The Burden Shared, follow-up

Well, I must say that last night went well. I got caught in the hall before class, so I was a little late coming to class anyway...cool deal. I had set the announcement sheets on the floor at the door and the attendance sheet was on a chair near the door.

When I came in I went to talk to a couple of students for a bit and then took a not-my-normal-place seat. Immediately, some asked what was going on. I asked, "What do you mean?" "Do we start?" I said, "sure." A small awkward moment passed. Then another student asked, "Are you going to start or should we take the initiative?" I didn't even say anything and a student hopped up to welcome everyone, to pass out the announcement sheet, to get the signup list going, to offer prayers, and to open up the singing of two songs. He sat down and I got up to teach. Sweet chocolate pie!

I just asked a lot of questions, and the students got a chance to discuss the balance between me doing everything and them doing everything. I shared Romans 12:6-8 and added a few verses of my own (can I do that?): "if it is singing, let him sing; if it is doing announcements, rock on; if it is planning, bring it; if it is organizing, use the Staples easy button." Yes, I think I am a dork, but oh well! Basically, I think I led the class well...even though someone looking in on the class might say that I didn't lead.

Anyway, our students are great! They, I think, are beginning to feel a burden for taking my offer to share in ministry seriously. Some more than others, true, but we are all learning what it is like to partner together in ministry. For this I can only praise God!

Thank you, Father, for continuing to teach me new things. Give us your wisdom as we take your "great commission" seriously on the campus of Sam Houston State University.

The Burden Shared

I struggle with how much I should do for students. My "official" duties and responsibilities say I am to "plan and organize yearly student activities with students." There is a huge word I see here: WITH. This says nothing about doing these activities FOR students. I need to come alongside of students to partner WITH them in the things that we do every year.

Not that this happens or would happen in this way, but I want to consider a hypothetical situation so I can think out loud. Suppose I see a planned activity, broomball, coming up pretty soon. We need to make sure it happens...at least I would like it to happen, as I am sure students would like it to happen too. I make the announcement that it will happen on X day, according to the plans set by myself and a group of students before the semester began. I call the place to reserve the rink. I pass around a sign-up sheet and communicate that the cost is determined by the number of people going, but it will be somewhere around $15 at most. When the date arrives, we hop in the vans that I filled up with gas earlier that day, go to the place, have a great time, pay up, come home, and let our bruises and soreness heal for a couple of days.

I wonder if what I just described fulfills my duties and responsibilities of planning and organizing events WITH students. I must say that I don't think I am living up to this part of my "job" description. I am doing it by myself and not with students. But, what do I do? I could just do nothing and put students to a test they don't know they are taking. What would it look like it I just didn't do anything? I again would not be planning and organizing events WITH students...the students would be doing it. To be honest, I am not even sure that the event would happen. Perhaps it would, but I really don't think it would. Doing nothing doesn't seem to be an viable option...it doesn't give students a chance to grow. Or does it?

Somehow, I would like to help students feel the burden of ministry while they are students. This is part of discipleship training that will lead to involvement in the church when they leave college. Perhaps a tangible lesson on a smaller scale will communicate effectively what I am trying to convey to students.

I will do this tonight during class. I have communicated to the whole group that I will be teaching the class on Wed nights. Part of the class is singing. Usually we have a PowerPoint put together. There is also usually a brief time of announcements. Tonight I will just come to class, sit down, talk with students, and wait. I won't even pass out the announcement sheet like I usually do. However long it takes, that is how long it takes. I imagine someone saying, "Are we going to get started?" To this I will say something like, "Sure." and continue sitting there. I will just let time pass (at least until everyone stops talking). At some point, I will just be the one who starts asking questions about what just happened. I don't know if someone will just start songs or if there will be prayers or scripture readings or anything tonight. But whatever happens, I hope my questions will lead our students to feel the burden of ministry on a larger scale. I hope to ask questions about what my "job" is or what it "should" be in their minds. I hope to ask questions about what their "job" is or what it "should" be in their minds. I will probably bring up my duties and responsibilities as a campus minister that I talked about above.

I'm kindof excited about what will happen. I guess we will see. This semester seems to be turning into a time of foundation building more in the direction I was imagining before I started working in Huntsville last summer.