With some people, the struggle is detectable. With others, like Kiana, it would have been almost impossible to perceive that she was losing her walk with God. Slowly, little by little, like a frog in a pot set at gradual heat until it reaches a boiling point, the church would have discovered too late how severe Kiana’s case really was.
Kiana comes from a strong Adventist home. She left Grand Blanc to gain an education at Michigan’s premier university. She came in as a strong Adventist. And her plan was to remain that way. However, soon after her arrival at school, she experienced one of the worst things that could ever happen — she was sexually assaulted. This experience spiraled into a struggle that would not allow her to escape for several years. A battle with alcohol, the wrong company, guilt, and even doubt.
A place to worship on campus, in her case, was the only hope. It was the thin string that kept her connected, the reminder that nagged her conscience until she found freedom in Christ, the refuge she ran to in times of despair, until it became the one thing she cares and lives for. A church on campus was the place she heard God’s word speak to her, giving her a permanent escape from the chains she could not escape on her own.
It is no wonder that now she has become one of the biggest promoters of public campus ministry! She has taken a year off to serve as missionary in Michigan, a summer in missions to Oklahoma, and several summers working at Michigan’s Camp Au Sable as summer staff. It is no wonder that she still moves in fear — fear that the support she had is not available to thousands of others around our country and around the world and fear that those who follow in her steps will miss the crucial aspect of Adventist Campus Ministry: A Bible-based revival movement in which every student is a missionary.
Watch her sermon as she speaks from her heart for the opening Sabbath of the semester at Campus HOPE Fellowship. Her sermon begins at minute 27:00.
