Rooted fundraises with Shakespeare's Pizza

Rooted to introduce incoming students to campus Christian organizations.

By Daniel Everson

Published May 7, 2009

With dozens of Christian organizations on campus, it can be a challenge for many incoming MU students to choose a spiritual home after arriving in Columbia.

To meet the demand, some students are planning a retreat scheduled for next fall to help ease the transition for Christian freshman.

Retreat director and senior Robert Rund said the retreat will cost about $75-$80. The group has scholarships available for students who can't afford the cost.

Rooted held a fundraiser at Shakespeare's Pizza on Tuesday to help fund such scholarships, as well as overhead costs for the retreat. Shakespeare's donated 15 percent of proceeds from anyone who presented the appropriate Rooted flier when purchasing their food.

The weekend-long Rooted retreat, which will take place August 28-30 at the Windermere conference center, aims to help students build relationships with other new students who have similar beliefs and values, retreat director and sophomore Megan Pieper said.

Fellow director and sophomore Kirstin Heep said Rooted participants will also have the opportunity to meet older campus ministry staff members who will help run small groups on the retreat.

"Hopefully a lot of the relationship building will happen in those small groups," Heep said.

In addition to small groups, there will be speakers on topics relevant to incoming freshman. There will also be mid-sized, conversational breakout sessions between the speakers and small group sessions, Heep said.

Pieper said there will be recreational events as well.

Before buses depart for Windermere - located near the Lake of the Ozarks in Roach - there will be a ministry fair Friday, which will allow new students the opportunity to learn about campus ministries and local churches in Columbia.

Pieper said the goal of Rooted is not to advocate for any one particular ministry.

"Rooted as an organization is disaffiliated," Pieper said. "Our goal isn't to tell people the way they have to do things in college, it's just to say, 'Hey, this is important to you, it's important to us, too. Let's help you find out a way to be a Christian in college.'"

Rund said Rooted hopes to form a bridge between incoming students and existing campus ministries and churches in Columbia.

"That's kind of the role that we want to fill, so that we can just connect those two different groups of people," Rund said. "And hopefully those new students will be able to find a church or a campus ministry that they can really invest in and that will invest in them."

Pieper said Rooted is inspired by similar retreats held at other Big 12 schools, most notably Impact at Texas A&M University.

Pieper said the directors did not want to copy the name, so they developed their own name, Rooted. The name comes from Ephesians 3:17, a Bible verse which expresses a desire to be "rooted and grounded in love."

"We want to help students be rooted and grounded or established in what they believe on campus," Pieper said. "So we thought it was a really cool reference and good description of what our intention is,"