Holy bajesus! Are we really about to do some college outreach! This is great.
That’s right my people we have applied to have a booth at Grossmont College here in San Diego and we were accepted. Not that we didn’t think we would be, but feels good all the same.
So this is the first little step of many to come and we are excited. Making ourselves known in the community is very important if we ever hope to have thousands of readers in our area. We plan to set the model for others to follow. It’s really simple though. Call your local college! Get the appropriate paperwork and fill it out. Pick a date and BAM! You’re hanging out talking to college folk about truth, beauty, and goodness, before you know what happened.
We are working on setting a goal for a specific number of colleges at which to have applications turned in and approved. This is not a hard thing to accomplish and in our minds is the next step in actively having opportunities to be doing outreach. How else will the world ever come to even know the word “Urantia” if we don’t tell people? Think about it for a second. There are hundreds and maybe thousands of christian colleges in the world that teach and practice Jesus’ teachings. I personally know that many of these young minds are so, so hungry for more than is afforded them in the Bible.
What else is important to think about is all the amazing science and history that is in the UB. At our booth we are going to have five leaflets, each dedicated to a subject like science, religion, relationships, family, etc. The point is that not everyone is going to want to have a conversation about God or Jesus. In fact, that is going to instantly turn many people off. But if you can catch people and share with them that the Urantia Book has an immense amount of information about any topic, and then hand them the appropriate flier, that might catch their attention.
Doing college outreach is not only going to be a very enriching experience but, with a little time and commitment, it will bring hundreds of new readers to the table. Our movement has frankly done a less-than-stellar job of attracting young adults. I partially understand why. The teachings of the UB–no matter how long you’ve studied them–are still a very intimidating body of text to read and then comprehend. And with the education system the way it is, we are truly not taught or motivated to push ourselves in reading and writing. Most of our magazines and shows write down to us. They literally make it easier to understand instead of pushing the envelope to challenge young minds to be creative, so what we are being left with is a generation of young adults who have little taste for reading at all. But for those few who have risen above the rift, we will be there to share our joy and excitement about this wonderful, life-changing book.
We will surely be challenged when we go on campuses. Our goal though must be to train ourselves to share the good news just as Jesus did and do so in a dynamic, loving way. Easy right?!
We will be at Grossmont College in San Diego on May 17th from 8:30am till 8:00pm.
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Wish us luck!
Or submit to get help making this happen on a College in your town!
2 thoughts on “Is This Really Happening?”
Great article Teuvo. One way we can share the book without sharing the book is to share some of the stories, that will give the flavor to your Christian roommate, without having to have her read the book. I like to pick a few favorite stories to have ready at hand to share instead of the whole book; “The Young Man Who Was Afraid” and “Jesus and Ganid taking the prostitutes to Martha’s house at a very late hour, and then leaving them with her.” “The guy who was having problems with his boss.” “The chat with John Mark on the way up the mountain.” “Judas’ character overview.” “Nathaniel’s question about the scriptures.” “Rodans’ discussion of the need for intimacy, relationships, and how they protect us against discouragement and evil.” “The Inevitabilities.” etc.
I’ve never shared a story from the book with someone (when in an appropriate place in a conversation came up – like “Hey here is a story that really relates to what we’ve been discussing, listen to this…”) without it being well received and helping to start a conversation about the personal and cutting right to the heart of the matter nature of the book. Someone says something that triggers a great quote you remember, and then you can say, “Hang on a minute” and go pull a story out of a easily accessible folder, or grab your book, and it’s tagged, and or have extra copies printed out on paper like a hand out, so they can take it with them.
I find this approach is not ‘indoctrinating’ it’s just sharing something great you read from any other book or source. Or better yet, have it memorized, and then offer them a copy of it if they liked it. Most people find it very stimulating, especially when you haven’t been promoting the book to them. I often refer to TUB as, “Here is one of my favorite resource materials, let me read you a pertinent little tidbit…” It doesn’t have to be a whole professionally printed four color brochure or pamphlet, that almost defeats the point. This rather has the look and feel of a personal, casual, everyday sort of coicidental conversational exchange. In my experience literally EVERYONE responds to that well.
I have an old friend who is totally NOT a spiritual guy by the standards we hold up, who I’ve heard sharing one of ‘my stories’ from The Urantia Book with people all the time in his daily work and through normal social discourse. I shared that story with him 20 years ago. It had a mind and life altering experience for him and it stuck!
Jesus went about talking to people and finding out how they lived their lives, and what was unique and special about each of them. He didn’t carry around his stories, he just told them…and pulled them out of thin air. He will do that through you as well if you ask him to. He’s a great mind for stories and parables. Pray for the Master’s mind to use in place of your own if you aren’t naturally a good story teller. I doubt he’d ever turn down a chance to use you in that way.
OH Yeah, and Paula is really good at this too. She can tell a story from the Urantia Book in the most appropriate and friendly way, that really grabs their interest. I wish I had followed her around with a video camera for many years when she was doing public outreach, capturing her amazing annecdotes on film. That is what makes people respond so warmly to her and feel non-threatened. She has so much experience working book booths around the world. I think we should ask her, (and several other gifted outreachers) to do a workshop on how she deals with the public in her UB outreach.