Well it has been crazy around here lately. Even before school begins, we were busy preparing for this semester. We spent weeks praying over the campus, our students, our staff and more before getting our plan ready for outreach this Fall. This year, Andrew and I got to own one of the biggest things we do to get our name out there for incoming freshmen - The Rock Survey Table.Conversation between me and a girl going through Sorority Rush
"How is Rush Week going?"
"It's been a lot of pressure! I've spent all day meeting girls, trying to convince them that I am worth inviting to live with them."
"Well, if you want a break from convincing people to join their group, you can come to The Rock on Saturday. We won't even make you wear heels."
We set up an information table outside of the Student Center for three days during Move-In Week. Equipped with thousands of Icee Pops, football schedules and hundreds of spiritual interest surveys, we hit the sidewalk to meet as many students as we could. We use the spiritual interest surveys to find who on campus is essentially hungry for what the church is: a caring community, a source to know more about God and a venue for worship. At this table, we get to make first contact with students, have some good initial conversations and get our name out there. We want people to know that we care about them and invite them to join both our community and that there is a Christian presence at this party school.This year, we had a small stroke of genius. Recognizing the immense traffic flow across campus, we sent a few students, a cooler filled with Icee Pops and surveys over to a much better location on the second and third day, thus tripling the amount of surveys we received back. It was so awesome to be a part of this team and to have a hand in something so crucial to outreach. We went through 4000 Icee Pops and received 969 surveys from people interested in church, God or community.
Our efforts in putting together the Survey Table have really catapulted this initial season of outreach at The Rock and we are already seeing fruit from our efforts. Please be praying that we will continue to pursue students and that we will be faithful in bringing the gospel to this campus.
