BRN evangelism grant helps foster gospel conversations and fellowship at Drexel University

Out of these six events we generated 130 student contacts. Baptist Campus Ministries also developed a list of about 60 faculty and staff contacts. Each of these contacts were added to a weekly email list detailing multiple ways to get connected to the Christian community at Drexel. BCM, through campus missionaries Jon Rice and Brian Musser, individually emailed all 190 of these contacts, inviting them to meet one-on-one (or in some cases a small group) for what we refer to as Gospel Appointments. The Baptist Resource Network (BRN) evangelism grant allowed these meetings to include coffee and/or lunch.

26 individuals accepted our invitation – 11 faculty/staff members and 15 students. Of these 26 individuals, five of the faculty members were already known as Christians. The 21 others were shared the basic story of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection in the context of the initial conversation. Through this conversation, 15 of the 21 confirmed themselves as Christians and expressed a previous personal commitment to the gospel. This is a higher percentage than I was expecting, but, naturally, Christian students are more willing to accept an invitation to have a conversation with campus ministers than non-Christians.

We changed our methods a little bit during the winter and spring terms based on our experience during the fall. Instead of emphasizing explicitly one-on-one meetings, we found that students might be more prone to meet in slightly larger groups. We tried to keep these meetings small enough that each individual was able to respond directly to presentations of the gospel.

During the winter and spring terms (mostly spring term, due to COVID resurgence in the winter), I met with 19 different students (11 undergrads, five grad students and three alum) over seven different meals. Four of the undergrads were known Christians, who were present mainly because they brought their friends, and seven of the undergraduates were unknown.

Three confirmed that they were Christians and four listened to the gospel while eating with us. The spiritual commitment of the five grad students was unknown. Four of them confirmed their commitment to Jesus, while one of them heard the gospel for the first time. During the spring term, I brought three Drexel Christian alum with me for some of the meals to let them see how to have a Gospel Appointment. Finally, three conversations (with specifically catholic students) about the gospel that started in fall continued.

Arthur was an interesting example of these Christian students. He came to Christ through the internet the previous year during the pandemic lockdown, which gave him time to research questions about the Christian faith. Now, at Drexel he was actively searching for a Christian church and student fellowship to engage with in person for the first time. There were several stories like this from the Christian students about them coming to faith during the pandemic.

This is always an interesting part of the job. Many of the students we come into contact with at the beginning of the year will identify as Christians, but they come from so many different backgrounds that we have to be careful to intentionally discuss what they actually mean when they say they are a Christian. These one-on-one conversations have been a good way to confirm that students identifying as Christian have actually heard and responded to the gospel in a way that would align with what we mean when we use the term Christian.

Amazingly, two of the students I connected with this term were contacts sent to me from International Mission Board (IMB) missionary personnel, one from India and one from Kazakhstan. This was the first time I had students connect with me at Drexel because of our missionary presence in their country.

I was able to share the gospel with both of them. The student from India, a Ph.D. student in engineering, confirmed that he had trusted Christ while in his home country and is now actively involved in our graduate student Christian fellowship.

The student from Kazakhstan did not give me a definitive response when I asked if he had trusted Christ. This might be due to language, cultural or just relational issues. He might not trust me enough yet. It  could also mean that, while he is connected with our IMB missionary, he has not personally accepted Christ. Please pray for this student.

Six of these individuals (including one faculty member) with whom we shared the gospel did not profess to have faith in Christ. Please pray that our conversations have planted a seed;that they will consider accepting the grace available in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and that we will be able to maintain a connection with them.

Continuing in the winter and spring terms:

Unfortunately, the pandemic continued to complicate life at Drexel. The first couple of weeks of the winter were done remotely, due to a significant increase in the COVID positivity in and around campus. This limited the number of students interested in meeting for one-on-one conversations during the winter term (January through March).

Also, the Kazakhstani student, mentioned previously, had a significant crisis related to the political turmoil in his home country. He needed to return home. He trusted me to help him in the complicated process because of our previous connections from the fall term.

The other graduate student referred to me by an IMB missionary (the Indian international student), introduced me to two more graduate students in the winter term; both of whom I met with and have confirmed are Christians. They have been added to the Christian group on campus.

In the spring term (April – June), in connection with Easter, we decided to try another approach. We advertised several gospel centered Bible study discussion groups related to the Easter Season. Publicity and pizza were provided for these discussions by the evangelism grant. 32 students (not all were new contacts) attended the three different discussions.

I met with several Catholic students over the year, helping them see the gospel clearly through one-on-one or small group conversations, always with the offer of food.

One Thursday, an accidental email went out from the office that recognizes student organizations. It individually told the 300 different student organizations at Drexel that they would not be recognized for the coming 22-23 academic year. By the time I had read the email, two of my three recognized Christian groups had called the office with concerns. The email was just a glitch in the system and unfounded, but it created a terrible day for the student life staff.

I saw it as a teaching moment. I took a couple of my Christian student leaders, went to Dunkin’ Donuts and bought a dozen donuts for the student life staff. We wanted to bless them, even when they had made a mistake. This allowed me to continue to build relationships with several of the Drexel administrators with whom I have had the privilege of talking to about Jesus over the course of my 17 years here on campus.

It also let me teach the Christian student leaders that we can share our faith even with those in positions of authority over us. Our campus ministries don’t just need to minister to students, but also to the faculty and staff.

Recently, the graduate student group has connected with Youngdai,  a second year international Ph.D. student from South Korea. He has been a committed member of our group over the last several months. Having a one-on-one conversation with him about the life, death and resurrection of Jesus allowed me to confirm his personal commitment to Christ. It also allowed us to talk about his wife.

She will be entering into a Ph.D. program at Drexel this fall in communications. She is not a believer in Christ and Youngdai is actively trying to witness to his wife. I was able to introduce Youngdai to a professor and a second international Ph.D. student who are both Christians and will be working directly with his wife. Pray that these Christian academic connections are able to draw his wife to a saving knowledge in the Lord.

For next year, we are considering how to gather more contact information than just the student’s university email, due to the growing habit of young adults not responding to email. Please pray that God will give us the wisdom we need to continue to reach the next generation at Drexel and for the students He is sending to its campus.