UNT and TWU – after hearing stories of staff sharing the gospel 2 years ago and what the spiritual climate of the campus was, I was slightly terrified. But despite my terror, we were going to spend the afternoon asking students questions about their spirituality and hopefully getting to share what we believe about Jesus.
My partner, John, and I felt unsure about whom to approach, but the first real conversation we got into was with a woman sitting on a bench picking through her lunch. She was a 1st generation biracial Korean Caucasian who had started following Jesus many years before. But just last year, the friend who had introduced her to Jesus betrayed her deeply. She no longer talks to her friend, and she’s struggling in her relationship with God. She hasn’t been to church, she says she isn’t sure Jesus is the only way anymore, and her pain was evident in her eyes and shaking hands. It seemed like she was running away from the pain, trying to make it through by ignoring it. We got to encourage her to stay honest with her struggles, that nothing can separate her from the love of Christ, and that he is with her, suffering alongside her.
The next woman we talked to was a Korean international student who had moved to America just weeks ago to study English. We had a lot of trouble understanding each other, but when we started asking about religion and whether she was Christian, eventually she told us “I’m nothing.” She had been to a Korean speaking church the weekend before where she felt relaxed for the first time. She excitedly took a track called True Story by James Chuong about how we were designed for good, damaged by evil, restored for better when Christ died on the cross, and are now sent to heal the world with Christ.
The last significant conversation we had was with a white student sitting at a fraternity table asking for donations for the North Texas Food Bank. He was spacy, eventually revealing he hadn’t slept the night before. It was kinda hilarious trying to get him to answer questions or even understand what we were saying. We found out he wasn’t very passionate about the food bank or the frat – he just wanted to be involved in something while he was at college. He grew up Catholic, but had decided to “take the wheel” and choose where he wanted to go. He agreed that Jesus was Lord “because that’s the language I always grew up with” but he didn’t think of Jesus as the leader of his life. We tried to challenge him that Jesus wanted more for him and for their relationship, that when we try to be in charge we make selfish and dumb choices, but he kept saying that he wasn’t sure about that. God was his safety net – that’s what he wanted and what God wanted. But he was considering going to some InterVarsity events because we were the second pair of people to talk to him about God that day.
All in all, it was a great afternoon!
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