One student’s faithfulness to share the gospel leads to life transformation

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.” Romans 1:16

Megan Trotter met Laramie, a transfer student, when he walked into the Tarleton State University BSM one day and told Trotter that he was new to Christianity. He was asking for some resources and tools he could use to help him in his faith.

Trotter said she felt excited when Laramie approached her.

“This was really exciting because we don’t normally have people fall in our lap, we normally have to go get them,” she said.

Trotter first joined the Tarleton State University Baptist Student Ministry (BSM) in 2014 and started working at the BSM in 2017. Trotter has seen her life change as well as the lives of others.

When Trotter joined the BSM, she realized her view on evangelism and missions was very small. She refocused her vision during her time at the BSM.

“I pretty much defined evangelism as a holy, educated, man’s job. I am not any of these though,” she said. “It was really exciting when I first came to the BSM to see that even freshmen who have no idea what they want to do with their lives lead someone from death to life.”

After Laramie joined the BSM, he joined a community group and participated in Bible studies. “He had a healthy definition of discipleship, so it was easy to get him connected,” Trotter explained.

During this time, he dove deeper into his faith.

Trotter explained that while Laramie was getting plugged in with a community, he had a small perspective on missions, just like Trotter had before the BSM.

Laramie’s view changed this past Christmas when he received the opportunity to go on a mission trip to Houston, where he participated in apartment ministry. “He worked with people who shared different worldviews than him. For the first time, he not only had to share the gospel, he needed an understanding of different worldviews in order to tell others about salvation.” This experience taught Laramie that if he could share the gospel with people that have completely different backgrounds and worldviews, then he could share the gospel with an average student at Tarleton that grew up hearing about Christ, but never had a relationship with Him.

Laramie started sharing the Gospel at Tarleton. While he was doing this he began to realize there were people in his family that did not know Christ. He started actively praying for his family and made it a point to spend time with them and love them the way Christ would. Laramie also invited his whole family to his baptism as he took the step to proclaim Jesus as His Lord and Savior.

Laramie’s brother, Caden, decided he was going to attend Tarleton University. When Laramie heard the news, he made sure his schedule was arranged correctly so that he could be at Tarleton when his brother came.

Once the brothers became roommates, Laramie and Caden got to know each other all over again, since before coming to Tarleton Laramie had been at a college farther away and their relationship had lapsed. Laramie started hearing the struggles Caden had gone through, and he felt this was an opportunity to share his faith with Caden. “Laramie told his brother that the only reason he had not been struggling as Caden had was because of his relationship with Christ. He not only shared the gospel but invited Caden to have a relationship with Jesus,” Trotter said.

Caden accepted Christ and has gotten plugged into the BSM this semester. He is involved with different Bible studies and has been a tremendous help to the Tarleton BSM. Now, Laramie and his brother are sharing Jesus’ love and the gospel with their parents.

It is amazing how one step of obedience, vulnerability, and faith can lead to the salvation of others and can change their lives. Through one brother’s bold prayer for his brother to come to know the Lord, lives were changed and salvation was found. We can all learn from Laramie to pray, love, and share the gospel with our friends and families, as well as with complete strangers.