A Longing for More
| 2017-07-20 00:00:00 -0400
This campus missionaries’ heart wasn’t content just reaching the University where she serves, when there were more students close by who also needed to hear of the love of Jesus Christ.
One small town, two universities, over 50,000 college students of whom less than 10 percent are actively pursuing a relationship with Jesus Christ. Instead, many turn to other gods hoping to find life, a sense of belonging or purpose. Many are searching. Many are waiting. Searching and waiting for someone, anyone, to tell them the good news of Jesus Christ who died so that we may have life to the full.
Since Hope Fellowship Church’s existence, we've primarily focused on the largest university here, University of North Texas. However, last year I just couldn't shake the feeling that I wanted more. There is a whole other university here where almost 16,000 students are yearning for someone to befriend them, love them and care for them. So I ventured out to the campus of Texas Woman’s University (TWU) on moving day for the incoming freshmen of fall 2016. We've wanted to start a student organization on this campus for years, but one of the main roadblocks was that we needed 10 students already involved in order to merely apply to become an official student organization.
“Well, they can't stop me from holding a Bible study on campus,” I thought. So I walked from table to table in the student union as scared yet excited freshmen devoured Chick-fil-A. “Would you be interested in joining an on-campus Bible study?” I asked. Thirty minutes. Eighteen interested. Eighteen students embarking on the biggest, most important time of their lives thus far want to know more about God. “If that many are interested within only 30 minutes,” I thought, “imagine how many more we’ll meet when we spend even more time on campus!”
One of these 18 chose to surrender herself to Christ this past spring and is getting baptized this summer. In our most recent meeting, she told me how she wasn't even supposed to attend TWU originally but that she now knew it was so she could learn more about God. She expressed her desire to reach out to other students at TWU and her excitement that we are now an official student organization, increasing our opportunities to reach out to and love these thousands of students. Many are searching. Many are waiting.
“But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them?” Romans 10:14 (NLT)
