By Stuart Estes, ministry team leader
One of our strategies for building relationships with students is to leverage the connections God has given us in the College of Agriculture, where Hanna and I both studied and where she taught for nine years. In August, we were invited to host a table at an event for registered student organizations in the College of Agriculture. As far as I could tell, we were the only religious organization invited to join the event. Dartboards and lemonade — it’s a lot of fun ministering to ag students!
Discovery Bible Studies
At the beginning of this semester, Hanna and I, along with the student laborers, started having conversations about conducting Discovery Bible Studies. A Discovery Bible Study is designed to help participants discover the truth of the gospel for themselves in a group setting. As of this week, we have six Discovery Bible Studies up and running, with a total of 20 students participating. In most of those Bible studies, we have at least one lost student. We see this as a huge win! Please join us in praying that God will use these studies to reveal the gospel to those who are in them.
What I See
I was given the opportunity to teach about battling pornography addiction at a recent student ministry workers’ conference. This is not everyone’s favorite topic, but I’m increasingly convinced that this is one of the biggest contributors to the American church’s sluggishness.
The statistics are alarming. In his book, The Freedom Fight, Ted Shimer shared these statistics about daily pornography consumption in the U.S.:
• 2.5 billion emails sent that contain pornographic content
• 68 million searches related to pornography
• 116,000 searches for child pornography
And these statistics are not just for those outside the church. Research also shows that the percentage of monthly porn use in non-Christian men is 65%, compared to 64% in Christian men.
Two of my students and I have been going through a program Shimer developed called The Freedom Fight. I can’t say enough about this program because it integrates a holistic approach to fighting against sexual addiction by focusing on physiological, emotional and spiritual components. When they first started the program, the guys were consumed by shame and guilt, but around the two-month mark, I began to see them change. The shame of their struggle wasn’t holding them down like it had in the past, and they were actually starting to think and talk about how they could labor in the kingdom. As they began to see the gospel take hold in new, tangible ways in their own lives, they developed a newfound desire to share the gospel with others.
And that’s why I say that I think pornography is one of the biggest contributors to the American church’s sluggishness. People who are bound in chains often feel unable to share the gospel or make disciples. However, I’m seeing firsthand that if they begin to find freedom through the power of Christ, then they are filled with a new desire to see others experience the same freedom.
In John 4, Jesus talks with the Samaritan woman at the well. Part of that encounter was Jesus offering her living water, followed by him calling out her sin. When the Samaritan woman returns to her village to share the good news about Jesus, her approach is not exactly what I think we would expect.
Many Samaritans from the village believed in Jesus because the woman had said, “He told me everything I ever did!” (John 4:39 HCSB). She could have led with the living water. She could have said she met the Messiah. But what she said instead was: “He told me everything I ever did!” Why? Well, that’s the whole point of the gospel! He knows exactly what we are, yet He does not withhold His grace from us! He knows that we are dead in sin, yet He is willing to give us life through faith! He knows we have struggled, but He wants to give us victory!
I have seen firsthand how helping college students to battle against pornography addiction actually frees them up to labor in the kingdom the way Christ intended. They, like the woman at the well, are happy to exclaim, “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did” (John 4:29). He gave her freedom from all she had done, and He still gives it to those who trust in Him today.
That’s what I see when I look back on the last month at The Hedge.
Will you join us in praying for the following prayer requests:
• Our student laborers — Abby, Alexa, Jacob, Kaitlyn, Natasha and Sam.
• Hanna, as she raises financial support for her position.
• Our Discovery Bible Studies.
