ARLINGTON – Oct. 11 started
out like any other day for Amy. She went from college class to class. Then a
Christian classmate asked to go for a cup of coffee.
Amy admits she was relieved
to be invited to coffee because she had questions swirling in her head that
day, and she wanted to ask her classmate about them.
“You see, I was kind of happy
she asked because there was something I desperately needed her perspective on,”
Amy wrote in an email to the Engage24 leadership, and who asked to not share
her real name or location.
About a year ago, Amy had an
abortion and was condemned by her mother. She was carrying an immense amount of
pain, guilt and disappointment from this situation. She shared her story with
her classmate, expecting also to receive judgment. But that didn’t happen.
“She surprised me,” Amy wrote
about her classmate. “...She smiled, grabbed my hands and told me all about how
and why everyone is messed up - most importantly, how and why everyone still
has a hope. She told me it was the gospel and that it meant that regardless of
who and where I was, I was loved.”
The conversation between Amy
and her classmate is just one of thousands that took place on Oct. 11 through
Engage24, a 24-hour period where college students connected to Baptist
Collegiate Ministries around the nation and Canada made an effort intentionally
to engage their campus with the gospel. The goal was to see every
Christ-following student share the gospel with one person that day.
Though Amy did not make a
decision to follow Christ that day, she has been openly seeking answers and
learning more about Christ since her encounter.
“Your Engage24 really gave me
something tangible, and it has been the first piece of life I’ve seen in a
while,” Amy shard. “I’ve even begun to see new strength, and it is helping me
begin to do things like rebuild my relationship with my mother.”
In the United States and
Canada, there are more than 17 million college students. Leaders with the
Baptist Collegiate Network, an organization comprised of the Baptist Collegiate
Ministries in the U.S. and Canada, had a heart for each of these students to
hear about the hope of Christ. In Oct. 2011, these leaders began to pray about
involving more college students in evangelism efforts on college campuses and
their hearts were drawn to promote a one-day effort for sharing their faith.
“Our heart was to
somehow move evangelism forward on a national level and communicate to all the
college students in the U.S. and Canada that we want them to be out sharing
their faith,” said Christi Brazile Matthews, associate director of the BSM at
University of Texas at Arlington and evangelism committee member for the
Baptist Collegiate Network.
Through the effort, more than
2,700 students across the nation and Canada reported that they shared the
gospel more than 9,300 times and saw 96 students choose to begin a relationship
with Christ.
“We just have been absolutely
been blown away with what God has done,” Matthew said.
Ways that Engage24 was
carried out were left up to the individual collegiate ministries. Some held
evangelism trainings the weeks prior to the effort while others held service or
campus events in order to engage students with the gospel.
John Shaffner with the BCM at
the University of Arkansas shared that his group planned a campus revival
around Engage24 and saw 39 students choose to follow Christ.
“Students have been
connecting with and praying for lost friends this semester and this was the
week to take it to the next level and share the gospel,” Shaffner said. “We
planned REVIVE with the hope that this would be a harvest event, a place where
students could personally invite those they have been praying for and investing
in. Souls were saved and lives were changed.”
Richard Parsons, a business
management major at Angelo State University in San Angelo, Texas, said that he
met a college student while the BSM students also were hosting a solarium card
table. He found that Engage24 not only gave him an opportunity to share the
hope of Christ with non-Christians but also to encourage Christians who have
been struggling in their walk.
“We exchanged contact info
and had a deep talk. He was really depressed,” he said. “We were going try to
meet up last night, but he was tired and we ended up texting. It seems he's
getting back on the right track again. It's great to see how we were trying to
connect and make an impact with non-believers, and yet we were making an impact
for the struggling believers, as well!"
At the University of Texas at
Arlington Baptist Student Ministry, Matthews and other leaders held evangelism
training each hour of the day on Oct. 11, equipping students to share their
faith. The group also gave away free coffee and more than 600 donuts that day,
giving students an opportunity to connect with others on campus and begin
gospel conversations. Matthews mentioned that through the effort, she was able
to explain the gospel to students four different times that day.
“There are students in the
BSM who have grown up in church but had never shared their faith until
Engage24,” Matthews said. “I think because it was a national day, they felt
encouraged to be bold and take part in sharing their faith.”
Beyond spreading the gospel
to students who may have never heard, Engage24 is the start to helping students
make evangelism a daily part of their life, Matthews said.
“I hope that this helps them
to have a lifestyle of evangelism, that they will look at their everyday
personal lives they are living as a chance to share Christ, that they won’t see
this as a one-day event but a lifestyle of sharing Christ with friends and
family,” Matthews said.
Make plans to join the next
Engage24 on Oct. 10, 2013. For more information,
visit www.Engage24.org.
Kaitlin Warrington, Texas Baptists Communications
Are you in the beginning stages of planning for the new school year? Hopefully, you already know about Engage24 and are planning to join us in engaging your campus with the Gospel on 10/10/13 (if not, you can check out more about it at www.engage24.org). But...have you thought about having an intentional prayer emphasis leading up to this day focused on verbally sharing the Gospel on campus?
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