KANSAS CITY – Gospel Saturation is one of Collegiate Impact’s four core values: they want to saturate the college campuses around Kansas City with the gospel of Jesus. Hence, their staff and students put focused, regular time into doing evangelism on campus and training students to share their faith with others on campus and beyond. In the month of March, Collegiate Impact staff and students had many opportunities to do those things in conjunction with partner churches as well as the seminary.
Tabling is one activity Collegiate Impact Ministries do on campuses around the Metro. Staff and volunteers set up a table on campus, often offering free snacks or drinks, and write a “Question of the Week” on a whiteboard. The freebies draw students to the table, the students write their answer on the board, and those staffing the table seek to engage students in conversation that might lead to a gospel conversation right then and there or a Gospel Appointment later (a Gospel Appointment is a designated time to meet one-on-one with another person with the aim of learning their story, sharing your story, and sharing God’s story). Tabling is also a way to invite students to Bible study and other activities.
Church volunteer shares gospel with skeptic
While tabling on a community college campus in Kansas City, a Collegiate Impact volunteer from FBC Grandview had a gospel conversation with a student. The volunteer shares:
“I had a great conversation with a girl studying math and philosophy. She grew up in a strict Baptist household but found many of their beliefs conflicting with her own. Particularly, she mentioned her lesbian sister and the hateful words directed her sister’s way. We began to discuss how God views people as well as how God reveals His own character. I used Exodus 34:6-7 as my basis as well as my tie in to the gospel, which I was able to share in full. The girl admitted that she believes that Jesus lives and that He is God, but she still wrestles with understanding why the Bible says certain things, such as its views on LGBTQ+. I encouraged her that she wasn’t alone in seeing some hard truths in Scripture, but that God’s grace can help soften us to them through faith. Overall, we had an extremely pleasant and productive conversation. She left after having received further information about the club.”
Campus missionary shares gospel with Muslim
Caleb Fain, a campus missionary apprentice with Collegiate Impact, shared the gospel with a Muslim student recently while tabling. The Question of the Week was, “What is the greatest evil in the world?” The Muslim student wrote her answer on the whiteboard, and Caleb engaged her in a conversation about her answer. As he dialogued with her, he found out she was a Muslim and had never heard the gospel explained before…so he shared it with her!
While she didn’t choose to believe in that moment, she seemed open to continuing the discussion.
Campus missionary & church partner share gospel with lost student
One week in March, a new student joined the Collegiate Impact Bible study on campus. He asked many questions and got heated about the responses of the leaders. Campus Missionary Apprentice Kerissa Breisch writes,
“We asked to table the discussion until afterward, which he graciously did. After Bible study, Daniel (a church partner volunteer) and I stayed afterward to talk with him for over an hour. He continued to ask many questions about God: His love, His sovereignty, following Scripture, etc. He fervently disliked our answers, but we kept trying to point him to the truth of God’s Word. He left our conversation abruptly when he disagreed with something we said. While it wasn’t a win for the result of the conversation, Daniel and I know we were faithful to point out truth to this lost student.”
Students ask for evangelism training
If campus ministers made a list of their top 5 favorite questions for a student to ask them, this one would undoubtedly be on it: “Would you teach me how to share the gospel?” Campus ministry staff will say yes to that question, every time!
At the beginning of March, a student asked Breisch to meet with her to teach her how to share the gospel. They met for several hours over spring break discussing the how to’s and learning various tools for sharing the gospel. Breisch encouraged her to take time during spring break to write up her gospel presentation and practice on her family.
Another student from a different community college campus began meeting regularly with Fain at the beginning of the semester, also with a desire to grow in evangelism. Fain says,
“Early in the semester, I had a Gospel Appointment with a student. I could tell he loves Jesus and wants to grow in Him. We have met up several times since, talking about what it looks like to be an obedient disciple of Jesus. He told me he wants to grow in Bible reading and witnessing, so I invited him to start reading the Bible together. We started reading Romans, and I can see his eagerness to continue reading in other places in the Bible on his own.”
Fain hopes to continue discipling this student and raise him up as a future student leader.
Students prayer walk, share gospel at UMKC
A couple years ago, Collegiate Impact launched an Evangelism Club at Spurgeon/Midwestern Seminary to mobilize Spurgeon and Midwestern students to do evangelism on other campuses. Last month, Collegiate Impact student leader Toby Hughes went on campus with two other UMKC students plus a group of Spurgeon students to do evangelism. One student that they talked to professed faith in Christ for the first time right then and there!
On another occasion, Hughes and three other students went prayer walking on campus. They talked to two receptive people, one who proclaimed to follow Christ already; the other who said he passively goes to church.
UMKC students share gospel in O’Fallon
Several Collegiate Impact students from UMKC spent their spring break partnering with FBC O’Fallon on an Engage O’Fallon mission trip. Through conducting disaster relief assessments for Missouri Baptist Disaster Relief and doing door-to-door evangelism around the church, they got to share the gospel with several people and pray for others. The trip challenged the students to be bolder in sharing their faith, and it sparked creativity in how they might apply the door-to-door concept in the context of their campus. It also gave them a glimpse into what it looks like to do ministry as a family with kids since the leaders of Collegiate Impact participated in the trip with their five children.
Gospel seeds sown
Collegiate Impact staff and students have been sowing gospel seeds across the campuses in partnership with local churches. Some of these seeds are taking root; some are being watered, but God will give the growth!