Team members left to right: Katie Krease, Scott Anderson, Jen Dettloff, Carrie Reiger, Jill Wooten, Brantley Gasaway, Josh Reitano.

In September 1998, a team of seven Americans arrived in the Netherlands, raring to go. All recent college graduates, they looked forward to starting a Campus Crusade for Christ ministry at the University of Leiden, the Netherlands' oldest, most prestigious school. For the Americans, their arrival marked the beginning of a great adventure. For the Dutch ministry, it meant the answer to a 29-year-old prayer request.

"Since 1970, we had the desire to expand to another university," says Duko Besselsen, director of the Dutch campus ministry, "but we did not have the manpower. This team has made it possible." Prior to the team's arrival, the Dutch campus ministry had four people serving at one campus. The Americans more than doubled their workforce. They invigorated the Dutch ministry, learning invaluable life and ministry lessons along the way.

Duko traveled from his home across the country (about a three-hour drive in the Netherlands) to help the team get settled. Two years earlier, he had shared the ministry's needs with Keith Bubalo, a U.S. Campus Ministry leader in the Great Lakes region. Now Keith had sent a STINT team to help, and Duko was determined to assist them all he could.

Duko had already rented one apartment for them. Three weeks later a second one surfaced, and everyone got unpacked and settled in.

	Team leaders Katie and Brantley (above, in the guy's kitchen) helped keep the team unified, encouraged and focused.

The room Brantley wound up in––originally designed as a closet––wasn't big enough for a bed, so he rigged up one from a wooden pallet and futon mattress. Scott and Josh set out photos of friends and family. The girls added extra touches to their place, putting notes of encouragement on the kitchen wall and fresh flowers in vases (after all, this is the land of a million tulips). They all bought used bikes so they could travel the city like the Dutch do. With homes established, they faced their next challenge: Now what to do?

All seven had been heavily involved in Campus Crusade back home, but structured Bible studies and weekly meetings were a world apart from Leiden, with no students involved, no meetings, nothing. During those early months, Duko visited every week, helping them develop a plan.

The team wanted to sow the gospel broadly. Knowing they needed to build relationships with as many Dutch students as possible, they looked for ways to do that. All three guys loved basketball, so they joined a club team at the Sportscentrum—fun, exercise and ministry, all in one. Some of the girls followed suit, joining a soccer team. Jill had lunch one day with a girl she met at a bus stop. Life became "hanging out with a purpose."

Most Dutch people speak English, which made life much easier for the team, especially at the University of Leiden. "At first we just went to random places every day," explains tall, lean Scott, "but after a while we realized it made more sense to go to the same place." Scott, who postponed medical school for a year, started spending more time in the science building. Brantley, who has a master's degree in religion and loves philosophical discussions, focused on the law building.

In the spring, they invited a widening circle of friends to the guys' apartment for discussion groups. Over coffee, tea, Speculaas cookies or pretzel sticks, the Dutch students and Americans discussed topics such as: are people inherently good, neutral or evil?

The Dutch enjoyed expressing their beliefs, and they listened as the Americans explained Christianity. "You're doing a great job with these times," said Judith, a mysterious Dutch girl dressed in black with henna designs swirled around her eyes. "Many Christians swarm over people and try to force their beliefs on them, but I don't feel that at all with you."

But while they liked to listen, one Dutch student after another expressed responses like this: "That's good for you, but I have my own beliefs. No one's right or wrong." That could be the motto of postmodernism, which is in full bloom in Holland.

"Soil here is very resistant to the gospel," says Dutch staff member Geisbert Pellegrom. "The Netherlands is one of the most postmodern countries in Europe.

"I've developed a relational ministry," says Josh (above, at right). "I've learned about being intentional to display Christ through my actions and my words."

The Americans also developed relationships with their neighbors. Margriet Hagenaars, the guys' upstairs neighbor, noticed an article about C.S. Lewis laying on their rough-hewn, wooden coffee table. An English-literature major, Margriet told Josh she liked Lewis' writings, and they decided to read through Mere Christianity and discuss it.

"While I'm a Lewis fan," Margriet reveals, "I'm not a Christian. But it's good to pick Josh and Jill's minds about certain points."

The Americans explained to their Dutch friends from the get-go that they were Christians who had come to the Netherlands to discuss religious beliefs. "We've learned the value of sharing the gospel early on in a relationship," Scott says. "In the past I tried to build the friendship with hopes of telling them about Christ, but it's awkward. If this is the most important thing in my life, why am I telling them after I've known them six months?"

The day-after-day evangelism was hard for some team members, who felt better suited for discipleship. "Our ministry is very one-dimensional," Brantley says, "and it's been difficult to allow people to use their different gifts."

Soft-spoken Jen knew from the beginning this would be hard, but says, "I wanted to do something I wouldn't normally do, and initiative evangelism was it. I was scared and didn't feel gifted or qualified, but I'm much more able to initiate than I ever would've been if I hadn't had this experience."

While team members' ministry skills sprouted, their communication skills blossomed as well. "Over Christmas break we went through an evaluation process," Brantley says, "and it came out that some of the girls were struggling with the need for community, and it was news to us [guys]. We were upset that they were expecting us to know these things. It's not intuitive; we don't work that way."

"We talked through a lot," adds tall, blonde Katie, "trying to make the guys understand the girls and help the girls understand the guys. It's been hard, but we've learned to believe the best about each other."

When team members needed to get away, they learned to turn to God. "You can't just pick up the phone and call your friends at home, because that gets expensive," Jill admits. "I've had to depend more solely on the Lord."

The team persevered in their love for each other and in the ministry, and soon winter gloom gave way to spring sunshine. The guys listened to the NCAA men's basketball tournament on the Internet. The girls painted Easter eggs and happily pulled out their spring clothes. And as Holland's famous tulips began to flower, the ministry budded as well.

"Because they opened the discussion about religion, everybody is talking about it," says Ronald, a member of the guys' basketball team. Another Dutch friend put it this way: "Religion has gone downhill in our country in the past 10 years; it feels like a fresh wind is blowing now."

The Americans met their goal of sowing broadly, but they were disappointed that no Dutch students came to know Christ (though one nonstudent did). "People we shared with four months ago are just now expressing an interest in Christ," says Brantley. "In America, we'd think that's not a good investment of our time, but here it takes many people more than a year to make a decision for Christ." A verse that continually motivated the team was 1 Corinthians 3:6: "I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow" (New International Version).

Dutch ministry leaders called this first year of an American partnership a huge success. "I'm really impressed by how they've done," Duko declares. "They've thrown themselves into ministry in a country where the response to the gospel is not that high. And because Dutch students are eager to talk with someone from another country, the Americans have been able to do things we couldn't do."

As the year drew to a close, the team's impact hit home for Carrie. "The wife of the country director came up to us," says Carrie, "and she was crying because we were leaving and out of joy that we'd come. Until then, I had felt like we were in the middle of nowhere and no one knew we were here."

God knew, and just as He sent Apollos to water the seed Paul planted, He's sending a team back this fall to continue the work at the University of Leiden. Katie and Brantley will return for another year. Scott will start medical school, Josh is heading to graduate school and Jill will help staff Campus Crusade's ministry at Indiana University. Carrie and Jen have yet to learn what the Lord has next for them. Perhaps Scott spoke for all of them when he said, "I've learned how to witness in the context of a relationship, and that's something I can take with me wherever I go."

"It has been revolutionary to have them here," Duko says gratefully. "Now we know it's not just our vision to reach more students—it's the Lord's desire as well."