Ministry Unites Campus Greeks
The organizations and clubs available to students at the University of Tennessee are endless, but one group in particular has made a mark not only on the UT campus, but in the global community as well.
The Cross, a campus ministry that serves fraternity and sorority men and women, has hosted spring break mission trips to places like Costa Rica and Honduras in the past. But for Spring Break 2006, The Cross took more than 100 students to Mississippi and New Orleans to repair houses and clear debris in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
“It really opened my eyes to the needs around me and just ministry in general,” Harriet Cozart, a 2006 graduating senior, said.
“We focused this year on home missions with Mississippi and the Gulf area that was struck by the hurricane,” Gus Diamondidas, director of The Cross, said. “That will probably be an emphasis over the next couple of years.”
Purpose is to Serve
“My freshman year, I heard about The Cross through my roommate,” Cozart said. “We were all in sororities, and I would go every Wednesday I could.”
“I saw that my purpose was to serve and started getting the desire to become more active in The Cross,” Cozart added.
“Next year, I’ll be an intern in charge of women’s ministries,” Cozart said. “I’m really excited about that because I’ll get to love people and serve people as my job. I can’t think of anything better.”
Jimi Wynn, a member of Pi Kappa Alpha, learned about The Cross ministries through a fraternity brother last summer. He says the members share a close bond.
“You automatically develop trust, and you share common ground—a common belief. It really unites you,” Wynn said.
You automatically develop trust, and you share common ground.
“The Cross is a place where people from fraternities and sororities can gather and get out of their everyday lives and worship God. They don’t get that every day in their fraternity or sorority,” Wynn said.
“The Cross is specific to Greeks,” Ferris Warnock, a member of The Cross leadership team and Chi Omega, said. “It’s really a prime place, since most of the leaders on campus come from the Greek community.”
Like many others, Warnock learned of The Cross through her sorority and began going to the SaLT program, a course The Cross offers as an introduction to doctrine and theology.
Greeks Needed Ministry
The Cross had its beginnings in fall 1998 when Chad Scruggs was elected to the Inter-Fraternity Council at UT and given a position that had never been held before—chaplain. Scruggs recognized the need for a ministry that reached out to Greek students on campus. There were several campus ministries at the time but none that targeted students in fraternities and sororities.
Students banded together to form a leadership team, and the name of the ministry was birthed—“The Cross.” February 3, 1999, was the first meeting.
Seven years later, the group continues to expand. Andy Wyatt is the new campus minister, and Diamondidas continues as director.
“My main area of emphasis will be building The Cross and building the paradigm so that we can take it to other campuses,” Diamondidas said. Both MTSU and Vanderbilt are being considered.