Along the white sand of Panama City Beach in Florida, three shirtless guys hoist a girl in a blue-striped bikini upside down over a keg of beer. A hose stretches from the keg to her mouth. Someone pumps the keg and counts to see how long she can drink.

Meanwhile a plane flies over the bluish-green Gulf of Mexico tugging a banner that advertises free beer at Club La Vela, the self-proclaimed largest nightclub in the world. Every day 1,500 people—mostly college students—clamor for their wet T-shirt contests.

"Some people view [spring break] as a vacation," says Jason Simpson, a junior at James Madison University in Virginia, "but I can't wait to get on the beach and go to work." Jason loves spring break, but his enthusiasm has nothing to do with flowing beer or skimpy bikinis.

His passion? Telling others how they can have a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Jason's excitement about evangelism was born amid the decadence in Panama City Beach at Big Break, Campus Crusade for Christ's annual spring-break conference. Here, of all places, Jason's fear of evangelism morphed into courage.

Long before Jason was born, Campus Crusade founder Bill Bright dreamed of a spring-break conference focusing on evangelism. This vision became reality at Balboa Island and Newport Beach in Southern California in 1965. Years later the conference moved east to Daytona Beach in Florida. In the mid-1990s, when the main mass of partying students had migrated to Panama City Beach, the conference followed.

During March and April, 400,000 visitors invade this 17-mile stretch of beach on the Florida Panhandle, rated by The Travel Channel as the best spring-break hangout in the world.

	Jason (with backpack) prays with JMU classmates John, a freshman, and Graham, a senior.

When Jason boarded a bus to come to his first Big Break in 2002, he had no clue what he was getting himself into. He only knew five JMU participants. He had been a Christian for only four months. And he had never presented the gospel to anyone. He didn't even know what evangelism was. His first opportunity to initiate a spiritual conversation came at a bowling alley near the beach. "I was scared out of my mind," says Jason. "I expected them to cuss me out."

This year other students echoed Jason's fear. Initiative evangelism frightened many of the 2,400 participants. Numerous Big Breakers have never walked up to a stranger to initiate a spiritual conversation. Jeff Duvall, a freshman at the University of Toledo, says, "I didn't think I would have the guts to set aside my fear and take the risks." Brittni Talley, a sophomore at Northwestern College, adds, "I'm pretty introverted, so to go up to people and talk to them about their faith is pretty hard."

Big Break helps students overcome this fear. For two hours each morning and again in the evening, everyone assembles in the Edgewater Beach Resort conference room to sing, laugh and listen. Each session focuses on Bible teaching and evangelism training.

The Big Break evangelism coordinators, Dan and Holly Allan, recognize that most believers view evangelism as awkward conversations with uninterested people. But everyone is on a spiritual journey, they explain, and evangelism is simply about engaging people in significant spiritual conversations in a natural way.

Over 1,100 students from 100 universities attended the first week of Big Break to learn how. JMU alone filled three buses with 137 students and staff members. As hesitant students watch their friends explain the gospel, confidence builds. They realize, I can do that.

On Jason's first Big Break he was placed in a room with mature Christians. Jason calls them the "JMU Crusade All-Stars." Their example taught Jason how to live out his new faith-in daily Bible reading, in treating women with honor, and especially in evangelism. "Every stinking day," says Jason, "those guys would ask each other, 'Did you go out sharing today?'" Everyone had a story to tell, and the group learned from each other's experiences.

However, neither peer pressure nor Bible teaching builds the most confidence in evangelism.

Future doctors begin their training with textbooks, a cadaver and lots of observation. But it is in residency—in practicing medicine—where they learn to be a doctor. Similarly, car-repair manuals impart information, but mechanics become mechanics by fixing cars.

And the best way to overcome fear of evangelism is to do it. Watching a friend can help, or hearing a speaker on the subject might add courage. But actually doing it changes everything. "Big Break is a kick in the pants," says Jason, "to get out there and do it."

Many Big Breakers expect negative reactions on the beach. But, to their surprise, the response is often positive. Graham Baggett, a senior at JMU, asked a guy in front of Club La Vela, "On a scale from 1 to 10, how would you rate your desire to know God?"

"Fifteen."

Quickly Big Breakers realize they are not like matadors facing an angry bull, but more like someone offering water to a thirsty stranger. "You think it's intimidating, but people want to hang out," says Jason, "If they tell you they don't have five minutes, they are lying to you."

After Jason discusses the gospel with two guys from Pittsburgh, they comment about the conversation. "It's pretty brave but I feel kind of bad," says one guy. "I'm sure some of these people are cruel to them."

Two students drinking Miller Lite are impressed with Jason's courage after he discusses spiritual issues with them.

People on the beach sometimes laugh or curse at the tract-toting Big Breakers; but this is the exception, not the norm. A non-Christian student from New York who was approached by someone with Big Break says, "It's a little awkward to be asked this on the beach, but they were good questions and definitely evoked thought."

Big Breakers often have an "aha" moment. They experience both the need of their peers for Christ and a genuine openness to spiritual issues. "[Big Break] makes you realize how much the gospel is needed and how much people are seeking," says Jason.

Over the three weeks at Big Break this year, 6,532 people heard a gospel presentation and 632 of them indicated decisions to trust Christ. Although Jason has explained the gospel to hundreds, no one has ever placed his faith in Christ with him. "If God wants me to see people come to Christ, that's amazing," says Jason. "But if not, that's OK, because my goal is to get the word out."

That goal followed Jason home after spring break ended.

Back at school in Virginia, Jason sometimes goes to fraternity parties to talk to people about Christ. He leads a 30-person evangelism team that wants to expose every JMU student to the gospel before they graduate. "Jason has a reckless abandonment for Christ," says Anthony Gammage, a Campus Crusade staff member at JMU. "He likes to tell people about Christ; it's his passion."

Jason loves Panama City Beach because, come spring break, it is his mission field. Through going there, he has learned that his mission field follows him wherever he goes.

You can contact the writer at Chris.Sneller@uscm.org.