"Greek" to a college campus ministry like InterVarsity, however, doesn't refer to a person from the ancient nation, but rather someone who has pledged themselves to a fraternity or sorority on a United States university campus.

InterVarsity's outreach to this group–which is often stereotyped as pagan party-ers who are uninterested in spiritual things–has stretched wide, but one consistent building block implemented to reaching Greeks has been Greek Conference.

In 2011, the kick-off conference for the school year is in Long Island for students at schools in the northeast region of the U.S.

"The Northeast is an interesting culture group," notes Lauren Mann, the main speaker for the September conference. "It's really post-Christian, very similar to the West Coast, where a lot of students don't grow up with any church background–or if they do have a church background, it's usually being hurt in some way from having a negative experience."

Mann adds, "They need to hear who Jesus really is. I think a lot of them have different perceptions of maybe things that they've heard, or even inaccuracies of who Jesus is."

Greek Conference Long Island will allow students to hear this primarily through Mann's daily sessions, which will focus on giving an accurate perception of who Jesus is according to the Bible. Students will also participate in daily seminars of their choice, which include topics ranging from leadership as a Christian in a fraternity, to what it means to follow Jesus for those who never have.

Music, testimonies, games and fun will top off the weekend to provide a fun but Christ-focused weekend, which primarily exists to train Christian Greek leaders.

Mann says, "[These] are my hopes: that we would have students that leave the conference beginning a relationship with Jesus and starting a whole new life from there on, and [that we would] equip and give students confidence to reach out to their loved fraternity brothers and sorority sisters with the message of the Gospel."

The conference is both evangelistically-focused and discipleship-minded. At a Greek Conference in October of 2010, 17 students came to Christ. Those who were already Christ-followers were able to take back practical ideas on how to better share with their brothers and sisters.

"It's a beautiful picture, when you think about it, because [Greeks] already have genuine relationships with one another, whereas many Christians can feel like, ‘I don't know many non-Christians; I don't have many true relationships.' Our fraternity and sorority students would say, ‘I'm surrounded by non-Christians.' And we think that's great: you already have the relationships, now you just need to bring in the faith component."

Greek Conference trains Greeks how to do that. Greek Conference Long Island will be September 30 to October 2 in Melville, New York. It's $120 per student, but InterVarsity is working hard to raise funds to underwrite the costs for students to go who wish to grow in their faith, or who are just interested in what it means to follow Christ.

Anyone in the Greek system–or even those thinking of joining–is welcome at the conference. "We've seen God powerfully use this as a catalyst to start ministry on campuses when even just one student comes to this conference," notes Mann.

If you or a student you know would like to join Greek Conference Long Island 2011, or any of the subsequent 2011 Greek Conferences, visit gc.greekiv.org and register today.

InterVarsity's outreach to fraternity and sorority brothers and sisters is more commonly referred to as Greek IV. By the end of the 2010-2011 school year, Greek IV will have hosted three Greek Conferences. Last weekend marked the first: Greek Conference NE.

Samantha Spencer, an InterVarsity campus staff member at DePauw University and last weekend's conference speaker, says Greek Conference serves several purposes.

"The tag line of Greek Conference is: 'Connect with God; Learn to Lead; and Change the World,'" explains Spencer. "We design Greek Conference to be a safe place for students to investigate Jesus and Christianity. We hope students can grow in their understanding of what it means to follow Jesus, as well as be trained to lead ministries in their fraternities and sororities. We also have concentrated time for seniors to consider how God may be calling them to be a world changer in the communities they will enter post-graduation."

Students at Greek Conference had a great deal of fun during the trip as they played games, enjoyed dance parties and built relationships. More importantly though, they engaged in deep conversation and were challenged by Spencer's talk of Jesus and His life. As a result, many were motivated to trust Christ for the first time.

"It seems like every campus brought students who would either identify themselves as non-Christians or who were asking significant questions about their relationships with God," Spencer says. "And we actually had 17 students make decisions this past weekend to follow Jesus."

Although Greek Conference certainly serves as a means to outreach throughout the weekend, it's particularly geared toward future outreach done by the students involved. Greek IV staff is well aware that few fraternity brothers and sorority sisters will be reachable in conventional ways, so small group leadership is vital.

"They're probably not going to walk across campus and go to a Christian meeting that has singing, or wake up early on a Sunday morning and walk into a church," says Spencer. "But they might go downstairs to their formal, or after a chapter meeting meet together in their room, and enter into an investigative study about Jesus."

Spencer says last weekend's conference gave many students the encouragement and bolstering they needed to commit to leading a small Bible study or GIG (Groups Investigating God), which will be imperative for new believers, in particular, to get involved in as they go public with their faith amidst Greek society.

Spencer reminds us that being Greek and being Christian is not always an easy dichotomy to juggle. Students will need to get plugged in with a strong Christian community to hold onto the decisions they've made. "[Pray] that these students would become connected: they would become connected with their Christian communities, their Greek IV communities. Pray that they would continue to figure out what this means to follow Jesus," says Spencer for new believers. Pray for the Greek believers that have chosen to follow Christ's call in leading the way as well.

There are still two more Greek Conferences coming up, each bigger than the first. Pray for the next conference which begins February 11 in Indianapolis. The final conference follows quickly, starting on February 18 in Charlotte. If you, a college-age son or daughter, or someone you know would be interested in attending Greek Conference, click here to learn more.