Miranda Pederson/Daily NewsChristian Student Fellowship Minister Steve Stovall goes through announcements as students eat Tuesday during the Focus Bible study group meeting.

When Steve Stovall and his wife, Teresa, started the Christian Student Fellowship in 1975, he never imagined they’d still be there 35 years later. And while some things have changed over the years, the reason for the ministry remains.

“I sense that the students are still hungry for a personal relationship both with Christ and other people,” Stovall said. Campus ministers around Western Kentucky University agree.

“I do think students are searching,” said Sami Wilson, campus minister for the Wesley Foundation. “They’re searching spiritually but not exactly for a religious connection.”

Most faith-based groups on campus try to give students room to search while doing what they can to help them along the way.

“We want to provide a safe place on campus for anyone who is wrestling with the message of Christianity,” said Fritz Games, campus minister for the Reformed University Fellowship. “A lot of religious kids who grew up in the church are rejecting their faith and they are running away from the Gospel. We just try to encourage some of the questions.”

Tommy Johnson, campus minister for the Baptist Campus Ministry, said it is important to reach out to the students who are seeking or risk losing them.

“Statistics show that a great majority don’t stay active in their faith and that college is a time where they move away from their faith background,” Johnson said.

Ben McQuire, director of student ministries for Campus Crusade for Christ, said that may be because they hadn’t really internalized their faith.

“I think there are a lot of kids who grow up going to church and call themselves a Christian but who may not have had a real life-changing experience,” McQuire said. “What comes out when they go to college is their faith wasn’t really their own.”

WKU students Rachel Clark and Kimberly Cooper said they have seen friends who have come to college and live a double life of partying on campus and going to church at home. But Clark and Cooper, who are active in the Baptist Campus Ministry, say their personal relationship with Christ is what has kept them connected to their faith.

“You can’t just believe in God because your parents believe in God,” said Clark, a freshman from Evansville, Ind. “My relationship with Christ is a relationship. I believe that if it is a relationship you will do everything in your power to maintain that.”

Cooper said she feels like she has grown stronger in her faith since coming to WKU.

“It is something you have to want and desire,” Cooper said.

Both say being involved with a campus ministry is great. Clark got hooked up with the BCM during move-in week, when BCM volunteers helped her move in.

“To me it was a God thing that they were there,” Clark said. “I immediately got plugged in.”

Many of the faith-based groups are very active and visible during the first weeks of the semesters, and McQuire said that is important because sometimes what a student gets involved in has a lot to do simply with who they meet and interact with initially.

“Every student is coming to campus to get involved in something,” McQuire said.

While it may seem that all the religious groups are competing to get the students, leaders say that in the end, they are all working together for the same goal of helping students grow in their faith.

“Each campus ministry has a different gift to offer our campus,” Wilson said.

The Wesley Foundation, the United Methodist campus ministry, has been at WKU since 1957. Wilson said they are a small, informal group and she invites students to bring their questions.

“We offer a safe place for students who don’t have it all figured out,” Wilson said.

The group has a house on College Street just down from Cherry Hall. It has a worship service at 6:30 p.m. Mondays and a free meal and program at 6:30 p.m. Thursdays.

“About twice a semester, we’ll do something on campus that’s just a random act of kindness,” Wilson added. The group has also done trunk-or-treat and handed out Easter eggs, including Bible verses with the candy each time.

Wilson said it is getting more difficult to reach students.

“The difficulty comes in that students have so much more pressure and anxiety than they did even five years ago,” Wilson said. They are taking more hours, working and worrying about getting a job.

Wilson encourages students by telling them that God has a plan for their lives.

“I always tell students to do the God thing first and everything else will fall into place,” Wilson said.

Campus Crusade for Christ is an interdenominational, international group and McQuire said it has students from all backgrounds.

“We encourage our kids to invite others,” McQuire said.

While the freedom of college may mean some students fall away from their faith, it can also mean they grow in their faith.

“In that independence from the parents they have to begin to make that faith their own,” McQuire said.

Campus Crusade for Christ holds weekly meetings at 8:30 p.m. Thursdays at Grise Hall. It also has small group Bible studies throughout the week. About 220 students are at the weekly meetings.

The Reformed University Fellowship has been at WKU for about four years and is affiliated with the Presbyterian Church in America.

Games said he sees many seekers on campus and he encourages them to come to RUF and ask the tough questions.

“We want to be here to serve,” Games said. “And build a lot of trust.”

Stovall said he wants Christian Student Fellowship to be a “spiritual home away from home” for the students.

One challenge of reaching students today, Stovall said, is simply that they are so busy.

“The hardest thing is just getting them to be still and recognize they have a spiritual side,” Stovall said.

But in general, students still want to feel valued and know that someone cares about them, and “in that sense the campus is ripe for outreach.”

CSF has about 100 or so students involved and they have weekly meetings at 8 p.m. Tuesdays. The group also has Bible studies, retreats and more to keep the students involved and connected. CSF is a nondenominational group.

“We don’t emphasize a denomination,” Stovall said. “We do emphasize the Bible.”

The Baptist Campus Ministry is quite obviously affiliated with the Baptists, but its outreach is to all students. Johnson said that although many things are pulling students away from faith, “there is a vibrant faith community on campus.”

“And they want to serve,” Johnson said. “They are about human rights and social justice. They’re willing to serve.”

The BCM holds a weekly worship service at 8:30 p.m. Tuesdays at Grise Hall and has various other activities going on throughout the week.

“I think there are some distinct challenges,” Johnson said.

A pivotal role of campus ministry is to be a bridge to the local church. Being involved in a church gets students involved in an intergenerational faith family and provides even greater opportunities for service.

“There’s always something going on here,” Cooper said of the BCM house on Normal Drive. Cooper and Clark said they come there just to hang out between classes and met up with friends.

There are many faith based groups at Western and while they may vary in their beliefs and programs, overall they work together to provide places for students to explore and grow.

Cooper said that being involved in the BCM has provided a sense of community for her at a large university.

“I was really scared I would be alone,” Cooper said. “I was searching for community and friendship.”

She found that in a group of believers like herself who are growing together and holding one another accountable.

“I feel like God has a purpose for me being here at Western,” Cooper said.