Oregon State Campus Ministry Launches Linn-Benton Lunch Club This Thursday

Photo by Emily Jimerson

Looking to learn more about God and connect with students from Linn-Benton and Oregon State?OSU Real Life may be the perfect place for you. 

An LB Lunch Club is also launching Thursday, Feb. 8. 

OSU Real Life is a Christian college ministry where more than 200 students meet every Tuesday to fellowship with each other, worship God, and learn more about the Bible. It is affiliated with the church Calvary Corvallis. This term the college pastor, Chad Weaver, is going through the Book of Acts chapter-by-chapter. 

“We are a community seeking to know Jesus and make Him known,” said Nehemiah Dunnavant, the college men’s director at Real Life. 

Real Life’s motto is “Loving students, loving Jesus.”

Dunnavant has been involved with the ministry for five years, since he was a freshman at OSU. He has been on staff for a year. As the men’s director, he oversees the intern team, disciples young men, coordinates weekly Bible studies, and plans campus events and retreats. 

Two of these events include a fall retreat at Sunriver Resort and a spring retreat in Shasta, California. At the Sunriver retreat, students stay in cozy cabins, hear from guest speakers, and experience worship and new friendships. The Shasta retreat involves staying on houseboats, fun water activities, impactful sermons, and worship sessions. For more info, see www.osureallife.com/fall-retreat.

Dunnavant realized in recent years that there are many students attending Real Life who are dual-enrolled with OSU and LBCC or who only go to LB. Because of this, he and Weaver have been putting together a coed “LB Lunch Club” over the past few months. 

Launching Feb. 8, the LB Lunch Club will be open to all Linn-Benton students and will be held at noon every Thursday. The club will meet on the Albany campus in the Commons Cafeteria, located on the second floor of the Calapooia Center building. 

According to Dunnavant, the upcoming LB Lunch Club will be going through an online series called “Practicing the Way” by John Mark Comer. This series is about learning spiritual discipline, and the club will decide what category of discipline they want to focus on, such as sabbath, fasting, prayer, worship, or scripture.

“The students I’ve talked to are very excited to have something outside of classes to engage with each week, and perhaps even meet some people who are in their Linn-Benton classes,” he said.

Berakah Cook, an intern at Real Life, described the Corvallis organization as “a community of people who love Jesus, where you can come to get life’s biggest questions answered.” 

Cook has been a part of RL all three years that she’s been in college. She’s studying elementary education and recently transferred from Linn-Benton Community College to Western University. 

She first got involved with Real Life by learning about it from friends at her church, Calvary Corvallis. She also said that she was seeking a “Jesus-loving community.” After giving Real Life a few tries, Cook said, “I fell in love with it. Mostly the worship is what got me super plugged in.” 

Today Cook’s roles as an intern include being a worship leader, coordinating rides for college students, teaching students about Jesus on the OSU campus, leading a women’s weekly Bible study, and meeting with young women one-on-one. 

According to the official website, osureallife.com, the Corvallis meetings are held at 8 p.m. every Tuesday in the LaSells Stewart Center at Oregon State University. The Stewart Center is located directly across from Reser Stadium.

When asked why she believes students should come to Real Life, Cook said, “It’s such a safe place for people to come as they are, be who they’re made to be, and be accepted for that. That’s one thing that makes Real Life different from other communities.”

At a Glance: 

What: The LB Lunch Club

When: Thursday, Feb. 8

Where: Commons Cafeteria, located on the second floor of the Calapooia Center Building. LBCC Albany Campus, 6500 Pacific Blvd. SW

What’s Next: All Campus Worship Night on Tuesday, Feb. 13 at 8 p.m. in the LaSells Stewart Center. 875 SW 26th St. in Corvallis

Links: OSU Real Life Official Website: www.osureallife.com

OSU Real Life Instagram: www.instagram.com/osu.reallife

Practicing the Way Series: www.practicingtheway.org