PHILADELPHIA (BRN) – In the Fall of 2022, Baptist Campus Ministries (BCM) at Drexel University in Philadelphia, Pa., received three connected evangelism grants from the Baptist Resource Network of Pennsylvania/South Jersey (BRN). The first two were to publicize and assist with Welcome Week events. The third grant request was used to help follow-up over the course of the fall term with the connections made during Welcome Week.
During the Welcome Week events, BCM made 75 new student contacts through FIND-A-CHURCH, Open House, Mind Your Faith, Campus Wide Worship and several tabling events. These students were encouraged to attend all of the Welcome Week events, but especially Campus Wide Worship, where one Drexel upperclassman presented their personal testimony and another delivered the gospel.
After Welcome Week, the next challenge was to meet as many of the contacts individually and share the gospel with them or, if they are already Christian, connect them with a local church and an on campus ministry. Individual emails were sent to the entire list, inviting them to meet with BCM Campus Minister Brian Musser over lunch or dinner, for coffee or just in his office when they were available.
Of the 75 student contacts, 20 of them accepted an invitation to meet one on one. However, of those 20 individual meetings – when presenting the gospel – 19 of them confirmed that they were Christian. Three of these new students have been regularly connected with CRU (a Christian student organization at Drexel that Musser serves as the faculty adviser).
Another student, who is technically an international student from Nigeria, but spent her life as a Nigerian missionary kid in Thailand, is a consistent part of Drexel Students for Christ (another Christian student organization at Drexel that Musser advises).
Interestingly enough, eight of the students were either masters or PhD students who are now part of the Graduate Christian Fellowship, including international students from Nigeria, South Korea, India and Ghana. Five of the students have joined Musser’s Sunday night Bible study called PEACE&POWER Christian Fellowship. Some of the students have joined multiple things and there is considerable overlap between the graduate group and Musser’s Bible Study.
The one student of the 20 who did not identify as a Christian is a graduate student from South Korea and the wife of a Christian student. As a married couple, they have become good friends with Musser and his wife, Jennifer. They have had dinner with Musser’s family, attended a Christmas party after the fall term and allowed Musser and his family to give them a welcome tour of Philadelphia. Although she is not yet a believer, Musser and her husband pray together regularly for her salvation.
The disappointment is how few non-Christians were identified through these methods. With that in mind, Musser adjusted his activities. When the weather permitted, using water bottles and snacks leftover from Welcome Week events, Musser engaged the campus through Soularium tables to make contacts with non-Christians.
Musser also tasked Jon Rice, the associate Baptist campus minister at Drexel, with investing more time in a specific non-Christian student organization that he was a part of as a student at Drexel. The winter and spring terms at Drexel will see Musser coordinating more Soularium tables to specifically connect with non-Christians as well as Rice inviting members of the Dragon Jedi Club (a lightsaber choreography group on campus) to have individual conversations with him.
Baptist Campus Ministries at Drexel want to specifically thank the BRN for the evangelism grants that helped us connect with new students and connect those new students to the gospel and gospel-centered Christian ministries on campus.
