MTP 57: Jon Walker Part 2, How One Professor Started a Christian Student Group on His Campus

In this episode of Meet The Prof, Jon Walker, Professor of History at Forsyth Tech Community College, shares real-life stories of starting and leading a Christian student group on a community college campus. Jon talks about the power of offering prayer to students, building a sense of belonging, and creating space for Christ-centered conversations through Bible studies and outreach events like Spring Fling.  

He also gives practical advice for Christian professors considering how to influence their campuses, encourages students who are wrestling with doubts about God, and shares his vision for new campus worship events like Ash Wednesday and Advent services. 

If you're a Christian professor, college student, or parent looking to encourage faith on the college campus, you’ll find a lot of encouragement in Jon’s story.

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Transcript

0:00

Hi, my name is Anne. I'm an international student at UNCW and my question is, what was a time a student made a strong impression on you? Hey everybody, welcome to Meet the Prof. My name is Shane and my friend Spence and I take questions just like you heard from Anne, and we ask them to Christian professors Our goal is to encourage Christ-centered conversations on the college campus. we really appreciate you taking this time out to join us if you would please remember to click like or subscribe, follow wherever you are and now we're gonna hear part two of our interview with Jon Walker. Jon is a professor of history at Forsyth Tech Community College, he shares some of his adventures of actually leading a Christian ministry for students on his campus. So this could be a great encouragement to Christian professors out there at smaller schools that may not have a campus ministry. Maybe God would use you to start one. let's jump in. Here's our interview of part two with Jon Walker. Earlier this year, back in the fall, um somebody just came by our welcome table. He was sharing something going on in his life. So I felt led to offer to pray with him. And I said, you want to do that right now? So we just stepped over in a corner and we took care of that. we have some, um that's one of my favorite memories of representing Cru, doing stuff like that. Do you find that offer to prayer starts kind of a follow-up chain? You know, hey, how is that going? And sort of a mentorship thing? And I think it provides an opportunity to show that you care for that person beyond just kind of like the official relationship, know, colleague, student, you whatever. You care about that person as a person. You know, I've seen that in faculty staff Cru. That's a once a month virtual meeting that we have. where we use a book called A Grander Story, kind of as a jumping off point, but essentially it's kind of like a support group, you know? And it is really awesome to witness, you know, as people share their kind of like places where faculty and their friends have come up alongside them in a crisis and revealed through an offer to prayer or something similar. that we care about them, we care about each other. And I think part of that in terms of how people respond positively to that is they know that they're not alone, That's something that I hear from students and faculty alike on our campuses when they hear about my involvement with Cru or what our club's doing is like, it's easy to think I was by myself here. Hmm. But now that I see your table or I know you are having lunch, you know, it just helps them feel like they have a place to belong. So that's one way. And I would say, honestly, you know, being transparent, that's primarily how I've seen Cru work and how God has ministered through Cru here on our campus is being that place where people are already Christians. But I'm careful and pretty diligent to say is I have conversations with folks, you know, we want to be a place for spiritual conversations no matter where you're at on your faith journey. You know, we want to welcome those who might have had a bad experience at church or are coming from a different faith or maybe they've never considered faith. And I will say again, honestly, we don't have that many of those people come to our meetings. But I think it's important that we keep asking. We keep asking. and doing what we can to make our spaces and our meetings and our conversations as welcoming as possible. Jon, for those who are listening who would consider maybe they're a faculty member at another community college or another college campus, but they would like to be able to start a Christian group for students or come along and support students in having a Christian group or Christian club, like Cru, what kind of practical advice can you give? Like if you get into the weeds with us of I mean, how many nights a week are you going out? What are you doing? What advice would you give them? I can tell you, again, sort of the... The way that I've been able, I think, to facilitate an official presence for a Christian Fellowship on campus is through club sponsorship. So I would say explore what your Student Life and Engagement Office looks like, make some connections there. Usually there's a pretty prescribed process for applying to be a club, You need to kind of have some critical mass and... We had to fill out a petition, get some names and email addresses of interested students, that kind of stuff. And we started as a student organization and the faculty part came later. It doesn't necessarily have to, I'm sure it could go the other way too, but that was just our experience. And I'll say, you have to be ready. We have had a little bit of a track record here. We have about six years of campus presence. You know that there's going to be some turnover in that office and there's going to be some changes in expectations. And just at first there was a real kind of drive and strict sort of sense of you got to have this constitution and you got to have this many representatives at the SGA council. And, you know, it seemed to be kind of real legalistic, but then two years later, all that stuff kind of gets a little bit looser. And so it's not quite as onerous in terms of, you know, making sure that you stay a legit valid club. You know? And so I just sort of just hold on through the storms. And, you know, administration is going to ebb and flow. And we've gotten various levels of support, you know, from from that office, if that makes sense. You know, I don't think we've ever, we've never had like in your face animosity, you know, where we're trying to put a, you know, various to you being a club, but we've had various, various levels of support. We'll put it that way, Yeah. Yeah. And I'll give, I'll give folks kind of like a month in the life of faculty co-sponsor Jon Walker, Basically for me, What that means is helping facilitate a weekly lunch and Bible study. We have Tuesday lunches. We sort of commandeer a classroom, which I reserve each week. And that meeting is primarily for students, although faculty and staff are always welcome to attend that too. but I'm not always the one who provides the food. So you sort of farm that out, Pizza is the cheapest. know that pizza is the cheapest food and students love it. So our normal Tuesday lunch is pizza. And we also have something sweet to go with it. You know, cookies or, you know, candy, something like that. now, once a month we splurge and we get Chick-fil-A nuggets. That's a really special week. that's kind of the menu. And so that's where we've had the most regular participation. And right now I'm the primary facilitator for the content of those Bible studies. And this gives me an opportunity to share a way that I feel like, you know, God has opened up a lot of doors for us as a club. We have great Cru sponsorship. We have a campus minister who works with us. That person is not always the same as, you know, their staff changes and, you know. things happen, but we also partner with InterVarsity. You guys are probably familiar with InterVarsity, another international campus ministry that has lots of resources. And so they have a campus minister assigned to us as well. And so we are kind of getting the best of both, And so I really feel like our club members, our faculty staff here are blessed by having those connections. get invitations to conferences, mission trips through both of those organizations. I've gone to the InterVarsity Fall Conference, getting ready to go to their summer conference. I've gone to regional Cru events like Faculty Commons in Raleigh and Cary. Yeah. And then um And then I went to recently, last couple of years, there's a vision dinner, which is a fundraising event for Cru. They invited me to come have a table, represent what God's doing here. So those are the ways that we can kind of connect to these larger communities, these larger faith communities. And again, those are kind of once in a while, occasional things, And I guess I'd say another way. that we try to supplement our weekly meetings is through kind of like bi-weekly or I guess, you once or twice a month, we try to have an outreach event sort of beyond just kind of like the regular core group. Like for instance, earlier this week, our SGA, our Student Government Association put on a spring fling. And so they invite like a club fair to be part of that. It's a street festival basically. And so with our other clubs, get a table. So we take water, we take merchandise that has Cru logo on it, candy, Capri Suns. Y'all remember Capri Suns, These little juice pouches. we take our literature, you know, and we set up our sign, we get a chance to talk to folks. It's much like a welcome table, One of the things, I to give a pat on back to our current club members. Lots of times those things have been like the campus ministers from Cru and IV and me. But I think it's so much more impactful when students come and do that. And so I had one, two, three of our current club members come and sit with me. wow. and make appeals and give the two minute story about what Cru is. uh And it does. And it's great that you mentioned that, Shane, because this will connect back to something that we talked about recently at our lunch. One of these guys that was helping us out, we go around the circle after we finish our Bible study and we say, you know, what are some things we can pray about? And this guy was praying about, well, I want to be more out front. I want to be more open in my evangelism. something I used to be good at, but I haven't, I've kind of fallen back in my shell. And this spring fling opportunity, guess what? He was sitting beside me getting the opportunity to let the Holy Spirit work through him. So that was pretty powerful. That's great. That's really encouraging. How many students have been involved with the ministry there? I would say a good average for us has been between a half dozen and a dozen people at those weekly meetings. um And probably when we have an outreach and event, we probably encounter and get conversations started with about 40 or 50 people. We're there for like two hours. And some people will... have longer conversations than others, But we get to meet about 40 or 50 people when we do those kinds of things. Who's paying for this stuff, Jon? Flyer is pretty easy. I make copies, and it just has, you know, our information about our weekly meetings, where we meet and it has a QR code for them to get on the email list, with our lunches, it's been a combination of Cru and IV. And we're trying to broaden the way that we enable people to have that opportunity. There's a recruiter on campus for Bellevue University. And he's wanted to kind of use our meetings sometimes as a platform to reach students. And we're fine with that. And he just happens to be a Christian too, which is a thing. And so he likes to stay for our meetings. But like he'll bring snacks and he's gonna bring food at the end of the month. So we're trying to, yeah. if he's a recruiter. we're trying to spread the load that way. And another thing that we haven't been able to explore quite yet, but we might want to in the future is encouraging local churches that we're a part of to just let them know this is going on at Forsyth Tech's campus. Can you consider this part of your outreach? And I'm hoping that, you know, God will lead some people to do that. But those are some of the ways we try to spread costs. We really don't spend a lot of money outside of those meals. Well, appreciate you getting into the details with us to paint a picture there. And I have another question for you from a college student who recorded a video. So take a listen to this student. Hi, my name is Anne. I'm an international student at UNCW and my question is, what was a time a student made a strong impression on you? Thank you, Anne. for your question. Yeah, I did. I got it. think I just mentioned another student by first name, named Joseph. Joseph is a fairly regular member of our group. And we'll go around the prayer circle. And he's not one that will often speak up with a concern or something he's thankful for out loud. But he's pretty consistent in on the back of his scripture, we print out, you know, a card with the day scripture on it. I'll always encourage students to like write down something. If it's not something you feel like you know, know, sharing with the whole group, I still want to know about it. So he'll, he'll, he'll write something down. And I think that's, that's kind of like a hidden courage, To, you know, be willing to open up something really personal. And some of those things are, you know, deep conflicts or deep concerns that he has, or he's been witnessing that he wants prayer for. And so I admire courage like that too. Me too. Well, let's jump into the lightning round questions now. So the first one is, what advice would you have to other Christian professors who are wanting to have an influence on their campus? I would say that... Start talking to your colleagues about your faith. It doesn't have to be something that's bold. I'll just go back to what I said earlier. If your colleague is going through something that's rough, just let them know that first of all, you're hearing their concern and that you're going to lift that up in your thoughts and prayers. And maybe that'll... be a window or be a door that might be opened to sharing something deeper about your faith. What advice would you have for a college student who is struggling with doubts about God? I would say that... there's not a doubt that God hasn't heard before. You're not gonna surprise him with any kind of reaction, any kind of action. And I'll just go back to what I shared earlier that God most often gives people second, third and fourth chances. And so just step out and you don't have to have it exactly right the first time. What advice do you have for parents as they send their college students off to college? Yeah, I'm one of those. I would just say that. When you talk to your child, let them know that being in a university or just being in a new work environment or a new town or new city, that God's already prepared a place for you. It might not be easy to see, but trust in that. And that... Let that be your hope and let that be your confidence when things are gonna inevitably feel lonely, that God has prepared a place for you. And as parents, and going back to your question, that that's what we need to remind ourselves of, that God has prepared a place for our kids, you know, in the big old scary world of Raleigh or, you know, wherever that may be. All right, well, Next question is, what do you think people would be most surprised to know about the life of a professor? self confession, at least for this professor, I don't like to read a lot. I think the assumption is that because you're a professor, you're into books all the time and you do it for fun and casually, I don't. I think, maybe it's just kind of where I'm at or my own personality. Certainly. I think if you did a survey of professors, that might not be the majority. But there are some professors like this one who don't choose to read unless they have to. I read so I can tell. I don't read because I particularly like it. Anyway, that's how I respond. Well, and then the last question is, what do you think might be your next step of faith that God would have you take on campus? I'm glad you asked me that. And it gives me a chance to talk about another way that I've seen God moving on our campus. We had the opportunity three years ago, spearheaded by a faculty member who's not typically associated with Cru or IV, but felt a calling and conviction in his life to organize an Ash Wednesday service. because that is something that was part of his practice. And because of his schedule, wasn't able to often go take part in that off campus. So he wanted to bring that to campus. So he got connected with our club and wondered if we might want to come alongside and support that. And we were like, yeah, sure, let's do that. And so we did it. It was kind of a one-off. was mainly faculty and staff. There were a few students there. I think we maybe had 20 in our campus. And our campus is like 6,000 plus, you know? So it felt a little daunting, you know? But at the same time, it really felt kind of like a witness, you know, that there is a religious service, a Christian service going on on campus. uh So it's one of the things that I'm most proud of that our club has done. And I wish it's something that we might do more of and make it more a regular, like we might do an Advent service. Advent is the season right before Christmas. We're often off campus during Christmas, but we could do an Advent service, Maybe pair that with another Ash Wednesday service and make it more, a more regular part of our routine. Because I think, you know, worship, you know, pointing the spotlight on God. That's what we're called to do. And I think that's one of the best ways we witness as a Christian community. I would love to see Cru at Forsyth Tech do more of those kind of things. That's great. Thanks for sharing that. Well, Spence, did you have any questions you wanted to ask or anything from the audience? Nothing from the audience. I've had a great time though. Good to get to know you. Thank you, Spence. Yeah, we really appreciate you, Jon. So thankful you're there. Thanks for taking this time out to share with us about your life and your ministry there at Forsyth Tech. And you've given me some good ideas. I've got more questions for you, so we'll have to talk more soon. please reach out. I'm glad to help you with this part of your ministry. Thank you for what you do. Thank you for what you both do. Well, isn't Jon great? I'm so glad you got to hear our interview with him. I'm so thankful for him and how he ministers to students. before we go, if you would please remember to click on subscribe or like or follow. It doesn't cost anything and helps us get the word out. If you're a parent and you would like to know more about professors out there, You can find us on meettheprof.com and search for professors by state or campus or even the field they're in. if you're a college student and you'd like to ask a question to professors, just send us a video question by DM on Instagram. and we would love to include your question for professors here. And lastly, if you would like to give financially to our ministry, thank you. You can give online at give.cru.org forward slash zero 42 43 44. And until next time, we hope this encourages you to have a Christ centered conversation on your campus.