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Do you agree with Ryan?
Creative outreach at U. of Oregon

by Jon Kubu and Matt Ryan-Kelzenberg

Our mission field was clearly defined: 17,000 students at the University of Oregon. But how could we reach all of them and get them interested in Jesus? How could we give every student the opportunity to ask questions about Jesus and get a fresh look at God? Our solution was “Ryan Week,” an all-campus outreach held last spring.

Inspired by similar ideas at other colleges, our InterVarsity chapter partnered with Campus Crusade and several other Christian groups to share the gospel with our campus. So what was “Ryan Week”? At its core, the week was simply a tool to get students interested in talking about Jesus.

This is what we did. The week before “Ryan Week,” signs went up around campus asking the question, “Do you agree with Ryan?” On Tuesday and Wednesday the signs were on tables in the cafeterias. On Thursday and Friday the signs appeared on chalkboards in classrooms.

This certainly got people talking! People began to ask, “Who the heck is Ryan?” and “Why should I agree with him?” The question was on everyone’s lips. It was the subject of late-night bull sessions, and sometimes disrupted class discussions. One I-V student’s entire class hour was given to the question of whether anyone had the right to expect everyone to agree with him as this Ryan apparently did. Even professors were arguing about it and still no one really knew what it was about or what Ryan believed!

On Monday, hundreds of Christian students showed up on campus wearing bright red T-shirts that said, “I agree with Ryan” on the front and “Do you?” on the back. Then Ryan’s statement of faith appeared as a full-page ad in the student newspaper. His five points outlined the gospel:

• We have a soul.
  
  
• There is a right and wrong.
  
  
• God exists.
  
  
• Heaven is real, and so is hell.
  
  
• We need help.

The word was out. Ryan was a follower of Jesus, and so was everyone wearing those bright red shirts! Signs then went up saying, “See you at the amphitheater, noon, Tuesday.—Ryan.”

On Tuesday, Ryan’s personal testimony was published in the campus paper. At noon, students gathered in the free speech amphitheater to hear Ryan tell how Jesus had changed his life. Afterwards, students had the opportunity to ask questions about Christianity. Five people (Ryan, two students from Young Life, Emily—one of the I-V student leaders, and an I-V staff worker) spent over an hour as a panel fielding questions about God, Jesus and life.

The response was amazing. We saw everything from anger to apathy, interest to indifference. People wrote letters to the editor, and others responded to them or countered them. These events were great for getting out the message of the gospel, but even more important were the many chances students had for one-on-one conversations about Jesus with friends and classmates.

Ultimately, “Ryan Week” was not about Ryan at all. It was about Jesus and his love. For a week, Jesus was the topic of countless conversations at the University of Oregon. I wish I could report 17,000 conversions, but that didn’t happen. What I can say is that many students got a fresh look at Jesus and hopefully took a few steps closer to knowing and following him.