Back to the Tables!

Hello, friends! 

Yesterday, Jabin (our new staff hire) and I reserved a table space at the UNO student center. The goal was to meet students and invite them to our InterVarsity events, which at this point, are the Monday bible study. 

To say that the engagement level was less than what we'd hoped for is a bit of an understatement. We were there for about 2 hours and interacted with MAYBE a dozen people. It wasn't huge. 

Was I discouraged by the turnout? Not really. If nothing else, it gave me a really good insight into how much things have changed since when I first started ministry. Here are a few observations: 

- Technology matters. There were maybe a hundred or so people who passed by the table during our time out there. Most of them were staring at phones or listening to something via the headphones in their ears. A few were with other people but generally, most folk were solo. This is a HUGE change from when I started doing college ministry. Just being present isn't enough. A table needs to have some sort of hook. This has always been true to a certain extent, but it seems even more true now as students just aren't looking around as much as they used to. 

- Timing matters. I said that we had maybe 100 students pass by during the 2 hours we were out there. For a campus of 15,000, that's pretty light traffic. We realized that we actually picked the wrong time. UNO isn't like WashU, where everyone was always on campus all the time. It isn't like Mizzou, where folk live off campus but the student center is still the center of life. UNO has a lot of students who go to class then go home. That means that timing is everything. The highest traffic times are from 11-1, when everyone gets out of their 10am class, then grabs lunch before their 1pm class. By the time we were out there, the campus was already starting to wind down.

- Conversations matter. Even though we didn't get to talk to a ton of folk, we were still able to have some good conversations. The truth about college ministry is that there have been a lot of changes but some things still stay the same. Students are looking for a sense of belonging. They're looking for community and for their place in the world. The work that we do is still important. 

We'll be tabling again a few more times in November. We're making a few changes to the format to try to attract more students. We'll see how it goes. If you have a moment, please be praying for us as we engage with the campus. We want students to know Jesus and get connected. May it be so. 

Have an excellent day! 

~Adam