Howard McClusky once stated, "It can be said without danger of exaggeration that the ideology which captures the higher education of a nation will ultimately determine its mind and soul." Numerous studies have shown conclusively that a nation's higher educational system does indeed impact its society and culture. Of all the institutions, including government and the Church, the university is the most influential, because those who lead the nation are almost always products of the university.

According to The World Leader's Almanac, for the first time in history, over 95 percent of all world leaders and heads of state possess a university degree. If you want to reach a nation, you must reach its leaders, and tomorrow's leaders are in today's university classrooms. Reaching these future leaders is the mission of the International Institute for Christian Studies.

How does IICS measure its effectiveness for the Kingdom of God? This is an important and necessary question, one that every ministry must ask regularly. Unlike ministries such as Focus on the Family, which can measure its effectiveness by the number of cards and letters coming in from their radio program and books, or evangelistic ministries like the Jesus film which is able to give an exact number of how many people come to Christ after each showing, IICS's results are not always so easily quantifiable.

But still the question must be answered: How effectively is IICS impacting lives for the Kingdom of God?

1. We know IICS is effective because it is communicating a Christian worldview in key universities around the world.

It is clear that we could not work in a more strategic place for long-term impact than the university. In September 2004, Ravi Zacharias (a member of the IICS Board of Advisors and long-time advocate of the ministry) spoke at Christ Community Church in Leawood, Kansas, and he quoted this haunting statement from Victor Frankl, "The gas chambers of Auschwitz were the ultimate consequence of the theory that man is nothing but the product of heredity and environment….I am absolutely convinced that the gas chambers of Auschwitz, Treblinka, and Maidanek were ultimately prepared not in some Ministry or other in Berlin, but rather at the desks and in the lecture halls of nihilistic scientists and philosophers."

When we ask about the effectiveness of having Christian professors in secular universities, we must ask larger questions: How do we assess the cost of the Holocaust, which as Frankl points out, was ultimately the result of what was taught in the university? What has been the cost of Osama bin Laden, who was converted to a radical, hate-filled Islam in 1972 while attending the university by one of his professors? What has been the cost of Soviet-educated leaders such as Fidel Castro and Idi Amin? The world has paid a dreadful cost for the absence of godly professors teaching a Christian worldview in university classrooms.

The world must be confronted with the truth of Jesus Christ and a biblical worldview. As important as evangelizing is, evangelizing by itself is not enough. Several African nations, such as Rwanda, were thoroughly evangelized but were not taught a Christian worldview on power, government and the value of human life. These evangelized nations are stark evidence that we dare not stop with evangelism. We must proclaim the whole counsel of God which includes the difference Christ's Lordship makes in business, in government, in medicine, in education and in all of living and learning. This is the strategic role which IICS professors who are teaching across the whole range of disciplines fulfill: they are proclaiming the Lordship of Christ in all these areas and explaining what this means and how to live it out.

The university classroom is one of the most critical change-points in the world. The two-square-foot space behind the lectern is one of the most strategic locations in the world for impacting cultures and for shaping lives. In no other place in the universe can you be so sure you are influencing future influencers-leaders for the home, politics, business, government, culture, philanthropy, media, military and the Church.

For negative evidence of this fact, think of the number of people, even in "Christian" America who say, "I lost my faith when I went off to college." According to some estimates, as many as 75% of university students in the US who profess Christ as freshmen, no longer do so when they graduate. Sadly, this is evidence that what students are taught affects them. For good or for ill, students are shaped by what they are taught in the university classroom-the nexus of influence on the university campus.

History proves that world leaders were impacted by what they learned in a university. The most recent illustration of the impact of a university professor on a student is that of Osama bin Laden. Bin Laden enjoyed a life of leisure and wealth as he headed off to King Abdul-Aziz University to study engineering and business. But during his junior year he met a Palestinian-born professor, Abdallah Azzam. Azzam was a passionate communicator; his religious zeal was evidenced by his fasting, praying and studying of the Koran. A young receptive bin Laden became a radical Muslim because of the influence of one university instructor, and on September 11 that influence reverberated around the world.

So two things are clear:

• Students are changed by what they are taught in the university.
• Cultures are changed by what is taught in the university.

This is why so many Christian leaders have endorsed the IICS strategy. After meeting several of the IICS professors and listening to them report on their work, Dr. Os Guinness said, "The IICS work is one of the most extraordinary mission movements in the world today. It is costly, and often it will not see huge immediate returns, but it is a rare farsighted and remarkable work that is sowing seeds of unimaginable significance. I couldn't be more supportive."

IICS has over 40 full-time evangelical professors teaching more than 5,000 students in sixteen nations. These godly professors influence the future leaders of those nations by praying for their students, opening their homes for times of Bible study, evangelism, discipleship and apologetics, earning the right to be heard through their excellent teaching and sharing their love and faith in Jesus Christ with students as well as fellow faculty members.

In many of the universities where IICS works, the IICS professor is the first educated and intelligent Christian the students have ever met. Students are highly impressionable. They will be shaped either by deconstructionism and relativism or by the articulate presentation of Christ and biblical truth. The IICS professor makes a critical difference for these students.

Besides, if an IICS professor isn't standing in that classroom, someone with a worldview based on communism, Islam, Buddhism or humanism will be. And as history proves, the professor's worldview and values will shape the students' future.

2. We know IICS is effective because every professor and spouse is carefully screened for evidences of maturity, preparedness and effectiveness in their personal, spiritual and professional lives.

IICS only appoints nine out of every 100 individuals who contact us about teaching. Dr. Luder Whitlock, a member of the IICS Board of Advisors, declares that IICS has one of the tightest hiring grids of any Christian college or seminary in the country. So we are placing highly-qualified, personally-effective individuals in teaching positions in one of the most strategic institutions in the world-the university.

3. We know IICS is effective because we document through regular required reports the impact of each professor's life and ministry.

IICS has one of the most rigorous systems of personnel evaluation of any missions organization. So, as with any educational organization, although we often cannot measure immediate outcomes, we can measure whether our professors are doing the right things-actions which should lead to impact and effectiveness. These include activities such as leading Bible studies, evangelism, preaching, mentoring, academic presentations promoting a Christian worldview and projects applying a Christian worldview to issues in the culture, environment, ethics, racial reconciliation and social justice.

We do this by requiring quarterly activity reports, an annual report and an annual comprehensive personal and professional evaluation. These reports help us to continually evaluate on-going personal and professional effectiveness. If a professor is not maintaining effectiveness in the classroom and through ministering outside the classroom, he is not permitted to continue serving with IICS.

Our regular professor reports provide abundant evidence that IICS professors are having a life-changing impact on many people in a number of areas such as evangelism and pre-evangelism, discipleship, Bible studies, apologetics, training both clergy and laypeople for ministry and missions, public policy and ethics, curriculum reform, business, social justice and the promotion and application of a Christian worldview across a wide range of fields.

Here are some examples (in some cases, pseudonyms have been used for the security of our faculty):

• Drs. Robert and Dana Carlson (science, China) have led several of their students to Christ. They describe Ja, one of the new converts, and how he has been transformed, even in his physical appearance. "Before this he looked like a defeated person. He was always stooped over, looked at the floor, and rarely talked. He is still fairly quiet, but he talks eagerly with both of us about the Lord….Most amazingly, he stands upright, smiles broadly, and looks like a new person. It is clear that Christ has been formed in him."
• Dr. Laura Savage (women's studies, Romania) was amazed at the hunger for God many of her university students exhibited. After one of the numerous Christmas parties Laura hosted in her tiny apartment, one student Amelita wrote of Laura, "she is the best example. She taught us how to ask for God's help and more importantly, how to express our gratitude to God." Amelita closed by declaring, "Thank you, God, for giving us Laura. Thank you, Laura, for giving us God!!!"
• Dr. Teri McCarthy and Dr. Cliff Schimmels (education, China) directed the first curriculum reform project in China since 1949. As a result of their close work with their Chinese colleague, Mrs. Huang, their department head, came to know Christ. She is now evangelizing and discipling all over her campus and using the Bible to teach her students. According to a recent Westerner visiting the campus, "I have never seen a campus so on fire for Christ." This is at a key education university that will train thousands of teachers for China's public schools.
• Mark and Suzanne McDonald (business, China) host dozens of students in their small apartment each week. A few years ago, Mark was one of only twelve persons to be awarded with the prestigious Beijing Great Wall Friendship Award for outstanding service to the people and city of Beijing.
• John Dinsmore (business, engineering, SE Asia) held the first seminar on Jesus on campus in the history of their university in SE Asia. More than 2,000 students, mostly Muslims, received a New Testament, a VCD film on the life of Jesus filmed in India or a copy of the Gospels. The head of the university and many top officials attended. Dinsmore regularly quoted the words of Jesus in this Muslim nation.
• Dr. Teri McCarthy was teaching 120 university professors in Afghanistan when one of the professors insisted that she declare that "Muhammed is greater than Jesus." Through the exchange that followed, Teri declared her love and allegiance to Jesus. As a result some of the teachers asked to know more about Jesus.
• Dr. Danny McCain (Christian studies, Nigeria) discipled Obasanjo, the President of Nigeria, while Obasanjo was still a political prisoner. He still meets with Dr. McCain frequently and regularly helps promote IICS programs.
• Dr. Christina Taylor (philosophy, Lithuania) received an email from Marina, one of her students who said Christina has been "making a big difference in my life by showing how the believers live, why do they believe and what is significant in their faith which caused me to think deep about my own faith and purpose in life. Jane [one of Marina's other professors] saw some transformation in me too and I have attributed it to the influence of God through you and other people. If you had come to Lithuania to make a difference, you have surely made it for me."
• IICS professors in Nigeria provide training for CAPRO and other Nigerian mission organizations. The Nigerian missionaries are now reaching many unreached people groups all across West Africa. Tens of thousands of conversions have been documented by our students and those IICS has trained.

In evaluating the effectiveness of IICS professors it is significant to note that they are not only winning souls for Jesus Christ and discipling them, but they are applying biblical truth by impacting societies as a whole-changing individuals and transforming cultures.

Public Policy and Ethics

• Attorney David Louden (law, Kazakhstan) serves as an advisor to the Presidential Commission on the Further Humanization of the Criminal Law and Procedure. David is presenting an alternative to the classical punitive model for criminal law, based on a biblical worldview and a Restorative Justice Model.
• Dr. Danny McCain and other IICS personnel collaborated with leaders in Nigeria to convene a national congress on ethics in public and private life. Dr. McCain wrote a Covenant of Ethics which has been affirmed and signed by thousands of key Nigerian leaders and a curriculum which is being taught across the country. The covenant addressed such critical topics as business corruption, racism, tribalism, abuse of the environment and many other issues, from a biblical perspective.

Social Justice

• Dr. Adrian Helleman (Christian studies, Nigeria) recently wrote a book on social justice and righteousness for an African audience. This will be an important book in Nigeria, which is considered the most corrupt nation in the world for business practices by The Economist magazine's survey.

Promotion And Application Of A Christian Worldview

• Dr. Danny McCain (Christian studies, Nigeria) developed the IICS Faith-Based AIDS Awareness Program. This is a series of Bible studies on sexuality and abstinence outside of marriage, along with health information on sex and AIDS. President Obasanjo asked IICS to train instructors in every public school in Nigeria with this curriculum. He pledged $6 million from the Nigerian government for this $8 million project. Because we are working closely with Muslims on this program, we have many opportunities to proclaim the love of Christ to Muslims who have never heard before.
• Brian Burnett (business, Russia) taught business ethics using the Ten Commandments as his syllabus. One of his students, a young oil executive, Sergei Keryenko, later became the Prime Minister of Russia under President Yeltsin. "I know he heard the gospel," Burnett said, "because I told him."

Shaping Curriculum Design

• Dr. Danny McCain developed the Christian Religious Knowledge curriculum that is now impacting more than 800,000 students every week nationwide in Nigeria through the teachers IICS has trained. Dr. McCain has also written several textbooks on the Bible, theology and ministry that are being used now all over Africa. The African Christian Textbooks (ACTS) program that he developed sells $30,000 worth of books every month, has published 16 textbooks, has 30 employees and seven bookstores and makes thousands of sound evangelical books available all over Africa. (It is now a self-supporting ministry apart from IICS.)

Impacting Business Leaders

• Dr. Thomas Bateman (business, Vietnam), who taught business ethics to entrepreneurs and corporate leaders in Hanoi, was quoted regularly in CNN and Wall Street Journal Asia and has been featured in several international articles. As a professor at a Vietnam university he helped several of his students start businesses. He led several of his students and faculty colleagues Christ.
• John Dinsmore (SE Asia) taught business courses to leaders of corporations. He served as an advisor to the Minister of Energy.

4. We know IICS is effective because it maximizes the value of every dollar in a very cost-effective way.

Not only are IICS professors having a great impact in their ministry, but the organization as a whole is highly cost-effective. Since all our programs are based at secular universities, we do not have to invest a dime in brick-and-mortar. Instead our main investment can be in teachers-the most critical link in the educational process-as well as books and other educational resources. So in essence we are able to establish a Christian college or seminary on a public university campus using the government's buildings, their library and sometimes, even their support staff. Some universities provide round-trip airfare, housing and meals for the professors as well. Since we are there as guests of the government, they are responsible for our visas, work permits and other details that often cost missionaries time and money.

This is all done with a basic budget. During 2007-2008 with 42 professors on the field our total budget was $3.0 million. So the work of IICS not only has great impact, it is also highly cost-effective.

Conclusion

Peter Senge, professor at MIT's Sloan School of Management said, "Because service quality is intangible, there is a strong tendency to manage service businesses by focusing on what is most tangible: such as numbers of customers served, costs of providing the service, and revenues generated. But focusing on what's easily measured leads to 'looking good without being good'-to having measurable performance indicators that are acceptable yet not providing quality service," The Fifth Discipline.

Likewise, it is tempting and easy to reduce missions and funding to such ratios as the number of souls saved per dollar. But as Christian leaders such as Os Guinness have pointed out, this leads to a short-sighted and inadequate perspective on impact. This myopia has led evangelicals to often pursue programs with quick measurable results, all the while neglecting strategic institutions in the culture, such as the universities, which hold the key to long-term influence over individuals and societies.

Is IICS committed to evangelism and discipleship? Certainly, as any person who follows Jesus, must be. Indeed, individual IICS professors are daily seeking to draw men and women to Christ.

But IICS is firmly committed to a full-orbed, biblically-based view of the Lordship of Christ and His Kingdom which understands that Christian individuals and organizations are called to exert a redemptive influence in transforming cultures and effecting change for Christ at the highest possible levels of society. Any effort to "save souls" without also declaring the difference the Lordship of Christ makes in economics, psychology, education and law is a truncated, short-sighted, unbiblical quick-fix. Jesus is the Redeemer not just of hearts, but of minds, bodies, cultures, indeed, of all Creation.

IICS is called to the university. It is at the university that we have the privilege of molding and shaping the worldview of tomorrow's leaders. We have abundant evidence that the International Institute for Christian Studies is making a difference-spiritually, academically, culturally, even physically-in both the hearts and minds of students and leaders.

As is often said, "Ideas have consequences." All over the world today secular professors are proclaiming that there is no such thing as truth, people are only biological-chemical beings, life evolved by chance, there are no moral laws to be obeyed, there is no God, all that exists is matter. The relentless teaching of these lies over the past several decades has re-shaped our world, and is now affecting even the Christian world. The world is living on the basis of these lies which have been promoted by the universities of the world.

As believers, we must evangelize, but we must do more than evangelize. We must place articulate, Christ-like, bold professors in the world's universities to state the case for truth, the case for right and wrong, the case for creation, and the case for Christ.

We know the IICS ministry is effective because:

1. IICS is communicating a Christian worldview in key universities around the world.

2. Every IICS professor and spouse is carefully screened for evidences of maturity, preparedness and effectiveness in their personal, spiritual and professional lives.

3. IICS systematically documents the impact of each professor's life and ministry.

4. IICS maximizes the value of every dollar in a very cost-effective way.

However, through prayer, strategic planning, and seeking wise counsel, we continually seek ways we can become more effective as we minister in the classroom and in the broader world. The task truly deserves our utmost for His highest.