Christian group speaks about US involvement in foreign countries

Campus Crusade for Christ hosted a night of activities Thursday evening to encourage Christian involvement in foreign countries.  Approximately 80 members of Campus Crusade for Christ gathered in the basement of the Memorial Student Center to take part in the night’s events.

Sean Webb, junior religious studies major from South Point, Ohio, said he organized the event to inform members of Campus Crusade for Christ that their involvement is crucial to countries in need of Christian influence.

“Not a lot of people really know about the things that we talked about,” Webb said.  “It was really informative to give sort of a hands-on experience for the students, so to speak.”
Thursday’s meeting involved separating members around the room into various countries.  Members were then given the food and experienced stereotypes people of those countries are associated with.

“We wanted to show the students attending that there is a need for us to go to countries that we think about but where we never think about going,” Webb said.  “What we tried to do was show the urgency in that.

“We are really selfish even when it comes to our faith,” Webb said.  “We sort of squander it; we make it a feel-good religion when it is not a religion.”

Campus Crusade for Christ is a religious student organization that follows the vision of its founder, Bill Bray.  Webb said Bray’s vision was to see the rest of the world receives the privilege of the gospel that Christians receive.  Webb said Bray believed college students have the capability to accomplish that.

“He saw that college students want to get something done,” Webb said.  “He saw that students have the willingness to see things change.”

By the end of the night, Webb said he saw students feeling distressed about the reality of how Americans are blessed with the things they have.

“It was neat for me to see everyone experience this for the first time and to see their reactions and what challenged them,” said Stephen Ferrell, senior biochemistry major from Rand, W.Va.  “All we can see is inside our little bubble here in America, and this really gives you a light into what its like outside our country.”

“The world shouldn’t be in the state it’s in,” Webb said.  “Christians should be going out and doing what Christ told us to do.”

Carlton Apgar can be contacted at apgar5@marshall.edu.