out of your mouth for not calling it a pitch. It’s the same thing. Tomato, tomoto.

But rush and recruitment? Not so much. Some chapters have struggled to understand the difference between rush and recruitment. The tendency is to think that the terms are synonymous with each other. Though they’re similar with common goals on the surface, each element is a different vehicle and step toward the same goal: growing the chapter with a quality pledge class.

Let’s break it down with an analogy. Think of recruitment as an athlete’s offseason while rush is the season. During the offseason, the athlete is lifting weights, running, developing fundamentals and watching film. His goal is to prepare himself to the best of his ability for the upcoming season. Once the season starts, these remain key elements of the athlete’s regimen, but the focus is performing well in games. During recruitment, we are working year-round to set ourselves up for a successful rush.

Like the athlete, you can’t have a good season without a productive, disciplined and focused offseason. There are far too many chapters that use rush as their only intentional time of recruitment. We can’t approach recruitment so casually. Nationally, only about 40 percent of potentials actually accept bids. Waiting to develop a contact list until rush week can be extremely detrimental to your pledge class and fraternity. The fraternities that we recruit against are pursuing men throughout the summer. If we believe in the product we have, if we truly believe that BYX is a place where men’s lives are changed for the better, we must do the same thing.

Recruitment has to be going on constantly. Throughout the semester and summer, we must be intentional with potentials. Set up open events to showcase what BYX has to offer and seek out time with potentials through meals and hang outs outside of formal BYX events. Establishing relationships will keep them coming back.

Recruiting also comes as a by-product of having a strong campus presence. If people on campus are taking note of how well BYX is functioning, more and more men are going to hear about us and be drawn towards what we have to offer. The relationships we build, events we put on and activities we participate in affect our pledge classes.

Rush is the culmination of our efforts in recruitment. All the meals, parties, phone calls, letters and e-mails lead up to this one week in which we try to land as strong of a pledge class as possible. It’s the final push to prove to the potentials that BYX is indeed a product worth commitment and encourage the men to accept a bid to pledge Beta Upsilon Chi. It’s all hands on deck for Rush Week.

Rush and recruitment are not the same thing. They’re both crucial to the health of the chapter, and we need to begin seeing them as two separate and important entities. Without strong recruitment, rush week will fail. Without a strong rush week, recruitment was a waste of time. Work hard in the offseason to reap the benefits in season.

This chart will help to explain the differences and similarities between rush and recruitment by showing what goes into each.

Recruitment

Rush

-Build contact list.

-Prepare for rush.

-Year-round effort.

-Busiest during the summer.

-Meet with contacts on “neutral ground.”

-Meals, hangouts and open events.

-More casual time together.

-Build relationships with potentials with some push toward rushing BYX at a later date.

-Image of BYX influenced by campus presence and word of mouth.

-Need strong campus presence.

-Full Chapter Effort

-Final push to seal the deal with contacts.

-Culmination of efforts in recruitment.

-7-14 day push to sell BYX.

-Typically early in semester.

-Bring contacts to BYX events.

-Info sessions, open meeting and parties.

-Intentional, well-executed events.

-Sell BYX to potentials because it is a product worth commitment and it will benefit them.

-Potentials see what BYX is through their own eyes.

-Display excellence through events.

-Full Chapter Effort

Why BYX Matters

2011-12-07T13:06:00.001-08:00

By Jason Hoyt
Executive Director

At National Officer Training a few weeks ago, I referenced a recent Barna study that said this in regards to young people today:

"Most twenty somethings disengage from active participation in the Christian faith during their young adult years- and often beyond that. In total, six out of ten twenty somethings were involved in a church during their teen years, but have failed to translate that into active spirituality during their early adulthood. Most of them pull away from participation and engagement in the Christian faith, especially during the college years."

It is no secret that college life can be somewhat of a black hole for people of faith. There are endless distractions that prevent young people from developing there relationship with Christ. I have have been reading a new book by the President of the Barna Group, David Kinnaman, called "You Lost Me." The books seeks to understand why young Christians are leaving the church. For the sake of this blog and just to be clear, BYX in not a church. However BYX is most certainly a part of the church universal, meaning the body of Christ. My goal for this blog is simply to take a few points that Kinnaman discusses and help our brothers and followers see "Why BYX Matters" and how BYX is playing a role in young mens live for the sake of the Gospel and the glory of Christ.

Kinnaman gives a two reasons why todays generation of students have a separation of faith from their "real lives."
1) Their faith is a lifeless shadow with a long list of vague beliefs that have little meaning for how we spend our lives. He places the blame squarely on the church in their failure to impact Christianity as a comprehensive way of understanding reality and living fully in today's culture. To many young people grow up in a church where Christianity is boring, irrelevant, and outside of the real issues people face.
2) They have a shallow understanding of Christianity and the Bible and their roots of faith cannot survive the weather of real life. Most of those shallow roots are grown out of a sense of entitlement and an out of proportion self-confidence. If you already know all there is to know and the main job of the god you believe in is to make you feel good about yourself, then there is not a lot of compelling reasons to sit in the dirt at the feet of Jesus and live out your faith humbly.

Kinnaman continues to elaborate specifically on why this young generation has a shallow faith problem. It is the following points in which I submit to you that is part of the reason why Beta Upsilon Chi has seen tremendous growth in the last twenty years.

The first is the church has a discipleship problem. We have created a conveyor belt of development that industrializes the soul formation of young people. Churches have bought into believing that spiritual effectiveness is connected to the size of our institutions. In contrast, Jesus spent the majority of of his time with a small group of men. His investment was characterized by life on life mentoring and apprenticeship. Yes there is a time for large gatherings of believes, but the life transformation occurred slowly and the investment was in a few. I believe this life investment plays itself out in BYX in many fashions. Beta Upsilon Chi is a Christian fraternity. We have a steady flow of young men, mostly freshman, who are looking for a place to connect with like-minded brothers. We have structured the fraternity intentionally to develop those young men. We have a big brother little brother relationship that is intentional and direct for the purpose of life on life mentorship into the fraternity. We have cell groups that are the back bone of the fraternity. Men are placed into groups of four to six where genuine iron sharpening iron takes place. Cell groups is the avenue where life transformation can and does occur. We have chair positions where men are allowed to explore, identify, and thrive in their gifts. We have six leadership positions where men who have proven their leadership ability, commitment to the fraternity, and most importantly commitment to Christ are elected by their peers to lead the fraternity. All of it in the context of a safe environment where men can be men, grow in their gifts, and grow into the man has called them to be.

The second issue of shallow faith Kinnaman identifies is failing to provide meaningful rituals. There is no place for young people to be involved in Scripture reading, praying, leading worship, giving testimony, and decision making or leadership in the church. Beta Upsilon Chi is a Christian fraternity where all those things occur. Weekly chapter meetings have young men leading worship, brothers for the first time stepping up to give an encouraging word from Scripture or a testimony of how God is moving in their life. Chair positions and officer positions carry real heavy weighted responsibility. Beta Upsilon Chi is a Christian fraternity with clear rites of passage from a pledge to a member during initiation, to becoming a big brother, a cell group leader, a chair position, an officer, and finally an alumni of the fraternity. As a fraternity we carry secrets and traditions that are unique to the brotherhood.

The third issue of shallow faith Kinnaman identifies is expecting too little from the next generation. Beta Upsilon Chi is a Christian fraternity with clear expectations. If you want to rush the fraternity, there are expectations and a level of commitment. If you want to become a pledge, there are clear expectations for a young man to demonstrate his commitment to the purposes of the fraternity. If a young man wants to serve in any capacity, there are clear expectations for fulfilling the commitment to the fraternity and the brothers.

In summary, BYX matters in the life of young college men. BYX provides a place where men can pursue Christ and one another in a safe and fun environment. Men can learn to identify and use the gifts God has given them through many different outlets. I want to be clear in that BYX is not the answer to solving these problems Kinnaman describes, only Jesus is. BYX is only a small tool Jesus uses in the life of college men to grow and refine brothers for their future. BYX is a place where Christian young men can grow up, take responsibility, and become the man God desires them to be for their life. The opportunity to be a part of something bigger than yourself, to build life long relationships, to pour your time, effort, and energy into your brothers, and ultimately grow closer to Jesus through a Christian social fraternity is what captures young men into BYX.

Nationals Visits LSU

2011-11-30T09:35:00.001-08:00

By Robert Bember
National Advisor

I headed to LSU the Monday after the supposed “Game of theCentury” or whatever, in which Alabama and LSU bludgeoned each other for fourboring, sloppy quarters and a lackluster overtime. Sorry. Not impressed. But they’re supposedly the twobest teams in the nation right now, (unless of course you're into stats and, I don't know, facts, and you compare the number of rankedopponents Oklahoma State has beaten to the number Bama has thus far), so thisbroken system has given us a rematch. I won’t get on that soap boxthough.

I was happy that the men of the Psi Chapter got to celebratesuch a huge win, even if their quarterback likes to play kicker when he goes tothe bars. But I digress. I was halfway expecting classes to be cancelled and Mardi Gras-sized parties to be going on on campus after the huge win. There was a ton of excitement, so it was a good time tobe on the campus of LSU.

I began working with the Psi Chapter last fall when I cameon staff. Their second officer corps was finishing up their term, so it was aninteresting time in the life of the chapter. They were still very much a youngchapter, but they didn’t necessarily act like it. They thought like awell-established chapter with ambitious ideas and sound leadership. Over thepast year and some change, I’ve seen the men continue to build and refine thoseideas, as well as continue to set the bar higher. It’s exciting to see thevision and ambition in the Psi Chapter.

With the early semesters as a measuring stick, it’s been funto see where the chapter is now compared to then. The men are learning how tostandardize things from semester to semester. Pledge Captain Daniel Manastalked with me about how he has collected all his information for the nextpledge captain, Sam Alexander. We had a great talk about what he has learned inoffice and why his job is so important. It’s clear to me that the chapter’sunderstanding of the vision of BYX has grown, and they are carrying out theday-to-day operations of BYX much more smoothly.

After meeting with Daniel and Vice President Conner Jenkins,we got down to the serious business: Super Smash Bros. on Nintendo 64. It hadbeen a while since I picked up the sticks on N64, but Pikachu and I quicklyrenewed our relationship as we lightning bolted our team to victory.

The visits at the back end of the fall semester are excitingand exhausting at the same time. Exciting because I get to meet with both thenew and old officers, and exhausting because I get to meet with both the newand old officers.

I had met with a few of the 2011 officers prior to meetingwith the new guys. They helped me to gain an understanding of the 2012 officersbefore my meetings. On top of that, it was evident that the outgoing officerswant to remain involved. Conner told me he wants to hold every chair position,including his newly created chair chair, who is responsible for setting upchairs at chapter meeting. They hope to be available to counsel the newofficers in their position. They know that the progress made during their termmeans nothing if the next guys come in and botch everything.

If I learned anything from the time I spent with the newofficers, it’s that they are hungry. Greg Flitter, the 2012 vice president,flipped through page after page of his notebook as he, Sam, new Chaplain JoeyKieffer and I had lunch on campus. It was clear the men had put a lot ofthought into the next semester already, and they did a great job of building upand refining the ideas they already had. They were receptive of each other’sideas. I got to watch these officers develop their chemistry and bond asbrothers right in front of me.

The LSU Chapter keeps moving forward. I’m continuallyimpressed with the vision of the leaders. They still have plenty of work to doto keep moving the chapter forward. I’m confident that between the leadershipof the current officers and the young men that are stepping into office, we’regoing to look up a year from now and see a far better version of the PsiChapter.

Nationals Visits Mississippi State

2011-11-29T08:50:00.001-08:00

By Robert Bember

National Advisor

I stepped out of my house and into a cloud as I headed tothe airport to visit the Omicron Chapter at Mississippi State. I haven’t seenfog like this in many moons, but I hopped in my Mazda and headed toward DFWwith next to no visibility.

I pulled through the toll plaza to go park and got a callfrom a nice recorded voice telling me that my flight was cancelled, but I neednot fret because the kind folks at American Airlines had rescheduled my flightfor 6:35 a.m. the next day. I politely declined since that meant: 1) I wouldmiss chapter meeting and 2) I’d have to be up way, way, way too early. I thinkI’d rather watch soccer than sit through six one-on-ones in one day afterwaking up at 4 a.m. That’s saying something.

With God once again emphasizing to me that my plans are notHis plans, I made the necessary phone calls to reschedule my visit for thefollowing week. So for Halloween I dressed up as a BYX National Advisor ratherthan one of my many other ideas. I was really looking forward to dressing up asMayhem from the All-State commercials.

The hardest part about the visit to Mississippi State isgetting there. I fly into Jackson, which somehow has an international airportdespite only having 20 gates. Then I hop in a car and drive 2 hours through themiddle of nowhere Mississippi before arriving in Starkville. I wish the travelwas a short as some of the shorts that the gentlemen in Starkville sport.

The travel situation got better when I went to the rentalcar counter. I had reserved something comparable to a clown car because it wasthe cheapest option. The woman at the counter gave me a choice between a FordFocus and a Nissan Versa. I felt obligated to give her my man card when I gaveher my credit card, but she proceeded to inform me that they had a DodgeCharger available for an additional 10 dollars. Yes please. So I was rollingthrough the Mississippi wilderness in a loaded, charcoal grey Charger, onlyadding to the respect that comes from wearing the BYX polo.

The biggest advantage to my trip being re-scheduled was thatI was able to sit down with all the newly elected officers. My visit wasoriginally scheduled for officer speech night, but it was much more beneficialto meet with the guys face-to-face after they were elected than it was to hearthem speak.

I was impressed by the quality of men that are in leadershipwithin the chapter, whether I was meeting with a new officer or a current one.The men are organized and communicate well. The current officers function as astrong, cohesive unit, and, at the same time, each officer is different andspecifically gifted for the position they hold. Their abilities are evident.The men complement each other well, thus helping each other to utilize theirstrengths.

I have no apprehensions about the new men stepping intooffice, even though they are a younger group of guys. Joey Pippin served astreasurer in 2011 and will move into the presidency in 2012. His experiencewill be valuable as all the other new officers are only sophomores, albeit verygifted sophomores.

During one-on-ones, I kept hearing about the men’sperformance at the Chi-O Limelight event. The chapter put together a song anddance routine that everyone at the event loved. They took second place, butwere voted crowd favorite. One officer went so far as to say they did more fortheir presence on campus in those four minutes then they had in his entire timein the chapter.

Tuesday evening I met with the officers at Bulldog Deli. Oneof the staples of my trips is to sit down with all the officers for a meal.It’s great to see them function together (usually) and hang out with all theguys at once. We tried to go there last spring after I was bedridden all day,but I had to make a quick return to the hotel. Unfortunately I emptied whatlittle was in my stomach on the streets of Starkville on the way back to thehotel. I’ll let you connect the dots. After my last visit to Starkville, I wasa little apprehensive about some of the restaurants they took me to, but BulldogDeli was safe.

After dinner, I played cheerleader for the BYX softballteam. I was jealous that Mississippi State has it’s own softball complex. Weresorted to the janky, fenceless intramurals fields at TCU. Watching the gamemade me feel like I was experiencing withdrawals. After my boys took care ofbusiness with a big win, I was able to get some cuts on an empty field. Idropped a few bombs on Vice President Bill Gilbert, which President HunterUpton happened to catch on video. I miss softball. And baseball. And sports.

From there, I went over to the Wesley Foundation, where thepledges were rehearsing a dance routine. Every fall, the pledges perform adance at semi-formal to a Backstreet Boys song. This class took theirperformance seriously. A couple of pledges had choreographed a routine andtaught it to the rest of the class. Seeing them work together showed how strongof a pledge class the Omicron Chapter has. Pledge Captain Bubba Bowen has donea great job of taking on the role of authority figure as well as cheerleader.He understands the father-figure type balance that the pledge captain mustmaintain. The pledges respond well to Bubba. After rehearsal, they prayed andcarried Bubba out of the room on their shoulders in celebration.

Nationals Visits Mizzou

2011-11-09T11:49:00.000-08:00

By Chris Godfrey

National Advisor

My journey to the University of Missouri started off the weekof the 2011 World Series; the St. Louis Cardinals were about to join the Texas Rangersin an epic battle of baseball. So afterlanding in St. Louis I then rented my first car and was on my way through vastcornfields and miles of roads that would lead me to the great city of Columbiawhere Mizzou calls home.

When I got there, I enjoyed a great dinner at an Italianrestaurant in downtown Columbia with the officer corps. The officers of the chapter are stand-up menthat really strive to follow after the Lord and see the fraternity do greatthings on campus. This semester thechapter has seen its largest pledge class come through pledgeship but theyaren’t focused on numbers but quality. Matt Allen, the pledge captain, has poured in to the rush system atMizzou making sure to get together with a good table spot with Greek life, taking out people in town, flyers,posters, DVDs, etc. I wasencouraged to when I got to meet up with some of the pledges over the course ofthe week and got to hear their heart for BYX.

After our officer dinner, we went straight to the chaptermeeting. It was a non-stop day butfilled with greatness because the men in the chapter are so encouraging. At chapter there were a couple of officerspeeches left so I got to hear the brothers’ hearts for BYX and what God isdoing there. That night was electionnight so I got to meet up with not only the old officers but all of the newguys as well. The week of my visit wasalso when rumor had gone around about Mizzou joining the SEC. I was thrilled to then invite them to jointhe best conference you can be a part of and got to get their reaction of thechange.

The chapter’s vice-president, Caleb Barron, led me on one ofhis famous campus tours Monday morning. Treasurer Dustin Steller also came along for the fun. It was a beautiful morning in Columbia and itwas fun getting to see one of our men in action being an active part of campuslife. Secretary Andrew White (also thenew chaplain) is in a band called Somewhere South of Perfect and he has enjoyedtouring with them. I got to meet withAndrew and talk with him about the current officer corps’ work as well as thenew position he has in the chapter. Therest of Monday afternoon I continued to meet with the current officers.

Monday night, the men had an intramural soccer game. Of course a cold front blew through on theday I arrived that brought some rain with it, so we were out there in 40-degreeweather with strong winds and rain! BUT,the men pulled off a victory and showed me a thing or two about soccer. After the soccer game we had a victory partyat Andy’s Frozen Custard. Yes, frozen. We had ice-cream standing outside in 40-degreeweather, and it was fantastic. We stoodoutside in the cold for an hour or so having great conversation. They really are excited about where they areas a chapter and where they are going.

Tuesday was filled with meeting the new officers. What a great team has shaped up that will getto guide the chapter for the next year. Ileft Missouri after eating with new member Daniel Bristow. We had a great discussion about how collegelife has been so different than living at home and how BYX has encouragedpersonal growth in his life. I leftMizzou after lunch Tuesday and got to see the Gateway Arch on my way back tothe airport. World Series merchandisewas already everywhere as the next day began the World Series home opener. The Mizzou chapter of BYX has continued toexcel and do things well as they continue to grow and create their identity oncampus!

Nationals Visits Houston Baptist University

2011-10-19T08:38:00.000-07:00

By Robert Bember
National Advisor

Robert Bember, called to be a national advisor, appointed byExecutive Director Jason Hoyt and empowered by the Holy Spirit of our Lord andSavior Jesus Christ, through whom we have been redeemed from our sin by Hisdeath and resurrection from the dead, for the sake of His glory and the serviceof the Beta Upsilon Chi fraternity.

Greetings! I write this blog so that you might be encouragedby the works of the Lord in the Epsilon Chapter of Beta Upsilon Chi on thecampus of Houston Baptist University. I give thanks to God daily for how He hasmoved in this chapter, bringing you back from a probationary period to where youare now as the elite fraternity on their campus.

Since you have made such great strides, I implore you tokeep striving toward excellence. We must be excellent, brothers, as our Savioris excellent beyond all understanding. Run the race that has been set beforeyou, so that, when the time comes, you may again receive the university’shonors for highest GPA and as intramural champions.

Though your accomplishments are many, and your parties areballin’, I encourage you to always remember the purpose on which the fraternitywas founded. The purpose of Beta Upsilon Chi is to establish brotherhood andunity among college-aged men based on the common bond of Jesus Christ.Therefore, we must remember there can be no condemnation toward our brothers.Instead we shall carry one another’s burdens, and we will be quick to share ourburdens with our brothers.

The testimonies of your brothers about the adjustments andimprovements in their cell groups were much-needed good news. Though there aremany parts to the body that is BYX, it is clear that the heart of it all iscell groups. When cell groups are strong, we are strong. Strong cell groupsenable us to be weak before our brothers, knowing the when we are weak, then weare strong. So let us boast all the more gladly in our weaknesses so that,through the Holy Spirit’s empowering of our brothers, the power of Christ mayrest upon us.

I thank you for the grace and love shown to me by yourbrothers as they remembered the thorn I have carried in my flesh. For manymonths, I have shared of my pain and weakness with your President Mike Winters.I was so grateful for the concern shown by your brothers who asked how I wasdoing throughout the time I was able to spend with you. I praise our mighty Godfor how His Holy Spirit sustained me and spoke through me during my trip.

And you, being leaders in this fraternity, continue toexemplify all it is that we stand for as Brothers Under Christ. When youwelcomed me with open arms to your officer meeting, you showed why this chapterhas become so successful. The six of you truly dwell in unity and epitomize thebrotherhood that we long for within each and every chapter across the country.Continue to spur each other on as you begin to see the finish line. Though yourterm is coming to a close, the Lord will open new doors for you to serve yourfraternity. Your work is not yet complete.

I remember the hospitality that you showed me on my journey,opening up the lobby of your dormitory for my one-on-ones and sharing some of Houston’sfinest meals at Beck’s Prime and Lupe Tortilla. The times of brotherhood thatwe have shared bring joy to my heart and continue to encourage me on my longjourneys. I also thank you for your does and the delicious brownies theyprovided us at chapter meeting.

My soul longs for the day that I can once again greet youwith a brotherly kiss, though I know that it is better for me to be here inFort Worth, preparing to tell of your great works elsewhere and serving thehigh schools students here at Christ Chapel. Twitter and Facebook will tell youof all my future journeys. Jason Hoyt the beloved executive director greetsyou, as does Nick England, my fellow national advisor who is stricken with hotpockets and peanut butter sandwiches for the sake of BYX.

And when this blog is read among you, ensure that it is alsoread in chapter meeting, and see that you show other chapter updates to thebrothers, so that national unity might be magnified.

I, Robert, type this with my own hands. May grace be withyou, in one spirit.

***Vice PresidentCarlos Mendoza compared the national advisor role to Paul’s journeys. I agreeto a certain degree. This is my response***

Nationals Visits Texas State

2011-10-18T11:59:00.000-07:00

By Robert Bember
National Advisor

Day 3. Visit 2. I left my chapter visit with the Alpha Chapter encouraged and headed south from Austin to visit the Zeta Chapter atTexas State.

The Zeta Chapter has given me plenty of headaches since Icame on staff a year-and-a-half ago, and even a couple stomach aches thanks toone trip with them to San Antonio, but we’ve made a ton of progress, and Icouldn’t be much prouder of these men for the things that are going on withinthe chapter.

The biggest criticism I’ve had of the Zeta Chapter is thatthey struggled to schedule events with sororities, but they’ve started to getsome events with the ladies on the calendar. What may be even cooler is thatthe sororities are seeking out BYX in some cases. The men are learning how tothrow fun parties, like the boat party mixer in Austin the weekend after Ileft.

The leadership is about night and day from the past. I havea ton of confidence in the men that are currently in office. They have strong leadershipqualities, focus and enthusiasm that they are pouring into BYX. I think whatgets me even more excited is the fact that five of the current officers willlikely hold office again in the future. We have a young, core group of men inthe Zeta Chapter that are excited to move BYX forward and beyond the strugglesand shortcomings they’ve seen in the not-too-distant past. I believe in thesemen.

The one-on-ones that I’m having with the Texas Stateofficers are changing as well. The determination and drive is written all overtheir face. You can hear the enthusiasm in their voices. Many of myconversations involve me trying to get men excited about their fraternity. Thistime I was the one that walked away from my talks with these men jacked up afterhearing where they want to see this chapter go and where they think they cantake it. I feel like the dark days are behind us, and I implored the chapter tobuy into the same vision when I spoke Tuesday night at chapter meeting. Theactives have to buy into this vision if we want this chapter to reach it’spotential.

The Zeta Chapter has a way of keeping me on my toes, and Imean that in a good way now. Although it wasn’t always in a good way. Afterall, I have started using a former presidents name as a verb meaning, “to getscrewed over.” It hasn’t made it onto Urban Dictionary, but it’s a termcommonly used by the staff. Former President Woogie Sanders is proud that hehas been immortalized by my use of his name in my everyday vocabulary.

They always seem to throw me a curve ball and break me outof the normal routine of one-on-ones, meetings and meals. It makes for anexciting trip. Tuesday night after chapter, word started to spread that therewas going to be a football game between the pledges and actives. The membersstarted asking if I’d be joining. Duh. I felt like garbage, which is nodifferent than any other day over the past six months, but if there wasfootball to be played, then I was going to be a part of it.

I headed back to the hotel to change, all the while jammingmy pre-game music of choice in the hotel room. I conveniently had my anklebraces and football cleats in the trunk of my car. I have a sporting goods store residing in my trunk.

The tension was palpable between the pledges and actives aswe got set to take to duke it out on the gridiron. The members tried to get thepledges to put the pledge rock on the line, but they didn’t step up to theplate. And justifiably so. I was playing for the active team.

I was able to make my presence felt despite playing at muchless than 100 percent. At quarterback, I tossed a pair of touchdowns. A seriesof penalties kept our offense from firing on all cylinders. While roaming thedefensive backfield at safety, I managed to pick off a pair of balls,channeling the TCU BYX football teams of our glory years.

Wednesday evening, the men planned to grill out. They madeit evident that my body wasn’t on college time anymore. The officers ravedabout Tomas Rincones’ fajitas that he was going to treat us to that night.Unfortunately, we didn’t take them off the grill until 11 p.m.

The party overflowed out of the apartment and into the parkarea in the middle of the apartment buildings. I thought to throw my newcornhole boards in my car/mobile sporting goods store, so we had a few good games.Pledge Trainer Andrew Nguyen and I were upset in the first game of the night bya pair of members. We got some volleyball games going and threw around someFrisbees and footballs too.

Most of the members and pledges showed up at the apartmentcomplex. Even though it wasn’t an official event, the guys came out in forceand were excited to spend time together. I had some great talks with the guysas we hung out. Overall, it was an awesome night.

When the cops showed up about midnight in response to a noise complaint, I decided it was time to hit the road. I was proud of my guysthrowing a party worthy of being busted by the cops as a dry party. It wasn’teasy for me to leave these men. That’s rare. I’m normally ready to get away bythe end of the visit and have some me time. I guess I’m just that excited aboutwhat the Lord is doing at Texas State, and I want to continue doing whatever Ican for my brothers at the Zeta Chapter.

Nationals Visits the University of Texas

2011-10-17T11:17:00.000-07:00

By Robert Bember
National Advisor

I was excited to visit the Alpha Chapter. Maybe it wasn’tfor the Alpha Chapter itself, but for the fact that we planned to go to gorgeourselves on what’s supposed to be some of the best bar-b-que in the state atthe Salt Lick with the entire officer body the Sunday evening that I arrived inAustin. It's been called "the Santa's Workshop of bar-b-que" by my dear roommate and fellow advisor Nick England.

Before I left for Austin, the officers dropped a bomb on me.We had to cancel on the Salt Lick because the officers didn’t have time to makethe 45-minute drive. They said something about studying or being busy orsomething. I don’t know. I didn’t hear anything after the sound of my heart shattering.

It didn’t take long for me to hit another bump in the roadon my trip. As I got out of my car at the Green Monster, which is probably thecoolest college house I’ve seen, I hit the lock button on my car door and shutit. My remote is dead. As I did the old phone-keys-wallet triple tap, Irealized my keys were missing. And sitting on my driver’s seat in my locked car.

I walked up to the door of the Green Monster and metTreasurer Michael Dixon. I probably looked like a kid who watched his puppywander into oncoming traffic. I didn’t say, “Hi,” or anything. I think I justgave a pouty shrug and told him how stupid I was.

Dixon’s roommate Chip sprang into action from there. Chipthought he had a device in his car from his dad that would allow him to breakinto my car. No such luck. But Chip still came up clutch and called hisinsurance company, which I hadn’t thought to do. Within 15 minutes, a kindgentleman was breaking into my car and setting off the alarm. I wasn’t sure howto turn off the alarm since the remote was dead. Eventually the car wore itselfout and quit honking.

It was a good thing I spent some time in the Word before Ileft the hotel to start my one-on-ones. God knew exactly what I needed. I’vebeen working through the Gospel of John, and that Sunday afternoon I was up toJohn 13, where Jesus washes the disciples’ feet. With the Alpha Chapter beingthe first of 3 chapter visits in 9 days, I needed to be reminded why I’m inthis position: to serve. It’s not about my comfort, my being filled up or myenjoying really good bar-b-que. It’s about striving toward humility andoffering myself as a servant to the officers and to Christ. The constantemptying that comes with this job isn’t easy, but it is necessary.

The leadership at the Alpha Chapter has been outstandingsince I started to work with them. It starts at the top with President KempGregory. Kemp never seems to settle for the status quo and is always goingabove and beyond the call of duty. The rest of the Alpha Chapter’s current officers have set the bar just as high for themselves. They’re all very gifted leaders that aregiving their best to this chapter.

He and the rest of the officers don’t see their positions asplaces of honor. They’re not glamorous positions anymore, but places ofservice. Now that the newness and excitement of them has started to wear off,we’re going to separate the men from the boys.

During our one-on-one, Kemp explained how his understandingof the purpose of BYX has grown and changed. We’re an inwardly focusedfraternity that seeks to grow the men within the chapter so that they go outand impact the community. If I’m being honest, the chapter doesn’t completelyget that. Some feel like people need BYX. Others insisted, and rightfully so,that people don’t need BYX. They need Jesus. If we’re doing our job andcarrying out our purpose, our men will be able to impact those people in theireveryday lives on a campus where only about 15 percent of the students arebelievers. It’s great to have leaders in place that are seeing BYX through theproper lens.

After a full day of one-on-ones on Monday, I went to pledgemeeting. I was a little under-dressed for the situation in my BYX polo, as allthe pledges and the pledge team were dressed in jacket, shirt and tie. PledgeCaptain Aaron Burkin and his pledge team are pushing the men hard. Beforepledgeship even started, Aaron and the pledge team did their best to scare offany pledges that might drop during the pledge process. He laid out expectationswell and has a committed group of men working their way through pledgeship andloving it.

Aaron gave a brief talk on responsibility, stressing theimportance of taking care of our business as men. In their fraternity lessonfor the day, they taught the men how to dress if they wanted to dress the partof a fraternity guy. They told the men that they don’t have to frat hard, butif they do, they need to frat right. The power point featured different levelsof frat attire, or “frattire,” with pictures pulled off of Aaron’s facebook asexamples.

We headed over to chapter after pledge meeting. The TexasChapter is up to 190 members, so speaking in their chapter meeting is anexperience. I’ve found that for some reason or another, I handle speaking tothem better than smaller chapters. I think the size of the chapter intimidatesme into seeing how dependent I am on the Lord and how necessary it is for theHoly Spirit to speak rather than me. It’s a rush.

I wrapped up my visit on a definite high note. I went backto the Green Monster and hung out with the guys for a while. I raided theirsurplus t-shirt selection in their garage and added to my BYX shirt collection,which is pretty extensive by now. Before heading back to the hotel, I rekindledmy love affair with “The Simpsons.” Dixon is a huge fan, so we hung out andwatched a few episodes. It had been a while since I watched “The Simpsons” withany regularity. That needs to change. My visit to the Alpha Chapter was indeedexcellent.

Nationals Visits The University of Arkansas

2011-10-14T12:05:00.001-07:00

September 25^th-27^th, 2011

By Chris Godfrey

National Advisor

Arkansas. Sweet SECand land of mountains and trees, so good to see you again! I boarded my plane and headed to the U of A;I landed in a little airport in Northwest Arkansas called XNA built for theWal-Mart families nearby. Xi ChapterChaplain, Patrick Grace, picked me up on his way back from Pledge RetreatWeekend. The pledges really enjoyedcamping out and sharing life getting to know their fellow pledge-classbrothers. He got me up to speed about theweekend’s events and recent activities at Arkansas as we headed to officermeeting. Officer Meeting was at a few ofthe men’s house which happened to be right off of campus—closer to campus thanjust about anything else. I came in on abusy meeting with discussions of many things going on with the men. It is always encouraging to see the officercorps work so well together bouncing ideas off of each other and then coming toan agreement to knock it out. Afterdiving right in to meetings after arriving, we had dinner at a chickenrestaurant similar to Zaxby’s but homemade. I took a brief break back at my hotel after dinner until Patrick cameand picked me up from the local Holiday Inn Express to have ourone-on-one.

Patrick and I went to a local coffee and dessert shop ontheir main street in Fayetteville. Wehad some great pumpkin cake and hot chocolate to kick off the fall season. I enjoyed our conversation and getting toknow his story as well as his heart for BYX. Cell Groups had just begun and worked hard to make sure they would bereally meaningful for the men in such a large chapter. Patrick’s story is one that shows how God canuse BYX in collegiate men’s lives after growing up in a family that doesn’tstrive after the Lord. Reallyencouraging to hear how much he has grown in college and making sure to use histime to grow in his relationship with Christ and pour in to other men on campusand in the chapter.

Monday morning started too early after a late Sundaynight! Fellow National Advisor JordanDifani is a local of the Arkansas Chapter so he and I caught up over a 7ambreakfast. There are so many excitingthings going on in Jordan’s life as he recently got married and continues tohave two chapters he works with. Ryne,the pledge captain, picked me up from the hotel and we went to breakfast at alocal bakery after catching up with Jordan. What a great way to get all fired up for the day after eating a load ofbaked goods! Ryne has taken the reignsof pledge captain and really done a great job of encouraging the pledges andchallenging them. At chapter meeting hegets everyone pumped for upcoming activities and giving out weekly awards. Two awards were the ladies choice and Mr.Patriotic—just an example of some creativity.

Xi Chapter Treasurer, Eric, picked me up from the bakery andwe went to campus to talk. The guys atArkansas continue to budget wisely and do things with excellence! Biker week was beginning in Fayetteville, butthankfully the bikers weren’t there rumbling through the city just yet as John(the vice-president) and I went to lunch on the main strip. They have had some great events this semesterand have a great line-up of activities left. Founder’s Day Tailgate was a huge success as they had a cookout and weresporting new BYX tailgate tents out on campus and giving away BYX event cups. After lunch I met up with President TaylorHall at the house they had officer meeting at right off campus and we went to alocal coffeehouse that the chapter supports to help an internationalministry. The coffeehouse also serves asa prayer house for prayer time in the mornings and evenings—it’s a really neatopportunity the guys have to be in prayer for the community and world.

Chapter was a great time of community! The Cell Group Leader meeting before chapter was a great time of prayer and encouragement. The announcements and awards were at thebeginning part of chapter and then had a great time of worship and encouragementafter a brief break. The pledges were lookingsharp as they were dressed up with black pants and white button downs forpledge time on Mondays. They havecontinued to have functions and coke dates this semester to really get theminvolved on campus and in various organizations. Pledge time was great because 80+ pledgescame together and had a good time investing in one another. Tuesday I had the opportunity to sit by theStarbucks in the middle of campus and talk with men as they walked by betweenclasses and during class breaks! Josiah,an active member, shared how BYX has really held him accountable and grown himas a man in college. The chapter really ison fire for the Lord as well as living it out for Him on campus through Greeklife.

Thomas Jenkins, Secretary, took me to lunch before I leftfor the airport. I enjoyed my time withhim eating at local restaurant that was very similar to a restaurant calledPeaches in Georgia! So good drinkingSweet Tea out of the mason jar and hearing what the Lord is doing in Thomas’life. The men at Arkansas continue topush forward and to do things well and with excitement! It was a very encouraging visit and a lot continuedpositive growth with the Xi Chapter.

Nationals Visits North Texas

2011-09-30T09:08:00.000-07:00

By Robert Bember
National Advisor

Tired. Drained. Out of gas. All of the above. Sunday was one of those days where your eye lids feel heavy from about noon until you pass out that night. That time didn’t come until about one in the morning. Knowing that I’d have to be up at 7:30 to head to Denton for 10-straight hours of one-on-ones with the UNT Chapter didn’t exactly energize me.

I just started working with the Theta Chapter this semester after former National Advisor Tyler Wilson retired from BYX. Tyler had been with the Theta Chapter for all four years he served on staff. Watching how Tyler carried himself for the past year and seeing how deeply he loved his men caused me to develop a strong respect for him. I hope I can be half the advisor was. Don’t let his stature fool you. I feel like he left some Shaq-sized shoes to fill. So the pressure I put on myself to fill them only added to the burden I was carrying around.

God put it on my heart that afternoon to just meditate on Romans 8. I’ve used this passage while speaking on identity at chapter meetings this semester. It reminds us that we are more than conquerors in Christ and that nothing can separate us from the love of God. I needed that. As drained as I was, about the only thing I wanted to conquer was my bed.

The Lord showed up in a big way on Monday. When it was all said and done, I had spent literally 15 straight hours with my officers between one-on-ones, meals and chapter meeting. I’m an extreme extrovert. I love being with people and talking life, BYX, sports, whatever. Pretty much if it’s not politics, I’m happy to talk about it. Even so, stacking my one-one-ones back-to-back-to-back gets a little draining. I’ll start blinking a lot and slap myself a little bit to stay focused on what the officers are saying.

Not today. The Lord provided me with what I can honestly say was supernatural focus and energy from the moment I showed up at UNT, where I decided to drive the wrong way on a one-way street, until I left campus at midnight. There is no other explanation as to how I not only survived that day, but thrived. All glory is God’s for the awesome day I spent at UNT, and how he used me to lay a foundation for a good relationship with the Theta Chapter.

In all of my one-on-ones with the officers, I was impressed by the transparency they displayed when they shared their testimonies. I always want to learn where my guys come from on my first chapter visit. The UNT Chapter, as I understand it, has always been strong in the department of brotherhood and spiritual growth. They welcomed me from the beginning and shared their lives with me, including the struggles that had marked many of their pasts. They viewed me as a brother from the beginning and didn’t make me earn the right to be heard. The relationships that we have, as brothers bonded together by Christ, go well beyond backgrounds, ages and college affiliations.

Many of my conversations were geared towards helping the men understand how to invade the campus and fraternity life. The officers will be the first to tell you they need much work in that area. The first step is admitting you have a problem. The officers see that.

Much of the vision for the semester that the officers are casting focuses on social events. The members seem to be buying into it. This is something that the men want now more than ever. In the past, some members seemed to oppose BYX going in a more fraternal and social direction. Many of the members that held the chapter back in that regard have since graduated or dropped. Many of the officers indicated that much addition by subtraction took place this summer.

The men are starting to tailgate every game at their brand-spanking new football stadium that is supposed to look like an eagle. Tailgating and football in general isn’t a huge deal at UNT, but the men see its value. It’s something fraternities do. So we’re going it to. And why wouldn’t you? Tailgating is just another excuse to chill with your brothers and be a part of social life on campus. We don’t need an excuse to party. #fratlaw

I tried to instill in the men that they not only need to be hosting socials and participating in philanthropies, but they need to be doing them well. I stressed to them that just showing up at a philanthropy isn’t going to be what makes people notice your fraternity, but competing and winning will draw their attention. When people begin to see the chapter excelling, they’ll want to be a part of it. We will strive toward excellence because we represent Christ. I want nothing less than excellence to be associated with my Savior.

Chapter meeting was different from any I had been to in the past. The small size of the chapter allows them to be more creative and personal. Two specific portions of chapter really stood out. The first of which is a time they call encoura-bro. One member stands in the middle of the room. The chairs are set up in a u-shape with the pledges making the bottom of it. The men then take turns complimenting the brother in the middle for anything and everything.

The Theta Chapter also does what they call pledge lineup. All 13 pledges, which is their largest pledge class to date, stand up and are required to stand up and state their memory verse for the week. All of them nailed it. They then tell the chapter who they interviewed that week and who they’ve set up appointments with.

It was just a one-day trip to Denton, but I’m excited about the foundation that I was able to set with the chapter. The men are starting to catch the vision. The men of the Theta Chapter have a lot of work ahead of them, but we’ll keep moving in the right direction, taking vision and turning it into action.

Nationals Visits Oklahoma State University

2011-09-29T06:47:00.000-07:00

By Chris Godfrey

National Advisor

After a visit to The University of Oklahoma and heading back to Texas for a short 48 hours, I was off again to leave the heat of Texas and head to the cooler state of Oklahoma, September 16^th through the 19^th. This time, the destination was different; I had the opportunity to stop in and talk with Pledge Trainer Sean Kelly at OU on my way through Norman heading to Tulsa. After a great BBQ lunch with Sean and catching up about Brolympics, there was another stop on the way to meet the OSU men—the historic Route 66.

After driving a good bit straight north up Interstate 35, the Hoyt family (yes, Jason and family!) and I stopped at the famous Pop’s Sodas and Diner near the Round Barn and Route 66. It was fun imagining the Cars movie as we cruised through town with the windows down and a cool breeze outside. We were on our way to Tulsa’s Race for the Cure in support of Wendell Weaver’s wife and family. OSU BYX represented us well at the race, showing up at 6:30am on a Saturday morning ready for a 5k run. We set up a tailgate right near the festivities on the closed off streets of Tulsa. Wendell brought three of his daughters who got to experience their first 5k run! After the 5k, the Hoyt clan did the 1-mile fun run. What a great day of getting to talk with the guests of honor, the Weaver family. We had a nice lunch at the Spaghetti Warehouse, always a good choice when you are starving and want to eat a lot of bread and good Italian! Lunch wrapped up a little past noon, and then I headed with the OSU members to Stillwater, OK - home of good ol’ Oklahoma State University.

What a great drive with transfer member, Patrick! We got lost a little bit heading out of Tulsa as neither of our phones were picking up GPS, but then we got on the right track. Towards the end of our time on the toll-way heading into Stillwater, I realized there would be a 50-cent toll, and I had no change. That was unfortunate, and I hope that the state of Oklahoma shows some mercy as I then proceeded to hesitantly run the automated toll. Patrick was a transfer member from OU, and he had some great stories from his trek to California and northward earlier this year. I got to talk with him about what is going on with the chapter at OSU, which was a great start to the week of meetings. The night in Stillwater was crazy as chapter president Joey Ross took me to McAlister’s for a semi-healthy dinner and then to an OSU-Tulsa “watch” party. There was no game to watch until midnight, when they decided to start playing the game after a crazy storm blew through… so I unfortunately did not get to watch the game.

Sunday I met with Brian, Logan, and Micheal (Secretary, VP, and the National’s Initiative Chair). Had great conversations as I met them one-on-one across campus. We had dinner that night at Eskimo Joe’s—had a great chicken sandwich, my normal item of choice while eating at a burger joint. It wasn’t just food that was good but the conversation. We had a great conversation covering many relevant topics the chapter is facing. There are so many things that the men have done this year to raise the bar at this chapter. I’m so proud of the great pledge class that they have and their growing involvement on campus and in Greek Life. These men really care about the new pledge class members, and it is encouraging to see them want to pour into them so much.

Monday I caught up with Daniel, Justin, and Joey (Chaplain, Pledge-Captain, and President). Busy day but when I have the opportunity to share so many good conversations I won’t pass that up! They are working hard to make sure that the men hold each other accountable, and yet the overflow of that individual growth develops to a healthy involvement on campus. This yar they will also be taking part in the annual homecoming celebration that is so big in Stillwater. They are working together to create a homecomeing parade float and banner for Library Lawn—homecoming is huge so I am excited to see the outcome of their efforts!

Monday afternoon came so quickly, but it was a great visit with these men at OSU. What an adventure to start off running a race with these guys and then get to go to church and watch some football with them before diving into one-on-one times. God’s doing great things here, and I know this pledge class has so much going for it to really continue growing the presence of BYX on OSU’s campus. After lunch with Joey, it was time to head back to Texas. On my way back to the Old West, I got to stop back by OU and spend some good quality time with Pledge Trainer JD Thomas, Chaplain Ryan Goodwin, and roommates. Great things are happening in the state of Oklahoma in the lives of our BYX men.

Nationals Visits Texas A&M

2011-09-28T12:31:00.000-07:00

By Robert Bember
National Advisor

Over dinner on the Tuesday night of my visit to the Texas A&M, I was posed with a tough question. A lot of times, I answer questions based on precedents that have already been set from past experiences. This time, I was caught off guard.

In a cage match between all the officer bodies I serve over, who would win?

I thought long and hard about this question, doing a good bit of thinking out loud, but have yet to come up with my front-runner for this seemingly inevitable throwdown of Biblical proportions. The rear naked choke hold of Pledge Captain Casey Bush might just be enough to make the Gamma Chapter the favorite. Yep, those are my boys. It’s never a dull moment, but their approach to BYX is all business.

Monday evening, I attended pledge meeting. The Gamma Chapter has 64 pledges, but the officers know the success of this pledge class will be gauged in later semesters by how many stick around and graduate as members of BYX. Casey, a fun-loving guy who would wear tank tops anywhere and everywhere if given the opportunity, is taking on a clear role as a disciplinarian leader over the pledges. He’s not messing around. He’s instilling in the pledges a respect and reverence towards BYX that he hopes will improve the retention rate within the chapter.

Pledges are required to wear white dress shirts, khaki pants, brown shoes and their pledge pin to pledge and chapter meetings. Casey and the pledge team wear the same thing, plus a tie. The expectations have been set for the pledges, and they know that they’re being held to a high standard. The pledges are responding. Casey keeps singing the praises of the pledge class. Many of the pledge couldn’t wait to get pledgeship under way, and they continue to stay enthusiastic about pledgeship. Casey and the pledge team are doing an outstanding job.

The Chapter is starting to gain a better grasp of what BYX is, and the pledge team is starting on the ground level, ensuring the pledges have a right understanding of the vision of BYX. I’ve said it many times, but BYX is not a college-aged youth group. Chapter meeting is not a contemporary church service with worship in song, announcements and preaching. We are a Christ-centered fraternity. The men are starting to catch that vision more.

Faculty Advisor Dr. Sean McGuire spoke at chapter meeting, so I spoke on our identity in Christ, our speaking topic for the semester, at pledge meeting. Dr. McGuire spoke on the same topic at chapter. Identity is something we tend to just touch on rather than understanding the full depth of it, but it’s clear this is something the Lord is trying to drive home with us this semester.

I hated Chaplain Caleb Ferrell on Tuesday morning because he made me wake up too early, but I can’t stay angry at a fellow brother who served at Sky Ranch. He was the first of my six one-on-ones for the day. The officers tried to keep me sequestered in Barnes and Noble all day, but I was able to escape for a change of scenery at different times.

Throughout the meetings, it was evident to me that the chapter has a plethora of leadership. The officers that have been put in place all have strong personalities and are men that seem to be worth following. They are a cohesive unit that love each other well. Our time at dinner Tuesday night was a ton of fun. They’re great guys to be around, and they are passionate about taking BYX to new heights.

And that’s starting to happen. One of the officers explained to me that in the past BYX often times got pledges that didn’t see BYX as their first option. They might seek out a selective organization, and, when they weren’t chosen, they used BYX as a fall back plan. That isn’t happening anymore. The officers said that they’re starting to compete with these other organizations and steal potentials from them. Men are taking note of how the Gamma Chapter is striving toward excellence, and now they want to be a part of it.

I spent some time working on our “My Story” project while at Texas A&M. “My Story” is a video that allows members to share how the Lord has used BYX in their lives. We’re in the early stages of compiling a collection of “My Story” videos for the Web site. Our hope is that people, whether they’re involved with BYX or not, would see the works of our Heavenly Father through these testimonies.

Max Heller, a former chaplain and co-worker at Sky Ranch, volunteered to go in front of the camera. Max is a charismatic leader in the fraternity and commonly known as “the funny guy” in the chapter. He’s comfortable on camera and a great communicator. His passion for BYX and the men in his chapter was evident throughout filming.

“My Story” can be quite an undertaking between getting someone to film, finding a place to shoot and, at times, prying words out of a member. The editing process isn’t always a smooth one either, especially when I won’t get to touch the project until December. However, it’s so great to hear the stories these men have to offer and to see the grace and love of our Heavenly Father magnified in the lives of these men.

Nationals Visits Florida

2011-09-26T14:44:00.000-07:00

by Nick England
National Advisor

Whenever I tell people that I'm traveling out to Florida to visit the UF BYX chapter, they always get jealous. Their perception of Florida is that you're always minutes from the ocean, they have great Cuban cuisine, and that it's swarming with celebrities. However, when it comes down to it, Gainesville is nearly two hours away from the nearest ocean. No one really knows the difference between Cuban cuisine and other Hispanic comestibles like Fritos. Not to mention cockroaches outnumber celebrities at such an alarming rate that they are being hired to play for the Miami Heat. (Something about Pat Riley maxing out the salary limit.)

Getting out there requires that I fly into Tampa International Airport which is a convenient two hour drive from Gainesville. Not to worry though because you can now fly directly to Havana from Tampa! Great news for those who love Fritos! So while I do enjoy a trip out to Gainesville, I get so overwhelmed by planning the journey that I have to play Oregon Trail for a little while to calm down. Nothing like dysentery on the chuck wagon to bolster one's spirits to travel!

So I arrive in Tampa and was picked up by Treasurer RB Barrett. We made the trek up to Gainesville only to arrive for some lackluster Florida barbecue with some of the men. That may be my Texas barbecue pride speaking, but it was sub par to say the least. Either way, I had a great time getting to catch up with some of the guys and then went over to hang out with them and watch some Sunday night football in which we yelled at Rex Ryan a great deal.

The next day, my meetings began at Waffle House which is a wonderful place to start the day. That is as long as you are packin' heat, have a desire to contribute to the vomit smell in the bathroom, or want to listen to a man named Edgar talk about politics/how his wife was eaten by a tropical cockroach. So I ordered the usual double waffle and talked through socials with VP Colton Doll and pledgeship with Pledge Captain Joshua Allen. We had a good time and both men left our meeting ready to implement some new ideas and purchase a firearm.

Throughout the rest of the day, I had meetings with each of the officers which went well. Chaplain Dean Tzobanakis has a last name that is illegal to pronounce in 23 states and enjoys good food. So we had lunch at one of my Gainesville favorites, The Swamp. It's always reliable and never disappoints. And it's also right next to campus in case my fiance Erin Andrews walks by. [citation needed]

After lunch, I had the opportunity to meet with a few of the officers and we discussed the current state of the chapter as well as the vision for the future. It was a good meeting and helpful for both Nationals and the officers to understand one another. Following that meeting, we prepared for the Big Bro ceremony that night which is top secret. If I were to release any of that information, you would be sequestered and I would have to go Tom Cruise on your face.

I awoke the next morning and began the Oregon Trail/road back to Tampa. Overall, the visit was good and very productive! I got back to the airport happy for the opportunity I had to spend with the men of the Florida chapter. I'm excited for what's upcoming for them and how Christ will move through the leadership of the future officers.

Nationals Visits UCO

2011-09-26T12:48:00.000-07:00

by Nick England
National Advisor

My visit to the University of Central Oklahoma did indeed happen a few weeks ago. In fact, it took place at the end of August. For this, I apologize. But my intentions were to keep all of you on the edge of your seats, waiting impatiently for the first BYX blog post of the Fall 2011 semester by Nick England. So now sit back and relax and enjoy the ride.

Speaking of the ride, I took the ole' Bossman himself with me on this visit. So Jason Hoyt and I left on a Sunday afternoon and drove up to Edmond, Oklahoma. But on our way, we stopped in the magical land of Norman for some McAlister's famous sweet tea and a quick video interview with OU BYX Pledge Trainer, Sean Kelly. After that, we got back on the highway and hauled up to Edmond to meet the officers for dinner at Hideaway Pizza. Fun and filling pizza was had by all and we enjoyed catching up with the officers. Afterwards, I caught a meeting with their Vice President, Chance Rose. We were able to talk through some potential social events as well as what is going on with the officers right now as they plan their first semester as a chapter.

The next day was a long one. I woke up and grabbed meeting after meeting with their officers. What was immediately evident was that these men were fired up and ready to rush their first pledge class. Each of the officers left me confident that they had planned a great deal for rush and recruitment which would certainly pay off in the end. However, they still had a lot of planning to do for the semester. I was able to work through with them how to get their calendar together and what to make sure to get planned. The day was very productive and I think the UCO chapter was left well on their way to planning a great first semester! But they still hadn't been initiated...

That evening, we wore our formal attire and went to dinner at Old Chicago. One of the UCO BYX chapter sponsors, Steven Hardebeck was able to come and support the men that evening. After dinner, we administered the pledge test to the founding fathers and I'm proud to say that every one of the men passed! We initiated the men that night and some of the men from OU BYX drove up to show their support of the newest addition to Beta Upsilon Chi.

Jason and I left early the next morning and made the drive back to Ft. Worth. These men endured the long road of starting a chapter which is something only founding fathers can attest to. But we left them proud of what they have accomplished and excited for what the future has in store.

Nationals Visits The University of Oklahoma

2011-09-24T20:02:00.000-07:00

By Chris Godfrey

National Advisor

Just north of the Texas state line and past the rolling Arbuckle Mountains lies a town called Norman, Oklahoma—home of The University of Oklahoma and the Kappa Chapter of Beta Upsilon Chi. It has been an exciting year for these men as they took in one of their largest pledge classes yet.

After arriving to Norman and dropping off my suitcase at the hotel, I jumped right in to a busy few days. I started Sunday evening off catching up with “Dan the Man” Chargois. We walked and talked across campus as we went to dinner. We met up with the officers at O’Connell’s for dinner where I enjoyed meeting each of the men and getting to know them and hearing more about the chapter. Current National Advisor, Nick England, and past National Advisor, Tyler Wilson, graduated from this school so it was great to see and hear about the traditions they have been a part of as members. It continues to amaze me to see exactly how each chapter is different and yet that they all take part of a much bigger organization that shares one purpose and goal. As much as we remind the local chapter of this, it is so true—there is a place to stay and someone to greet you at many college campuses and homes across the nation.

After dinner it was chapter-meeting time. We went to the OU football stadium’s sky lounge the chapter enjoys a great meeting venue that has a nice balance of fun, business, and sincerity. It was formal chapter for my visit, and the men were looking sharp; the pledges sported their new pledge pin crest and I enjoyed greeting men as they came inside. We shared in a time of worship and then Dan introduced me to the chapter. Although there are many men in the chapter, they truly care for one another as was evident during their weekly time of encouragement through prayers and praises! I shared with the chapter who I am and how Nationals is relevant to the local chapter. There were many questions and I was excited as they showed support to our other chapters.

Pledge Captains Sean Kelly and JD Thomas have been hard at work as they went through rush and then interviewed the potentials and then organized bid ceremony. The men really are passionate about their jobs and it is great how they collaborate to conquer so much. Sean has a fountain of ideas and is filled with creativity that JD can filter through and then plan out. I met with JD for breakfast and Sean right after at a local coffee shop near campus. We discussed the pledgeship process and how it looks at OU this semester with more men. They’ve really worked on having great communication with the pledges and I think that it has benefitted such a large class. The big little ceremony went well—check out pictures on the OU BYX Facebook page. The weekend after I left they had Brolympics; it is a new pledge-brother event where pledges challenge active members to a dual in many stations/sport/activities. The men with the most points won some great and unique prizes. The event really allowed for a great time of brotherhood and when I was talking with JD and Sean I was pumped to hear how it went. Their creativity and then being able to follow through with ideas has really pushed them towards bettering pledgeship and the fraternity.

My meetings with all of the officers went well and I was fortunate to be in town during a packed officer meeting. They have so much going on but manage it very well. Homecoming, Victory, Mixers, Pledgeship, Brotherhood, Discipleship—they have really been intentional to do things with excellence and for a purpose. This chapter has continued to be more involved on campus and yet not forgetting to invest in brotherhood and unity through cell groups and large group times. God continues to amaze me through the visits and how BYX is impacting lives in our fraternity, campuses, and families.

Nationals Visits Texas Tech

2011-09-16T13:55:00.001-07:00

By Robert Bember
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.

Nationals Visits Southern Arkansas University

2011-09-09T10:12:00.000-07:00

By Robert Bember
National Advisor

I have a way of finding out how unprepared I am for a chapter visit on Sunday nights before I leave town. I’m typically tired and not necessarily ready to exchange the comfort of my bed at home for the mystery of the hotel room beds. Last Sunday was no different. As I was hit with a number of texts and phone calls from different chapters, it became blatantly obvious that our summer break was over and it was back to the grind of the semester.

For my second consecutive semester, I started off my chapter visits by heading to Southern Arkansas University to spend some time with the Alpha Delta Chapter. I was quickly reminded that the hours on the road, time away from my community and, yes, even the nights spent sleeping with one eye open in hotel room beds are worth it to see what God is doing in the lives of our men and in the chapters across the country.

The Alpha Delta Chapter is no longer the “baby” of BYX now that the Alpha Epsilon Chapter at the University of Central Oklahoma has been initiated. But they grew out of their diapers a long time ago. The men of the Alpha Delta Chapter are ahead of the curve. They don’t act like a chapter that has been in existence for less than two years. The men strive for excellence in all their events and operations. Size wise, they still have a ways to go, but the brothers are putting things in place that will help them to thrive for years to come, that is, if we can continue to initiate quality brothers and leaders.

I started by meeting with Secretary Matt Wise on Monday afternoon. Matt has a ton on his plate but still seems to be going 100 miles-per-hour all the time. We spent some time discussing his goals for the semester. He, like the rest of the officers, is aiming high. They are hoping for their biggest pledge class in their short existence, despite the fact that freshman can’t rush in the fall. The officers are trying to solidify their chair structure and communication protocol, which is something chapters 10-plus years older than them are still struggling with.

I met with Pledge Captain John Thornsberry before dinner. John is pushing the chapter to start building relationships with potentials so that they’re excited about BYX when rush rolls around. The men see how necessary it is to build relationships during recruitment, though we don’t always have time to get to know men well before trying to sell them on BYX. I had a good meeting with his pledge team after chapter meeting, where we further discussed their philosophy on recruitment, the type of men they want in BYX and how to recruit those men.

We met for dinner with the majority of the chapter. We were able to fit everyone at one long table, which gives an idea of the size of the chapter. The numbers may not be there yet, but the men love each other well and are walking closely alongside each other to challenge and grow one another.

The men of the SAU Chapter do a great job with chapter meeting. They have a great meeting space at a local church that’s equipped with flat screen TVs. They used the TVs well for announcements and also showed the Summit Ski Week video to the chapter. National Initiatives Chair Will Smith did a good job of sharing what was going on with other chapters. Not enough chapters are using their national initiatives chairs well. President Alan Thompson keeps chapter meeting going at a steady pace.

I continued my one-on-ones on Tuesday. I started off with Chaplain Micah McCartney. We spent a while talking about his internship in youth ministry this summer and his heart for kids. He has the shepherd’s heart that we really look for in our chaplains. He loves and leads the men well.

I met with President Alan Thompson during the afternoon. I’m continually impressed by how Alan leads the chapter. I was worried we might lose him this summer. His summer internship involved him wrestling and tagging alligators, so I was concerned we might have a one-armed president this fall, or worse. Fortunately, that wasn’t the case. I think what stands out the most is the way Alan attacks tough situations. He’s able to diagnose problems within the chapter and act on them quickly, all the while showing wisdom and grace in his actions. He’s pretty good at shooting pool too.

Treasurer Andrew Story and I had an interesting one-on-one. After hitting up Sonic’s happy hour, we sat down in the student center and were discussing business. Andrew handles his responsibilities well, so it was an easy conversation. After a while, a woman with a heavy foreign accent sat down next to us and asked if I was a journalist. So I briefly explained my job and why we were meeting. She began asking more questions about what we were doing and quizzing us on BYX. She seemed interested, and it took some effort to explain that it was for men only. I deferred to Andrew on most questions since it is his university, and I tried to creep away as quickly as I could without making it obvious that I was weirded out.

Vice President Caleb Price was the last officer with the privilege of meeting with me. We talked about their plans for socials this semester. He also gave me a good account of their Island Party in the spring and what they had learned from it. The rest of our time was spent talking about intramurals sports and football. Surprising, I know.

The men of the chapter are involved with numerous campus ministries. They invited me to a couple of their events with the campus ministries. The men are well-connected within the campus ministries, which we encourage in large part because BYX is NOT a campus ministry. We are a fraternity, and I’m proud to see the men of the Alpha Delta Chapter seeking out fellowship and Christ-centered community through multiple avenues on campus, and, in many cases, serving as leaders in those ministries.

Despite their involvement elsewhere, the zeal that they have for BYX is evident. I’m excited to see how the Alpha Delta Chapter continues to grow and mature.

Nationals Visits NC State University

2011-09-08T14:38:00.000-07:00

By Chris Godfrey

National Advisor

Last week I had the opportunity to head east to North Carolina for my first official chapter visit on staff with BYX. It was an incredible trip, and I had the pleasure of having so many great conversations with the brothers and potentials. I arrived in Raleigh the day after Hurricane Irene hit, but thankfully it did not damage the city very much more than some limbs down here and there. NC State Pledge Captain, Austin Williams, and President, TJ Louie, welcomed me at the airport and took me to my hotel to settle in before we had officer dinner.

All the officers came by and took me to a BBQ restaurant before chapter. It was my first time meeting several of the guys, but it was great knowing a couple of them from back in my officer days—NC State was our brother chapter. We had great conversation, and I was excited to hear the passion these men had for BYX and the vision they have for growing the fraternity so it can impact their campus for the Lord. They shared with me the highs and lows of previous semesters and then how this fall semester has already blown them away. Austin was very intentional about getting brothers involved with recruitment this summer, and it showed as they had a successful house party the first week back in Raleigh. They call the house that four of them live in the Royal Castle. I’m excited to see how they use the momentum from these first few weeks to continue to get the word of BYX out on campus.

The Alpha Alpha Chapter men at NC State kicked off rush right before I came, and so Sunday night was open chapter. We had a great time of worship led by Ryan Collinsworth. It was exciting to meet the potentials and share the national vision of BYX with them. I introduced myself and shared my story with BYX and then led into the big picture of BYX nationally. After our discussions, Justin Sawyer, NCSU Chaplain, shared what rush was all about as well as answering many questions that potentials may think about when rushing BYX. He did an excellent job of casting the vision of BYX to the brothers and potentials. Justin shared the importance of cell groups and living life together as brothers. It was a great open chapter to kick off a solid week of rush activities.

Monday and Tuesday were meeting days when I got together with each officer and many of the brothers. Monday, I had breakfast with Logan Sawyer, the vice-president. He shared his heart for the fraternity and for being involved with Greek Life on campus. Logan’s energy and attitude were a very encouraging way to start officer meetings. He brings so much life with the questions he has and the efforts he has taken to make sure events are well-planned. Logan and I went to the Royal Castle after our talk, where I met up with Austin.

I headed to lunch with Austin Williams, Pledge Captain at NCSU. We picked up the flags for the flag-football rush event and then headed to a local burger place. Austin has done a good job at contacting the potentials and building relationships with the men. He has really poured in to making sure the pledge class this semester continues to push this chapter to bigger and better things. He’s laid a foundation of how recruitment should be done for the next leadership.

Before the night’s rush event, Campus Golf, I was off to catch up with Secretary Will Jackson. He has really pushed the fraternity with social media! He has tweeted and facebooked about all of the rush activities and what is going on in the life of NC State’s chapter of BYX. Will also hosted a BYX Rave the weekend before I got to Raleigh, and they had strobe lights, a fog machine, lasers, and sound system that made for a happening party. I’m thankful for the momentum and energy that these men have so far this semester!

Will and Social Chair, Kyle Yarborough, took me to dinner where we met up with Justin Sawyer. Unfortunately, it rained out the evening’s rush activity (campus golf, looked forward to that—a round of golf played with tennis balls on campus), but what a dinner! We were at a local grill talking for a few hours. These guys not only drilled me with questions about BYX and how they could better their chapter, but more importantly, I got to know them much more than surface level. The Lord has so much in store for the men at NC State BYX because they are so passionate for Him.

Tuesday, I met up with Co-Founder and now Treasurer, Nate Spain. Nate has seen everything that has happened with the chapter from its founding, and he shared with me the history as well as where he sees the chapter now and where he’d like it to be in the future. He really has stepped up and continued to leave a great legacy from his hard work in the chapter.

NC State President, TJ Louie, met me for lunch at a Mediterranean restaurant where he was a good sport and had his first Gyro (yee-row). TJ and my conversation covered just about everything either of us could think about. I enjoyed learning about how he was also there at the beginning of BYX at NCSU and how he had grown through his experience. We discussed leadership, budgeting, socials, pledgeship, tailgating, communication and so much more. Being a leader in BYX really does stretch and grow men to be an even better leader.

After a brief break, Chaplain Justin Sawyer, picked me up for our one-on-one. He gave me some history of campus and took me to the Court of Carolinas—it is said that there is a tree planted from every county in the state of North Carolina, what a beautiful area. Justin’s heart for the fraternity is so evident in the questions he asks and the energy he puts forth as chaplain. It was great getting to know him and seeing his vision for cell groups and accountability as the foundation of the fraternity. After our conversation, we went to flag football where we dominated, well, at least kept things close. There were six potentials out rushing.

This week will be bid week for the men as well as pledge retreat weekend. There are great things going on with NC State BYX, and we will continue to see the fruits of the groundwork these men continue to lay and cultivate through relationships with each other and campus.

National Unity Defined

2011-07-21T07:55:00.000-07:00

There are certain things within our fraternity that can be hard to quantify as successful and heading in the right direction. National unity is one of those items. How does a chapter gauge whether or not they are obtaining national unity when they have limited interaction with other chapters. The only opportunities historically have been through National Officer Training, Summit, or the chapter that sees the benefit of reaching out to another chapter and planning a retreat, joint formal, or a tailgate for their rival football games in the fall.

About a year ago, we decided to try to quantify and define national unity. Our goal for national unity is to raise awareness and appreciation that BYX is bigger than one's own chapter or self. We set out to put some parameters around that goal and see if we could measure that success. We identified 4 standards in which we are attempting to measure national unity. Here they are:

1) Operating the same in execution, spirit and purpose:

The purpose of BYX is to establish brotherhood and unity among college men based on the common bond of Jesus Christ. The BYX Constitution lays out the framework in which BYX operates. The framework is flexible and adaptable enough to where each campus has the freedom to execute the constitution in similar yet different manners in order to ensure that BYX fulfills its vision on that particular campus. For example, the constitution lays out the vision and purpose of pledgeship, but each officer team has the ability to craft their rush events and pledgeship activities around that purpose as they see fit. Essentially the goal for this first standard is for all of our chapters to fulfill the requirements of the BYX constitution and thus fulfilling our purpose on that particular campus.

2) Responding to Crisis/Celebration with another as if it is their own chapter:

We have seen this play out remarkably more frequent each year. In 2008, we gathered for Summit with about 900 of our brothers from around the country. We were going through a fairly intensive legal challenges with the University of Florida at the time. One of our Executive Board members asked the UF chapter to stand up so that we could pray for them. Without instruction, I watched from the back of the room as 900 brothers converged and placed hands on each other as we prayed. The Lord moved an answered that prayer in His time. It was a remarkable display of national unity. We have seen others through the years as we have had brothers pass away in bicycle accidents, rock climbing accidents, car accidents, etc. Brothers from many chapters have stepped up to care for one another with brotherly love.

3) Initiation, Connection, and Assistance with other chapters:

We have seen growth in this area over the last four years as well. At National Officer Training we collect all officers contact information and distribute it to all the officers so that they know how to get ahold of one another. We have seen many chapters look to do chapter retreats together, plan tailgates at football games, plan formals together. The result has been a great benefit to each chapter as they have learned how to do things better, more efficiently, and learned new ideas from one another.

4) Willingness to respect and value national leadership:

Our role here at nationals is to protect the vision of BYX and its integrity. We set forth the vision of BYX routinely in just about every manner possible. We work hard to teach, train, and equip our local chapter officers to understand and fulfill the vision and their roles as officers. We continually resource them in their roles with ideas, tweaks, and evaluations of their efforts to carry out that vision. We walk them through the hard times and the good times to really ensure that the high's of BYX are not to high and the low's are not to low. Chapters officers, members, and pledges come and go each year, but the national leadership is steady communicating the essentials to BYX year after year. We have seen remarkable growth in this area in the last decade and we only expect our relationship with local chapters to continue to strengthen as the years continue.

Those are the four areas in which we are looking to determine whether or not national unity is growing. These may be new concepts for many of our chapters although we believe much of them have been happening organically throughout the years.

Below is a video link to our Youtube channel where you can learn more about national unity.

http://www.youtube.com/brothersunderchrist#p/a/u/0/RR01pNXj2XA

Jason Hoyt

Executive Director

Living Missionally Through BYX

2011-06-29T07:55:00.000-07:00

By Robert Bember
National Advisor

Talking about living missionally or evangelism within the confines of Beta Upsilon Chi will often lead to one of two reactions. Many members immediately sound the alarm when they here “the e-word.” The fraternity-minded members are quick to reiterate that we are a social fraternity. Another side of the group consisting of members who may have joined BYX looking for a college version of their youth group at home, are right on board and would go on a BYX-sponsored spring break mission trip to the Greek Row if given the opportunity.

To a certain extent, they’re both right. Our identity statement reminds us that we are a lifelong brotherhood of committed Christian men seeking the bonds of brotherhood and unity in Christ through the avenue of a social fraternity on a college campus.

BYX was established as an alternative to the fraternal lifestyle, meaning that we look different from other fraternities, though we are still a fraternity. Music enthusiasts consider Nirvana to have started, or at least popularized, alternative rock. When their album “Nevermind” dropped, there was no mistaking that it was indeed rock, but it was different. Raise your hand if you expected a Nirvana reference in a BYX blog.

The identity statement lays it out in black and white that we are a social fraternity. It also says that we are a brotherhood of committed Christian men. Not just Christian men. Committed Christian men are not complacent and apathetic about their faith. Committed Christian men do not shy away from opportunities to share their faith, whether in word or deed. Some would go as far as to argue, and justifiably so, that you’re either a committed Christian man or you’re not a Christian at all. Those committed Christian men understand that, because of the sheer fact that they are Christian men, there will be a natural overflow of the Gospel outward from their fraternity to all parts of the campus.

Since we are a fraternity, we clearly do the things that fraternities do. So we must, among many other things, be socially relevant and involved on campus. To meet that goal, we host open parties, coordinate mixers and put on date parties. If we’re doing these events well, then we’re going to have the opportunity to interact with a number of different organizations and individuals, and hopefully make an impact on them that has eternal implications.

By seeking to honor and serve Christ in all things, we will be able to make an impact for the kingdom through socials.

In a lot of ways, I feel we need to change our mindset when it comes to socials, or maybe even in our approach to God in general. We have a bad habit of compartmentalizing God. We like to limit where He can and can’t work. Maybe we try to limit Him as to where and when we want him to work rather than seeing him as our all-knowing, all-powerful and infinitely loving Heavenly Father. If God were kept in a box, He wouldn’t be God.

In Luke 13, Jesus compares the Kingdom of God to a mustard seed, which, though tiny, grows into a large tree. In the same passage, he compares it to a small amount of leaven that works it’s way into a large batch of dough to make the bread rise. God can use small things to make a huge difference. We need not limit him, but instead we must be confident that God can use the littlest interactions to make a big difference.

God can, and will, move through our interactions with people outside of BYX. We have a special foothold in the Greek community that allows us to reach people that may otherwise not hear the Gospel or see it lived out by Christ followers. Students notice that there is a difference in the way we carry ourselves, that is, if we are offering ourselves as a living sacrifice to our Lord.

Though actions speak louder than words, we also have the opportunity to spread the good news of what God has done specifically in our lives through the sharing of testimonies at our social events. These testimonies are required by the constitution, yet we so often fail to see the value in them.

Many members are able to relate to the students that attend our events because they went through similar experiences and are at a similar place in life. It’s not like a pastor that, in the eyes of some students, can’t connect with them. Our members are their equals. If we see ourselves as anything more than that, then we need to step back and check our hearts in a big way. There’s no difference. We are all sinners desperately in need of a Savior, but we get the rare and special opportunity to publicly proclaim how Christ has brought us, personally, from death to life.

Furthermore, these testimonies provide for talking points between members and event attendees. It’s easy to go up and ask someone what they thought of the speaker. From that point, there is no telling where God will take that conversation. Remember the mustard seed. The goal is not to shove the Gospel down anyone’s throat but to love our neighbor and be available to God.

We’re not about numbers when it comes to outreach. If we win one to the Kingdom of God through testimonies at our social events, then praise God. If we win none, then praise God. We will win no one by our own effort. All we can do is serve our Heavenly Father with obedience and allow Him to work and move as He sees fit.

To hear more about living missionally through BYX, watch the video below as Executive Director Jason Hoyt provides more insight.

Living Missionally as BYX Video

with Executive Director Jason Hoyt

Identity as a Social Fraternity

2011-06-23T12:03:00.000-07:00

Vision sounds like a simple understanding of who we are. The reality of the vision of BYX is that it can often be misunderstood. BYX was founded in 1985 as an alternative to the present fraternal lifestyle. A fraternity that would keep Jesus at the center and heart of who we are and what we do. We are not a Christian organization on campus and we are not a traditional fraternity on campus. We are a Christian fraternity. I realize that those two words "Christian" and "Fraternity" don't traditionally go well together. That is what makes the vision of BYX tricky to understand. We take some of the aspects of campus ministries and some of the best things about fraternity life and put them into the same fraternity called Beta Upsilon Chi or Brothers Under Christ. Our identity statement says "We are a lifelong brotherhood of committed Christian men seeking the bonds of brotherhood and unity in Christ through the avenue of a social fraternity on a college campus." I want to elaborate more on the concept of social fraternity and how BYX plays our part as a social fraternity.

Why do we strive to be social in BYX? Because it’s who we are. BYX is a social fraternity with a spiritual purpose. A social fraternity is the vehicle by which we accomplish Brotherhood and Unity in Christ. We do this because it’s who we are, and who we are is because we exist to stand in the gap on college campuses for men missing the supremacy and sufficiency of Christ. We’ve chosen to utilize the concept of fraternity to do it. From there our social identity accomplishes 3 things:

1) Builds Brotherhood and Unity among us. As we engage in the purposes mentioned in the previous paragraphs we draw nearer as brothers on mission together. Additionally, it gives facilitation for relationships to grow, providing time to be together. Some of this time will lead to serious depth of conversation and growth. Much of it will be simple fun, but this fun will provide instrumental balancing connection for the more intense and hard times of accountability down the road for our members.

2) Opportunity to exalt Christ among those outside of BYX. Because of socials, we get an avenue to proclaim the goodness of our God as a cohesive unit of men, interacting with believers and non-believers alike.

3) Resulting promotion of BYX. A stronger social and campus presence in turn helps our recruiting. It helps us in our strive to make BYX available for every student who would want it and sometimes other schools who would want a BYX chapter.

BYX is a Christian social fraternity. We want to and must continue to be a part of the social scene on our campuses. The opportunity to impact others is there through these social opportunities and along the way we as BYX get to enjoy the fellowship of our brotherhood.

Jason Hoyt

Executive Director

Healthy Role of Alumni: Part 2

2011-06-03T14:20:00.000-07:00

Alumni continue to play a vital role in the future of BYX. We want to recognize that value while also steering alumni involvement in a healthy direction. I remember when I graduated with my fellow senior BYX brothers and we all thought that BYX just wasn't going to be the same after we all left and that our class was the pinnacle of the health of BYX. The reality of it is that it was the pinnacle of BYX for you. Part of our role here at nationals to to bring a healthy balance so that the highs of the chapter are not to high and the lows of the chapter are not to low. We have seen countless times through nearly every chapter an opportunity to coach and lead through those types of situations. BYX will continue on as the Lord leads. There will be many victories and challenges ahead.

So what is a healthy role for alumni of BYX? There are several opportunities in which alumni are free to stay connected and involved in their local chapter of BYX.

1) Founders' Chapter: Each fall your chapter will host an open chapter with an open invitation for alumni to come back. The chapter will feature an alumni speaker and allow you the opportunity to invite your class of brothers back to campus each year. This fall will be our 2nd annual Founders' Chapter.

2) Initiation: Alumni brothers from any chapter are allowed to attend a BYX initiation.

3) Senior night: Especially if you are recent graduate and you want to head back to chapter to witness your little brother or another brother you invested into graduate.

4) Island Party: IP is an open event and an easy way to check out what is going on in BYX

5) Other open parties and informal events: Open parties are just that, open to any one and everyone to come and attend. Informal brotherhood events happen almost every week. Monday Night Football, Wing Nights, Basketball Thursday's, etc..

6) National Ski Trip: It looks like the Keystone Ski Trip has been such a success that we will continue hosting the trip each year. Alumni are welcome to join us at the same prices as active members.

7) Personal mentorship: Any active member can seek out and choose to engage in a mentor relationship with any alumni.

We will attempt to do a better job of communicating with our local chapter officers with those expectations this fall and beyond.

Now that we hammered out what is available to alumni in a local chapter, I should clarify what should still be closed to just current members and pledges.

1) Regular weekly chapter meetings are closed for current members and pledges only unless an alumni is specifically invited by the current officers.

2) Chapter retreats (including pledge retreats) are closed for current chapter members and pledges unless an alumni is specifically invited by the current officers.

3) Cell groups and social events such as date parties and formals are for current members and pledges only.

I hope this helps you as a current member, pledge, or alumni of BYX to understand the healthy role of alumni for BYX.

Healthy Role of Alumni: Part 1

2011-06-01T13:26:00.000-07:00

I am regularly engaged in the lives of many of our alumni. Some I run into weekly at my local church, others I meet around the DFW area for meals, and others I interact with via email and phone from other parts of the country. It is a great adventure keeping track of the location of our thousands of alumni now. I am frequently asked about what the role of alumni is in BYX, so I thought I would write a blog about it just to be clear where we are with alumni.

Alumni have played a vital role in the history of the fraternity dating back as far as 1988 when Wendel Weaver started the alumni association to hold BYX true to its stated purpose. That alumni association grew and eventually became the Executive Board, Advisory Board, and National Staff of Beta Upsilon Chi. Five years ago we strategically decided to make alumni our #2 priority behind the integrity of BYX and we hired a national alumni coordinator. We attempted to start an alumni council, local alumni chapters in various cities, and started down this road of social media communications. After 3 plus years of heading down that road, we strategically decided that some of the things we were beginning to put in place for alumni just were not needs that the vast majority of our alumni were needing or looking for from BYX. We scaled back that direction and have been seeking the answer to what is next for our alumni.

Here at nationals, we are now defining our aim when it comes to alumni in three categories.

1) We are committed to keeping you INFORMED as an alumni. There are various channels in which you can follow BYX. You can follow closely BYX on twitter and pretty much now where we are visiting, what is coming down the pipeline, and immediate needs we have in BYX. You can follow this blog and read up on our chapter visit to your chapter as an alumni. If your contact information is correct in our database, you should be receiving about 4 to 6 customized email newsletters from BYX. Customized means that it has a specific update from your chapter officers or national initiatives chairman.

2) We are committed to the continued growth of BYX. In the last 7 years, BYX has grown by 17 chapters nationwide. We have learned a lot about growing chapters strategically. We have learned how much financial dollars it takes to start new chapters and about how long it takes for a chapter to become stable. All important pieces to learn. We have made some big decisions financially at the national level to move to full funding from our chapters. That means BYX is financially stable on the strength of our local chapters now. That will allow our alumni contributions to nationals to go towards the growth of BYX. Investment into BYX would go to support those newly established chapters and looking towards the future of the next university to receive a BYX chapter. The second aim for us for alumni is for you as an alumni of BYX to understand the value of what the Lord did in your life through BYX and INVEST BY GIVING FINANCIALLY into the future of BYX so that other young men make enjoy what you have enjoyed.

3) We are committed to continue to expand our NETWORK. Alumni and members are asking for ways to network within BYX. We have some pieces available currently that I am confident will aid you in networking within BYX. Those are as follows:

A) Alumni Map: Login to your chapter website or the national site using your ID and PW and go to the alumni section. You will find a map of the U.S. where you can click on any state, and search for alumni who live in that state. You can view their home church, their occupation, and send them an email.

B) Job Board: Login to your chapter website or the national site using your ID and PW and go to the member section under the forums. There you will find a job board where alumni can post jobs, or get information on a posted job.

C) LinkedIn: We have a Beta Upsilon Chi-Brothers Under Christ linkedin profile where you can network with other BYX alumni.

In my next blog on the healthy role of alumni, I will outline the alumnus role in the local chapter and what is and is not available to you on the local chapter level.

Jason Hoyt

Executive Director

Beta Upsilon Chi, Inc.

Nationals Visits Texas A&M

2011-04-19T09:36:00.000-07:00

By Robert Bember
National Advisor

The Gamma Chapter heard I was coming to visit them for my last chapter visit of the semester so they decided to throw a huge party in my honor known as Island Party. I was really flattered.

I planned to visit an extra day so I could check out Island Party. I had heard good things about past Island Parties at Texas A&M, so I wanted to check it out for myself. I knew it was different from any other IP I had attended when I saw Vice President Justin Johnston talking into a hands-free mic and earpiece so he was in constant contact with the IP chairs.

The planning and organization for the event was exceptional. Everything went off flawlessly. There was a great turn out for the event, as about 4,000 people came through the gates. The venue for the event was cool. The Gamma Chapter used a legit concert amphitheater not far from campus that was a perfect place to check out live music or throw around a frisbee. There was a lot going on at Island Party.

I was able to lay low at the event, outside of the officers and former officers that already knew me. I hid under a baseball cap and was just Robert rather than BYX Nationals. I ran into a group of my Texas State members as soon as I pulled up who had made the trip from San Marcos for the day. A handful of chapters were represented at A&M’s Island Party. It’s great to see numerous chapters coming together to support their brothers.

All the bands I saw put on great performances. It was clear that they weren’t there just to showcase their musical talents but to point to Christ as they took advantage of their time between songs to share Scripture and Christ-centered wisdom with the audience. Following headlining band Gungor, who I had never heard of but loved, Aaron Gillespie, formerly of Underoath and The Almost, returned to the stage with his band to lead a half-hour worship set for the remaining attendants. I could write a blog about Island Party alone.

Sunday afternoon, I met up with the officers for officer meeting at a nice white house on campus. I believe it is the university vice president’s house. They were dragging a little bit, and understandably so after Island Party. Treasurer Klark Kurz hauled himself up from a nap just in time for the meeting, after he and numerous brothers were at the amphitheater until five in the morning. I didn’t know why until my one-on-one with him Monday afternoon.

The A&M officer body has some personalities on it, and it showed during officer meeting as everyone seemed to have something to say, sometimes relevant to the conversation, other times, not so much. There wasn’t a ton to discuss since they had just pulled off their biggest event of the year, but it still gave me a chance to learn how the officers function together.

I met with Secretary Brian Robertson right after officer meeting. His fellow officers consistently take some good-natured shots at Brian, which he just laughs off by taking shots at them in the meeting minutes. However, they seemed justified this week, as Chaplain Caleb Ferrel brought allegations before the officer body that Brian had opted to play pick-up soccer over football. I’m pretty sure there is a clause against that in our constitution, and if there isn’t, there should be. But Brian wasn’t the only victim. The officers also voted to impeach President Tommy Penshorn with me in the room. I vetoed.

I met with Caleb that evening over dinner. We were able to talk about the spiritual condition of the chapter and what he’s doing to facilitate growth for his brothers. Caleb is leading the men through the Gospel of Mark. Rather than picking at where the men of the chapter fall short, he hopes to push them toward Christ so that they would be moved by His grace. As he put it, the sin struggles within the chapter are just a symptom of a bigger issue.

Caleb, like myself, has worked at Sky Ranch, a Christian camp in Van, Texas. We spent a while reminiscing and sharing our experiences out there. I’m jealous of him that he gets to go back this summer, but I’m called elsewhere now. It will always hold a special place in my heart. God stretched me and grew me in so many ways over my two summers in Van.

I met with Pledge Captain Casey Bush Monday morning before grabbing some wings for lunch. Despite the fact the Casey is a Chicago Cubs fan, I think he’s doing an outstanding job as pledge captain so far. His approach is to focus on his many responsibilities now and over the summer so that when pledgeship starts in the fall he can turn his attention to getting to know the pledges. He’s done a great job with delegation so far. With all the changes he’s made with pledgeship, he has no idea what to expect in the fall, but I have high hopes.

I later had a much-anticipated meeting with Klark. I had overheard he and Caleb talking briefly of how God was moving in the days surrounding Island Party. I asked Caleb what that was all about, but he said Klark needed to tell me the story. So Klark got me up to speed on some of the amazing stories of how God had rocked them. I got a little choked up hearing of what God was doing with these men. I was blown away. It was like nothing I had ever experienced. It took Klark an hour-and-a-half to share the stories. I can’t do it justice, so I’m hoping we get the opportunity to post Klark’s account in a separate entry.

After hearing the story, I asked Klark if he’d share it with the chapter tonight. I had been wondering how I’d address some of the issues Caleb and the other officers told me about. Sunday night, while reading a devotional, God showed me Psalm 119:99.

“I have more understanding than all my teachers, for your testimonies are my meditation.”

I felt that God wanted the men to hear testimonies of how He was moving in their chapter. It would be selfish and ignorant of me to withhold that from the men so I could have the floor, especially after He showed me that Scripture. I met with Tommy briefly before having dinner with all the officers. Most of our time was spent with both of us dumbfounded and awestruck by Klark’s story, which Tommy had previously heard. God is good and beyond anything we can fathom. Sorry if this comes off as a huge teaser, but I just can’t do it justice.

So Klark spoke at chapter. About 20 minutes in, he told the brothers they could leave if they wanted because meeting was going to go long. Many of the men stuck around until the end. Klark invited the brothers to hang around and pray together after chapter. Around 30 guys stayed and passionately prayed over each other and God continued to move powerfully. I know He’s not done there. I was initially scratching my head as to why I planned a long trip to end my semester, but I’m so glad God took me to Aggieland when he did.

Called to Pray: Part 3

2011-04-08T11:30:00.000-07:00

By Jason Hoyt

Executive Director

Nehemiah 1:11 states "O Lord, I beseech You, may Your ear be attentive to the prayer of Your servant and the prayer of Your servants who delight to revere Your name, and make Your servant successful today and grant him compassion before this man."

One of the main reasons we are moving forward with this "Called to Pray" across our chapters is that I sense the Lord moving in BYX and desiring us to really bring before Him our requests. All three passages of Scripture I have put before you all for this event (2 Chronicles 6:18-20, Ezra 8:21-23, and Nehemiah 1) all express the fact that God is near and that He hears the prayers of His people. He not only hears our prayers corporately, but is near to each of us in our prayers on a personal level.

I encourage you to read Nehemiah chapter 1 and notice how personally affected Nehemiah was not only for his sin, but for the sins of his people. Nehemiah wept and confessed and repented and God was and is faithful in that forgiveness.

Looking forward to seeing and hearing how the Lord moves through our "Called to Pray" the week of April 10th.

Nationals Visits LSU

2011-04-04T12:37:00.000-07:00

By Robert Bember
National Advisor

Last week, I headed down to the bayou in hopes of wrestling some gators with the Psi Chapter at LSU. I had no such opportunity, but the men of the LSU Chapter always keep me on my toes. It’s never a dull moment with my boys in Baton Rouge.

Pledge Captain Daniel Manas picked me up at the airport and we jumped right into our one-on-one. The Psi Chapter has 9 pledges this semester. Daniel is working toward making pledgeship more challenging and, at the same time, entertaining. As a chapter only in their third year, the men at the LSU Chapter are in the process of building on top of the foundation that has already been laid. Across the board, the men have made a ton of progress, but there is still plenty of work to be done as the chapter moves forward.

Daniel is adding pledge missions this semester that are designed to get the pledges together during the week to work toward a common goal. This week’s mission was one I first saw in my years at TCU, which we called Air Band. The pledges were split into groups of three and performed a lip sync to the song of their choice at chapter meeting. A pair of members and I served as judges loosely inspired by the panel on American Idol. While one member just repeated “Dog” over and over, like Idol’s Randy Jackson, I opted for the Simon Cowell approach and ripped apart every group. The performances were hilarious and the chapter did a great job of playing the role of adoring fans.

I met with Daniel’s roommate, Vice President Conner Jenkins, next. I worked with Conner in the fall when he served as pledge captain, so it was awesome to be able to catch up with him and talk life as well as talk BYX. Conner and the officers have put on a number of great events this semester. Early on, they had the BYX, Belles and Boots date party where the men and their dates went to the Texas Club to do some country dancing. Recently, they hosted a St. Patrick’s Day Root Beer kegger. As Conner described the event, he was excited to point out that there were a ton of people he didn’t know at the party. The attendance was around 150, which is an outstanding turn out for an open party put on by a chapter of not much more than 30 members.

Island Party is on the horizon for the Psi Chapter. Drew Holcomb and the Neighbors will be performing on the campus’s parade grounds. This is the chapter’s first Island Party that won’t be held in a church. Early on, the officer body was determined to set a precedent for Island Party by having a good band and location, and it appears they’ll be able to pull it off. However, I think Conner may lose a little sleep until the event actually happens.

I got a true Cajun experience for dinner. The officers took me to a place called Sammie’s where a few of us took advantage of crawfish recently coming into season. I struggled through the first few and was made fun of for being a Texan. There aren’t many things Texans aren’t good at, but apparently eating crawfish falls into that small category.

Chapter meeting followed shortly thereafter. As always, it was a great time of brotherhood and worship in song. I did my best to challenge the members of the young chapter during my talk. They’re still very much in a position to lay a foundation for BYX at LSU, which is a calling I encouraged them to take very seriously. I pushed recruitment big time, which I do at every chapter. I wanted to stress to these men that even though they are in a great place right now, they still need to be actively look for the next group of men to pass the torch to.

Daniel let me speak a little more to the pledges during their pledge meeting after chapter. We went to a place called Coffee Call for some beignets. I shared a little bit about my experiences in BYX. I emphasized the type of close-knit brotherhood they are entering into and talked about some of the times in my college career that that was most exemplified. I love sharing my experiences in BYX. It’s one thing to talk about brotherhood and unity in theory. It’s completely different to see it lived out.

I met with Treasurer Brian Baudoin Tuesday morning. He’s the eldest member of the officer body as a junior. Four are sophomores and one is a freshman. Brian is extremely involved on campus and has built a ton of connections with the university, which is huge for the young chapter. I encouraged him to use those connections to help build BYX’s reputation on campus. The officers are hungry to continue to learn and grow. They value our input from Nationals and are excited to continue to grow the fraternity.

Chaplain Brandon Denley grabbed lunch with me and we grubbed out on more Cajun food. I had to take full advantage of being in Louisiana. Brandon helped me to gain a better understanding of the spiritual health of the chapter. Many of the men are doing a great job of stepping outside of their BYX bubble to help grow men outside the chapter. As we develop men within the chapter, naturally they should begin to move outward and impact the campus. That’s how we do ministry in BYX. It was refreshing and encouraging to hear these stories.

Later in the afternoon I met with Secretary Brandon Woolf. I immediately gained credibility with Brandon because I remembered to spell his name with two o’s. Brandon, the baby of the officer body, compliments the personalities of the officer body well. While the other five are cut from similar fabric as the louder and more outspoken members, Brandon is the quiet, servant leader. He received plenty of praise from the other officers for the effort he puts in behind the scenes with the chapter. In our conversation, he shared a lot of how God has grown him and brought him to a place where he’s more concerned with serving others than he is with his own accolades.

I met over dinner with President Joel Peterson. I love my conversations with Joel. He’s a rare breed of man who always seems to provide high energy and deep insight. Picture a combination of the energizer bunny and C.S. Lewis. Meeting with him at the end of the visit allowed us to discuss everything I had seen and heard during my visit. As happy as I am with where the chapter is, I still had plenty to offer to Joel as to how they can refine what they’re already doing.

That’s to be expected though considering the Psi Chapter has only been around for three years. We’ve seen so much fruit so far. The officers are an ambitious group of guys with plans to grow in both the quality and quantity of men, while strengthening their campus presence at LSU. God has big plans for this chapter and he has some outstanding young leaders at his disposal.

Nationals Visits the University of Oklahoma

2011-03-24T09:25:00.000-07:00

By Robert Bember
National Advisor

Spending two straight weeks at home was a pleasant and much needed spring break for me after hitting up 6 chapters in less than 6 weeks to start the semester. For once, I was able to do a little more in the office than just struggle to keep my head above water. I got ahead on my work. That never happens in this job. It seems like whenever I think I’ll get ahead, a huge wrench gets thrown into my plans, and my attention gets turned towards more urgent situations.

I don’t think any number of weeks would prepare me for what I would face next: Oklahoma. I don’t get along too well with the state to the north. It seems like when I’m there, anything that can go wrong will go wrong. I don’t know why I expected anything different this time around. It’s become comical at this point. I wasn’t across the border five minutes when I hit bumper-to-bumper traffic for the first of four times heading to Norman. Eventually I discovered that a police officer was standing in the middle of I-35 making everyone exit with no cars or traffic on the road behind him. It was beyond my understanding.

After a four-and-a-half-hour drive that should have taken about two-and-a-half, I met briefly with OU President Daniel Chargois. Daniel sympathized with me because we were stuck in the same traffic. He directed me to the house of Pledge Trainer Sean Kelly for my first one-on-one as I tried to snap out of the daze I was in from the long trip. Knowing what I had just gone through on the roads, Sean offered to throw the frisbee around with me in his backyard as we discussed BYX. I was tired of sitting down and needed to get the juices flowing and get out of the glazed over, incoherent state I was in.

Sean is a rare breed, but that’s a good thing. He has an infectious enthusiasm about himself that makes him ideal for the role of pledge trainer. He is a big time dreamer. I feel like many of my officers like to stay within their safe little box as far as their ideas go, whereas Sean would kick the door down and get as far away from the box as he can. He has big ideas for pledgeship and BYX as a whole.

At OU, they elect two pledge trainers to help carry the heavy load of pledgeship. Working alongside Sean is JD Thomas. JD is equally enthusiastic and engaging, but much more logistically minded than Sean. When Sean’s imagination starts running wild, JD reels him back in by asking tough questions as to how they will execute these ideas. They understand each other well and know how they need to function together. The pledgeship that these men put on in the fall will be an awesome experience for all the pledges.

We caught up with the other officers for dinner before chapter meeting. Since it was formal chapter meeting, the men were a little overdressed for Fuzzy’s Taco Shop. There wasn’t much BYX discussion, which was fine with me. It’s good to see the officers able to enjoy each other and have a good time without getting into business mode. These times of brotherhood will only make them better as a group of officers. The men spent the time talking about “The Emperor’s New Groove” and asking me what it’s like to be a grown up. I assured them they were asking the wrong person.

I did a poor job of scheduling this visit because it is one of the busiest weeks of the year for the Kappa Chapter and the rest of the Greek at OU. Many members were missing from Chapter Meeting Sunday night preparing for Scandals. Scandals is an annual event at OU in which every fraternity and sorority auditions for the opportunity to compete against the rest of the Greek by producing their own 15-minute Broadway musical. BYX is paired with Delta Gamma, and they’ve been putting in hours of practice everyday this week in preparation for their performances this weekend. I got to watch practice for a little while Monday night, and it is quite an undertaking, which Daniel further reiterated.

Despite the turnout for Chapter, it went well. Following my talk, the men came together to share prayer requests and prayed over a pair of brothers. Everyone prayed for the men out loud at the same time. It was something I had never been apart of, but it was an awesome display of brotherhood as the men rallied together in prayer for their brothers.

Following Chapter, a couple members invited me to hang out over at one of the on-campus cafeterias. Because last week was spring break, they had a number of pre-purchased meals they had to get rid of prior to Monday morning when the next week’s worth of meals started. A number of members, officers and I had quite a feast consisting of sandwiches, cookies, choco tacos and a pile of bacon. More importantly, we had a great time. The OU Chapter reminds me a lot of my chapter at TCU. You never really know what to expect or what is going to come out of people’s mouths, but it’s always a good time.

On Monday morning, I yawned my way through early meetings with Secretary Lincoln Ferguson and Vice President Sam Valencia. Despite not being all there, the meetings were productive. Lincoln and I discussed general BYX business while Sam and I spent a lot of time on Island Party, as it is just a few weeks away. JD took me to the Tea Café near campus to get some fruity tea drinks and Chinese food. The more we talk about pledgeship and recruitment at OU, the more excited I am to see what these guys do in the fall. They’re hungry to soak up knowledge about pledgeship and add to an already strong pledge process.

Chaplain Ryan Goodwin met with me after lunch. I don’t think I asked any questions until he was about to leave. Ryan likes to talk, so we had a great conversation about anything and everything, and sprinkled in some BYX business as well.

Every officer referenced “Business Dan” when I asked about their officer meetings. “Business Dan” is the serious alter ego of the president that seems to come out every week in officer meeting. The result has led to very efficient officer meetings. Daniel schedules other times on weekends for the officers to get together and share a time of brotherhood and spiritual growth. One meeting resulted in Lincoln falling from a tree in the middle of campus. Daniel does a great job of guiding this great group of leaders that are focused not only on the present, but also how they can set up future groups of officers to succeed once in office.

Called to Pray: Part 2

2011-03-18T09:51:00.000-07:00

By Jason Hoyt

Executive Director

Every Friday I send an weekly update to our officers in each of our 24 chapters. In the update I like to include a short devotion of encouragement to the men serving BYX. Last week I looked a passage in Ezra that followed right along with our recent announcement of "Called to Pray". CTP will take place the week of April 10th where all our chapters will pray for 6 specific items during a 20 minutes span at a chapter that week. Here is the encouragement sent to them last week.

Ezra 8:21-23 reads "Then I proclaimed a fast there at the river of Ahava, that we might humble ourselves before our God to seek from Him a safe journey for us, our little ones, and all our possessions. For I was ashamed to request from the king troops and horsemen to protect us from the enemy on the way, because we said to the king "The hand of our God is favorably disposed to all those who seek Him, but His power and His anger are against all those who forsake Him. So we fasted and sought our God concerning this matter, and He listened to our entreaty."

Yet another great passage of Scripture similar to 2 Chronicles 6:18-20 on how great our God is and how much He cares for His people. The thing that I notice about both of these passages is what our role is in seeking God. Ezra 8:21 clearly shows us that our role is to "humble ourselves before our God to seek Him." Why is that so hard to do sometimes, why is our first inclination to grit up and figure it out ourselves. So many times I do that first and then realize that maybe I should pray about it and seek His face. Verse 23 answers that question for us as to what will happen. "We fasted and sought our God concerning this matter, and He listened." The other thing that needs to be pointed out here is "concerning this matter." That indicates a very specific request that would require a very specific response.

The Lord cares about the details men. He cares and wants you to bring to him your personal challenges and those you face leading the fraternity of BYX. Have you taken some time this week to put your fears, burdens, and challenges before Him?

Nationals Visits Houston Baptist

2011-03-11T10:13:00.001-08:00

By Robert Bember
National Advisor

Houston is a lot like a Chinese buffet. I’m normally excited to get there, but, by the end of it, I’m ready to get out, feel like I made a huge mistake and wonder why I ever looked forward to this in the first place. My grandlittle calls it China Sea Syndrome.

I grew up in Houston and enjoyed it while it lasted. Then I moved to Fort Worth to go to TCU only to find that the grass was much, much greener on the other side. I didn’t grow up a Christian. I thought I was, but, in reality, I didn’t know the first thing about following Jesus. I fell into an amazing community of believers when I got to TCU, and I’ve been so blessed to see those people grow me as much as they have. So it’s tough leaving that to go back to H-Town where I feel isolated, discouraged and frustrated. Spending time with my parents is great, but it’s just such a strain being away from my community.

This time around, I was blessed to get to hang out with a great group of godly men at the Epsilon Chapter of BYX at Houston Baptist University. I recharged the batteries at my parents’ house between the Texas State and HBU visits by watching TCU baseball on the internet and live tweeting about the game as if my life depended on it. I guess it’s the journalism major in me needing to find a way to gush my surplus of baseball knowledge.

I headed to campus Sunday evening after watching the Frogs drop their second game in a row and met with Treasurer Benson Benny and Chaplain Josh Jones. I tried to get a feel for the campus of HBU, having never been there, by quizzing the guys a little bit. The university is largely a commuter campus and has around 3,000 students. The Greek system at HBU isn’t huge, but nothing at HBU is really, and BYX is far and above the largest fraternity on campus at about 35 members and pledges. They’re doing an outstanding job of maintaining a good reputation with the university as well.

We headed to BJ’s Brewhouse for dinner with all six officers following my pair of one-on-ones. Getting the officers together on my visits is a great way for me to see how they function together first-hand. Vice President Carlos Mendoza asked me just about every question he could think of as he tried to get to know me. I didn’t mind. I love letting the officers into my world. Transparency is crucial in ministry. However, I scratched my head a little bit when he began inquiring about my hair cut.

We headed to officer meeting after that. I had been told their previous couple of meetings had gone three and four hours long, so I was preparing for the worst. Fortunately, we breezed through in about two. Watching the men do business in officer meeting also provides me with valuable insight into the officer body. For the most part they remained on topic. They’re still college kids so they manage to have a good time with it. They had a healthy amount of disagreements. Everyone was willing to challenge one another and voice their opinion. It’s a fine line that they walked well.

I had a lot of meetings on Monday. The officers kept me busy by having me meet with some chairs and a pledge, but they were all productive. Those extra meetings allowed me to see that there is plenty of leadership outside of the officer body as well. The chairs and pledge I met with are hungry. They’re excited about the fraternity and the opportunities they have to impact it where they are now and where they could be later.

That evening, I was supposed to go to dinner with President Mike Winters. I was a little concerned to be seen in public with him though. As part of their drink and talent auction fundraiser, Mike auctioned off his hair. For 250 dollars, one of the brothers and the president of the Sigma Phi Lambda sorority purchased the ability to have their way with Mike’s hair. What resulted was a sloppy mohawk with the Beta Upsilon Chi and Sigma Phi Lambda letters carved into the sides of his head. Nonetheless, our meeting was a good one. Mike, like the other five officers, is an outstanding leader and man of God.

I wrapped up the visit by speaking at chapter. I felt great about my chapter address and enjoyed spending time with the entire fraternity. Afterwards, I headed upstairs to sit in on pledge meeting. It wasn’t until pledge meeting that I realized I was totally and completely drained. I had nothing left after visiting three chapters in eight days. I was ready to lean against the coke machine in the room and fall asleep standing up. In all of this, God displayed his goodness in that He sustained me until the very end of my last visit. I was completely emptied, but I’m glad I can say I gave all I had in service to my brothers on these visits. God is so good, and I’m so blessed that He allows me to be poured out for the sake of His Kingdom while serving BYX.

Called to Pray

2011-03-09T09:31:00.000-08:00

By Executive Director

Jason Hoyt

Join us as we as the fraternity of BYX are CALLED TO PRAY.

2 Chronicles 6:18-20 states "But will God indeed dwell with mankind on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain You; how much less this house which I have built. Yet have regard to the prayer of Your servant and to his supplication. O Lord my God, to listen to the cry and to the prayer which your servant prays before you; that Your eye may be open toward this house day and night, toward the place of which You have said that You would put Your name there, to listen to the prayer which Your servant shall pray toward this place."

Solomon had just completed the building of the temple when this prayer comes about in his dedication of the temple to the Lord. This Scripture speaks to how big our God is and yet how personal He is in our daily lives.

The week of April 10th, we invite you as a BYX chapter or BYX alumni to join with all 24 chapters and 1450 active members to take a 30 minute window at chapter meeting to pray together as a fraternity in anticipation that God would draw us deeper in relationship with Him and one another. Will you consider joining us in prayer that week? Here are the six items in which each chapter will pray:

1) For our brothers serving across the world in Europe, Asia, Africa, South America, and Australia.
2) For our brothers who are pastors and ministers in the states
3) For our brothers leading out in their work place and communities
4) For the current 1450 BYX members at 24 universities in 12 states
5) For the future growth of BYX in developing new chapters and strengthening existing chapters
6) For the pursuit of Christ within the fraternity that God might continue to use BYX to develop young Christian men.

http://www.youtube.com/brothersunderchrist#p/a/u/0/vK3VatI5Qjo

Nationals Visits Texas State

2011-03-08T09:30:00.000-08:00

By Robert Bember
National Advisor

I wrapped up my Texas visit by going 20-something levels in Zombies with Texas Treasurer Michael Dixon. It was a valiant effort on our parts, but we eventually fell victim to the hoards of zombies. So the following morning I was off to San Marcos to visit the outlet malls. Oh, and the Zeta Chapter at Texas State.

Prior to meeting with my officers Wednesday, I had a scheduled meeting with Dr. Gregory Marshall, better known as Doc G. Dr. Marshall is the faculty advisor of the Zeta Chapter and is a huge asset to the fraternity. He has served the chapter in this position since they began the chapter at Texas State in 1997. Dr. Marshall uses his position so intentionally. He has an open door policy with all the members of the Zeta Chapter and meets on a weekly basis with President Chris Oliver. On top of that, he makes a point to attend one chapter meeting a month, go on chapter retreat with the members and get to know all the pledges.

Working for BYX and ministering to high school students at my church causes me to constantly be pouring myself out. I’m more often than not put in a position to be the wise counselor in a conversation. Not to say I’m any wiser than the next guy, but that’s where God has put me and how He chooses to use me. So I counted it as such a blessing to sit down and spend some time with Doc G. His hospitality and willingness to serve BYX and me as an individual truly epitomizes the way we as believers are called to serve and love one another.

Chris was next on the schedule. Chris served as chaplain in the fall of 2010, so we met on my previous visit. The tone of our meeting this time was the polar opposite of the one in the fall. In the fall, Chris was really down on how the chapter was carrying itself and handling its business. I vividly remember Chris sitting in the student center with his face in his hand recounting some of the chapter’s recent mishaps.

But, this time around, Chris was so hopeful. He told me of how God is not only moving within BYX but across the campus as well. The university will host a freshman camp over the summer for Christians. The camp was started by a BYX member in 2010, and seven of the 13 fall pledges had attended the camp. Chris said that the camp is growing, and he thinks BYX will reap the benefits of its growth. Chris is aiming for 25 members, which would be a huge jump for the chapter.

Following my chapter address, I always open the floor for a question and answer session. One pledge told me he had heard that a pledge at every chapter was required to wrestle me, and that after seeing me he wanted to forfeit on behalf of his pledge class. Hilarious! Another member asked me to set a goal for the chapter. It’s hard to quantify a lot of goals for a chapter, but I remembered my talk with Chris earlier that day. I turned to him, hesitant to set the bar too high, and asked what he thought a good goal in pledgeship would be. He stood by his goal of 25.

Pledge Trainer Andrew Nguyen arrogantly announced that it was as good as done while Pledge Captain Cameron Parris nodded in agreement next to him. I respect that. Getting men to believe that they can attain such a high goal is half the battle I feel. Too often we try to limit God. It’s probably my biggest pet peeve. We look at the world through the lens of what we can do but forget what He can do. So I will commit to pray for 25 pledges, not because I believe in Andrew or Cameron, but because I believe in what God can do with them and on the campus of Texas State.

I met Thursday morning with Vice President TJ Perry. TJ is looking at turning Island Party into a multi-day event, which is becoming a reoccurring trend with many chapters. He has some big plans in store and is working hard to get the money necessary to make it happen.

TJ, like Treasurer Michael Webb, Secretary JW Welch, and Andrew, is serving in his first semester as an active member. They pledged in the fall. The four young officers, two of which are freshman, have a special opportunity to lead and have a voice for many years. They have such high aspirations for the chapter and the leadership skills to get it done. Many of them cited the need to further develop their campus presence and social life. I look forward to seeing where they take BYX at Texas State for many semesters to come. We are on an upswing at Texas State.

That evening, we celebrated former president Woogie Sanders’ 24^th birthday. I got to know Woogie well in the fall. He’s an outstanding leader and brother, so I was glad to be able to celebrate with him and the Texas State brothers. He had a big turn out, displaying the love these brothers all have for each other.

After dinner, I gave into a substantial amount of peer pressure. Throughout the day, the officers and members would come up to me and say, “Hey, I heard you are going to Midnight Rodeo with us.” I’d give a wishy-washy answer because I wasn’t sure how I felt about being the old guy in a group of college kids at a honky-tonk I had never been to. Granted, I haven’t even been graduated a year.

Fortunately, Woogie is even older than me. So, under the condition that Woogie went, I joined the guys. On top of that, Andrew had told me throughout the day that I couldn’t two-step, so being the arrogant punk I am, I had to show him up. And did. I had a great time hanging out until 3:30 a.m. with the men of the Zeta Chapter and look forward to seeing how God works throughout this semester and beyond.

Nationals Visits the University of Texas

2011-03-07T10:41:00.000-08:00

By Robert Bember
National Advisor

I spent a hectic week at home between my first three chapter visits and my next three. I hit the road early in the semester by visiting Southern Arkansas, followed by Mississippi State and Texas Tech the next two weeks. When I left for the Alpha Chapter last Monday, February 21, it would be the first of three visits in eight days. After a not so restful week, I wasn’t sure how I was going to handle the time on the road, but God once again reminded me that His power is truly made perfect in my weakness.

On the way to Austin, I stopped in Waco to grab a bite to eat with my little brother George, a junior at Baylor. While at Buffalo Wild Wings, he remembered he was supposed to be tutoring someone. This in no way, shape or form pertains to my visit to Texas, but I just felt the need to once again point out that despite being a good student, my brother is a total airhead. Love you bro.

I met with Treasurer Michael Dixon to talk money at his house so endearingly known as the Green Monster. I have to give the Horns some credit. The Green Monster is probably the coolest college house I’ve been to, despite being painted the same colors as the walls of Fenway Park. It’s home to eight members of the Alpha Chapter, including four officers, and serves as one of the chief party houses for BYX at Texas. To finish up rush week, the men hosted a “Robes and Strobes” open party in which guests could come in pajamas to enjoy a coffee house atmosphere on the first floor or go nuts in the rave environment in their garage on the ground level. It’s a three-story house. The guys were nice enough to let me hang out there extensively during my visit and I’m so grateful for their hospitality.

I met with President Kemp Gregory next and got some Kerbey Lane queso. I think that’s becoming a tradition with the Alpha Chapter presidents. We had a great meeting. In discussing some of the minor hiccups that the 2011 officers have faced, I was thoroughly impressed with Kemp’s humility. He hated that they had these lapses in judgment and wouldn’t shy away from the blame. I learned a lot about the type of leader Kemp is. They may have taken some lumps so far, but the leadership at the Alpha Chapter is nothing short of outstanding.

Chaplain Ben Oheim hosts a prayer meeting a half-hour before chapter. The response by the chapter in terms of attendance was great. Ben showed a short video and followed with a brief talk of his own before the men broke up in groups and prayed together. The Alpha Chapter offers a number of opportunities for the brothers to come together in prayer and has a system of prayer accountability partners set up in which brothers commit to pray for another brother specifically throughout the week.

Following chapter meeting, I went over to hang out outside the capitol building with Pledge Captain Aaron Burkin. Burkin and Co. are leading a pledge class of 22 and working to change up an already strong pledge process. My head was spinning a little bit as Aaron flaunted spreadsheets that recorded pledge points and absences. He’s doing a great job of balancing spiritual growth and fun brotherhood activities with the pledge class.

Tuesday consisted of one-on-ones, hydroponic vegetables and slaying zombies at the Green Monster. It’s always great to sit down with my officers and hear what God is doing in their life and with the chapter. The six officers and I planned dinner that night. We left the Green Monster to grab some bar-b-que at the County Line. I was over organic trash and wanted some meat. I think I did enough to keep Austin weird. Unfortunately, Aaron decided it would be a good idea to go 20 minutes in the wrong direction towards the Salt Lick, another well-known bar-b-que place in Austin. So my car was a little late. It was worth the wait for a great meal and great times with my officers.

I wasn’t ready to go back to my hotel after the late dinner, so Ben invited me to their officer cell group. The level of transparency and accountability between the officers is exactly what we’re trying to instill in all of our cell groups. I was blessed to not only hear what was going on in the men’s lives, but to also be able to share a little more about what’s going on in mine.

In my position, I find these times where I can let my officers get to know me at a deeper level to be so valuable. I think it’s so important to be viewed as a brother and not just some sort of enforcer of the rules. That’s a common misconception about our national advisors. If this job was just about enforcing rules, it wouldn’t be rewarding at all and, honestly, probably not worth the time and effort we put in.

The time spent with the Alpha Chapter was a great start to my road trip of sorts. The chapter is blessed with so many great leaders and passionate brothers. I’m grateful to serve such an awesome group of men and look forward to walking along side them for the next couple of years.

Nationals Visits Florida

2011-03-04T11:20:00.000-08:00

By Nick England
National Advisor

Every time I venture out to visit the BYX chapter at the University of Florida, people tend to get jealous. They operate under the inaccurate stereo-type that Gainesville is filled with luscious palm trees, immaculate white sandy beaches and everyone sips on an icy cold beverage with a small umbrella. This fantasy could not be further from the truth. There may be palm trees, yes, but Gainesville is a college town filled with rednecks and hippies and it is about as far from the ocean as one can get in the only state that is also a peninsula. It also happens to be further from any major airport in Florida, which means I flew into Tampa then drove to Gainesville, a fun filled two-hour drive. Once I arrived, chaplain Dean Tzobanakis (if you actually try to pronounce his last name, your tongue might fall off) picked me up from the airport and we made the trek together up to Gainesville. It was great to catch up with Dean on the drive. We had a chance to talk about life, cell groups, Will Muschamp and other oddities. Once we arrived, they tried to take me to Steak and Shake to which I exclaimed that I refuse to come all the way to Gainesville and eat at a restaurant I can visit in Fort Worth. Thus we changed our plans and ate at Leonardo's Pizza (no relation to the Renaissance artist/scientist or the turtle). We were joined by Tyler Linder, Colton Doll, Michael Keen, and Jacob Power. Afterward, I went back to Tyler and Dean's apartment to hang out with them and play the lackluster Xbox Kinect. It was about as realistic as a Steven Seagal movie without the explosions.

The next day my first meeting was with pledge captain, Joshua Allen. We met up at Waffle House for very cheap waffles and good conversation. Joshua has done a great job with pledgeship at Florida. In large part, he has brought a great deal of innovation to the table. My next meeting was with RB Barrett who is Florida's treasurer. Our conversation consisted of the finer things in life like Quickbooks and banks statements. Truly a conversation to be held only by those in the upper echelon of society. From there I met with Michael Keen, the current secretary of BYX. Michael is a man who understands BYX well and desires to see it grow into a thriving fraternity. He is certainly an asset to this officer corps. Later that day I went to lunch with Dean and Tyler at Gainesville's signature restaurant, The Swamp. We had a great time at lunch together before going to hunt for gators. That's right, I said gators. However, we weren't able to capture any.

After meeting with Dean and Tyler, I got to meet with their vice president, Colton Doll. Colton and I talked a good bit about socials and Island Party to help propel BYX to the next level at Florida. From there, Colton dropped me off at pledge meeting so that I would have an opportunity to see how they are going first hand. I had a great time meeting some of the pledges and getting to know them. After pledge meeting, we moved straight into chapter meeting. This was my first time to address the men of BYX at UF as a chapter and I used the opportunity to challenge them to continue to push for growth numerically and socially. After chapter, I met with a few of the men and ate dinner with some of them at Beef 'O' Brady's.

The following day, I had a chance to sleep in before I met Dean for lunch. He picked me up and we drove to Satchels for some great Gainesville pizza. And yes, we ate in a VW van.

Living Missionally as BYX

2011-02-25T07:28:00.000-08:00

John 17:22 "The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent me, and loved them, even as You have loved me."

I often hear in the BYX world some complaints about BYX not being missional enough at our roots. While it is true, that the sharing of the Gospel is not our primary focus as fraternity, it is still absolutely a part of who we are and what we do. John 17:22 speaks to our approach to living missionally in BYX. Our desire is that BYX members will continually pursue Christ in deep relationship with one another. Those relationships form a deep bond and are a living picture of the body of Christ. Giving, receiving, encouraging, and walking with one another. That breeds our purpose of brotherhood and unity in Christ. As an overflow of that unity in Christ, other people will notice something different and unique about the fraternity of BYX in which then we have the opportunity to share the truth of the gospel with them as individuals. Corporately as a chapter, a large part of our ministry to those outside of BYX occurs at BYX events when we stop at our parties and share a brief testimony of Christ from one of our members. Our living missionally is an overflow of our brotherhood and unity in Christ.

Jason Hoyt
Executive Director
Beta Upsilon Chi, Inc.

Nationals Visits Texas Tech

2011-02-15T08:52:00.000-08:00

By Robert Bember
National Advisor

I always leave Lubbock excited. Maybe it’s because I’m leaving Lubbock. That’s a good possibility. I tend to think it has more to do with what I’ve seen in the Eta Chapter at Texas Tech each time I’ve visited.

I was thoroughly impressed with the Eta Chapter on my first visit in the fall. The men loved each other well and were consistently involved with serving the community. Still, I had some suggestions for the chapter. Their hearts were in the right place without a doubt, but I still saw areas in which the men could tweak their chapter to line up with the identity statement of BYX. I challenged them to get more involved with the Greek community at Tech and pushed them toward the fraternal end of the spectrum without losing the clear focus on Christ.

The 2011 officers have already made huge strides towards the suggestions that I’ve made. Working with these men left me so encouraged. They’re doing an outstanding job. Not to steal their thunder, but it seems evident that the effort we put in for National Officer Training was more than worth it. The hours of preparation prior to the retreat and the days following in which we resembled zombies seem to have paid off.

The guys were nice enough to pick me up at the airport and thrust me into five one-on-ones as soon as I got off the plane. I asked them to set up a few on Monday so I could avoid doing them all on Tuesday. They took a few as five-out-of-six officers.

I met with Vice President Robbie Christenson to start off my visit. As the VP, he is more or less responsible for the social well being of the chapter, and I was impressed with the strides they’re making on the social front. About 500 people attended their rave party at the end of rush week. The video on his phone made it look like a great time with an awesome DJ, black lights and plenty of light-up and glow in the dark items guests could purchase at the event. Robbie, a sophomore, said he was freaking out about the event since he couldn’t attend Rave during his freshman year. We had a good time brainstorming for changes he wanted to make to Island Party. He hopes to turn it into a week-long event similar to the one some other chapters put on.

After spending time with the other four officers scheduled for the afternoon, we headed to chapter meeting. I was lucky enough to watch them conduct a new Big/Little Ceremony they implemented from our traditions manual. I loved it, and I think many of the members can appreciate the importance of kicking off these new relationships with a meaningful event. The down side was the officers failed to tell me they would be in formal attire. I felt like a bum in my dri-fit polo and white Nikes, and they didn’t let me forget about it.

I only had to meet with Pledge Captain Andy Nichols on Tuesday. I congratulated Andy for reeling in 18 pledges for the spring, which is outstanding considering fall is the big semester for rush at Tech, but Andy just deflected the praise and gave it to God for bringing those guys to BYX. He’s stepping up pledgeship this semester with many more required events for the pledges. He’s pushing them hard, and he says he’s been blown away by how close the men have gotten after just a couple of weeks together.

After spending much of the afternoon playing Call of Duty and watching Chappelle’s Show with Robbie and his roommate Sean Taylor, I was able to help Andy and President Chris Draper lead Big Brother Training. The only reason Andy had me visit so early in the semester was to help with this event. I love big/little, so I was more than happy to help, despite the fact that I ended up having to endure a 16-below wind chill and snow coming down sideways during the trip. I taught on Paul and Timothy’s relationship while Chris discussed David and Jonathan. Both Andy and Chris did a great job of conveying expectations and vision for the bigs. We’re blessed with six studs of officers at Tech.

After dinner with some members and a little more Call of Duty, Robbie and I dropped in at the pledges’ study hours that ran from 9 to 11. I got to witness first-hand how close these men are becoming at such an early time. I had a good time fielding questions about BYX, my job and my life from the pledges and had some really good conversations with them.

As the officers said numerous times, God has been good to the Eta Chapter. With the progress they’ve made in just the few months that I’ve been working with them, I can’t wait to see where He takes them in the coming months and years.

Nationals Visits Mississippi State

2011-02-04T10:01:00.000-08:00

By: Robert Bember
National Advisor

I don’t want to write this blog. It’s not because I’m busy. Alaska decided to come down to Fort Worth and dump snow and ice on the Metroplex and all the Super Bowl hoopla, so it’s not like my Texan driving skills are going to get me out of the house/office any time soon. I just don’t want to relive my visit to Mississippi State.

I landed in Jackson, Miss. at noon Monday and was picked up by Vice President Bill Gilbert. We grabbed a bite to eat and made the two-hour drive to Starkvegas talking about anything from BYX to Jesus to College Football. It’s a safe bet that if you spend two hours with me, all three topics will come up in some form or fashion, sometimes linked together in some awesome metaphor or analogy that makes sense to me and no one else. But that’s ok.

Bill has served in student government for much of his time at Mississippi State. He said that much of what he does for BYX now he has already done for the student government, which gives him a leg up on most first-time officers. He’s moved their Island Party to the fall. His plan is that scheduling it on a Friday before a home football game will increase the turnout at the event, which I think is a great strategy.

I met with Pledge Captain Bubba Bowen once I got to Starkville. The Omicron Chapter tried to put on a spring rush, but decided it would be better for the chapter and the interested potential pledges to wait until the fall for pledgeship. But Bubba and his pledge team haven’t spent any time sulking at not reaching their lofty goals for spring pledgeship. Instead they’ve turned their attention to the fall.

Listening to Bubba talk about recruiting gets me all jacked up, even if his approach is modeled after the likes of Nick Saban and Bill Clinton. I’m not a fan of either to say the least, but I’ll cut Bubba some slack because he has some awesome ideas. He plans to recruit “ferociously” and make sure that as many freshman men as possible know about BYX before they set foot on campus. I want to bottle up whatever Bubba is on and give it to all my pledge captains.

I grabbed a bite to eat with President Hunter Upton. Like Bubba, he is a second-year officer. They both provide some additional stability to a very capable officer body. All the officers I met with spoke so highly of each other. Hunter’s organizational skills and even-keel nature are great attributes for a president to possess. He leads well, and he, as well as the rest of the officer body, is very mindful of the input of the rest of the chapter. It was great to spend time talking to a brother that shares a similar passion to my own of growing boys into the godly men we’re called to be.

Chapter was cool because Mississippi State is the first campus I’m making my second visit to. It gave me a chance to meet up with the past officers and see how they’re enjoying life as active members. I once again shared my testimony with the guys since I didn’t speak on my first visit to Starkville.

Afterwards, we headed to Hunter’s apartment to hang out with any members that wanted to stop by. Bubba brought over a half-baked cookie log while former Pledge Captain Conner Jones provided an obscene amount of queso. I’d like to believe the brothers came to hang out with me, but I know better than that. They wanted the free food. It was great chance to hang out and get to know more of the men of the Omicron Chapter.

Unfortunately, Tuesday didn’t go as well. I felt like death and didn’t leave the Holiday Inn Express until dinner time, which was short-lived and all around a bad idea. On top of that, the Metroplex was covered in a sheet of ice, so even if I felt well enough to get to the airport, there was no telling when my flight would leave. Fortunately, by the grace of God, my flight was only delayed half an hour and I survived the two-hour trip to the airport.

I still consider myself blessed to have been able to spend time with the Mississippi State Chapter. While I was stuck in bed, I received numerous texts from the brothers encouraging me. Hunter skipped class to pick up some much-needed medicine for me. It was an awful day, but it was an opportunity to learn more about an outstanding chapter. The visit definitely didn’t go how I drew it up, but God is still good.

Nationals Visits Southern Arkansas

2011-02-04T09:56:00.000-08:00

By: Robert Bember
National Advisor

After an eventful Christmas Break in which I visited about 5 cities in a month, I hit the road to Magnolia, Arkansas to visit the Muleriders of Southern Arkansas University. Growing up in Houston and currently residing in Fort Worth, the small town lifestyle is relatively foreign to me. I had a little culture shock in Magnolia. It’s a whole different world. The men of the Alpha Delta Chapter kept me busy though.

The Alpha Delta Chapter at SAU is the most recently initiated chapter of Beta Upsilon Chi. They’re entering their second year as a chapter, but have an outstanding grasp of the vision of BYX. I was thoroughly impressed with the Muleriders and blessed to spend a few days with the brothers at SAU.

Monday night we grabbed dinner at Mule’s Cantina. The billboard for Mule’s Cantina outside of my hotel had me skeptical. Something about Mexican food in small-town Arkansas had me a little uneasy. It was more of a grill, so my digestive system was safe. The majority of the small chapter fit at two tables in the restaurant. I have to tip my hat to the guys for their turnout and for giving me a chance to get to know most of the members. I’m normally limited in the number of members I get to meet at the larger chapters I visit. I typically just meet with officers, so it was great to establish relationships with numerous members.

That was pretty much par for the rest of my visit. Throughout the trip, the brothers were eager to hang out with each other. If the officers put an event together, I could count on the active members to make an appearance. They embodied the type of close-knit brotherhood that we push from Nationals. They enjoy being together, whether or not it’s a formal BYX event, and have a genuine concern for each other.

Monday night’s chapter meeting was well done. President Alan Thompson opened by leading the chapter in reciting the founding verses and purpose of BYX, making for a nice, formal start to the meeting. Following announcements, the chapter split into two teams for a semester-long battle of the brethren competition. Because one team was short by a person, I was recruited to participate.

The men of the Alpha Delta duplicated a game we threw together for National Officer Training in which participants spin around, grab marbles with their toes and hop to a basket to drop them off. The catch was that they upped the number of spins to 10. After two efforts, I was having trouble standing up.

The second event, also from National Officer Training, took just as much of a physical toll. We were required to down six cans of Dr. Thunder and a two-liter bottle of Mountain Lightning as a team. It wasn’t a pleasant experience. I was burping throughout my chapter address.

The time spent in worship once again displayed the close, Christ-centered fellowship that the men share. As brothers would spread out around the room and hit their knees in prayer, other brothers would join them, put their arm around them and support them in prayer. It was a beautiful display of brotherhood.

On Tuesday, I met with more men in one-on-ones and was able to watch and learn more about the chapter. As part of the recruitment, all the fraternities and sororities on campus had informational tables set up in the student center. The BYX table looked great, and the men were doing a good job of getting contact information of potentials.

All the 2011 officers spoke highly of each other and their specific gifts that allow them to do their jobs well. Pledge Captain John Thornsberry and Alan are both second-year officers. They are both proud of the growth that they’ve seen within the chapter in just over a year. The men and leaders are starting to understand BYX to a greater extent and are learning more about what their jobs and responsibilities entail.

The men, although they already have a healthy understanding of BYX, were so hungry to learn more about how to continue to progress their chapter. My question and answer session probably lasted close to a half-hour. My short visit instilled so much confidence in me that this chapter will continue to grow and thrive on their campus.

Looking forward to 2011

2011-01-05T14:10:00.000-08:00

By Jason Hoyt, Executive Director

Happy New Year Brothers,

A special thank you to all of our 2010 financial supporters for helping us meet our annual budget. I am continually amazed by how the Lord uses people to answer the needs we have for Beta Upsilon Chi. Support comes from alumni, parents of our members, and many who catch the vision of BYX who were not even members of BYX but believe in what we are doing. As director of Beta Upsilon Chi, it is our desire to shepherd a Christian fraternity that sticks to its mission, with current chapters that are largely self-sufficient from a financial perspective, and to pursue opportunities to expand that vision to new universities.

Last summer, I outlined in this blog the history of Beta Upsilon Chi and how we have arrived at our current state with essentially three main priorities. 1) Keep the integrity of BYX by focusing on our purpose 2) grow to other universities and 3) continue to develop alumni relations. In November 2010 at our Executive Board meeting, we made some important decisions for the future of BYX that we believe will enable us to continue on the path the Lord would desire for us. We essentially added a fourth priority. 1) Local Chapter Integrity focused on Purpose 2) Local chapter growth 3) Expansion and 4) Alumni relations. Last year in 2010, our local chapter national dues covered just over 60% of our national operating budget. The additional income was raised through the efforts of our board and staff. In 2011, we made the decision to fully fund our operational budget from national dues of the local chapters. That essentially boils down to members and pledges of the fraternity will pay $85 a semester in national dues. We should now see the average member paying about $275 a semester to be a member of BYX. That may seem like a jump, but when you boil it down to an additional $10 a month or roughly $.33 a day to be a member of BYX, it doesn't seem like much to allow the fraternity to continue moving forward. We continue to be roughly 40% of the cost of joining a traditional fraternity.

The funding of nationals from our local chapter dues will open up a great opportunity for nationals to walk closer to our local chapters in helping them meet the needs they have in reaching our newest priority in local chapter growth. For example, we have already begun working on recruiting and promotional DVD's, newsletters, business cards, flyers, etc.. for those chapters that need immediate help in promotion of BYX of campus. Now instead of just suggesting to the local chapters that they do some of these things, we at nationals are going to be able to provide them to those chapters that need help in those areas. These things are going to take some time to really ramp up and we plan on aligning our national staff to meet some of those new needs as we move through 2011 and the future. These are exciting times in the life of the fraternity.

The change also allows for new opportunities for alumni to see their gifts put to specific uses. If we have a specific need at a local chapter, we can now ask our alumni to meet that need and they can step up to the plate and financially meet that need through nationals. For example, we recently ordered $500 worth of recruiting brochures in 8 page glossy professional looking document. We can now ask the alumni for that chapter to contribute towards those needs and alumni can feel like they are furthering BYX at their chapter through meeting those needs. We are looking forward to this new priority in local chapter growth.

As for 2011, we are gearing up for another great year. As I write this, our national staff and 150 of our BYX brothers from 14 chapters are enjoying brotherhood and unity in Christ on the slopes of Keystone Colorado. This year was our 2nd massive migration to Keystone and it speaks volumes that our brothers more than doubled the number from last year. We will look to continue that in 2012 for sure. In October of this year, we will continue another annual tradition with Founders' Chapter at all of our local chapters. Last year was our first go around as we celebrated the 25th year anniversary of the founding of Beta Upsilon Chi by launching Founders' Chapter. More than 300 alumni ventured back to their respective campus to celebrate the founding of BYX and enjoy connecting with the current members and renewing old friendships. We are looking forward to more young men choosing to join the fraternity of Beta Upsilon Chi in 2011 and most of all we are looking forward to our members and alumni continuing to deepen their faith in Christ and with one another.

Nationals Visits OSU

2010-11-08T09:27:00.001-08:00

By Tyler Wilson
National Advisor

Last Sunday I made the trek up I-35 to Stillwater, home of the Rho chapter. Crossing the Red River into the promised land is always a glorious moment for me. But even better was the sweet time I got to spend with these dear brothers at OSU. When I was an officer once upon a time, our chapter got to play a major role in helping the founding fathers at OSU launch their chapter and get off the ground. As a result of those close connections and investments, the chapter has always held a special place in my heart (which is astonishing for a Sooner to ever say). So then, thinking it might be my last trip as their Advisor, I was determined to make the most of it.

After a solid couple of hours hashing things out in officer meeting, we ventured to my favorite pizza place on the planet – Hideaway. We scarfed down some Big Country’s and headed over to chapter meeting, where the brotherhood was ripe with liveliness. President Chris Raymer has been leading the men courageously in 2010, and it was certainly on display that night as he ran the meeting. Following some announcements and fun things to get to know brothers, the chapter was blessed to hear briefly from founding father Donte Williams. He shared some heartfelt words and then gave an honoring introduction to me.

My address for the men centered on 1 thing – the vision of BYX. Who are we and what are we after? The men graciously stayed with me as I attempted to encapsulate the things I have communicated to them over the past 3 years into 1 night. To conclude I charged them with the stewarding of this vision – to guard and to grow it on this campus.

So how is this vision being lived out at the Rho chapter? Currently, in their 5th year, the chapter has 45 men, including 17 pledges who have had instant camaraderie as they’re enjoying an exciting and challenging semester. Cell groups are as healthy as you could hope, as chaplain Joey Ross, who is also the president-elect, has cultivated them diligently. One of the contributors has been a spiritual survey that was taken at chapter. Covering various areas of life, the guys were able to anonymously be open about where they are at. They shuffle the surveys and then walk through the questions again, with guys standing up if the survey they received shows that answer. So, guys get a visible and authentic feel for where the chapter is at as individuals. The idea is to communicate you’re not alone in your struggles and sin and foster a culture of transparency among the chapter. And it has worked.

Additionally, they continue to push hard for national unity. Earlier this semester, they had a joint retreat with their brother chapter, UNT, at Turner Falls.

Socially, the chapter is continuing to grow into the place where they need to be. Fall 2010 saw the first steps really taken to get their foot in the door with Homecoming. As the largest homecoming in the nation, it represents a very pivotal event for the chapter to have a presence in. Hopefully their involvement will increase again in 2011. Dad’s day and a couple of great date parties have also highlighted the calendar. The chapter still is working to better penetrate Greek connections and expand their recruiting to actually target the Greek demographic of incoming freshmen. Those mark the next level of growth for the chapter, and should help us get to the realistic vision for O-State of a healthy 75-100 members. The communication and organization are certainly in place, they simply need the initiative and chapter-wide buy-in to get there.

The vision of BYX is happening in a significant way at the Rho chapter already. After a great pledge meeting, a burger at Eskimo Joes, and nice car ride with Donte Williams back to Texas a couple days later, all I could think about is my hope and prayer for that vision to be guarded and grown into what it can be. To that end we labor.

Orange Power!

Nationals Visits LSU

2010-11-05T11:51:00.000-07:00

By Robert Bember
National Advisor

I thought four straight weeks of visits to cap off my traveling for the semester would take their toll on me. Even though the sketchy hotel rooms, limited time at home, hours in the car and frequent flyer miles did begin to wear on me some, the opportunity to hang out with my chapters never got old. I hope and pray that I can continue to make that statement when I wrap up my tenure with BYX. When will that be? I can’t say right now, but I’m just enjoying the moment and praising God that He chooses to use me in this position.

The LSU Chapter is the youngest of any that I work with. They recently elected their third set of officers. I think I’m older than the majority of their founding fathers, which makes me feel like even more of an old fart. In two short years though, God has already done some amazing things and laid the foundation for a special chapter.

It didn’t take long for me to feel as if the Psi Chapter was ahead of the curve. They have an understanding of the national vision for BYX that I still try to instill in some much older chapters. It goes to show that the training we, as Nationals, provide to both new chapters and new officers is not going to waste. I have to tip my hat to my roommate Nick England, who has worked with the Psi Chapter since they were established. I’m sure he played a crucial role in getting them here, and I look forward to being a part of the next big step.

The Psi Chapter has their largest pledge class in their short history with 11 guys. The officers have worked diligently to improve pledgeship and foster a greater sense of commitment from their pledges that they hope will roll over to their active semesters.

Chapter meeting that night was a great experience. It was substantially smaller than what I’m used to at my visits, with around 30 guys. After knocking out some announcements, Brandon Denley and Daniel Manas, the newly elected chaplain and pledge captain respectively, led a time of worship in song. The members of the chapter began to spread out around the room, seeking to meet God in their own intimate setting. It was such a genuinely worshipful feel as the men each sought God in their own way, and, at the same time, as a group of brothers.

Following meeting, we went to a coffee shop to down some beignets, a traditional Cajun dessert consisting of basically fried dough and powdered sugar. They’re a lot like sopapillas. There was a great turn out with the majority of the pledge class showing up and numerous actives. Despite my attempts to try to watch what I ate, Pledge Captain Conner Jenkins insisted on cramming chocolate milk and beignets down my throat. I left with powdered sugar all over my shirt. It was a great opportunity to be a part of the brotherhood that is so strong within the chapter.

President Andrew Worrel picked me up at my hotel Tuesday morning for our one-on-one. After driving around campus for a while looking for a parking spot in the rain, we conceded and parked near Tiger Stadium, also known as Death Valley. As an employee of the athletic department, Andrew was able to take me on a behind-the-scenes tour of the stadium. I stood at field level in the tunnel looking up at the 90,000-plus seats, imagining how awesome of the atmosphere must be on game day. It’s only seats twice as many people as TCU’s Amon Carter Stadium. No big deal.

After checking out a couple back rooms and drooling over a national championship trophy my Frogs may not get a shot at for a while, we headed over to Mike the Tiger’s habitat. After eye-balling us for a minute, Mike came at us on a dead sprint and pounced at the screen between us. My heart jumped up into my throat briefly.

That evening, the officer’s took me to Sammy’s Grill for some local cuisine. As an appetizer, Chaplain Joel Peterson suggested we get some blackened alligator. It wouldn’t have been a trip to Louisiana without it. Joel will be the president for 2011. Conner and secretary Brian Baudoin, who will return as vice president and treasurer respectively in 2011, bounced ideas off each other for their road trip to National Officer Training at the end of November. They’re so excited to head out to my part of the world. Treasurer Jacob Cook, aka Cookie, was starting to regret not running after seeing the excitement of the other three. They’re pumped to make the trip together and hang out with the 24 other chapters. I wish I could bottle up the enthusiasm that the LSU officers have and share it with all the chapters.

Nationals Visits Auburn

2010-10-30T13:30:00.000-07:00

By Nick England
National Advisor

It had simply been too long since I was in the great state of Alabama, and because every radio station (regardless of their genre) plays Sweet Home Alabama a few times a day I knew it was time to go back. So as big wheels keep on turnin', I made my way out to Auburn to spend time with the chapter for a weekend. Our first stop that evening was dinner at Momma Goldberg's, an Auburn delicacy specializing in nachos and sandwiches of all sorts. I had a great time with the men, catching up with them and talking about life in Auburn. In typical college student fashion, we stood around in the parking lot for a solid 15 minutes trying to decide what to do next. And it was at that point that the men came to the conclusion we would go see Paranormal Activity 2. I did not know it at the time, but that was easily the worst decision I made all weekend. Ok gang, for the three of you who actually keep up with my blogs, you will recall from my previous blog about UCA I ended up watching The Strangers one night there. Might I remind you that I was sitting three to a couch and sharing a blanket with another man. Ipso facto - watching Paranormal Activity 2 in theaters was awful. Partly because the movie was so freaking scary and partly because I was staying with Clint Brown and he lives in a single-wide trailer which is also freaking scary. Thus we returned to his mobile abode and played Call of Duty for quite some time.

The next morning I awoke and got ready in my Auburn gear to go watch the LSU/Auburn game with the rest of the men. We had to walk through the seven layers of the candy cane forest to get there from where Clint parked, but eventually we made it. I had a blast getting to watch the game with those guys, it was a lot of fun. Some of them told me that the energy in the stadium was the best it has ever been. We left from the game to go wrap Toomer's corner in toilet paper, a famous Auburn tradition following a victory. The rest of the night consisted of Zaxby's and watching more college football, including an OU loss which was so maddening that Clint and I went back to play an inordinate amount of Call of Duty again.

I woke up that Sunday and got ready to go to church with a bunch of the guys and then go to lunch at none other than McAlister's. I am a huge McAlister's fan and any time I get to eat there is always a joy. Even better than just eating there was the fact that I held a few of my meetings with officers there. That Sunday was a beautiful day to sit outside, drink sweet tea and challenge the men in how they lead the chapter. We had officer meeting that evening in a fancy board room on campus and then we left to go to Momma Goldberg's again. It was quite an intellectual discussion ranging from topics like classic rock to the Patrick Swayze movie Red Dawn. Fun was had by all...and then Clint and I went back to his place to play more Call of Duty.

I awoke that Monday morning to begin meetings with a few more officers. I even got to have lunch at a restaurant called Jim Bob's which is probably the best knock off of Raising Cane's/Lane's/Zaxby's. It's owned by Christians who have Scripture references all over their restaurant and make a mean plate of chicken fingers. After Ryan Wade and I finished up eating at Jim Bob's, I went back on campus to meet with a potential pledge for the fall and then got to catch up with Auburn founding father, David Barnett. We had a great time catching up and I spent some time preparing my talk for chapter before going to meet the officers at Veggies To Go for dinner. I had been waiting for the past six months to eat their fried green tomatoes, but they were fresh out by time I ordered which was maddening. Dinner was great nonetheless and we went from there to chapter meeting at the Auburn chapel on campus. I encouraged the men and challenged them in my talk to serve BYX wholeheartedly and grow as a fraternity. They responded well and I even got to talk with a few of the men afterward about their role in the chapter. They also elected their 2011 officers that night and I had the honor of praying over them for the first time. It was a late night after everything was said and done, but not to worry, because Clint and I played Call of Duty until very late that night.

The next morning I woke up and met a bunch of the men for breakfast. We went to The Barbecue House and I invited the potential pledge I met with the day before. Breakfast was great and we had a good time talking about my visit among other things over a good meal. And from there I said my goodbyes and left to catch a plane back to Texas.

(Click on the picture to watch the great video update from the men of BYX at Auburn.)

Georgia Chapter Visit

2010-10-29T12:08:00.000-07:00

By Jason Hoyt
Executive Director

My flight took off from DFW after a 30 minute delay because of bad weather in Atlanta. Thankfully, I had plenty of time to get to Athens, Georgia before the 5:30 chapter meeting. UGA president, Chris Godfey, greeted me when I arrived on campus and we enjoyed catching up talking about the state of the Pi chapter and looking towards the future for the chapter and him. Chris is set to graduate in May 2011, so he is soaking up his last few months of leadership in BYX and looking forward to membership in his last semester. We talked about their formal last weekend in Hilton Head, South Carolina. Yes, you read that right. My formals back in the mid-1990’s were always in Dallas or Fort Worth. I would say that these men had much better location to enjoy their formal.

I headed for chapter about 5:00PM on Monday afternoon. Founding president, Jake Webster, dropped in on chapter this week to see me. It was awesome to reflect upon the early days of all that he and their founders had prayed for and now to see the reality of it come true. Georgia is the second chapter I worked with to start on campus and this was my first time back to campus since the Fall 2006. The chapter has grown tremendously to 85 active members and 31 pledges this semester. I had the privilege of speaking to them about the history of BYX, the vision of BYX and its root in the Gospel of Christ with a clear purpose of building brotherhood and unity in Christ. I answered questions from the brothers on the vision of Island Party and the origins of IP. All around it was very encouraging to see the chapter.

One aspect of growth within the chapter has been the intentionality of the brothers desiring to impact Greek Life. Last spring, the chapter started a worship gathering on campus they are calling “Greek Light”. The chapter invited many of their fellow believers involved with other frats and sororities on campus as a way to encourage them to live out their faith within their Greek houses. Last semester about 100 men and women attended. Monday night they held this semester’s Greek Light. About 250 men and women attended this time around. Testimonies were given from the newly elected homecoming king and queen who are involved in other Greek organizations. BYX chaplain, Justin Ely, spoke to the crowd with a message on John and his ministry paving the way to Christ. It truly was a joy to witness the BYX chapter making such an impact on the UGA campus.

Tuesday I spent the day meeting with current and newly elected officers. The chapter has some fine tuning to do in some areas, but by in large they are accomplishing the vision of BYX well with a healthy balance of intentional spiritual development of the brothers and the very active social calendar with many other organizations on campus. The future is looking very bright with the next group of leaders for 2011. The campus is very aware that BYX exists and the chapter should continue to fulfill its purpose well on the UGA campus.

Oklahoma Chapter Visit

2010-10-27T10:10:00.000-07:00

By Robert Bember
National Advisor

I’ve never gotten along with the state of Oklahoma. When my dad told me as a wee little lad that the only reason Texas didn’t fall into the Gulf of Mexico was because Oklahoma sucks, I believed him.

I found out first hand when I went to the OU-TCU football game in 2008. That was the year the Sooners had an unbelievable team led by Heisman Trophy winner Sam Bradford. They took it to us, and proceeded to lose to the fighting Tim Tebows in the National Championship Game. That left a bad taste in my mouth. To make matters worse, it took two-and-a-half hours to get out of Norman after the game, and we witnessed a guy get hit by a car. Not cool. The only injury I saw this week was a girl falling off her bike while texting. Good idea.

Once we got out of town after the game, we tried to find somewhere to eat, but everything was closed. The Golden Arches turned off while we were on the off ramp. It was a miserable five-hour trip home. Oklahoma became my sworn enemy.

This visit to Oklahoma was far more successful. I had a great time getting to know the men of the Kappa Chapter. I felt like the OU Chapter was probably the closest thing to my home TCU Chapter I’ve encountered so far. You never know what to expect, but you’re guaranteed to get a laugh out of the situation.

We’re getting to the point in the semester where you separate the men from the boys. It’s easy to be excited about being an officer in January and February when you’re just taking over. By now, the officers have been on the job for nearly a year. For President Aaron Bumgarner and Vice President Blake Sellers, it’s been two years. They’re tired. My challenge to all the officers was to finish strong.

I grabbed a bite to eat with the officers Sunday evening before chapter meeting. During dinner, I began to realize why they have had the problem of four-hour officer meetings. They have too much fun together. I don’t mean that in a bad way. They’ve done a great job together, but they remember that they’re brothers first and enjoy being together.

Pledge Trainers Travis Hill and Daniel Chargois had to take off early for pledge meeting. The dynamic duo is still going strong and has vastly improving pledgeship at the OU chapter. On top of weekly meetings, Travis and Daniel instituted pledge missions and spiritual challenges to be carried out during the week. The missions help bond the pledge class together as well as grow them spiritually. They’re making the pledge process fun and challenging. Pledgeship shouldn’t be easy. These guys should be pushed and feel like they’ve earned the right to be a member of Beta Upsilon Chi because it is a privilege. It’s not guaranteed. Both Travis and Daniel were nominated as president for 2011, and Daniel will be taking over. The way Travis put it, they’re pretty much the same person so he conceded to Daniel.

We headed to chapter meeting after I met with Treasurer Cody Quimby, who is apparently a stud basketball player as well as treasurer. The chapter holds meetings in the Santee Lounge, a nice club area in the upper levels of the OU football stadium. It was a cool place that really set the tone for chapter meeting. We spend enough time in lecture halls as students. Utilizing a location like the Santee Lounge is a nice change that gives the meeting more legitimacy.

After chapter meeting, I had the privilege of introducing myself to the 2011 Officer Corps for the Kappa Chapter. I was excited to get to know the future leadership of the chapter, so we set up meeting times for the next day with most of the officers. Coming on staff in July, I had to pick up these chapters and the 2010 officers in the middle of their terms. I had to establish relationships over the phone, and you can only do so much with that. It felt great to sit down, face-to-face, with the future of the chapter and start fresh.

This is the first chapter I’ve been to with the 2011 leadership in place. The energy that these guys are bringing to the table is awesome! It’s infectious. I can’t not be excited to work with these new guys, despite the fact that I love the current group. It’s hard when you’ve worked for four months to build relationships with a group of officers only to watch six out of 7 leave office after a semester and have to start over completely. I’m glad I put those concerns to rest.

It’s not about me or my feelings for these guys. It’s about what they’re going to do for the chapter. The passion they have for Christ and BYX was so evident in every conversation I had with them. I have no doubts whatsoever that they will pick up where the 2010 officers left off and continue making strides as a fraternity.

Texas Tech Chapter Visit

2010-10-27T10:01:00.000-07:00

By Robert Bember
National Advisor

As we prepared to land in Lubbock Monday afternoon, I wondered where Southwest Airlines was taking me. I had heard many stories of the immense flat nothingness that is Lubbock and much of west Texas, but I was still surprised as the plane began its decent into the middle of nowhere.

President Blake Roberson picked me up at the airport, where we saw a man grab a large, diamond plate tool box out of the baggage claim. Only in Lubbock, Texas. Driving into the “city,” Blake pointed out two buildings off to our right.

“That’s our skyline.”

So the LBK definitely wasn’t anything to write home about. Fortunately, the BYX chapter was.

I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect out of my Tech Boys. In talking to Blake this semester, I always get a laid back perspective of the chapter, whether he’s telling me about their pledge class of 20, the biggest in the chapter’s history, their annual barn dance, which drew 600 people, or that they’re having to make changes within their officer corps. He never, and the rest of the corps for that matter, seems affected by anything thrown his way. It’s just business as usual.

Like so many of the chapters I work with, the Eta Chapter sees the past mistakes of their chapter and is focused on moving the chapter past that. That starts, in large part, with the pledges. If you want change in a chapter, you raise up strong pledge classes and hope the dead weight graduates or drops. Pledge Captain Jess Tolles is doing his part to raise up new guys by developing new events and activities for the Texas Tech pledge process that will undoubtedly create an attitude of commitment from his pledges.

I was thoroughly impressed with each and every officer, so I’ll take a minute to brag on them. Kevin Reed always seems to go above and beyond in his duties as treasurer. Jess had told me he can typically tell you to the cent how much is in their bank account, and he proved that when the officers and I grabbed dinner at Spanky’s. Best fried cheese ever! Tyson Boatler recently took over as secretary and has meshed well with the rest of the group.

Vice President Scott Bryan provides a ton of service opportunities for the rest of the chapter. This chapter’s willingness to serve the community is unlike anything I’ve seen before. A group of actives is sleeping outside with homeless people as a show of support while the city tries to re-locate the homeless. The pledges each brought a Bible to chapter meeting with the intention of giving it to someone on campus. I was absolutely floored by this chapter’s desire to put others first and serve the Kingdom on their campus and in their community.

Since they’re operating without a chaplain, the officers appointed Andy Nichols as the chair of the prayer committee. Blake told me that they gave him plenty of freedom with the committee. Andy took the idea and ran with it by leading a weekly hour-long meeting prior to chapter meeting that functions like an open cell group. The men come together and dig into the Word. They then will discuss what they read and discuss what’s going on in each other’s lives. The display of brotherhood and unity in Christ that marks this chapter was truly something special to witness.

Nationals visits SMU and TCU

2010-10-26T13:38:00.000-07:00

So here I am enjoying the lovely fall weather in the lovely state of Colorado, when I have to hop a plane and head south. I soon found out that Texas does not share the same weather as Colorado. It was a little hotter and a bit more humid. As soon as Nick England picked me up at the airport I felt much better. It was so good to see friends that I only see over the computer screen most of the year. I went back to the BYX house that night and prepared for a full day at SMU.

The following morning I was blessed enough to spend time with the men at SMU for the second time. Over the last couple of semesters these men have grown in huge ways. This semester the men have really learned what unity really is. Watching the men break down barriers at chapter and speaking openly to one another was a huge blessing to see. Another thing that was great was meeting with all of the members who are interested in running for office. In the past there was not that much interest, but this year I met with at least ten guys who are passionate about stepping into leadership. I am always looking forward to spending time at SMU, not just because of their beautiful campus or nice fall weather, but to spend time with a chapter that is full of character and growth.

The next day I set off to TCU. As I stepped onto campus I could feel the pride that only comes with being ranked in the top 5. Throughout the day I not only met with all of the current officers, but with those running for office as well, and let me say the future of BYX looks great at TCU! As we neared chapter I prepared a few words for the guys, and then prepared to play dodgeball. I happened to come on cell group pairing night, after which everyone plays a huge game of dodgeball. We had a blast! At last the night was over after all of the sweating and bruising stopped. I headed back to the BYX house for a good nights sleep. It was a long few days, but days I always look forward to.

BYX Visits UCA

2010-10-19T09:05:00.001-07:00

By Nick England
National Advisor

They said it couldn't be done. They all scoffed in disbelief. "How can one man watch over two chapters in Arkansas! Not to mention make two visits to Arkansas in three weeks." But I was determined. I refused to believe their snide remarks and set out to The Natural State once again. This time to a different region of the state, the Central region, if you will. I caught a flight from DFW to Little Rock, Arkansas, capital of the only state with an active diamond mine and home of the cheese dog. Their newly elected VP, Chase Baggett, picked me up at the airport and we drove to Conway, Arkansas, home of the University of Central Arkansas, alma mater of American Idol winner, Kris Allen. My arrival was joyously received by a group of men incapacitated by college football and one Kane Moix, current president, studying away. We were all starving so one of the men suggest they take me to enjoy authentic Arkansas cuisine at which point we decided on China Town Super Buffet. After stuffing our faces with wontons and sugar biscuits we ventured back to the house to watch football for the rest of the day. Which none of us had any objection to. During commercials and between games we played Deadliest Warrior for PS3. And yes, by Deadliest Warrior I am referring to a video game based on the hit tv show on the wholesome network, Spike TV...epic. Even more epic was getting to teach the guys how to play jungle pong. They had a ping pong table in the garage, but Jeremy Flynn and Jeremy Wilson also had enough sound equipment to put on a reunion concert for Led Zeppelin. So we moved the ping pong table out of the garage and onto the driveway. Not sure if playing jungle pong outside at 1 in the morning in a residential neighborhood was my best idea. But was it awesome? Indeed it was. And what made a great day even better was a shut out by the Sooners and a Texas Rangers win!

The following day I had the opportunity to go to church with a few of the men. After which we decided to experience some more authentic Arkansas cuisine so we went to El Parian Mexican Restaurant. It was good except for the fact that it wasn't good at all. I now refuse to eat at a Mexican restaurant that charges $9 for the world's smallest burrito and which may or may not mean "the frog" based on their logo. We made our way back to the house starving and proceeded to play more jungle pong in the driveway. One item worth noting is that TJ Beringer, pledge captain, was the only one who had ever played jungle pong. Which one would think would have given him a leg up. However, it did just the opposite. TJ chose to play in his leather soled dress shoes and bit it on the driveway. As TJ's brothers we responded in uproarious laughter as he lay on the driveway in a pool of his own shame. so when we returned from Morale Regional Hospital and TJ's ego had a few stitches, we went inside to watch more football and play Deadliest Warrior. A little while later I decided it was probably time for me to actually meet with some of the officers seeing as that's part of the reason I came out there. Each of my meetings went very well that day and I had a great time catching up with each of the officers. Except for their secretary, Jeremy Flynn. We met in his room and he had so much dust accumulated on his fan that it would have been the Grand Canyon of dust. I wouldn't be surprised if dead skin cells and dander traveled from other houses to take a tour of this magnificent mass of dust. It was truly a work of art and an incredible display of apathy to have not cleaned it for so long.

That night I went out with a few of the officers and members to Brick Oven Pizza. We watched baseball and talked about the chapter over some great pizza. Following the first meal that was not entirely sugar based and actually filling, we went back to the house to start officer meeting. The officers at UCA have done a fantastic job with their chapter. They have lead honorably as well as pushed their men towards legitimacy on campus. It was a privilege to get to sit in on their officer meeting and watch the men at work as they strive to push their chapter. Following the officer meeting, a few of the guys were telling me about how cool the movie The Strangers was. To which I said, that sounds stoopid. That's right, stupid with two o's. They assured me it was not stoopid, so they showed me a trailer to which I responded with the exclamation that we would be watching it that night. Everyone went their separate ways to make sure to get things taken care of and Blake Jacobs and I went to get a ton of ice cream and toppings for watching the movie. We returned to the house at which point, Kane and I both admitted that we didn't really like scary movies, but that we would watch it. So we got our ice cream, closed all of the blinds, locked all of the doors, and sat 3 to a couch to watch The Strangers on blu-ray. I'm pretty sure Kane and I kept clutching each other throughout the movie but made it through. Then we all watched Spongebob afterward so that we'd be able to sleep that night. Or did we?

We awoke the next morning and something wasn't right. There was an eerie feeling in the house, almost musty. Then we heard TJ scream like a little girl and we all ran to Flynn's room. As it turned out he tried to clean his fan but the dust overpowered him. All that remained was a room full of dust, and a cold hand clutched around a Swiffer duster. Haha, just kidding! Everyone was fine and we all made it through the night. I began my day with a few more meetings, some more Deadliest Warrior matches as well as preparing for my address to the chapter that night. I rode to chapter meeting with Kane and we worked on getting everything set up. As people filed in and sat down, the officers began chapter meeting. They included me on a segment of Facebook Oopsies where they show a few slides of someone's Facebook pictures. They somehow picked a lot of funny pictures with good stories to tell from them. Shortly following Facebook Oopsies, I gave my chapter address and challenged the men to grow as men and serve BYX wholeheartedly. But there was more than just my address that evening at chapter as they also had officer elections. Everything went well and they even had a tie for president. The current officers handled everything very honorably and according to protocol and the newly elected officers chose the new president that evening. The two men who ran for president were by far two of the most devoted men and it was great to see their love for BYX and their love for one another through the entire process. I was unbelievably proud of the UCA chapter and their current officers for handling everything with so much prayer and dignity.

After chapter meeting that night, I video taped Kane and Kyle Boyd, treasurer, for their video update on the chapter. After the updates I had done previously, I decided to really challenge these guys and gave them a creative premise by which to film their update. We did it in two takes and it was a great success! Even though it was late, afterward we ate dinner at Stoby's a Conway favorite. Then Kane and I went back to the house, hung out with the guys, watched Planet Earth and went to bed. It was a great ending to one of my favorite chapter visits. I got on my plane the next day and as I reminisced of my trip to Conway, I realized that the men of BYX at UCA are my Deadliest Warriors.

(Click on the picture to view the awesome video update from the men of BYX at UCA.)

Nationals Visits Texas A&M

2010-10-13T10:32:00.000-07:00

Robert Bember

National Advisor

Last week I knocked out “Crazy Love” by Francis Chan. Typically, I like the idea of books, but when it comes down to actually reading one, I’m prone to dive into the first 100 pages or so and then let it collect dust on a shelf. “Crazy Love” really grabbed me and challenged me. Plus, my trip to Vandy gave me a good bit of flight time to do some reading.

Chan used a great analogy to describe our walk with Christ. He compares our relationship to an escalator going down. If you’re just standing still, than you are back-sliding. Instead, we need to keep running forward, making a little progress at a time, all the while, drawing some strange looks from bystanders as we plug along. As a Christian and someone who has run up an escalator the wrong way, I can appreciate the analogy.

What I saw during my visit to Texas A&M brought to mind this comparison. The men of the Gamma Chapter do many things well. They have a large pledge class, a solid campus presence and strong leaders in office prepared to turn control over to more capable leaders. Still, the officers keep running up the escalator.

They know they’re not perfect. They have their share of flaws, but they’re not ready to accept them as who they are. Complacency is a disease. We can be so quick to take a break and pat ourselves on the back, and the next thing we know we’re standing at the bottom of the escalator.

The first night of my visit, we met at Dr. Sean Mcguire’s house. Dr. Mcguire is the faculty advisor for BYX at A&M, as well as a former member of the Gamma Chapter. His wife was kind enough to provide us with a home-cooked meal while trying to get their two small children to bed at the same time. It was a great opportunity to get to know the guys personally and see how they interact with each other, with the exception of chaplain Max Heller, who blamed his mom for making him late.

We chased down the lasagna with a tall glass of officer meeting. This was my fifth visit, but this was the first time I have gotten to sit in on an officer meeting. I was able to learn a lot about the chapter and the officers during that hour-and-a-half. I dodged a bullet this week because I was told these meetings have gone 3 and 4 hours in the past.

The officers had their share of healthy disagreements in their decision-making process. When we talk about iron sharpening iron, we have to understand that it is a rough process. The metal collides and the sparks fly, but, in the end, we’re much improved. When you put six men with six different personalities in the same room, this head-butting is inevitable. I would have been more concerned if they weren’t challenging each other. As president Jeremy Rathbun described the situation, it’s like they’re looking at a homeless man and wondering if they should help him put on his pants or jacket first. They’re all working toward the same goal. They just have different methods of getting there.

Monday morning meant long hours at Barnes and Noble doing one-on-ones with my officers. They can turn into a grind when you’re having very similar conversations about BYX over and over, but Max kept me on my toes by taking me down to Best Buy to look at TVs. It is such a blessing to sit down and hear these guys’ hearts and where they come from. To wrap up my conversations, I try to pray with my guys. I have trouble praying for every officer, by name, every day. So to sit with them and pray personally for them has meant a lot to me.

I had some time to get worked by pledge captain Colton Brooks in disc golf that afternoon. Fortunately for him and his Chacos, he only had to wade through a muddy wooded area once looking for my disc. My short game is what killed me though. The round of frolf made me realize how much I missed the random sports I could play at any point in time during college. But any time I get to spend in my officers’ worlds is a good time.

I capped off my visit with pledge meeting followed by chapter meeting. I loved that the pledges all have white BYX polos and the actives black. It was a very clean and distinguished look. Only one word can really describe their dress code, and that word is “legit.” They look every bit the part of the social fraternity we are. I felt like something as simple as matching shirts was a great show of unity. Little things can go a long way, and the dedication of this chapter to make those major and minor tweaks should reap great rewards in the coming semesters.

Nationals Visits SAU

2010-10-12T14:00:00.000-07:00

By Nick England
National Advisor

I shoulda known it was about that time again to go see them boys out in Magnolia, Arkansas. It had been so long since I was out there, I just 'bout furgot what they looked like. So I made all the necessary arrangements to make my way east. I was gonna rent a car to get out there, but that was about the time they done told me about bed racin'. Now, I may not be the sharpest knife in the drawer, but I ain't never heard uh no bed racin' in a million years. Their president, Chad Ward and I shoot the breeze quite a bit. We've got a real nice deal set up with two soup cans each tied to a string and we talk through that 'bout every week. It was durin one of our talks that Chad says to me, "Nick, you mean to tell me you're 24 years old and you ain't never heard uh bed racin'!" I was so embarrassed I felt about as smart as a bag uh hammers. But I went on tuh ask Chad 'bout bed racin' and he explained it like this...you get a bed frame and weld on an axle to attach some bike tires to. Then you add some poles out the sides and throw a mattress on and you've got yerself a good old fashion bed race. The way I see it is you and three other boys race 'em like a Flintstone-mobile. So I looked into rentin' a bed to get out there in style, but Hertz just said they were plumb out.

So I drive out there and meet those boys for dinner at a fine Italian restaurant. And wouldn't you know it, they hadn't seen me in so long, they didn't know my hair was long! Chad walked in and gave me a look like I had squirrels jumpin outa my ears. But he got over it and we all ate supper together and talked about BYX. After we finished eatin, we made our way over to the library so I could sit in on officer meeting. They went and found the smallest room they could. We was squarshed in there like a bunch uh coon hounds in a burlap sack. But the meetin' went well and we talked a good bit about the future uh BYX at SAU. We left there and those men dropped my off at my hotel so I could hit the sack before I started my full day out there.

I woke up the next day and ate some breakfast tuh get ready for the day. Then I hopped in the car and drove up tuh campus to start my first meetin'. All of my meetins went well that day, except for Chris, their chaplain. His phone works about as well as a donkey with two rear ends. I must'a called him half a dozen times trying to find him, but that just wasn't to be. Lucky for me though, lunch was next on the agenda. So I went to Miller's Cafeteria for lunch with a few of the guys, Chris being one of them. When I saw him, we had us a little chat about his phone never workin, but he insisted it worked fine! So we solved the problem and got him a soup can and some string for us to talk through from now on. But back to Miller's Cafeteria...I love going there. I just get worried because it's not exactly a place you'd take your kids on account of the cashier is one shady desperado. He tells me it costs 5 dollars, but every time I'll hand him 3 or 4 Washington's and he'll just let me on my way. So we filled up the ole' tank at Millers and got a chance to talk about BYX stuff among other things with a few guys. Then we left so I could go start my meetins up again. They all went well that day and I was very proud uh them boys and the job they's doin. Until at one point I went and saw where they lived. Wouldn't you know it, they went and applied to live next to each other in the dorms? So they put all those BYX guys down in some sort of a dungeon. It was so shady, the cashier at Miller's woulda thought twice before goin down there. But I made it out alive.

So that evening, by request, I went to the Flying Burger with a few guys. We had a good ole time and the burgers were mighty tasty. Except for the fact that they were so greasy you could see your face in the patty! They were so greasy that roly polies could use it as a slip 'n slide. Lucky for me, there weren't any roly polies, so we ate up and made our way over to chapter meetin.

Those BYX guys sure did find a great place for chapter. They meet in a church building that has just about everything a man could want. They had a ping pong table, a pool table, a foosball table, air hockey, the x box and a Big Red hog on the wall to top it off. So naturally we played ourselves a game of jungle pong. You shoulda seen us, we looked like a flock uh turkeys chasin a tom cat. But the fun just couldn't last forever, so we went in to start chapter. That was the night they held their speeches for officer positions. They sure did do a good job and I felt mighty good about the future of their chapter.

At the end of that night, it was time for me to get on back to the hotel tuh get in bed. We had such a good time that day, but I sure did need to get some sleep for the next day. I had to mosey on back tuh Texas early the next mornin on account uh they wanted me tuh get that car back by noon. I woke up so early the rooster was still asleep! Then I grabbed me some breakfast and made it out on the road.