The Lady with the Brownies

Fifteen years ago, as a college freshman, I sat in a fraternity   suite at a semi-secret meeting, when a lady walked in with a pan of brownies.  She was there, with some other very old people (all at least 25 years old -- nearly senior citizens, really), to help us start a new Christian group at our very large, very un-Christian, university.

Although I discovered later that she really had more of an affinity for middle-of-the-night tater tots, Sandy, this lady with the baked goods, was dutiful in bringing her brownies to every meeting .  What Sandy was actually bringing into our lives, though,  was the truth and love of Christ. 

It was the mid-90s.   Hiking boots were a fashion statement.  Grunge ruled the airwaves.  Apathy was in style.  Undeterred, Sandy,  her Vera Bradley bags, and her co-workers, could be found all over our little college town talking about things that were not of this world.   They were discussing scripture, giving out slinkys, going through tracts, publicizing meetings, doling out pizza -- whatever it took to see the spiritually sleep-heavy eyes of young students opened to the truth of God.

Sandy and crew were a small group of full-grown adults, daily laying down their lives (and many times their dignity) in order that some might be saved. Seeking inroads for the gospel, these people with college degrees and extensive ministry training would knock on fraternity and sorority doors cold-call style, seemingly at the mercy of whomever answered.  Often these ministers were politely refused or just flatly denied by twenty-year-olds who thought they knew everything (but who didn't even have a remote clue about the most important things). Still, Sandy and her friends persisted.  

From Waffle House to cofffee shop, and from dorm room to sorority parlor, Sandy and the other campus ministers faithfully met with me and scores of my peers in small Bible studies, large Bible studies, and God-please-let-somebody-show-up Bible studies.  

Sometimes we stood them up.  Sometimes we spent the whole time talking about our boyfriends, or lack thereof.   And I was particularly fond of questions like, "What about the people in Africa who have never heard about God?"   (Those questions were always big crowd-pleasers in the sorority Bible studies.) Still, Sandy and her friends patiently answered our questions and gave us the truth. 

Sandy and her co-laborers lived in small apartments.  They drove less-than-top-of-the-line cars.  They made ends meet on a support-raised salaries.   They chose to call "home" a town with approximately nine other single people their age. 

And still, this little band of missionaries did it.  They consistently made sacrifices, large and small, in an effort to make Christ's name known and celebrated on our campus.   They knew the Lord and His glory were worthy of being known and celebrated on Greek row, regardless of the immediate and tangible results. 

Well, it's been a decade and a half. 

Fifteen years have passed since they knocked on the first door.  

Are there any tangible results?  

I don't have stats, but I have a picture.   I can picture the faces of countless students whose lives were changed as they (eventually) sat by hundreds in packed-out rooms listening to the Gospel preached.  I know dozens who are in some kind of full-time Christian work because of those first seeds planted in 1995.  I know or have heard of hundreds more who are walking with the Lord in their marketplace jobs, their communities, and their families because someone knocked on their fraternity, sorority, or dorm room doors. 

The power of the gospel through a handful of lives changed a few more and then a few more. 

The Lord took a small team of young, nervous, but faithful ministers and used them to start a movement that has had spiritual influence not only throughout our area of the country, but in Asia, Russia, and many other parts of the world. 

Thank you Sandy.  Thank you for believing the Lord and for not giving up on us.  Thank you for becoming "all things to all men so that by all possible means, some might be saved."* I look forward to writing about the other members of your team soon, but today, on this occasion of your wedding, I'm glad to celebrate you.  We give thanks to the Lord for this new chapter in your life.

Best wishes you and congratulations to John. We love you!

* 1 Corinthians 9:22