Invite a Cross Examined Speaker to Your Campus or Church
Invite Frank Turek or one of the other CrossExamined speakers to your campus or church outreach event to conduct a dynamic “I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be An Atheist” seminar.
To schedule an event on your campus, drop us an e-mail at seminars@crossexamined.org. We will need a student and/or a campus ministry to be the on-campus champion for the event. That person or ministry will secure the site for the event, coordinate publicity efforts, and follow up with students who would like to learn more (for a complete event hosting checklist, click on the Host Checklist + below). The kind of students that attend an “I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist” seminar are exactly the kind of students that most campus ministries would like to reach and serve. So we encourage you to minister to them after the event.
Churches, high schools, and other organizations that would like a seminar — or a complete apologetics conference with some of our specialty speakers — can contact us at the same address above.
Here are unsolicited testimonies from college students at several different universities:
Thank you so much for organizing the event. I gained my faith back after the first lecture—it was amazing. Everybody made me feel stupid for believing in God ever since I got in college. Three days ago, I felt that everybody else is stupid for not believing in God. . . . I was beginning to lose my faith from day one at OSU. OSU is very liberal, everybody made fun of my Christian and conservative beliefs; they made me feel like I’m an alien. Dr. Turek, made me feel I’m sane and I’m smart for believing in God. Regardless of the intelligent, powerful, and correct points that he made, simply seeing a Christian person with big faith boosted up my own faith. I have been praying for months for God to strengthen my faith because I didn’t want to leave Him, I didn’t want to live life without Him, and I didn’t know how it’ll be like. And God used you guys and Dr. Turek to give me back my faith, so thank you so much. God bless you and him, and praised be the Lord.
I would like to applaud everyone at Crossexamined and thank you for the hard work and excellent ministry that you provide to a world in desperate need of God. I recently traveled to see Frank talk at Grand Valley State University in Allendale, Michigan and I can honestly say that I am “FIRED UP!” I stayed after the talk and continued on to another room where myself, my friends and others followed along to hear more from Frank regarding his faith and reasoning behind it and it has changed my life.
I saw Frank Turek at SUNY Albany the past two nights, and I really just wanted to thank him . . . His presentation really inspired me to attend church, and I actually plan on attending my local youth church tonight. So thank you Dr. Turek, because even if you did not change the minds of some atheists, you did make a difference in my life, and I really do appreciate it. And it helps that I can now intelligently debate my atheist history teacher 🙂 Thanks so much!
Frank just want to encourage you and say that you were AWESOME at Texas A&M!!! Honestly, it was THE best apologetics presentation I have seen. Keep fighting the good fight! The colleges across America NEED to hear it!! God bless!”
My girlfriend goes to Ohio University and saw you speak there, and told me you were going to be at Ohio State University the next day. She had no idea that I was struggling with my faith, so it was truly God working. Needless to say I attended both days you were at OSU. My entire life was changed. I purchased your book and DVD’s and have been blessed beyond measure by what Christ is doing through you.
We also asked students at a state university campus event to jot down a one-line comment about their experience. We had nothing but positive feedback from the 1500 students in attendance.
Looking for the Campus Hosting Checklist?
Amazing! The clearest discussion of this topic ever
I thought that this was the best lecture yet. I wish that I could take all of my friends to hear this.
Great program! Very thought provoking
Refreshing to hear these arguments made without using Bible verses as the argument.
Very intriguing and thought provoking. Great evidence for an awesome God
GREAT! Made me more amazed with the God I serve!
I thought it was very helpful for preparing students to share the Gospel.
It was wonderful! Very useful and applicable. I really enjoyed it
It was great! Please come back!
Great job Frank!
I thought it was insightful on absolute truth.
I liked it a lot. Well presented.
Intriguing fact, science doesn’t contradict but support God.
It was encouraging! I am a Religious Studies major and it was very refreshing to see evidence.
Awesome to look at evidence outside of the bible
Great evidence and extremely well presented
Excellent thoughts
Very reasonable and intriguing
I appreciate the intelligent/thinking/philosophical aspect of Christianity. It was helpful.
I thought it was great to not include verses from the Bible but to out evidence from scientific views.
Makes me wonder why people get hung up on theoretical questions and choose not to believe in God with all the other overwhelming evidence.
It was very informative.
I loved it! The information was great
Great presentation. God is Truth!
Very interesting! Enjoyed it thoroughly
Now I have scientific proof for what I always knew was true, and I know how to answer those that ask.
Great!
Excellent
I love the acronym SURGE. Really helps explain the evidence for a beginning.
It was amazing
Thought it was very well researched and presented. I’m glad I attended.
I thought this was very good and informative
So glad someone is taking my side and voicing their opinions about Christianity
Thanks for trying to make a difference for Christ on your campus!
Below is a checklist of things your team should do when you bring Dr. Frank Turek (or another CrossExamined speaker) to your school or church outreach event to conduct a dynamic I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheistseminar. This checklist includes everything we could think of to help you produce an effective event. There are three basic things you need to do: get the room, secure the funding, and publicize the event. An on-campus Christian ministry can help you do those things relatively easily. Below are the details.
For more information, you can contact us at Seminars@CrossExamined.org.
Planning
Pray throughout this entire process
It takes some effort to host an event, but it is worth it!
Get a Campus Ministry to host the Event
Usually an enrolled student associated with an approved campus ministry (e.g. Ratio Christi, Intervarsity, Campus Crusade, Chi Alpha, BCM, etc.) is the best way to invite Crossexamined.org to campus.
Set up a Meeting of Volunteers
After you get in contact with a host campus ministry (or ministries), set up a meeting with potential volunteers (keep in mind, you may find volunteers in other campus ministries as well). In the meeting you will need to ask people to help with:
- Setting a date for the event
- Getting in contact with the proper campus employees for setting up the event
- Acquiring donations (see below)
- Advertising the event
Ask for funds from the University, Campus Ministries, Area Churches and Local Business People
CrossExamined.org is a non-profit organization. We charge students nothing to attend, so all expenses are paid by donations. For your event, we ask you to seek donations from your university, area churches, campus ministries, local business people, and parents. All donations are tax-deductible.
The goal for a campus event is to cover advertizing and travel expenses and at least $1,000, but preferably $2,000 donated to the ministry of CrossExamined.org. If that is not possible, let us know how much you can raise and CrossExamined might attempt to cover the gap with other donations. Here is what you can do to raise the necessary funds:
- Make a funding request to your university—they have money available for educational events like these. Every university is different, so you’ll have to call around to see who holds the purse strings. Don’t neglect the office of the President. Presidents have discretionary money for speakers. If you’re at a typical campus, you’ve had a disproportionate number of atheist, liberal, and Darwinian presenters, and very few Bible-believing Christians. Appeal to the President’s sense of fairness.
- Request funding from campus ministries and area churches. They benefit from an I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist event because they can minister to the attendees after it’s over. I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist attracts people across the entire spectrum of beliefs—many of whom would never attend a typical campus ministry meeting or a church service—so it’s a great place for ministries and churches to reach such people. (Moreover, placing interested attendees with a campus ministry and church is essential for discipleship.) Let campus ministries and churches know that they will have an opportunity to introduce themselves via literature or a short announcement at the end of the event.
- Local business people or other individuals at church often have a heart to support something like this, especially if their children go to the university. Ask members of your group if their parents would be interested in underwriting an I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist seminar. (Please make out all checks to CrossExamined.org. Again, donations are tax-deductible.)
Pick several possible dates
Then check with Crossexamined. Schedule the event on a weeknight when there are few campus events going on (i.e. clubs) or on the night when the campus ministry normally meets. That way people do not feel conflicted. (And make sure it does not conflict with major sporting events.) Schedule it to start a specific time (like 6:45 or 7:15) and plan the event to last for 2 hours and 15 minutes (that includes 45 minutes for questions). Even if the event is taking place during the normal ministry meeting time, it is best to advertize it as a special event. That way more skeptics will attend.
Secure the Auditorium
Get in touch with campus officials and book a place and time for the I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheistevent. A title like that attracts a good crowd if promoted properly. We’ve had anywhere from 100 to 1500. Usually you want to have the place booked at least four hours. That gives you an hour before the event starts and almost an hour after the event ends.
Check for Sound, Projector and Screen
Does the venue have a projector and screen for powerpoint and a sound system? If not, ask campus officials or an area church to borrow that equipment. We need one wireless lapel mic for the presenter and a wireless handheld for the Q & A period. We also need to connect the laptop to the sound system via the sound card (standard eighth inch plug).
Double check after a week to make sure the place is booked.
You want to avoid any problems in this area, so double check!
Keep in touch with CrossExamined
Be sure to remain in constant contact with Crossexamined (Seminars@CrossExamined.org or 704-845-1997) as well as whoever else in the ministry is working with setting up the program.
Advertising
Set up a Facebook group about the I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist event!
Go to Crossexamined.org for an example from a previous event. Invite as many people as possible. Ask others to forward the link to their address book. Allow people to contact you. Trust me, this is the best way to publicize the event—about 85% of college students use Facebook. (Make sure there is a link to www.CrossExamined.org on that Facebook page—the one-minute intro video on the Youth Exodus Problem page, and the I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist highlight video on the CrossExamined Solution page should intrigue people).
Fliers and Posters
Often, a ministry or church will donate the money for this to be done. If not, it’s not that expensive. Depending on the size of your campus you will have to vary the amount of posters you print. For a medium size university, I would suggest about 200. (Contact Crossexamined.org for a poster template that you can modify). At one school, fliers were printed up and put in every student mailbox—we had to turn people away at the event because we ran out of seats and 200 people were already sitting on the floor!
Radio
See about getting announcements made on campus radio or local Christian stations (such PSAs are normally free, but you have to get on the PSA list well in advance of the event. Start early!)
Newspaper
This works really well! If you can get newspapers (school and/or local) to do a story about the event, people from the community will come out.
Talk it up!
Don’t just use posters and fliers. Talk to people face to face. Talk with college pastors in the area and campus ministry pastors. Make a stir. Let everyone know there will be Q & A and the presenter will be on the hot seat from atheists and professors.
Other ministries
If you haven’t already done so, get in contact with various other campus ministries about 3 weeks prior to the event and see if they might want to get involved with advertising and sponsoring the event. Ask a couple officials to attend.
Books
CrossExamined would like to offer I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist for sale to students at a reduced price. Let CrossExamined know where they can mail the books at least two weeks prior to the event. You’ll need a volunteer to man the book table the night of the event.
Hosting (Day of the event and beyond)
Check Equipment
Make sure all the technical sides of the event are in order. This includes setting up a sound system, getting a projector and a projection screen, getting Q&A microphones, a wireless lapel microphone, and an eighth inch plug to get sound from the laptop to the sound system. Also, please ensure there is a table for books.
Have a Team Meal/Reception
Meet everyone, including the speaker, at least 2 hours prior to the event. You may want to plan a pre-event meal with the entire team. If people have donated to the event, invite them to this dinner.
Follow Up
Consider hosting a follow-up study of the book I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist after the event. (Curriculum is available from CrossExamined.org through ImpactApologetics.com.) Have fliers at the event to advertise. Offer campus ministries and churches opportunity to introduce themselves and their ministries via literature or short announcement at the end of the event.
Schedule Part 2 of “I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist”
Schedule this for the next night, later in the semester, or the following semester.
*Please pray that we get positive results like this at each event — that Christians are encouraged and skeptics are moved toward the truth!
