KIRKSVILLE – For as long as Campus Missionary Greg Xander can remember, street preachers have stood in the middle of Truman University’s campus yelling at students and pronouncing judgment on them. “It happened when I was a student, so this is history,” Xander says. To his great sadness, these experiences have fueled hurt, controversy, arguments, and frustration and have negatively shaped the way students understand Jesus. “People were giving a lot of truth without a lot of love,” he says.
Xander saw that something needed to be done, but it would require a different approach. “Maybe we can just try to reclaim who Jesus is to a lot of people on campus who’ve just seen 30 seconds of yelling,” he thought. He and his students would go on a different day to the same fountain where street preachers stood yelling. They went armed not with arguments but with clipboards, brownies, and a gracious invitation to fill a spiritual survey out.
Xander also wanted to create a context where people of opposing viewpoints could gather and listen to one another, not fight with each other. He knew from experience that a debate would only serve to throw up defenses and harden hearts, but if they could find common ground and honest dialogue, students—and administrators—would get to hear the gospel. He trusted that in time, the truth of God’s Word would prevail. “Maybe we can’t answer everything,” he says, “We just know Jesus has changed our lives.”
Xander talked to the office on campus for cultural and religious diversity. He proposed the idea of holding panels where students could ask questions to a variety of people. Xander was clear; it wouldn’t be a debate. The administrators loved the idea. “I suggested we start with what we have in common so we aren’t fighting, but then there are going to be places where we diverge—can we be okay with that?” he says. “We need to show the world we can still work together even if we don’t see things the same way.”
Over several years of doing panels, Xander has seen positive fruit. Believing faculty members have had the opportunity to share their faith publicly and show that faith and science aren’t mutually exclusive. Xander has connected with students he never would have otherwise. He’s been able to build relationships with them, love them, and give them a safe space to wrestle with what they believe—no matter how far-out it is—and share with them what he believes. He’s seen his students learn how to talk to their friends and be a voice of hope, not a voice of condemnation. “Panels are an intentional way of helping my students and me to have the conversations,” he says.
Xander has also earned a place of respect among university administrators and the leaders of other on-campus organizations. They see him as an ally, not an enemy, which gives him access and platforms to share truth and show the love of Christ in places he wouldn’t otherwise get to. He has let his reasonableness be known to all, as Philippians 4:5 urges.
After a break during Covid, Xander brought back the panels this year. Xander invited church leaders in the area to participate. “The goal was to get church people connected to the BSU,” he says. He’s gotten several area pastors connected by having them sit on a panel.
In January, at a panel with other Christian ministries, a student asked a question regarding LGBT issues. One by one, the other ministries answered in a way that affirmed or celebrated homosexuality. At the very least, no one spoke of God’s plan for sexuality. The moderator moved on to the next question, but Xander wasn’t content to let it be. “I was like, oh man, we have to deal with this,” he says. He circled back to the question. “I just really shared it…We have people in our lives right now who practice homosexual lifestyle. We’re always going to treat them with dignity, love them, respect them…but we believe there’s a way that brings life and hope that’s in the person of Jesus. He’s our source of truth. We’re not going to champion homosexuality and embrace that.”
Xander didn’t back down from answering the question, but he also showed “we don’t have to be mean to do what we believe. I want our students to see that there’s a way that’s actually beautiful.” That way, he believes, is balancing truth and love. Meeting people where they are, finding common ground, and earning the right to share so that when the questions are asked, you’re ready to answer—and they’re ready to listen to you. It’s exactly what Peter outlines in 1 Peter 3:15 when he calls us to always be prepared to give a reason for the hope that we have, yet to do it with gentleness and respect.
“For the guy who just wants to be known for love, we do, but we also want to be faithful,” Xander says. The panels provide an opportunity to do both, and to reclaim Jesus as the loving, merciful, but truthful and life-changing Savior that He is.