Joe Leach set foot in church once or twice his first semester at West Virginia University. Since church didn't do anything for him, Joe quit going.

But at the start of his second semester, Joe realized his life was heading out of control. His lifestyle of partying and cramming for exams stressed him out. "I know I've come before when I needed something," Joe told God. "This time I'm coming because I want to follow You, but I don't know where to go or what to do."

Five minutes later, Kevin and Dan with Campus Crusade knocked on Joe's residence-hall door. They wanted his reaction to a comparative-religions ad published in the school paper. That day Joe trusted in Christ and began to follow Him. Instead of going to the next keg party, Joe went to a Campus Crusade meeting.

Helping students like Joe connect with God and mature to the point of leading others spiritually has been the hallmark of Campus Crusade's campus ministry for 46 years. Individual evangelism, group outreaches, Bible studies and summer mission projects help create an environment where students can grow spiritually.

But six years ago, Steve Sellers--national director of the U.S. Campus Ministry--realized that business as usual in the campus ministry wasn't going to give all 15 million students in the United States a solid chance of hearing the gospel. Like adding lanes on a highway, Steve started some road construction in the campus ministry, creating three additional lanes to connect with lost students.

The catalytic lane spawned ministries on campuses without full-time Campus Crusade staff members. Forming partnerships between Campus Crusade and Christian students, business professionals and churches made it possible to carry the gospel beyond traditional campus ministry borders.

The ethnic lane intentionally reaches out to students of color. In the past, ethnic students had to leave their culture to participate in Campus Crusade's predominantly white campus movement. Often they had a hard time translating ministry back into their own culture. "We're sensitive to the need to minister differently overseas," says Margaret Yu, staff member with InterCultural Resources, Campus Crusade's ministry to ethnic minorities. "But even here in America, we have to go to where lost students hang out and learn about their culture to be able to minister effectively to them."

The Campus Ministry sees its mission going beyond the 15 million students of the United States to the 60 million students overseas. The international lane mobilizes Christian students to pioneer works on campuses around the world, eventually turning leadership of those ministries over to trained nationals.

Adding these three lanes to the highway of the traditional campus ministry has doubled the number of students coming to Christ. More of those students are getting involved in Campus Crusade and growing in their faith. Now, the campus ministry claims representation on 633 U.S. campuses and has opened 103 campuses overseas.

"We're seeing students we wouldn't have seen 10 years ago," says Andrea Buczynski, who serves on the Campus Ministry's national leadership team. "It's the changing face of the campus ministry. We want to give every student a chance to hear about Christ."

Although we might assume everyone in America has heard, that's not necessarily true with college students today. "Our society has become less biblically oriented," says Steve Sellers. "There are students on campus who have never been to church or had a conversation with an evangelical Christian. For many college students, Christianity is irrelevant to negative. But the positive side is students are searching for answers, and we have them."

Steve leads the more than 1,300 Campus Ministry staff members who are helping turn lost students into Christ-centered laborers. College students represent 1 percent of the world's population and make up the largest labor force for the Great Commission. Universities select and gather into one location those students who show promise of becoming leaders. Campus Crusade provides an environment for those future leaders to understand a personal relationship with God and learn to help others mature spiritually. University students can get into countries on student visas where older missionaries cannot, and they're often not tied down by mortgages and commitments.

Joe Leach, for one, credits Campus Crusade for helping him find spiritual answers. Although he has several more years at West Virginia University, he's already adopted the Campus Ministry's mission to turn lost students into Christ-centered laborers. Joe's doing some road construction on his future career of teaching and coaching, and he plans to start a Bible study to show students God's relevance to their daily lives.