UTD: Feeding the 500

It isn’t the 5,000 Jesus fed in one afternoon that we read about in Mark 6, but in the past month, the Baptist Student Ministry at the University of Texas at Dallas has fed about 500 students lunch for free.

Kinsey ClineStarting the week after Labor Day, we have had more than 100 students come to our free Monday lunches. This number is consistently higher than anything I have seen before at UTD, and it is terrific.

Students receive a free meal and then participate in discussions around their tables, led by one of our student leaders or a local church volunteer. We try our best to work the gospel into every conversation, so hundreds of students are exposed to the good news of Jesus each week.

Recently, I was able to spend an hour talking to a girl named Sarah who has been attending our lunches fairly consistently since last school year. Sarah was raised in a Muslim home, but she and her family are not actively practicing. She has explored Buddhism and Christianity. We were able to share with each other tidbits of our lives and what we want out of life, and it was a great base for further conversation and a continued relationship.

Extended relationships

And I am not the only one. Many of our student leaders have extended the relationships that began in the Monday lunchroom out to their day-to-day lives on campus. This is where we see real growth toward belief and faith in Christ, as well as a good picture of lifestyle evangelism from our students.

One of my favorite things about lunch is its openness toward all students. The majority of those who attend are not Christians, and many are international students. When I ask how they heard about lunch, the common response I receive is, “My friend invited me.” But their friends aren’t Christians involved in the BSM. They are other non-Christian international students who came to lunch the previous week, enjoyed it and told their friends. So they are giving us the opportunity to share Jesus with their friends, and it is such a great opportunity.

500 more

I am encouraged that students feel comfortable coming to our lunches, expressing their beliefs and opinions, and participating in dialogue with us. The value of that is incredible.

Pray that God would continue to bring students who don’t yet know him to free lunch. Pray bor boldness in our leaders to declare Christ’s name, praise him for who he is and share his gospel with everyone they meet. And let us feed 500 more every month of this school year!

Kinsey Cline, a graduate of the University of Texas at Dallas, is serving with Go Now Missions at a campus missionary intern at her alma mater’s Baptist Student Ministry.