CCO Campus Ministry

Reaching the World from two U.S. towns

This article first appeared in the fall 2010 issue of On Campus magazine.

“For the most part, this is the first time these Chinese scholars have ever read the Bible,” says Ken Wagoner. “Although China is changing rapidly, these scholars have grown up in a world where to believe anything religious is considered superstitious and anti-intellectual, the two things these people are not.”

“My job description is to bless,” says Bill Saxton. “Whether that means moving furniture, hosting a meal or teaching from the Scriptures, I am called to bless and serve international students. If they have been blessed by an interaction with a Christian, that opens them up to the message of the Gospel.”

Ken and Bill have been reaching out to men and women from all over the world for close to three decades now. Both of them originally joined CCO staff in the 1970s to minister to undergraduate American students. Both men left CCO staff to pursue seminary educations, and both men sensed God calling them to overseas mission.

And ultimately, Bill and Ken learned that they could have a greater influence on people from different parts of the world by staying in the United States.

Since 1982, Bill Saxton has been reaching out to international students as a CCO staff worker at Penn State University, serving closely with Penn State’s Global Programs Office and working with other parachurch ministries, as well as various churches in the State College area.

Ken has been ministering to Chinese scholars at various Pittsburgh universities since 1988, when he rejoined CCO staff and became the first campus worker to work with China Outreach Ministries. Ken has also worked closely with PRISM (Pittsburgh Regional International Student Ministries) and the Pittsburgh Chinese Church in Oakland, the neighborhood where both Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh are located.

Ministry to internationals is largely a ministry of hospitality. Only 20% of international students and scholars ever make it into an American home, so a large portion of both Bill’s and Ken’s ministries is offering these men and women as many opportunities as possible to experience authentic American culture.

From setting up partnerships between American and international students to help them practice English, to providing inexpensive furniture and household items, the outreach can be very practical. Bill especially enjoys organizing weekend road trips to Buffalo, New York or Boston, Massachusetts, or longer Christmas and spring break bus trips to Florida or the Grand Canyon. These trips not only allow for international students to see more of the United States, but they also provide time to build relationships through shared experience.

And, of course, large-group weekly fellowship times and smaller Bible study gatherings offer Ken and Bill opportunities to share the Gospel with students who have no Christian background at all.

“Today, back in China are men and women I met in Pittsburgh who had never heard the Gospel until they came here, and now they are our brothers and sisters in Christ, making an impact in the lives of those they meet each day,” Ken says. “They are not able to do this work in the same way we do it here, but they are effective in their own way, and are helping China to change. The most exciting part of my work is
the almost daily opportunity to talk with those who have had no opportunity to hear the Good News, and see how God is transforming their thinking, but more importantly, their hearts and lives.”

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