Zach Beasley, campus minister at Alabama State University and Tuskegee University — two historically black colleges in Alabama — led a team of six students to join a week of pre-Olympic outreach to Paris in May.
One thing the students didn’t expect was the spiritual darkness they felt almost immediately on arrival in the “City of Light.” Beasley said more than anything this trip has motivated them to pray for missionaries and their long-term presence on the mission field.
“We realized to really make a lasting impact, you have to be there for years,” Beasley said. “It takes years for boundaries to be broken down and relationships built.”
The team from Alabama spent eight days passing out water bottles, prayer walking, distributing flyers and doing spiritual surveys.
“The work we did with the local church was very familiar to our students. It’s the same thing we do on campus, going out and sharing the gospel,” Beasley said. “We collaborate and build the local church, and I loved seeing that reiterated here for our students.”
At the end of the week, Beasley and his team were excited to see many people they had given flyers to show up for an outreach event at a local church. “We were praying they would come, and they actually did,” Beasley said.
