During my 24+ years (almost a quarter of a century!) at Texas A&M University (TAMU), I continued to use office posters, identify myself to my classes as a follower of Jesus, and treat my students as the special people that God created them to be.
But over time, God gave me many new, creative ways to sow more broadly with my students and colleague friends, ways that are legal and professionally appropriate.
I should add that I tried many other ideas that did not work, but space (and embarrassment) will not permit me itemizing them.
Here are some of the tried and true strategies that I found to be effective:
Free Books
In the fall semester, I take the opportunity to offer a copy of Lee Strobel’s book The Case for Christ at the end of the semester to any interested student. I offer this book as my Christmas gift to them. I put a box of books just outside the door of my final exam room and invite students to take one as they leave the final exam. I never see any of the students who take one, making it impossible for anyone to think a student’s choice would impact their grade.
Let me share an example of how God used this simple gesture.
Amy took a book, read it between semesters, and came by at the beginning of the next semester to ask if she could purchase four additional copies. Amy had read the book and become a follower of Jesus and wanted to share the book with her parents, who were divorced, and two siblings. Of course, I gave her four copies. At Amazon.com, you can get packs of 6 paperbacks of The Case for Christ for $36, or $6/book.
Free Lunches
I sometimes invite students after the semester is over to join me for pizza at a nearby pizza parlor –to hear how and why I became a follower of Jesus. I almost always pick up the tab. I emphasize that their attendance will have no impact on their final grade but could be very beneficial for the “big final exam” that comes at the end of life.
The group that comes (typically 15-20 students) gathers around the largest table in the parlor where we eat pizza, and I share my faith and respond to questions. The group that comes is a mixture of Christian and seeking students. This lunch opens up wonderful opportunities afterward for Christian students to continue to visit with their friends about the things I shared and maybe share their own testimony.
Let me share a simple example of how God can use a “free lunch” to impact students. I gave a public lecture on faith and science recently at Texas A&M University. After my presentation, John, one of my former students (~40 years old), came up and reintroduced himself to me. He said that my pizza lunch was the beginning of his spiritual journey. He subsequently became a Christian after graduation and is today an elder in his church. He just wanted to thank me.
Free Pizza Dinners and Movies
Ann and I have found that having a pizza and movie night at our home can stimulate some wonderful discussions. I have a one-page handout (copied at my own expense) that invites students to come to my home at 5:30 for pizza, drinks, and an entertaining movie that raises interesting questions about life that can stimulate a spirited discussion. I never mention the movie title to add an element of suspense. We select movies like “Crimes and Misdemeanors”, “Out of Africa”, “Citizen Kane”, “Les Miserables”, “Contact”, and “Groundhog Day”.
Paul was the best student in my class of 40 students when he came to my home for pizza, drinks and a movie. That evening, we watched Woody Allen’s “Crimes and Misdemeanors.” It raises the question: “If there isn’t a God, can there be purpose and moral structure to the universe?”
Paul agreed with Woody Allen’s movie that there is no God, but our discussion afterward raised serious questions that he could not answer and started his spiritual journey to becoming a follower of Jesus.
Five years later, Paul sent me a special note with a picture taken with his committee the day he defended his Ph.D. He indicated that he wanted to be a Christian professor so that he could be for his students what I was for him, recounting specifically our discussion of “Crimes and Misdemeanors” 5 year earlier. What a blessing!
We had been having movie nights once a month for about ten years when TAMU began to offer professors $50/evening to have students over for a meal. The university wanted to foster more interactions outside of class between professors and their students. Ann and I felt affirmed that all those previous evenings with our students promoted something that was integral to the mission of the university; namely, more personal relationships between professor and their students.
Websites
The internet has introduced many new possibilities for communicating with our students about our Christian faith. The obvious low hanging fruit is to post your faith journey and other related things about your faith on a website. Whenever you choose to identify yourself as a follower of Jesus to your students, you can refer them to this website for “the rest of the story”. (Hundreds of professors have done this on Faculty Commons’ website that facilitates this: www.meettheprof.com. Feel free to add your story.)
The first time I did this at Texas A&M University, I was able to determine that I got 150 hits on my website from Texas A&M University students within one week. Interesting! Given that I only had 100 students in my classes that semester. I had one parent contact me to thank me, indicating that what I had shared with their son would be long remembered after much of what he would learn in my class was forgotten—another poignant reminder of the tremendous influence that professor can have on their students, even in a few words. Don’t miss this opportunity!
Walter Bradley