Brad Crow said he wanted to offer something different to the student body.
Crow, senior exercise science major, recently started a bible study group on
campus called R-12. Standing for Romans 12 from the Bible and stemming from a video series led by Chip Ingram, Crow found a calling.
“I called a buddy for his birthday and I suddenly felt called to do something more for students,” Crow said. “It was a thought straight from God. It wasthe most awesome feeling in the world.”
Crow said he heard about the video series from another student and wanted to do something fresh on campus.
“It’s a outlook by someone outside of campus,” he said.
The group of about 30 students meets every Monday night at 9 p.m. to watch a video and have discussion related to the video. Crow says all the videos are moderated by Chip Ingram and are dealing with different verses of Romans 12.
The videos come with a book of questions and worksheets for participants to have during discussion.
“I like that it is led by a video that goes into a deep reveling of God’s word and provides alternatives to follow God’s will,”
Sophomore Vincent Sawyer, religion and accounting majors said.
After the video, discussion groups are formed into a male group and a female group. Crow said groups are formed this way so people will feel more comfortable talking about personal issues.
“A lot of times guys won’t talk about what they are going through in front of girls and vice versa,” Crow said. “But the guys and the girls share similar struggles.”
Crow said the groups aren’t limited to discussion over the video, he said they
often tell personal stories and relate the topics to real life.
“The videos and discussions where the students are open with each other and share personally what they have been through are good stories to hear,” Sawyer said.
Crow said that sometimes discussion will go on for hours if people still want to talk or have something to say.
“I really like the discussion after the video because it’s in-depth discussion that you wouldn’t normally have,” Senior Rachel Zamaitis, elementary education major said.
Crow said he also wanted to give the students something that wasn’t related to Christian Ministries.
“Sometimes students might be scared or intimidated by Christian Ministries, I wanted to make this different,” he said. “We have a very diverse group of students who come to learn about God.”
Other students notice this difference as well. “It’s unique because it isn’t tied to any other organizations and it includes people from all kinds of backgrounds,” Zamaitis said. “I’ve met students that I normally would not have crossed paths with.”