THE STUDY CENTER
Romans 12 at Work
DEAR FRIENDS,
Here at the Study Center, we often turn to Romans 12:2: “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
As the inspiration for our mission and vision statements, this verse expresses our hope for the students formed through this ministry—that during their university years they would experience real growth in the ability to “think Christianly,” considering all of life in the light of biblical truth.
You’ll see that commitment reflected in the sampling of recent ministry events in this newsletter, from the LCF Bible study and other small groups to the “Two Views” discussion between Chris Colquitt and AJ Mosley, and the series of lectures and conversations with Michael Bird.
Another verse in Romans 12 has become increasingly meaningful over the years: “Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality” (v.13).
Obviously, the Study Center is a “home away from home” for hundreds of Christian students, offering abundant food and premier study spaces. In addition, we contribute to the needs of the saints by welcoming other Grounds ministries into our space and our relationships. As the article on sorority hospitality makes clear, the Study Center is also a place where we show hospitality to those not yet part of our community.
Of course, most of what we do combines both of these callings: thoughtful engagement with biblical truth and generous hospitality. You’ll read about a recent example of this in the piece on our brand-new Emmaus Fellows program (captured in our cover photo). After much work and preparation, the pilot program is underway this semester.
Finally, I want to mention, and invite you to attend, the third Living in the Light spring conference (Friday evening, April 17, through Saturday morning, April 18). These conferences always embody Romans 12:2 and 12:13, but this year our theme, “Hold Fast What Is Good” (1 Thess 5:21) will also echo Romans 12:9. We hope you’ll join us. In the meantime, you’ll find plenty of Romans 12 in the following pages!
YOURS IN OUR LORD,
Bill Wilder Executive Director
BILL WILDER Executive Director
FITZ GREEN Senior Director for Education & Programming
MARY ALLISON ANDERSON Foundations Week & Emmaus Fellows Manager
SAGE BESSERT Hospitality Manager
KATIE BLACK Director of Undergraduate Ministries
RICK CAMPANELLI Director of Graduate Ministries
STUART HORNSBY Director of Development & Parent and Alumni Relations
WILLIAM KUEBLER Ministry Intern
LYDIA MARLIN Communications & Project Manager
DREW MASTERSON Director of Undergraduate Ministries
LYDIA MATHAS Director of Operations
JAN MATHEWS Administrative Assistant
TRISH OWEN Librarian
DEBBIE RODRIGUEZ Director of Finance
CARRIE ROTH Ministry Intern
DANIELLE WILCOX Advisor for Strategy & Advancement
Phone: (434) 817-1050
Email: info@studycenter.net
Website: www.studycenter.net
EIN: 51-0192618
Find us on social media: @studycenterUVA
Cover photography by Mary Allison Anderson
A Place to Pause
Hospitality and Presence During Sorority Recruitment
BY SAGE BESSERT
Each January, the sorority recruitment process provides the Study Center with a meaningful opportunity to build on its long history as a welcoming place and a welcoming people. For many years 128 Chancellor Street has served as a place of rest between rounds. This year, we continued to intentionally increase our emphasis on presence, conversation, and connection.
Across two weekends, over a thousand women walked through the doors, many encountering the Study Center for the first time. Staff, interns, and community members engaged students with kindness and encouragement, creating an environment where women felt seen and cared for in the midst of a demanding and often vulnerable process. Our hospitality remained tangible as well: warm, freshly baked muffins and hot drinks; watercolor and coloring stations; and a table thoughtfully stocked with helpful supplies.
“I am so thankful for the Study Center’s kindness and hospitality during Rush. Everyone was so welcoming during this stressful time.”
– PEPPER, ’29
True to the Study Center’s mission, spiritual curiosity was gently welcomed. Twenty Bibles were made available, and over half were taken by women throughout the weekends. Even more encouraging were the many expressions of gratitude from women who shared how meaningful the space—and the people within it—had been and how eager they were to return. Several students have already returned to study, participate in small groups, and even use one of our office spaces to take the LSAT.
Through simple presence and faithful hospitality, the Study Center went wide in outreach while remaining rooted in relational care. The hope is that these early encounters mark the start of ongoing connection, inviting women back into the community in the months ahead.
What We’re Reading
SAGE’S PICK
THEO OF GOLDEN by Allen Levi
A mysterious stranger from Portugal arrives in the small southern town of Golden, Georgia, and begins a mission of unexpected generosity. Through the interwoven stories of the Golden community, Levi paints a portrait of life where joy, heartbreak, and wonder intertwine.
WILLIAM’S PICK
WHAT CHRISTIANS OUGHT TO BELIEVE: AN INTRODUCTION TO CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE THROUGH THE APOSTLES’ CREED by Michael
Bird
With wit and clarity, Bird shows how the Apostles’ Creed is more than history—it is a compass for belief. Walk through this ancient text and see God’s majesty with fresh eyes.
CARRIE’S PICK
HANNAH COULTER by Wendell
Berry
In this compelling historical fiction, Berry explores grief and healing through the eyes of a woman looking back on her life. Travel through the twentieth century with Hannah to learn the importance of family, place, community, and a love that hopes amid change.
Potential new sorority members with a UVA parent volunteer
Two Views, One Spirit
Faithful dialogue across difference
BY DREW MASTERSON
IN OCTOBER, we hosted the latest installment of our “Two Views” series. Always a favorite with students, “Two Views” brings together two different perspectives for an “anti-debate” on an important issue in the Christian life.
Part of our premise is that students are already exposed to endless performative debates meant to highlight
the differences between two positions and drive those positions apart. As an alternative to those rhetorical jousting matches, “Two Views” emphasizes what is shared between the two positions, before offering space for the two sides to present their case as winsomely as they can. Instead of engaging in extensive crossexamination and pushing for a “winner,” we want students to leave wanting more—so we serve pizza immediately after the event and invite them to continue the conversation.
This fall’s topic was the Holy Spirit, with Chris Colquitt (pastor at Trinity Presbyterian Church) representing the
cessationist perspective and AJ Mosely (pastor at Victory Church) representing a charismatic perspective.
Both men did a wonderful job laying out the biblical and historical roots of their positions with conviction and humility. Both strongly emphasized the authority of Scripture: AJ argued that Acts and the letters of Paul seem to presume the continuation of the gifts of the Spirit on display in the early church; and Chris warned about the dangers of elevating personal experience to a level on par with the Spiritinspired word of God.
The two men also answered several keen questions from the audience that
Chris Colquitt (center) and AJ Mosley (right) discuss their perspectives on the Holy Spirit
got to the heart of the different positions. The most memorable for me was a student prompting Chris to articulate what he believed was happening when AJ experienced a move of the Holy Spirit in worship or prayer. It was a vulnerable moment that drove home for me the importance of hosting these conversations. AJ was sitting right there, so Chris’ response required significant pastoral sensitivity that simply isn’t required or rewarded on the myriad online discussion platforms available to us.
For me, the biggest “win” of the night was not a well-attended event with great content. AJ and Chris
modeled beautifully what it looks like to maintain a vibrant unity in Christ across meaningful theological differences. This came across poignantly when, toward the end of the evening, AJ mentioned how blessed he has been that Trinity lets Victory use their building for musical worship practice every week.
For him, that was a tangible embodiment of our shared kinship in Christ—a moment of surprising grace, all too rare in our fracturing, polarizing landscape. I hope students will remember that as much as the astute biblical arguments raised about the Holy Spirit.
Seeking First the Kingdom at UVA Law
BY RICK CAMPANELLI
At 7:30 a.m., UVA Law School is generally pretty quiet. But on Wednesdays, the atmosphere shifts as more than twenty members of the Law Christian Fellowship gather for bible study and bagels.
Some arrive early to move tables and set up breakfast in the Scott Commons cafe area. Most weeks a couple of us take a few prayer laps around the law school corridors to pray for our time, for LCF, and for all the students and faculty. And though we didn’t explicitly pray for it, some students have been waking up at 5:00 a.m. to bake warm bread for the study.
We open with prayer and jump into scripture. This semester we are studying James. Warm fellowship, thoughtful discussion, and a good deal of laughter continue right up until 8:20 a.m., when we wrap up so students can head to class. By the time we close in prayer, other law students are passing by—often grabbing a bagel to go. It is a great way to start the law school day, seeking first the kingdom of God.
JAMES PLUMMER
Michael Bird in Charlottesville
BY WILLIAM KUEBLER
IN NOVEMBER we had the pleasure of welcoming Australian Bible scholar Michael Bird to Charlottesville. In addition to his scholarship, Michael is a prolific author and an excellent speaker. He began his many speaking engagements with us on Monday afternoon—interacting with students at the Study Center over a meal for a session fittingly named “Ask Mike Anything.” He answered questions about topics from
faith and vocation to vegemite.
The main event, Michael’s lecture on the Apostles’ Creed, occurred in front of a packed-out Newcomb Theater on Monday evening, in partnership with Chi Alpha. He guided the audience through the historical origins of the creed, its use as an authoritative guide of church doctrine, how it describes God and redemption, and much more. On Tuesday, he continued to engage with our community at another
Grounds Ministry Meeting
BY WILLIAM KUEBLER
“Ask Mike Anything” event, this time with local pastors and Grounds ministers. Michael concluded his time in Charlottesville with a final lecture on the Christian case for democracy, presented in partnership with the UVA Religious Studies Department. Made richer by partnerships across Grounds, Michael Bird’s visit offered an encouraging picture of a community coming together to think deeply and faithfully.
Once a month on Thursdays, Grounds ministers congregate at the Study Center for a Grounds Ministry Meeting. These meetings create a special place for staff from UVA’s many student ministries to gather and encourage one another. Each gathering begins with a reflection on scripture and its relevance to ministry at UVA, followed by shared stories of how the Lord has been at work and by prayer requests. These meetings have been very special for me to attend. It is a great way of building and maintaining relationships with other ministers that I do not often get the chance to see and spend time with. But the most beautiful and joyful part of the meetings is the sharing time, when we get to hear how the Lord has changed students’ lives, brought people to Christ, and shown his love to Charlottesville.
LISTEN TO THE RECORDING
JOSH BLOUNT
Michael Bird speaks to students at Newcomb Theater
Small Group Highlights
Each semester we offer multiple small groups for students to dig deeper into various subjects and investigate the truths of the Christian faith.
See www.studycenter.net/small-groups for all of the groups this semester.
CLARITY & CHARITY: THOUGHTFUL CONVERSATIONS ABOUT FAITH, HOMOSEXUALITY, AND GENDER
Conversations around gender and sexuality are sensitive and complex, bound up in the lives of real people—not abstract issues. For many, these questions have become a significant barrier to faith. According to Public Religion Research Institute’s massive 2023 study, 47 percent of adults who had left the faith of their childhood said it was because of their church’s teachings on and treatment of LGBTQ people. This group, led by Drew Masterson and Zach Hay (Chi Alpha staff), invites students to become better equipped to navigate our culture’s conversations around sexuality and gender with clear theology and the heart of Jesus.
OXEN, OFFERINGS, AND OUTSIDERS:
HOW
OLD TESTAMENT LAW TEACHES US TO BE HUMAN
It’s easy to see how some parts of scripture shape discipleship: the Gospels reveal the life and teachings of Jesus, the Psalms teach us how to pray, and Proverbs offers wisdom for daily living. But what about the Old Testament law? How do commands about sacrifices, dietary restrictions, or goring oxen form Christians today? This small group explores why the law is both meaningful and relevant by asking how it fits within God’s larger story, what it reveals about God’s character, how we wrestle with difficult laws, and how the Old Testament law should shape the Christian life now.
Launching Emmaus Fellows
BY MARY ALLISON ANDERSON
CALLED TO FAITHFULNESS: STORIES FROM THE WORKPLACE
This lunchtime gathering explores what it looks like to live faithfully in everyday work and vocation. Every other week we host conversations with professionals from fields such as medicine, education, business, and the arts. Students are invited to consider how Christian faith shapes career decisions, purpose, and daily practice, and how to live with integrity wherever they are called to serve.
The start of the new year means the start of an exciting new season at the Study Center: the first-ever cohort of Emmaus Fellows. These seven men (six pictured) and six women kicked off the semester with an overnight retreat, where they started getting to know each other and also meditated on Luke 24 together. Throughout the semester, they are sharing dinner weekly and learning from a variety of teachers about God’s grand story of redemptive history. We pray that they will sharpen each other in these discussions and in the work of sharing life together. Our fellows will also connect with older mentors in their churches, encourage each other across fellowships, and share a creative project that will reflect on some part of the semester.
We pray that this will be a community marked by humility and knit together in love—and that this first cohort would be the beginning of a long and life-giving program.
VIRGINIA WARREN
Center for Christian Study
128 Chancellor Street
Charlottesville, VA 22903
www.studycenter.net
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Mark Your Calendar
VERITAS FORUM with Warren Kinghorn
April 9
LIVING IN THE LIGHT
April 17-18
GRADUATION BRUNCH
May 16
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ANNUAL FAITH AND LIFE CONFERENCE
April 17-18
We are delighted to invite you to an annual weekend gathering of fellowship and learning at the Study Center. This event provides an opportunity for parents, alumni, and friends to experience the faith and fellowship offered through our ministry. This year our theme is “Hold Fast What Is Good” (1 Thess 5:21).
For more details and to register, visit WWW.STUDYCENTER.NET/ LIVING-IN-THE-LIGHT-2026