Students want to make a difference in the world. InterVarsity’s regional evangelism coordinator, York Moore, visited the campus of Oakland University in Detroit last month to challenge students with specific steps they could take to improve their lives and the lives of others.
He partnered with Oakland University, World Vision, and several other Christian groups for an outreach aimed at confronting Oakland students with the claims of the Gospel, as well as with the awful reality of the AIDS epidemic in Africa.
A tent was erected on the campus. During the day, World Vision representatives gave interested students an “AIDS test,” to test their AIDS awareness. (Of the 40 million AIDS infected people worldwide, 25 million are in Africa.) In addition, over 100 students volunteered to wear T-shirts that read, “HIV? I’m Positive!” on the front and “I represent 1 of 600 children who will be orphaned by AIDS today” on the back.
At the same time other students were manning Proxe Stations, which used painted signs to confront students with provocative questions designed to initiate conversations on spiritual topics.
During the evening, meetings were held in the tent that included dance, song, food, and poetry contests, as well as a take-off of the TV game show, Deal or No Deal. Speakers included former Detroit Tigers pitcher Frank Tanana as well as InterVarsity staff members Kimberly Blackford, Jessica Fick, and York Moore.
Afterwards York reported:
- Athletes were transformed. Two members of the basketball team came to Christ.
- Families were transformed. One of the students who came to Christ went straight home and led her sister to Christ! One of my staff members brought her mother to the main event and she also came to Christ during my message.
- Black students were transformed. The OU chapter had a number of black students join the chapter during the events, and they joined us in reaching the black community. Black student organizations and students came out every day to hear the gospel and perform at our events.
- Fraternities and sororities were transformed. Theta Chi, a secular fraternity, joined us in supporting our main event and brought not only members of their fraternity, but also a number of sorority women. Many of these Greeks made decisions for Christ!
- Freshmen were transformed. A large number of freshmen joined the 70 we trained in evangelism. At least four freshmen in the InterVarsity group led people to Christ.
- Commuters were transformed. We held a meeting in the middle of the day, and students on their way to their cars were attracted by music, food, and gas card give-a-ways. Four students came to Christ during this “in and out” meeting.
- A campus was transformed. At the main event, students poured into the tent to see the game and the performances, and to hear our World Vision speaker. At the end of my message, I called students to receive the light of life through faith in Jesus by “cracking” a light stick. Students coming to Christ for the first time were given green sticks and others who were pledging in some other way to make a difference in the world of suffering were given other colors. Seven students came to Christ during the event and the tent was fully lit up with all the others pledging to be God’s light in the world.
York reported that a total of 52 students came to Christ during the outreach at Oakland University, and were invited to get involved in InterVarsity. He’s now planning similar outreaches on other campuses.
