Go Make Disciples: Engaging the Campus for Christ

“When I was a child, my parents told me that I was a Christian, but I knew nothing about being one,” recalled Gilbert. “We were so exposed to Islam that I sometimes thought Christianity and Islam were the same religion. I can still recite by heart the five pillars of Islam and The Lord’s Prayer because they both were taught at my school.”

Gilbert learned to accept these tensions even as he attended a Christian church later in middle school. It was not until high school that Gilbert came to terms with his need for Jesus and surrendered his life to him. However, his journey to that point was anything but conventional for a boy from West Papua.

Finding Life in Rural Missouri

As a high schooler, Gilbert assumed he would study in Jakarta, Jogja, or perhaps the Philippines where the rest of his friends would go for their education. His English was limited so moving to the U.S. was not part of his plan, until the Lord opened an unexpected door to study abroad.

“One day, some of my friends and I stopped by to watch students take the English test in town where my mom was working,” recounted Gilbert. “To get rid of the remaining tests, she had us sit down and take the test along with a couple thousand other students. The only English I knew then was from mama’s karaoke machine and my favorite movie, ‘Tarzan.’ I wasn’t even trying to pass the test, but somehow, when the test results came in, I was told that I had been selected to study abroad. The exchange students program put out my application, and a family from rural Missouri selected my application, welcoming me into their home.”

The Hartman family, Gilbert’s host family in Missouri, had often housed exchange students, but that year, they were hoping to host a student from Indonesia because a couple in their church was considering mission work there. In God’s providence, the Hartman’s found Gilbert, and through them, Gilbert found access to faithful gospel teaching.

The Hartman’s one “house rule” was that their students would attend church with them on Sundays, so Gilbert started going to church with them. Over the next couple of years, Gilbert learned English and learned the Bible, which God used to draw Gilbert to himself.

“It was amazing how God used a completely different culture and language to reveal himself to me,” marveled Gilbert. “When I used to read the Bible in Bahasa Indonesian, the story always created more questions, and I never understood it fully. But the Bible made so much sense in English. I found myself fully submerged in the story and always felt the presence of the Lord as I read it. I eventually gave my life fully to Christ during my senior year in high school.”

Training to Serve in Community

As a new believer excited to serve, Gilbert joined a college ministry at Missouri Western State University where he attended. At one of the college ministry events, Gilbert met his wife Amber, and they were married two years later in 2014.

Over the next few years, as God began to grow their family, Gilbert and Amber got involved in ministry at their local church, where Gilbert became the ministry worship leader. While at that church, Gilbert was discipled by his pastor who encouraged him to consider seminary. Gilbert wanted to study the doctrine of worship, so when they found Southeastern’s worship leadership program, they knew they had found where Gilbert needed to train.

In 2018, Gilbert, Amber, and their two girls Maye and Ollie moved into campus housing in Wake Forest, eager for a new season of learning and growth. Within their first few weeks on campus, the Imbiris were already being welcomed into the Southeastern community, and God used that community to encourage their hearts and reinforce what Gilbert was learning in the classroom.

“Southeastern’s community in the classroom and in our neighborhood has shaped and deepened our love for the Lord and for the gospel,” commented Gilbert. “My classes challenged me but that helped my ministry and spiritual growth.”

Two weeks after moving to campus, Gilbert and Amber learned she was pregnant with twins (Brethson and Brazen). The support and encouragement of their Southeastern family helped them adjust to new rhythms as a growing family and to flourish as disciple makers.

“Living in seminary housing has been so impactful for Amber and the kids,” added Gilbert. She often says that she doesn’t know how she would have made it through those early years with the twins without this community. We didn’t know what friends we would need, but the Lord has provided them in our next-door neighbors and friends in this community who live intentionally with us and with one another.”

We didn’t know what friends we would need, but the Lord has provided them in our next-door neighbors and friends in this community who live intentionally with us and with one another.

While a student at Southeastern, Gilbert worked at a local Chick-fil-A, where he applied what he was learning about theology, counseling, and pastoral care as he served the public and invested in his coworkers. Gilbert also led worship at his local church, applying his training to serve his church family and disciple others toward growth in Christ. For Gilbert, this season of seminary training offered him not only a time to learn but also a time to serve and to pass on what he was learning.

Returning Home with the Gospel

The semester before Gilbert graduated, Southeastern announced a mission trip to Southeast Asia, near where Gilbert had grown up. Gilbert jumped at the chance to return for the first time in 14 years — this time as a missionary changed by the gospel of Jesus Christ. So, two months after graduating, Gilbert returned to Southeast Asia with a team from Southeastern to share the hope that he had found in Christ.

“On the trip, I had the great privilege of sharing my testimony for the first time in my native language,” recalled Gilbert. “I was able to connect with some Indonesian believers in the city and help with their Bahasa service that following Sunday, leading in worship and sharing my story of how I came to know the Lord.”

“The trip was a reminder of the brokenness of this world — even in a place that I know so dearly,” added Gilbert. “My heart is broken for these people who have no hope in life, blinded by their religion and confused about their beliefs. I was broken to know that some of these people were my people.”

For Gilbert, joining his Southeastern family on mission so close to his home country was a beautiful culmination of his training at Southeastern. That experience reinforced so many of the lessons he had learned in class and in campus housing, reminding him to make disciples right where God has placed him.

“We are all called to go,” noted Gilbert. “Since the trip with Southeastern, I’ve been thinking, ‘How can we think globally but start locally?’ My heart and desire will always be to reach the people in my home country and share the love of Christ with them, but how can I be more intentional now where God has place me? This trip and my time at Southeastern have encouraged me to be more intentional with the people around me, including several of my friends that I work with who also need Christ.”

This trip and my time at Southeastern have encouraged me to be more intentional with the people around me, including several of my friends that I work with who also need Christ.

Engaging the Campus for Christ

As God was using Southeastern to teach Gilbert everyday missional intentionality, he was also preparing Gilbert for ministry on a major college campus. Through a mutual friend at seminary, Gilbert connected with a pastor in Virginia who later invited him to join his church planting team in Blacksburg, Virginia. During his last year of seminary, Gilbert and his family found ways to support and serve the church plant from afar and on occasional weekends, praying that God would send them there once he graduated.

As they prayed for the church plant and its surrounding community, God placed the nearby campus of Virginia Tech on their hearts. Gilbert and Amber had been feeling drawn to campus ministry for years because of how God had used their college years and college ministry to grow their faith, make them serious about discipleship, and confirm their call to ministry. So, in July of 2023, Gilbert and Amber attended an orientation with CRU where they sensed God confirming their desire to partner with the church plant in Blacksburg and reach the Virginia Tech campus for Christ.

That confirmation began a year-long journey of ongoing prayer, training, and support-raising to move to Blacksburg and begin making disciples on Virginia Tech’s campus. As they continue to raise support and prepare to move with their four young children, Gilbert and Amber are intentional about discipling and encouraging their kids through the process.

“One of the ways we are trying to shepherd the hearts of our kids is by reminding them of who God is and his faithfulness,” shared Gilbert. “As we prepare to move and we face worries about what’s to come, we talk a lot about God’s provision in our move to Southeastern. We didn’t know anyone or how much the Lord would bless us when we moved here. We didn’t know the friends and community that would become so dear to us. We remind our kids and ourselves that he is faithful and that he will provide for us once again.”

As we prepare to move and we face worries about what’s to come, we talk a lot about God’s provision in our move to Southeastern.

As the Imbiris plan to move to Blacksburg later this year, they are thankful for their season of training and community of support at Southeastern, where they learned to make disciples with everyday intentionality. As they move, the Imbiris ask their Southeastern family to continue praying for them and the work God will do in and through them on Virginia Tech’s campus.

“Amber and I are so excited to serve the students at Virginia Tech,” noted Gilbert. “We can’t wait to be on the field, sharing the love of Christ and discipling the next generation to be ambassadors of Christ. We need an army of believers to partner with us, encourage us, and pray for us as we are preparing to run the race that is set before us. Would you pray for us to have patience as we wait for God’s timing and as we raise support? Pray that God will continue to surprise us with the kindness of his mercy and continue to lavish his blessings in our lives.”

Would you join us in praying for the Imbiris as they prepare to go make disciples at Virginia Tech?