Beach Preachers
PANAMA CITY BEACH, Fla.- Sweat glistens on thousands of scantily clad bodies. Several hundred cans of beer gleam in the heat. Many of the college Spring Breakers have a hand wrapped around one of the frothy brews, using the other to toss around a Frisbee or football.
Higher up on the dune, various beachgoers bask in the sun on an oversized towel. Solo cups and drink cozies lay in the sand surrounding those trying to get a tan. On a stage nearby, more than a dozen bikini-clad women gyrate against each other as a man sprays them down with a hose, leaving little for the imagination.
Jennifer Cheng weaves her way through the hedonism. She’s not looking to party. Dressed a bit more conservatively in a red T-shirt with the word ‘Restored’ printed on it, Cheng’s just looking to talk.
In her hand, the Syracuse University student holds an interesting conversation starter – a tiny blue booklet that reads ‘Would you like to know God personally?’
Cheng, a freshman newspaper major, joined nearly 700 Campus Crusade for Christ students (CRU) – including approximately 30 from Syracuse University – in Panama City Beach for a week in March to proselytize to college students, or to try to convert them to Christianity. Syracuse students return to the ‘Big Break’ for the first time since 2005 in search of anybody on the sunny shores of Florida interested in discussing spirituality.
For Cheng, who’s doing missionary work for the first time, she’s finding it a daunting task.
‘What we’re trying to do is let God speak through you,’ Cheng says. ‘Don’t rely on yourself. If you rely on yourself, you get terrified talking to these people.’
No doubt, one has to question if there’s room for God on the eight mile stretch of ashen sand packed with thousands of pleasure seekers. Early reports estimate 350,000 students will descend on Panama City this March. Not a bad place to spread the word of the Lord – CRU members will be there during all four weeks of Spring Break.
After a couple minutes of wandering on the beach and working up some nerve, Cheng and senior magazine journalism major Stephanie Sypek approach a group of women sporting bikinis, and Cheng – in the midst of the debauchery and mayhem – engages one in a talk about Jesus Christ.
The dialogue sounds friendly enough. The beachgoer mentions she’s been confirmed and then asks what church Cheng attends.
However, the tone of the chat is frantic and tense. When the conversation ends, and the girl returns to the beach scene, Cheng exclaims ‘Oh my God’ as her hand shoots to her mouth. She frenetically whispers to Sypek – her evangelism ‘wingman’ – about how nervous the experience made her feel.
It went well, Sypek responds. The Spring Breaker even said at one point: ‘I’m Catholic. I’m really Christian. And I appreciate this.’
Still, the dichotomy generated by mixing pious and preaching Christians with college students looking for a raucous time creates a situation writhing with tension. Particularly where the Syracuse group has been assigned to sermonize. Cheng says it’s the busiest part of the beach, and at this time, in the middle of the afternoon, the area’s pulsing with madness.
‘This is definitely a little intimidating just the fact you can’t really talk to anyone here,’ says Brian Wellman, a sophomore from Onondaga Community College, who joined Syracuse CRU on the 31-hour bus ride down from Central New York. ‘I’m going to try in a couple days to come here. But I need to gain a little courage.’
In this crowded section, not everybody proves receptive to the inquiring CRU members. Cheng stops several sunbathers celebrating a friend’s 21st birthday. The women seem to play along for a minute or two.
But after a long pause in the conversation, the birthday girl – sitting up in a striped green bikini, her hand wrapped around a Keystone Light – speaks up.
‘Why do you guys do this?’ she asks as her friends begin to giggle.
‘Do you try to make people feel guilty?’
Cheng shoots back quickly, ‘No, absolutely not.’
But that can be considered the burning question on the minds of all those uninterested in what the missionaries have to say. Though the CRU members insist that is not their purpose. In the wild party scene, organizers maintain an emphasis on not coming across as someone trying to impose beliefs onto another.
‘We believe God wants to have a personal relationship with everyone,’ says Jeff Parrett, the director of Campus Crusade for Christ at Syracuse. ‘It’s not something we can force on someone, but we at least want to give everyone the opportunity to respond to it.’
At the same time, the rowdy lifestyle of Spring Breakers differs from what the crusaders prefer. Nobody in the organization says they look down on the drinking, but the SU students in Florida plan to stay away from alcohol this weekend.
A few group members added what goes on under the Sunshine State sun during Spring Break does increase the likelihood of one sinning. Though the group’s purpose remains to not change behavior, says Craig Jones, a senior accounting and finance major.
He adds the group is down in Florida to enjoy itself. And while Jones and company enjoy their duty to God, they also have other missions during their trip to the Gulf Coast of Florida.
‘I want to get a tan,’ Jones jokes, while pointing out that he hopes to spend some time on a jet ski, too.
He reminds those speculating about CRU’s purpose in Panama City that those on the beach are also peers of the Campus Crusade for Christ members. Jones acknowledges trying to show beachgoers that CRU students only want to talk – not judge them – can be the most difficult part of the trip.
But primarily it’s just a matter of how to frame the question.
‘I think people in general are a lot more open to talking than everyone understands,’ Jones says. ‘As long as you just approach it, ‘This is what happened to me. And if you guys want to listen, great. If not, OK.”
To help initiate the conversation, CRU members usually start with a survey printed on a small piece of paper. The questionnaire inquires on topics like a goal one hopes to accomplish in his or her life, thoughts on the afterlife and one’s desire to better know God.
On the eve of the first night of proselytizing for the SU crusaders, several hundred students in CRU fill a room on the first floor of the Edgewood Hotel to worship together. The service features a part when students go on stage and share success stories from the afternoon.
One student tells about a beachgoer who converted after finding a strong understanding with what one of the booklets on God imparted. Another CRU member persuaded two devout fraternity brothers to start a Bible club portion in their house. Following each story, cheers erupt through the hazy, dimly lit room.
‘Personally, for the people in the conference here to take that step (of evangelizing, saying) you really believe this is something worth sharing,’ Parrett says. ‘And we believe it is’
Cheng looks more relaxed and becomes successful with college Spring Breakers by the end of her first day. Near a more undisturbed tract of the beach, she meets a couple from the University of Florida. She gets into a discussion with the two about their relationship – and naturally their relationship with God.
The discussion touches on some sensitive issues as Dustin West, a practicing Christian, delves into conversations he’s recently had with his girlfriend, who is admittedly less religious and at times not ‘comfortable’ with the survey questions. Awkward pauses aside, West and his girlfriend Autumn Lindsay enjoy the chat.
And that’s all Cheng set out to do, introduce a compassionate talk on spirituality.
Looking back, the freshman said she developed keen evangelizing skills. The highlight of her time on the beach remains a conversation she had with a closeted homosexual, who expressed his desire to have a family one day. The two ended the discussion by praying together.
‘For the first time I was actually doing things,’ Cheng says. ‘It wasn’t just sitting back and letting other serve me. For the first time I was actually living out my religion. It was a great feeling.’
Published on March 17, 2008 at 12:00 pm
