collegiate-ministry-blog

Interview with Francis Chan

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 19:45:00 GMT

Check out the video below where Mark Driscoll and Joshua Harris ask Francis Chan about his recent decision to leave his church and fame behind. I think in the materialistic world that we live in, many people would do well to take on a mindset like Francis.

What's Next for Francis Chan? A Conversation with Mark Driscoll and Joshua Harris from Ben Peays on Vimeo.

Part III of Is Personal Testimony alone enough for evangelism by Dan Reike

Wed, 01 Sep 2010 14:34:00 GMT

Here is part III of the series on Personal Testimony, continued from last Thursday and Friday. This is the final installment of the series.

How can a testimony be used incorrectly?

1. Testimonies void of the gospel can give a false impression of what life is like as a Christian.

No two Christians have the exact same story or walk with God. So giving a testimony about your life as a Christian without a clear unpacking of the gospel is likely to give the hearer a false impression about what they should expect if they become a Christian. This can lead to a false conversion centered on idolatry (discussed in point 3 below) or leave the hearer with lots of baggage in the form of faulty theology and inaccurate expectations, such as Christianity leading to an easy life or a life free from pain and frustration.

2. Testimonies void of the gospel can distort what Jesus died to save us from.

Jesus did not die to save us from some particular hardship or addiction or so that we could have some particular standard of living. He did not die so that we could be comfortable or wealthy or married to the woman of our dreams. Jesus died because we chose to rebel against God. He died as an atoning sacrifice for the sins of those who would put their faith in him, so that they might be reconciled to God. He died to save us from death and eternity in Hell away from God. We must always strive to avoid distorting the real message of the gospel – forgiveness of our sin against a holy and just God through faith in the life, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

3. Testimonies void of the gospel can reinforce a man-centered worldview rather than a God-centered worldview.

God becomes a genie-in-a-lamp who grants your wishes as long as you “believe” in him and have enough “faith.” We see this as people come to God based on what they perceive he can provide them (happiness, money, health, wife/husband, job, etc.), rather than from a realization that they are wicked sinners in need of a Savior and a right relationship with God. The Bible calls this idolatry. The focus becomes how God can materially improve your life (or make you a “better you”) rather than the beauty of a gracious, loving God who gave his life so that we could be ransomed from the punishment we deserve for our sins.

In the words of Adam Bond, Director of XEE (Gen X Evangelism Explosion)-North America,

“Your [personal testimonies] provide all the evidence and proof necessary to reveal the reality of the gospel in this generation. Most importantly, they will inspire a genuine curiosity about God through which you’ll be able to simply and clearly explain the gospel.”

I think he’s hit the nail on the head. Our personal testimonies should leave people desiring to know more about God and help provide us an opportunity to dialogue about the gospel. Testimonies are a means to an end, not an end themselves.

“I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective for the full knowledge of every good thing that is in us for the sake of Christ” (Philemon 1:6).

The intent of the team blog website and format is to aid collegiate/young adult leaders in their ministry to college age students in Texas. The Southern Baptists of Texas Convention does not necessarily agree with or condone all of the thoughts in every blog written by ministers, they simply are providing a platform for resources and thoughts to be shared through this blogging opportunity. If you have any questions contact our offices.

Reaching People Groups in the US by Chad Vandiver

Mon, 30 Aug 2010 15:21:00 GMT

Reaching People Groups in the US

By Chad Vandiver

Do you have a strategy for reaching people groups in your local community? Below you will find a great opportunity for local outreach through the People Group Champions Project. If you already have a strategy in place, look for ways to improve your strategy through the model below.

The People Group Champions Project is for college students in churches called to embrace an ethnolinguistic people group in their city and reach them for Christ. Training and coaching is provided for the church to serve in the role of a missionary to reach that people group both locally and globally. The project’s emphasis is on people groups of Eastern cultures and religions.

Involvement is possible on four levels:

• Level 1: Awareness

• Teaches students how to prayer walk in a people group’s community

• Provides instruction on how to embrace and identify a people group

• Gives helpful hints on how to research and begin to understand a people group by asking strategic questions

• Helps students develop a prayer strategy for a people group’s community

• Level 2: Engagement

• Introduces students to a people group’s worldview

• Teaches students how to begin developing long term relationships within a people group’s community

• Helps students to discover and develop ministry opportunities amongst a people group

• Provides students with Biblical methods for implementing contextualized evangelism amongst a people group

• Level 3: Transformation

• Gives students Biblical passages that can be used for leading a member of a people group to faith in Jesus Christ

• Helps students understand how to develop genuine relationships within a people group that facilitate conversion to Christianity

• Provides students with an introduction to the people group’s history and culture

• Level 4: Modeling

• Developing a church planting strategy amongst a people group

• Expanding a local network of Christians within a people group

• Expanding an international network of Christians within a people group

• Teaching other churches and Christians how to practice Biblical outreach amongst a people group

Once a level is implemented and some positive experiences have been gained, the church can decide to move to the next level. If interested please contact Chad Vandiver at cvandiver@sbtexas.com or 817.552.2500.

MI Dallas 2010!!!!

Mon, 30 Aug 2010 14:21:00 GMT

Mark it on your calenders, October 22 - 23 is MI (Missional Intersect) Dallas where college students from the DFW metroplex team up with HIS Bridge Builders to show God's love to the needy in downtown Dallas. Below is a video of Rodrick, whose life was changed through Bridge Builders and because of Christ. There are hundreds and thousands more just like Rodrick who need to be exposed to the love of Christ and His good news!! Join the SBTC this year in an effort to evangelize and reach out to the less fortunate in Dallas.

For more information about registration and MI Dallas, please visit http://sbtexas.com/midallas/ or join our event on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/event.php?eid=135381816505578&ref=ts

Part II of Is the Personal Testimony alone enough for evangelism by Dan Rieke

Fri, 27 Aug 2010 15:34:00 GMT

Is the personal testimony alone enough for evangelism? (Part II)

by Dan Rieke

How can a testimony be used effectively?

1. It is centered on the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Look at Paul’s testimony in Acts 22. He begins by giving a brief background on his life and then he moves the focus to Jesus and keeps it there. Paul’s story is really Jesus’ story. And so is yours.

2. It is relevant to the hearer.

A long-winded story about how you grew up in a loving Christian home and yet never really trusted in God until years later told to a man who grew up in a rough home without access to the gospel is not going to resonate with him. He can’t relate to your story. It’s not that your testimony isn’t a “good testimony;” it’s that it just doesn’t make sense in his world. However, the gospel is relevant to every living human being on the planet, regardless of their background, because “it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.”

3. It is evidence of God’s power to transform.

People love to see transformation. We have TV shows transforming tiny houses into mansions, nerds into models, and coffee shop singers into Grammy winners. The gospel has the ability to transform not just the external, but everything about a person: chains of addiction removed, affections and desires altered, lifestyles radically reshaped, and despair replaced by joy. A personal testimony that demonstrates God’s power to change can provide hope to the hearer that transformation is possible. However, the testimony should never lose Jesus as its central focus or it could open the door to viewing God as a means to an end rather than as the ultimate prize.

Come back tomorrow for the last installment of this three part series which focuses on the question: How can a testimony be used incorrectly?

Part I of Is Personal Testimony alone enough for evangelism by Dan Rieke

Fri, 27 Aug 2010 15:27:00 GMT

Is the personal testimony alone enough for evangelism? (Part I)

By Dan Rieke

Since we know the ultimate hope of evangelism is salvation for the hearer, I think the root level question that undergirds that question is what does it take for someone to obtain salvation?

Personal testimonies are great for demonstrating how someone’s life changed as a result of Jesus, but on their own, they have no power for salvation.

In Romans 1:16 Paul says, “I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek” [emphasis added].

Notice Paul doesn’t say, “I am not ashamed of my testimony, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.” This is because his testimony only has power if it is enveloped in the gospel. A testimony void of the gospel is just a “neat story.”

What are the aspects of the gospel that a testimony needs to point to?

1. The universal sinfulness of man

· Everyone has sinned and fallen short of God’s standard (Rom. 3:23) and no one is good or righteous or truly seeks after God (Rom. 3:10-12). A person must recognize this (about the world in general and about themselves personally) or they can never respond to the gospel because they will not see their need for God’s forgiveness.

2. God’s love and mercy balanced with God’s holiness and justice

· There is a saying that most heresies in the history of the Church have stemmed from an overemphasis on God’s love or on God’s holiness and an under-emphasis on the other. We want to avoid either extreme and be certain to explain that God is loving and doesn’t want us to die in our sin (John 3:16) and that God is a just judge who cannot leave the guilty unpunished (Exod. 34:7).

3. Jesus’ life, death, burial, and resurrection

· In order for someone to put their faith in Jesus, they must first know who he is, what he did, and why they should trust in him. Jesus must be identified as God the Son who lived a sinless life on earth, died on the cross as a sacrifice for our sins, rose from the dead three days later, and that faith in him is the only way to be saved from eternal separation from God (1 Cor. 15:1-4, Rom. 10:9-10, John 3:16, 6:47, 14:6).

4. Salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone

· Ephesians 2:8-9 sums this up perfectly: “By grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

· Although good works are important and a necessary fruit of salvation, they cannot save us from the penalty of our sin because even our “good” deeds are like polluted garments before God (Is. 64:6). We must point to the necessity of faith in Jesus’ work to count for us rather than faith in our own efforts to make us right before God.

· Our increasingly postmodern world makes absolute statements a taboo, but scripture is clear that Jesus is the only way to the Father and the only way to be saved from Hell (John 14:6). We cannot avoid this fact regardless of our culture’s affinity for “tolerance” and relative truth.

Come back tomorrow to read Part II of the three part series which answers the question; How can a testimony be used effectively?

Why Do Students Disconnect from the Local Church??

Wed, 25 Aug 2010 21:26:00 GMT

Students Disconnecting from the Local Church…

Why do college students so often seem to disconnect themselves from the local church? What are some things that college ministers can implement in their ministry to effectively minister to college students? These are questions that no doubt keep college ministers all over the world up all night.

Whitney Hopler wrote a good article HERE regarding these questions and provides practical applications of Reggie Joyner, Chuck Bomar, and Abbie Smith’s book, The Slow Fade, that she contends will help ministers to keep students from fading out of church. As we start the new school year, it would behoove us to take these suggestions to heart.

Tuesday Morning Missions by Chad Vandiver

Mon, 23 Aug 2010 15:55:00 GMT

Developing Mission Opportunities in Your Back Yard

By Chad Vandiver

I will never forget March 12, 2004. That is the day I visited “L,” a Muslim neighborhood in a European country where I served. I walked into “L” and instantly felt the cold harsh presence of Islam. I was invited into a West African restaurant where I joined these immigrants watching the events unfold on television. I met with key leaders in the Muslim community who would later serve as my persons of peace. The Lord used these persons of peace to open doors of opportunity for sharing the truth of Jesus Christ wherever Muslims were meeting, including inside the walls of the mosque. However, this ministry amongst Muslims in ”L” did not begin on March 12, 2004. Instead it began when teams of college students from multiple Southern Baptist churches prayer walked the streets of ”L” for five years before I ever arrived on the scene. These teams never engaged Muslims with the Gospel but rather prayed that their hearts would be receptive to the truth that Jesus Christ is not merely a prophet but the Savior.

Mission opportunities begin with prayer. It is the foundational strategy God has given us for sharing the Gospel with people of any nation, tribe or tongue. We students must be about the business of prayer walking the streets of our communities. Immigrants and refugees are moving to a neighborhood near you. It is vital that the streets of these neighborhoods are covered with prayer. Where will you be prayer walking today?

Catalyst West 2010

Fri, 20 Aug 2010 16:14:00 GMT

I just came across these two videos on youtube which are of Dallas Willard being interviewed at the Catalyst West 2010 Conference and was blessed by watching them. It is my hope that you will be as well. Dallas is questioned about problems in the church and his definition and application of grace as well as his concept on spiritual discipline. Enjoy!!

New Ideas for the New Year

Wed, 18 Aug 2010 20:54:00 GMT

Coming up with helpful new ideas for the new school year…

As the new school year is rapidly approaching, college ministries around the country are preparing for some new ideas that they are planning to implement. It may be useful to have a couple of measuring gauges in place to help evaluate the best ideas within your ministry. Benson Hines wrote an article, found here, which provides a list of five aids for ministers to use when evaluating these new ideas. The list is as follows:

1. Get students to take a look at our materials and/or plans, with complete freedom to offer suggestions, “edits,” and ideas.

2. Ask another college minister for the same kind of input.

3. Ask advice from different types of people.

4. Sleep on it.

5. Observe your materials (or plans) from various real-life viewpoints.

These suggestions are quite practical and should help you refine your ministry this school year into excellence. As always, you should also saturate your ideas with prayer so that God may direct you towards the best idea for your ministry. May God do some amazing things in the state of Texas this school year!!!

Back to the Basics

Wed, 18 Aug 2010 18:56:00 GMT

Back to the Basics…

One of the most stressed points I heard repeatedly during college, while at Louisiana Tech, in the engineering department was KISS, which stands for keep is simple stupid. While this wasn’t the most encouraging of acronyms, I have found it to be useful in both engineering and ministry. When looking at college ministry, it seems that more often than not, the simpler ideas are the most successful ones.

Recently I came across an article by Guy Chmieleski which reminded me of the success of simplicity. In his article, Lunch of Opportunity, Guy reminds ministers that one of the most advantageous events that he finds in collegiate ministry is spending lunch with the students. “We’ve all got to eat lunch” he reminds us and then suggests that we make the most out of these lunches. Now whether it’s going to meet your students on their campus or taking two or three students out to lunch during the week for discipleship, students react positively to ministers who try and get involved in their lives.

So during this week, I encourage you to spend a couple of lunches with your students and invest in their lives. While it may seem obvious and simple to us, remember the simplest ideas are often the best!!!

Determining Purpose for Every Fellowship by James Myers

Mon, 16 Aug 2010 21:51:00 GMT

Determining Purpose for Every Fellowship

By James Myers

Fellowships, gatherings, huddles, hang-out time, community time- call it whatever you want, but we all have them. Some times they are strategically planned and heavily funded, other times they are more organic and led out by your students. The problem isn’t that we all have them; the problem is that many of us don’t know why we have them.

There was a time when I held events simply because it was expected, or because it is what my students requested. The problem with basing your events largely upon the demand of your students is that we forget the world they are coming out of. Many of our college students are still clinging on to their favorite days in student ministry, where their spiritual growth was like a roller coaster ride predominantly impacted by the events they attended. It is our job to love our students enough to tell them that you are convinced that events and fellowships are not the best way for them to grow and to sustain growth in their spiritual journey. Does this mean we should limit the number of fellowships we have? Maybe, but I will leave that for you to decide. What is does mean is that we have the responsibility of ensuring that there is a purpose behind every event.

For my own benefit I have broken events into the following 3 categories: Outreach, Community, and Spiritual Growth. Every fellowship or gathering you have probably fits into one of these categories. I would encourage you to plan out events 6 months in advance and label them in categories similar to mine. If all of your events fall under the categories Outreach and Community you may be in danger of leading a spiritually shallow ministry. The idea is to have a balance. You need outreach and community events to reach guests, build relationships, and connect with your students. But, your students desire more than just being entertained, and they trust that you have a plan for helping them mature in their faith. So the question is; do you?

Part VI of Living Sent by Landon Reesor

Mon, 16 Aug 2010 21:52:00 GMT

Well guys and gals, this is the last installment of this six part series and I hope you both enjoyed the series and were challenged to live more missionally minded in your day to day walk with God. Here is the final installment of the series:

Living Sent Part VI

by Landon Reesor

So how do we change that? What would it look like if we began to live “sent”?

What would our prayer experience be like if began to pray “sent”? How would our giving be different is we allowed a “sent” mentality to infuse itself into our generosity? How would our interactions with our family, our neighbors, our co-workers and unreached people groups around the world be changed and altered if we lived everyday “sent”?

I’m convinced that we would pray with the bigger world and more global, others-centered needs at the core of our conversations with God. I’m confident that we would readjust the way we spend our money and be far more strategic and sacrificial in the way we release our resources. And I know that we would become much more intentional with the relationships that God has sovereignly placed in our lives and we would begin to look for ways to increase our circle of influence to expose more people, both locally and globally, to the life-changing, hope-creating, freedom-offering Jesus story.

That’s the life I want to live. That’s the life I want my family to experience. That’s the kind of missional journey I want our church to take. That’s what it means to live “sent”.

Part V of Living Sent by Landon Reesor

Thu, 12 Aug 2010 14:59:00 GMT

Living Sent PART V

by Landon Reesor

He loved, served, sacrificed and injected Himself into the lives of the people around Him. He was known as a drunkard and a glutton, not because He was one, but because that was who He would strategically and intentionally reach out to, hang out with, and connect with. Without question, Jesus spent a ton of time in private prayer and fellowship with His Father. He also invested a lot of energy in His relationship with the 3 (Peter, James, and John) and the 12. But those moments were, in large part, to prepare Him (and them) for their greater mission in the world around them. The time with His followers was part of a larger strategy to intentionally go to and engage the world.

Unfortunately, I think if many of us were to do an audit of our lives, we would find we spend a massive amount of time with other Jesus followers and far too little time out with the lost and spiritually disconnected, far too little time entering into their world and their lives. If that is true, we’ve lost the essence and understanding of what it means to live “sent”. We’ve lost that missional passion and focus. We’ve allowed our fear of contamination to limit our communication and connection with the lost world both Christ and we were sent into...

The intent of the team blog website and format is to aid collegiate/young adult leaders in their ministry to college age students in Texas. The Southern Baptists of Texas Convention does not necessarily agree with or condone all of the thoughts in every blog written by minsters, they simply are providing a platform for resources and thoughts to be shared through this blogging opportunity. If you have any questions contact our offices

Part IV of Living Sent by Landon Reesor

Thu, 12 Aug 2010 14:59:00 GMT

Living Sent PART IV

by Landon Reesor

I’ll be honest with you, this John 17 passage is a pretty familiar one to a lot of people. I’ve read it and heard it hundreds, if not thousands of times, in my life. And almost every time, it’s been summarized with the phrase, “in but not of”. In other words, as Christians, we’re in the world but we’re not to be of it. And that’s correct … kind of. We are in this world. We do live and breathe and exist in this physical life and on this globe. And while we are here, we are to always remember that our nature has been changed and we are not the same as the people around us. Oh yeah, and we’re not supposed to go back to how we were and allow our new selves to be corrupted by the old vaules, beliefs, and behaviors that still characterize the fallen world around us.

But when we say that we are “in but not of”, I think it’s a misguided and misleading summary of this passage. It’s not about being “in but not of”. It’s about being “not of but sent into”! Being “sent” is the major theme and purpose of the passage.

If you think about it, the “in but not of” mentality is an incredibly defensive approach that puts us in a passive posture towards the world around us. It almost paints a picture of us as believers sitting in the corner, twiddling our thumbs, biding our time and trying not to get soiled or influenced by the world until our time on earth is done and we get to go to Heaven. That mindset can easily translate into a process where we as believers focus our attention on putting up walls and barriers to protect us from the outside culture while we construct Christian communes and isolated communities that insulate us from the negative influence of the world around us. That mentality leads to disconnected lives that have little or no impact...

That isn’t the way Jesus lived!