University of Southern California
Anthony is a junior architecture student at USC. He has received numerous awards and honors because of his talent and was even given a group of freshmen to "shepherd" in their intro architecture class. He just joined our leadership team this year and has been looking for ways to reach out to his roommate and friends in architecture.

Since architecture tends to be a time-consuming major and because untold hours are spent in the studio, Anthony has lots of opportunities to share life with his classmates.

One Friday night a few weeks ago he was hanging out with his roommate, Chris, who has a Jewish background, and Aaron, a friend from architecture who has a little bit of a Christian background. Both are great guys; however, their lifestyles clearly reveal that they are "living it up" while they can.

At first, conversation centered on morality and truth. They discussed what they each were pursuing in life and whether they possessed good or bad reputations. Then the conversation began to deepen and they became increasingly vulnerable. Anthony said he did a lot of listening and praying. Then Aaron proposed that all religions were the same.

Anthony said he mentally disagreed, but Chris directed the conversation through his own questions about religion. Anthony described the scene as "a cynic, a curious guy and a listener." Aaron thought religion had a good impact on society - it had a positive effect on families and gave tradition. Chris thought that was fine but believed that even if religion is wrong, we still come out on top.

Anthony pointed out that it is not worth it if it's not true. He explained that Jesus is at the core of the gospel - we are sinners and Christ saved us. The questions continued and Anthony was able to open the Old Testament and share about prophecies concerning Jesus. This conversation lasted until 4 a.m. One of the guys said it was one of the best Friday nights he had ever had.

Then Anthony said there was a bit of an awkward silence and they moved on to discuss "boy things."

Cal State, San Marcos
While our main meeting is on Thursday evenings on campus, we have attempted to get our students involved in other activities. One of these has been matching our regular students with an international student as a "conversation" partner. The conversation partner program calls for one of our students to meet at least weekly with an international to assist with English, talk about culture here in the US, have fun, take them shopping and other activities. As the door opens they can share what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ and answer questions.

We have an open door with the university to work with them through the American Language and Cultural Institute department. The department director, Sherry Kelley, is a believer and has noted the integrity with which we have led the Priority club on this campus, so she can trust that we will not violate university rules and yet seek to meet needs of international students spiritually as well as educationally.

We have stepped through that door and have had many opportunities to minister in Christ's name. We have developed a good personal relationship with about 25 of those international students.

Since the majority of them are unable to go home for holidays, they are left to fend for themselves. This year we invited them to our home for Thanksgiving dinner. A total of 19 participated, including six of our American students.

We were able to share a full traditional American Thanksgiving meal with turkey and all the trimmings. We told them briefly about the origin of Thanksgiving and shared the things for which we were thankful this year. We asked them to share about any similar holiday they observe in their country.

We have realized anew that international students provide ready access to an unprecedented opportunity to touch the world. We are reminded that the majority of presidents and heads of state in the entire world have at one time been international students in the United States. Cal State, San Marcos is a relatively small and unknown campus, yet one of our students is the daughter of the president of a nation in Africa and another is the son of a high government official in a Muslim nation. The Lord has given us opportunities to know these two and involve them in part of what we are seeking to do.

One of our greatest challenges is to lead our American students to get a burden for international students and get serious about spending time with them one-on-one and including them in their social activities.

(Erin Gillum is director of campus ministries for USC. Milt Hughes directs campus ministry at Cal State, San Marcos. Look for more Baptist student work updates in future issues of the California Southern Baptist.)