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…