BRIDGEWATER, Va. – Kristopher Schultz walks into the Boitnott Room, bible in hand, ready to dive into the word, something that has been important to him since he was young. He is confident that he has finally created a space that leaves his and others’ cups overflowing.
Eagles Christian Fellowship (ECF) is a new club at Bridgewater College that strives to bring the campus together and create unity through God’s Word. Schultz currently serves as the club’s president.
“In response to God’s love, grace and truth: The purpose of the Chapter is to establish and advance at Bridgewater College witnessing communities of students and faculty who follow Jesus as Savior and Lord: growing in love for God, God’s Word, God’s people of every ethnicity and culture and God’s purposes in the world,” the club charter states as ECF’s mission.
“We want people to be able to talk about the truth and the reality of chasing a man that you can’t see,” Faith Shields, the Vice President and small group leader for ECF, said.
How it started
The formation of ECF started with Dakota Baker, an employee for Inter-varsity, a campus ministry program, at James Madison University. Baker is also a pastor at a church just north of Bridgewater.
“The Lord sent Dakota here,” Shields said, “We wanted to be faithful to what the Lord was saying.”
Shultz said that after “praying through it,” he and friends who shared this same passion were inspired by Baker and worked with him to create ECF.
“It originated from a group of about four to five students on campus, all prayerfully considering what a biblical community would look like for them on campus,” Schultz said. “It’s kind of cool how all of our visions were the exact same.”
ECF hosted their first event on Aug. 28, 2025, when they started off the new academic year with grilling hotdogs, cornhole, volleyball and fellowship outside of Stone Village.
The group meets once a month as a large group, and every Thursday the small groups, which have an average of twelve members, meet individually.
While small groups started meeting over the past few months, the inaugural ECF large group was hosted on Jan. 29, 2026 in the Boitnott Room.
How ECF stands out
ECF, unlike other Christian clubs on campus, organizes both small group and large group sessions.
According to the club’s charter, small groups are “communities focused on the word, worship and witness.”
“Small groups are built on intimacy and just trying to know Jesus together,” Shields said.
These small groups are created to form relationships both within and outside of Thursday nights.
“We specifically call it small group for a reason, because it is a small group of people who are doing life together,” Schultz said. “Our relationships go beyond just unpacking scripture together or praying for one another, but we live our daily life alongside one another.”
Small groups started as small bible studies for the Bridgewater College men’s and women’s swim team and women’s volleyball team. Despite this being the background for the formation of the groups, anyone is welcome to join a small group, whether they are an athlete or not.
“Each group does whatever study they want to, and they kind of just unpack scripture together and live life together,” Schultz said.
According to The Gospel Coalition, dividing a college campus into small groups is a great way to reach more students, which is something ECF club leaders emphasize.
“We are really pushing for everyone on the campus to be in the club,” Shields said. “We want people to know Jesus and we want people to know Jesus with brothers and sisters that they are close with.”
Once a month, these small groups will gather together for large group which, according to the charter, consists of prayer and worship through speaking and through music. There is currently a worship team made up of Bridgewater students that leads worship on these nights. Speakers will come in, either students or speakers from off campus, and deliver a message. Schultz said their message at the first small group meeting was about “the importance of a biblical community.”
ECF will occasionally host events, which they refer to as times of fellowship, such as game night, grilling hotdogs outside Stone Village and holiday parties.
Locations, event information and updates can be found on the ECF Instagram page.
How to join
There are a couple different ways one can approach joining ECF. It can be done in person by either attending large group and meeting with group leaders there, or reaching out through social media.
“You are more than welcome to DM the Instagram page that we are on,” said Schultz. “I can get you connected with a small group.”
“In ECF, it’s a time to put down the screens and just be present with people in a way that you just really get to know one another in a deeper way than what you might find elsewhere,” Baker said.
