Students filed into Pruis Hall on Wednesday night with questions and speculations. The "Do You Agree with Tyler?" campaign supported by Campus Crusade for Christ was at its climax, but the procession throughout the previous weeks had offered little aid in explaining the outreach's intent.
All the hype from the previous weeks came to its crux last night when "I Agree with Tyler" held a presentation in Pruis Hall to announce Tyler Yoder, the principal student ambassador for the campaign. Yoder began with an informal tone but important message: "Hey everyone. My name is Tyler, and I am a senior business major from Middlebury, Indiana. I'm glad to see you all here, and I hope you're glad to see me."
The "I Agree with Tyler" crusade began outwardly promoting its movement on Ball State University's campus with paper media on Sunday, Oct. 11. By 9 p.m. that night, the tell-tale orange fliers were posted all around campus in dining and residence halls, bulletin boards and near the Scramble Light.
Sophomore Leanne Fabellar was in charge of paper media for the outreach. Under her supervision, volunteering students plastered the campus with 2,300 fliers on Sunday, Tuesday and the following Saturday. Thirty or more students were present each night to help distribute the material around Ball State, and Fabellar said she was ecstatic with the results.
"It was awesome to see people sacrifice their time each night to do the work of the Lord," she said. "When people you would never expect to come show up with the intention of extending his kingdom, it brings us closer together."
Electronic media began on Sunday, and junior Matt Novak was glad to accept chief responsibility for this element of the campaign. Novak posted accounts on Facebook and Twitter and made fan pages to spike conversation about the campaign. He also made YouTube videos to generate questioning about the upcoming event.
Beginning Monday students around campus wore one of the 330 orange T-shirts sold in the previous weeks that boldly read "I Agree with Tyler." By sending this message, they chose to be a witness to the program's objective. Students were constantly asked about the purpose of "I Agree with Tyler" and got the chance to evangelize to their fellow classmates.
"People were texting and calling me all the time, telling me about their experiences, and it was really encouraging," Novak said.
At the presentation Tyler proceeded to describe his earlier beginnings in Christ, his involvement with the campaign and why he chose to be the "Tyler" that everyone would be talking about. In his earlier years, Tyler was involved in so many activities that he was focused on acceptance from his peers. His awards, trophies and lists of accomplishments provided only temporary satisfaction, and the endless cycle of insecurity he thought would be broken at college only rose with the ability to mask his imperfections. Tyler felt his character was manipulated until he was unsure of what he truly thought or believed. That is when he chose to put his full identity in God.
"If you think about it, if God really is who he says he is — the best thing in the universe — how could he not be the most satisfying thing? As creator, he is the one by whom all things find their definition and identity," Yoder said.
Yoder's goal for the outreach and for his life is to be as humble and kind as he can while boldly speaking the truth so as to reflect Christ and his evangelism.
"My hope and prayer is that you would consider these things and ultimately find your identity in Christ, in his goodness, and in his love," he told the students.
Megan Holbrook experienced her first CRU-supported event last night, and she was impressed by the way the campaign was concluded.
"I felt that tonight's event was very well organized and professional. Many controversial issues were discussed, and the answers were clearly stated without the intent of offending anyone," Holbrook said.
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