Christian Challenge at MSC

One of the amazing things of writing on a blog and being a campus minister is that every once in a while, I get the privilege and honor of being able to read certain bits of literature before most of the general population.  And so, I recieved a copy of the brand-spankin’ new Max Lucado book "Fearless" a couple of weeks ago. I’m not typically a Lucado fan, but I have to admit, I enjoyed it.

The fearless website - www.thefearlessbook.com - gives a good description of the book:

"Each sunrise seems to bring fresh reasons for fear.

They’re talking layoffs at work, slowdowns in the economy, flare-ups in the Middle East, turnovers at headquarters, downturns in the housing market, upswings in global warming. The plague of our day, terrorism, begins with the word terror. Fear, it seems, has taken up a hundred-year lease on the building next door and set up shop. Oversized and rude, fear herds us into a prison of unlocked doors. Wouldn’t it be great to walk out?

Imagine your life, wholly untouched by angst. What if faith, not fear, was your default reaction to threats? If you could hover a fear magnet over your heart and extract every last shaving of dread, insecurity, or doubt, what would remain? Envision a day, just one day, where you could trust more and fear less.

Can you imagine your life without fear?"

 Mr. Lucado is a fount of wonderful anecdotes that describe whatever is going on.  From the spiritual life of Woody Allen to the time he personally got to ride in a fighter jet, this book gives some great examples of common fears we all face every day.  Of course, you haven’t ridden in a fighter jet, but you have been in a situation where things seem like they’re going out of control, but in reality there is someone who knows exactly what’s going on leading the way.  Check out Matthew 14 where the disciples are on the boat and Jesus is sleeping.  

 One thing that I have noticed about the way that Mr. Lucado writes is that it is very easy to read, but it never seems to hit the same super deep spiritual notes that some other authors I’ve read have hit.  Not that this is bad – often times it’s the simple truths that change us the most.  And this book is packed full of them.  Each chapter gives some practical advice on how to deal with the different fears we may come across during our lives.  In times such as these, when the world is freaking out about everything, this book does a great job of giving some perspective on an otherwise chaotic world.

 Should you read it?  Sure.  It’s good.  My biggest gripe is the price, but that can be allayed in a multitude of ways.  More importantly, be sure to pay attention as you read it, as it would be a waste of good time to read something this good and not remember any of it, kind of like getting a t-bone steak at a McDonalds drive thru.  It’s just wouldn’t be right.

-K 

As I sat trying to quell the playful bickering between a couple of my students yesterday, I had the opportunity to talk with one young man who wanted to know exactly what we do.  "Why is college ministry different than my high school youth group?" He asked.  I tried to explain it to him, but I really felt like I’d failed a bit.  

This morning, while checking out Twitter, a tweet by @CampusMinGuy caught my eye – "Characteristics of College Ministry,"  based on an article written by @bensonhines.  I clicked the link, and just finished reading through the article.  WOW, I wish I’d had a copy of this with me yesterday.  It does one heck of a job of explaining what I couldn’t get into words.  Here is an exerpt -

The practice of college ministry is far more like Missions than like Christian Education.

So ministering to a college campus is in many ways more like Missions in Mozambique than it is even like Youth Ministry.

The more I work with college students, the more I think this is true.  Go to http://bit.ly/JfPEY for the full article.  Or just track me down on campus, I’ll have a copy with me today, just in case….

 -Kevin

(This is a guest article contributed by Remy Currier, a student with us at ChallengeMSC, that was originally published on theooze.com.  Please, check out the original article HERE, and take a look at some of the comments left by readers there.)

Last year, my college had a big
end-of-the-year party with a hypnotist, vendors, bands, food, and
games. One of the vendors was a Christian clothing company, and their
booth was set up right next to my Campus Crusade group’s table, so, at
some point during the day, a friend and I wandered over to their table.
The guy who owned the company was a young, seemingly cool guy with
tattoos and a backwards hat – the kind of guy who looks just alt rock
enough to be “Seeker friendly.”

So my friend and I started talking to the guy while we looked at some
of the tee shirts he was selling. We had been visiting with him for a
few minutes when my friend picked up one of the shirts, a black tee
with a screen print of a gas mask on the front and a logo on the back,
and asked the guy what the gas mask symbolized.

“I kind of had the idea of how, like, Jesus is like a gas mask that we
put on to filter out all of the crap that’s in the world,” he explained.

Personally, I was shocked. Not because Gas Mask guy is anyone special,
and certainly not because his view is unique or different. I was
shocked only because of the absolutely ordinary opinion he held. It’s
an opinion of Jesus that we all run into, and some of us hold, for
better or for worse.

I kind of feel sorry for the Gas Mask guy. For me, it seems as if his
Jesus is awfully small. It seems to me that if all Jesus is good for is
just to be our gas mask, then Jesus isn’t really worth very much.

And yet Gas Mask guy can probably back up his position with verses. And
let’s face it, Gas Mask guy isn’t all wrong, he’s just missing huge
chunks of the story. And, really, it seems to me like he’s really
missing out on what makes Jesus so great – The fact that, in
encountering the risen Christ, we begin a journey on a path of becoming
one with Jesus. It seems to me like he’s too busy worrying about heaven
and hell and the evil in the world to see the underlying beauty of the
whole thing – the fact that it’s really not about heaven or hell at
all; instead it’s about God coming into the world to reunite us to Him.

I guess I really feel sorry for Gas Mask guy because it seems to me
like he’s just trying to escape the world. Like Jesus is just there to
protect him from the world while he’s here and to be his ticket into
heaven when he needs to get there.

For me, when Jesus says in John’s gospel that he is the Way, he doesn’t
mean that he’s our ticket into heaven. For me, he’s saying that he is
so much more than just a gas mask to put on. He’s so much more than
just a bridge to walk over on my way to heaven. He’s so much more than
just a means to health and wealth. Jesus is the Way. His teachings and
his life create a Way, a path in which to walk, and a guiding companion
for that path. But even more than that, Jesus is God. Jesus is the God
who was willing to come down into a broken mess in order to restore
that mess back to the way God intended.

And so I think that’s really the problem with Gas Mask guy’s idea of
Jesus. He’s got Jesus, but it’s Jesus by the numbers. And that’s one
thing that God always has tried to keep us away from. I feel like God’s
real message for us, the message of the Gospel, is that religious pills
don’t work. That God wants something other than right theology or
religious practices or sacrifices or being moral. God wants to love us,
and for us to love him back. God wants to reunite creation with
Himself, and, ultimately, I think that’s what Gas Mask Guy is really
missing out on – God’s mission of reunifying everything to Him.

The last day at Glorieta is always a sad one.  People start petering out early and heading home, and Glorieta just feels smaller.  I’ll have my last coke tonight, the last one for fifty-one weeks until I return.  We go back to life and work and preparation and meetings and bills and mortgages and leases and everything, and we hope that we can bring some of what we experienced here back with us.

That’s one of the reasons I took so many pictures (you can see them here, hopefully), with many more to come as I collect from everyone. These are memory triggers for those that attend, which helps us to remember.

Bobcat Bite’s is amazing.  The green chili cheeseburger is like nothing else I’ve ever eaten.  It’s as close to magic as I’ve ever encountered, but like the amazing Coca-cola here, it too must wait another 51 or so weeks before I can enjoy it again. 

In reflection, this year was odd.  All of the wives stayed at home (at least from our group).  Bobby Pruett wasn’t there to make everyone smile.  Joe Ricks wasn’t there.  Neither was Max Barnett, due to his recovery from surgery.  And again, it rained in Glorieta on Cerena Melazzo’s birthday – thanks Cerena. 

I hope I can bring back what I’ve learned and apply it to the new events that we’re starting up this semester.  I feel overwhelmed by the amount of information I received and need to use.   God willing, I can at least put a portion of it to use, and I hope that the students that attended this year can do the same.  If we do even just a small bit of what we learned, there is no way that Mesa State College, or Grand Junction, or even the World as we know it could be the same.  I hope and pray that we can start to make more of an impact, that we can increase our volume and velocity enough that we can see the wheels of change turn in our community.  I hope….

David Platt – Day 6 – The Four Facets of Jesus’ Unique Compassion (that we should learn) 

1. See their sighs

1. The crowds and multitudes were harassed and helpless
2. Many of them rejected Him

For more information check out David Platt’s website – www.brookhills.org.

Today was a good day.  Michael Kelley spoke on Jesus and Lazarus.  We lost in the 3-on-3 basketball tourniment, but not due to the lack of trying of any of our players.  We tried to make a trip to Bobcat Bite’s, but it was incredibly busy, so we had to reschedule until tomorrow.

I attended a seminar on Social Justice in the church… I learned a lot of good stuff, but I have to hold off until I can post it all at the right time. 

David Platt – How will we respond when disaster strikes? – Luke 13

1. Natural disasters remind us death is unpredictable

1. Death will probably be sudden
2. Death is surprising
3. Death is sure

1. Life is fleeting, and people are perishing. – Romans 5