Stephen Marcon found Ratio Christi at Rice University and became a key member of the chapter. He has a mind with a natural ability towards apologetics and evangelism, so he joined early and was a regular member of the team.  He became an officer and served many times in meetings and outreach efforts.  We found that we could depend on Stephen as a regular, not only in chapter meetings but as a leader to help plane the ongoing efforts of the chapter.  Stephen was knowledgeable about many topics, including the proofs for God and defense of the New Testament. He was not shy when a witnessing situation arose. Stephen earned an electrical engineering degree and plans to continue using the skills he demonstrated in Ratio Christi for his ongoing ministry opportunities.

Q:  When did you come to Christ as Lord and Savior, and how did that come about? 

A: I was raised in a household where we did not really discuss religion. As such, most of my understanding of Christ and the gospel came from my own reading of the Bible and what students in my middle school and high school told me. Because of this, while I considered myself to be Christian for the latter half of high school, it was not until college that I interacted with other Christians in a spiritual capacity and was able to correct the misunderstandings I had regarding Christianity.

Q: How did you become interested in apologetics, and how did you get involved with Ratio Christi?

A: When I first started learning about religion in a serious context, I became interested in apologetics. Prior to learning basic apologetic arguments, I felt I had no reason to believe in God, so I had a very warped view of God and salvation. I would say that natural theology was the biggest factor influencing me to read my Bible. Were it not for my viewing of debates where Christians discussed the cosmological argument in detail, it would probably have taken considerably longer for me to find the motivation to read the Bible as frequently.

Q: What impact has the Ratio Christi ministry had on your walk with God and your personal ministry?

A: Ratio Christi gave me the tools to understand the Bible at a deeper, more systematic level. I learned enough apologetics and critical thinking skills to defend Christianity against objections during our tabling sessions. I learned from other Christian perspectives, so I now have a better understanding of the differences in belief between certain denominations. Also important, I formed a close relationship with several graduates from our chapter, and to this day I still enjoy discussing apologetics with those alumni.

Q: What is this RC chapter like?

A: We have a number of students who have studied a lot about theology and apologetics already, and these members offer many good and interesting arguments during the course of our meetings. A few members do not know quite as much about apologetics but are very eager to learn, so much so that one has attended nearly every meeting last semester, including a meeting off campus. Sometimes, it is difficult to convince Rice University students to leave campus, but our chapter is able to make good use of off campus meetings for open discussion to answer particular questions that students might have in an informal format. Under the direction of two seasoned Ratio Christi apologists, I believe our chapter will continue to flourish after my graduation.

Q: What were some of your favorite areas of involvement with your local RC chapter?

A: I enjoy reaching out to the larger student body, many of whom are not Christian, through tabling and invitations to RC meetings. It is not always easy to table, but it is very rewarding when you have an interesting conversation with someone who disagrees with you. Even though I am not perfect in answering every objection, my prayer is that my words form a small act of gardening in the student’s life that God can use to grow their faith and eventually dispatch either me or another person to harvest the fruit of salvation.

Q: What does your Legatus Christi award mean to you?

A: It represents how faithfully God has worked in my life: that at the start of college, I struggled to defend my faith or even express my convictions in a coherent way, and now after graduation I can inform people about apologetics such that I endeavor to be gracious while expressing important truths to those who are in search of it. It gives me more perspective regarding my abilities so that, in the future, I can remind myself of all that God has done for me and how God can work through me to provide spiritual assistance to other people who struggle with intellectual and spiritual doubts.

Q: How do you envision taking the apologetics you have learned through Ratio Christi into your future endeavors?

A: Some of the positions in industry that I am currently applying to are located in areas of the U.S. where the perception of Christianity is less favorable than it is in Houston, or at the very least there will be people for whom Christians represent a smaller fraction of their acquaintances compared with what I was exposed to at Rice. I know if I encounter a person who is oppositional, then through Ratio Christi God has given me the tools to respond to their objections in a loving way, not to win the argument but to potentially save the person. And similarly, if I encounter people who are curious, then God has given me the preparation to share what I believe with those people.

Q: What are your short and long-term career/ministry/mission plans?

A: While I pursued a degree in electrical engineering at Rice, I am unsure of which subdiscipline within electrical engineering would be the best use of my talents at this point. In the short term, I am applying to a number of positions in industry that run the gamut from performing analysis of data from spectroscopy of quantum computing components to verifying the performance of digital integrated circuits to training machine learning models on small pieces of software. If God wills it, I might save up enough and come across the right people so that I could pursue a role in politics. Non-religious Americans might have a lot of disagreements with me in terms of social policy, so I would want to make an apologetic case to them in a way that not only encourages them to vote for me, but also contributes towards eventually leading them to Christ.

Q: Would you consider coming back to work with your RC chapter, starting one at another school, or working with RC in any other capacity?

A: Depending on where my first job takes me, I would want to either work with an existing local RC chapter or start one at a school that does not have one yet.

Q: What would you say to other students who might be considering getting involved in Ratio Christi, whether they be skeptics, seekers, or believers?

A: For believers, I feel that there may be the misapprehension that involvement with Ratio Christi would compete with your commitment to another Christian ministry. This is not the case; RC strives to serve the other ministries on campus, not compete with them. If you feel that you cannot commit to attending weekly, but there are weeks you can attend, then I would recommend attending at least once to learn from the presentation and to discuss your perspectives with the other students. For seekers and skeptics, I recognize it can be difficult to prioritize attending a discussion of Christianity when there are so many other obligations one has as a college student. I would give the same advice; try to attend once, bringing as many questions and objections as you desire, and later you can assess whether you would want to continue attending RC meetings. Depending on certain factors, the directors of the chapter may be able to address your questions in more detail at future meetings.