You should know there's a new slj site! Check it out

"I did my paper on myths about Christianity," said Heather McCulloch as she began her presentation to her Religion, Society and Culture class at East Tennessee State U. She certainly had everyone's attention. You could have heard a pin drop. I prayed harder as Heather continued, glad she had invited me to sit in on her presentation as her InterVarsity staff worker.

Heather had told me earlier in the semester about signing up for this class. She thought it would be interesting to study how different religions affect society. It turned out that most of the time was spent criticizing Christianity. Each member of the class was required to write a paper and do a presentation to the class. Heather said she wanted to do hers on misconceptions about Christianity, because that view was not being presented in the class.

Heather and I prayed together throughout the semester as she prepared the paper. We talked about it and shared resources that might be helpful. Finally, the last week of classes came. Heather and I were supposed to meet on Thursday of that week, but we had to reschedule for Friday. This was the day of the presentation. We talked through her presentation and made some last minute adjustments. We prayed together, and suddenly it was time for the class to begin.

I was nervous as I sat in the classroom with about fifteen other students and the professor. Which guy was the one who Heather said was so hostile toward Christianity? I wondered to myself. How will he react?

Other students made their presentations, including two criticisms of Catholicism and one report on how colonialism and Christianity were causing the destruction of the sacred places in Kenya. Finally Heather took her turn.

Heather began by sharing her testimony of becoming a Christian at a young age, and then being diagnosed as a teenager with an incurable eye condition that eventually causes blindness. "I was mad at God," Heather said, "and I really questioned why this was happening to me." Everyone in the class was with her. Heather continued, "It wasn't until my freshman year in college that I realized God was calling me to be a missionary, and that he could really use this to bring people to him." I silently praised God and kept praying.

Heather then dealt with some misconceptions about Christianity such as "All Christians are hypocrites," and "Jesus Christ is not relevant for today." She then said, "Here are the three basic tenants of the Christian faith . . . ", and essentially presented the gospel. When Heather ended her presentation, two students asked for copies of her paper and there were no hostile responses. Even the next student's presentation, a criticism of snake-handling churches, lost much of its bite!

"It was a good learning experience, and really forced me to grow in trusting the Lord," recalls Heather. "We as students need to do as God advises us to do, even if it means getting up in front of a class of non-believers."

In Matthew 5, Jesus calls believers the "salt of the earth" and "the light of the world." Heather's presentation of Christ in a hostile classroom is a great example of what Jesus means by these terms.