{"id":5593,"date":"2024-02-27T10:54:38","date_gmt":"2024-02-27T15:54:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/campus.cru.org\/faculty\/?p=5593"},"modified":"2024-03-01T11:08:48","modified_gmt":"2024-03-01T16:08:48","slug":"simply-follow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/campus.cru.org\/faculty\/2024\/simply-follow\/","title":{"rendered":"Simply Follow"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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My first teaching experience came at Cal State Chico, an institution where I was surrounded by fellow Christians and many international students who presented consistent opportunities to invite students to our home and share our faith.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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When God brought my wife and me to Cal Poly Pomona (CPP), I envisioned much the same, but bigger, given the larger size of the university and its setting in Los Angeles County.<\/p>\n

However, the reality when I started at CPP was quite different. I struggled to connect to Christian faculty, and there were relatively few international students. The university is a Hispanic-serving institution and has made a commitment to first-generation students in California.<\/p>\n

I tried to engage with Hispanic students but found many had a nominally religious background with no appetite to discuss God or related topics. Teaching cybersecurity also was not opening opportunities to share my faith.<\/p>\n

I started to question whether the campus was to be my area of Christian service. My wife and I began to consider adoption\/foster opportunities and other potential off-campus areas of service.<\/p>\n

At a Sunday evening hymn sing (there are not enough of these anymore), my wife and I unknowingly sat next to another faculty member from CPP and his wife. Both the singing and the conversation were great, and by the end of the evening, I had learned of a faculty Bible study on campus and made plans to attend.<\/p>\n

The Bible study offered opportunities for service. A Cru leader who attends the Bible study led the group through the book Sent<\/em> by Heather and Ashley Holleman. The book reminded me not to try to do things for God, but rather to simply be obedient to do what God calls me to do.<\/p>\n

Today, I am the faculty advisor to Cru and other Christian clubs, in addition to my day job on campus. I still do not often get to engage students in one-on-one faith sharing or discipleship, but I have developed an effective strategy, which I shamelessly copied from the book Sent<\/em>.  <\/p>\n

I pray over my list of students before the start of the term and then, as part of my introduction to the students, mention that I am a Christ-follower. This has opened doors for incredible conversations with students.<\/blockquote>\n

Also, I\u2019ve been working with student leaders as they navigate evangelizing and discipling students on campus. God gave me a much greater ministry on campus than I could have imagined.<\/p>\n

The two important lessons I learned were to find fellow Christian faculty on campus and find opportunities to interact with them. Secondly, to find a structured way to initiate faith conversations with students.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Ron Pike<\/strong><\/h3>

Computer Information Systems<\/h3>

Cal Poly Pomona \u00a0<\/h3>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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My first teaching experience came at Cal State Chico, an institution where I was surrounded by fellow Christians and many international students who presented consistent opportunities to invite students to our home and share our faith. 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