bible 205 Archaeology Club For some time, missionary-in-residence Marvin Crowson had a passion for teaching the Gospel. This was evident by the enjoyment he received from hosting a Wednesday night Bible study in the fall of 2008, one of many studies he regularly led at his home, located just minutes from the Harding campus. However, one could quickly tell the focus of his Bible study was not only related to the power of the Gospel, but also how each individual could effectively spread the Word. Crowson said that after 13 years of full-time pulpit ministry, he resigned to take on a different approach. “It has always been a dream of mine to plant churches in largely populated areas,” Crowson said. This dream materialized when he brought his program called OutReach America to Harding in 2001. Program staff and involved students worked in an office located on the first floor of the McInteer Bible Building. OutReach America was designed to get students to gather a team of friends eager to move to large cities and plant churches. “It’s really simple,” Crowson said. “We inspire and encourage students to recruit their friends and move to big gateway cities where there are people from all around the world; I just help them organize team development.” No matter what one’s field of interest or major was, all were welcome to join OutReach America and find a way to serve after graduation. “The thing that originally got me interested [in OutReach America] and keeps me coming back is that we focus on learning how to be missionaries no matter where we go or what our professions are,” senior Jordan Gwinn said. “I think the idea of a business major like me being a vocational missionary is pretty cool.” Crowson took students with him on a spring break campaign both in 2008 and 2009 to visit church plants that had been started on the east coast. He also planned to take a group to Jamaica in the summer of 2009 to assist churches he helped plant in the beginning of his ministry. While past students reported success of their efforts, there were also current students eager to graduate and plant churches of their own. Sophomore Liz Elander said she had been involved in OutReach America for several years and was excited about her future efforts. “In five or six years I plan on going to Fairbanks, Alaska,” Elander said. “I have some friends going with me, but we are still working on interest for planting a church or possibly campus ministry.” Gwinn did not plan on going as far as Alaska, but he said he was also excited about spreading the Gospel after his time at Harding. “Right now I’m still trying to discover what it is I want to do,” Gwinn said. “I’m very interested in the Denver area and eventually want to work with youth, but I also have a passion for inner city homeless outreach.” Crowson said that a distinguishing feature of OutReach America was a friendship/relationship evangelism approach. “Some people stop at just the friendship part and don’t lead people to Christ,” he said. “We want to go that next step.” While bringing people to Christ was the ultimate goal, Crowson keyed in on the importance of maintaining friendships with people no matter what. “It’s always the person’s choice,” he said. “If they don’t become Christians, that doesn’t stop the relationship.” OutReach America’s work in the past eight years at Harding has resulted in many groups of students being able to share the Gospel in cities all around the nation. Crowson reported that, as of 2008, there were teams of former Harding students working in Seattle, Brunswick, Boston, San Francisco, upstate New York and several other cities. While the program successfully launched several teams, Crowson warned against the danger of teams of friends waiting too long after finishing school before making the move to their choice city in fear of losing the desire to go. “My urging is to graduate and go,” he said. Zach Welch O u t R e a c h Bible Study Prepares Students To Share Faith By Moving To New Cities Row 1: B. Davidson, A. Henderson, S. Steiner, E. Lantz. Row 2: D. Manor (Sponsor), R. Howard. Row 3: A. Gresham, R. Schneider, P. McGraw, B. Johnson, R. Halbe.
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