I became a Christian through the visionary and bold efforts of Christians at the University of Washington in 1979. My early formative spiritual years were shaped around teaching and ministry on the college campus at Pepperdine, the Denver campuses, Princeton University, and the campuses of Huntsville, AL.
Now that the Lord has refocused my ministry over the past 24 years toward those trapped in addiction, I became curious as to which population was larger, college students or addicts?
Interestingly, I found that the most recent US census numbers show that there are 19.7 million declared college students in the United States. Campus ministry is truly an incredible opportunity to reach our future leaders with the message of Christ.
Amazingly, that same census found that the number of declared addicts in the U.S. is also 19.7 million. This does not include the millions of yet undeclared. This is a population that is broken, desperate, and dying. From June 2019 to May 2020, we had 81,000 (16% increase from previous year) overdose deaths of young people in our country. This does not include other causes of deaths from drug use such as violence, suicide, and automobile accidents. We need to save our future!
While many of our churches are in college towns and have an opportunity to reach this future. All of our churches in every community are filled with addicts desperate for help.
While working on college campuses, I met a lot of young people desperate to find purpose and meaning in a very vulnerable and transitional time in their lives. But now in recovery ministry, people come to me desperate for help to save their lives.
Won’t you join us in this fight for the future?
Tom Reynolds
Director of Ministry and Chairman of the Board