What if professors could be part of sharing the gospel to the whole campus?
This month, we wanted you to hear from Professor Laurie Kubicek (pictured above) at Sac State, who shares this vision, wanting students and faculty to know Jesus. What is below is in her own words.
I will never forget “Susan” poking her head into my office with a huge smile on her face. She said, “I wanted to tell you that I love Jesus too!” This caught me a little off-guard.
In fact, in over twenty years teaching, I don’t think I’ve ever had a student lead with that. I asked her to come in and tell me a little more – thankfully, she had time and stepped in. Susan had an incredible story. She had struggled with drug addiction, and as a result had a criminal record. Remarkably, she was in my department – Criminal Justice. I was intrigued. I asked her how she had overcome her addiction. She shared about her encounter with Jesus, His love for her had changed her life. She had completed a 12-step program and enrolled in Project Rebound, a program designed to help formerly incarcerated people earn a college degree. What a story!
We shared this moment because I had changed.
If I had encountered Susan just a semester earlier, I would have missed it. For years, I thought I had a professorial obligation to complete neutrality. I blame my background as an attorney at least in part. The law places great value on objectivity, and in teaching the law, I never revealed ‘my hand’ to my students. When pressed in class about the outcome of a difficult legal case I didn’t want to sway their opinions. I took great pride in making sure I was as neutral and objective as possible in everything I shared with them.
I didn’t ever share my own personal story, and I carefully stepped around sharing about my faith with colleagues or students unless there was a very explicit and welcome opportunity to do so. This very careful approach to sharing my faith on campus was challenged just before I met Susan.
God brought together a community of Christian faculty and staff here at Sacramento State University. Our group began meeting for prayer monthly and then decided to plan a Northern California conference for Christian Faculty & Staff to encourage others to live out the gospel with boldness on their campuses. Our first conference focused on the integration of faith and vocation. It was a game-changer for me! Immediately after hearing the speaker, Dr. Charles Lee from Stanford, I changed my “welcome” lecture. I added information about my family, our church, and my children’s local Christian school. It was that easy! By simply changing what I shared when I introduced myself to my students that semester, God had opened the door to Susan. I am so grateful!
I am continuing to learn what it looks like to live out my faith at work. I want more than anything for people to see God’s love lived out in me – and the first step was being brave enough to tell my students a little more about myself.
We’re grateful for professors like Laurie who want to see Jesus glorified on the campus. Thanks for being a part of this grand vision!
PRAYER REQUESTS
Praise God for Laurie! Pray that the Lord would use professors to bring students and other faculty to know him.
Pray for our digital missions to Central Asia. The Lord has provided a way to reach out to countries digitally, when it typically has been hard to get the gospel there in person. We’ll share more in an upcoming letter.
12 of the 13 campuses we’ve been working on have gone virtual this semester. Pray for the Lord to work despite the unusual circumstances. Also pray for the endurance of students and professors.