Ignorance may be bliss, but ignorance about the needs of the poor and oppressed is not the way of Jesus.
Francis Marion University students, including Tiffany Phillips, affixed “Not For Sale” tags to a display to symbolize their stance against human trafficking.Such was the premise of a recent campus-wide event held by Baptist Collegiate Ministry at Francis Marion University.
Imperatively termed “Wake Up,” the event promoted awareness of a slew of social injustice issues: human trafficking (including sex trafficking), access to clean water, hunger, orphan care, homelessness, malaria prevention, and more. It also boasted an unusual partnership between BCM, other student religious groups, three Greek organizations and the school’s chemistry club.
Held March 6 at the university’s student center, “Wake Up” featured at least one station devoted to each issue. Stations included statistics, stories, printed materials, visual illustration, and a way to interact with the topic.
The station focusing on sex trafficking included a mock brothel storefront: a black door with a sign in several different languages, a screen on each side, and a backlit female form on the screen. Students could pick up a tag hanging from the “brothel” door labeled, “Not For Sale,” and put their name and thumbprint on it.
At the station devoted to human trafficking, there was a six-by-four-foot cage with chains the students could hold as they prayed for freedom for modern-day slaves (estimated at 27 million worldwide). Next to the station was a laptop open to a website that walked students through an assessment to determine their own “slavery footprint” – how many slaves are involved in helping provide their lifestyle and purchases.
“If we miss the fact that Christ cared about the poor and oppressed, we’re missing part of the gospel,” said Kendal Danford, campus minister at Francis Marion. “This is about raising awareness of the issues, shining a spotlight, and challenging students to not just be informed but to actually do something.”
Said Ken Owens, director of collegiate ministry at the South Carolina Baptist Convention, “I am so proud of Kendal Danford and the Francis Marion BCM leaders for taking the lead to shine the love and light of Jesus on many of today’s very serious human needs. Our world needs to see Christians displaying the compassion of Christ to bring healing and hope to a fractured world.”
The stations also included pledge cards for students to make donations to various organizations – most of them Christian – that work to alleviate some of the issues. The approximately 200 students who attended the event pledged $2,000.
Concurrent with the stations was a center stage where Danford spoke, BCM students led music, and several videos were shown highlighting the various issues.
“The most gripping to me was the video on ‘invisible children,’ ” said Frank Pezzimenti, a senior and BCM president, referring to the issue of child soldiers, some of whom are forced to fight their own families. “I know the event overall made an impression on people. It was really interesting seeing the reaction of a couple of guys from Lebanon and India. A lot of the videos were based in India, and I think these things were a shock even to him, because he’s more from the upper class.”
Randy Branch and Monet Heyward lead a song during the “Wake Up” event.Added Mary Bachelor, a sophomore and fellow BCM leader: “The night was incredible. A lot of people who don’t come to BCM came to the event, and their eyes were opened to the social injustices going on in the world. The videos really hit home for everybody.”
“This kind of event builds a bridge for us for future conversations about Christ,” said Danford. “It gives us the opportunity to build relationships with those outside our usual circle. Honestly, I think I’m personally more excited about this than almost anything we’ve ever done.”
Bachelor summarized the impact: “Sometimes you hear a number and you just let it pass by. But when you see a face impacted by the injustice, you just process it differently.” – SCBC