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"The quality of presentations was very high," claims Marc Papai, IVCF area director in Ohio. "This kind of logical apologetics still has a place, especially among faculty."

The topics addressed last fall were "Linguistics: A Clue Regarding the Existence of the Human Soul," "Science & Christianity: A Testimony" and "Science & Christianity: Compatible or Contradictory?"

In the spring, the topics were "Creation and Evolution" with a panel of professors and pastors, "Is There a Human Soul?" and "Does God Exist?"

As hosts of the presentations, the students in the chapter were involved in providing publicity and follow-up literature. They invited their friends and initiated conversations after the seminars. As a result, Marc saw students emboldened in their witness. "The conviction that the gospel belongs at the university led to a lot of energy and motivation among the students," he says.

The forum resulted in new relationships and good conversations about spiritual issues with those present. "One of the greatest values of the skeptic’s forum was the opportunity for faculty to be vocal and public about their spiritual commitments," Marc adds. Many of the speakers invited other faculty from their department to the talks.

Alyce T. Reimer, area evangelism specialist, attended the presentations and met Xiao, a Chinese graduate student in business and mass communication. Xiao was deeply impressed that the faculty speaker was a Harvard grad, yet clearly a scholar and, unbelievably, a Christian too! She had attended presentations on B’hai and Buddhism, finding them spiritually interesting but somehow incomplete. Xiao said, "I’m intrigued that Christianity satisfies the mind as well as the spirit. It’s different."

I-V Staff workers Mark Armstrong and Gail Griffin were also very involved in presenting the forum at Akron. They have put together videotapes and a booklet of the talks that are available to other students, faculty and community people. They are longing to see fewer skeptics and more believers on their campus this year.

Marc hopes other groups will pick up on the idea of an honest forum for skeptical students and faculty. "I think God has, in recent times, provided us with a remarkable opportunity to fully appreciate how great he is and to pass this knowledge along to others--both believers and unbelievers," he says. "I think it will result in many people being saved and in Christians realizing just how much they have underestimated God."