Mission trips and rock concerts, pancakes and community service projects - campus ministry is a great source of creative ideas for getting people involved in a Christian community.

The first Campus Chaos, sponsored by the Student Ecumenical Partnership (STEP), is providing a central place to share effective methods for getting students involved.

"As the national student ministry for the United Church of Christ and the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), STEP aims to gets students excited and involved in issues that affect them through campus and student ministries," said Brad Lyons, STEP's Disciples staff representative. "College students and campus ministers are always looking for new ideas for attracting students to campus ministries. With Campus Chaos, we think we're on to something."

College basketball's annual springtime playoff creates new, intriguing matchups of teams that rarely play each other, and STEP hopes to bring the same competitive format to discovering new ways to get student ministries involved in social issues.

Ten student ministries with ties to the United Church of Christ and the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) submitted 200-word entries and photos describing projects that got students involved in ministry. All submissions have been bracketed, and projects will advance through the brackets by a vote of the people. The field will narrow every Wednesday, culminating in a championship pairing in early April. The winner - and all the great projects that have been entered - will be recognized at Celebrate!, the national gathering for college students and ministers, in New Orleans later this year.

"Campus Chaos is a challenge to all campus religious groups to get out there and make a difference both on their campuses and in their communities in a new and innovative way," said Katie Griffin, a STEP Leadership Team member at Eastern Kentucky University. "We now have a set of activities and ideas that have been proven to be successful in campus ministries across the United States."

The brackets aim to give each school an opportunity to make a run at the championship. Public schools like Syracuse University, the University of Georgia, Keene State College and the University of Houston are pitted against Transylvania University, Chapman University, Lynchburg College, and Eckert College, private schools that are home to church-related ministries. Two Missouri campus ministries, in Columbia and Springfield, are also participating.

Anybody with an interest in campus ministries can vote. Go online to www.stepnetwork.org and click on the Campus Chaos pennants. Alumni can support their alma maters, and regions can rally behind their representatives. Results will be posted each Wednesday as the votes are finalized.

After the dust settles, all entries will be compiled into a downloadable publication for free distribution through the STEP web site.