This year’s Student Stories speak to the impact of our FOCUS missionaries, who work alongside Fr. Nick to reach all Catholics at Hope College. The mission of FOCUS is “to know Christ Jesus and fulfill his Great Commission.” Through Bible studies, conferences, and community building events, FOCUS invites college students into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ and his Church, inspiring and equipping them for a lifetime of Christ-centered evangelization, discipleship, and friendship in which they lead others to do the same.
Zachary Chambers
Hope College junior and FOCUS Bible study participant
Bible study, something that has been a staple of my junior year of college, was at one point something I never imagined would become a staple of my life. Coming from a background that did not involve the faith, or much exposure to Jesus at all, I had not a clue what I was doing. Freshman year, I participated in a Bible study with my RA, which gave me basic understandings of different Christian beliefs, along with some of my closest friends to this day.
However, the impact of Bible study truly came during my sophomore year in the spring. I had come across Nathan, one of the FOCUS missionaries that year. We briefly knew each other outside of my attendance at Mass (which began that fall), but we got to know each other more through our semi-frequent meals. He invited me to join his Wednesday night Bible study, and from then on I was hooked. I was learning how to pray and how to do so with more intention, and learned so much about the Catholic faith. His Bible study was what I looked forward to every Wednesday, and was what led me to joining another FOCUS Bible study this year.
This year, I have had the privilege of being in a FOCUS Bible study that has been truly challenging me with the depth of our readings and topics, along with questions that push me to pray and think more deeply about the faith and about my relationship with Jesus. Just this week, the question, “Do I desire to share this with others?” was what challenged us. The challenge is to share the Gospel to those around us, even if it is uncomfortable. The Gospel wasn’t spread because the disciples were comfortable, it was because it needed to be spread. So, with questions like these happening during each Bible study, it is very easy to be challenged theologically and also spiritually. Bible study has also led me to greater opportunities than I have ever had before, between discipleship with our leader Nick, to the countless conversations with the other members and missionaries, and to the potential of me leading my own Bible study next spring.
I believe that a Bible study is something that all college students should think and pray about joining, regardless of their knowledge of the Bible and about Jesus. Bible study is one of the safest places to learn about Jesus alongside others who are there to learn about Him. The scariest part is the first step of going. Once you go for the first time, it gets easier and easier to continue. Eventually for some like me, it will become a staple of their week and be something that they look forward to attending each week. It is the basis for why my faith has grown so much since the start of 2025, leading me to the best decision I have made: converting to Catholicism. The Bible Studies, Exodus 365, prayer, and countless conversations with Fr. Nick, my girlfriend Kate, and good friends Stephen and Mark, I found that the Catholic Faith was true and what I needed in life. So, now I am going through the process of becoming an official Catholic, which has been the scariest but most exciting thing I have ever done, and it all started with reluctantly saying yes to an invite to a FOCUS Bible study.
