UT communicates its diversity through signs, special weeks and speakers coming to speak on the subject. But diversity personified says more than diversity advertised.
   
 Few places on campus will see diversity played out in person more than a campus ministry. People of various backgrounds lead over 20 different campus ministries that infiltrate UT’s campus, all unique and different in their own ways.
    
Britton Sharp and his wife, Brooke Sharp, are the campus directors of Campus Crusade for Christ at UT and the Knoxville area. Britton says different ministries are tailored to different students.
    
“People are so different,” Britton said. “We have introverts and extroverts. Some people are drawn to larger groups on campus, and others are more comfortable in smaller groups.”
    
Britton said that backgrounds and heritages also play a major role in leading people to their unique and respective places.
    
John Unthank, campus pastor for Church of God Campus Christian Connection, feels that students encounter people that are different from them throughout college, and campus ministry is a part of that. He said students need to embrace it rather than fear it.
    
“We have great unity amongst great diversity,” Unthank said. “We really shoot for unity because we all respect each other. We do not rob or take from another (ministry).”
    
Students like Weston Duke, senior in communication studies, feels like campus ministry has helped pave the way for post-college experiences.
   
 “It has provided me with a great community of people to share college with,” Duke said. “It has helped me mature emotionally and spiritually and prepared me holistically for life after college.”
    
Some may think that with over 20 campus ministries there might be some competition between ministries vying for participation, but campus pastor of Volunteers For Christ Mike Plewniak said otherwise.
    
“We will often meet students who go to other ministries and it’s a joy to be able to pray for them and encourage them in what they are doing,” Plewniak said.
    
Unthank also agrees. He said that campus ministries do the very best not to compete against one another because there are 26,000 students on campus, which he says is enough to go around.

Unthank said one of the main goals and essential elements of campus ministries is “connectedness.”
   
“Students tend to be more isolated and so campus ministries provide opportunities for students to meet other students — sometimes of like faith, sometimes not,” Unthank said.
    
Brady Evans is a junior at UT and attends the Navigators campus ministry regularly. He points to the fact that those involved in campus ministry should be of the same mind and one accord.
    
“We should really rejoice with other campus ministries and go looking for different students or be thinking of different ways to reach more people,” Evans said. “Getting annoyed that a student chose to go to a different ministry is just foolishness. It blurs your vision of what you actually want to be happening on your campus.”
    
Though the ministries do not share all the same doctrinal views, there certainly is a sense of unity and camaraderie within the organizations.
    
“At the end of the day, I think we are all just happy that any student is connected to a body of believers and is hearing the Gospel through that,” Duke said.
    
As UT’s diversity ad says, “One campus. One Community. Celebrate the differences.”