The Impact of ServeUP: Quotes from Students

Students working on a house in New Orleans during KRUP 2011

Below are a few quotes about the impact of ServeUP on students' lives:

“I love the thoughtful atmosphere here and the fact that we’re able to talk about deep things. This ‘Gospel’ - is that what you call it? - is so practical! I want to tell my roommate about it. - Sophomore student from Middlebury College. 

“Before this trip, I never took Christians or Christianity seriously.”
Amherst College student who, following ServeUP, began meeting weekly with her InterVarsity staff to read the Bible for the first time in her life.

“I was raised Catholic and had been exploring the meaning of faith, coming to Endicott Christian Fellowship and asking lots of questions. For me, ServeUP was the final step in putting my faith in Jesus. It was like the domino that knocked all the others over. Now I want to live as though I believe in Jesus.”
Jennifer, Endicott College

"It was incredible to hear so many diverse stories of God working in these people's lives, no matter what they were going through. I was also able to make strong connections with the seven other Harvard students on the trip, and together I feel like we have been able to bring a piece of ServeUP back to our campus. I feel like I caught a glimpse of the Kingdom of God on this trip, and I am so excited to be able to help others back at school see that too. ServeUP has changed the way I view service, community, and my relationship with God. I've always focused all my attention on the present and how I am walking with God day by day. But now, I look forward to the day when God restores our broken world and relationships, and we might be able to live in perfect love with one another.”
Jenny, Harvard University

“I grew up without religion so I thought that it might be too late to have faith in God. This week [on ServeUP] is reassuring because I realize it’s not too late to begin.”
Middlebury Freshman

“My experience in New Orleans was unique and life changing.  Nowhere else have I had the opportunity to see and learn about so much suffering and injustice while hearing about God’s love and heart for justice at the same time. To be able to wrestle with these things alongside my fellow students and people from the community who endured hurricane Katrina was eye opening. This trip shed a new light on what it means to be the hands and feet of Christ on this earth and allowed me to live out this call.”
Kevin, Northeastern University

“ServeUP has been an absolutely integral part of planting a chapter at Southern Maine Community College. It has provided a consistent program in the midst of the very inconsistent, transitional, commuter culture, and it has also provided a meaningful service at a campus that does not have anything else like it! In fact, ServeUP is so effective at engaging a diversity of students that SMCC administrators have recognized its impact, even awarding it as "program of the year" in 2014. I am truly thankful for the effectiveness of ServeUP for outreach to new members, engagement of cynics, discipleship of leaders, and to conversion.”
Joel Wentz, Area Director, IVCF Portland, ME