WKU Christmas ad snip

Recognize this? These QR codes are popping up in more and more places lately. Through an app on a smart-phone, these codes will connect you with a website. Some airlines even use them as electronic boarding passes.

The Christian faculty group at Western Kentucky University uses QR codes to connect college students with the gospel.

For 25 years, hundreds of Christian faculty groups have published ads that proclaim their faith in Jesus in their campus newspapers. Spiritually-hungry students can seek out one of the professors listed in the ad if they want to dialogue about spiritual topics.

The WKU ad filled three-fourths of a page in the campus newspaper in early December. It stood out since it was the only color ad that day. The 84 Christian faculty names in the ad represent a 50% increase over the “welcome back to school” ad the group ran in September.

Note the QR code on the package under the tree. The WKU Christian faculty group believes that students with smart phones (and that’s almost all of them) can’t resist using them on anything “techy.”

The QR code links to “Who Is Jesus . . . Really?” (whoisjesus-really.com). This Campus Crusade website offers information about Jesus in 40 different languages, so it reaches most international students as well as English-speakers.

Dr. Larry Caillouet, the WKU prof who organized this ad, has even bigger plans for QR codes that link to websites about Jesus. “Our campus, like most others, is looking for any way to squeeze out a little extra revenue, so they sell ad space inside the shuttle buses,” Larry explains.

“We intend to put more QR codes there.  Unlike a campus newspaper that lasts just a few days before it’s thrown out, the bus ads can run for weeks or months.  And students don’t have a lot to occupy themselves with while riding the bus, so I think they will read the ads and follow the QR codes.”

Using normal web analytics, the WKU professors will be able to track how many students have clicked through from the QR code to the websites about Jesus, how long they stayed on the site, etc.

Not a bad use for 21^st century technology—connecting college students with the first-century man who offers them hope, peace, and new life!

“The Exhibit and family salon opened a new window for me. It’s amazing experience. I really appreciate your invitation.”—email from Chinese grad student to his Christian professor

Twenty Chinese graduate students were encouraged to use their time in the U.S. to explore the Bible during an evening gathering at a Christian professor’s home in Dallas last fall. Dr. Smith (not her real name) invited Chinese graduate students at her university to view the China Bible Ministry Exhibition at Northwest Bible Church.

A delegation from the registered protestant church of China took this exhibit of ancient Chinese Bibles and artifacts to four U.S. cities. For most of the students, this was the first time they had seen a Bible translated into their native language.

After sharing a dinner of authentic (not Americanized!) Chinese food at Dr. Smith’s home, an expert on Chinese cultural issues spoke to the students about the difference that the Bible and Jesus can make in their lives. Each student had been given a Chinese/English Bible at the exhibit, and he challenged them to read it and seek to discover if its words are truth.

The students, though unfamiliar with the Bible, were very curious. One asked her American friend if they could study the Bible together. Another commented at the end of the evening, “Since we have the freedom while we are in America to explore the Bible, we should learn all we can about it so that we can tell others when we go back to China.”

State College, PA is a college town—even its name proclaims the fact—but these days it is a town in mourning.

Grieving.

Disillusioned that a much-loved icon was discovered to have feet of clay.

Dismayed at the evil revealed in their midst.

Student Andrew Hanselman writes in the college paper about happier days: “Being accepted to Penn State felt like a family, and Joe Paterno was the father.”

An Undercurrent Of Sadness

“It’s as if an undercurrent of sadness and confusion carries us to our classrooms beneath the shadow of that grand football stadium,” relates English professor Heather Holleman in her blog Live with Flair.

Dr. Holleman prompts a discussion in her class. “I ask the freshmen how they feel, and they say that they ‘don’t want this terrible news to be what our school is remembered for.’ College students from other schools tease them on Facebook and on Twitter and make jokes about their great university. Their hearts are broken for the children harmed. They feel humiliated. They feel deceived.”

The day after Penn State students rioted, Dr. Holleman writes, “I can’t escape the reality of sin today. On this day, I cry on the bus with others who sit in complete silence as they think about innocent boys abused; as they think about authority figures they mistrust; as they think about a beloved coach who said he wished he’d done more; as they think about their own angered response in rioting.”

“This is the truth about our hearts,” she reminds us. “This is why we so desperately need a Savior.”

Heather Holleman and her husband Ashley are Faculty Commons’ staff at Penn State. In the midst of their own sadness, they are speaking God’s words of hope—for forgiveness, redemption, and renewal—to the students, faculty, and staff at Penn State.

Someday…

Penn State alum Michael Weinreb writes about hope at ESPN.com: “I can only hope…that we will reexamine every aspect of the culture we’ve fostered…and that someday our community will be whole again.”

The Hollemans are reminding their community that the wholeness they seek can only be found in Jesus, who offers justice for the oppressed, redemption for sinners, and the power to make a fresh start to all who seek Him.

Paterno statue © flickr audreyjm529

A math professor told the audience of more than 100 students how God had sustained her through the slow death of her husband from lung cancer.

A forestry professor spoke through tears about God’s comforting presence since her six-year-old daughter died in a tragic accident in January.

A music professor related to the students how his inaccurate view of God had for years adversely affected his walk with Christ.

The Christian professors at Stephen F. Austin University obviously relished the opportunity last month to serve as spiritual mentors for the students who attended their What I Can’t Say in the Classroom presentations.

The professors had advertised the event on their office doors, and (to our delight and surprise) 10-12 additional faculty members attended, too!  One, a math professor who did not indicate he was a Christian himself, said he came to hear his colleague tell her story.

A Q&A time following the talks prompted some great discussion. One student, who was attending a Cru (Campus Crusade’s student ministry at SFA) meeting for the first time, was overjoyed to learn it is possible to have a ”faith conversation” with a professor in her office. A new student at SFA, she learned after the talk that her academic advisor (also in attendance) was yet another Christian professor in the math department.

Another student was eager to continue this professor-student interaction:  could they regularly pray together for their campus? The professors’ enthusiastic response: “We would love to make the time to do that!”

One student asked the professors why they were willing to come and talk to the students about their faith. All responded that they sense God’s prompting to see their work at the university as their ministry. Though they are active in their churches, now God is urging them to pursue ministry opportunities on campus with students and colleagues.

Some comments from the students:

“I feel like many of my questions about God were answered fully.  I will definitely come again! Loved it!”

“I had no idea what I was walking into tonight, but God definitely did!  Thank you guys for opening your hearts to a bunch of confused “20-somethings”!  I am going to be an elementary ed teacher in a year and you are an inspiration and gave me HOPE!”

“You cannot imagine how much I need this…it’s been awhile that I was falling out of my fellowship with God.  I was in a hard place in my life and still am…this really touched me.”

“It’s awesome to see that staff/teachers here at SFA are seeking to share their stories with their students and really use their profession as a vocation to invest in their students.  I’ve been thinking of asking one of my nursing professors to be a spiritual mentor, and I think I might do it.”