Exclusive Interview: Kyla Deitz & the role of questions

Last time Kyla shared about how her attitude towards those who don’t know Jesus has changed through her exposure to P2C-Students. This time we dive into how God has been using her as she takes the initiative to help her friends journey toward Jesus.

P2C Blog: In what ways has God been using you in the lives of your friends and classmates to help them discover Jesus?

Kyla: I used to refer to the College of Engineering as a “dark, dark place.” This year however, I have been incredibly encouraged to see God’s light shining into the lives of people who are analytical, extremely technical and scientific thinkers.

A huge part of my ministry within the college has been engaging classmates in conversations. Having conducted surveys and worked at a number of P2C booths and events over the past two years, my classmates are very aware of my faith. Something that has been really cool has been getting to share that in day-to-day conversations.

I’ve found that God has given me incredible opportunities to speak into people’s lives, and it’s been cool to see how engaged people will become in discussing questions like:
“What is the meaning and purpose of life?”,
“Why do people believe what they believe?”,
“Do all religions point to God?”, and
“How do we verify sources of truth?”, even in the mere minutes between classes or during labs.

The ever-growing Perspective card game

P2C Blog: I heard that something exciting occurred while P2C was hosting a Perspective outreach on your campus. What happened?

Kyla: Yes, recently our campus did the Perspective Outreach. As part of this, I had a deck of the Perspective cards with me when I was studying with a friend one day. She and I had only ever scratched the surface of faith discussions, so I thought this would be a cool opportunity to learn more. She agreed to go through the cards with me “to help me practise for the people who really needed it”, but didn’t seem thrilled at the idea.

We were about half way through what quickly became a great discussion, when another friend entered the room. This friend had always expressed skepticism to me about Christianity, so when I explained to her that we were engaging in questions about worldview using this deck of cards, she leaned over to my participating friend with a piece of advice: “You shouldn’t play that card game with Kyla, there’s no way you’ll win.”

She sat down and “studied” while listening to the rest of the conversation. As we wrapped up, she asked me to pass her the deck. Searching through the deck, she selected a card for her answer to the question What is the nature of God? and then asked me, “What next?”

Even though she said she didn’t want to talk about faith, she was interested to see what I thought about her beliefs. We had barely started to go through the cards when another two classmates walked in.

Curious, they asked what we were doing, exclaimed “Do me next!”, then started going through the deck.

Even though she said she didn’t want to talk about faith, she was interested to see what I thought about her beliefs.

In the end, I was able to go through the cards with my skeptical friend and the two newcomers at the same time. I was able to share the gospel with those three as well as my first participant.

It was such a humbling experience to get to hear their honest stance on life, and so exhilarating to get to share my faith in a way that got the response of “I’ve never thought about it like that before”.

Since then, my most skeptical friend has continued asking me questions, wanting to know why I make the decisions I do and what my opinions are on a variety of topics. This has been a growing experience for me (to say the least) when our conversations touch a more controversial social issue. I’ve been blessed by the vulnerability that she has shown in sharing aspects of her life with me.

P2C Blog: That is so encouraging! Amazing what can happen when we take a step of faith!

Next time we ask…

Stay tuned for our final section of this interview when we ask Kyla to share her challenges and tips when it comes to evangelism, and what she thinks bringing  Jesus into the work-place after graduation will mean.