PULL UP A CHAIR: Stories on Community

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.

Impact Campus Ministries hired Karl Moritz to plant a team at the University of Montana in Missoula, MT at the beginning of 2017. Karl's been in a fundraising phase since then and demonstrated a true commitment to our vision as an organization. He and Gretchen have been an unbelievable asset to our ICM family and his presence is a wonderful difference-maker for us. Recently, Karl's family began to walk the path of having a family member who is battling cancer. Their journey has been an inspiration to many and I asked Karl to reflect on his observations about community for our post this month.

Going back as far as I can remember, some of my first memories were of our family home being filled my with my father’s co-workers. He worked for a church and these people were his work community, our family’s spiritual community, and they were our friends.

Being raised in and around the church meant that I had built-in community surrounding me. There were always people nearby to call me out on something or give me praise. Away from my family structure, I was involved in youth group that provided a fun and safe community, as well.

Fast forward a few years when I moved away from home to college, I lost that community that had surrounded me for years. I was on my own, making poor decisions, and it took me many years, three moves, and two different campuses to find my community again. Those years were rough. The best community I found was off campus at The Alpha Omega house, a community house in Missoula established on Christian principles, run by a couple that love and cherish students.

About ten years ago now I met my wife and our community formed through church and small groups. Three years ago, our small group was at a crossroads. We were craving more and started listening to BEMA long before knowing Marty. Through a series of events, I had the opportunity to start as a Recruit with Impact which has changed the way I view a lot of things in life.

Our close friends encourage, support, and love us. Our Impact family prays with and for us and is always thinking of ways to help me in the position that I’m in. With fundraising, our family, close network, and community rally around us to remind us that we are doing the right thing. When life gets too hard and I consider a break from fundraising, my fellow staff members and my boss tells me it is OK to take a break. Impact values me and my community more than my “job.”

So today we lean into our community so that our family can continue to grow. We are comfortable having hard conversations about how it feels to lose a loved one slowly through cancer. We charge into discussion about why I am striving to do ministry but rather working full time. And the community we have around us is wonderful.

I’m so thankful for the home I have with our Missoula BEMA group, my Impact family, and in our cul-de-sac. Without our community, I would feel lost.

In Matthew 18:20, Jesus says, “For where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am with them.” As we move forward through life we are constantly reminded that we must have good community around us. If we don’t surround ourselves with the right kind of community, those who build us up, we will find community in other places that don’t.

MAKING AN IMPACT: Community

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.

Let’s talk about the value of community.

Like last month’s post on character, this is another one of those buzzwords I don’t think too many people are going to disagree with. We might call it relationships or fellowship or community, but we all value people, don’t we?

We might know that it’s important, but I think truly valuing community in our world is incredibly tricky business. Relationships are difficult and messy. There are a lot of things that must get done. In order to truly value community, it’s going to take more than just lip service. It’s going to take a hefty reorganization of our priorities. It means relationships are going to have to take precedent over productivity, consumerism, and busyness.

On one hand, I am deeply committed to the value of community. I have long treatises about the theological and ecclesiological importance of community. Anybody who has participated in my BEMA study or been able to participate in one of our trips to Israel and Turkey will know that “community” is one of my “four pillars” and a major tenet of what I want every participant to take home. I run around the desert and throw my hat as I critique our commitments to true community and caring for each other.

And yet, I think this may be the ICM value I am challenged by the most. To be honest, I like community when it’s on my terms. I like relationships when I get to call the shots. I like the idea when it is convenient and not messy.

Don’t we all?

This value at Impact Campus Ministries does not speak of the buzzword or shallow commitment to relationships. This value is not on our vision posters for the times it is convenient, tidy, and on our own terms. The value of community is stated for all of those times when it is none of these things.

This value says that we will be there for one another when we need help — any kind of help.

This value says that we will prioritize relationship over rightness.

This value says that we will try to work together whenever possible.

This value says that we will avoid working apart because it is easier or more expedient.

This value says that we will care not about what you can do, but who you are.

This value says that we are not human doings, but human beings.

This value says that we will care about the whole self.

This value says that we are going to fight for your place in the family.

This value says a lot. I have not always lived up to this value well or modeled it to our staff the way that I ought.

Ironically, I have found that the healthiest way for me to hold myself accountable and grow in this area is to make sure I’m surrounded by other members of the family. Ironic, but not counter-intuitive.

I want to become better at community. I have places where I have planted my flag and grown in the last decade of my life. I can say with confidence that I am much, much better at community today than I have been in the past. I could not say with confidence that my life is a beacon for the value of community.

And for this reason, I want to continue to grow and value this more. Will you grow with me?

A DAY IN THE LIFE: Sabbath & Personal Retreat Day

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.

In this post for our DAY IN THE LIFE series, I take a look at something that should not have taken me ten months to write about, because it’s really where everything begins, not ends. It is not the byproduct or the result of the work I do elsewhere, it is the preparation for all of that other work. And yet, I waited until now to talk about it. Why? At least two reasons. First, the idea is horribly misunderstood by many and to start there would have been confusing for some. Second, because when I’m fully present in these moments, the last thing I’m thinking about is trying to shoot some video!

What am I talking about? I’m talking about SABBATH and PERSONAL RETREAT DAY (PRD).

SABBATH

For years, our family has made the Sabbath a non-negotiable priority. Now, before you read too much into that statement, you need to know that I’m not jumping across the table with a legalistic interpretation of Sabbath and what it is. Not at all. We have found a deeply compelling narrative in the practice of Sabbath and it’s become a fabric of our family life. Since this comes around once a week, no series on my daily life would be complete without it.

So what is it? Quite simply, it’s a day where we quit working and producing — no matter what the to-do list looks like. It’s a day of rest and of fun; it is a day that reminds us of what is most true about ourselves. It is not a day that comes AFTER a week of work; it is not a practice of recharging our batteries. No, this is a practice where we tell ourselves the truth about the world, about God, and about ourselves.

If you were to ask my children, “What do you do on the Sabbath?” they would tell you: “We rest. We play. No work. God loves us.” When I was trying to teach my children about Sabbath, I didn’t want to teach them a bunch of theology. I wanted them to understand something so simply that they could own it as a two-year-old. So we came up with that statement and it became a mantra for our family. First, we rest. Second, we play. One thing that isn’t allowed is work. And why do we do this? To remind ourselves that we are loved by God, not because of the work that we do, but simply because we are.

On these days, you’ll catch me sleeping in. You might see me enjoying the outdoors or spending time with the family. You might see me catching my favorite college team play ball or playing a video game. The one thing I will say is that I go through “Sabbath seasons.” Sometimes, I will need to spend time with my family and you’ll see me spending time with the family for a few months, but then that starts becoming a chore and it loses the ability to tell me the right story. So then I might go into a season where Sabbath is about my own self-care and doing things that I enjoy. But then that becomes selfish and starts to get in the way, so hunting season rolls around and I spend time in creation, close to the Creator.

Want to read more about Sabbath? There are incredible books out there by Heschel, Brueggemann, Bell, Winner, Sine… I wrote about it here and I talked about it here.

PERSONAL RETREAT DAY

So if you do Sabbath as a family, what is the PRD?

A PRD is a requirement for all staff at Impact Campus Ministries. Once a month, we are each supposed to take a paid work day and remove ourselves from the normal and usual workflow. It is a day for listening and changing our perspective. It’s different for everyone (for lots of different reasons), but the purpose is the same. We have come to talk about it in terms of a dance.

Imagine that ministry (or your job, whatever it might be) is a dance in a ballroom. You do a lot of things to make sure you are a good dancer. You study the art of dancing and you practice. You invest in your development as a dancer. But most of the time, you dance. You are engaged in the art of dancing. Tangibly, directly, immediately engaged.

But what do you think would happen if once a month, you stepped off the dance floor and joined God where He sits up in the balcony? Would the change of perspective be helpful? Not only would you enjoy rest and relief from stepping off the dance floor, but I imagine you would begin to see and notice things that you weren’t able to see when you were fully engrossed in the work of dancing. I would imagine you might be able to hear God’s voice a little more clearly when you are sitting next to Him in the balcony, versus being fully engaged in the work itself.

The balcony is certainly not where we are called to live; it is not the work we are called to. But it is important to the work that we are called to.

I made this short video to talk a little about my experiences on my own PRDs.

Top 12 of CiHD: #3

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.

This month in the Top 12 Blog Posts at Covered in His Dust, we’ll look at the third-most-viewed post. And again, like last month, there is a little bit of a disclaimer. If I would have been true to the “twelve most-viewed posts” on my blog, then nine out of those twelve posts would have been posts on the book of Revelation. Instead of making this series a review of my thoughts on Revelation, I chose to pick the most viewed of my Revelation posts, which happens to be my introductory thoughts and a great place to have a conversation. You can read the original 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 these posts got so many views; why were others drawn to them? 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?

I don’t think there is any reason to doubt or wonder why this post (and apparently eight others) made the list. We have an infatuation with the book of Revelation. I mean, just let the idea sink in. One of the most recently written sections of my blog is on the book of Revelation. The series has only been up for just under two years, yet the posts on Revelation overwhelmingly dominate the most-viewed list.

I’m not sure there has ever been a book of the Bible so ripe for sensational reading (and mis-reading), more misunderstood, bringing more anxiety, and usurping the rest of the teaching of Scripture like that of Revelation. As I allude to in the original post, it would seem that there are two dominant groups in terms of studying this book. Either you feel like the book is so crazy and confusing that you refuse to engage it — or you are obsessed with the future forecasting, absolutely certain that you are reading it correctly, and you are so committed to your interpretation that you will undoubtedly break fellowship with other believers over its content.

It’s ridiculous. And both extremes seem unbelievably foolish and destructive to me.

WHAT DO I HOPE THEY FOUND?

I hope the reader found an objective and respectable hermeneutic grounded in critical thinking, legitimate history, and backed by biblical scholarship. If the reader was a member of the “I Don’t Read Revelation” camp, then I hope they were given some tools and a little hope that, in fact, this book is worth giving a second chance.

If the reader was a member of the “Revelation or Bust [Someone’s Face]” camp, then I hope they realized their position was more asinine than they’ve realized and were able to be honest about the unbelievable complexity of the book and the problems we have to face when we interpret it. All in all, no matter the reader, I hope we always approach the Bible with a sense of reverence and humility, while still being unintimidated by the task.

WHAT ELSE WOULD I SAY?

If I were to say something in addition to what I’ve already written it would be an encouragement to truly examine the way we approach and interpret the scriptures. Brothers and sisters, it matters. And I’m not saying it matters because of some childish commitment to orthodoxy. I’m saying it matters because of the implications.

Around the same time I wrote this series, our church was preaching through a series on the book of Revelation. It was insane. While I enjoyed the series immensely, my comrade Aaron Couch swears he will never preach through the book again. I saw things in people that concerned me deeply.

First, I saw people absolutely gripped with fear. If we know anything about the other 65 books of the Bible, we know this is not the posture that the gospel, the Church, or God is supposed to invoke in others. However, we’ve cloaked the discussion of the “End Times” in so much doomsday, apocalyptic, fire-breathing, demonic nonsense that people can’t even think straight when they start thinking about the return of Jesus and “the end of the world.” How did we get here?

And second, I have never seen so much rage come out of people that I have had fellowship with for years. All of a sudden our relationships were in jeopardy, our friendships rendered meaningless, and many found other churches. The only thing that even begins to rival the work of this book is the topic of politics (an issue I won’t even begin to touch here). We have some serious idolatry issues in these areas. Its horribly out of whack. We can talk about racism, loving our enemies, the glory of the empty tomb… and we get nothing. Nobody is sweating or has spit in their beard. Nobody is leaving the church and writing emails laced with profanity. But you mention some other idea about Revelation…

We are followers of Jesus. We should have a Christocentric theology (meaning that our theology should center around Jesus). Nothing should be more important than the teachings of Jesus. Not politics. Not eschatology. Not philosophy. Not Torah. Not Paul’s letters. And not Revelation. Not crazy YouTube videos about how some unaccountable Messianic Rabbi is convinced he broke the “Bible Code” and figured out the date the world comes to an end. Not some slick presentation on Blood Moons and the ancient Jewish calendar. Not the current events and how they line up with misinterpreted prophecy.

Nothing before Jesus. Jesus came so we would be one (John 17) and that through this oneness the world would know who He is. Jesus came to teach us how to chase down prodigal sons and welcome the sinner. Jesus came to tell us how to appropriately read everything else — including Torah and the book of Revelation. Jesus came to teach us how to forgive and live at peace. Jesus spoke very little about how the world would end.

I think that was on purpose.

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?

MAKING AN IMPACT: Character

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 next value we will talk about with our MAKING AN IMPACT series is one that is stated in almost every organization, is incredibly important, and is yet a struggle for so many churches, organizations, and fellowships. This is the value of CHARACTER.

Why is this such a struggle for the Christian world? I think the short answer is that we are just a bunch of people who are screwed up. That is true, but how many of us are tired of reading what feels like a continuous news feed of Christian organizations that harbor abusers, struggle with sexual conduct, mistreat women, and succumb to other “moral failures”? It’s exhausting.

I think the answer is that theology matters. I won’t be taking this time and space to pull apart the pieces of theology I think are most responsible for these stories, but I will say that our theology is often the bedrock we build our culture on. The way we understand the nature of who God is and what He is doing in the world, the way we understand the nature of humanity, and the way we define the gospel, breeds a particular culture in the missional communities we belong to. If we foster a theology that believes God is looking for the unflinching devotion to a moral code, we will simultaneously breed a culture that puts on a show, afraid to be vulnerable to the struggle we all experience to become the kinds of whole people God has designed us to be.

So what do we do? Impact Campus Ministries has said — like so many others — that we want to be people of integrity and great character. How will we succeed where so many others seem to fail?

A large part of this will reside in our commitment to community and each other (more on this value in another post). The greatest form of accountability will be the fact that we don’t do life (or ministry) alone. Of course, this commitment is only powerful if we trust each other enough to be vulnerable. We have to work hard to build a culture of openness and honesty from the top of our organization all the way down to the bottom. We don’t want to be people who fight for privacy, but fight for each other.

This isn’t to say that privacy is not important or that wisdom would dictate open vulnerability with all people in all circumstances — it would not. But within our family at ICM, we need to learn how to trust each other with our struggles and our failures. This means we can’t be quick to punish others when they slip up, but we also need to be resolute in our commitment to each other, to help each other become the people God is inviting us to become.

Hopefully you can see how well our value of character works alongside the tension of excellence and compassion. We have to have a commitment to excellence in our integrity, but that will only be achieved if we can be gracious in our failures. I really believe that the destructive and harmful failures in character come as the byproduct of a culture that doesn’t foster healthy growth and compassionate belonging. When those things don’t exist, we begin to hide. When we begin to hide, our lack of character begins to fester until it erupts in something horribly destructive.

Unfortunately, this culture of hiding is often cultivated in our faith communities.

We want to be better than this. We want to be the kind of family — brothers and sisters — who make sure we all have a place to belong and that the space can be trusted. We want to build a culture that says, “I am FOR you!” — and doesn’t doubt the sincerity of that stance. Only then can we be honest about who we truly are and who we are trying to become. And only when we are honest can we find family who help us strive to develop as we pursue character in our organization.

This will be an ongoing struggle. We are far from perfect.

But may God bless ICM’s efforts to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly [together] with our God.

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!)