Top 10 Spiritual Growth Acitivities for Students on Winter Break

1) Discuss how you’ve grown spiritually with one family member over the break

2) Take one day to be alone with Jesus

3) Pray through your course and activity schedule for next semester and ask God if there is anything you should change.

4) Pray through your college ministry involvement. What needs to change?

5) Contact the person that disciples you or leads your small group and let them know how you’re doing and how they can pray for you.

6) Call friends and help each other stay on track spiritually.

7) Read one book of the Bible you haven’t read before.

8) Pray for your upcoming professors this semester

9) Take at least 3 days in a row to fully rest

10) Go to Winter Conference (ok, ok…I know that one is a shameless plug)

By the way I stole all these idea from Benson Hines, he has a great blog http://exploringcollegeministry.com/ . You should check it out.

Serving Christ with Enthusiasm

If you want your people to bleed, you have to hemorrhage. – Howard Hendricks

One roadblock to influencing others for Christ is a lack of joy and enthusiasm for those of us who follow him, especially in ministry. If I have been given new life, saved from death and eternity with God because of Jesus’ death on the cross, that should be a big deal. Shouldn’t I be excited about that? Shouldn’t I have unquenchable joy? Easy answer: yes. Does my life and ministry reflect that? Honest answer: Not enough, sometimes very little.

Now I don’t mean putting on a mask and pretending I don’t have problems and struggles. We all do. But if this life is temporary and eternity is…well…eternal, it seems like my joy in Christ and my enthusiasm to follow Him would override any troubles I face.

I think there are a few mistakes we make that rob us of our enthusiasm in following Christ.

1) We think there are better options. I think that following Jesus is the best thing I could do, but life would be better or easier if I didn’t. I think that I’m making some great sacrifice, and although there are sacrifices we make when following Christ, they pale in comparison to what we receive. Not only is following Jesus worth it, it’s the best option. The other options will leave me with so much less.

2) We get lost in the mundane. As I go through the day, I am guilty of just breaking it down into the tasks that must get done before I can watch TV that night. Whether its discipleship with a student or putting my kids to bed, I don’t realize the impact it can have. I just think this is something I need to do. It’s just part of my routine. These tasks that I think of as routine can have an eternal impact. I may actually say something Biblical or intelligent during a discipleship appointment or my kids may remember books we read or something we prayed for when I put them to bed. God works through the small things in life we take for granted.

3) Peter writes in his second letter of the New Testament that he hopes to stir up those he is writing to by way of reminder. Sometimes we just forget. We get frustrated, we get bored, or in the last point, we just get into the routine. I pray God would remind me that I should be excited about all I have been given because of His grace and mercy shown to me on the cross.

What would be different if I woke up each morning and thought, “How amazing is God’s love for me?” “I wonder what He has in store for me today.” I can just imagine the joy and enthusiasm that would overflow into the lives of those around me.

Serving Christ Through Adversity

Here at SFA, our movement is growing. We are seeing students trust Christ, they are taking steps of faith as they walk with God. God has given us opportunities in the Greek system and with athletes to share our faith and disciple students we had no connection with a few years ago. More students are attending our weekly meeting and small groups, but it wasn’t this way just a few years ago.

In 2006, I was ready to give up, throw in the towel, jump off a bridge. Okay maybe that last one was too far, but I was considering a career change. Our ministry at SFA almost seemed non-existent. We had very few students involved, no money, and very little enthusiasm for the future.

Through prayer and continuing to trust God at SFA, we have seen God bring us through some very lean times. I stop short of using the word commitment for our part because we were ready to quit. We just stuck around long enough to be able to see God change our situation. Maybe it’s more like standing outside in the middle of winter. If you don’t die from the cold, the weather will eventually get warmer. That may sound like I’m taking God out of it, that if you just hang in there long enough, you will see results. That’s really not what I’m saying, because there are followers of Christ that labor for long periods of time but may never really see any tangible fruit from their effort.

What really frustrates me is when believers compare that person to others who are seeing great tangible results. I use the word tangible because I know God is always at work, we just don’t always see or know what he’s doing. We are in the wrong if we see a ministry, missionary, or church that is not seeing the same results as others and assume they are doing something wrong, or not putting forth enough effort, or maybe even living in sin. Now, sometimes, that may be the case, the group or person in question could be in need of change. However, I have seen in our ministry, times that we have prepared well, prayed fervently, and worked hard and then seen miserable failure. But we have also seen ministry poorly planned, hardly a prayer whispered, and thrown together at the last second yield incredible results.
I don’t want to judge someone else’s ministry by the numbers and statistics they report whether those numbers are increasing or decreasing. Instead, I would rather know if those involved are growing in love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

So I guess I wrote this for those who are experiencing adversity in ministry, not seeing what you had hoped; and for those who would criticize them for that. Press on. Maybe God is doing something in your life through this adversity and dry time in ministry, I know He did in mine. Hopefully soon, the weather where you are will get warmer because our movement here at SFA is a lot more fun now. No matter what, continue to trust and follow God, He sees that which takes place in secret (Matt 6:6)

And yes, I know the picture doesn't fit the blog, but I'm just too excited about the game this Saturday. Axe'em Jacks!

Privilege of Serving Christ

Yesterday was a long day, but full of purpose and promise. On Mondays, myself and a few others fast and pray for our campus at SFA. I prayed for my own heart, that I would not be captivated by this world, that I would not cling to any temporary home or possessions here. I prayed that I would look forward to heaven, to my home and eternal life with Jesus. Then I prayed that men at SFA would come to know Christ, follow Christ, and live their lives for Him and not for this world.

This afternoon, I spent an hour with three fraternity guys, one of my favorite times of the week. Last semester we were able to start this Bible study and we’ve had anywhere from 1-8 guys show up. I love spending time with these guys because they want to grow closer to God, but they don’t fake spirituality. If they are struggling with something or if they have a particular sin that’s tearing them down, they’re honest about it. A few guys say it’s the only time of the week they sit down and talk about their relationship with Jesus. By the end of the Bible study they are lobbing questions at me about God’s view of alcohol, homosexuality, and God’s creation of mankind. I’m praying this group will grow and some of these guys will really begin to pursue Christ wholeheartedly.

Last night, we were able to put on a program for Hall 16, the last true guys dorm on campus. About 35 guys showed up for free Raising Canes and to answer focus group questions on subjects ranging from purpose of life, to sex and dating, to Jesus. At the end of the program, I hand everyone an index card and I ask them to write down one question they would like to ask God. Then I give them the option of writing their name and number on the card if they would like to talk more about that question or anything else. Eight guys wanted to get together and talk more. Some of the most heartbreaking questions came from guys that didn’t put their name or number. “Why did my mom have to die?” “If I died today am I going to heaven?” “If I’m gay, does that keep me from going to heaven?”

As I drive home from campus most days, I think of that which frustrates me about students or all the areas where we aren’t reaching students, or wishing we had more money and resources for our ministry. Yesterday was different, I drove home thinking how privileged I am that God allows me the opportunity to reach college students with the gospel.

Top Ten Outreach Ideas

These are outreach ideas I would like to try. I have no idea if they will work, so if you try and fail, I will not take any responsibility.

1) A dunk contest with the goal set at 8 or 9 ft. (so regular guys could dunk). I would like to do this on a Friday afternoon in front of our student center. We have a large open area in front of our student center, and it’s a high traffic area, so I think we would catch a lot of students just stopping to watch. We would just have to be really intentional about getting students that are watching to fill out contact cards.

2) On a hot day, so I guess this couldn’t happen until the Spring, but set up a Slip-n-slide in front of a specific dorm. Advertise at that dorm all week. Make sure we have a few students that will be the first to try out the Slip-n-slide, then have at it. We could serve hot dogs, burgers, or ice cream and ask students to fill out contact cards.

3) Set up a table with Soularium and a table next to it with Perspective Cards in a high traffic location. See if students will stop and talk through the surveys pertaining to both those tools. (credit for this idea goes to our staff and students)

4) Another one for the Spring. A cookout at one of our baseball games. I’ve been saying we are going to do this for a long time, but we’ve never pulled the trigger. Our baseball stadium is set up for students to back up trucks (we’re in East Texas), and watch the game from their tailgates. This usually draws a pretty big crowd, especially if the weather is good. Would be great way to meet students we probably wouldn’t normally come into contact with.

5) Triathlon! We did this several years ago and had pretty good success, about 40 students participated. Interest in these have gone up over the years, might be worth bringing it back out.

6) Movie Discussion. The student center theatre shows two movies on Thursdays, Fridays, and Sundays. If the movie has some meaning, so no Will Ferrell flicks, we could set up a table outside the theatre and ask students what they thought of the movie with a survey designed around the theme of the movie. We’ve also thought of just setting up a Soularium table between showings of the two movies.

7) Camcorder Outreach. On Friday afternoons, we gather as staff and students and initiate spiritual conversations on campus with students that are just hanging out. I’d like to use the same tools we always incorporate but let people know we’ll be videoing the conversations. Seeing us walk up with a camcorder can either be intimidating or it can cause students to light up and engage you more because they think it’s going to launch their acting career.

8) Habitat for Humanity. Spend a Saturday working with the local Habitat for Humanity, helping build a house. Advertise this opportunity on facebook and in our university’s newspaper, and invite students to join us.

9) Coffee and Donuts during Finals. This would require very low expectations because you wouldn’t be able to follow up with any of these students, but could make us more visible on campus and just be a good way to serve the student body.

10) You fill in this one. I’d love to hear your ideas on what you think would work on our campus at SFA, or any campus for that matter.

Campus Time

Credit for this post goes to Brian White, who had the quote of the week at our Missional Team Leader conference a few weeks ago.
“I know that if I’m at the office, I’m not going to run into too many students.”

Although he meant it half-joking, it’s one of the things that stuck with me. I can be guilty of hanging out at the office working or at least pretending to work on a talk for our weekly meeting, or a Bible study I’m leading, or planning for discipleship, but actually I spending time there because it’s easier. Plus, I can “take breaks” from working on a weekly meeting talk to listen to the latest news on Cam Newton or check out the possible coaching candidates for the Cowboys job (which after yesterday could be Jason Garrett’s job to lose). Then the next thing I know, I’ve been on espn.com for an hour and haven’t accomplished anything.

Appointments with students I’m discipling and new students I’m meeting fill a good portion of my schedule, but if I’m honest there is some flex time in there I don’t always use very well. Thanks to Brian’s comment, I’m actually trying to plug in a few ideas in order to make sure some of that flex time is spent on campus seeing current students and meeting new ones instead of reading a list of the Houston Astros top prospects (Jordan Lyles gets my vote, 90’s plus fastball, good movement, great change up for his strikeout pitch…sorry I just got carried away).

Here are some of the ideas I’ve either put in my schedule or I’m in the process of adding.

1) On Monday mornings at 8am, I spend about 30-45 minutes prayer walking our campus. This gets me on campus at a time I’m usually not there, draws my attention to God, and helps me to pray for what we’re dreaming about as a movement.

2) Going to campus at least once, maybe twice a week, with a set amount of time to just walk the quad and student center and have some spontaneous conversations with students. (thinking maybe an hour or two a week)

3) Take a book that I’m reading and sitting down in a high traffic area of campus to read. I did this a few weeks ago, and I saw four students I knew, had a great conversation with one, met a new student, and then introduced a guy on the fringe of our ministry to one of our leaders. That was only about 30-45 minutes out of my week, but it turned out to be productive, at least socially.

If you have a movement of 300 students, you’re schedule may be too full for this. But if you’re like me and you have a movement of less than 100 students, maybe this is helpful.

Five Cool Links of the Week

Here's a great question to wrestle with. Would you be happy in heaven if Christ were not there? Tim asks how this should effect the way we present the gospel.

http://www.timcasteel.com/2010/11/would-you-be-happy-in-heaven-if-christ-were-not-there/


I once had someone tell me, "If Thursday night is party night at SFA, and your meetings are on Thursday, then make you meeting the best party on campus." Not exactly sure how we do that without beer, but I do think we could probably make our meetings a bit more fun. If I were a new student walking into our CRU meeting at SFA, would I walk away thinking that was a good time. Benson poses that question here.


http://exploringcollegeministry.com/2010/11/10/the-good-time-evaluation/


Some of the words and phrases in this one are a little over my head. We don't use big words like "research" when you major in kinesiology. However, I always enjoy reading an article that reminds me of the reliability and validity in the Bible. Yeah, I had to look up both of those words.

http://theresurgence.com/2010/11/12/why-fast-company-sam-harris-need-to-do-their-homework

This is probably my favorite of the week. Its a video expressing all thats happening in Ethiopia. I had the opportunity to spend a week there in Spring '09, and was amazed at what God's doing and the zeal of the believers. If you're a student at SFA, you can go see all this first hand this summer with students from Arkansas and Oklahoma State.

http://onleadingwell.com/2010/11/11/video-studentled/


Great story on how Athletes in Action and FCA are partnering together to reach the Athletic Department at NC State with the gospel.

http://www.athletesinaction.org/news/post/2010/09/28/FCAAIA-Ministry-Thriving-at-NC-state.aspx

Plus, SFA started their basketball season with a win last night and our football team pretty much assured themselves of a playoff spot with a blowout win over Southeastern Louisiana. Great Week!

Best Ministry Ideas - Pancakes

So often, as a college ministry, we brainstorm ideas and talk to other campuses about what works best for them. Then sometimes you discover a great idea almost by accident. A little over a year ago, my wife and I thought it would be fun to invite students over to our house on a Friday night for dinner. As we tried to figure out what to serve, it needed to be something cheap that we could churn out in bulk and fast. Pancakes! Students loved it. Seeing the energy on these nights and the community building that takes place is amazing.

Tonight we had 30-35 students in our home, which is about all that our house can hold. They were loud, laughing, and having great conversations. I guess there’s just something about a home cooked meal and being able to just hang out with friends off campus that creates great connection among our students. We even have students involved in our ministry that tell us the first event they were invited to was pancakes at our house. Pancake night has become a staple for our ministry; we now have it about once a month. If we miss a month, students start asking why we haven’t had pancakes in awhile.

So if you're looking to build community, start with pancakes.

Torrey Honors Institute « Biola University

As I’ve been trying to add a few classics to my reading list, I came across the Torrey Honors Institute located at Biola University in LaMirada, California. The institute doesn’t have a major or minor but some of the classes help meet the general education requirements at the school. The classes involve an extensive reading list that students discuss and write about. I’m trying to pick and choose a few of these to try and read next year.

Check out the list. What We Read « Torrey Honors Institute « Biola University

The goal of the institute is to “equip men and women to pursue truth, goodness and beauty in intellectual and spiritual community, enabling them to be strong Christian leaders. Thinking how great it would be to read and discuss great books and thoughts with others who would also process all this within the context of following Jesus.

Earlier Post - Reading to be Challenged

http://lumberjackland.blogspot.com/2010/10/reading-to-be-challenged.html

Next Generation Leader - Coaching

Our staff team is reading and discussing the book Next Generation Leader by Andy Stanley. This morning we spent time processing the section on coaching. Stanley talks about the need we have for coaching in our lives and how we can be a coach in the lives of others.

As a team we had a few takeaways from our time that I thought were really good, and some which probably need more think time.

1) We want to coach to the potential of each student, not comparing them with other students. To unpack this, it means that some students may have potential to engage and build relationships, share the gospel, and lead other students very naturally. Another student may be taking great steps of growth by simply serving others more consistently instead of being “up front”.

2) Our coaching should inspire students to accomplish more than they thought possible, to accomplish that which will cause them to depend upon Christ. We should not just be satisfied with trying to get them to “do something” for our ministry.

3) Reverse Coaching. Could we travel and spend time on campus with another staff team and observe what they do, how they lead, how they spend their time, how they’re trusting God, how they’re leading students that we could apply here at SFA. Football coaches do this all the time. If a coaching staff wants to run the spread offense, they may travel and spend time with a coaching staff that already runs that system.

4) Jesus led by serving. What are the needs of our students here at SFA and how can we adapt our coaching to meet those needs?

5) We could ask students how we’re doing in the area of coaching. We might be surprised by the things we’re doing well and the things we’re not doing so well.

The next section is on character. Can’t wait to tackle that as a team.

Romans 1:1

Romans 1:1-2 "Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God.

Paul has been called to be an apostle. Christ sought him out. He was not called to a position for pride but one of service, the context is that of an immediate attendant or a steward of the house. However, we are not servants or slaves with no intimacy with our master because Christ also calls us his friends (John 15:15)

Set apart for the gospel of God. The Pharisees, which Paul had been, considered themselves set apart for the study of the law. Paul had been set apart for something different now, a gospel Pharisee. He had been set apart for devotion to the gospel of God which had been set up by God not by man.

God called Paul to a specific office or role, that of an apostle.

If you are a believer in Christ, God has set you apart for this same gospel and has given you a specific office or role.

May we fill that role with the same zeal as Paul.

Praying for SFA

This is my school. I've been here either as a student or staff for 15 years. Most of my time is spent here during the week. Most of my prayers focus on the students that call SFA home.

I pray that more students at SFA would know Jesus.
I pray that more students at SFA would really care about living for Jesus.
I pray that more students from SFA would be sent to reach the World with the Gospel.

I pray that God would turn lost SFA students into Christ-centered laborers reaching the world for Christ.

Evangelism and Momentum

Over the last 3-4 weeks, our movement has seemed somewhat stagnant. Not much energy. Some might say that’s normal, after the first six weeks of really working hard in the Fall, for things to slow down and have a lull at that point. That’s probably true, but it shouldn’t be lasting this long.

Last Friday, we had an outreach with about 10-12 students going out on campus using soulariums and perspective cards for conversations with students hanging out on campus. Each group of students was able to have at least one good spiritual conversation with someone. Then a few hours later I received a call from one of our staff telling me about the conversation he had with three students, including one who considered himself agnostic. The guy really liked the perspective cards and wanted to get together again this week.

Even though it was just an hour or so of evangelism on a Friday afternoon, I felt encouraged and excited about our movement. We hadn’t seen anyone begin a relationship with Christ but I felt like we were actually engaging students with the gospel.

As I think through most of my time in ministry, it seems we have the most momentum as a movement when we are actively sharing our faith (duh). Whether we see students place their faith in Christ or not, we gain from stepping out in faith and trusting God.

If we want to gain momentum and energy in our movement we have to make sure staff and students are sharing their faith with friends and new students we meet. We may not necessarily see the attendance at our weekly meeting and small groups grow, however they probably will, but we will be encouraged and excited about what God is doing in our lives through evangelism.

Philemon 1:6 “I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith so that, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ.”

Baseball and College Ministry

Wish I would have come across this before baseball season ended this past Monday, but Benson Hines has three great posts comparing the Texas Rangers with great college ministries. I know for Rangers fans this brought out some "amens". Of course it would be better if he had compared them to the Astros, but its still good.

why the 2010 Texas Rangers (and maybe any good baseball team) would make a great college ministry

Knowing Scripture

This year I've taken on an improbable task. I am the games director for the Awana program at our church. Basically, my job is to make sure the kids are able to expel some energy and give the other leaders a break so they don't beat anyone's children.

For those of you who grew up in church, Awana may or may not bring back good memories. If you didn't grow up in church, this is basically a program that helps kids memorize scripture and rewards them with candy. Yeah, we're bribing them, nothing works better.

It's been fun to watch my kids learn their verses and caused me to think, "Wow, I know very few of these".

Just a few weeks ago, a friend of mine challenged me to memorize 2nd Peter chapter 1. It's 21 verses long and I have about 15 verses commited to memory so far. This process has led me to make this a part of my spiritual discipline. I have an accountability system already set up because I don't want my five and six year old kids to know more scripture than I do.

If this is something you've never thought about or as you think about it you're like me and feel guilty because its not a part of your life. Here are a few articles to encourage you.

This is from Jason Hayes about his desire to incorporate scripture memory into his life. Jason is the Young Adult Ministry Specialist at Lifeway Christian Resources.

Scripture Memory: A Missing Discipline Articles SmallGroups.com

Of course the Navigators have great resources for this.

http://http//www.navigators.org/us/articles/items/How%20to%20Memorize%20Scripture

Then, here are just some practical tips.

http://http//www.scribd.com/doc/6102178/52-Scripture-Memory-Tips

Brian Wilson's Story

If you've been following the World Series, you've seen Brian Wilson (the guy with the crazy dyed beard) closing out games for the now World Champion Giants. When Wilson gets the last out you may have seen him make a cross and point to the sky and think he's doing that to show up the other team or draw attention to himself. So many sports stars seem to have dances, routines, and gestures that become their signature way of saying, "Look how great I am".

That's not the reason for Brian Wilson's gesture at the end of games. Wilson became a believer in Christ in 2005, and this is his way of honoring what God has done in his life.

Here's the story, as he tells it, on Fellowship Day at Pac Bell Park in San Francisco this season.

Christy Mathewson - Integrity

First let me apologize that so many of my posts revolve around baseball, but it is the World Series. I’ve been thinking of Biblical leadership and examples in baseball. I know you never thought you would see those two in the same sentence, but there are Christians that play baseball and lots of connections to spiritual life in the game itself.

One example is that of Christy Mathewson, pitcher for the New York Giants. Yes the same Giants in the World Series, before they moved of course. This guy would make Tim Lincecum look like a 12 year old…wait…Lincecum does look like a 12 year old. Anyway, Mathewson was one of the first great American sports heroes, before Babe Ruth, Joe Louis, Jesse Owens, and other great athletes. He was a part of the first class of inductees into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Amid all his accomplishments, one thing that Christy was known for, on and off the field, was his integrity. He was often called “the Christian Gentleman” by his fellow teammates and opponents.

Here’s an excerpt from the New York Herald-Tribune the day following his death.
“While Mathewson’s record in baseball will stand while the game lasts, it was not his prowess as an athlete that made him the idol of American manhood young and old. It was the character of the man…He played for all that was in him, he fought the good fight and the clean fight. He was the incarnation of all those virtues with which we endow the ideal American.”

The greatest demonstration of this took place on the last day of the season in 1908. Mathewson’s team, the Giants, were facing the Chicago Cubs for the chance to play in the World Series. Winner takes all.

In the bottom of the ninth with the score tied 1-1, with 2 outs, Harry McCormick was on third and nineteen year old rookie Fred Merkle stood on first base. Al Bridwell lined a hit into right center and McCormick scored. Merkle didn’t bother touching second base after seeing McCormick score. The Giants and their fans rushed the field at the Polo Grounds in New York, everyone was in full celebration. Except for Cubs second baseman Johnny Evers, who yelled for centerfielder Solly Hofman to toss him the ball. Evers knew that if he stepped on second base it would be a force out of Merkle, and the third out of the inning and McCormick’s run wouldn’t count.

At first both umpires said they didn’t see if Merkle touched second or not, but later that evening Home plate umpire Hank O’Day ruled that Merkle was out and so the game was still tied. At this point it’s too late to resume the game. No lights. Its 1908, remember. The Giants are fighting mad, so they appeal the call. At this time there was no commissioner for baseball, instead a board of directors ruled over the game. The board took affidavits from every player and coach involved. You can imagine what that was like, every Cub said Merkle didn’t touch second, every Giant said he did.

One affidavit stood out, Christy Mathewson’s. Christy was the one Giant that said Merkle didn’t touch second, and He would know, He was coaching 1st base and ran to Merkle between first and second to hug him as they celebrated their apparent trip to the World Series.

The board ruled in favor of the Cubs, the game was replayed and the Giants lost. Mathewson sacrificed a lot; a trip to the World Series, more money, and probably the friendship of some of his teammates. But one thing is for sure, no one could question his integrity when he passed away at the age of 45.

In the Bible, 1st Samuel 12:1-5, the prophet Samuel was able to stand before the Israelites and say, if I have wronged anybody tell me and I will pay restoration for it. No one could bring anything against him and they said, “You have not defrauded us or oppressed us or taken anything from any man’s hand.”

How great would it be to lie on your death bed and send out a facebook message, tweet, text, smoke signals, or whatever, and say if I have wronged anyone then speak up so I can make amends with you. And you hear nothing but silence. You have lived your life in such a way that your integrity can’t be questioned.

Josh Hamilton Interview (Part 2)

Second part of the interview with Larry King

Josh Hamilton on Larry King

Since He's tearing up the Yankees, I was reminded about this interview on Larry King where Josh talked about his life, addiction to drugs, and his faith.

If you haven't read his book, it details his story in much more depth. When he talks about his addiction in interviews you only get a short account. His book, Beyond Belief, really illustrates how deep he was in addiction and how God's grace has allowed him the opportunity to live. When you read the book, you can understand why he see's baseball as a gift from God.

I really appreciate his authenticity and his continued desire that God would use him to influence others.

LegacyCCC

I love this story, it continues to challenge me in my walk with God. Thanks Bill and Vonette for your commitment to Jesus and the influence you have had on so many of us. I can remember Dr. Bright sharing this story at Winter Conference 1998, truly changed my life.

LegacyCCC

CRU Weekly Meetings

What do we want students to know about us? When they hear the name Campus Crusade for Christ, what will come to their mind? When a student hears about something we're doing on campus, what will they assume about that event?

One of the things we talked about in staff meeting this morning was the distinctives of our movement. Students are able to view this or at least be introduced to who we are at our weekly meeting so it really matters what our weekly meeting looks like.

I came across this article from Benson Hines, and will be processing through these questions over the next few days. If your involved with our movement or ever have been, or if you just have some thoughts of your own on weekly large group gatherings for college ministry please join the conversation.

forty-NINE decisions you’ve already made about your college ministry’s large group meeting « Exploring College Ministry blog (daily notes about our field)

Not So Dark, Just Needs Someone to Change the Light Bulb

Over the last 8-12 months we have seen God open opportunities for a movement in the Greek system. We haven’t seen this at SFA in quite some time, maybe 6 or 7 years. We are learning that the Greek system at SFA is not as dark as we previously thought. In several fraternities and sororities there are students that are Christians and some that want to grow in their relationship with God.

We have spent the last 2 semesters developing trust with students we know in the Greek system. We now have two Bible Studies going, one for fraternity guys and one for sororities. The question is; what do we do now?

We have two team meetings with fraternity pledges set up for the next few weeks and we have already seen one produce some results with the sororities. What needs to be our next goal? Putting together a co-ed event/gathering before the end of the semester? Really pushing students to come with us to Winter Conference including offering scholarships where necessary? Both?

I’m really excited about where we are right now in our relationships with the Greeks on campus, but I pray we don’t miss out on opportunities or lose the momentum we have.

http://greekmovement.com/life_culture/

Reading To Be Challenged

Over the last 6 to 8 weeks, I’ve been reading Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy. I’m 300+ pages in, but it’s over 800 pages. My goal over the last few years is to try and read one book a week, sometimes I actually fulfill this. Reading Anna Karenina has pumped the brakes on my reading. I’m still able to read through a few other books that relate to ministry or leadership but reading a book like Karenina is toilsome. I don’t feel like I’m accomplishing anything. I feel like a slacker.

Although I feel like I’m plodding through this book, there is more depth than a lot of stuff I read, like Josh Hamilton’s autobiography. It’s caused me to rethink my reading list. Making sure I’m mixing in old books with new. Making sure I’m challenging myself with those who have gone before me and have thought deeply about life and not just being satisfied with the latest bestseller.

One of the articles that started me thinking about including older books - Milmin Training » Blog Archive » Inklings: Read Old Books

Dark Places Part 1 - Residence Halls

As I’ve been processing places on campus where the gospel is not going, I’m discovering that I would receive failing grades in campus ministry 101. Okay, maybe I’m sliding by with a “C”.

Making some honest assessments of where we are as a movement, we’re not doing a lot in the residence halls. Sure, we have a few small groups taking place but other than Move-In this year, I can’t think of any actions we’ve taken to reach a specific dorm hall. No outreaches, no socials, no game nights, no hanging out watching tv or playing video games, nothing.

And here’s the thing that scares me, I’m not sure our students know exactly what that looks like. They’re willing and capable but I just don’t know if that’s been modeled for them. Well, I know it hasn’t been modeled for them.

Yep, that means the old staff guy needs to go hang out in Hall 16 and show guys what that could look like. I’d rather not because when I walk in a Residence Hall now I can see the looks on the faces of students. It’s the look of “Yes sir, can I help you find your son? You know parents weekend was last week right?”

Hmmm…maybe God actually wants me to lead out of my weakness. I really don’t like it when He does that.

Over the next few weeks, I could actually move in that direction and invite guys to join me as I spend time at Hall 16 and step out in fear, uh faith, and meet some dudes over there and see what God does.

Here’s a few ideas I may try: 1) Handing out Doughnuts in the morning 2) Halo Tournament with free pizza 3) Watch a few football/baseball games in the lobby 4) Pancakes at night 5) Hanging out in lobby with good ol’ fashioned surveys.

Most outreach ideas I steal from here CruPress Green

My hope is that students could see that this could be replicated in other residence halls and we would see the gospel going to dark places.

Evangelism at SFA

I know I started a series on looking for the dark places on campus, and I'll get back to that soon, but this is relevant to the discussion. Matt McComas has a great post on evangelism, specifically in the Northwest. Evangelism – what’s working, what’s not? Thinking through whats working and not working with evangelism in our specific location is vital .

Evangelism is different here in the Bible belt, most of the students I interact with at SFA, have either been to church or they speak great "christaineze". This semester especially, we've found that students have no idea what it means to be a Christian. They either assume they are Christians because they have been to church a few times and agreed mostly with what they heard, or they really are Christians but have no idea how to articulate their faith.

As a staff team we have a come back around to sharing the Four Spiritual Laws/Knowing God Personally booklet with every student we sit down with. We feel like this may be our only chance to give them a clear presentation of the gospel, which so many of them claim to believe. It has been a blast. I have personally shared the gospel more this year than maybe any other time since I've been on staff with Campus Crusade. (I don't know if thats something to celebrate, or an indication of my failures for the last 10 years) Last year we tried to build relationships first, which may work for students, but not for a 38 year old hanging out on campus. Its almost as if the student expects me to share Christ with them. They don't expect me to hang out with them, they know I have a specific motive.

Although I love the Soularium and will try out the new Perspective cards today, for me I have become more committed to making sure I go through the Knowing God Personally booklet with students. Its always an awkward transition but I'm the same guy that schedules vacations around the opportunity to check out new baseball stadiums. How much more awkward can I get?

Looking for Dark Places

As a staff team we are reading and processing Andy Stanley’s book, Next Generation Leader. In the second section of the book Stanley addresses the issue of courage in the life of a leader, that if we stick with the status quo we will not only miss out on opportunities, but our organization/ministry will begin to die. I would say that it may not die, but it will cease to be relevant.

Stanley asks the question, where in your ministry are people perched on the mountainside, staring down into the valley wondering and wishing but not initiating? (He had just used the illustration of the army of Israel looking down at the valley when Goliath would challenge them; and their inactivity instead of carefully and prayerfully seeing this as an opportunity to trust God.) In your ministry, there are opportunities that have not yet been exploited because no one has had the courage to go first. What are they?

One of the things that continues to challenge me on campus is the realization there are places at SFA where the gospel is not going. Even though we have target areas, offer Bible Studies on campus, and spend a good deal of time meeting with students, we are still a come and see ministry. “You should come to our weekly meeting.” “You should check out this event.”

What are the areas or pockets of campus where the students don’t know someone who truly follows Jesus? What areas of campus are without someone purposely seeking to share the gospel? It’s quite doubtful that God will give us the type of vision He gave Paul in Acts 16. The Macedonia man saying, “Hey Paul, come over here and tell us about Jesus.” God can do whatever He wants, but so far that hasn’t happened, so I’m thinking He actually wants me to engage students, pray, and trust Him to lead me into the Judea and Samaria of our campus. If you’ve been to SFA, you would probably say we must be the end of the earth Jesus was talking about in Acts 1:8.

I don’t have answers to these questions but I have ideas. I’ll try and share those over the next several days, but it is the baseball playoffs so…

Focus on the right people – Do ministry thru others

I don't know if this something you're supposed to do as a blogger, but I'm essentially just pointing you to someone else's blog. Tim Casteel has a great blog on something I've been processing for almost a year now and trying to apply to what we do at SFA, Spiritual Mulitiplication/Selection. Check it out.
Focus on the right people – Do ministry thru others

Philippians 2 and Daryl Johnston

Philippians 2:3-4, "Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others."

I wrestle with Philippians 2 often because if this is supposed to be true of me, it ain’t.

Spending time on campus, I want students to respect and admire me. I want our staff team to think I’m the greatest leader EVER. I not only think more highly of myself than I should but I want others to think highly of me. I want staff and students to grow in their walks with God and I want them to have an influence for Christ on campus, but to be honest, I want the credit and I want acknowledgement.

Scripture seems to teach that God doesn’t really go for that.
Then I wonder how a Philippians 2 heart and mind would affect my life and my work on campus. What would change if I considered my staff team more significant than myself and took the form of a servant? What would change if I saw students in that same way?

As I’ve given this thought, my mind goes to the position of fullback in football. Maybe it’s the two games I watched Thursday night beginning at 930, or it’s the three games I watched Saturday night after the kids went to bed (DVR is going to be the death of me), or maybe it's watching Boise State and Virginia Tech while also drafting my fantasy team but I’m in a football state of mind.

Specifically my mind goes to my favorite fullback of all time, Daryl Johnston. Although he made the pro-bowl a few times and is highly regarded by his peers, you rarely saw his face on advertisements or considered him one of the faces of the Dallas Cowboys. You never heard any commentator gush over his stats, because he didn’t have many. When reporters were allowed into the locker room they didn’t run to Johnston for a sound bit. When they assembled players for a press conference, you didn’t see Johnston sitting at the table.

And yet, if you’ve seen Emmitt Smith’s induction speech, his recognition of Daryl Johnston was the most moving moment. The only time he cried.

What if I could live out Philippians 2 and function like a fullback on campus at SFA (minus everyone yelling “moose” when I walk in the student center)? What if I lead the way, but sought out no credit, no honor for myself. What if I, in humility, counted others more significant than myself and looked to their interests?

Maybe I’m just having withdrawals because I haven’t watched any football in 36 hours.

Was it worth it?

It all starts with sweat and smiles on a Thursday morning as we move in incoming freshmen. You carry refrigerators, tv's, and boxes that you really don't want to look inside, sometimes up five flights of stairs. You hand out fliers inviting students to your Welcome Week events, some seem interested, some not so much.

As the sun sets and you're dog tired from moving students in all day, you set up an outdoor coffeehouse with the hope of meeting some of these new students and engaging them in small talk conversation. What's your name? Where are you from? What dorm are you living in? What's your major? Why did you choose this university? (student leaves) (new student walks up) What's your name? Where are you from...

The next morning after about 6 hours of sleep, you wake up for another round of moving students in. By the end of the night, you're standing under a tent serving ice cream. Hey, what's your name? Where are you from...

Saturday night you plan the campus' largest game of knockout, which happened impromptu last year, thinking, with advertisement, this will be a big hit in our rec center. It flops, hardly anyone shows up.

How about some BBQ on Sunday afternoon? Joining with all the campus ministries so that students will know we're all in this together. Your standing over a grill cooking hot dogs in 110 degree heat. What's your name? Where you from...

Finally Monday, students start classes. For an incoming freshmen, everyone has a 4.0 GPA and every student organization treats you like the Big Man on Campus. We're handing out freshmen survival kits, 200 of them. Treating freshmen like the Big Man on Campus.

Tuesday. You haven't really had a good nights sleep in almost a week. You've now spent the previous evening calling through students that you helped move in, or came to the coffeehouse, or ate ice cream, or one of those 4 guys that came to the knockout game (where you handed out a 4 foot trophy that cost $60), or picked up a freshmen survival kit. Everyone on your staff team has appointments with these students, which is good, but your staring down the same question you ask every year at this time. Was all this worth it?

Then someone on your staff team calls at the end of the day and tells you two students trusted Christ that day.

Was it worth it? You dad'gum right it was! Praise the Lord this is my job.

Ethiopia Summer Project 2010 [HD]

Almost 18 months ago I spent one week in Ethiopia and I was changed. To this day, I will open my journal to the entries from those days. Something I wrote down multiple times was, God don't let me forget this. One of the ways God keeps Ethiopia on my mind is through a continued hope of sending students from SFA on summer project. Its amazing to me that God would take students and staff from a little small campus in a little small town in East Texas so far from Ethiopia in distance and culture and allow us to be a part of Him changing lives in Africa.
I tell students all the time, you will always be able to find other things to do with your summer, noble and valuable endeavors, but nothing like this.
To quote my friend Dan Boone, "if the cause is worthy, the cost is irrelevant." I think he stole that from someone else, but the hope of the gospel for Ethiopians is definitely worthy, soooo.......
Watch this video and go!
Ethiopia Summer Project 2010 [HD]

Spiritual Multiplication

Today we talked through spiritual multiplication with our students as we prepare for the coming Fall semester (yes I realize we're very late in starting classes at SFA). Most of this is stolen from either Robert Coleman's book Master Plan of Evangelism or from one of my favorite guys to listen to Roger Hershey.

We started with this video of Andy Atkins, the National Director of Agape UK, explaining the significance of spiritual multiplication.

Mark 3:13-14, "13 And he went up on the mountain and called to him those whom he desired, and they came to him. 14 And he appointed twelve (whom he also named apostles) so that they might be with him and he might send them out to preach."

People were Jesus’method. Our method tends to be programs. We say things like, "if we had this kind of music or this speaker we would see more happen on campus". His concern was not with programs for the multitudes, but men that the multitudes would follow. Jesus wanted to make sure that he invested in men that would carry on His work and live like Him after He returned to the Father. He knew there was a limited amount of time and He invested it wisely. One cannot transform the world except as individuals in the world are transformed, and individuals cannot be changed except as they are molded in the hands of the Master. He focused on a few men in order to build a foundation that would have a lasting influence that would stretch throughout generations and reach the masses. (Words in Bold quoted from Master Plan of Evangelism, Robert Coleman)

Jesus invested deeply, He trained, He prayed with, He taught them. The disciples would have seen Him in numerous situations and had opportunities to ask Him question after question. By the time Jesus was crucified, they would have had a good understanding of what it meant to follow Jesus, to honor God with their lives. And he has shown them what it would look like to disciple others and see this transformation in the lives of others.

The first question we sometimes ask is How do I get started?

There's no way around it, we have to take the initiative. In Matthew 10, Luke 9 – Jesus sends out the apostles with basically nothing else than the clothes they have on – they had to step out in faith and trust that God would provide for them and ultimately lead them in the right paths. For us, maybe, that begins by just intentionally hanging out with others in your areas of interest, but at some point we must share our faith and intentionally invest in the lives of individuals

So what characteristics should this person possess?

You only have so much time and you want to invest wisely.

2nd Timothy 2:2, "and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust to faithful men who will also be able to teach others."

Faithful Men

To quote Roger Hershey, "we have to work with the right people".

They must be faithful, available, teachable.

Faithful - Are they fully engaged with God, you, and serving others?

Available - Do they make time in their schedule or is there always something else that gets in the way? Is walking with God and growing in their faith a priority to them?

Teachable - As you experience life with them, take them to the scriptures, and train them in ministry skills, are they receptive?

Able to teach others

In order to multiply, they need to be able to teach others, so what are they teaching? What we teach them. What is that?

3 components of quality discipleship

Relationship – investing in a person

A) Learn to ask questions

B) Learn to listen

C) Spend relational time with them, hanging out

D) Learn to be an encourager

E) Demonstrate vulnerability

Time in Scripture – renewing their mind

A) Life transformation

B) Conviction for a lifetime

C) Lies need to be replaced with truth

Example – Having a quiet time with them.

Ministry – training disciples how to walk by faith, communicate faith, multiply faith. Great tools for this can be found at http://crupressgreen.com

Imagine if you chose to invest your life in such a way that when you return to campus in 5 or 10 years that there is someone, maybe several students, walking with God because of your submission to God in Spiritual Multiplication and His faithfulness in return?

May God use us to multiply reproducing disciple makers!