When Bryan Clement’s grandmother died when he was in the 8th grade, he didn’t cry. He would surely miss her as they were very close, but there was something that put his mind at ease.

“I just love that peace and that joy that I get from having a relationship with God,” said Clement, senior in LAS.

“God had decided that he had used her for all of His glory in the best way that he wanted to,” he added.

That same faith has carried Clement through his four years at the University. That’s why he and many other students involved themselves in a number of religious activities in campus.

Without these programs, it becomes easier to live a life they are not proud of, Clement said.

Clement has led the Impact Bible Study, which is sponsored by Campus Crusade for Christ, for three years and has tried to help others build their relationships with God. The group meets every Tuesday night at Florida Avenue Residence Hall.

“There’s something about when we’re young that makes it difficult for us to have a really good relationship with God,” he said.

“We are not far from that high school mentality where our desires are to truly fit in and be a part of the in-crowd,” he added.

Clement has been there: partying, drinking, having sex outside of marriage and doing things that others were doing because he was too afraid to step up and reject it.

“I was not the same man that my mother had raised,” he said. “I became something that was not me.”

Since it can be easy to give in to outside pressures, Stephen Schaper, sophomore in LAS, joined the Megiste Arete Christian Fraternity.

“It’s nice because it’s a group of good guys that feel the same way I do and have the same beliefs,” Schaper said.

“I don’t feel the pressure I would elsewhere with people who don’t have the same faith,” he added.

He said people often do not believe him when he says he does not drink alcohol, so he can occasionally feel isolated from others, but he knows his decision to choose God over other actions is the right one.

Others are not so easily convinced.

“A lot of people think, ‘I’m doing fine,'” Clement said.

“People don’t understand why they need God, and they believe that they can do everything by themselves. That’s the biggest problem,” Clement added.

Michelle Adekunle, a senior in LAS, believes in God but said there are times when she finds it hard to put her faith in him completely.

“When I have trouble in school, instead of turning to God I turn to other things,” Adekunle said. “I think I can handle it and try to do my own thing, but that’s usually when my problems become worse.”

When she used to go to church more frequently, Adekunle said she was less worrisome.

Elder Christopher Anderson, 25, is one of the coordinators of “Lay It at the Alter,” a new bible study program geared toward men that will meet every Monday night at the University Baptist Church.

“The majority of churches are filled with women, but the Bible says that men are supposed to be the heads of the house,” Anderson said.

“You have too many houses with too few heads, so the program is about raising men to their rightful calling,” Anderson added.

Men of all ages are welcome to participate.

Clement said he hopes that all people who have not accepted Christ in their lives look around them and realize that he is blessing them with life and all of their possessions.

“He’s hoping that eventually you will see the light and give him the honor and the glory and have a relationship with him because of that,” he said.

“Anything and everything that you want in this life comes from God. If you want more of it, you need give respect to him,” he added.