When you arrive at 3 Trees Church on College Night, one of the first things you hear is the sound of laughter. People are shooting hoops and tossing around a football near the parking lot, playing arcade games and sitting on couches inside.
When you walk up toward the open garage doors, several people introduce themselves. You see a mini fridge full of water and soft drinks, and there’s an undeniable smell of Doritos in the air.
A few minutes later, everyone gathers for a game and then breaks into small groups to talk about some of the highs and lows of the week and pray together.
Then worship begins, followed by a sermon.
After the sermon, everyone breaks into groups to talk about the message, what they learned about God, man, a sin to avoid, a promise to keep and an example to follow.
College Night at 3 Trees ends with prayer.
The popularity of college ministry is growing in Campbellsville. 3 Trees Church experienced its biggest College Night this semester when 83 students attended its Monday night service on Aug. 25. Every Monday at 7 p.m., all college students are invited to attend College Night where there’s worship, small group time and a sermon from Pastor Reyn Judd. Judd said he doesn’t want his students to lose their fire for Christ after college.
“Ten years from now, I hope your faith has bloomed so much and you have disciples right and left,” he said.
Judd grew up in Greensville, Kentucky, and moved back to the area in 2022 after working in the mission field for several years in Greece. A few months later, he started College Night at 3 Trees Church. Judd said he’s very passionate about his teaching.
“I get excited about it all week,” he said. “I could never come in super flat knowing how much time I have put into it.”
According to Judd, College Night has grown every semester since it began in 2023, and there have been more than 15 baptisms.
Judd’s passion doesn’t go unnoticed or unappreciated by his students.
“Reyn is such a great teacher and I always learn so much every week,” said Ali Ward, CU senior and worship leader at 3 Trees Church. “It’s so much bigger than it’s ever been. I think that God is doing really big things with college ministry.”
According to Ward, an important part of College Night is spending time and having fellowship with other students and not just the ones you would normally hang out with. She said it can be very easy to spend time with only your sports team, both in and outside of school.
“I hope College Night can be a place where it doesn’t matter what sport you play or if you play a sport. We are all gonna come together…because what we have in common is that we are all believers or are interested in getting to know who Christ is,” Ward said.
First-semester transfer student Brodie Warren said that College Night provides a blanket of security and something to look forward to every week knowing he will see people whose hearts are in the same place. Warren started attending College Night late in the spring and has been really enjoying it. The California native said it has really helped him transition to a new school.
He believes that community is one of the most important things for college students.
“It’s also super important for the reason of listening and having people pray over you,” said Warren. “I love worship and the people that worship do a really good job. I also like the small group time a lot.”
3 Trees Church has several big events planned for College Night throughout the course of this year, including trivia during the week of Halloween, a scavenger hunt mid-semester, a finals week pancake study night, a finals week Christmas party and much more.
While the big events are exciting, students like Ward and Warren said they enjoy every single Monday night and Ward really enjoys leading worship.
“It’s made me more open to sharing the gospel,” Warren said. “It’s also a reminder to pick up my cross in the middle of the week.”
Anyone interested in attending College Night, it’s held at 7 p.m. every Monday at 3 Trees Church located at 1375 Hodgenville Road in Campbellsville.
