Campus Outreach
In the Campus Outreach (CO) ministry, a laborer is defined as a person mobilized through the church to live out a Christ-centered identity with Spirit-filled character, who is governed by a Biblical worldview, engages persuasively among non-Christians with the gospel, and is equipped to multiply this lifestyle into others. The CO mission is to glorify God by building those kinds of laborers on the campus for the lost world.
Parker Lewis joined the Campus Outreach team as a laborer at the Citadel in 2019. As a college student, he was discipled through the ministry of CO and came to know Christ at a New Year's Conference after months of doubting and wrestling with God. He served in the army for four years after graduating and then returned to Charleston joining the CO staff to reach lost students on the college campus.
Parker met Juan Ruiz, a student at the Citadel, at a superbowl party hosted by CO. Juan was a freshman focused on getting a contract with the Marine Corps. Everything in his life was geared toward this goal. When Juan heard that Parker was an infantry officer in the military, he reached out to hear about Parker's career and hopefully learn from him. "Other people in my company who knew Parker warned me that this guy wasn't going to talk to me about being an officer; Parker was going to talk to me about Jesus," Juan shared. The first time they hung out, Parker shared the gospel with Juan through Romans 6:23, "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord."
Parker explained that people cannot work for their salvation. It is only possible through the blood of Jesus. "This was sobering for me because I had spent my whole life working hard for things and having pride about what I had earned. But, this couldn't be earned. It was free. This guy was a Citadel graduate and an army captain, so I wanted to be serious and respectful, but I couldn't stop myself from smiling. Parker explained that he was telling me good news and it is so good that it should make me smile." It was there, sitting with someone that he barely knew and hearing this good news about the free gift of salvation, that Juan accepted Christ as his Savior.
Over the next few years, Juan and Parker continued to meet consistently and grow in friendship. Parker helped Juan understand what walking with Jesus looks like through reading the Bible, praying, becoming a part of a local church, and evangelizing to others. Parker saw how the gospel transformed Juan's life and encouraged him to share that with other students. "Every single individual that we meet is both an end and a means of the gospel. As an ends, they need to hear the gospel and grow in their identity in Christ As a means, they are also laborers for the souls of others," Parker explained.
The ministry of CO desires to build laborers. The primary difference between a Christian and a laborer is intentionality. Students are being discipled to be intentional with their lives. When a student looks at their classmates and peers, they are looking at them as people who are either going to spend eternity with Jesus or away from Jesus. Because their own hearts have been transformed by Jesus, they can engage others with winsomeness, love, compassion, mercy, grace, and truth. Juan desired to share the gospel with his friends and classmates and found that a difficult endeavor of laboring at The Citadel is helping people understand that they are broken."
Pride and success are celebrated at this school and any form of weakness is looked down upon. "It can be really difficult to have the freedom of the gospel resonate with people who are not okay with failing,"" Juan shared. "This school is a meritocracy. The gospel that is true and that we love is the complete opposite of that. People can also be defensive about not understanding the gospel. If you open up the Bible to look for answers, they can be defensive and claim to understand it all, even if they do not fully know the truth. "What you find at the Citadel is a group of people who are primarily conservative, pro-military, good American people who confuse their values with Christianity. For a lot of students, hearing that the American dream is not the same as the Bible is shocking. The free gift of the gospel is contradictory to a comfortable lifestyle that is earned. We come to God as beggars in need of forgiveness. In this environment, no one wants to hear that they are broken and cannot earn life," Parker explained.
Juan graduated from the Citadel in May of 2023 and will be serving as an officer in the Marine Corps. As he looks to this next stage of life, he is asking God how he can be used as a laborer in the world. "I want the joy I have in the gospel to be the driving force for why I share with others. I also want to have the desire and boldness to share." There will be new challenges as he seeks opportunities to talk to others about Jesus in his military career, but he is praying for lives to be transformed like his own. Campus Outreach staff serve at The Citadel, College of Charleston, Charleston Southern University, and Coastal Carolina University. Every staff member raises financial support to be able to spend their days ministering to college students on the campus. As they evangelize and disciple students, ever changing culture has also affected the discipleship process. More and more students are coming into college who have no church background or knowledge of the Bible. "That's why we need the local church. It's why we need East Cooper. We are exporting students out of college that are still in the process of being established in their faith. Ten or twenty years ago, CO could evangelize, establish, and equip a student in four years. Then, they were exported out of college as laborers. That's not the case anymore in this current culture. We need more than ever for the local church to come alongside us and help with the discipleship process,'' Parker explained. "Our hope and prayer is that more people would come to faith like Juan, and grow and labor in the name of Jesus."