“Fights between couples have been breaking out all over campus! People are caught in Relationship Hell and they can’t get out! In a culture of relationship roadkill, is there any hope for mutually satisfying and meaningful relationships?”

This was part of our promotion for “How to escape Relationship Hell,” an outreach event last spring at UNLV. God has certainly blessed our fellowship with bold students: two different pairs of students dramatized fights in the busiest areas of campus to promote the event. They pretended to be dating couples and “had it out” in the middle of all sorts of unsuspecting fellow students.

Amy and Rob in the dorm dining hall were asked to leave before the manager realized it was a staged event. As Amy yelled at Rob at the top of her lungs the entire dining hall stared open-mouthed at this public spectacle. It was probably a dream come true for the Jerry Springer fans in the building.

As Evan and Jen verbally kickboxed in the Union, nearby fraternity guys egged Jen on to kick Evan where it counts! An elderly couple who saw it chastised Evan even after the act was revealed!

At the end each couple asked the crowd if their depiction of Relationship Hell weren’t all too familiar and invited them to our event to hear about escaping Relationship Hell. Pastor Bret Johnson, who gave us the idea for staging fights, gave personal and persuasive reasons for why we must get right with God first before we can ever hope to avoid Relationship Hell. Four students responded with a desire to begin their relationship with Jesus Christ, and others responded with openness to investigating Jesus through GIGs (Groups Investigating God). Praise God for his gracious work at UNLV!

—Mike Nalley is on staff with InterVarsity at the UNLV. He and his wife, Kirsten, have a two-year-old son, Caleb, and new baby born this May.