I recently came across a good article from Benson Hines that provides leaders with a nice list of suggestions to energize evangelism in your college ministry.  You can find that article HERE.  In summary, he gives 6 steps that he has seen work throughout his observations...and they are:

1. 1.  Count Conversions
   1. 2.  Commemorate Spiritual Birthdays (the first one and latter ones)
   1. 3.  Share Testimonies of Witnessing (whether conversion results or not)
2. 4.  Share Testimonies of Being Witnessed To (by those who have now met Christ)
3. 5.  Make it Clear that Non-Christians are Welcome at Your Meeting (or ministry)
4. 6.  Make Baptism a Big Deal

It seems ironic that I of all people would be writing about an event that really connects college students.  It is well understood that I am NOT an event driven guy.  I find myself fighting against the event-driven culture that is common to most student ministries, desiring for students to see that it is not the role of the church to be your activity planner.  With that being said, there is one event that I absolutely love that we offer each year; it’s our Halloween Party.

You can call it whatever you want in order to make it acceptable to promote at your church.  I have seen “Fall Party”, “October Bash”, and we even called it the “H-Bomb” once, playing on the taboo nature that comes with hosting a “demonic” Halloween party.

Why do I love “Halloween Parties”?  Some events just naturally have a draw to them, events like: Super Bowl parties, Christmas parties, gatherings when the Cowboys are playing and Halloween are no different.  The reason I love ours is because this event has the greatest draw for reaching the un-churched and de-churched.  I rent out the bowling alley on campus at UTA (The University of Texas in Arlington), we put up a lot of flyers, we have lots of free food, and we give out gift cards for the best costumes. 

Most of the events we offer really only keep churched people happy, and I am drawn to events that attract those who are outside of our church walls.  The risk that comes with taking on a Halloween party is that you may see some questionable costumes, but the gain is that you will find yourself engaging in real conversations, much like the one Jesus encountered when he spoke to the woman at the well.  For me the gain far outweighs the risk. 

What events can you put on that will allow you to build relationships with those outside of your walls?

The intent of the team blog website and format is to aid collegiate/young adult leaders in their ministry to college age students in Texas.  The southern Baptists of Texas Convention does not necessarily agree with or condone all of the thoughts in every blog written by ministers, they simply are providing a platform for resources and thoughts to be shared through this blogging opportunity.  If you have any questions, please contact our offices.

Developing International Missions Opportunities in You Own Backyard.

You can truly have an international missions work in your own backyard & on your college campus. In Acts chapter 2 we see Peter preach a sermon to a group of Jews visiting Jerusalem from all parts of the Mediterranean world. The people then took the message back home. We see it again in Acts with Phillip and the Ethiopian Eunuch and in the Epistles with Paul and the church at Colossae.

We have the same opportunity in Texas on college campuses and in our neighborhoods. It does not matter if you are trying to reach Asian students here for studies or day laborers here trying to feed their families. We can follow the same principles to reach these “people groups” that are in our own backyard and prepare the ground work for them to return home with the gospel and for us to send missionaries into their midst. Here are some principles you can use to engage your students and local church: Pray, Serve & Share, Send.

Pray:

·         Pray for repentance. We have not done a great job in North Texas ministering to the people groups in our midst; we need to repent of that.

·         Pray for God to open the eyes of your students and yourself to the opportunities to engage people groups from other geographies & cultures.

·         Pray for open eyes to see the needs that they have.

Share & Serve: Identify the people group you want to engage.

·         Serve the group identified. Service without asking anything in return is the fastest way to build a relationship with another people group or culture.

o        Ideas:

§         Water bottles for day laborers waiting for work in the Texas heat.

§         Host dinners for the different foreign student associations on your campus.

§         Offer free ESL classes.

·         Share your faith. Sincerely share the gospel after building relationships & in roads. Continue to maintain & build relationships. This is the work of generations.

Send:

·         Send them home: Some students and foreign nationals truly struggle to make it home as often as they would like. Once you have seen fruit in sharing & serving, help the people you have discipled go home as needed. Help them take the message.

·         Send them support: don’t disconnect from those you have reached that have returned to their home country. Stay in contact, send them support, and continue the relationship and discipleship. Find out what they need.

·         Send missionaries: As this work continues and you build inroads and relationships, be prepared to send your students and yourself.

The intent of the team blog website and format is to aid collegiate/young adult leaders in their ministry to college age students in Texas.  The Southern Baptists of Texas Convention does not necessarily agree with or condone all of the thoughts in every blog written by ministers, they simply are providing a platform for resources and thoughts to be shared through this blogging opportunity. If you have any questions contact our offices.