Learning to Walk Before Learning to Run
Thomas Rodrigues | Cru NYC- Queens
You need to learn how to walk before you can learn how to run – so the old saying goes. Now I doubt the author had campus ministry in mind when they penned that, but it applies well to ministering in Queens in 2022.
After months of wondering, “Why aren’t students excited about sharing the gospel with their classmates?”, our staff team had an epiphany: they needed to learn how to walk first. Rather than jumping straight from conversion to sharing the gospel with their Economics 308 classmates, we changed plans.
We started with challenging our students to write down the names of five people in their class. Then we moved to asking them to pray daily for those people. As they prayed we were trusting that God had something for them in doing this. Now before moving to a spiritual conversation, we asked them to simply say hi to those people.
This is where Annika comes in. Annika is a Cru student at St. John’s University and lives in the dorms. As you can imagine, being a Christian on the college campus isn’t easy. Doing it in New York City is even harder. She especially had difficulty with one friend of hers. He would often make fun of her, being particularly hard-hearted toward Christianity. In Christlike fashion, this was one of the people Annika wanted on her prayer list.
One day, as Annika sat in her dorm, her friend walked by. Knowing her Cru assignment, courageously she said hi. That’s where something strange happened.
He turned to her and said, “Annika, guess what?”
She replied, “What?”
He responded, “I’ve been praying!”
Stunned, Annika replied, “Well guess what, I’ve been praying for you!”
Suddenly his demeanor changed as he replied, “Will you keep praying for me?”
In Cru we like to call this a “plus one” conversation. Meaning if there’s a scale from the most hard-hearted atheist all the way on the left to the Apostle Paul himself on the right, a plus one conversation is one in which someone moved one step to the right. Or in other words, one step closer to Jesus.
In 1 Corinthians 3:6 (ESV), Paul explains that whatever kind of spiritual growth there is in a person’s life, it happens because of God. But, the growth God causes happens through the efforts of the missionary. “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.” If we were to zoom out, what actions in our story did God work through? Or in other words, who “planted”? Who “watered”?
Well it starts with the humility of my teammates to relearn how to do ministry in a generation and culture that is constantly changing. It took patience to choose the slow route. And, of course, it took Annika clothing herself with compassion. Rather than responding to her friend with the same coldness she’d been shown, she, like her Lord, prayed for the one who persecuted her! And in so doing, moved him one step closer to Jesus.
For our students, learning to walk began with five names, prayer, and a simple hello. What does that next step look like for you?
Special Update: Over the course of the past year God has led me to marry my beautiful wife, Erin, and transition from Cru staff in Buffalo to Cru staff in Queens, NY, where we will serve primarily at St John’s University, York College, and La Guardia Community College. Due to Covid restrictions the ministry in Queens has dipped significantly, leading us to relaunch movements at every school. This next year we will be spending the majority of our time surveying the campus, looking for believers, and sharing the gospel with everybody we can.
