You may not know his name, but if you're at UAF regularly you'd probably recognize Karl Sapp in his usual environment:  Behind a folding table on the ground floor of Wood Center."

"Everything on this table is free," says the small, spectacled 61-year-old as he gestures to the comics, pamphlets, videos, and bowl of chocolate chip cookies, "except my personal Bible."

The life of Jesus is reenacted on the TV next to him and paperboard signs proclaim 'HELL is NOT cool!' to anyone walking by, as Sapp explains one of the biggest draws of his tabletop ministry.  "The ladies of the church like to make cookies for the kids at the school."

Karl Sapp Sr. is a Minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  He can be found in Wood Center twice a week – and he's been there for quite a while.

In May 1981 Sapp says God himself told him to change fields and come to Alaska, "to reach the whole world from the top of the world."

As he relates it, this wasn't exactly what he wanted to hear.  "'God, I don't even like cold weather!'  And God says, ‘Don't worry, my grace will be enough for you.'  And it is."

God also told him the name of the person to contact about work in Alaska.  Working in a village setting didn't appeal to him, but he was instantly interested when UAF was brought up.  His first question:  "Do you have any Japanese people?"

Before he came to Fairbanks, Sapp spent over a decade as a missionary in Japan.  He evangelized there, took part in ‘church planting,' and ran an orphan ministry for about a year.  He speaks Japanese, and says he loves the Japanese people, language, and food.  So the high percentage of Japanese students was a major reason he came to UAF.

Sapp is married, and has five sons.  He's affiliated with Campus Bible Ministries and the Creation Club for Christ, as well as the McGrath Rd. Baptist Church.  He was born in Fort Smith, Arkansas, as the oldest of eight children.  Though he was confirmed as a Lutheran when he was young, and even sang in the choice, spreading his religious beliefs wasn't always Sapp's ambition.

In high school he was studying to be a nuclear physics research scientist.

"I had to get up at four in the morning to read Einstein's Theory of Relativity."  His goal was to harness the hydrogen bomb for peaceful use.  But, Sapp says, at the age of 19, "God stopped me in my tracks."

His twin sister converted before he did.  "She had the joy of Jesus in her heart, and a song on her lips.  It drove me crazy."  Then in 1960, he had a vision of Jesus in a Baptist church.  He became a missionary, a job he's performed for 32 years on three continents, and says he thoroughly enjoys.

Sapp set up in Wood Center in September 1984, and he's been there ever since.  He views UAF as a prime location for his ministry, due to both its high enrollment of international students, and to its geographical location at "the top of the world."

Sapp scoffs at the thought of being paid to work in Wood Center.  "Not by this campus.  They'd probably pay me to stay off!"  The whole of Sapp's income and operating expenses come from God.  Or at least, that's what he asserts.  "Money is not an issue.  Whatever God orders, he pays for."

But this appears to be a case of God helping those who help themselves.  Sapp spends his summers traveling and collecting donations from individuals, churches, and religious organizations to continue his ministry.

"I'd like to think this ministry is a little bit of a signpost on the road of life," Sapp says, referring to his table in Wood Center.  He believes he's not simply doing the work of God, but that he's doing humanity a service.

Sapp is very fond of metaphors.  He likens his spiritual beliefs to a cure for AIDS, and says it'd be just as unethical to withhold either one.  He also compares himself to the emergency service workers who dealt with the World Trade Center attacks.

Others hold a very different view of him.

"He is one of the most hated figures on this campus," asserts Dani Carlson, 18, a sophomore broadcast journalism major.  "People always have a story about him, regarding the things he has said."

Carlson feels that Sapp has put himself on a pedestal, and belittles people who don't share his beliefs.  "People around campus have little to no respect for the man, despite his ‘good' intentions, because he does not give the impression of reciprocating respect."

"I'm not any better than anybody else," says Sapp.  "I'm just a bit more blessed."  He also feels he is respectful of people of other denominations.  "I live in one house and someone else lives in a different house.  I'm not going to browbeat them because they don't live in my house."

The missionaries from the Church of Latter-Day Saints who had a booth in Wood Center last spring may have disagreed.  They made a formal complaint to the Student Activities Office about an altercation they had with Sapp.  As far as Student Activities staff could determine, the Mormon missionaries instigated a disagreement that Sapp was more than willing to continue in a rather derogatory manner.

There are other stories about Sapp filed away on complaint forms at Student Activities, which manages the use of space in Wood Center.  "The most common theme is his use of derogatory statements, but that's certainly not the only complaint," says Sarah Comstock, the center's associate director of programming.

Over the years there have been around seven written complaints involving Sapp, and "probably dozens" of informal complaints.  It takes Comstock a minute to think of a formal complaint about a campus group that didn't involve Sapp. 

It takes Sapp a similar minute of thought when he's asked what non-religious activities he spends his time on.  In the end, he simply asks another question.

"What else is worth doing?"

photo by Brandon Seifert

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