Christian Chronicle Article

Through the last few years, I have talked several times about the prayer sign on campus. It is such a freeing thing in my schedule and has definitely continued to evolve each semester I sit out on campus. I was asked to write a little article in the November 2009 edition of the Christian Chronicle about my experience with the sign.

I can't find a direct link to the article online, but you can download a pdf copy of the Christian Chronicle on the right side of their site. My article is on page thirty five.

Other campus ministry articles in this edition point to how campus ministry is a major mission field often overlooked as a mission. We often think of it as one of the regular ministries of a local body when it is more appropriate to approach campus ministry like a foreign mission effort. It just happens to be in the same town.

Enjoy the reading and send me feedback on my blog.

Campus Tribes

Ben Hines is a friend of mine from a couple of grad school classes we had together at ACU; he is working on his degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. I ran into him again last August as he was on his year-long trek across the United States visiting 181 different campuses. Yes...181 different campuses in one year!

He has finished this trek, written a free little ebook, Reaching the Campus Tribes [an opening inquiry], and sent it to me before its official release date of April 20th. I wanted to share it with you because it does a very important and much-needed thing: it spreads awareness about campus ministry efforts in our nation beyond the boundaries of campus ministry circles. We can't continue to think about campus ministry like we do other ministry efforts in the church, but campus ministers need to let other people in on this familiar concept. Also, very little good research has been done in this area! I am excited about what his work will produce.

There is also a 19-minute interview that Ben did in Colorado with LEAD Network in August of 2008 that gives a little insight into his journey as it was coming to a close. This is good stuff and well worth your time! Please feel free to spread these files wherever. You can even keep up with other things that Ben is doing on his blog (http://exploringcollegeministry.com).

As for me, I plan on continuing this conversation with all kinds of people. Hopefully, God will accomplish powerful things for his glory on our campus tribes scattered throughout the nation! Come, Lord Jesus! Come!

DMin

This year's Family Retreat at Pineywoods was good. David Malone came to speak to us about Re-Envisioning Christian Community. I will probably have the retreat audio available online by Wednesday on our church website. We will see how things go.

In my several conversations with David Malone I found myself contemplating what pursuing a DMin would involve. As he discussed the process he went through in deciding to get his DMin at ACU after 20 years of ministry experience, I felt more and more compelled than ever before to start thinking about it. It will probably happen down the road some time.

My initial thoughts are definitely geared toward helping campus ministry. Not much is written about campus ministry and college students in the church. I will be listening to God's moving in this regard. May he lead my heart to pursue his in all my endeavors.

LST First Look

Well, we had our First Look event for LST on Thursday. I think it went really well. I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of discussion I heard afterward about where people wanted to go and with whom!

I really like the changes this year. Students get to pick their location AND their team BEFORE they apply! This whole semester is going to be spent trying to figure out where in the whole world we want to go and which friends we are going to go with. I love it!

Doing this event during Thursday devo was also a good move. There were probably people there who wouldn't have come had we had a separate event for LST. Since I can only go two weeks this year, I am thinking about going to Asia, probably not Japan. Scooter and Emily are interested in going and I am still talking with Tanya about things. We might have three teams go this year, maybe four. We will see.

May God continue to encourage students to take a step of faith to make a serious difference in people's lives around the world. It truly shaped the course of my life... obviously for the better.

Prayer Sign Reflection

The first semester of re-adjusting my schedule has finished. In a previous post I mentioned that I would sit on campus with a sign telling people that I will prayer for them. Even though I mentioned a few things early on, this semester has been one story after another. Students, workers, deans, professors, Christians, Hindus, irreligious, atheists all coming to ask for prayers or because they were curious. I couldn't possibly tell you all the stories, but I could tell you all the names of the people who have showed up. I decided to count the conversations rather than the "converts," whatever that means. I never would have imagined the responses.

It was normal for someone to come up to me saying, "I've seen you here for a while, but I never came up until now." Sometimes a student would dive right in to questions about God that have been bothering them, problems they've been having, or prayers for campus they want to offer. Other times it would take five encounters or so over the course of two months before they would really ask me what they wanted to ask me.

One guy's first words to me as he was smoking a cigarette were, "Do you think people can change?" After coming around just to say hey for a month or so he was obviously bothered, or rather curious, about my approach. He said, "I've come by here five times or so and you have never once asked me about my religion, my faith, or even church...why?" I explained that I am just here to be available to students in whatever way they need. I told him that half the time I'm trying to figure out what the person talking to me actually needs. It seemed like he wasn't interested in talking about his religious, his faith, or church, so I just went with it. He told me he has never heard of a minister like that. The rest of our conversations have been oriented toward God in one way or another. He just knows that there is a guy on campus interested in being available to those who come by. I loved that conversation!!!

Having thought about what happens on campus through my sitting there every day, I have come to some tentative conclusions I would like to share. I believe that people, specifically students but also others, are looking for a way to reach out to God. They don't feel like they can come to our established facilities because they are not looking for something that involves a huge commitment. But they want to connect to God nonetheless.

When they just see the sign, I believe God makes himself known to them. Let me put that another way. If they are really looking (when they really see the sign), they see this as a place they go and can talk to God (God makes himself known to them here). Think of it this way: only after Moses goes over to see this curious sight of a bush that doesn't burn up does God call him (Exodus 3:3-4).

People have come to ask me questions that I know they are really asking God. Do you think God will hate me because of this decision I think I need to make? What will God think of me? Is it wrong to think that certain people are going to hell? Where does God want me to go after graduation? How is God working on campus?

This semester I have put myself out there and asked God to use me when he needs me. I'm available. He works in many different ways, but he needed to reveal himself to an average of about 5 people a day in various ways. I'm glad that I could be there in those moments.

The focus of this whole semester needs to remain on God's efforts toward our campus rather than on anything I was moved to do. God wants his reign to advance so people will see him in his glory. God is doing some good things that I am glad to be only a part.

I plan on doing this again next semester, but I'm not sure how long God will call me to this. I guess we will see. I'm open to questions, comments, challenges, and the like about how this sign stuff went this semester.

Let's Start Talking

God got me thinking about the future last night.

Last night we had another training meeting for our LST project this summer to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Larry came too because he wants to go. While I'm not sure if this will even be possible, it is exciting to think about the future.

Perhaps we can really get many in our congregation excited about God's mission in the world. How exciting it is to think about people being so passionate about God's mission that God begins to flood our doors with those who need him! As the number of workers goes through the roof, so the people who need God.

Not only that, but our students could begin to catch a glimpse of where God can use them. Brazil... Japan...Germany...Argentina. Maybe mission teams will form in our ministry. Together they leave SHSU after graduation seeking to become a mission team. Together they catch a vision of campus ministry and seek more training to become campus ministers.

God got me thinking about the future last night.

ONE Campus-wide Worship Service

Last Monday night, we had the opportunity to participate in a campus-wide worship service that has been in the works for a little bit. A student (Nathan) from the Wesley Foundation (Methodist Student Center) was really the driving force for making this happen. It was really good to see him not lose heart and really make it happen; I am glad that he stepped up to the challenge.

I really didn't know what Kats for Christ was going to do doing this service even though it was for us to decide. It didn't take much reflection on it to decide though. We were going to sing a few songs a cappella. There might have been a half of second hesitation on my part for two reasons. One, I knew most of the people there would not be accustomed to singing a cappella and we would probably follow a band (great!!). And two, I didn't know if our group would actually want to show up to sing. But, like I said, that only lasted like half a second.

In the end, I didn't want the focus to be on us or on our music. I didn't want to perform songs for all these other students. I did want to bring these other students to a place where they could encounter God through a cappella singing. The focus should be and was on worshiping our God together with other Christian groups.

We ended up being the last group to go. When Nathan came to tell me he was almost apologetic, but I didn't care where we were. As I got to thinking about it (and I said this before we started the first song), we were like the end of many instrumental worship songs I hear on the radio. In these songs the music typically stops and you just offer up your voices to God. I think it was fitting that we were at the end after all the other groups, stripped before God with nothing but our voices and hearts.

I was caught up in praises to him as we sang, but the few times I opened my eyes to see the students before us I saw their hearts exploding with praises to him. It was a wonderful thing to see. Nathan came in just a minute ago and even affirmed what I saw on Monday night. Many people thought it was a fitting way to end the evening.

I praise you Lord for this time. I pray that you were and continue to be glorified in our worship to you. Thank you for giving us this opportunity. May you draw people to yourself as we lift you up. Amen.