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This year, I have discovered an unique mission trip that
Brett Kunkle of
Stand to Reason offers for church youth groups. It is called “The Berkeley Mission.” See the
video link below. Students are trained in apologetics, including logical thinking, and then taken to The University of California, Berkeley to hear opposing viewpoints by presenters. The presentations are followed by a question and answer session in which students get to interact with the opposing viewpoints. This follows with
Stand to Reason Ministries approach of not isolating ourselves from the world as Christians, but rather of interacting with the arguments and learning how to think well. The students meet together at night and go over the presentations with Christian apologists. They also venture out onto the campus to interact with the college students about their beliefs.
Not only has this been life changing for the Christian students involved, but it has impacted the presenters, as well. Kunkle quotes David Fitzgerald of the
San Francisco Atheists,
“Just wanted to send a quick note to say what a great time we had meeting you and your group yesterday. I was really knocked out by the quality of the questions everybody raised. Very refreshing…I was really impressed with your group.”
MJ