Then a Bible Study Broke Out

So, the other night I went to a fight and a hockey game broke out.

Okay, that’s been around the rink a few times, but did you hear the one about an eavesdropping student who interrupted an InterVarsity staff and a Bible study broke out?

No joke. It’s Campus Staff Member Ryan Gaffney’s story, and he tells it well:

I had about given up on the possibility of starting anything regular at West Hall dorm on the Kansas State campus. 

At the end of a very long week, I was discouraged, sitting in the dorm, not really engaging, checking e-mail. A Christian student asked me a question about 1 Corinthians, and as I was responding, another student—not a believer—overheard.  He wanted to know if murderers could go to heaven.

While answering, some other students who know me as “The Preacher” joined in the conversation.  Then a couple of international students sat down with us and we compared their non-Christian perspective to the Christian faith.

A student with a military background shared his perspective on just war theory.  And soon one of my student leaders brought up Matthew chapter 5 and the fact that Jesus says we’re all guilty of murder in our heart.

With a crowd of 10 students around me debating the implications of the Bible, suddenly, before I knew it, a Bible study broke out before my eyes!

“Interested in gathering every Monday to talk about it all in context?” I asked.

Every last one of them said that sounded good.

On just another Friday night at K-State in Manhattan, InterVarsity’s Ryan Gaffney was surprised by God.  Yep, no kidding.

Jennifer Anderson serves at InterVarsity’s National Service Center as a Writer and Proofreader.