BLACKSBURG — Students with the Baptist Collegiate Ministries at Virginia Tech spent the last two weeks of March engaging the campus with discussions about things that polarize, all the while looking for chances to interject the love and hope of Christ into their conversations.
The “Love/Hate Project” began with BCM students covering the campus late one Sunday night with 250 real estate-style signs, each with the word “love” emblazoned on one side and the word “hate” on the other.
Love/hate signs dotted the Tech campus.
One week after the first signs appeared, the next stage of the project was launched with eight 4' x 4' boards, each having a different topic listed on the top and columns listed “love” and “hate” printed below. Markers were tied to the boards to invite responses. Some topics were faith-related (“Church,” “Religion” and “Christianity”) while other topics included “Family,” “Government” and “College.”
These boards were placed around the campus in high student-traffic locations. Within three days these boards were filled with comments from any passerby who wanted to write what they “love” or “hate” about the topic. Some of the writing was silly, others were profane and still other entries were engaging and thought-provoking.
These boards were brought back to the BCM center and across the course of worship sessions on two consecutive nights, BCM students prepared eight banners that responded to the comments from the campus. Students who came to worship were encouraged to consider their responses with an attitude of humility and graciousness. If a post on the topic board seemed angry or negative toward Christianity, BCM students shied away from writing defensive or argumentative responses. Many wrote apologies for moments of hypocrisy in which the gospel of Christ was misrepresented by their harsh words, attitudes and actions.
“I am sorry for asking you to believe in Christ without ever showing you the love he has asked of me,” wrote one student. Another shared, “I'm sorry that I am judgmental and act righteous. The truth is I am a sinner. My thoughts and actions contradict the love God desires me to show …. Hopefully I can show you a glimpse of his love, so that you can see past my misrepresentation of God.”
On Thursday, March 27, these banners with words of grace and apology were sent out to replace the initial topic boards. Over 100 BCMers wore t-shirts with the “love/hate” logo that day to identify themselves with the project and to welcome conversations about the love and grace of God. Many reported great conversations and at least three students had opportunities to explain the point of the project in front of their entire class. Here are a few of the reports of what students experienced that day:
• Ray, a freshman BCM leader: “I had an awesome conversation with a guy named Conner. Basically, he used to go to Young Life and considered himself ‘religious.' However, some of the people there kept telling him to break up with his girlfriend because she wasn't a Christian and things like that. He couldn't stand it and basically decided that Christianity was just a hoax and wasn't for him. He's agnostic now, but was extremely refreshed by this entire project and talking with someone about his frustrations and experiences. So please pray for him!”
• Jamie, a graduate student from Nathalie: “The last semester or so I had gotten to the point where following Jesus was religion; it was ritual and routine. I went to all the events and services and hung out with Christians. It was like a check list and that was the extent of my faith. I thought I had a grasp on what it meant to be a follower of Christ. The love/hate signs went up and I didn't see them because I wasn't on campus. When I read the things that were on them at BCM like, ‘Christians only hang out with other Christians,' ‘Christians are only judgmental,' ‘If God loves me why don't other Christians,' Jesus said, ‘These people are talking about you.' So I took some time to process this and heard Jesus saying, ‘Do you talk to people about me, about anything substantial?' and realized I don't. Jesus is telling me to build relationships, to pour into people like the older women in the BCM have done in my life, and I need to pray for people, ask people how they are doing.”
• Sara, a student that emailed the BCM: “I'm a new believer. I recently saw the posters you put up in place of the Love/Hate ones people can write on, and I thought you would appreciate some feedback. When I would see people writing things on the love/hate boards, the comments you could tell were written by atheists, I would get so angry. More so because I would have agreed with them only a little bit ago. I thought that they were all so ‘wrong' about everything, and thought we'd just be better off without them. You can understand why I cried when I read the apologies. I don't think I've ever seen anything as perfect.”
• Michael, a senior from Richmond: “When one girl caught me and asked me about the love/hate t-shirt, my professor was standing right there and also said, ‘Yeah, I was wondering about it as well,' so I explained the idea behind the campaign and how we were apologizing for the way we misrepresent Christ — whoa: I not only talked to someone in my business class which is one thing I normally don't do, but rarely do I talk about Jesus to others, and if that does happen, it is with a close friend. It is amazing how much God transformed my heart over the two week period of the project. I went from wanting nothing to do with it to talking to a complete stranger and my professor about Christ.”
Though the event was in close proximity on the calendar to the April 16 anniversary of the shootings at Tech, it was not a direct response to the tragedy. In fact, the project had been in the works since before the tragedy, as staff and students worked for months to plan out the details, secure finances for the signs and shirts, and communicate with Virginia Tech's Event Services office to have all the dates and sign locations approved.
“I pray this was all only a beginning and not a program coming to an end,” said BCM staffer Mark Appleton. “The point of this whole thing was to gain some ears that would normally have been closed. Just as international missionaries seek to understand how they can speak the gospel in a way that the people they are trying to reach will understand, we have tried to open the ears of people that have grown up in a ‘christianized' culture and reject what they presuppose faith in Jesus to be. This isn't about trying to give Christianity a better reputation, but ultimately a means to communicate the true gospel of Jesus.”
Melissa Cheliras and Darrell Cook are both on staff with Baptist Collegiate Ministries at Virginia Tech, where they serve on the Virginia Baptist Mission Board's emerging leaders team.