After putting a lot of thought into
which club meeting to attend, I decided to focus on the Christian Student
Fellowship club, better known as CSF. I chose CSF because it is almost a
surreal presence on campus and seems “cult like” to many who aren’t participants.
Although it is a Christian organization, it seems to have an omnipresent
feeling not only because they are worshiping an all knowing God, but also
because they have activities going on all over campus where everyone is
invited. Believers, nonbelievers, everyone. They are known for having some of
the most exciting activities on campus including a World Record holding water balloon
fight, and several enormous parties throughout the year. I wanted to explore
their club and attend a few of their meetings because I was curious to see how
different they were internally at their than the way they presented themselves externally
at the larger events.
(Via: CSF Facebook page
On Tuesday night
I attended SHIFT, a CSF meeting specifically for freshman. I chose to go to
this meeting instead of one of their other meetings because not only am I a
freshman and I can relate to the others but because this must be the source of
CSF power. They seem to really reach out specifically to freshman to let them
know that there is a world outside of the 'party school' lifestyle (parties, drinking, drugs,
sex). I think that the SHIFT program is how CSF really keeps and furthers their
presence on campus because they get the freshman to come to their big fun
events and then convince them to come to a SHIFT meeting and are able to form a
community.
When I
walked into the CSF building on Woodland on Tuesday I immediately felt
welcomed. I walked into small entrance where three hipster youth in their
beanies, flannel shirts, skinny jeans, and wallabies were standing to engage me
with a random “get to know you question” and a nametag. I ended up talking to a
staff member/leader named Blake who went on to talk to me most of my time at
CSF. The Lexington native and I talked about things such as concerts we had
been to and bands we liked. We ended up making a connection when he told me he
had seen Mumford & Sons at a venue that is very near to my home in Knoxville.
Through our Knoxville connection we started talking about one of the other
leaders in CSF who is from Knoxville and a mutual friend, I told Blake that ‘Tater’
Cunningham was how I originally found out about CSF. Blake asked me if I had
been to SHIFT before and I told him that I told him that the last time I walked
away with an unclear understanding of the goal of CSF and of SHIFT so he explained,
“[the goal of] SHIFT is to provide a place to ‘hangout’ [with other people
seeking similar things].” I continued to talk to Blake extensively and he
walked me through their other programs such as Synergy and their Bible Studies.
While we
talked, we slowly filtered into a line of other SHIFT attendees that consisted
of other freshman as well as upperclassmen leaders including our mutual friend
Tater easily distinguishable by his loud and outgoing personality. This line
took us from a mostly empty room upstairs with only a sofa and bar where soda
was being served, down the stairs, and into a room filled with mismatched sofas
that looked to have been picked up from local thrift/vintage stores, a large
projection screen (where the meeting could be viewed if there was over flow
from the main room upstairs). Downstairs there was a buffet line of Mexican food
that had been provided by a local church. After we got our food, we headed back
upstairs and took a seat in the largest room in the building that was filled
with students, leaders, tables, chairs, a stage, and all the accompanying accouterments.
(Via: CSF website
After
eating for a few minutes in spotty silence with Blake and an awkward icebreaker
about parties we had been to, a blonde college student took the stage and told
the croup about upcoming events taking place with in CSF both long term and
short term including information about spring break trips run by CSF. Once she
had finished, the late 20 something speaker, also in his flannel shirt and
skinny jeans, took the stage where he spent about forty minutes talking on the
first night of a series called “College Myths.” His specific topic of the night
was on college parties and that he felt that God wanted us to parties. Somehow
he went from that straight into talking about the Trinity (I’m still not clear
what transition lead us from the Final Four riots last year to that point) and
had several member of SHIFT stand and talk about what they understood of God,
the Holy Spirit and Jesus.
Once the
speaker finished praying for the group, a different blonde college student to
the stage and restated the announcements from the beginning of the service. After the meeting many members stayed after to
talk and mingle with one another, really giving the sense of community that CSF
does a really good job of portraying to the rest of campus. I stayed after to
talk to Tater more about CSF. I wanted to talk to him about it specifically because
he truly loves CSF and really believes in its power. I asked him the same
question I asked Blake, and he told me that CSF’s goal was to “love
unconditionally… to love the students of the University of Kentucky into the
Kingdom of God… [although we do] serve others in the community, our main group
that we focus on is college students.” I also asked Tater if he thinks that the
community within CSF at events like Synergy and small groups differ between the
events like the water balloon fight and their parties, he responded “We bring in people
from all walks of life, social classes, styles, majors, etc. For our water
balloon fight we bring in anyone and everyone; parties anyone and everyone is
welcome; events like synergy any one is welcome; and small groups again anyone is
welcome. For pancakes every Friday night we consistently are serving both
Christians and non-Christians. We have Jocks, Nerds, Hipsters, Rock, Black,
White, Oriental, Arabic, and many other types of people come through our doors
and they are always shown love.” Because Tater is so involved in CSF I
was also curious about what got him originally involved and what made him
decide that he wanted to take on a bigger role and become a leader as well. “I got involved at
CSF because I found it to be a home. The campus ministries have a good way of
making sure you get plugged in at the campus ministry that brings you closest
to God. CSF happened to the one that fit that. All I ever see at CSF is love
for this campus. That is what got me involved. Sure CSF does a lot of cool
events but the fact that it is not for popularity but to further the Kingdom of
God on this campus is what made me fall in love with it. I became a leader
because I wanted to grow closer to God in a core group (small group bible study
for the leaders), and to serve as I had been served and love as I had been
loved. God loves me and he has such an abundant love that it overflows from me
so instead of wasting that love. Why not show it to those who don't realize how
much God loves them.” After my lengthy talk with Tater I left with a sense of
how much true community CSF really is, not just a gathering of people, but an
ever growing family and not as ‘cult like’ as other on campus may view them.
(Pictured: 'Tater' Cunningham
Via: Facebook
