(Adapted from Christian Leadership Ministries)

Motivation

One excellent way to communicate the gospel to non-Christian faculty is a "Favorite Faculty Banquet." The banquet, which may be a breakfast, lunch, or diner, takes advantage of the existing contacts and relationships that Christian students on campus have with their professors.

Note: in the USA, the term “faculty” or “faculty member” refers to professors and/or lecturers, that is, to those who teach. Outside the USA, the term “faculty” usually refers to what in the US is called an academic department or academic division rather than to those who teach. Also, in the US, the term “professor” is often used in a general sense to refer to a wide range of academic leaders, from esteemed veterans to newcomers. In the rest of the world, the term “professor” often refers only to a rather elite group of the most prestigious academic leaders. Outside the US, many of those who teach courses are called “lecturers.” To avoid repetition, wordiness and frequent clarifications, this manual uses the US conventions.

Most professors would find it difficult to refuse an invitation to a banquet given to honor him or her and paid for by the student extending the invitation.

Each student who is affiliated with a Christian group, is challenged to invite his or her favorite professor to the banquet, which is openly advertised as an event which presents a Christian perspective. Rusty is excited about these opportunities and encourages you to make the most of them.

Christian Leadership Ministries, Campus Crusade's ministry to academic leaders, has wide experience in such faculty events. They have graciously agreed to help provide input and suggestions to local campus ministries who plan faculty outreaches. Contact www.clm.org. See especially Christian Leadership’s helpful article, “Conducting an Evangelistic Event for Faculty” at
http://www.leaderu.com/cl-institute/fis/conduct.html.

Faculty can have a tremendous and long-term impact on your campus. They influence many students and stay around (often) for many years. Your effort in organizing a faculty outreach could bear eternal dividends long after you have left.

Please prayerfully consider whether the Lord would have you host a faculty event.

The following steps are suggested for making arrangements for the banquet, for actually conducting the banquet, and for conducting follow-up after the banquet


.
Arrangements

1. Select a committee of three to four Christian faculty and alumni to make arrangements and oversee follow-up activity.

2. Select a tentative date, time, and place for the banquet. Be sure to check the calendar of campus activities for a time that is not likely to conflict with other events.

3. Contact director's of the student Christian groups to enlist the involvement of their students. This step is absolutely essential!

4. Schedule the master of ceremonies (MC).

5. Arrange for the facility, menu, decorations, and other physical details as necessary. For convenience in serving, a buffet meal should usually be planned.

6. If desired, arranged financial sponsorship for the banquet. One approach is to let the student pay for his or her faculty guest and to ask Christian alumni to "purchase tables" ahead of time to cover the meal cost for all students who bring a faculty guest. This arrangement allows the investment on the part of the student exorbitantly high.

7. Have the invitations and comment cards typeset and printed at a local printer. The additional cost is worth it to make the banquet a first class event. Whenever possible, a picture of the speaker should be printed on the invitation brochure. An example of appropriate text is shown below:

 

(Note: We have found that "Common Misconceptions of Christianity" and "How to Be Successful and Satisfied" seem to work well with faculty.)

8. Meet with the student group to challenge the students to bring their favorite professor to the banquet. If students are concerned about asking their current professors to an evangelistic event, assure them it is perfectly acceptable for them to invite their professors, explaining that they would like to pay for their professor's meal. Explain that the speaker will be tactful, relevant, and academically credible. If at all possible, students should escort the professor to the banquet, i.e., walk with them to the banquet or provide transportation for them. Students who agree to participate should be given an invitation at this time (two to three weeks prior to the event).

9. Accept reservations from students who have received commitments from professors to attend the banquet. Reservations should be closed one week to two or three days prior to the event depending on the requirement of the facility being used. This will also encourage students not to wait until the last minute to invite their favorite professor

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C. Conducting the Meeting

1. Once students and their faculty guests have assembled, the master of ceremonies should give a short welcome especially recognizing faculty guests and complimenting them on being a student's "favorite faculty."

2. Approximately 30 minutes should be allowed for the meal, depending on serving arrangements and 30-35 minutes allowed for the talk. Timing is crucial and you should prepare for this well in advance. Delays in serving can shorten the speaker's time (especially if faculty have to leave for class) hindering his credibility if he is forced to omit key points. Make your time needs very clear in advance to those in charge of serving and plan the segments of the meal to run like clockwork. Be sure that kitchen schedules and serving crews are sufficient for your time needs. If servers will serve guests after they are seated (rather than buffet style), ask them to serve main courses first and then begin the lengthier process of taking and serving individual beverage orders. Ask them not to continue serving beverages or to begin removing dishes once the program has begun. Monitor the serving as it happens and nudge the leaders of the food service along if necessary.

3. Once the meal has concluded, the MC should introduce Rusty, giving particular attention to his academic credentials, past experiences, and achievements.

4. The talk will be strongly oriented to faculty since they are the guests to be honored. Rusty will "weave" his testimony into the message whenever possible. At the conclusion of the talk, it may or may not be appropriate to have a "pray with me invitation."

5. Once Rusty has concluded his talk, the appropriate person should ask students and faculty guests to take a comment card and provide appropriate information, including comments. Those who received Christ or wish additional information should be encouraged to indicate this either in the comment section or on the reverse of the card. Rusty is experienced at handling comment cards, and it is usually best to have him do this.

6. After the comment cards have been completed, the MC should conclude the banquet.

7. Care should be exercised to ensure that the meeting starts on time and ends on time. One hour and a half
    is probably the maximum length of time for the entire event.

D. Follow-up

This is probably the most important part of the banquet and the one most likely to be neglected. The goal here should be to channel interested faculty into an appropriate support group -- preferably a Christian faculty group on campus. The following steps are recommended:

1. Assemble the planning committee to review the comment cards.

2. Sort out the student cards and make these available to the leadership of the student group of groups
    involved.

3. Categorize faculty responses into the following categories: Already Christian, Received Christ,
    Interested, and Other.

4. Assign faculty (cards) to planning committee members for appropriate follow-up action as follows:

    a. Already Christian: Personally challenge to become involved with the Christian faculty group on
        campus.

    b. Received Christ: Personally meet with individual to begin basic follow-up (within the week).

    c. Interested: Personally met with individual for an evangelistic appointment using Evangelism Explosion,
        personal  testimony combined with the Four Spiritual Laws, or other presentation. Be sensitive to
        questions that might have been raised by the speaker's presentation.

    d. Other: Send individual a follow-up letter thanking him or her for attending and for being interested
        enough in students to attend. Emphasize the importance of the university as a forum for ideas.