18/08/2026
The Tacloban and Zamboanga campus shootings may not be the last ones we'd hear about if we won't find the urgency to do something.
Today's tragedy inside another school reminds us that reaching the next generation cannot remain an afterthought.
Our campuses are filled with students carrying struggles we may never see on the surface. Some walk into classrooms burdened by fear, rejection, anger, loneliness, broken homes, pressure, confusion, and questions they are afraid to ask. They may be surrounded by people every day and still feel completely alone.
Schools are doing important work. Teachers educate. Guidance offices counsel. Administrators protect. Policies provide structure. Security measures matter.
But there are wounds that academic instruction alone cannot heal.
This is why I continue to pray that more schools and universities will open their campus gates for faithful gospel ministry.
Not for Christians to force religion on students.
Not for ministries to compete with teachers or counselors.
Not to replace professional help, school programs, or responsible policies.
But to allow mature, accountable, Christ-centered believers to come alongside the work already being done, to listen, mentor, pray, disciple, teach God's Word, and offer students the hope found in Jesus Christ.
Campus ministry should be ministry of presence.
It means being there before a student reaches the breaking point.
It means building relationships before there is a crisis.
It means giving young people a safe place to ask difficult questions, wrestle with faith, find godly community, and hear that their life has value because they were created by God.
Jesus looked at people with compassion because He saw them as โharassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherdโ (Matthew 9:36).
There are young people sitting in classrooms today who desperately need shepherding.
We cannot assume that Sunday services alone will reach them.
We cannot wait until tragedy happens before remembering that our campuses are mission fields.
Let the Church train responsible campus missionaries.
Let Christian organizations serve with humility and accountability.
Let schools that are willing create appropriate spaces where students may freely encounter biblical truth, Christian community, prayer, and discipleship.
And let believers stop treating the next generation as merely the future of the Church.
They are souls we are called to reach today.
Open the campus gates for the gospel, not because the gospel is a simplistic answer to every social problem, but because every generation needs the saving, transforming, and enduring hope of Jesus Christ.
OPEN THE CAMPUS GATES FOR THE GOSPEL!
