Assembly of God NEWS #2053: February 8, 2012The Non-Theist Society at Purdue University recently held a provocative fundraiser called the "Send an Atheist to Church" food drive. Apparently recognizing that churches and Christian groups are the target audiences when it comes to raising money for the needy, the group promised they would attend a service of whichever church or Christian student organization donated the most money to its food drive for Food Finders (a local pantry).
"Our students seized the opportunity and together donated more than $300 to win the challenge," says Linda Seiler, director of the Chi Alpha group at Purdue. "That's the most money any group on campus has given since the food drive began several years ago."
Seiler says that they invited the Non-Theist Society to attend the January 13th meeting - the first Friday night meeting of the semester. She says she was only expecting a few to show, but the president of the group said he had been impressed by the enthusiasm of Chi Alpha and had encouraged his entire group to come.
With Chi Alpha students warmly welcoming and intermingling with non-theist members, Seiler says there was little doubt God had orchestrated the event. "When worship began, it was powerful as the presence of God was undeniable," Seiler says. "The students couldn't stop praising God for His goodness. Waves of His presence washed over us again and again. . . what better argument for the existence of God than His tangible presence manifesting among us?"
Following worship, Seiler spoke on the goodness of God based on Genesis 3 and the gospels. "The non-theists were incredibly attentive, and there were moments where I could tell God was speaking directly to them," Seiler says. After the message, students were to divide into groups to talk for 10 minutes or so, but those conversations continued until Seiler had to close the room for the evening.
After the meeting, the president of the non-theist group approached Seiler. "He told me he loved it (the meeting and that he had never been anywhere where he felt such passion in the room, especially during worship," Seiler says. "He said, 'I know I experience it in a different way than you do, but when you all were singing songs, I could tell it was powerful."
Another non-theist group member showed Seiler a list of questions he now had and wanted to know if he could join a Chi Alpha Life Group to talk more; a third non-theist met with a Chi Alpha intern a week later to ask more questions.
"I recently learned that one of our Chi Alpha members started attending the Non-Theist Society meetings in order to maintain a connection with them," Seiler says. "The young man is a former atheist and has a heart for reaching people for Christ - and he's inviting them to attend "The Problem of God Symposium" we're helping to host later this month."
Seiler says that she is excited about the possibilities and the doors that have opened to communicate the gospel to students. "Many of these students are hearing and experience the gospel message for the very first time in their lives," Seiler says. "We're praying that the seeds planted with come to fruition in the lives of Nick and the rest of the non-theists."
For more information about the Chi Alpha at Purdue, see http://www.xapurdue.com. To learn more about the national Chi Alpha program, see http://www.ChiAlpha.com.
--Dan Van Veen
