Evangelism a constant force on Georgia Campuses

Baptist Student Unions across the state are finding new ways for students to take ownership in evangelizing their campus.

• Ben Adkins, a sophomore at Georgia State, has started an international student Bible study.

• Datubo Benson-jaja, a senior at Georgia Southern, prompted his BSU to begin using their weekly large-group meeting time to fan out across campus and look for witnessing opportunities.

• John Smith, Truett McConnell BSU president, leads groups into nearby towns on the weekends to do street evangelism.

Students can also be found serving as dorm missionaries, distributing Christian literature at orientation, and witnessing in campus high-traffic areas.

Three students made up the Young Harris College BSU when Von Rogers became campus minister last April; now there are 13.

“Outreach is a big part of our ministry,” she says. “Encouragement is a major component of what we do.”

Jessica Matthews, Young Harris BSU president, agrees. “For evangelism, no Christian should feel that they need to hear a ‘call’ – it should be a every believer’s priority.”

Tony Branham, campus minister at the State University of West Georgia, says a focus of the BSU is to try to introduce students to different evangelistic methods.

“One thing we’ve pushed is our Friday lunch,” says Branham. “On those mornings, our students pass out drinks to others, letting them know about the lunch later that day.”

Small groups of 6-8 students share a meal at each table. One or two are designated to guide discussions on Scripture.

“The lunches are a great evangelistic opportunity,” says Jacob Boyd, a sophomore from Kennesaw. “We end up not sitting in our own cliques, but instead getting to know others.”

Also at West Georgia, BSU students serve as dorm missionaries to reach out to others on their floor.

Brian Eden

Allie Hopkins, a freshman at the State University of West Georgia, has placed a message board on her dorm room door for students to leave prayer requests. The effort has led to numerous evangelistic encounters. She is one of several dorm missionaries at West Georgia who look for ways to build relationships with other students.

Allie Hopkins, a freshman from Toccoa, is one such missionary.

“One day I left a message on my white board hanging outside my door for people to leave prayer requests. There was one request on it that day. The next week, I started getting five or six a day,” says the Early Childhood Education major.

One strategy used by many BSUs has been the Andrew Dinner. Students befriend and pray for unbelievers before inviting them to a dinner where the gospel is shared. At each table two BSU students serve the meal before sharing their own testimony and the plan of salvation.

At Georgia Southern fifty new students came to the dinner, with four praying for salvation.

“The Andrew Dinner has generated more intentionality in how the students share their faith,” states campus minister Jerry Johnson. Benson-jaja has recently started a student group with friend John Parker to teach about “living a purposeful lifestyle of evangelism.”

“We have to remain conscious of ways to witness. It seems like we’re trained a lot but never ‘go to war’ when it comes to witnessing” says Benson-jaja, who took a year off from school to serve in the Marines.

At Truett McConnell, campus minister David Kirkland tells how evangelism training in the Fall resulted in groups of students becoming involved in street evangelism. That enthusiasm has now spread to the others in the BSU. Last Fall there were 363 non-campus conversions reported by BSU students.

Through outreach events BSUs have provided the majority of participants in every Crossover held by the state convention.

Placing a heavy emphasis on missions results in new ministries on campus. At Georgia State, Adkins wanted to do something more at GSU after spending the summer in Vancouver, British Columbia. It was in that diverse population that he began working with Asians in developing their conversational English skills.

Adkins’ group currently has seven internationals who study scripture while developing their English skills. He’s also taken the students on trips around Atlanta.

In Dahlonega, North Georgia College and State University campus minister Ken Jones utilizes small groups in training students to witness. “As with many BSUs, we depend a lot on building relationships with others,” says Jones. “In their groups they are challenged by their friends to get to know unbelievers.

“It is here that students are taught scripture memory and how to share their faith and testimony. The focus is on reaching others.”

Last Fall, there were 122 student conversions recorded through BSU ministry on Georgia campuses. Twenty of those came from the Dahlonega campus.

The BSUs at Southern Polytechnic and Kennesaw State have benefited from pooling resources with other student ministries, says campus minister Dave Stewart. In January, a joint effort among groups yielded six decisions.

For more information on Baptist student work, contact Collegiate Ministries at (770) 936-5250.