Forget about the Easter Bunny and straw baskets filled withplastic grass, pastel-died eggs and marshmallow peeps. Fromcommunity outreaches to film screening, college students in CampusCrusade for Christ are finding unique ways to spread the message ofEaster on their campuses.

Campus Crusade for Christ is anon-denominational organization committed to exposing collegestudents to the gospel. According to Nathan Dunn director ofcommunications at Campus Crusade for Christ, during the Easterseason, many of Campus Crusade for Christ’s chapters areplanning events around Mel Gibson’s The Passion of theChrist.

“The release of this movie has provideda unique opportunity this year for members to plan eventsaround.”

To help answer questions about thecontroversial movie, the organization has distributed 200,000 freecopies of a newly released flip book containing More Than aCarpenter by Josh Mc Dowell on one side, and The Life ofJesus, a compilation of scripture from the four gospels, on theother.

“We recognize that many of their [CampusCrusade for Christ members] friends will be asking questions aboutChrist and we’ve provided these materials to help them answerthose questions,” Dunn said.

According to Gladys Hillman, associate campusdirector for Campus Crusade for Christ in Atlanta, group members atSpelman College are planning a women’s meeting to fosterdiscussions about how a woman’s relationship with God relatesto her self-concept of inner and outer beauty. Attendees will beeligible for a chance to win two tickets to see Mel Gibson’sThe Passion of the Christ.

Also in the works at Clark Atlanta Universityis an information campaign that will help introduce Christ to morestudents on campus.

“After the [Easter] Chapel service wewant to give out a Christian article about what it means to be aChristian and how to maintain a relationship with God,”Hillman said.

The Impact Movement, is a nationwide campusministry in partnership with Campus Crusade for Christ that reachesout to African American students.

According to William Griffin, campus directorof Impact Movement at Howard University, the group has planned acommunity outreach with Trinity Baptist Church.

During the afternoon, members will work withchildren on developing a play or skit that teaches them the truemeaning of Easter.

“Our mission is one of evangelism andgrowth of faith through discipleship,” Griffin said.”That [Easter Saturday] morning we are going to train localchurch members how to share the faith, going through the points ofhow to effectively share the gospel.”