ODU InterVarsity Leadership
“For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life” – Mark 10:45
A Word about Leadership
The Gospel is the good news that God has come in Jesus and taken on the form of a servant, to lose His
life that we might gain true life. The invitation to leadership is an invitation to follow in His steps, to lose
our lives that we might find them in Jesus. It is more about our discipleship than our achievements; it is
more about becoming like Christ than it is about what we think we can or cannot do. All good leadership
is real sacrifice-- sacrifices of time, energy, and love. But if this is where the Lord is calling you, Scripture
promises that in your obedience, you will meet Jesus, and in meeting Jesus, you will know life.
Our Vision
In response to God’s love, grace and truth, we desire to recognize and reveal God’s glory by loving Him
and loving His people. We believe that our love for God is expressed through:
1. Worship
2. Prayer
3. Scripture
4. Discipleship
We are dedicated to pursuing these expressions of our love for God.
Furthermore, we recognize that our love for God’s people is an expression of our love for Jesus Christ.
We believe that our love for God’s people is demonstrated through:
1. Fellowship
2. Multi-Ethnicity
3. Evangelism / Outreach
4. Missions
We are dedicated to pursuing these expressions of our love for God’s people.
The Commitment
Accepting a position on leadership implies commitment to several things. The first is that you would be
actively pursuing your own relationship with the Lord; your first commitment is to Him always. On
leadership, this includes commitment to pray regularly for the chapter and the campus. Secondly, you are
committing to being a significant part of this community. This includes being a regular presence at large
group, small group, leadership meetings, and other chapter events. We ask you to prioritize your
attendance at all InterVarsity retreats and conferences. We ask that you not take on any sort of
leadership position in any other Christian campus organization while on leadership with InterVarsity, so
that your time and service are not stretched too thin.
There is also a commitment to standards / code of conduct that we will ask you to sign once you come
onto leadership. It deals with some lifestyle issues that are important for us to address: alcohol and drugs,
relationships within the community, living situations, and sex outside of marriage. We take these things
seriously as they affect you in serious ways and will influence those around you.
We will ask you to sign a Statement of Agreement, compiled and affirmed by InterVarsity at the national
level, which is meant to be an ecumenical, interdenominational proclamation of Christian doctrine. We
ask you to read and consider it carefully, and to only sign this document if you can do so in good
conscience.
The Positions
Crash Team
This is a group of creative servants and articulate visionaries who will assist the Crash coordinator(s) in
planning weekly large group gatherings, and in serving however necessary during large group. The team
meets weekly to plan creative ways to communicate to the chapter and campus about the heart of God
and how we might respond to Him. Needs here include helping with technical/sound equipment, creating
and running slides, making and distributing announcement flyers, publicizing large group, organizing postCrash events (Aftermath) and helping make people feel welcome at Crash.
Worship Team
The worship team is made up of leaders and worshipers in the community who lead us—through music
and other creative venues—into God’s presence, and call us to respond to Him rightly. Weekly, this
means attending regular team practices, and creating a worshipful space at Crash. The team also leads
worship at retreats.
Small Group Leaders
Small groups are communities of authentic friendships where students gather around Scripture and
prayer to grow in their understanding of the Gospel and their own relationship with Jesus. Small groups
are committed to outreach, by inviting friends to join in small group activities, and by organizing ways to
serve the campus and/or local community. In most cases, small group leaders will work in pairs to co-lead
a weekly men’s or women’s Bible study and to care for small group members as they grow in Christ. Pairs
meet weekly to plan small group, and each leader meets regularly with at least one small group member
for the purpose of discipleship. Small group leaders are bold, relatable gatherers, who are committed to
loving and serving their small group, and who encourage and challenge small group members to pursue
Jesus.
Vision Team
These individuals are leaders of leaders, tasked with holding the chapter to its vision. They do a
combination of administration and shepherding for the chapter and have both logistical and spiritual
components. They commit to being in honest dialogue over and earnest prayer for our community and
our campus. They collaborate with staff in planning New Student Outreach, retreats, and leadership
meetings, and launching other activities like service opportunities and times of corporate prayer. Vision
team members are other-focused servants, giving of their time and energy to further the vision of
InterVarsity at ODU.
Crash Coordinator(s) – organizes a coherent and purposeful Crash program; communicates with potential
speakers; leads weekly Crash Team meetings; coordinates announcements and/or handouts for the
week; acts as emcee for Crash, or directs the emcee
President – commits to the healthy functioning of the chapter as per the vision outlined above; leads
vision team meetings under advisement of staff leadership; interacts with InterVarsity national office as
necessary; functions as primary representative to SGA and LSI; operates chapter banking account
Small Group Coordinator(s) – promotes the health of small groups by meeting with and discipling small
group leaders, continually calling them toward fostering authentic, missional communities; develops
training content for student leaders, under advisement of staff leadership
Worship Team Leader – pursues the establishment of a worshipful atmosphere at Crash and at retreats
through musical worship and other creative venues; leads weekly Worship Team practices
Note: there is slight variation in these positions year to year. The priority is finding visionary leaders for
this team. The secondary (though important) value is filling each position.