RUNNING
Club:
A HOME FOR EVANGELIZATION
Every day, outside of the Ambler Student Recreation Center, students gather to run with the running club. While they know they are signing up for a physical challenge, they are sometimes most impacted by the spiritual challenge that the running club offers.
While Gillig is now a member of the Catholic faith, there are still many students who are skeptical of what the Church has to offer. Landon Knaup has been running with the group for two years and has said that being around Christians has opened his eyes, but still doesn’t know what to believe.
Over the past couple of years, the running club has been known to be a home for evangelization at KU. The club is made up of students from every walk of life, but Jesus seems to make it into the conversation more days than not.
“The type of person that would change their worldview that drastically and accept something that requires so many different sacrifices, it is a sign that there is something going on with Christianity in my opinion,” Knaup said. “It is at the very least worth looking into, and there is something to it.”
Fallon Russell a junior studying Accounting has said, “It has really just been this home for people to be shown who Christ is and the power He has in our lives. It has been a segway for runners coming to Christ.”
No matter where they are at with their running or faith journeys, they know that they have the love and support of their teammates in the running club. “It’s honestly been really great to walk with them on their journey in faith and see where they began to where they are now,” Russell said.
The students in the running club use the same practices that are taught in the monthly mission formation meetings that are offered at the St. Lawrence Center. They build a foundation built on community and grow from there.
As the older students head toward graduation, there isn’t a worry that their faith will be dropped from the running club. Gillig is very confident in the younger runners and their ability to keep Jesus in the group.
Ben Gillig is a recent graduate of KU credits the running club to his conversion to Catholicism. He was able to connect with like-minded individuals and started to attend events at the St. Lawrence Center with friends.
“Seeing those new guys take the lead from us is encouraging,” Gillig said. For any students who are looking to get involved, they can join the group every day at 4:30 pm outside of the rec.
“One of them ended up converting to the Catholic faith, and from there I kind of became more curious as well and ended up converting as well,” Gillig said. 6
