PULL UP A CHAIR: Stories on Model

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.

You've heard and read me refer to Megan before; in my first few years of campus ministry, she was my first disciple and I learned more about discipleship in those few years than all of my other ministry experience to that point. Megan worked for ICM full-time before moving on to work in the non-profit world of homelessness and poverty. She, her husband Chris, and their son Josiah now reside in Raleigh, NC and Megan is currently serving as our chairperson for ICM. After talking about MODEL last week, I asked Megan to share what it was like to follow me around for that season of her life.

When I was first learning about the original context of discipleship, I was told this short anecdote of a rabbi and his disciples. “There once was a rabbi walking through the airport who was closely followed by his young disciples. The rabbi then walked into the bathroom, and the disciples followed. The rabbi then walked into a stall, and still his disciples followed!” This can be shocking for our typical American coffee-date discipleship, but this rabbinic style of discipleship is imitation with the purpose of becoming just like the rabbi.

I spent more than a year imitating Marty as closely as a female disciple could. I imitated Marty in the office, in the classroom, and at home. Practically, this means Marty crafted a schedule that included staff meetings, sermon club, spiritual disciplines, BEMA class, Sabbath, and more. I gained so much from the structure alone, but I believe the true discipleship experience started once we settled into the schedule and got comfortable living among each other.

Through my experience imitating Marty, I learned lessons about discipleship that completely transformed the way I engage my spirituality and Jesus.

I now believe a disciple is as capable of as much as the rabbi, and the rabbi sets the bar. When I first became Marty’s disciple, I thought I was just an intern. I know many people saw me that way, too. However, Marty didn’t. He required of me the same spiritual disciplines he required of himself (although, slightly less). He believed I could do more than I thought I could, and his belief didn’t waver. Together, we were able to establish discipline in me. I could write the Text! I could memorize!

A rabbi and a disciple must have a safe relationship to make mistakes and ask hard questions. I probably thought this beforehand, but now in the depth of the rabbinic discipleship context, it seems more crucial. Of course, I never made mistakes… (Editor’s note: Ha!) But assuming I did, there would have to be a safe space for me to reject religious shame and embrace Jesus. I do know I asked a lot of hard questions. Since we had a safe space for questions, I was able to wrestle with my community and God. That is the Text incarnate.

Discipleship inherently creates accountability as well. There is a certain expectation in the construct of rabbinic discipleship. For my discipleship experience, I was expecting Marty to be disciplined, dedicated to the Text, and supportive. I think he expected me to be faithful, available, and teachable. We both showed up in those ways because we had to be accountable to one another in order for the process to bring forth our desired results. If one of us did not fully show up, the discipleship experience could be a waste of time for both of us.

I believe discipleship transforms both the rabbi and the disciple. You cannot follow, nor be followed by, a person for a year and not learn profoundly from them. We experienced transformation on many occasions. The most memorable for me is in regard to my friendship with a recovering addict. My passion for the marginalized brought this friend into our community. It was a blessing for me and for Marty’s family to be able to love and support this new friend. However, Marty’s family was providing respite care for foster children at the time. Marty and I had to discuss legal boundaries and ways to protect everyone in our community. This transformed both of us because it forced us to have eyes that see, ears that hear, and hearts that understand multiple vulnerable populations.

I treasure most the walks and drives to campus. These were the moments when Marty was not on stage or in front of a classroom. It felt like it was on these walks and drives that our relationship grew from a rabbi and disciple, to friends and co-laborers. Eventually, he could be himself freely and process more than just Text with me. I can imagine the disciples experienced something similar with Jesus. And I am excited for the day when we get to share our rabbi pranks!

MAKING AN IMPACT: Model

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’ve covered our definition of discipleship as being imitating a mentor who imitates Jesus, and we’ve even hinted at the fact that, for years, we’ve had a mission statement that serves this end by providing us a roadmap to discipleship. For a long time, we have said ICM exists to pursue, model, and teach intimacy with Christ on the American university campus, in the context of Christian community. In our last post we spoke of the first word on that roadmap — pursue. We spoke of having an intentional pursuit of God and defined the word pursue as intentionally engaging spiritual practices.

But is this enough? Is it enough to pursue God, creating space for Him and letting Him bear fruit?

On one hand, yes! If we truly pursue God in a way that resembles the “abiding” of John 15, the idea would be that God will call us to do what He wants us to do. The “fruit” is a natural (or supernatural) byproduct of our intentional pursuit of God — without a doubt.

But God also told us to do a lot of things. The Bible is a big book full of a lot of big ideas, so there are probably a few more things we can use to give us guidance. Of that whole big book of God’s dreams for this world, which ones do we use to give us direction?

Fortunately, this is where our purpose of making disciples and our definition of discipleship serve our mission very well. If we are to make disciples who make disciples, and we have defined that as a process of imitation, then the next word to come is only natural: MODEL.

If we really believe that pursuing God will lead to intimacy with God (what we define as success), and if that intimacy with God is what He uses to bear fruit that will last in our lives and ministries, then discipleship is the process of teaching our students how to do this well. Our job becomes one of pursuing sustainable spiritual formation. In this regard, it is not enough to simply pursue God and create space for Him in our lives. We also have to show our students how to do this. We’re going to show them in a very literal fashion… by modeling it.

ICM’s Vice President, Jeff VanderLaan, has one of my favorite sayings in relation to this topic. He likes to say, “Just because you’re wearing clothes, doesn’t make you a model. A model is somebody who wears clothes in front of others for the purpose of being seen.” This is a fantastic metaphor and drove us to define the term ‘model’ as pursuing God in front of others.

This is also a natural progression from the rabbinic idea that discipleship is about mimicry and imitation. You cannot imitate a rabbi or a mentor if you don’t have a model to mimic. I would never have learned how to tie my shoes without a model to follow and a teacher to imitate. I would never have learned how to do a load of laundry without imitating my mother’s example. Why do we think others can learn ideas like memorizing scripture or taking a sabbath by merely talking about it? Aren’t these things that need to be seen?

Now, some very astute Bible students will be quick to point out, “We aren’t supposed to do our spiritual deeds to be seen by others! We’re supposed to pray and pursue God in secret, without the left hand knowing what the right hand is doing.” And this desire for secrecy is a good point and certainly worth addressing. The reference comes from the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 6) and reads as follows:

“Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.

“So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

“And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.”

But we would be wise to remind ourselves of words Jesus spoke as part of the very same teaching in the previous chapter:

“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.

“You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”

So what gives? Obviously Jesus taught us that the way in which we live is to be seen by others so they can know and glorify God. But what we have to be careful of is our motivation. Jesus says not to do these things “to be seen.” If this is the reason you are doing them, you are going to be disappointed in the reward you receive. You’ll end up with the praise of others as your reward, but not the mission of God (i.e., disciples).

And so we model our pursuit of God on purpose in front of our students. We pursue God in front of them so they can see what a healthy pursuit of God looks like. We do not do this in order to be seen, but to instruct them and help them develop as maturing followers of Jesus.

But speaking of instruction, is pursing and modeling the whole of the process? Is it enough to merely mimic our instructor? Or is all of this imitation a part of something bigger?

A DAY IN THE LIFE: Travel

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.

These days, I travel a lot. I travel for a whole host of reasons.

Ministry Development. I travel in order to stay in regular contact with the teams that work for Impact Campus Ministries. We have ten (going on eleven) teams around the country in places like the Palouse, Salt Lake City, Missoula, Oklahoma, South Bend, Indianapolis, Tampa, Ft. Myers, and Albany. While we get to see each other at conferences one or two times a year, this just isn’t enough time to work on site-specific development for our staff, so I try to travel and spend time with them in person to work on the things that need to be worked on.

Fundraising. Whether it is recruiting new supporters to help us do the work we do or cultivating the relationships of people who already give, the work here never ends. We take any opportunity we can to meet with people while we’re on the road.

Recruiting. Part of my job as President of ICM is looking for more people who would be willing to do that kind of support raising and work in the field of campus ministry. They can be found everywhere, but the most effective recruiting is always done in person.

Partnering with other organizations. At ICM, we believe we are better whenever we get to work with others. The amount that we are able to share ideas and experiences with each other, as well as the opportunity to combine resources, is exciting and provides continual opportunities to grow, improve, and help others do what God has called them to do better. This work is some of the most fun that I get to have while I’m on the road.

Alumni. Just like supporters and recruits — you can find them everywhere! They are doing incredible things and I love taking the opportunity when I’m in their hometown to meet with them and hear about what God is doing in their life.

Expansion. We are always trying to discern where God is leading us to plant next. There are thousands of campuses around our country and hundreds of thousands of college students. All of them are getting ready to go out and make some kind of difference in our world. Where does God want us to go next to help impact the lives of the next batch of graduates? These are things that make us excited at ICM!

Is this hard work? Yes and no. I love the travel and I love the ability to use my gifts to help others and influence the next generation. But it’s hard not to get carried away by all the things that “have to be done” and say no to what needs to be rejected (for now) so I can be present as a husband and a father. When I’m not careful, my travel schedule can be a real burden to my family. I work hard to stay on top of this; at times, I have failed. Unfortunately, it is far too easy to get swept up in the notion that you are needed and important.

I have to work hard to be a good steward in my travel schedule. I have to be a good steward of our organization’s resources. I have to be a good steward of people and their time. And I have to be a good steward of my family. This is hard work and hopefully something that I pursue with character and integrity.

Here is my video diary for A DAY IN THE LIFE: Travel.

Top 12 of CiHD: #10

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

We’ll continue our look at the Top 12 Blog Posts at Covered in His Dust by going over my tenth-most-viewed post of all time. With the last post being on 3 John, maybe it shouldn’t be surprising to find 1 John next on the list. The post is titled “1 JOHN: Love and Truth,” which I wrote on September 21, 2016. Much like the post on 3 John, this post discussed the very Johannine (or “of John”) themes of love and truth. You can read the post here.

In this series, as we look at each post, I want to ask three questions: why, what, and what else. Why do I think this post got so many views; why were others drawn to this post? What do I hope people found when they got here; what do I hope they heard? Finally, what else have I learned about this; what else would I say about these ideas?

WHY THIS POST?

If I had to guess (which is what this section is all about), I would assume that what drove people to this post was its connection to the writings of John and Essene literature. In the last few decades, there has been an immense amount of study surrounding the Johannine books, John’s style of writing, and the way he utilizes the themes found in his writings. While there is (always) a lot of debate about authorship, these themes seem to show up throughout his gospel, the letters, and even the book of Revelation.

Also of modern interest is the study of the Essenes, arising from the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls. With that find, the archaeological world has become more and more aware of the theology driving those in the Essene community. The preeminence of “sons of light” in their literature is striking and significant, and many have wondered how deeply connected Jesus and his disciples were to the Essene world. It is possible that further study of these connections drove people to my blog (not to mention the disappointment of finding somebody they can’t quote in their papers).

WHAT DO I HOPE THEY FOUND?

I hope they found some ideas to propel their study forward. We often read letters like 1 John with a matter-of-fact, straightforward approach, without asking the same questions that have become a part of our hermeneutic as we read the Text. Wasn’t John a Jewish rabbi? Was John more like a first-century Jew or a twenty-first-century theologian? How does this impact the way we study and read his writings?

Because of this, context matters. If John is working off of some deep Essene roots, or writing to a world that understands these dominant teachings, then this would be significant. I’m not even sure we have enough knowledge at this point to make that case, but it certainly matters as we think about interpreting John’s authorial intent. But even with a surface level exegesis, we have a clear movement that John is working with here. If we are to be followers of Jesus, then we are to walk as he walked. John says, “Whoever claims to be in him, must walk as Jesus walked.” He also says God is light and so we must be people of the light.

What does it mean to walk in the light? To say that we ought to be like Jesus is easy enough, but what exactly does that mean to John? John will spend the bulk of his letter talking about love. John connects this idea to walking in the light. If someone says they are in the light, but they do not love their brother, they are lying. John connects this idea to walking as Jesus walked. John connects love to light, love to truth, and love to Jesus.

These are the ideas I hope people found when they got here.

WHAT ELSE WOULD I SAY?

There is much in 1 John that I am still trying to nail down. For instance, what is up with 1 John 5:6–8? Not only is the content difficult to deal with, but we have all kinds of manuscript issues throughout history surrounding this passage. Google it and see what I’m talking about. Then get back to me when you have that all nailed down, because I’m still curious. I’ve been handed some great tidbits and good ideas, but I’m still trying to figure it out.

But one of my favorite passages in the New Testament is 1 John 4:12, which says, “No one has ever seen God, but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.” For all of the depth in John’s writing, I have always felt like the miles of depth that lie in this verse come from its profound simplicity. There is this somewhat consistent thought throughout Scripture that God has not or cannot be seen. Why is this? Good western question. Maybe because God is spirit and without form or maybe because of His greatness, purity, and transcendent holiness. Perhaps it’s just because God is far too big to be contained in our world (hence the beauty and mystery of the incarnation).

So we cannot see God in the same way we can see other people or things in this world. Now the apologist in me immediately wants to start talking about all of the evidence for God around us — natural revelation or eternity set in the hearts of men. But John goes on to speak of evidence we far too often overlook. If God is light and if God is love, then when we love each other, people have the opportunity to see God. What a beautiful idea.