Campus Bible Fellowship International

CBF missionary Kim Abernethy (University of North Carolina) recently published her first book entitled In This Place. Below is a recent interview with Kim.

What was your inspiration for writing this book?

My three daughters were the primary inspirations. Our oldest, Michelle, was 2 1/2 when we first went to Liberia. Stefanie, our second, was born in the middle of the jungle after we had only been in Liberia for ten months. Third daughter Lauren was born during the tumultuous time after our first evacuation from our ministry and home in Liberia. I wanted them to have a written account of their parents’ missionary journey in West Africa and beyond. It is one thing to be an MK and live life in your “home away from home,” but as they are all now young women, I wanted them to see God in a bigger way. To always have a reason to keep trusting Him  no matter what. Another motivation for writing this book were young missionary couples (particularly the women) who may wonder what they can expect as they enter their field of service. Though the country and circumstances may be different, I want the book to be a cultural, spiritual, and practical guide to those who will come behind us. The third reason was for those that have always been interested in the intrinsic details of foreign missionary lives. I offer this candid missionary memoir as a means to open the door to seeing us as human, exposing struggles and sharing victories.

Share a specific lesson God taught you through the writing process.

I wrote the first couple of chapters almost six years ago. Between a busy college ministry and an active family, it was difficult for me to know how to find the time I needed to make the writing effective. I always tried to give myself a selfimposed deadline, but being new at writing and knowing I was going to selfpublish did not help my need for discipline so lacking in the early formation of this book. Two years ago, after constantly reaming myself out for not getting serious and lamenting to my family that I needed to get this book done, they rallied around and helped me carve out more substantial amounts of time for serious writing. Discipline was the key word for me in the writing process. As I attempted to write, I realized just how undisciplined I was for a specific task. Throughout my ministry, I had always flitted from one thing to another. This took extraordinary effort to stay put, stay to task. God stretched me through this process.

What is your favorite section, chapter, or story?

Any of Gladys, the white hen, stories are some of my favorite and also are favorites of my readers. So much was learned from the life of this African hen and the raising of her chicks. I share one of those stories on my website.

Has having your book in print enabled you to share the gospel or encourage someone in any special way?

More than I could ever imagine! A friend of mine recently interviewed me and posted on her blog about some of the ways that my readers have been touched. You can read it here.

Do you have plans, ideas, or dreams for any future publications?

Yes, In Every Place, is already written, now in the editing phase. It is the continuation and completion of the story of our African ministry (1991 – 2002). After that? I have several ideas swirling in this random brain of mine! Stay tuned.

Who would be interested in reading your book?

Anyone who loves a good missionary story. Anyone heading towards a mission field. Anyone in a church that supports missionaries. Anyone who loves adventure and the intrinsic nuances of West Africa.

How can someone obtain a copy of In This Place?

It is in paperback or in ebook format

For more about Kim and her ministry at UNC, you can find her on the web or on her blog.

For the last two weeks hundreds of students have been walking past our literature table on their way to the University bookstore. Many have stopped to talk about God.

Recently I had a lively dialogue with Tatiana, who believes that the genre of Genesis 1 is poetry, which legitimizes her believing the Bible and evolution.

Conner, an atheist and philosophy major, stopped by the table and willingly discussed the truths of God’s Word.

Ekash stood and asked astute questions for an hour. His facial expressions implied he didn’t know there were bona fide answers to his questions.

Joel, a former Mormon and now atheist, stopped to dialogue with me as well.

The literature table and other ministry outreach gives us the opportunity to meet souls from around the world, including Amy and her husband whom we met at our English class. Every year is different on campus, but we recognize that only God can open doors of opportunity to share Jesus with our students. In these coming weeks as we ‘live‘ at the University, we desire “That the word of the Lord may run swiftly and be glorified” (II Thes. 3:1).

Tom and Nancy Miller serve at The University of Colorado in Boulder, Colorado.

One hundred ninety (190) new international students swarmed off the buses and vans to enter Faith Baptist Church, Iowa City with excitement on their faces. This was the day to which they had been looking forward. Some had even heard of this day in their home countries (via the grapevine!). It was Campus Bible Fellowship’s International Give-Away.

It began nine years ago when I saw a need and an opportunity to reach out to newly arriving international students at the University of Iowa. These students arrive with just two suitcases of clothes and have no idea where to turn to get needed items for the basics of living in America.

The Give-Away began months before with church family going to auctions, garage sales, putting notices on student bulletin boards, and in newspapers to obtain useful items to share with these students. Furniture, kitchen items, linens and anything one would need to furnish an apartment is collected. On the awaited day, we picked the students up in buses and vans and brought them to the church. When they registered, they checked off if they were interested in attending church, a conversational English partner, Bible Studies, or CBFI activities. After instructions were given the Pastor shared the Gospel with them. When they were “released” they rushed to place their label on that one large piece of furniture they wanted the most and brought it to the waiting trucks. Then they wandered around picking out smaller pieces (end tables, lamps, chairs, dishes, etc.). Some of the students struggled with their boxes and bags, even filling garbage cans to bring them to the “pick-up” station. While they waited for transportation to take their treasures home, the church ladies served them cookies, breads, lemonade, and water. This provided a more relaxed time to get to meet these students and answer the most asked question, “Why do you do this for us?” Because someone had previously bought all of these items, they could be given to the students absolutely free. All they had to do was take and receive them. As they got onto the buses & vans we gave each one a CBFI bag with fliers for all our activities, a Gospel tract, and several useful items.

Starting out small, this ministry has really grown. This year we had nearly ninety people helping in every area- from a our church of about 175 people. A sister church in Muscatine, IA. sent twenty-one young people and five trucks to help us. There were jobs for every age and strength.

Over the years God has used this ministry to connect us with students who have eventually come to church, been in Bible Studies and received Christ. It has also helped our church family to become more involved with the internationals God is bringing to our door. Once they meet the students like this they find out it is easier to talk to them than they had first thought. We thank God for these open doors and open hearts.

When all the work was done and we looked at the registration forms, we realized anew the mission field we have at our doorstep. The 190 students were from twenty-five countries; places such as China, India and Korea, Guadeloupe, Israel, Jordan, and Russia; Iraq, Serbia, Nepal, Thailand, Mongolia, Romania, as well as some African and European countries. Many wanted Conversational English partners; twenty-three wanted Bible studies and nine wanted to come to church. It was exciting to meet several Christians in the group as well. Now it is time for further ministry in their lives.

What can you do to serve those at your nearest university?

Elva Craig serves at the University of Iowa.

“For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome…He administers justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the stranger, giving him food and clothing. Therefore love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.” (Deuteronomy 10:17-19)

Imagine getting off a plane in a strange country. Overwhelmed by new sights and sounds, you make your way to the baggage claim, relieved and thankful to see someone holding a sign bearing your name. The International Student Association has arranged to pick you up at the airport and provide a place for you to stay the night. Tomorrow begins the ordeal of finding an apartment and getting established.

The next day you rent an apartment near campus. A new dilemma now surfaces. The bags that seemed so heavy yesterday contain mostly clothes and books. Your new apartment is going to need a few pieces of furniture – bed, desk, chair—and something to cook with. But you don’t have a car and you don’t know where to begin shopping. You realize the difficulties of getting settled. Everything just seems more complicated here. At home it would be no problem to get the things you need. You sleep on the floor the first night in your new apartment. You have no choice.

You struggle to grasp what people are saying because they talk too fast and don’t speak clearly. They assume you understand their instructions. You wish that they would show you what they mean. They just tell you things you can’t comprehend.

On the third day when your initial excitement has been replaced with weariness, something too good to be true happens! Someone hands you a flyer and explains that on Saturday a church will be giving out free furnishings for your apartment. They call it Stuff for Students. You call it fantastic.

Lying on the floor trying to fall asleep, you think how good a bed would feel. The loneliness and confusion that has been your constant companion lifts a little. Maybe you will be able to make it here after all. Hope begins to well up in your heart.

Back home most people don’t give much thought to God. But you have sometimes wondered if there is a God. You were taught that everything is dependent on you. You make your own luck by working harder than everyone else. And yet sometimes your best isn’t good enough. Sometimes you hope there might be a God who helps people whose best isn’t good enough. Rolling over to get comfortable on the floor, you think that maybe you should pray to the God that He would give you a bed. If you are lucky, maybe you will even hear about the God when you get the furniture. With that thought you fall asleep – content for the first time since you landed in the United States.

As a young single missionary in Vladivostok, Russia in 1994, I experienced similar culture shock. I lived in a dormitory, so furniture was not a problem. My greatest difficulty was buying food. The first week in Russia I survived on peanut butter, crackers, and dried fruit that I had brought with me. My moment of victory was being able to buy two bottles of apple juice to celebrate my birthday.

When I came to Cleveland, Ohio, to minister to college students, my heart was already prepared to empathize with new arrivals. So in 2001, CBFI launched Stuff for Students. During the summer, I collected used furniture and household items. It’s been fun to see the varied ways that God provides the items. We’ve shared Stuff for Students six other times, and each time the sources of furniture have been different. I have learned that God is incredibly creative, abundantly faithful, and madly in love with the “stranger.”

Stuff for Students has provided an initial contact point for several who have later received Jesus as their Savior. Others have become good friends of mine but still are outside of Christ. The story of one such woman – Tanya Baksheeva – is told in Baptist Mid-Missions’ book Amazed by His Glory in an account called “Too Incredible to Be Coincidence.”

Each student who comes looking for furniture hears a presentation of the gospel and receives a tract written for the event. Only the Lord completely knows what He has done in the lives of more than 600 people who have come to Stuff for Students.

This year’s day to share ‘stuff’ will be on Saturday, August 27. I can’t wait to see what God will do!

Mary Amesbury serves in Cleveland, OH at Case and Cleveland State University.

It is time for our annual CBFI conference and this year it was held in Mt. Hope near Beckley, West Virginia. This is a week where Campus Bible Fellowship missionaries gather for encouragement, caring for business, and sharing with one another what God has accomplished in the past year. We were hosted by Appalachian Bible College at their beautiful campus in the wooded hills.

A few of our CBF missionaries (serving in Idaho and Indiana, as well as our appointees to Spain and Brazil) were missing, but the rest of us were able to spend a few days together planning, sharing, and enjoying fellowship with one another.

Andy and his wife will be serving on the campus of Virginia Tech. This is a very needy campus. Pray that God will bring in the rest of their needed provisions to serve there full-time.

Jeff and his wife serve at University of North Carolina. God is really blessing their ministry there and it was a blessing to hear the stories of those He is bringing unto Himself.

Gary and his wife serve as our coordinators and on two campuses in the Dayton, Ohio area. What a blessing Gary and Betty are to the rest of us!

Sandy and her husband, Paul serve in Syracuse, New York. They have been there for over 30 years.

Elizabeth (left) and her husband serve in Binghamton, New York while Mary (right) serves at Case Western, in Ohio.

Elva (back left) has served at the University of Iowa for many, many years. Tom and his wife (front right) labor in Boulder at University of Colorado. Pray for them as they serve in a place not known for welcoming the things of the Lord.

Ken and his wife are coworkers with Mike and Sharon Keller in Miami, Florida. We are grateful to have them on the campus of Florida International University where 46,000 students come from 130 different countries to learn.

Dave Elmore is a our newest gem; he is volunteering his time in Ohio as well. Dave is patiently trying to reinstate CBF at Wright State University where we were kicked off campus (after 30 years) for our conservative stand.

Our time together included time around the Word and caring for business related to Campus Bible Fellowship.

There was time for our traditional late-night game and fellowship time. CBF missionaries live on College Standard Time (CST) and are not known for going to bed early! It is what keeps us on the typical student schedule.

The women had an afternoon of fellowship among themselves, encouraging one another while the guys got together as well for fellowship.

The CBFI staff left with sweet with memories of friends, coworkers, and God’s beauty etched into our memories.

It is a blessed thing to serve Him on the university campuses of the world!

Sharon and her husband Mike serve in Miami, Florida at FIU