USA (MNN) — Red plastic cup and American college students make a notorious combination in the States for heavy drinking. But numerous campuses have now used that known image of "the red cup" to spur conversations about the Gospel.
This fall the Red Cup Campaign was launched by InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. InterVarsity reports that the students were trained in evangelism and then set up the Red Cup display on campus. Thousands of students have already heard a presentation of the Gospel.
The Red Cup Campaign uses an interactive display (called a Proxe station) that asks students what they are most thirsty for: love, purpose, fun, or success. Their response often starts a conversation that leads to an opportunity to discuss Jesus' statements about Living Water and eternal life.
More than 1,300 conversations took place in one week at the Red Cup Campaign Proxe station at University of California, Los Angeles. Students were invited to InterVarsity's Large Group meeting. At the UCLA chapter's first Large Group meeting of the school year, 47 students stood to make first-time decisions or recommitments to follow Christ.
The pattern has been similar elsewhere. Over a four-day period at the University of Chicago there were 250 conversations at the Red Cup Campaign Proxe station. At the first Large Group meeting of the year, three students stood to make first-time commitments to Jesus. At the second Large Group, 12 people raised their hands to commit to Christ.
"Almost everyone who went through the Proxe station heard the Gospel and was prayed for," reported Mac Smith, InterVarsity Campus Member at Weber State University in Utah. "We had 161 students show up to Large Group, and seven students become Christians during the call to faith."
Some InterVarsity chapters jumped into the Red Cup Campaign at the very beginning of the school year, and others are setting up the display on campus as the year goes on. Pray for future Campaigns to be effective and to touch many more lives with the truth and hope of Christ.
