History and Purpose

by Jay Sutherland (ja y _su t he r lan d ©REMOVE THIS PHRASE·y a h o o · c o m )

Recently I met a Cornell Grad IV friend for ice cream at a local restaurant. After a while the conversation turned to the way Grad IV works here at Cornell and why we're organized the way we are. Early on in our discussion I realized that there's much about our group's history, vision and structure that isn't obvious to people who have joined in the past year or two. Since I earnestly believe that someday I'll graduate from Cornell, it seems worthwhile to put into words the process of change and growth we've gone though over the past four years while I'm still around. I apologize for any oversights or errors I've made in sumarizing past events and attitudes--I can only speak from my own vantage point. I do welcome comments on anything I've written.

Fall 1990/Spring 1991 -- Background

I started grad school at Cornell in the Fall of 1990. There was a large undergrad InterVarsity group here, so I got involved and joined a Bible study. I spent some time looking around the Ithaca area for grad-oriented fellowship groups in local churches, but didn't find anything that I really "clicked" with. There were about five grads involved with IV at that time, but most of us were in different Bible studies and didn't have much interaction with each other. My Bible study had several really cool undergrads in it, but I always felt there was only so much they could relate to when I shared some of my frustration over finding an advisor, choosing a research topic and teaching. I don't know, maybe it was also an age difference thing. During the Spring semester I co-led a IV Bible study with Jeff Minch, an undergrad from the Fall semester Bible study.

Summer 1991 -- Beginnings

When Summer came I continued the Spring semester Bible study with a mix of grads and undergrads that remained on. A new student to the group, Peck Bee Lim, had just transfered from the University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign, where there was a large Graduate InterVarsity group. She encouraged us to think about starting a Grad InterVarsity group here at Cornell. We had several small prayer meetings over the Summer where we focused on God's leading for ways to minister to the unique needs of graduate students. We also prayed about the formation of a new graduate InterVarsity group at the Cornell Grad/Faculty Electrical Engineering/Computer Science prayer group.

Fall 1991/Spring 1992 -- Grad Life Bible Study

I was originally signed up to co-lead an undergrad IV Bible study, but I suggested to the Exec (IV lingo for the group of students that leads a given IV chapter) that I was willing to lead a Grad Bible study if there were enough interested grad students. At the first large group meeting of the semester God blessed us with eleven new people: eight grad students and three people who were working in the Ithaca area and looking for Christian fellowship. We called ourselves the Grad Life Bible Study, with the Life part emphasising both the idea that Grad students should actually have a life while we're in school, and that our group included both Grad students and people a little further along in life (i.e. real worlders.)

We met once a week at 201 Stewart Avenue, and spent the Fall semester studying the book of Joshua. On Friday nights many of us attended the InterVarsity large group meetings and participated in worship and social activities. We also spent a fair bit of time getting to know one another better by going out for ice cream after Bible studies and hanging out together at other times of the week. Closeness in the group was also fostered by two of our non-student members who were older and living away from their families while working at Cornell. We also benefited from the Godly wisdom they brought to the group. Many people in the group went through tough personal times that first year, but fortunately not all on the same week. We were witnesses to clear and dramatic answers to prayers in our prayer time after Bible study--so much so that when people would make prayer requests, for, say, finding an apartment to live in, we'd jokingly ask, Are you SURE you want an apartment, and not a house?, and One bedroom or two? Our Bible study also participated in several Habitat for Humanity work days and supported Ithaca Pregnancy Center, a local Crisis Pregnancy Center. By the end of the Spring semester we'd grown to fourteen members, and seen the engagement of our first group couple.

Summer 1992 -- Splitting

Our growth in size continued on into the Summer. Early on it became clear that the quality of Bible study discussion time and intimacy during prayer time were on the decline. Through the school year I'd formed a strong friendship with Rob Ghrist, a first-year grad student who was President of his IV chapter in his undergrad days. We talked about the size-related problems we saw developing in the group, and decided that a split into two Bible study groups was the only way to continue to grow. Rob was willing to lead the other Bible study group.

We presented our idea to the rest of the group, with mixed response. Many feared they would lose the intimacy they enjoyed with the entire group, but we argued that a larger Bible study group would eventually suffer from a loss of intimacy anyway. In the end everyone agreed to at least give it a try. On Bible study nights we would initially all meet together for worship in my living room, and then we'd break into two groups for Bible study and prayer. To make things less threatening, we didn't assign people to Bible study groups. Instead we allowed people to attend which ever one they wanted from week to week, and examined the same passage in both studies. After a few weeks the initial opposition to splitting disappeared and both groups benefited from better discussion times.

Fall 1992 -- Grad Life Bible Studies

Over the Summer Rob and I decided that to allow for growth we would try to start another Bible study in the Fall. We asked Micheal Donaldson if he would be willing to lead a Bible study as well as joining Rob and I in leading the group and organizing large group activities for all the Bible studies. We called ourselves Grad Life Bible Studies to attract Grad students and clearly indicate what our group was about, and at the bottom of our fliers we'd put a line indicated that we were affiliated with Cornell InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. Our relationship with the undergrad group changed that year; we were no longer effectively under the undergrad Exec, and fewer grads attended the undergrad Friday night Large Group Meetings and other social activies than in the previous year. To fill the void we planned occational large group socials and on her own initiative, Dawn Aldridge started holding monthly Large Group Worship meetings at her home. In time we became known to ourselves and others as Grad IV, which is short for Cornell InterVarsity Christian Fellowship -- Graduate Chapter.

Attempts made at finding one ministry activity that appealed to most people in the group were rather unsuccessful. A new approach was tried where we surveyed members asking if they would be interested in heading up or getting involved in some specific ministry. The collected information was then summarized and presented to the group. The idea was to spread the responsibility around, recognizing that no one person had time to organize all the activites. The idea wasn't a smashing success, but it did display a leadership approach that Rob and I held to strongly--the idea of solving big problems though massive delegation. Both of us had seen close friends in our undergrad IV chapters become burned out by heaps of responsibility, and we made a point of doing as little as possible and trying to get others involved as much as possible. As a result, none of us on leadership experienced the burn out we feared.

One big problem with the group was handling communication. No one was crazy about calling thirty people when organizing a social, and we tried to simplify things by having important messages passed to Bible study leaders, who were in turn responsible for passing them on to group members. That worked for the most part, but there were always people who fell through the cracks.

Spring 1993 -- New Ideas

In February several Cornell Grad IV members attended a retreat in New Hampshire. Late one evening a number of us discussed the organization and leadership of our group. It was not really obvious to regular Bible study members that Rob, Mike and I were responsible for group leadership, let alone that we had a purpose and direction for the group. Many good questions and ideas were raised about our future organization and direction. Throughout the rest of the semester issues of group purpose and structure were the subject of many informal meetings by various group members, and Rob, Mike and I agreed that changes in structure would be required if we were to grow.

Summer 1993 -- Reformation

In July about a dozen of us headed to South Kent, Connecticut for a weekend retreat at Kathy Miller's family estate, with the goal of formulating a new Grad IV vision and structure that would allow for growth and address our concerns. The weekend consisted of three parts (1) determining our vision, (2) establishing a structure that would impliment the vision, and (3) matching up our personal interests with various positions within the structure. Ard Louis brought some useful information on how other Grad IV chapters had organized, and combined with our own input, we developed a vision and structure that suited our needs. Our vision placed highest priority on Spiritual Development (Bible studies, discipleship, prayer), but also contained emphasis on Community (large group worship and socials), Outreach (evangelism and personal ministries) and Integration of and Learning (Quest and retreats).

Our structure reflected the vision in form: We established a four-person leadership team, with each person responsible for encouraging a different part of the vision, and no President, to further encourage cooperation among leadership members. Like before, the role of leadership was to guide through delegation not overloading ourselves. The emphasis on Spiritual Development would show through our calendar: Weekly Bible studies, weekly prayer meetings, monthy Large group worship, socials and ministry activites, and bi-weekly Quest meetings.

Regarding Quest, it was felt that the person in charge of Integration of Faith and Learning should be required to be on the Quest planning committee, but not chairperson, in effect providing a constant liason between our group and Quest (which is a group entirely separate from Grad IV, and directed by the Quest planning committee.)

We ended the Connecticut retreat by finding people for each leadership position (Community: Kathy Johnson (now Miller), Outreach: Ard Louis, Integration of Faith and Learning: Stephen Miller, Spiritual Development/ Bible study coordinator: Jay Sutherland.)

Over the summer the leadership group, along with others, met frequently to discuss how each of our areas would be encouraged. The communication problems we'd faced in the past were addressed by encouraging group members to use e-mail to keep up to speed on group announcements and activities. Towards the end of the Summer we organized New Student Outreach for incoming Fall semester Grad Students, which included a picnic at Watkin's Glen, a barbque cookout and an ice cream social.

Fall 1993/Spring 1994 -- Cornell Graduate InterVarsity Chapter

Thanks to a large number of new graduate students, in the Fall semester we had seven Bible studies. The leadership group met for lunch and meeting about every other week at the Big Red Barn. Jeremy Clark and Rob Ghrist also attended and provided useful insight. For the most part, things went as planned. With monthly worship meetings and socials, much of the organizational burden was on Kathy's shoulders. Pressures were lightened by dividing worship and social activites up among the Bible studies, allowing Bible study group members to work together in serving the rest of the group. This approach worked well, and it continues to be a good method for spreading the load around.

Summer 1994 -- Evaluation

In late May/early June we met twice as a large group to evaluate how things in Grad IV had gone in the previous year, and address concerns over changes in group vision and structure. In the first meeting we discussed the vision we formed in Connecticut and highlighted what we had done well and what we had not done well. In the second meeting a summary of the comments from the first meeting were used to make changes in the group structure and define job descriptions for various positions. We then solicited commitments from those present in filling open positions. The new leadership group consisted of the following people: Spiritual Development/Bible study coordinator: Allan Willms, Community: Karen Geissinger, Integration of Faith and Learning: David Williamson, Outreach: Ard Louis. Some leadership group positions also had co-coordinators. The same approach was taken in encouraging Bible studies to have two co-leaders so the leadership load is shared.

Fall 1994/Spring 1995 -- Cornell Grad IV

New Student Outreach brought more new people, and we had five Bible studies and two International Bible studies. As for the rest of the activites of the Cornell Grad IV group, are they not written in the WWW Cornell Grad IV Chronicles? (Well, we're working on it...)

Last updated April 2, 2007
Please address comments and suggestions to Steve Hicks (s d h3 3©REMOVE THIS PHRASE·c o r n el l · edu)