The overhead lights dimmed, and the stage filled with beaming men and women who began to sing and sway to a bouncy rendition of "I'm on the Gloryland Way." Richard Dixson, lead evangelist for the Kansas City Church of Christ, sang along as he marched from one side of the stage to the other, pumping his arms and clapping his hands. The disciples knew all the words by heart. Excitement mounted with each rousing song. Soon, however, it was time for a moment of prayer. "God, we want to see the whole heartland evangelized so you can have more children in your kingdom," Dixson prayed.
After the prayer, he gave an account of his own introduction to the church years ago. Three disciples in the campus ministry had approached him while he was a senior at the University of Kansas, he told the worshipers, and eventually one of them got through. When he finished his story, two huge screens on stage displayed a video about the International Church of Christ's campus ministries.
"I want to fill this stadium with disciples," shouted a Kansas State University student as he stood in an empty stadium in the video. "I was met at the UMKC campus and baptized seven months ago," a young woman declared as the waters of the J.C. Nichols fountain gushed behind her. A KU student perched atop a statue in front of Strong Hall held up his arms and exclaimed that he couldn't wait to bring more disciples into the kingdom.
He won't have to wait long. Campus ministries were on the minds of nearly every speaker at the convention.
"For every thousand students at local universities, there will be a hundred disciples," Curt Simmons from the St. Louis church predicted when it was his turn to speak. "We'll saturate the campuses and aim for valedictorians, top recruits, and athletes."
Even so, Simmons warned the people spread out before him, making disciples of college students won't be easy. There will be persecutors. Successful college ministries will require the greatest faith.
"There have got to be more prayer nights, more all-night prayer sessions, more Bible talks," he proclaimed. In his years with the International Church of Christ, Simmons said, he has seen the power of faith more than once.
"I remember a young Christian man who in his first months as a disciple only came to church on Sundays and had a non-Christian girlfriend," Simmons recalled. But even that man changed his ways and went on to become a ministry leader. And Simmons would never forget the young couple who "blew off special contribution and instead used the money for a family vacation." They too mended their ways.
"Are you sold out to the kingdom of yourself?" another speaker asked. "Even as disciples, we sometimes sell out to our selfish goals and ambitions." He tells the biblical story of Ananias, who fell down and died after holding back part of the money he was supposed to give to the apostles. Disciples of the International Church of Christ, however, know better than to hold anything back.
"I remember when I was a young campus student, and I cleaned out my wallet to send someone to the India ministry," the speaker reminisced. Soon he moved on to the matter at hand.
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My brother is a member and is so far gone I don't know what to say/do to get him back. Any advice?
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