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Kingdom Kids Make Impact on Boston Campuses

by Lai-Yan Tang -- Boston

03.03.09

The Boston Campus Ministry has long been a home to "Kingdom Kids," the children of disciples from within the Boston Church of Christ and from around the country. Over the last few years, the ministry has become a place where these students take root and flourish. Calling upon the faith that they have seen from childhood, many kingdom kids are challenged to deepen their convictions about God and his Word, and the need for others to know Him. They are capturing a simple but powerful belief that God can use them to bring his message to thousands of college students around them. Here are some inspiring stories of how God has used these students in the past year. Last semester, several incoming freshmen quickly realized God's ability to use them. In September, the Emerson College ministry consisted of two freshmen disciples, Ryan McDonnell from the South Region of the Boston Church, and Krista Firkins from the Omaha Church of Christ. The duo began having a Bible talk in their dorm, joined by a couple of disciples from nearby schools. Ryan began reaching out to his roommate. After several months of studying the Bible, Ryan was able to baptize his roommate, Chad Smathers, in early November. Meanwhile, Ryan and another sister, Kristen Cruz, a disciple from the Northwest Region of the Boston Church and a freshman at Emmanuel College, were out door knocking and inviting people to Bible talk. They met Stefany Tomas (pictured right), who soon came out and expressed interest in studying the Bible. Stefany studied for three weeks and was baptized into Christ the day before winter break. In one semester, the Emerson ministry doubled from two to four! Two men from Boston College are now our brothers in Christ because of the simple faith and open mouths of several disciples who were out sharing their faith on campus. Ben Koha and Brianna Torres, disciples in the campus ministry and kingdom kids from nearby churches, invited Kosi Egbuta, a BC senior, to Bible talk one night last spring. After much studying and wrestling with the Bible throughout the semester, Kosi became a Christian and was baptized the day before graduating in May. This past semester, Chris Koha was out inviting students to Bible talk when he met John Rotio (first picture above), a freshman from New Jersey. John and his girlfriend, Tiffany Berger, had been looking for churches upon moving to Boston. They both began studying the Scriptures and attending church. John was baptized in early November; Tiffany followed suit just two weeks later. Another inspiring example of young faith is the decision by two incoming freshmen women to follow Jesus only months into college. Brittany Roscoe and Brianna Greico, who grew up in the Northern regions of the Boston Church, began seriously studying the Bible in the summer of transition before college. Both women were baptized within the first couple of months of the semester and have continued to have impact in the ministry and at their schools. The Boston campus ministry is also becoming a place where Kingdom Kids are being sent out to strengthen or build campus ministries.  For the past two summers, the campus ministry has sent out short-term mission teams to New England campuses like the University of New Hampshire and the University of Connecticut, as well as to Budapest, Hungary. Nearly all of the twenty participants in those three trips grew up in the church. More recently, the campus ministry graduated and sent out Danny MacDougall and Steve Schnell, both disciples from families in the Northwest Region of the Boston Church, to lead campus ministries at the University of Connecticut and at the University of Massachusetts at Lowell/Salem State University.  Both of these brothers are leading the way in inspiring young and old kingdom kids, along with the rest of the church, to have an active and powerful faith for the lost. The campus ministry is looking forward to continuing to be a place where teens from inside the local church, from other states and even from other nations, come together to build on the faith of their families in discovering their own relationships with God, and to share that faith with thousands of students in Boston.