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My heart thumped and a slight thrill ran through me as I entered the freshman dorm, Dupont Hall, for our first Christianity On Trial forum of the year. "Would anyone be there?" I wondered. "What if people come just to jeer at us?" These and a few other thoughts flitted through my brain as my fellow COT members and I prepared for that evening's discussion of Christ and our beliefs.

Christianity On Trial (COT) is made up of students from our InterVarsity chapter at the College of William and Mary who want to share the gospel in a straightforward manner and provide a forum where students can pose questions about Christianity to a panel of believers. In the past, COT has prepared for these panel discussions by reading Josh McDowell's book, A Ready Defense. Last year, though, emphasis was placed upon our own study of God's word and upon often-asked questions about Christianity.

After much prayer and a little planning on our part we visited several freshman dorms throughout the year. No two dorms were ever alike. Some of the students were openly hostile to the panel and asked very direct and tough questions. Some students were very philosophical in their questions. Every dorm had a different "tone" so we almost never knew what to expect.

All in all, the student response was one of respect and interest in what we were doing. However, we weren't kidding ourselves into thinking that a lot of students would necessarily be converted. In fact, this wasn't even our purpose. We simply wanted students to be able to ask questions and in the process show them how Christ had changed our lives. We hoped that through our honesty and openness some people would think about our faith and seek out other Christians in their dorms. It was especially encouraging to see the effect our panel had on other believers. Several would often come up to me after such an event to tell me how our panel had emboldened them to share their faith with hallmates and friends. Some asked us more probing questions to find out how to answer tough questions they had been asked.

Christianity On Trial had a profound effect upon us as a panel as well. Spiritually, I think all of us grew as we sought the answers to tough questions asked by non-believers. We found that in order to be an effective panel we had to be able to articulate our faith and what it meant to us personally to be a follower of Christ. In addition, our faith grew as we learned to rely upon God to give us the words to say. COT gave us an opportunity to put into practice Peter's advice to "Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect" (1 Peter 3:15).