Business students collaborate with nonprofit to uncover marketing findings and help share the Good News

Statistics, spreadsheets, and PowerPoints may seem mundane to average college students, but to three Liberty University students in the School of Business, these rudiments were the propellants to advance the Kingdom of God in a unique way.

Senior Meghan Walter didn’t realize the eternal impact of using marketing data before she joined a marketing analytics course (BUSI 453). As a group assignment, students partner with a company to conduct marketing research. Walter and her group collaborated with The Pocket Testament League (TPTL), an international nonprofit dedicated to sharing the love of Jesus through distributing pocket-size versions of the Gospel of John.

Since February, the team has worked to validate the League’s belief that its members are truly set apart in their commitment to God’s Word and sharing their faith.

“It was really cool, because what my team is doing will give this nonprofit the information to create more partnerships to get the Gospel of John out to more people,” Walter said, “and that will create an eternal impact. … All because I helped make some spreadsheets when I was 20.”

Mollie Yoder (’08, ’12), membership director for the League, had a hunch that the nonprofit’s members were genuinely unique in their seeking after Jesus, faithfully contributing to a church, and regularly reading their Bibles. This forecast, however, needed data verification.

“We needed help actually conducting the study,” said Yoder, who received her Bachelor of Science in Communications: Advertising and Public Relations and her graduate degree in Management and Leadership. “We wanted it to be third party so that it was objective. And as an alum, I really wanted to look for ways to give practical, real-world experience to Liberty students.”

Walter and fellow seniors Sarah Anderson and Alexia Karam created their own survey for League members, gauging their habits around Scripture reading and sharing their faith, as well as their adherence to a biblical worldview. They evaluated the survey submissions to determine how many were faithfully involved in church attendance, prayer, Scripture reading, and volunteer service compared with Christians who filled out nationwide religious surveys conducted by the Barna Group.

Their research showed a stronger adherence to faith disciplines compared with the Barna survey. The team found that League members are 20 percent more likely to share their faith weekly and 50 percent more likely to read their Bible weekly outside of church. In fact, 7 out of 10 League Members are reading their bible daily and sharing their faith one or more times a month.

“These findings allow us to tell a more compelling story, which will engage supporters and energize our community,” Yoder said. “(The League) has some pretty big God-sized visions, and this data set is a critical part in delivering to those visions.”

The League is hoping to spur its tens of thousands of members to share Jesus more than 130 million times by 2030, and the study will provide the League a better understanding of its members’ behavior.

The students presented their finalized data to League CEO David Collum on May 1 via Microsoft Teams.

“We could not be more grateful to Liberty University’s School of Business for its help in quantifying — through the data — the great value that The League is providing thousands of Christ followers across the globe and helping us demonstrate how League members are capable of reaching this goal,” Collum said.

Walter said working alongside an organization provided a vessel to learn about the real world and gain concrete exposure that she would not obtain in a classroom.

“What’s really cool about this class is that it’s all hands-on,” Walter said. “The professors are guiding us, but we’re the ones making the spreadsheets.”

Even when Virginia Gov. Northam’s social restrictions prevented in-class participation and all classes were moved online, those limits did not stop the three business students from finishing their project remotely, using WebEx and Microsoft Teams to communicate.

Despite learning from a distance and communicating in a different format, the students successfully contributed to a practical cause beyond academia.

“The purpose behind this project is just amazing,” Walter said. “It’s fulfilling in a more spiritual way. … It’s really cool how statistics can have an eternal impact. No one really thinks of statistics in that way.”

“I have thoroughly enjoyed working on this independent, hands-on project with my fellow classmates,” Anderson added. “It is very exciting to know that our work will help show the value that The Pocket Testament League has to offer both individuals and churches.”

The School of Business and other schools and departments across the university are intentional about providing practical experience for students who will enter growing, competitive markets following graduation.

“Within the School of Business, we continually embrace real-world opportunities as a method for immersing students in their field of study,” said Dr. Chris Huseman, the course instructor. “It is a testament to the education offered by Liberty University that an alumna, such as Mollie, would invite our students to be so involved in such an important market research study with the Pocket Testament League. We are continually preparing our students to lead, to showcase their critical thinking skills, and face real-world challenges head on.”

“I am so proud of this team of students,” he added. “They have worked hard, collaborated as a team, and given The Pocket Testament League insights into the value of their membership that will positively contribute to the Kingdom of God.”