On any college campus throughout the United States, Vip Vipperman
would fit right in with other students.
There is that constant, easygoing grin and eyes darting around
– looking for eye contact. A flash of recognition is followed by a pointed
exclamation of, “Aww, brah! Whats up?” – a high-five ready
and waiting.
At six feet, three inches, the 1999 graduate from Louisiana
State University in Baton Rouge is one of the tallest guys on the campus of
Dongwoo University in Taipei, Taiwan.
Editors Note: The pair of articles related to the work
of Louisianians in Taiwan were provided special to the Louisiana Baptist Message
through the Southern Baptist International Mission Board News Service.
On any college campus throughout the United States, Vip Vipperman
would fit right in with other students.
There is that constant, easygoing grin and eyes darting around
– looking for eye contact. A flash of recognition is followed by a pointed
exclamation of, “Aww, brah! Whats up?” – a high-five ready
and waiting.
At six feet, three inches, the 1999 graduate from Louisiana
State University in Baton Rouge is one of the tallest guys on the campus of
Dongwoo University in Taipei, Taiwan.
He stands out in the crowd.
But that is the desired effect.
The guys appearance is as intentional as it gets –
the bleached, spiked hair of a Japanese rock star, baggy pants, one leg rolled
up. A grin escapes as Vipperman approaches a fellow student.
A short conversation in Chinese ends as both reach for their
cell phones and punch each others numbers into the memory.
Vipperman, 25, a Journeyman with the Southern Baptist International
Mission Board, is excited. “Dude!” he tells the waiting companion.
” He invited me to practice with the hip-hop club tonight.”
This is what Unbound Student Ministries (USM) is all about,
Vipperman explains later. Taiwan is a country with a historical Christian presence,
but it currently is raising a generation of young people who could not care
less about God.
As part of Unbound Student Ministries, Vipperman works in Taipei
to facilitate a church planting movement among the more than 1 million college
students in Taiwan. About 97 percent of the students are non-Christian. Disenfranchised
from traditional churches, most young people in Taiwan describe church as boring
and irrelevant.
Based on John 11:44, when Jesus calls Lazarus from the tomb,
Unbound Student Ministries seeks to do to the hearts of Taiwans students
what Jesus commanded his disciples to do: “Unbind him, and let him go.”
The result?
Unbound Student Ministries team members say they believe this
is an effective way to produce a rapidly-reproducing, student-led revival in
Taiwan.
The goal of Unbound Student Ministries is not to gather Taiwanese
students into discipleship relationships, Vipperman explains. Instead, the focus
is on plugging them into BodyLife, made up of no more than five or six other
students.
“We reach out to students who would never set foot in
a church, and we do it in places where normally they wouldnt have any
exposure to the gospel,” says Vipperman, whose home church is Istrouma
Baptist Church in Baton Rouge. “That means going to where they hang out,
finding out what they do and developing relationships.”
Ruston native and Louisiana College graduate Amanda Taylor,
23, serves on the Unbound Student Ministries team in Taichung, about two hours
south of the capital city. Working among college students there is stretching
and exciting at the same time, she says.
While fellowship and activities are fun, Taylor says what students
desire more than anything is to see a real witness – and for people to
take them seriously.
“Most people function as if university students are too
young to do church planting,” says Taylor, a member at Cook Baptist Church
in Ruston. “Yet, I see students everyday who go against that. They have
a passion for the father, and they have a desire to reach their friends and
family. They are living out the book of Acts and certainly show spiritual wisdom
beyond their age.”
Vipperman recounts the story of Tony, a new Taiwanese believer.
Arriving at BodyLife one evening, Tony was visibly upset. His grandmother, who
practically had reared him, was sick and unconscious.
“If Jesus can raise people from the dead, can he heal
my grandmother?” Tony asked.
Vipperman and the others in the group said, “Yes, he can.”
They then spent the rest of the night praying that Jesus would
heal Tonys grandmother like he did to those in the New Testament.
The following day, Tony took a bus an hour-and-a-half outside
of Taipei to visit his grandmother and stood by her all day, holding her hand
and praying over her.
The next day, she opened her eyes, and “within the week,
she was going up steps and even came to visit Tony,” Vipperman says.
It is young people like Tony who will serve as catalysts for
a church planting movement among Taiwans students, Vipperman and Taylor
agree.
“To these new brothers and sisters, it makes perfect sense
(to do church in this manner),” Vipperman says. “All that they are
required to do is share with someone else. Its biblical, and its
appropriate. Its not always what you know, its Who you know.”
Many Taiwanese students are caught up in a cycle of performance
– for friends and family, for acceptance, for grades – and think Christianity
involves having to qualify for something, workers explain.
But once they understand the simplicity of the gospel, change
comes fast, despite the persecution that comes with going against culture and
family, workers say. Indeed, for most of the young people, becoming a Christian
means turning their back on their familys Buddhist or Taoist faith.
“I have never seen so much lostness in my life,”
Taylor says. “But I know the father is jealous for their hearts. I dont
think I ever really understood that until seeing idolatry face-to-face. God
could destroy this earth in a moment, yet he holds back for those who have yet
to hear and believe. I see that so clearly now.”
Taylor says she has felt an increased sense of urgency since
becoming a Journeyman in Taiwan, adding that she wishes all young people in
the United States would realize their ability to minister overseas as the Lord
leads.
“From the very beginning of time, God has not looked for
people who are a certain age but for people who are open and willing to go and
be used by him,” Taylor says. “We live in urgent times. Nothing is
more fulfilling than being exactly where the Father wants you.
“Uncomfortable? Maybe.
“But overwhelming peace and joy? Definitely.”
(Vipperman will be returning to Louisiana in April 2003 to share with churches
and students what God is doing through Unbound Student Ministries. Those interested
in scheduling Vipperman may contact him at lsufreak@pobox.com
as soon as possible.)