The first official meeting of Union’s new student-led club, Christians United for Israel (CUFI), was held on campus on March 7.
The organization, which has been in the works since November 2018, aims to start and change the conversation about Israel on campus, specifically regarding awareness of modern issues.
Grant Gammon, freshman political science and business double major, is the president of the chapter. Gammon is a member of the CUFI national organization and has been interested in advocating for Israel on the college campus ever since he received a letter at age 16 about how the organization had put his donation to work.
“I think that a lot of people don’t know why they like Israel, or they don’t think about Israel at all,” said Gammon. “I believe that since Israel is the place where all these incredible stories that happened in the Bible took place, it’s not only cool for Christians to go there, but it’s also cool to know about the modern happenings in the Middle East that Israel is a part of.”
The chapter is currently fundraising for Save a Child’s Heart, an Israeli non-profit organization that provides life-saving cardiac care to children in the developing world, particularly in the Middle East.
In the fall, the chapter hopes to raise funds to bring a Holocaust survivor who is connected to the CUFI organization to speak on campus. They also plan to hold a vigil to bring awareness for the persecuted church in the Middle East.
Chapter meetings are held on Thursdays at 7 p.m. in PAC A-9. Meetings begin with prayer and taking prayer requests, and the floor is then opened to announcements about upcoming events at Union and in the Jackson community. Each officer gives a report, and the group holds a general discussion of plans for the future.
At their meeting on April 4, the chapter will host Ryan Williams, representative for the Tennessee legislature, who will speak about Tennessee’s trade relations with Israel and opposing anti-Semitism in politics.
Gammon encouraged students to attend a meeting to understand the chapter’s mission more fully.
“Come to the meetings and see what we’re all about, rather than listening to what other people might say about the larger Christians United for Israel movement online,” said Gammon.
Mallory Wyatt, a freshman elementary education major and the chapter’s vice president for membership recruitment and engagement, said that Gammon’s passion was what led her to join the group.
“Whenever a friend is passionate about something, it makes you interested in it, and it makes you want to be passionate about it too,” Wyatt said. “Grant is a good friend of mine, and I knew he was really passionate about it. So I came to the first meeting, and I think he had me in tears, just talking about everything going on in Israel and just how passionate he was about it.”
Photo by Tamara Friesen
