Meet Cassie--Q & A

Q: Why did you start working with international students? With what organization?



A: When I returned to Texas after spending 2 ½ years in China, I could not imagine life without internationals, and I had to tell people about Jesus. I was looking for a way to get involved in ministry with Internationals in the Fort Worth area, so I looked up information about the International Students at TCU and UTA. I found out that International Students Inc was trying to get work started with international students at TCU, so I jumped in and started meeting students. I have been there for 5 semesters now.


Q: Tell me about your organization.


A: ISI has ministries on campuses all of the United States and in different countries. ISI was founded by a man who returned home from foreign missions to find that God had brought the nations to American campuses and they needed someone to share the gospel with them. ISI’s vision is to “see every international student befriended, led to a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, and discipled for His service. We partner with local churches and other Christian ministries to see this achieved. ISI “exists to share Christ’s love with international students and to equip them for effective service in cooperation with the local church and others.”



Q: What kinds of things do you do with international ministry?


A: Lead Bible studies for Christian students and seeker studies for seekers, match up students with friendship partners from the community, help students practice English through conversation partners, host parties, take trips to show students fun sites around Texas, drive students places, teach them to drive, pray for students, equip Christian students to make disciples, mobilize individuals and churches.



Q: What is your goal working with them?


A:  My goal is that every international student will have the opportunity to see the love of Jesus, hear the gospel, and be led to a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. A second aspect of this is that every Christian student will be equipped to share the gospel and make disciples while in the US and when they return to their home countries.


Q:  What countries do you work with?


A: At TCU we mostly work with Chinese, Vietnamese, Sri Lankans, and South Koreans, but there are also a lot of students from South America and we do some work with students from the Middle East.

 Q: Any advice about working with international students?


A: Be yourself, be persistent, understand that their #1 priority is to make good grades, so you must be flexible. Just be there for them. Be culturally sensitive, but don’t fail to share the gospel with them after you have built a relationship.




Q: Why would you suggest others get involved in international students?


A: There are around 17,000 international students in the DFW area and many of them are from countries where it is illegal or difficult to share the gospel. Many of these students will go back to their countries to play influential roles in Business, politics, and medicine. Plus, it is a lot of fun and will help you to see your culture from a new and exciting perspective while you learn about other cultures. God has called us to make disciples of all nations. Working with IS does not require a visa, passport, jet lag, expensive tickets, or vacation time, but it allows you to share the gospel with people from all over the world. Amazing!!

Thanks Cassie!

ISI activity--Rangers baseball game

ISI activity--camping with international students

Meet April--Q & A

Q: Why did you start working with refugees? With what organization?

A: I began working with refugees through a job with Catholic Charities where I taught English classes. I have continued several relationships that I made during that time and through those relationships have met even more refugee families. Now, I kind of have my own unofficial ministry with refugees. Soon, I will continue this ministry in San Francisco.


Q: What kinds of things do you do with refugee ministry?

A: My ministry is very relational. I simply befriend them and spend time visiting them in their home, having tea with them, sharing meals with them, and getting to know them. If they have children, I will take their kids to the park, etc. As I get to know them and their needs, I try to help with any material needs that they have. As I get to know them, I try to find opportunities to share Christ with them. I ask questions about their beliefs so that I can share about mine. With a couple of the families, I have had an opportunity to do Chronological Bible Storying with them, in which my friend and I told them the major stories of Scripture from Creation to the Ascension of Christ.


Q: What is your goal working with them?

A:  My goal is to get to know them and share Christ with them. I desire to illustrate Christ's love for them through words and deeds.


Q: What countries do you work with?
A: Mostly Afghanis.


Q: Any advice about working with refugees?

A: Refugees are people just like us. They love getting to know us and are honored when someone takes the time to get to know them, to come to their home, or to invite them to theirs. Take the time to get to know them, their culture, their food, what they believe. Get involved in their lives. Through this it opens the door to share Christ with them.

Q:  Why would you suggest others get involved in refugees?

A:  Refugees are from many closed countries that is very difficult for Christians to get into. Many of them are Muslim. Therefore, we have an opportunity and a God-given responsibility to reach them here in America. Not to mention, working with refugees is a blessing and a joy! They are precious people.

Thanks April!

Meet Rachel...

My name is Rachel Farmer. I am a student at SWBTS, and I came here to get my MA Missiology degree, so I could go back overseas and serve in career capacity as a missionary. Before coming to SWBTS I was in Indonesia for 3 years as a JMAN teaching English and working with university students.


When I first came to Fort Worth, I had heard that there was a large refugee population in the area, and I immediately wanted to get involved. I started by volunteering at World Relief, an evangelical association, connected with UNHCR for resettling refugees world wide. I began volunteering as an English teacher and in other ways as well. Through my volunteering efforts I was able to get a job working for another refugee settlement agency called Catholic Charities, and I have been teaching English with them for a little over a year now. Catholic Charities is a non-profit organization; however, it is not evangelical like World Relief. However, as a Christian I don't let that stop and I still seek to be His hands and feet first and share him as I can through class with my students.

The main thing I do with refugees is teach them English, but beyond that I want to be there friend and be there for what they need. I have been a part of helping them adjust to the US through a brief course on how to get a bank account and a driver's license. I take refugees to the store weekly sometimes, and I have been there when they are grieving the loss of a loved one thousands of miles away. Currently I am really involved with an Iraqi family, and up to this point I have also been really involved with a group of Eritrean refugees. I have also been really involved with a Bhutanese family the past year, and when I first started working with refugees I worked with a Burmese family primarily.

I also have a group of friends, and our ministry here is working with refugees. We have done things like birthday parties, family soccer afternoons, park days, trips to the mall, in home Bible Studies, Easter services, Christmas parties, and baby showers. In all of these activities we seek to present the Gospel in some way, and we seek to be their friend. Our goal working with refugees is to ulitmately share Christ with them and see them come to have a personal relationship with Him. The secondary goal is to be their friend and to show them that there is a nice side to America. To also break down all stereotypes they have of Americans as well.

If someone is wanting to get involved with refugees the first thing one needs to know is to be willing to go their home. Be willing to eat or drink whatever they serve you. Don't refuse and don't be afraid. Invite them to your home or out to you to do some quintessentially American (where ever in America that is), and do not ever hide your relationship with Christ. Most refugees assume that all Americans are Christians anyway, so you have a huge open door right there. Most refugees come from cultures where culture and religion are not two separate things.

Getting involved with refugees breaks the average American out of their American bubble. It also breaks down prejudice and racism, and by befriending and witnessing to refugees you are going to all nations.

What to look for..

Check out the Blog Archives to find out more testimonies and helpful information about working with refugees and international students.  Also in the side bar are links to different organizations for mission and refugee work, as well as information about local universities and international student ministries.  Feel free to click away!

Why this blog?

With this blog, I hope to provide resources to churches and ministries to make it easier for them to get involved in ministry among these people groups. I am providing links, testimonies of people working with international students, testimonies of international students/refugees, ideas, links, resources, and biographies. I am also providing information for the churches and people that would link them with organizations such as IMB, NAMB, ISO, Baptist Collegiate Ministries, Catholic Charities, World Relief, and the like.

Besides providing resources for local churches and ministries, something I would love to see happen is that those same congregations and groups adopt students. They will mentor and disciple the students and then partner with them in ministry in their home countries through mission trips. Not to say that this is a realistic goal at this point, but ultimately partnership within the churches and organizations as well as with the students would be a great strategy in reaching the lost world.

Delivered to our doorstep...delivered to God.

Go into all the world and make disciples. As much as we fail in carrying out this command, it is not our greatest failure to spread the gospel. We actually have the world coming to us, yet we still do not make disciples.



On thousands of college campuses across the U.S., hundreds of thousands of students from all over the world come to study and live. It is almost as if God is telling us that if we won’t go, he will bring them to us. It is almost as if God is showing us he wants disciples made in all the world and he will pay the cost.


God is delivering the world literally to our doorstep. Will we make disciples?

 Not only is God bringing the world to our doorstep, he is providing the perfect setting for us to share his love. Foreign students come to a vastly different culture, are separated from friends and family, and must make their way in a new life. They have the pressure of high expectations and demanding college classes. They often have financial worries and most don’t own a car.

 What do these young people need? Love. What will these young people respond to? Love. The question to us is, will we love them? God has sent them for us to love. He has commanded us to love them. He has placed them here so that we might share his love with them.

 And each one represents a potential missionary to their home country when the return. Imagine the impact of tens of thousands college students every year who returned home as whole-hearted followers of Jesus Christ. It would far exceed any mission program we now have.