PULL UP A CHAIR: Stories on Passion

For a summary of what I’m hoping to accomplish in this blog series (in the fourth week of every month of 2018), I recommend reviewing my explanation here.

Jeff VanderLaan (no relation to Ray, for those of you familiar with my teachings) is the Vice President for Impact Campus Ministries and has become one of my closest friends. He has served with ICM for over 24 years and knows our organization and its DNA intimately. Jeff was discipled by ICM's founder, Dean, and knows these principles in ways that few of us do. I could think of nobody else to close out this year's blog posts then by having Jeff share his perspective on PASSION. 

“Will you pursue God with all your heart, mind, body, and soul?” 

It was the fall of 1994, and I was a senior at Michigan State University attending His House Christian Fellowship when Dean Trune asked me that one question. That question was the whole application and interview process to join the first Impact Campus Ministries campus ministry plant in Albany, NY. There was no written application, no reference checks, and no skills assessment. All Dean cared about was if I would have a passion for God.

For the next 15 years, while Dean was my boss, the question about my passion for God led every conversation and was included on every report I had to turn in to the organization. Often my answer would start with ministry success stories. Dean would politely listen, then re-ask about my personal relationship with Jesus.

Dean knew what I needed to learn. Ministry is hard. It would be easy to lose focus on God and get distracted by the ministry. It was not that Dean was anti-ministry. He just knew we cannot control “making an impact” or “fruitful ministries,” but we have absolute control over developing intimacy with God. He would say, “We must not allow ‘ministry for God’ to crowd ‘intimacy with God’ out of our lives.”

Dean knew that passion for God would naturally lead to ministry. Actually, it would lead to a ministry where you would willfully do more than is required to do. It would lead to a ministry driven by more than enthusiasm or excitement when successful. Your passion for God would lead to an ambition that is materialized into action through the good times and the bad.

Dean was right. We called the first year the year of tears. It was hard. Between Satan opposing the expansion of God’s kingdom to the University at Albany through campus ministry, and God’s appreciation of my choosing to serve him, I discovered the need for God to refine me to be a more usable vessel. It was never clear if the blow was from Satan trying to stop me or God trying to shape me, but I was sure it hurt. Yet passion for God gave us the strength to continue into year two and eventually through year 15.

Through the years, Impact’s value of passion for God has continued to teach me so many things.

• When I focus on ministry, people will be drawn to ministry. Focus I on God, people will be drawn to God.
• When I focus on ministry, I often take the credit. When I focus on God, I often give him the credit.
• When I focus on ministry, my weaknesses limit the ministry. When I focus on God, his strength empowers the ministry.
• When I focus on ministry, I often choose the direction taken. When focusing on God, he directs the ministry.

There was so much learned from such a simple concept.

Impact Campus Ministries values passion for God. May this value continues to underlie everything we do and continue expanding our understanding of what it can teach us in the future.

MAKING AN IMPACT: Passion

For a summary of what I’m hoping to accomplish in this blog series (in the third week of every month of 2018), I recommend reviewing my explanation here.

The last value we have to talk about is the value of passion for God.

This value is really the first on our list and I purposely saved it for the last post in our series. Why? Because this brings us all the way back, full circle, to where we started years ago under the leadership of Dean Trune. Dean’s passion for Jesus, back then and still today, is his sole concern. For Dean, his pursuit of God was his passion, and true passion is seen in our pursuit of Jesus.

Anyone who meets Dean would be able to tell you about his spiritual posture, through all of the ups and downs of his family and their experiences. Through Dean’s successes and mistakes (he’d be the first to tell you he makes them), his steady gaze, fixed on Jesus, is the one trademark he tries to pass on to as many people as he can.

At Impact Campus Ministries, following Jesus and giving him our everything is not an afterthought. It is not a secondary focus. It is not what comes at the end, or the value that gets our leftovers.

It is the foundation we start from. We begin our workday, our productivity, with a focus on what Jesus is doing in us, through us, and around us. We attempt to discern the movement of Jesus and go with it. This is not just the thing that we do “before the real work begins.” On the contrary, this is actually the work.

One of the things I should certainly do here is recommend Dean’s writings. His first two books have always been my favorite when it comes to communicating the essence of who we are at ICM. Dean’s first book is Path Toward Passion, and I’ve always felt like it is his personal magnum opus. His second book challenges me to be more “awake” and present in my interactions; the book is titled God's Divine Appointments.

This last January, we had an opportunity to let Dean come in and remind us (for some, it was brand new) of the thinking he instilled in our beginnings. One of the examples he used was the idea of deep friendship versus romance. Many of us have experienced or observed a deep and meaningful friendship; we have also seen or experienced the different kind of quality in a romantic relationship. Both are meaningful and powerful, yet one is so much more intimate.

Dean suggested to us that far too many Christians have a deep friendship with Jesus, but not a romance. I have written at great extent to show how far the Scriptures go to reiterate this perspective of God’s relationship with His people. Outside the metaphor of “Father,” the metaphor of “Lover” is a close second. God wants to have that kind of intimate relationship with us.

God wants to have that kind of relationship with college students.

It is this kind of intimacy that empowers them with a supernatural ability to Impact the World.

How will we ever Impact the U with this kind of message if we don’t experience it daily in our own lives?

Jesus, please lead us, call us, and draw us to yourself, that we might know you intimately and be able to share that kind of “knowing” with the world around us.

PULL UP A CHAIR: Stories on Character

For a summary of what I’m hoping to accomplish in this blog series (in the fourth week of every month of 2018), I recommend reviewing my explanation here.

Kerry Eastridge is the Team Leader for our ICM team at Florida Gulf Coast University in Ft. Myers, FL. Kerry is one of our longest-serving campus ministers and has proven throughout the years his commitment to integrity as a minister, mentor, and leader. His quiet, non-assuming demeanor often hides a deep well of wisdom that resides inside of him. If you were to ask other members of the ICM family, they would tell you that there aren't too many other folks that serve as a model for CHARACTER like Kerry.

Sew a thought, reap an action.

Sew an action, reap a habit.

Sew a habit, reap a character.

Sew a character, reap a legacy.

In my opinion, character and integrity are the embodiment of who we are in regard to what we think about and how we act toward God, others, and ourselves. Christian character would include the relational attitudes and actions of Christ. There are two character qualities I believe encompass many of the others and are important for us as campus ministers to pursue, model, and teach: humility and truth. As qualities, they are nouns, but in life we practice them in more of an active verbal manner.

Think about one of the messages social media, mass media, Hollywood, music stars, and professional sports figures all promote; “It’s all about you, so grab your moment of fame while you can.” Today’s college students have grown up with this message of self-promotion pounded into their psyche. It is all too evident in their Snapchats, selfies, and posts.

Humility dares to defy this self-absorptive form of pride. I’m told C.S. Lewis wrote that humility is not thinking less of yourself but thinking of yourself less. If that is true, then pride is the obsession with self—thinking of oneself too much. Obsession with self is found in two opposite extremes. The person who is overly self-confident, arrogant, and self-promoting is obsessed with self. However, the person who is consumed with his insecurities, fears, inhibitions, and inabilities is also obsessed with self.

One of the challenges we have with today’s students is to simply get them to greet and talk with other students. Perhaps a true test of humility and getting over one’s insecurities is the practice of “tabling.” Tabling is representing the organization and engaging people at a display table. Spend an hour or two tabling and trying to connect with students walking by, and you will get your share of rejection.

Sometimes practicing humility can feel like walking a tight rope between prideful arrogance and self-deprecation. It is helpful to identify what one does well, but not to dwell on it too long. It is helpful to examine one’s life for areas that need improvement, but not to be overly critical.

Toward the end of the sermon on the mount, Matthew records Jesus warning His listeners, “Watch out for false prophets. … By their fruit you will recognize them.” False prophets pretend to speak truth, but they actually do the opposite. False prophets usually have hidden or ulterior motives. Jesus says they are going to bear fruit that will expose their falsehood.

In contrast, people of Christ-like character are people of the truth, for Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” Being a person of the truth includes, but is not limited to, telling the truth. Our students need to have campus ministers who will tell them the truth. This includes the truth found in Scripture, the whole counsel of God. It also includes, however being honest in our conversations and relationships with one another. College students have grown up in a culture where lying is the norm. Christian leaders ought to be the antithesis to this norm. We should be champions of speaking the truth in love. When they ask us a tough question, they need to know we will give them a truthful answer.

People who are of the truth are real, genuine, and sincere. College students are good at detecting phoniness. They may not know how to verbalize it, or they may not be willing to confront you about it, but you won’t see them around for long if they pick up you are not genuine or sincere.

Here at Impact we talk a lot about modeling. Most of the time it is in the context of intentionally modeling our pursuit of Christ in front of others. But as leaders we are always modeling, because our character is always on display. Who we are cannot escape where we are. Our character accompanies our presence.

As a staff member with Impact, one of the things I truly treasure is that our directors strive to live out the mission and vision, and in this case the values of character and integrity. Character and integrity are not just spoken about but are modeled from the top down.

Over the years I have heard our leaders confess weaknesses, mistakes, and struggles in their lives and ministries. They admit through their own transparency that life is a journey where mistakes are made. They practice and model grace and encouragement as they accept our failures and weaknesses and encourage us to take the next positive, God-directed step. We pass that down to our student leaders by encouraging them to step out in faith with the assurance they are “free to fail.” We want them to try things and stretch themselves, knowing that if something doesn’t go so well, we will absorb the hit together without casting blame or shame.

We had a student leader some time ago fail morally. It changed the trajectory of her life tremendously. It also served as a test to our character. How would we react when one of our own didn’t live up to the character standards we and she held dear? Would our reactions be true to our message? Would we help her get up and keep moving forward, or would we do our part to keep her down?

I heard Carey Nieuwhof, Pastor, Author, and Leadership Podcaster on the radio recently talking about character. He pointed out our character is the only thing people will remember when we are gone. Soon after we’re gone, people will encapsulate our whole life with one-word descriptions. What will be the word people use to describe you and me?

A DAY IN THE LIFE: Bema Trip

For a summary of what I’m hoping to accomplish in this blog series (in the second week of every month of 2018), I recommend reviewing my explanation here.

I have recently returned from my third student trip to Israel and Turkey. I call these study tours “BEMA Trips” as they are a part of my larger BEMA Discipleship program. I try to lead study tours every other year as an opportunity to allow students to engage the world of the Bible experientially. If you followed the other series on my blog this year, you might remember this post on MODE for Impact Campus Ministries. The BEMA Trips are a great example of how I try to pursue MODE with my students.

This year (2018) was the final instance of a combined trip to Israel and Turkey. The three-week experience was an incredible time — designed for students who only had one opportunity to do this and limited funding, the bang-for-the-buck of one trip ($5800) was something that couldn’t be beat by the price (and time commitment) needed for two separate trips ($4300 each). However, as my job has taken me further from students, and as I have lost a scholarship fund that allowed me to give out $50,000 of support to students who wanted to go, I have needed to shift my focus.

In the future, we are planning for two groups on separate trips to Israel and Turkey. While this will be more expensive, it will be much more feasible for the typical participant who has a job and can’t get three weeks off of work. It will also enable us to have different focuses for each trip. Everything being said, the trip participants are pretty tired by the time they approach the end of a three-week adventure where we hike 7–12 miles a day with over 1800 feet of elevation change. We are beat up physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

Oh, but we are also filled up like never before. It is an opportunity that I thank God for every year. It really is my version of living the dream and I am blessed beyond belief to have the opportunity to do it!

But if this is something that only happens once every other year, is it really something that belongs in the A DAY IN THE LIFE series? The answer is yes, because of all the ongoing work needed to make these trips a reality.

After I return from a trip, I commit to my participants one year of focused, pastoral follow-up. I want to use my experience and the experience of my past alumni to help students make the most of their opportunity, so I will offer them some provocative guidance to help stimulate growth and appropriate responses (e.g., new habits, new community, new disciples) in their lives. I will also be available to them should they need to ask questions or wrestle with new efforts to become a more devoted follower of our Rabbi.

As that year comes to a close (and even a little before), I begin recruiting for our next trip. When we are ten months out, we open official registration and I am busy collecting information, paperwork, funding, and sending our preparation videos for those participants. Simply put, I am always doing something in preparation for or in response to a BEMA Trip.

Want to experience a little taste of our trip? I made a video with some snippets from each day of our last time in Israel and Turkey. (I even remembered to shoot a few introduction videos in Israel!)

PULL UP A CHAIR: Stories on Excellence & Compassion

For a summary of what I’m hoping to accomplish in this blog series (in the fourth week of every month of 2018), I recommend reviewing my explanation here.

Andrew Hodges is the Team Leader for our ICM team in Indianapolis at the campus of IUPUI (Indiana University Purdue University, Indianapolis). He and his wife, Samantha, as well as their beautiful children have been ministering in Indy for years and reaching out to the campus for the most recent of those years. Andrew is a driven and committed minister who leads a high-octane and "excellent" outreach. However, he is also shaped by the grace and way of Jesus. I knew that his thoughts about this tension would be worth reading, so I invited him to write this installment for our PULL UP A CHAIR series.

One of the things I’ve struggled with more than anything in ministry is the balance between excellence and compassion. For example, picture me feverishly working away on tasks in my office. In walks a college student last semester wanting to show me a cat video on YouTube in which the cat is speaking what I believed to be Russian. Do I really have time to watch the cat video? Do I really want to watch the cat video? No is the answer to both of those questions. Yet there is a third question to be asked in the midst of that scenario. How can I afford not to watch this video? By watching this cat-speaking-Russian video, I will be able to connect with the student on a deeper level and this will lead to even more opportunities for discipleship. A week later, that same student was then able to trust me enough to ask for my advice about a fraternity brother who was struggling with suicidal thoughts.

All from a cat video?

Kinda.

I recently read the following quote from Rick Warren: “You may have heard it said, ‘If it can’t be done with excellence, don’t do it.’ Well, Jesus never said that! The truth is, almost everything we do is done poorly when we first start doing it—that’s how we learn. At Saddleback Church, we practice the ‘good enough’ principle: It doesn’t have to be perfect for God to use and bless it. We would rather involve thousands of regular folks in ministry than have a perfect church run by a few elites.”

I believe this is where excellence and compassion meet.

Two examples in our ministry at IUPUI that immediately come to my mind are our Worship Team and our Student Leaders.

WORSHIP TEAM

When we first moved toward a fully-student-led band for our worship times on campus, I nearly had a mental breakdown. What songs would they choose? Would they sing in the right keys? Can we really have two violins playing at the same time? Was that the right chord?

Yet the teams we’ve had since then have done an incredible job leading.

The students have loved it.

I have loved it.

I did not have a mental breakdown, entirely.

We valued the worship team over their ability to play or sing, while at the same time encouraging them to step into a place of serious preparation for each night of praise to God. The good enough principal has been used in full effect.

STUDENT LEADERS

It was during our second year on campus that we started to have student leadership positions. These students would assume more responsibility and help us disciple other students. At first I really didn’t know what I was doing (I still mostly do not), but what they allowed us to do was to be organized in our effort to Pursue, Model, and Teach in so many more areas to so many more students. We’ve expanded into vision casting, service projects, intentional hangout times, small groups, intramural sports, worship, art, social media posts, and so much more.

My prayer was (and is) constantly, “God, help me not to underuse them, but help me also not to overuse them.” I’m not sure I’ve figured out where that balance is yet, but I know that the more I care for them and their souls, the more God reveals that sweet spot with both excellence and compassion.

The more I’ve invested in the few, the more God has allowed us to invest in the many.

What we will find is that discipleship requires both excellence AND compassion.

We let people see glimpses of what they are capable of (through God’s power) and we give them affirmation all along the way.

To do something with excellence is to do something “according to your ability” (see Ezra 2:69) and to do something with compassion is to “see the huge crowd” (Matthew 14:14) the way Jesus did before he fed the five thousand.

Ultimately, we are stepping into the very footprints of our Savior, Jesus.

I leave you with this last thought from Philippians 2 that lays out our mission and purpose so well:

Is there any encouragement from belonging to Christ? Any comfort from his love? Any fellowship together in the Spirit? Are your hearts tender and compassionate? Then make me truly happy by agreeing wholeheartedly with each other, loving one another, and working together with one mind and purpose. Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too. You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges ; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross. Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor and gave him the name above all other names, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue declare that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

A DAY IN THE LIFE: Spiritual Practices

For a summary of what I’m hoping to accomplish in this blog series (in the second week of every month of 2018), I recommend reviewing my explanation here.

Spiritual practices really are the center of everything I do. Organizationally, this is the spiritual DNA that Dean Trune instilled in Impact Campus Ministries (and me personally) years and years ago. You have seen me write about the importance of pursue in the work of ICM and I wrote earlier about our counter-intuitive definition of success.

Personally, this space in my life has been incredibly important to me over the last decade. I am thankful that my mentors (not only people like Dean, but also Steve Edwards and Bill Westfall) have invested in me to the extent that they taught me how to possess the same passion for pursuing God that they had. This was even more important when I met Ray Vander Laan and traveled to Israel and Turkey and was challenged to get the Text inside of me like I had never known. For years, I had gravitated towards the Text and struggled with our conventional understandings of prayer. ICM’s commitment to spiritual practices, combined with Ray’s passion for the Text, made for an experience that would change my life forever.

Emotionally, these practices have been a life saver. Being a person who struggles with anxiety, I find the daily rhythms of spiritual disciplines allow me to manage my anxiety in a way that is incredibly helpful — and healthy.

Vocationally, it is the center of the work I do with students. As we seek to make disciples through the art of mimicry and imitation, this is my starting place. With every student I have ever intentionally discipled, I have started with this premise: it all begins with your daily pursuit of God; imitate me as I show you how I make space for Him in my life.

There are lots and lots of ways people can create this kind of space. We are all wired differently and we gravitate towards different practices and expressions of worship. I have a teaching that I give every year to my students that you can find here. It describes many (but not all) possible ways we can create space for God in our lives. For years, I have been surrounded by people who are deeply committed to prayer. I, however, have always struggled to pray and gravitated to more structure in my pursuit. Having not been raised in a church experience of heavy liturgy, I have found structural disciplines to be life-giving.

Some of the books that have shaped me the most in this regard are Celebration of the Disciplines by Richard Foster, The Spirit of the Disciplines by Dallas Willard, Sacred Rhythms by Christine Sine, The Contemplative Pastor and A Long Obedience in the Same Direction by Eugene Peterson, Finding Our Way Again by Brian McLaren, The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence, One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp, and many other specialized works (like books on fasting or prayer).

No series on A Day in the Life would be complete without talking about the daily spaces I create to passionately pursue God with my time and attention. I made a video diary of my practices here:

MAKING AN IMPACT: Mode

For a summary of what I’m hoping to accomplish in this blog series (in the third week of every month of 2018), I recommend reviewing my explanation here.

We have spoken about our purpose at Impact Campus Ministries; we exist to make disciples who make disciples. In light of this, we started with our definition of disciple and the method of discipleship. We want to allow people to become submitted to Jesus by inviting them to imitate a mentor who is imitating Jesus.

We have spoken of ICM’s mission statement: to pursue, model, and teach intimacy with Christ within the context of Christian community on the American university campus. This led us to taking the time to define those three terms — pursue, model, and teach. We spoke of pursuit being the way we intentionally engage in spiritual practices. We spoke of model being the way we pursue God in front of others so they can physically see what it looks like. Then we talked about teach being so important, because as we instruct our students in furthering the discipleship process, we are enabling them to do so much more than simply mimic the actions — we are allowing them to possess the truths for themselves.

When we speak about imitating a mentor who imitates Jesus (our purpose), we see that road map of imitation laid out in our mission statement.

In the most recent post of this series, we began walking through the idea of message, mode, and milieu. This is what enables us to become more effective in chasing our vision — Impact the U, Impact the World. Hopefully the reader can see how these are building blocks that allow us to create an approach to ministry that is more and more effective in reaching our goals. One of those things is message; this is the idea that we need to be able to understand the narrative arc of the Text as just that — a narrative.

The next word that shows up for ICM is MODE. Gifted to us by our last president, Bill Westfall, and the work he did during his dissertation, the idea is simply this: Young adults (particularly college students) learn much better when we can stimulate their mind, heart, and body. On some level, I feel ill-equipped to write about this idea as Bill was the one who did all the research, but the idea makes perfect sense to me and resonates with my experience as a teacher and campus minister.

I’m not sure if this has been true for all generations or not. I have a hunch that on some level, this has always been true. And yet, the research concludes this is even more true with this generation than was typical in the past. There are many hunches as to why this is, from the impact of technology on our culture to the very physiology of our children. But the truth remains: If you can holistically engage the learner, simultaneously impacting every part of their self, the learning is deeper, more retentive, and more powerful.

One of the best ways I can talk about this personally is describing my biennial trip to Israel and Turkey. Every other year, I take a group of students to wander around the Middle East for a few weeks. All the things you would expect to happen are going to happen. We are going to take lots of pictures, learn lots of information, and see lots of famous places. But the trip is so much more than a tourist experience.

On our study tours, my goal is to help students experience the lessons that the biblical story is trying to teach us. A great example is the time of Israel wandering in the desert. I take my students and drag them into the Negev and Paran deserts of southern Israel. I purposely take this trip in August so it is as hot as it will be all year. (I have been in the Negev with students in 117-degree heat.) I do this on purpose because I want to teach them (intellectually, this is the mind) about the Negev and the experience of the desert. I want them to feel (physically, this is the body) the heat and the thirst and the hopelessness of it all. I then want them to connect with the struggle of those ancient Israelites as they cry out for water — and then make the connections to the deserts they have experienced in their own lives (emotionally, this is the heart).

If this is done correctly, the student will learn a lesson, have a mental image, and experience a heart tug that will forever change their walk with God. We attempt to do this over and over again, multiple times a day, day after day for three weeks. I can speak from personal experience to how effective and life-changing this learning style is. I have been with over twenty seminary-trained and graduate-level participants who all said they got more out of two weeks in Israel then in four years of seminary.

Why is this method so impactful? Because it engages the whole person and doesn’t just pursue a transfer of data. It instead creates a complete learning package where nothing is wasted and everything is loaded with potential.

Realizing we don’t drag people around the world every day, we must do the hard work of figuring out how to pursue this kind of engagement in our day-to-day environments. It is difficult, but it is also very rewarding when it’s successful. May we strive to settle less and less for classroom-style teaching (although it certainly has its place) and emotionally manipulative moments. May we create big, holistic moments of learning where the entire student is engaged in the lesson.

MAKING AN IMPACT: Message

For a summary of what I’m hoping to accomplish in this blog series (in the third week of every month of 2018), I recommend reviewing my explanation here.

In the previous entries of this series, we’ve been able to cover the most important pieces of who we are. We have talked about our purpose at Impact Campus Ministries of making disciples, and we have journeyed through ICM’s mission of pursuing, modeling, and teaching intimacy with Christ with our students and others.

In 2015 and 2016, Bill Westfall (ICM’s previous president) returned from sabbatical and emerged from a season of pursuing a doctoral degree in global missional leadership. In his dissertation, Bill wrote about the importance of three key ideas: message, mode, and milieu (Mx3). Bill came back from a time of reflection on his leadership of ICM and encouraged us to think about and grow in these three areas.

To be sure, we are still growing. Many of these ideas are just starting to sink in and we feel as though we are charting new ground in these areas at ICM. We do believe in their efficacy and we continue to strive towards growth even as we learn. This is important to know as I begin to write on these concepts, because any perceived “wisdom” is yet to come from years of experience and application. This is all the passing on of concepts that we are beginning to experiment with.

These ideas are built around how to make disciples of these new generations effectively. Specifically, we are talking about bringing effective discipleship practices into the world of Millennials and Generation Z. These ideas will probably not prove to be timeless, but timely, so there is a sense of urgency to the learning curve that we seek to be on. I want to spend the next few posts talking about these ideas espoused in Mx3.

So today we talk about MESSAGE, and we have defined it as “the whole story of God and His invitation to join.”

The effort rests in the idea that our young generations experience life through the lens of narrative. They are used to the ideas of story — being surrounded by shows, movies, story-based video games, sound bites, YouTube, etc.

We believe God has been telling a story, as well. And yes, while we are talking about the Bible, what we have noticed is that our theological world (predominantly in the West) lacks a coherent understanding of how biblical history works as a narrative. Very few biblically trained ministry professionals can articulate the narrative arc of biblical history in less than five minutes. We just don’t have that kind of grasp of the Text. It wasn’t taught to us as a narrative.

What we are trained in is understanding systematic theology. We were educated insistently on a “biblical worldview” in a package that is becoming increasingly useless among a generation influenced by technology and online streaming narratives.

We need to learn how to convey what God’s been doing in the world in a compelling way. We need to be able to talk about how we got where we are now in increasingly honest avenues and to think critically about engaging the mission of God as a partner. In short, we need to be able to show students what God has been up to since the beginning of our world and what it has to do with them; we need to be able to show them that God is inviting all of us (including them) to join in His redemptive work all throughout creation.

Think about it. Could you give a synopsis of how the Bible works, from Genesis to Revelation, in less than two minutes? If you had a whiteboard, could you map out biblical history as a narrative arc? Could you identify the core elements of narrative in that arc? What is the conflict and plot? Who are the major characters? What is the moment of narrative climax? Is there a resolution? Where do you and I fit?

Our young adults are begging for somebody to make the biblical story compelling. Their postmodern world does not put such a high premium on resolving paradox or answering questions; in fact, these approaches seem shallow and irreverent to them. To “fix” this like it’s a problem is a gigantic adventure in missing the point — and the opportunity.

Luckily, this last decade has brought us some attempts at providing resources to these ends. There have been some books, such as The Drama of Scripture by Craig Bartholomew, and a few others. One of the most popular podcasts and video hosting sources is the work done by The Bible Project. Of course, this is also one of my own personal passions, so I have spent the last decade collecting and creating a body of work that I have been making available in different forms. I spent over four years writing a blog series that walked through the narrative of Scripture in detail; the series starts here and moves through the archives (navigable on the right sidebar) through the first quarter of 2017.

I also created BEMA Discipleship, which evolved into a “flipped classroom” that produces (in partnership with Brent Billings) the BEMA Podcast, which does the same thing as my blog and is intended to be used as a discussion centerpiece for students all around the country. I also have hopes to write a book in the next couple of years to put this discussion into a more concise and palatable format.

All that to say, this world of theology is trying to keep up with the very things Bill Westfall pointed out in his work. Would you join us in trying to become a better storyteller?

PULL UP A CHAIR: Stories on Teach

For a summary of what I’m hoping to accomplish in this blog series (in the fourth week of every month of 2018), I recommend reviewing my explanation here.

Tom Neyhart is the Lead Campus Minister for Impact Campus Ministries in South Bend. I love to watch Tom grow in his passion for discipleship; he is a model campus minister in his work to develop his young student leaders and teach them how to do the work of leadership. When I thought of ICM's commitment to TEACH, I immediately thought to ask Tom to share his thoughts on the idea here.

I love working with college students! They can sometimes be frustrating, but more often, I am simply amazed as they grow in their faith. Our mission statement focuses on three things: pursuing God, modeling that pursuit in front of others, and teaching students in furthering the discipleship process. In many ways, this is like the ripple effect when you drop a stone in a still pond: the rings continue moving outward, one after another. When we instruct others to further the discipleship process, the idea of pursue, model, and teach continues to grow outward.

But if we leave the Teach out of the process, then we lose the ripple effect and we have a crucial problem. We end up with “disciples” who may grow in their own faith, but that is where it seems to end because of a struggle to apply and integrate their faith on a consistent basis. For me, vulnerability is a key aspect. How do I walk with a student through their current struggles if I am not willing to be vulnerable enough to let them see how I walk through mine? I believe those whom we disciple need to see us walking through the fire while relying on God and relying on spiritual disciplines to keep us moving forward in our own faith. It also requires us to show them our failures, even though it is uncomfortable. I have learned more lessons from my failures than my successes.

It is really a matter of understanding more than just knowing how to study and read biblical Text, how to pray, or engage in other spiritual disciplines; it’s also knowing why it is important and how to take the truths discovered in it into everyday life. It will not do much good if my students only know how to read the Text and it doesn’t filter into their lives.

There is another aspect to Teach that is crucial to our vision. If my students can’t further themselves in the discipleship process, they will not have much impact on students around them (impact the U) or have a lasting impact when they move beyond their campus (impact the world).

When I meet with students, I usually ask some leading questions that allow them to break down their day or week. What was good? What was bad? Where are you in your reading or what have you been reading this week? Usually they will talk pretty freely about what has affected them in school, at home, or at work, which gives an opportunity to bring it back to the biblical Text.

A few weeks ago, we were on a weekend retreat when one of the students I disciple, Spencer, had an opportunity to speak into the life of another student. It was unplanned, but God opened a door and Spencer took an approach similar to what I have often used in listening and allowing this student to share his heart and struggles. More importantly, he built a bond with another student, shared a bit of life with him, and was able to encourage him. Spencer took an opportunity to positively encourage and influence another student from another campus. That is exactly what I want to happen! When students start to grasp the pursuit for themselves, they begin to model it and connect to other students in a way I will never be able to as a 49-year-old Campus Minister.