One80 Podcast Episode 87
College Students Unite with Jesus: UniteUS Baylor

This transcript may have errors that veer from the original audio, found here:
https://one80podcast.com/

 

 

Margaret Ereneta: 0:39

Make no mistake, God is moving on college campuses, just like you saw last week with Wes, a Baylor football player, and the collegiate football movement that just happened, God is also moving through groups like Unite US. We took you to Asbury in 2023. Whereas Asbury was an organic revival, think of Unite US more like a Billy Graham crusade or a tent revival meeting, but on college campuses all over the country with exciting fruit. So we visited Unite US at Baylor so we could give you a seat right in Foster Pavilion and you could see and hear from students on what Unite US meant to them.

Margaret Ereneta: 1:24

Unite US is a movement that started by Tonya Prewett, who had a prayer group of students at Auburn University in 2023, which put on the first Unite by faith, and it spread to several other college campuses. The team also includes Jennie Allen, who you might know from the IF gathering or Gather 25, and Pastor Jonathan Pokluda, who leads Harris Creek Church in Waco, Texas. We talked to JP, as he’s affectionately called, and he explained the story behind Unite US. As we talked, literally baptisms are happening in the background, so you can hear those. Here’s what he said.

Jonathan Pokluda: 2:00

So we started in Auburn. So I was invited to speak to Auburn University. I thought it was going to be like 600 college students and we got there with 6,000. At the end of the night, a girl had never been baptized, a college student had never been baptized. And we said, great, is there water nearby? And we went out there and that night 250 or 300 Auburn students got baptized and we got to share the gospel and just have conversations with each of them and we thought that was one and done and it was an amazing night. But then Alabama called, and then FSU called, and Tennessee and Georgia and South Carolina. And you know this is our 15th or 16th university. So we’re here at Baylor and it’s just been amazing. It’s been an incredible movement of God.

Margaret Ereneta: 2:45

Tonya began the event explaining what Unite was to the students in the midst of many other movements of God, even many that are happening alongside it right now, many among Gen Z, and the evening started with Jennie Allen opening us in prayer. So here’s that prayer.

Jennie Allen: 3:01

This isn’t some show. We’re here to come perform God. This is a night that we are praying that lives would be changed for eternity. And so, spirit, we invite you here, we ask you to come, we ask you to change this campus, we ask you to change each of us.

Margaret Ereneta: 3:23

What Jennie did next was a very powerful visual for the students to see the sin that might be holding them in bondage, and they actually talked about repentance and confessed sins to one another to prepare themselves for the night, which it was even more spectacular. T he music we’re featuring tonight is all from the event done by Elevation Rhythm. And then it was JP’s turn to share, and he challenged the students to stop simply going through the motions to actually live out their faith. He took them through John 14: 6, to not just believe it but to live it and share it. Here he is.

Jennie Allen: 4:33

Maybe you’re here, you’re a Christian, but you’re not living your purpose. Purpose, and you know you’re not. You know you’re just going through the motions, you’re doing the things, but, man, I’m just burdened for us, because the thing that kept me from becoming a Christian is thinking I was one. It’s a familiar verse, John 14. It’s the one where he says I’m the way, the truth and the life. And I’m just asking the question what does it mean if we actually believe that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life? It means we’re ready, it means we’ve accepted him as the truth and we share it, and we understand that there is no life found apart from him. Like that, that’s all there is. Like that’s what we have to do, sharing the gospel with every single person in proximity of you. Like, like what about saying, hey, I’m going to the mission field now to lay it all on the line? Like what if we went on offense and we lived out our purpose?

Margaret Ereneta: 5:38

Friends, you might be a bit skeptical about real change happening at a scheduled worship service like this, but rest assured. There is real fruit here. You’ll hear from Matt later, who was at event, t alk about his new mission for God and a career change. But before we get to Matt, let me tell you this was amazing. Almost 250 decisions for Christ followed JP’s plea Tonya Prewett and shared on CBN that one of those new believers was an atheist who just followed a throng of students to Foster Pavilion and became a new believer in the Lord that night, after many came to receive Jesus. Next, JP challenged the Christians to start actually living for Jesus.

Jonathan Pokluda: 6:39

Don’t make it perfect, make it yours. He says anything, you see, I can wash it.

Margaret Ereneta: 6:52

When we thought it was done, there was more. Tonya and Jennie came out to tell the crowd they weren’t actually done. They said this hasn’t happened at other Unite meetings, but they felt called to challenge the students to do hard things for God, be on mission overseas in ministry here and lead movements of their own. What followed was a stage so full of students, one told me she had to stand off stage as they shared stories and were commissioned. Students were taking turns with the microphone, challenging one another to go all out for Jesus. One student told the crowd she was tired of her way. I’m putting myself down, taking up my cross and following him wherever he wants me. But then folks, Matt took the stage. He shared how he is foregoing the pursuit of law to go on mission to unreached people in Africa. Here’s a little of what he said.

Matt Baksa: 7:47

The Lord of the harvest to send his laborers into the harvest field.

Margaret Ereneta: 7:51

We just had to talk to him and by the grace of God we did, and you’ll hear from him in a little bit. But first let’s finish the night. All of Foster Pavilion then left the building to witness baptisms outside. It was so cool to witness. One girl told me she was sick of taking for granted all the Christians around her and decided to join their team. Another one had hidden her faith from her family and had decided to go public with baptism that night. Here’s a little baptism for you.

Margaret Ereneta: 8:30

We went to Unite US Baylor so you could experience it and wanted to make sure you got a firsthand account from a student. So we sat down with Matt Baksa, that student called to go to Africa, about UniteUS. Matt became a believer his first year at Baylor at an event called FM 72, which is 72 hours of prayer at Fountain Mall, right in the center of campus. It’s another event that Jennie Allen is involved with. Now a senior, he talks about how he got called from pre-law to missions. Quite a different trajectory.

Matt Baksa: 9:03

I go to Harris Creek Baptist Church, so my head pastor is Jonathan Pokluda, which is a really amazing thing, and I’m very fortunate to be able to go to a church led by a man like that. I first heard about Unite when he came back Unite Auburn, and was able to tell the story to the church of hundreds upon hundreds of college students getting baptized in the beds of pickup trucks and I was blown away by that, because at Baylor being able to be faithfully led by people like JP there’s a lot of gospel presence, I would say, on Baylor campus, and other campuses around the country desperately need people to go there and share the gospel.

Matt Baksa: 9:44

Also, I’m lucky enough to be at a church with a pastor that cares enough to go and share the gospel with those people. So that was the first time that I had heard about Unite. And then in September of last year 2024, I got to go to Unite at Texas A&M and that was a really cool, amazing experience to actually be a part of it there and witness hundreds of people come forward and receive Jesus and then hear about hundreds of people getting baptized. After I can honestly say that it was a spiritual environment unlike any that I’ve been in in a very long time probably ever Unite at Baylor versus Unite at any other place. It felt like the presence of God was like fully in the auditorium, with us.

Matt Baksa: 10:32

Originally walking into the auditorium I was unsure of what the event was going to look like because, being at a Christian school, knowing that one of the big figures that helps Unite be what it is is a head pastor in the area, I wasn’t exactly sure as to what it would be like. And then, when the event got started, I knew that it was going to be a special night.

Matt Baksa: 10:54

Just being able to worship with Elevation Rhythm was an amazing experience. And then hearing from Jenny Allen was amazing that message on Hebrews 12 that she shares about throwing off sin and confession. It’s so powerful because it’s just a reminder that verbalizing things and sharing is truly the path forward to escaping or conquering sin in our life. And then hearing JP just talking about being spiritually asleep and the need to stay awake, that was also a message that was much needed for us, and I think it’s showed by the fact that hundreds of people that claim to be Jesus followers who weren’t actually following Jesus, came forward and said I want to recommit my life, I want to stop being spiritually asleep and truly like the Spirit of God was on the move the entire time that the event was going on and after when people got baptized. It was a very moving experience. Overall, All I can say is a very convicting experience.

Matt Baksa: 11:50

I have this alarm on my phone at 10:02 pm. 10:02 representing the Bible verse Luke 10:2, where Jesus says “Therefore, pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send his laborers into his harvest. We were worshiping and my alarm went off in my pocket. I pulled my phone out and I saw the time and just the words pray for the harvest across my phone screen. And I looked over the audience in the lower sections, just all standing there with their hands up, just all standing there with their hands up.

Matt Baksa: 12:29

It was incredibly profound to just remember that there are people all over the world who are longing for an experience like this and then also being burdened with the reality that there are 3.4 billion people that will never have the opportunity to even accept the possibility of that without us going to tell them in the first place. So when Jenny came out and was like we’re not done yet. We have more people that we need to invite up here. That was what was going on in my head leading up to that, and just hearing the invitation for people to step forward and live their lives on spiritual offense, going forward and harvesting for God, rather than living on defense, trying not to sin, I felt truly like a deep sense of needing to go up there and do what I can.

Matt Baksa: 13:22

It was amazing. There was truly hundreds of people that had rushed the stage after Jenny said if you feel like your calling is to live for God and live in ministry or in missions like, if you feel like your calling is to other people, for the sake of the gospel, come forward just on the stage. And then to have probably 300 people flood the stage and just stand up there to show their faces and show the rest of the campus like, hey, I’m going to be here to stand in the gap for you when you need me to lead you well in the faith. That was an amazing experience to just stand there among many people who were my friends and just be able to look at the people in the crowd and say I want to carry you when you’re down on the mat.

Margaret Ereneta: 14:11

Next, Matt shares with us how he got called to missions.

Matt Baksa: 14:15

A few months after I was first saved, I was challenged to go on a mission trip. Later, our mission staff member challenged me to go on a mission trip to the unreached, and going on that mission trip and sitting in the weight and conviction of being in a city full of people who are completely unreached and don’t know the gospel was a challenge unlike anything I’ve ever experienced before in my life, where we met somebody who was highly interested in hearing about what we had to say and then the next day, less than 24 hours after meeting him, one of the people on our trip went and did a Bible study with him and he came to the faith.

Matt Baksa: 14:51

He accepted Jesus that day and less than two hours after that moment, he came back and got baptized and I got to bear witness to that, reflecting on that, recognizing that that never would have happened if we didn’t fundraise, fly overseas and coming back from that, it was like a rock in my shoe that I was unable to get rid of, so I would just continue to pray for the nations. That rock in my shoe grew to the point where I started to understand that going to the unreached and making a lifestyle and using your life leveraging it for the sake of glorifying God among the nations is something that is a path forward for people.

Matt Baksa: 15:30

So in about August of 2024, I decided not to go to law school. I chose to start pursuing a path in ministry instead, through mobilization and then possibly missions. And now, at this point in time, I do feel like my conviction is to move overseas, understanding that the gospel is almost like saturated our country and our land, and just going to a place and having a conversation with somebody who’s never heard it before and we’ll never hear it if we’re not there and then that person comes to faith. It reminds me a lot of the parable of the lost sheep, where we live among the 99. And I feel like what God’s calling us to do is to move into the land where there’s the one person that’s waiting to be found, and God wants us to participate in that, which I think is really cool, and I want to participate in it because God wants me to.

Margaret Ereneta: 16:24

Folks, I’m encouraged and challenged by what Matt says next, and I work for a missions organization called One Way and we do serve in Africa. Just know, folks, Gen Z, they’ve got the fire from the Lord. It’s so exciting.

Matt Baksa: 16:39

There’s countries with somewhere near 45 million people that have maybe 27 long-term workers living there at the current moment, but regardless, the proportion among the unreached is just unacceptable.

Matt Baksa: 16:53

Today, being willing to be led by God is something that was extremely important to us up on the stage, but also recognizing how hard that’s going to be, god best uses that burden by sending me out to the nations rather than trying to have me get a law degree to be an advocate for people legally here. He wants me to be a spiritual advocate for people where they have none. So that’s a challenge to us to be harvesters.

Matt Baksa: 17:22

But also, the first thing that Christ says, immediately after saying that the laborers are few, is that we need to pray, therefore. So the first thing that I wanted to encourage people to do, and the first thing that I feel called to do, is to pray above all else, because nothing can be done without abundant prayer. And what are we praying for? We’re praying for God to raise up people to go and share where there are none, which is a very important thing to pray for. It’s a thing that needs to be done in this world, and praying for it is something that everyone can do.

Margaret Ereneta: 17:58

See the link in our show notes for PrayerCast so you can pray for the nations too and see lots of links to UniteUS and other exciting movement. And see lots of links to Unite US and other exciting movement. Thanks for listening today. We’ll be back soon with Season 4 of 180. The best way to find it is to follow us on your favorite pod player.

Listen to the show: https://one80podcast.com/listen/