The Chi Alpha pastor position was left vacant at the end of the 2011 spring semester as former pastor, Gilbert Banton, was called to the University of Connecticut. Longwood's Melissa Dresser, a junior, was appointed to the position of CHI Alpha president following Banton's departure.
Chi Alpha is a college ministry on campus that was established at Longwood in 1989. It is a ministry that branches off of the Assembly of God Church (AG) and works to bring college students into a relationship with Jesus Christ. Chi Alpha focuses on discipleship and looks to create and nurture leaders who can go out into the college community and spread the message of God. It has, on average, about 45 members.
Along with the appointment of Dresser, Michelle Meadows, the Associate Athletic Director at Longwood, stepped in as the faculty advisor to lead Chi Alpha into the new year. Both Dresser and Meadows are faced with the up-keep and future of Chi Alpha.
Newly appointed president, Dresser, had been a member of Chi Alpha since the beginning of her freshman year at Longwood. Dresser handles the Chi Alpha account and Collegiate Link online for the on-campus ministry.
Meadows began this year in Chi Alpha as the on-campus faculty advisor and leader for the ministry. As the faculty advisor, she meets with the students to help execute the plans they want to be carried out. Meadows also arranges pastors from around the area to speak to the Chi Alpha members. On occasion, she speaks and leads the meetings. As the campus leader, she meets with the Chi Alpha student leaders to encourage them in their leadership in the community.
The change in leadership has led to challenges within the ministry. One of the most challenging obstacles facing the ministry now is finding a campus pastor. Chi Alpha is an AG ministry. It has national, regional and local committees that determine the leadership structure for each level. To become a campus pastor within Longwood's region, the candidate would need to have credentials within the local AG ministry or recommendations from the regional or local committee. Thus far, missionaries from the neither the regional nor local ministries have filled the position. However, Meadows has not ruled out serving as Chi Alpha's next campus pastor in the future, as she said, "Nothing is out of the realm of God."
When asked about the impact of not having a pastor on campus, Dresser said that, "It's definitely made the leadership team as a whole try to work together even more." In previous years, the leaders left much of the responsibility to their pastor, but now Dresser and the other student leaders must pull everything together.
The future of the pastor position is still unknown, but Chi Alpha will continue to offer services for the students. One of the ministry's goals for this year includes the continuation of the "Janitors for Jesus" service project, in which they offer to clean student rooms for free to serve the students on campus.
With the absence of a pastor, Dresser and the other leaders as a whole are giving a "collaborative effort" to organize and lead Chi Alpha. Chi Alpha meets on Thursdays at 8 p.m. in the "BC" rooms of Lankford Student Union.
