Yale

Christian Union Lux Helps Produce National Event

by tom campisi, managing editor

Christian Union Lux was honored to host the Collegiate Day of Prayer at Yale University on the evening of February 27 in Dwight Chapel. The two-hour event assembled Yale ministries in united prayer, worship, and exhortation from Scripture, and also served as the national broadcast for over forty thousand online viewers.

Over two hundred years ago, Yale, along with Williams College, Brown University, and Middlebury College, established the Collegiate Day of Prayer as a regular event on their campuses. By 1823, almost every major denomination and university in America “embraced the practice of a concerted day of prayer for colleges,” according to the Collegiate Day of Prayer Web site. The event lasted for about a hundred years and helped fan the flame of various revivals and awakenings on campus.

Christian Union Faculty Transitions to Online Ministry During Pandemic 

by tom campisi, managing editor

In the blink of an eye, the collegiate academic year was relegated to online courses due to the COVID-19 pandemic in March. No campus life. No spring sports or activities. No May commencement.

In the midst of the chaos, Christian Union Universities transitioned to an online ministry—Bible courses, Leadership Lecture Series, and mentoring sessions were hosted online via Zoom and other portals. Ministry Fellows were there to provide continuity by shepherding students and offering counsel to those grieving over what was lost.

Christian Union Lux Helps Produce National Event

By Tom Campisi, Managing Editor

Christian Union Lux was honored to host the Collegiate Day of Prayer at Yale University on the evening of February 27 in Dwight Chapel. The two-hour event assembled Yale ministries in united prayer, worship, and exhortation from Scripture, and also served as the national broadcast for over forty thousand online viewers.

Over two hundred years ago, Yale, along with Williams College, Brown University, and Middlebury College, established the Collegiate Day of Prayer as a regular event on their campuses. By 1823, almost every major denomination and university in America “embraced the practice of a concerted day of prayer for colleges,” according to the Collegiate Day of Prayer Web site. The event lasted for about a hundred years and helped fan the flame of various revivals and awakenings on campus.

May 30, 2020 and May 31, 2020

Strong Roots Help Sharla Moody ’22 Find Her Place at Yale

by kayla bartsch, yale ’20

While the rural hills of southern Ohio may seem a world away from the ivory towers of Yale University, Sharla Moody ’22 bridges the two with thoughtfulness and grace.

When she came to campus as a first-year in 2018, Moody’s transition to college life was starker than that of most Yale undergraduates. Her hometown, Gallipolis, Ohio, is nestled on the northern banks of the Ohio River, facing the shores of West Virginia to the south. Gallipolis is something of a quintessential Appalachian town, home to picturesque river valley views, a charming Main Street, and about 3,500 residents.

However, having experienced a slow and steady decline in its population since the 1960s, Gallipolis faces the same trials as other Appalachian towns in contemporary American life. From this quiet, tight-knit community, Moody was thrown into a loud, heterogenous, and opulent campus. 

Yet, even if unconventional, Moody’s path to Yale from small-town Ohio seems providential. In her junior year of high school, she read Hillbilly Elegy– a memoir written by J. D. Vance, a Yale Law school graduate from a small town in Ohio similar to Moody’s. The book, lauded for its raw depiction of the cultural and economic decay faced by the rural, white working class, became a near-instant best-seller.

Vita et Veritas

By Luke Brown, Dartmouth ’18

Yale students are seeking to change the moral, cultural, and political landscape surrounding abortion on their campus and beyond. 

Through Vita et Veritas, a pro-life conference in its seventh year, the student organizers from Choose Life at Yale (CLAY) aimed to provide a venue for thoughtful, productive, and nonpartisan discussion of the abortion issue and its broader implications for scholars, activists, and students. CLAY members “believe the right to life is fundamental, and we design our conference to help and inspire others to advocate for the lives of the unborn,” according to its website.

Christian Union Fall Conference Energizes Yale Students

Students involved with Christian Union’s ministry at Yale College displayed a penchant for prayer and a sensitivity to promptings of the Holy Spirit in the fall semester. 

“There is a corporate sense of expectation for God to move in more profound ways,” said Clay Cromer, ministry director of Christian Union Lux.

In Memoriam: John Aroutiounian 

By Kayla Bartsch, Yale ’20

Credit: Big Think

John Aroutiounian was remembered as a Christian who made an impact on campus.

The first time I met John Aroutiounian was at an alumni reunion for the Federalist Party, my debating society within the Yale Political Union. He gallivanted into our makeshift debate hall  wearing a black cloak, his signature horn-rimmed spectacles, with a mischievous twinkle in his eye. On the debate floor, he commanded attention by his unmatched eloquence and exuberance. With a coy smile and the gargantuan lexicon of an accomplished polyglot, he ravaged the position of his opponents, nonchalantly weaving in historical anecdotes about the bygone Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia to accentuate his point. John, however, wreaked destruction in a manner so charismatic and so kind, that his opposition often found themselves conceding with a smile.

Christian Union at Yale Hosts Forum

by cassandra hsiao, yale ’21

On a rainy Friday evening in April, a hundred people gathered in Battell Chapel at Yale University to hear the answer to the pressing question: “Why suffering?”

Christians and skeptics alike have grappled with this question for centuries—how could a loving God allow for the existence of suffering? At a forum hosted by Christian Union, Vince Vitale and Michael Suderman of the Ravi Zacharias Institute presented some profound answers.

Vitale, educated at Princeton (’04) and Oxford, is the director of the Zacharias Institute. Along with Suderman, he has been traveling across the country, giving lectures at churches and college campuses alike.

Your Gift by June 30 Will Share Gospel and Change Lives

Q and A with Lisa Schultz

At Christian Union’s Nexus Student Conference in February, Schultz was a member of the law and government panel during the vocational breakout sessions.

Susan Stover and Arthur Stella

He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. 

- 2 Corinthians 9:10

Early in Susan Stover’s life, her parents, Bob and Joan Stover, sowed the seeds of generosity. “My parents’ faith journey had a tremendous impact on me,” Susan noted.

“My father became a Christian as a young man after serving in the Navy during World War II. His life reflected his personal belief that he needed to use his talents and resources in the Lord’s service.” After the war, Bob Stover began a temporary employment agency in San Francisco.

Whiteman ’19 Has Draft Aspirations

by catherine elvy, staff writer

As captain of Yale University’s baseball team, Simon Whiteman is grateful for the opportunities his position has afforded him to add new chapters to the team’s rich history. Especially memorable have been the recent events that contributed to a “really big fall for our program,” said Whiteman ’19.

In late November, the team was in the spotlight as the nation mourned the death of one of its former captains, President George H.W. Bush, ’48. Weeks earlier, Yale baseball alumnus Mike Elias ’06 was named as the executive vice president and general manager of the Baltimore Orioles.

Standing Firm in Christ

Tokarz ’20 Is President of Choose Life at Yale 

by catherine elvy, staff writer

A Yale College upperclassman looks back with awe as he describes his early encounters with campus peers who challenged him to weigh the depth of his commitment to the pro-life movement.

Since those pivotal exchanges during his freshman year, Dan Tokarz has championed the pro-life cause at Yale and beyond. As president of Choose Life at Yale (chooselifeatyale.org), Tokarz ’20 actively encourages students to take practical steps to reflect their dedication to pro-life efforts, especially within their campus and home communities. “There is value in the human person that’s worth protecting at every stage,” said Tokarz.

A Blessing To The World

The Christian Union Conference on Faith and Action