Hocking Jesus

:: [Guest Post by Michael McCord] ::

NOTE:   As you read this I will be walking the streets of Nassau while introducing other campus ministers to the mission possibilities there. I wrote this blog post several months ago after returning from a mission trip with eleven students. It is mostly in response to a deep conversation we had about what will happen when the students leave college. See, they get it – they’re tired of churches that are more concerned with creating their own world rather than changing THE world for the sake of The Kingdom.

So as our students walk across their stages and receive their long expected degrees, will there be a church they can be part of? Will there be a movement of Jesus followers who actually pray as Jesus taught us… and believe it?

9 "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. 10 Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us this day our daily bread.  12 And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13 And do not bring us to the time of trial, but rescue us from the evil one.

I was recently walking through the straw market in Nassau, Bahamas. I’ve been there close to a dozen times on mission trips through our Wesley Foundation. It’s a familiar experience to me. What struck me during my most recent visit was the likeness that I found between the current church models and this collection of traders.

When you are new to the scene, you instantly become overwhelmed by the shear size of the venue and the number of traders packed into the space. At times, you may be pressed against the musky cigar trader who’s covered in sweat and whispering, “green, mon, want some green” (note: green is marijuana, for those who don’t know) while a little old lady from one of the cruise ships elbows her way through the crowd. That’s just another typical day in the straw market. What one realizes once they have been to the market several times is that most of the merchants are all selling the same thing. In fact, they actually work for the same boss.

The Future of College Ministry is “Down and Out”

:: [Guest post by Stephen Lutz] ::

I have a pastor friend who reads Acts 17, Paul’s “Mars Hill” encounter, a bit differently than many of us. He sees it as Paul’s least effective ministry endeavor, even as a failure and a negative example.  I see Mars Hill as a success. One purpose of Acts is to tell the story of how the Gospel went to everyone and everywhere in the known world, and so in that sense it's part of the successful story. But I think it's a success in more ways than that.

As someone who spends a good time up on the 'Mars Hill' of Penn State University with students who like to debate all the latest ideas, I'm keenly aware of the challenges Paul faced. One aspect of my ministry has been to militant atheists, agnostics, and pagan students. It’s a challenge to redemptively engage with them, particularly during the last couple years when the New Atheist movement has been throwing its weight around.

At the root, my friend’s discomfort with Acts 17 is this: not many people come to faith (Paul’s day at Mars Hill would still be a really good day for most of us, right?) Isn’t this, when compared with the rest of Acts, a failure? I think stories like Mars Hill cause us to reevaluate our grid for what constitutes success. Not every day will be Pentecost, and Paul never gets the instant results like Peter does, but that doesn't mean he's a failure, right? 

Ideas for May

It's May!


That typically means the end of the academic year... unless that came in April for you.  Either way, it's time to start thinking about saying good-bye to students and preparing for a different season of ministry life - the summer.


I've started posting some ideas at the beginning of each month as a way of mapping out my upcoming month - and I thought some of you might need (or have) some ideas for May as well (I would normally post this information on the first day of the month - but we've been experiencing some flooding here in Nashville... so here you go - a few days late).


A few posts from the month of April that might be worth checking out - if you missed them - or if you are transitioning into a season with some more space for rest and recuperation are:

Equipped For Disaster [?]

In case you haven't heard, the greater Nashville area is experiencing its worst flooding ever (at least according to all records on file).

While damage estimates are projected to be in the billions of dollars, much of the BU family is reporting minimal damage - we're very thankful.  Not having to be overly concerned with the campus, we're beginning to look outward.  We've spent the last couple of days in campus-wide meetings trying to figure out how best to respond as a Christian academic community.

The Office of University Ministries and Spiritual Development have been asked to provide significant leadership to our campus-wide efforts, given the fact that we've led teams of students on numerous relief efforts over the course of our time on campus - just never quite so close to home.

Our current situation has me wondering about other campuses out there... If asked,

• would you be ready to lead out on your campus?
• would you be invited 'to the table' to help coordinate a campus-wide effort?
• would you be seen as a team player?
• would you be seen as a credible resource?
• would your ministry be equipped to mobilize teams - if not large portions of the campus - to assist in relief efforts?

We never know when the opportunity to serve is going to present itself.  When it happens in your home town you don't want to be scrambling to come up with a first-time game plan.

'Friendly Fire' on Campus

Do you know what I'm talking about?

Friendly fire?

It's a term most often used in the military or other combat scenarios and involves the inadvertent firing towards a member of  one's own or otherwise friendly forces while attempting to engage enemy forces.

It's called "friendly" because the assumption is that it is an accident... unintentional... 

But is it still considered 'friendly fire' when the "fire" is coming from other members of the larger team your a part of?  I'm talking about Christians hurting Christians - ministries working against each other - leaders, student leaders and even casual participants engaging in mean and destructive behavior towards one another.

It happens.

When Students Struggle

I was out of the office last week, so yesterday was my first day back on campus since classes resumed post-spring break.  


I met with a couple of students who, even after a week of attempting to re-engage, were struggling to:

• 'be present', 
• be 'interested' in there classes and what was happening on campus, 
• be 'motivated' to study, 
• 'deal with' all of the apathy they see around them and 
• 'stay put' as they are ready to return to their meaningful spring break locations.

While there are many students that come back from their break renewed and ready to crank out the remainder of the semester, there are also those who come back - having had a taste the summer break to come - and are just ready to be done... but there are also those students who return to our campuses after spring break that have been so moved by how they experienced God over their break that all they want to do is 'go back'.

How to Best Reach Your Students

How are you reaching your students?

Do you know?

I found myself struggling to answer these questions toward the end of the fall semester. And what made matters worse was the fact that I have been in this ministry setting for 4.5 years!

Unfortunately I had fallen into a trap that I think a lot of us in ministry are prone to... attempting to use what has worked - or is working - in other ministry contexts, in our current context.

We think, quite naturally, that if it worked "there" than it should work here... right!?

And we hope that it does. Because we know how to do "that." We were good at "that." "That" has become quite easy for us...

Sometimes, however, it goes beyond our ministry programs, to something less obvious... like our approach.

I've come to believe that our ministries, or the various programs within our ministries, take on one of three forms:

• Pastoral. Those programs that are geared towards our students who already believe and are bought into making faith central to their life and their college experience. We LOVE these... don't we?!
• Missional. Those programs that are designed to reach out to those who do not know the love of Christ, or those who walked away some time ago. Depending on the kind of campus you serve on, this could take on a much larger or smaller percentage of your programming... regardless, it NEEDS to be a part of all of our ministries!
• Prophetical. Yep, I said. And it wasn't until I was earnestly praying sometime last semester that God opened my eyes to this. Just as there was in the time of the Divided Kingdoms of Israel and Judah - many of God's people had chosen other priorities... and forsaken their First Love. This population of our campus community NEEDS to be awakened to their present state and lack of Kingdom priorities... but I'm not exactly sure how to best go about that... because the Old Testament I read depicts prophets who served God faithfully and were constantly met with resistance, opposition, threats, beatings and even death!

As we grow in our understanding of the campus culture that we are called to serve, I believe that we must also determine how best to reach the different kinds of students we have.

Not all will be ready for a pastor.

Some will need a missionary to share the good news of Jesus...

And others will need the kick in the pants that only a prophet can bring!

What do you think?

Grace and peace to you as you reach out to each and every one of them!

The 'Fred' in Our Midst

This is Fred.

He started to show up around our house several weeks ago... and he wasn't alone.

Back in the fall, my in-laws were passing through town on their way to Florida for the winter. They thought that since we now live in the country our house might be a good place for their "outdoor" cat (Maggie) to spend the winter.

Apparently Maggie knows how to make friends - or at the very least, attract other cats - as we've had no less than 6 other cats that now frequent our front porch or back fence... (I'm starting to fear our new neighbors might think we are 'crazy cat people').

While most of them will come and go, Fred (as I've started to call him - creative, I know) has almost become a permanent fixture on one of the chairs on our front porch. He is there most hours of the day and seems to be a bit on the rugged side. I don't know where Fred lives, or where he goes on the increasingly rare occasion that he's not on our front porch... and to be honest, I don't really care. I don't often give Fred much consideration (not being a cat person and all) unless he looks like he's about to try and enter our home. Then Fred gets a lot more of my attention than he wants!

The past few days Fred has had me wondering about the "Freds" in our worlds.

Are there some who have become so commonplace in our ministry settings that we unknowingly pass them by without much consideration?

Are there students who seem to always be around, yet because they have never engaged us, we don't bother to reach out to?

I find myself today needing to pray for fresh eyes to see the "Freds" in my midst. Those who I have overlooked... those whom God may very well have brought my way for a specific reason.

I think it might be a stewardship issue... and if I... if we, are not proven faithful with a few "Freds" than we will likely not be given the chance to be faithful with many more.

Is it possible that the key to unlocking the flood gates of our ministries might have more to do with reaching the overlooked than it does reaching the well-connected?

I'd love to know what you think!