Impacting the Lives of College Students

During my first year of college, I was a commuter student and did not really connect much with campus life. In my sophomore year, I started living on campus. It was there that I would connect with a campus ministry.

A Campus Ministry’s Influence

I remember one morning I got up early to jog a few miles at the track. As I was rounding the track, there was another runner coming from the opposite direction. He greeted me and proceeded to introduce himself. I would learn that he became a Christian at the college through the influence of the campus ministry. I would soon get involved with that same ministry. He would graduate two years ahead of me and eventually go on to become a pastor, author, teacher and founder of the Living on the Edge Broadcast and ministry. I would grow in my faith and lead a Bible study in my dorm, become a teacher, school administrator, and eventually a college professor in St. Louis, Missouri. God would use both of us, as well as many that became Christians through the campus ministry, to disciple and reach many for Christ.

Discipleship on College/University Campuses

I shared this story because of the influence that we can have through our Nazarene educators in both Nazarene and secular colleges. When I started teaching college in 2000, I had the opportunity to work with another faculty member and Campus Crusade for Christ (CRU) to begin a college ministry. That ministry continues today. Students have found Christ and have been discipled.

When one of our sons went away to college at Missouri State University, we prayed and encouraged him to find a church and get involved in some type of college ministry. He found a Nazarene church that welcomed him. He also became involved in Campus Crusade for Christ and connected with The Potter’s House, a coffee house ministry to college students in Springfield, Missouri. The Potter’s House was started by Steve and Berna Proffitt and sponsored by the Church of the Nazarene. According to The Potter’s House (thepoho.com), there are more than 45,000 college students in the Springfield, Missouri, area. This includes more than 1,500 international students, representing more than 80 foreign countries. Just think about that impact!

Last year, Nazarene Educators Worldwide featured an article in their newsletter about an assistant track coach at Olivet Nazarene University. She was a part of the Nazarene church in Ferguson, Missouri, prior to going to college and her family’s moving to a different place. She is now having an impact for Christ on those ONU student athletes. We could go on and share many other stories and testimonies of how God is using Nazarenes to influence our college students.

Professors, college staff, and Nazarene churches can have a tremendous outreach and ministry to our college students. If you are involved with a college or have a church near a college, pray about how God might use you to touch the lives of those students. If you would like to share ideas or learn about ways you might impact college students, contact Nazarene Educators Worldwide (naznew.com) to network with us.

Dr. Mark Taylor lives in Ferguson, Missouri. He has been an educator for over 40 years. He was an administrator at North County Christian Schools in the St. Louis area before becoming chair of the Social and Behavioral Sciences/Teacher Education Department at the St. Louis Community College. You may contact Mark at mltaylor@stlcc.edu.