It was lunch time, and I was filling my cup of noodles at the water fountain. In walked a confident young man named Sean in an orange hunting shirt, jeans and Sperrys.
There is no one else in the building so I asked him, “May I help you?” He responded, “I’m looking for a lady named Christy Hicks.” I replied, “Well, you found her!”
I invited him to my office to find out just why he was there to talk with me. He shared that he didn’t get into the physical therapy assisting program on the first go-around, so he was planning to take a few other classes he still needed during the fall semester and wanted to get involved with BCM.
I asked him about his background and faith story. He shared that he had been living with his grandmother and attending church with her.
But the biggest impact on his faith, though, came from three guys who had shared their faith with him on the beach during a spring break trip, using Romans 6:23: “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
They broke down the verse and explained it to him in a way he had never heard before. It really made him think about his need for repentance and a relationship with Christ.
He began to understand that he could never earn his way to heaven – that only God could provide the free gift of salvation.
After returning home from spring break, he was born again. He had a strong desire to share his newfound faith with others, and his aunt told him to go talk with the director of campus ministries.
The community college BCM program is much different than a university setting in that there is no time to cultivate and grow leaders.
I have always trusted that God would send me students to continue to carry the torch of faith on campus each year. When I see potential in a student, I try to go ahead and get them on the job.
I thanked the young man for coming by and told him I would be in touch. As he left, I began to pray in my heart.
I overwhelmingly knew God had prepared this young man to be the evangelism coordinator for the leadership team.
He was still driving his Ford Ranger down the country road toward his grandmother’s house when I called him. I said, “Hello there. I have a question for you. Would you like to be the evangelism coordinator for Campus Ministries?”
He thought to himself, “She barely knows me and she’s asking me to lead other students and teach them how to share their faith.” But he knew in his heart it is the right thing to do and directly in God’s will for him to accept, so he did.
As soon as fall semester began, he started recruiting other students who were willing to learn how to share the Gospel. He taught them to share their faith just as those three guys had shared with him on the beach. Every Tuesday he taught through Romans 6:23 and then led the students to go out on campus. In that one semester alone, they shared the plan of salvation with 92 students.
This bold and courageous young man went on to become the BCM president the next year.
He continued to encourage others to be about the Great Commission while on the mission field of their campus.
He served as a summer missionary and Christmas missionary and continues to this day to lead others to faith in Jesus Christ.
God has even used him in the lives of many Islamic students, seeing them convert to Christianity.
As campus ministers at the community college, we must ask God to send us students ready and willing to serve.
And guess what? He will. We must recognize when He answers and get those students on the job.
There is no time like the present and we must know the time is the present when the students come looking for us!
