While it's cool outside along the calm banks of the American River in Sacramento, California, it's getting warmer inside. It's an hour before Indian Cultural Night, and Stanislaus Solomon darts across the small auditorium. His computer and the projection system inside Sacramento State University's Union Building have stopped speaking to each other, and he desperately intercedes. He and a fellow graduate student from India discuss strategies to get the devices communicating.

They eventually get things working, and Stany (that's what most people call him) dashes off to put out another fire. For Stany and the rest of the International Students Christian Fellowship, tonight's event in the hub of this predominantly commuter school of 28,000 students is a big deal.

Stany has an unassuming manner but speaks rapidly; his Indian accent is a mix of British tradition and a regional dialect that pronounces Vs like Ws. But at first glance, Stany looks like any American college student. The 24-year-old wears a nondescript blue shirt and khaki pants that spill over two-tone mesh and suede hiking boots. The outward appearance of Stany and his Indian friends would fit in on any college campus in the United States, but there are many less-obvious cultural differences among Indian students in America. These differences often can create a labyrinth of locked doors in trying to have meaningful spiritual conversations about God's love and forgiveness.

While there are only about 200 Indian students at Sac State (as it's affectionately known), Stany knows that it is critically important to develop international student leaders in order to reach people for Christ, because many of these students are not open to hearing about Christ from Americans. Stany prays that Indian Cultural Night will open up opportunities to tell Indian students about Jesus.

Alan Dianich, 49, has the same mindset as Stany. Alan is a staff member of Bridges International, the arm of Campus Crusade for Christ that seeks to reach out to international students in the United States. Bridges is active on 85 campuses, and Sac State is a relative newcomer.

Alan came to Sacramento in 2001 and works with several colleges in the Sacramento/Stockton/Davis area, spending time with international students from many different countries. Sac State's graduate computer science and engineering curricula tend to attract Indian students who have done their undergraduate work in their homeland. Although Alan had spent 14 years in Japan and was able to connect with students from most of Asia, he knew he needed help in reaching Indian students. He prayed for God to give him a student leader who could reach out to the Indian population at Sac State.

	Alan Dianich (above) spends time developing leaders like Stany at campuses across the Sacramento Valley.

Meanwhile, Stany, who grew up in a Christian home in India, was praying for a Christian community with which he could connect when he arrived at Sac State in 2004. During Stany's first days there, Campus Crusade staff members had set up tables and were handing out "survival kits" to students. The packets contain booklets explaining the gospel message along with other useful items. Stany appreciated the gifts ("the laundry bag is the most valuable," he says, only half joking). But the real value came from connecting with Alan. As the two talked and realized their common vision, they were able to tap into each other's strengths and insights, and a ministry to Indian students began to grow.

The heart of Bridges is telling international students about Christ, and talking to Indian students about Him is Stany's passion. He puts much of his time and energy into it. His long-term goal is to take the gospel back to India, but for now he is focusing on how best to reach out to Indians at Sac State.

"Indians consider Christianity a Western religion," he says. "So they fear that if they accept Christ, they'll lose their culture; they'll lose a part of their identity. That's why some go to the extreme of avoiding Christians."

Nixon George and Paul Sunkari, two men from India who work together as software engineers for a health-care provider, volunteer evenings and weekends with the Bridges group to help develop student leaders on campus. They are now raising families in the United States, but both were once international students completing their graduate work here. "I think the biggest roadblock in reaching Indian students is breaking the barrier of culture," says Nixon. "In India, religion and patriotism are tied together. So, if you stop being a Hindu, you basically stop being an Indian." He says Hindu Indians fear Christians are trying to rob Indians of their Indianness. "Christianity is so much synonymous with 'white,'" he notes.

"When they come here, they think this is a Christian country," explains Paul. "Basically, they don't know the difference between American and Christian. When they watch TV, they think that Christian culture is not as good as the Indian culture because of the immorality or the way of dressing."

Stany lives with Paul and his family while he finishes his graduate work, and so he spends a lot of time with them. As they sit down to eat vada—sort of a deep-fried doughnut with bits of chilies and lentils inside—Paul and Stany talk about how to best reach out to Hindu Indians here in America. The main meal is a combination of a whole chicken, vegetables, rice and curry with other seasonings. Stany and the Sunkaris eat according to Indian custom, making a scoop with the fingers and thumb of the right hand, left hand in the lap.

Stany plays with the children of his U.S. host, Paul Sunkari, while a friend of the children looks on.

But Stany says that cultural differences go much deeper than food and dining protocols. He says that Hindu Indians have an entirely different worldview and perspective on God. "God to them is not what God to us is," says Stany. "We depend upon Christ for everything."

Stany and Paul also talk about the goals of the International Students Christian Fellowship, the name for the Bridges group at Sac State. The plan isn't to attract Westerners so that they can experience other cultures; it is to attract students who are far from home.

The two know what it feels like to be an Indian student in the United States. "They're longing for a home atmosphere," Paul explains. "If we can provide that, they feel at home and then they're willing to listen to us."

At Indian Cultural Night, there is not an overt presentation of the gospel. Instead the evening is intended to foster introductions and build friendships.

"We have to be very sensitive to their perceptions," explains Stany. "Don't force them from a human point of view, but let God work in their lives. Just talk to them and show them what Christ has to offer."

There is a good turnout of many people who do not attend the International Students Christian Fellowship meetings, and cultural dances and songs seem to take people the 10,000 miles back to India. Even those just outside the auditorium can hear the hypnotic, high-pitched vocals of traditional Indian music wafting through the corridors. The tribute to the diversity and unity of India causes an upswell of nationalist pride, which is reignited at the end of the program as the attendees sing the national anthem of India, followed by impromptu pro-India chants. Judging by people's faces, it seems the goal of creating a warm and familiar atmosphere has been reached. Now, Stany and the rest of the team can take this foundation and build bridges of relationship and understanding.

It's exactly what Stany prayed for.

ACTION POINT - The Next Step >God is using Stany to reach people in the Indian culture, whom outsiders could not. Sometimes a culture is a particular profession or way of life. What is your culture? Who could you reach for Christ that most other people couldn't?