Jill Berner, a state-qualifying tennis player from Albia, Iowa, entered Simpson College as a freshman elementary education major trying to get over a bout of mono. She managed to earn a spot on the Simpson women’s tennis team and became one of the team’s best young players, but she struggled all year with anemia and a low iron count.

Trying to juggle studies and a varsity sport, no one would have blamed her had she crashed into bed early every night. But there was one event that she almost never missed – a Fellowship of Christian Athletes women’s Bible study held every Monday evening on campus.