By Richard Li '24
I was confused and curious when Theo Law-Ho ‘24 first invited me to his “Christian Club” meeting. As someone who was raised in a nonreligious background, I felt far removed from Christianity. I had a few preconceptions about Christians, mostly from stories I read as a child. I assumed that it mainly involved hundreds or thousands of people sitting in rows of old, fancy benches, memorizing the Bible line by line. I also knew that there was an old man dressed in white called the Pope, who lived in Vatican City.
In my first meeting with Zeal, I sat in on a casual discussion about how God intervenes in our lives, and how that applies to events in history. It was clear that everyone in the room except me had been exposed to Christianity for a significant time, as they eloquently brought up stories from various books of the Bible. Some of their views made me severely skeptical, while others actually did lead me to reconsider my view of my place in the world and the lens through which I see purpose. It was certainly refreshing to hear different perspectives on existential issues since I had only previously considered the views of my parents.
This meeting broke my essentialized view of Christianity as being solely traditional; they were simply just having an interesting chat that happened to relate to Christian teachings.
Nearly a year later, I returned to a Zeal meeting upon Theo’s request. This time, the room was packed (last time it definitely wasn’t). I had to bring in a chair from outside the room and even struggled to fit myself. The three leaders, Theo, Elaine, and Hazel, had begun a new video series seemingly directed at reaching out to non-Christians. The video periodically paused and we were prompted to discuss questions about happiness and desire.
This drastic growth and change in Zeal’s operations was incredibly impressive to me, and I reached out to Theo to ask him about his involvement, goals, and any advice to other student leaders at SAS.
Richard: Tell me a bit about the history of Zeal. How did you become involved and how did it begin?
Theo: So Zeal was originally called Ditchdiggers and was around before I started high school, so I'm not sure how it even started. I had always been a Christian and grew up in the church so it was natural for me to join in 9th grade, and then in 10th grade, my older brother Elijah led the club as the president. Then I led the club as a representative in 11th grade and as a speaker in 12th grade.
Richard: I've noticed that in the past year, you've really been able to grow Zeal, just from how large your group chat is and how packed your meetings have become. How have you been able to reach out to so many people in the SAS community?
Theo: I've been at SAS since 3rd grade, and I've made many friends throughout the years. So, it was not difficult for me to ask my friends to come to the meetings. Also, the meetings had actually been relatively small up until recently, and I think that has to do with the fact that many of my friends are now reflecting on bigger questions in senior year and after having completed college applications. As such, I think more people are coming to the meetings than before.
Richard: Would you say that the growth of Zeal has been mainly through word of mouth?
Theo: I would say so, yes. And it's surprised me that the friends I've asked are also bringing their friends along to the meetings. I think everyone privately ponders these deeper, existential questions about their purpose in life and what they're really working to do and achieve. So people are inherently interested in coming to potentially find an answer to these questions. And I want to emphasize that we're not really doing that much to grow the club. We've done little to no PR work, and we're just inviting our friends and for some reason many of them are agreeing to come to the meetings.
Richard: This is a really fascinating answer, and I think this might tie into a conversation about the goals relating to Christianity that Zeal is trying to achieve. Do you have a mission statement? If not, what would it sound like?
Theo: That's a really good question, and we don't have a formal mission statement. But if we were to have one, it would be to spread the good news of the Gospel and share the riches of God's grace to every person. The reason why we say that is, personally I've found God to have given my life a sense of meaning and purpose and direction. But more important than that, personally I tend to be very harsh and critical of myself. So the message that there is a God who loves me so much that he gave his son to be tortured and die for me even despite my many mistakes is liberating, and it feels like a burden of guilt and shame is lifted off my shoulders. We all feel a sense that we are not enough or that we have done things wrong, and we are often striving to prove ourselves, that we are not failures and that we are enough. So that's what I mean by "grace.”
Richard: Give me a basic introduction: how does Zeal operate?
Theo: We've recently changed our system of operation. Before, each of the three leaders (Elaine, Hazel, and I) or a guest speaker would take turns preparing talks and delivering them. Now, we have just started a video series specifically for people who aren't Christians, and we split into groups whenever there are discussion questions.
Richard: What has been your most rewarding experience with Zeal so far?
Theo: Christianity has been a huge part of my life that I haven't really been able to share with my friends. I used to be afraid that they saw Christianity as backwards or wishful thinking or illogical, even when there is strong evidence otherwise. So I think just seeing many of my friends come to the meetings and some of them tell me "hey, that was really interesting" after the meetings has been quite rewarding. In essence, I've been going out on a limb to invite them and say that this is what I believe. Rather than having my fear confirmed, I found many of them to be quite interested. For a long time, I've wanted my friends to share in the relief I've found in Christianity and to also "go to heaven" so to speak, and it's great that they're finally one step closer.
Richard: What advice would you have for other student leaders at SAS?
Theo: I've heard this quote before that in order to be a leader, you must first know how to lead yourself. And I know firsthand that this is true from working in teams in Inno and in the Citizen Action Council. If you're depressed, struggling to find purpose in life, not feeling like your club's work is truly meaningful, or really worried about your grades, it's hard to lead other people. For me, Christianity has been that rock that has helped me get through tough times (especially senior college app writing) that has allowed me to lead even in spite of everything else going on. Even if you don't choose Christianity, it's important to make sure you can lead and manage yourself first.
Theo is a rather impressive individual who I admire heavily for the impact that he has had on the SAS community. Zeal meets on Friday lunches in the CID Aquarium Room, and you can find them on Instagram at @_zealofficial_.
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