Ministry Musings

My Blog Has Moved!

2011-10-20T07:05:00.001-07:00

If you've stumbled across this and are looking for my new blog, the address is:

www.grace-bible.org/mattsblog

Hope to see you over there!

We had our Big Ultrasound Today!!!

2009-08-26T12:01:00.000-07:00

And God has given us a SON!!! We praise Him for this healthy and precious gift!!

These are the verses we've been dwelling upon since before we even knew he was here!! God placed these on my heart during a visit to the doctor, and we absolutely know that God has determined that this is the time set for this little person to be around. Our faith has grown, and we are excited to meet him!!!

P.S. No names yet!!! We'll let you know as soon as possible. :)

Acts 17: 26-28
From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. 'For in him we live and move and have our being.' As some of your own poets have said, 'We are his offspring.'

Did Jesus Really Exist?

2009-02-03T11:17:00.000-08:00

Hello friend! My name is Matt Spinelli. I’m a college intern here at Grace and have been given the privilege to write the next blog entry on the Grace blog! For those of you who don’t know me I’m kind of a New Testament research junkie. I visit a New Testament blog everyday to see what developments are happening in the New Testament research world. This January I learned of the formation of "The Jesus Project". This is a collection of Biblical Scholars, mostly from the more liberal side of scholarship, that will debate at seminars during the year whether Jesus actually existed or not. This follows on the heels of the highly publicized Jesus Seminar. So in light of this I thought it would be good to answer the question, "Can we be sure that Jesus really existed?"

One way to investigate this question is to search for sources that are outside of the New Testament and do not have a Christian bias to them. The reason we look for sources like this is that we can be fairly confident that the evidence they present for the existence of Jesus is sound and not merely trying to bolster the Christian movement. An example of such a source comes from the Roman historian Tacitus.

Tacitus lived from 56 AD to 117 AD and wrote a history examining the reigns of several Roman emperors. The text that we are going to focus on for our purposes is in his Annals 15.44:
"Consequently, to get rid of the report, Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace. Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus, and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judaea, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome, where all things hideous and shameful from every part of the world find their centre and become popular."

One of the first things that we need to notice is that Tacitus was not a Christian. So we can be pretty sure that whatever he said about Jesus was not slanted toward the Christian movement. So what does he say about Jesus? Notice the line where he mentions "Christus" who "suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius". The overwhelming majority of scholars think that this is one of the few secular references to Jesus. From this we can learn that Jesus was crucified during the reign of Tiberius by Pontius Pilate. This information, while brief, does help to answer the question of the existence of Jesus, as well as the historical validity of his crucifixion. Would a Roman Historian who has no interest in promoting Christianity comment on an individual who didn’t exist? I don’t think so.

This means that there is good evidence for the existence of Jesus outside of the New Testament. This should help bolster our confidence in the Gospels and in the one whose "word is truth" (John 17:17.)

Matt Spinelli

Can You Go Home Again?

2008-08-28T09:05:00.001-07:00

I just read a survey that stated that 77% of college graduates moved back in with their parents last year. This is up from 67% in 2005, and I would guess that the trend has been consistently moving upward for the past 10-15 years (although I have no statistical proof to that effect).

When I was growing up, my father repeatedly made it clear to me that moving back home after college was not an option, except if I needed a (very) temporary place to stay while I searched for a job. I also knew that if I dropped out of high school or failed out of college that my only home would be the cruel, cold world outside.

Some may find it hard to believe, but Dad was not intentionally being unkind. Quite the contrary: He knew that adulthood eventually requires independence from one's parents. He recognized that safety nets often become permanent nesting places, and so the best option for a young bird is often to toss them out of the nest.

As a result, by the time I graduated from college, I had zero desire to return home permanently. Don't get me wrong, I love my parents and enjoy visiting, but the thought of returning permanently to my old room with the homecoming mums, legos in a box, and back issues of Highlights sounds creepy and sad. Maturity requires leaving behind childhood and moving on. We may remember childhood with fondness, but we are not meant to dwell there forever.

I am teaching this semester on the subject of mature discipleship. What does it mean to follow Christ with discipline, maturity, and focus in a world that consistently encourages prolonged adolescence and irresponsibility? Paul writes that ultimately, when we see God face to face, we will finally put aside our "childish" understanding of Jesus, and think about Him like adults (1 Cor 13:11). In the meanwhile, we labor to grow toward adulthood, for the sake of His glory.

Generation Me

2008-08-05T07:28:00.000-07:00

One interesting book that I read while on sabbatical was called Generation Me: Why Today's Young Americans Are More Confident, Assertive, Entitled -- and More Miserable Than Ever Before by Jean M. Twenge.

Despite the cumbersome title, this turned out to be an excellent book about the character traits of those born between 1970 and 2000. Thirty years is a long stretch to be considered one generation, but I think her general conclusions, which I'll describe in a moment, are accurate. Needless to say, the traits themselves are more pronounced in those born later in the designated time span, at least in my opinion.

Twenge's basic premise is that young men and women have been conditioned from day one to believe that they are extremely special, important, unique and gifted whether or not there is any factual basis for that conditioning. In her words, "in the years after 1980, there was a pervasive, society-wide effort to increas children's self-esteem...Generation Me is the first generation raised to believe that everyone should have high self-esteem."

The problems arise when my over-inflated sense of self collides with the real world AND with everybody else's over-inflated sense of self. When I realize that I probably cannot be a professional football player, a famous rock star, or the President of the United States, I have a tendency to be disappointed and even depressed. When I begin my new job with a sense that I deserve to be the most special person there, I am angry and frustrated when I am not promoted to VP within three years. After a while, I become cynical and unwilling to try anymore.

This sense of individualism and personal entitlement bleeds over into moral choices as well. Why should I listen to parents and religious leaders who tell me that sexuality is reserved for marriage? It is MY body, MY decision! If my personal fulfillment is the primary objective, then cheating on a test is simply another way to accomplish my end.

Family choices are affected as well. Children are an inconvenience, stealing away my opportunity to be famous and rich. So families are postponed well into one's mid-30s if they are pursued at all. When children arrive, the primary goal is to arrange for their care in a way that provides the least discomfort to my present lifestyle of financial freedom and leisure.

Of course, the real question for those of us in college and youth ministry is how to counteract the cultural forces that are producing these attitudes. If our goal is to encourage Christ-likeness in our students, how can that be accomplished in the short time we spend with them? The Biblical viewpoint on self is of course that human beings are valuable because we are made in God's image, He loves us, and Jesus died for us. Our life takes significance ultimately when we sacrifice self and pursue the glory of God above our own.

So how do we encourage that mindset in today's students? Here is where Twenge's book is somewhat weak. She is not writing from a Christian perspective, and as a result her solutions often have a hollow ring to them.

In a future post, I hope to provide some suggestions, but in the meanwhile I'll throw it open to my readers (who probably constitute about 3 people, but it could still be worthwhile). How do we influence families and students to think more biblically about the concept of self?

Antioch Church

2008-06-23T18:19:00.000-07:00

Besides reading and planning and praying during my sabbatical, I also visited a few other churches with healthy college ministries.

The first church I went to was Antioch Community Church in Waco. It is a relatively new church plant, only about nine years old. It sprang from a large Baptist church in Waco, and now averages around 2500-3000 attenders in weekend services. Most people are familiar with Antioch through the story of Heather Mercer and Dayna Curry, two missionaries in Afghanistan who were arrested in 2001 for preaching the Gospel.

I met with the college pastor and his staff over the course of two days, and also had the opportunity to attend a church staff meeting. My main purpose in these meetings was to hear how another church-based college ministry operated and see if I could gain some fresh perspectives and ideas.

I was immediately impressed with the energy and enthusiasm of this church for the Great Commission. From the senior pastor on down the line, every staff member was excited to participate in overseas missions and to mobilize others to do so as well. A great deal of time in the college staff meeting and the church staff meeting was devoted to highlighting missionaries and discussing missions strategy. It was very clear that overseas missions is an integral part of the church's mission, not just in theory but in practice.

In addition, I was convicted and encouraged by the direct on-campus involvement of the college pastor and his staff. They are constantly on campus, interacting with students and spending time sharing the Gospel. It was a challenge to me to find new ways to get our staff and interns on campus more often than we have been in the past. I am optimistic that through this "ministry of presence," our church can have a greater impact on the campus of Texas A&M in the future.

Overall, it was a great church visit and a valuable time for me. Stay tuned for updates on the other two churches I visited!

Spirit of the Disciplines

2008-06-16T18:37:00.000-07:00

During the first few days of my sabbatical, I went of out of town and spent some time alone. My primary goal was to refresh my spiritual life and to seek the Lord regarding any changes that I needed to make in order to pursue Him more closely.

While I was away, I read a book by Dallas Willard called The Spirit of the Disciplines. Originally, I expected the book to be a detailed discussion of the various disciplines for the spiritual life (e.g. prayer, study, fasting, worship, etc.). Instead, Willard provides a rationale for the rigorous practice of spiritual disciplines, along with an understanding of their place in the Christian life.

His fundamental premise is that we are bodily as well as spiritual creatures. To deny the bodily aspect of our nature is to lapse into a form of gnosticism, which drew a sharp divide between flesh and spirit, labeling the flesh as evil and the spirit as good. In gnosticism, then, the goal is to overcome the flesh, or even to escape it, in order that we might be holy in our inner beings.

In contrast, Willard explains that our bodies are fundamental vessels through which our spirits interact with the world and with God. Our bodies are created by God, and we cannot experience the world except through the senses of our body. The primary means through which our bodies enable our spirits to interact with God are the spiritual disciplines. As we practice the disciplines faithfully, we train our bodies and minds and spirits to respond to the Holy Spirit. Over time, our natural inclinations change and we transform into the character of Christ.

The disciplines, then, are not ends in themselves, but exercises to train us in the way of godliness. A golfer does not go to the driving range to be good at the driving range, but so that during the course of the game he can hit the ball consistently where he wants it to go.

If I spend concentrated time in silence and prayer on a daily basis, then I am more likely to respond with internal quietness and supplication in the press of my ordinary routine. When I am faced with temptation, pressure, busyness, and crowding, I am more likely to respond in a godly way if I have practiced godliness with diligence.

At any rate, this book challenged me to remember that we cannot grow in godliness with the effort of the disciplines. While justification is a free gift of God through Christ, there is an element of hard work and discipline necessary to become more like Jesus. It is the hard work of increasing dependence upon the Lord.

As Willard writes: "Who are the great ones in the Way, what are the significant movements in the history of the church, that do not bear the deep and pervasive imprint of the disciplines for the spiritual life? If there are none, what leads us to believe that we might be an exception to the rule and might know the power of the kingdom life without the appropriate discipline?"

Well said; now on to the work of discipleship.

Sabbatical

2008-06-11T06:25:00.000-07:00

For the past month or so, I've been on a short sabbatical from my weekly duties as college pastor. The elders at my church were kind enough to implement a policy that once every three years, pastoral staff can take a sabbatical in order to rest, study, and refresh vision for ministry.

Some of my days have been spent in prayer and solitude, seeking the Lord's will for the future of the ministry and for my future personally. Other days, I have been reading and studying about "Generation Y," those born between 1982 and 2000, many of whom are currently in college. Finally, I spent some of my time visiting other college ministries in Texas and around the country to gather ideas and refocus my vision for university students.

On the whole, it has been a productive and restful time. I return to the office on Monday, and I am excited to begin again with a renewed sense of purpose and direction, as well as restored energy.

Over the next few weeks, I am going to post some thoughts on the readings I have done, as well as the ministries I have visited. Stay tuned!

Tribute

2008-06-02T11:54:00.001-07:00

Well, it has been many months since I've updated this blog, so I don't know if anybody will actually read this post. Most of you have long since given up checking it, figuring that I had abandoned it. I do hope to begin blogging again soon, and thought today was a good opportunity to start. I might be writing this for myself as much as for anybody else.

At every church where college ministry is a priority, there is usually a person or persons largely responsible for championing it. College students are not a priority to many churches, because they do not contribute great sums of money. They tend to be a financial drain and the immediate benefit or attracting them is not always obvious. For a church to target them intentionally, there has to be at least one influential individual willing to convince the church body that college students are a strategic investment; we may not reap financial rewards now, but we can literally change the course of history and expand the kingdom of God by training and serving them.

At the church where I minister, that person was Dick Davison, a long-time elder and servant at the church. Dick went to be with Jesus this morning after battling illness for the past few years. He was in his early 80s.

A veteran of WWII, Dick tended to use battle imagery frequently when discussing church ministry. He applied a principle from his military days to college students, often referring to them as the "fat target." This was his way of saying that, in our community, they are numerous and energetic and eager to learn, so why not focus our energy and resources on the biggest and most receptive target.

He frequently came by my office, when he was healthy, and was fond of asking me, "If you had one million dollars tax-free to spend on this ministry, how would you use it to expand the college ministry at this church?" (A few years ago, he changed the number to ten million, saying that one million did not go as far as it used to!) He was constantly pressing me to come up with such a plan, and to do what I could even if I never received large sums of money. To be frank, I have never met a layperson so intensely strategic and focused on the ministry of God's kingdom as he was.

I have also never met another man of his age who LOVED college students the way he did. Every week he and his lovely wife Joy stood in the back of our college auditorium and served donuts and coffee to the students who attended the college class. Students were constantly blessed by their joy and enthusiasm for ministry, as well as their close and loving marriage. He continued to attend until he was literally too weak to stand in the back of the room, often sitting on a chair while he and Joy did their job.

One of the last times I visited him in the hospital, he could not stand and was incredibly weak. Nonetheless, when I entered the room, he immediately began to ask me how I was going to implement a program to strategically recruit more interns for the college ministry. "I want a dozen interns, even more if possible. What are you doing to make that happen?" Dick was a man who finished well; when I returned home, I told my wife that I can only pray that when I am in my final days I will have as much commitment and dedication to the Great Commission as Dick.

A few months ago, at Dick's request, I asked my assistant to create a book filled with pictures of all of our former interns, including updates on where they are now and how they are serving the Lord. Dick received it in the hospital, on his birthday, and called me to say thank you. He went on and on about how glad he was to see so many of them serving the Lord, married to other former interns (Dick was a big champion of marriage and wanted everybody to married as soon as possible). He showed the book to everybody who visited him, and expounded upon the strategic value of investing in the lives of young men and women headed into a life of service to Christ.

I hope it was an encouragement to him in his final days to see that his life's labor and dedication in the service of Jesus had an incredible impact. He certainly had an impact on me, and I am one of literally thousands, some of whom will never even know his name.

I miss him already, and pray that God will give me the strength to live with his same kind of intentionality and dedication to the things of God's kingdom.

From The Mouths of Babes...Literally!

2007-10-24T13:13:00.001-07:00

One of our college staff sent me the following link today, which I found interesting but disturbing:

http://abcnews.go.com/2020/Story?id=3717627

While I am sure that I do not agree with all of the theology of the Episcopal priest cited in the article and on the video, I do agree with him that the idea of 7-year-old children preaching to a congregation of adults is inappropriate and offensive. Here are the problems with it:

1. Preaching is not merely about words emanating from one person's mouth to another person's ears. Instead, it is a form of spiritual leadership, ideally exercised by those who have the biblical qualifications to lead (see 1 Timothy 3). That is why most evangelicals agree that a person living in open sexual sin should not be allowed to take the pulpit; the maturity and faithfulness of the preacher matter. A child does not have the life experience or maturity to begin to shepherd a group of adults, facing temptations and difficulties that the child cannot possibly understand. How can a person preach on the value of purity without even understanding "how babies are made"? How can a person speak about faithful financial stewardship when the most he has managed is his weekly allowance of $5 from mom and dad? The concept is ridiculous, of course. To me this is further evidence that we live in a time in which entertainment value is more important than substance.

2. Proper theology is incredibly significant in the task of preaching. There are abstract concepts involved that most young children are unable to understand. It is not that a child is unable to grasp the basics of the Gospel; on the contrary, he or she can certainly understand salvation, even enough to share it with a close friend or relative. The problem is understanding enough of the intricacies of it to be the teacher of an entire congregation, some of whom have been studying the Scripture for years (hopefully). Heresy often creeps into a church via well-intended individuals who are simply ill-equipped to interpret the Scripture due to poor training, personal bias, fuzzy thinking, and a variety of other factors. All of these factors are greater risks for unproven children, who have not had the time and do not have the intellectual ability (yet) to coherently examine the issues.

There is certainly a fine line here between what is appropriate and what is absurd. Children can certainly share the Gospel, and I believe at times their experiences and insights can be extremely helpful in the local church. They are not worthless, nor are they less valuable in God's eyes than adults are.

The issue to me is primarily one of authority; when there is no mature authority responsible for testing, shaping, and controlling what they say in public under the guise of spiritual leadership, we have a major problem. When children are exalted to the place of congregational head, over the adults in the church, we have a major problem. When parents are willingly submitting to the authority of the child, rather than the other way around, we have a problem.

All of this begs the question for me: Was the child asked to preach because of his perceived maturity or because of the lack of mature leaders in the congregation? In other words, was there nobody else qualified and willing to wear the mantle of leadership?

Scary.

What are your thoughts? Feel free to post if you disagree with me, or even if you agree!

Preaching and the Spirit

2007-10-11T15:37:00.001-07:00

One of my duties as the college pastor is to prepare and deliver weekly sermons for our college students. It is one of the most enjoyable parts of my job, but also one of the most difficult at times.

I have always felt that preparing a good sermon is a bit of a moving target. You might plan and pray a great deal and be very enthusiastic about your passage and yet still have the sermon fall flat. On the other hand, you might have a crazy week, with very little time to prepare, yet you finish the sermon with the certainty that the Spirit has spoken despite your failure (or perhaps because of it).

I was encouraged recently, upon reading a biography of Martin Luther, to run across a great quote about preaching that expressed well my feelings. In speaking to a young pastor who was discouraged about his sermons, which were often too short, and who expressed the opinion that he would be better off in his former profession (a familiar line of thought to those in vocational ministry), Luther said the following:

"Do your best. If you cannot preach an hour, then preach half an hour or a quarter of an hour. Do not try to imitate other people. Center on the shortest and simplest points, which are the very heart of the matter, and leave the rest to God. Look solely to his honor and not to applause. Pray that God will give you a mouth and to your audience ears. I can tell you preaching is not a work of man. Although I am old and experienced, I am afraid every time I have to preach. You will most certainly find out three things: first, you will have prepared your sermon as diligently as you know how, and it will slip through you fingers like water: second, you may abandon your outline and God will give you grace. You will preach your very best. The audience will be pleased, but you won't. And thirdly, when you have been unable in advance to pull anything together, you will preach acceptably both to your hearers and to yourself. So pray to God and leave all the rest to Him."

I certainly can't argue with that...what a great reminder of who is truly in control of the preaching process.

(By the way, that quote is from an excellent biography of Luther entitled Here I Stand by Roland Bainton. I highly recommend it if you have any interest in the subject.)

Otherwise Occupied

2007-10-03T18:37:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been quite a while since I last blogged. Why, you ask? I have been otherwise occupied. Every ounce of my creative and intellectual energy (above and beyond what I spend with my family) has been invested in starting the school year with the college ministry.

If you are interested, here is a brief rundown of the year so far:

-August 6-8: Training for new college interns. We added three new interns this year, in addition to the four who stayed from last year.

-August 11: I performed a wedding.

-August 13-15: College staff retreat. All of our interns and permanent staff with the college ministry spend time getting to know one another and preparing for the school year.

-August 17: Shannon and I spoke at a Christian camp for incoming freshmen.

-August 18: Another wedding.

-August 23-25: College leaders' training. Our student leaders gather for fellowship and training and preparation for the coming year.

-August 26: First college Sunday school class of the semester.

-September 2: "Howdy Party," a chance for our new students to learn about our college ministry and sign up for small groups.

-September 4: First college small group meeting for the semester.

-September 7: Elizabeth's (my daughter) birthday.

-September 11: My mom's birthday.

-September 30: Shannon's birthday.

As you can see, things move full-speed ahead from August through the early part of October. I actually love this time of year. Students are beginning a brand new year, full of brand new hopes. For freshmen, they are looking forward to four to six (hopefully) significant and thoroughly enjoyable years. For seniors, they are preparing to move on with their lives and service to the Lord. For those in between, it's another chance to do well, to walk with the Lord, to study hard, and to make good friends. No other time of the year is so full of excitement, enthusiasm, promise, and joy.

And busyness too...I'm pretty tired. But, as they say, it's a "good" tired.

Tweeners

2007-08-22T17:56:00.001-07:00

Most of my life I have been involved in music: piano, voice, saxophone, a little guitar. It has always been an enjoyable pursuit for me, and for a while I considered a career in the music industry.

Musicians fall along a spectrum of talent. On one end are casual players, those who pick it up to impress a girl or because they need a hobby or because they heard "Stairway to Heaven" in an elevator and have to learn how to play it. On the other end are the true virtuosos, the Van Cliburns and Pavarottis and Jimi Hendrixes. Most of us fall squarely in the middle somewhere, "tweeners" if you will.

For the tweeners, we dream of being able to play like the virtuosos. Most of us are realistic enough to know that it is a distant possibility, so we keep our hopes in check.

Every so often, though, we taste a bit of true greatness. It is hard to describe, but if you are a musician, you know what I mean. Suddenly your fingers connect with the piano, or your voice hits a tone, or the guitar begins to vibrate, and you realize that you are in the midst of a sacred moment.

The instrument takes on a life of its own and begins to sing. It feels as if God Himself is sitting next to you, His hands working the keys, breathing your voice, picking the strings. It is enough to bring you to tears. This must be what the virtuosos feel all the time, you think (perhaps naively).

I have never played golf much, but most golfers describe a similar experience when they hit the elusive "perfect shot." It reminds me of Eric Liddell (in Chariots of Fire) saying, "When I run, I feel His pleasure."

Those few, precious divine moments give me a taste of eternity while rooting me squarely in the now. Although I am weak, frail, unable to please God, unable to "manufacture" His presence through my supreme giftedness, He allows me to glimpse His glory nonetheless. Something as simple as a song, or a golf shot, or a good run can become a masterpiece of praise.

We will never achieve perfection, but we can at least have the periodic taste of heaven, serving to humble us and lift our eyes at the same time.

And that makes being a tweener not so bad after all.

Weddings and Hope

2007-08-02T07:28:00.000-07:00

It's wedding season! This summer is absolutely filled with them; I already officiated one, attended one other, and am performing two more before the end of August. In addition, I've had to turn down three or four others because of scheduling conflicts.

All told, I probably know of twenty of our students getting married either this summer or in December/January.

Some of my colleagues dislike weddings; they require a great deal of time and energy on the weekends, which are already busy and stressful for most ministers.

I actually enjoy weddings. For one thing, each one is like a big reunion; former students and current students and old friends gather together in one place. I always tell prospective grooms to absorb the moment, partly because it will be the last time before their funeral that this many friends and family are gathered together at the same place.

But weddings are also an incredibly hopeful time. In a day and age in which divorce is rampant and even most intact families are dysfunctional, it is always nice to be involved in guiding a young man and young woman in the process of making a lifelong commitment. On that one day, hope resonates so strongly within them and everybody present. I always pray that this couple will beat the odds and glorify the Lord with a marriage that really lasts "till death do us part." I have optimism for these students who desire to walk with Jesus, that they will overcome the cynicism and faithlessness of their parents' generation and create a new standard for marriage, a fresh start, a godly home for the benefit of their children and grandchildren.

God, give them the perseverance, the faithfulness, the love for You that will be required for such a countercultural and supernatural task.

Cheaters Never Win?

2007-07-18T06:41:00.000-07:00

A recent survey of 30,000 college students reveals that 60 percent of them admit to cheating in their courses. Only a small percentage of them feel remorse about it.

The most interesting quote from the article: "Oddly enough, we found that cheaters usually win and winners usually cheat." The proof cited is that cheaters have higher GPA's than non-cheaters.

Duh. If I copy test answers from the textbook or hide them in my cell phone, my test scores will be higher on average than those of students who studied honestly and took the test based upon their own knowledge.

Unfortunately, this perspective is quite myopic. Nobody doubts that cheaters win in the short run; the question is whether they prevail in the long run. Or to ask the question another way: In general, do those who lack integrity have an easier time in life than those who maintain it?

In many (not all) instances, cheaters lose quite decidedly. Their spouses discover the affair. Their bosses discover their poor work ethic is being covered by excuses and lies. Their friends figure out they cannot be trusted. The law finally catches up with them. Those instances are sufficient examples to keep many people committed to the principles of honesty.

However, there are instances in which cheaters do seem to win in the long run. They grow rich and gain fame or worldwide respect in spite of, or perhaps even because of their lack of integrity.

Interestingly, the Scripture discusses this very phenomenon quite openly. In Psalm 73, for example, Asaph laments how the wicked seem to grow rich and fat as a result of their sin. He questions God's justice and righteousness.

But the end of the Psalm is quite different from the beginning: "When I pondered to understand this, it was troublesome in my sight until I came to the sanctuary of God; Then I perceived their end. Surely You set them in slippery places; you cast them down to destruction. How they are destroyed in a moment! They are utterly swept away by sudden terrors! Like a dream when one awakes, O Lord, when aroused, You will despise their form."

In other words, judgment is coming. It may not be today, tomorrow, or even when they are old men, but it is on its way.

If we believe that God's judgment is real, then those of us who minister to students do well to remind them of the eternal perspective. Cheaters may win in the short run, but it never pays off in eternity.

The Clucking Gosling

2007-07-12T07:17:00.000-07:00

This past Sunday I had the privilege of being a guest speaker at a church in a nearby city. I am accustomed to speaking to college students, so this was a bit of a stretching experience for me, although a good one.

They were a very welcoming congregation, and also very responsive to my message from Psalm 63.

There was, however, one interesting tale to be told regarding congregational response.

The church holds three services, the first one of which is at 8:00 A.M. As you can imagine, attendance is rather sparse at the first service, and the predominant hair color is not black, brown, red, or yellow.

I illustrated Psalm 63:7 ("in the shadow of your wings I sing for joy") with a picture of a Canadian goose sheltering her young under her wing. I mentioned that I had never seen this phenomenon personally, since I grew up in the suburbs of Dallas and not on a farm. In my nervousness and haste, I accidentally referred to the baby geese as "chicks." BIG mistake.

After the service, a kind and chronologically gifted woman approached me with a few short critiques of my message. (For those of you who are not speakers, beware: Immediately after a sermon is not the best time to give criticism to your pastor.) Among other things, she mentioned that baby geese are actually called "goslings." I thanked her for her input and fixed my blunder in the later services.

I forgot about it until this morning, when I received an email from another church member. He expressed his thanks for my message. Then, there was this postscript: "
"p.s., baby geese are called goslings not chicks and geese don't cluck, they honk. :-) !!! "

Thanks. Really. I get it. Gosling. Gosling. Gosling.

Oh, and one more thing: I did some research of my own.

Canadian geese honk AND cluck. In fact, they double cluck (don't ask me what that means -- if you are an ornithologist, feel free to add your two cents here).

So if they double cluck, does that make me twice as correct? And doesn't that make up for the whole gosling thing, huh? Huh? C'mon!

Fine. Gosling. Gosling. Gosling.

Honor Points

2007-07-04T09:20:00.000-07:00

Well, Shannon and I just returned from six days in Paris (France, not Texas). We were not on vacation, but were debriefing one of our student summer missions projects. They were in North Africa for six weeks and then spent several days in Paris with us at the end of the trip. What a great time and a great group of students!

Funny story:
Several of our male students and interns have developed a game they call "Honor Points." Each player begins with 100 honor points. You can give some of your points to another player if he does something worthy. For example, at one point during the trip one of the team members was offered 10 honor points to attempt to catch a pigeon. It is really just a funny way to pass the time.

At any rate, we were sightseeing one day and happened to be standing on a bridge overlooking the Seine River. A couple of the guys got together, pooled all of their points, and offered Marty Scott (one of our interns) nearly 200 honor points to jump in the river. This was the most points anybody had ever offered in the history of the game, as far as we know.

The best part is that Marty appeared to seriously consider the offer, despite the fact that the river was probably near the freezing point, the fall was probably about sixty feet, and there was no easy exit point at the side of the river. Put another way: if the fall didn't kill him, the water would have. I of course told Marty that there was no way he was allowed to jump in that river (but then later gave him a hard time for chickening out, of course).

At any rate, that's the sort of energy and willingness to try new things that students and young adults often have. Granted, it can be tinged with a lack of commonsense at times, but still...If they can stay alive long enough, they might just change the world.

Students and Religious Participation

2007-06-24T17:03:00.000-07:00

There was a very interesting article in the Daily Texan (of all places!) about college students and religion. Apparently college students are more likely to be religious than less educated members of their own age group.

This comes as a surprise to many people, because it has long been assumed that college itself creates an hostile environment toward religion. Instead, it seems that the independence and lack of structure during the young adult years is more to blame for the decrease in religious participation among the post-high school crowd. The researchers speculate that the increased structure provided by a university setting contributes to the greater spiritual interest amongst students when compared with their non-student peers.

I tend to think that college students are more religious because college is a time in which people are open to new ideas, new friends, and new ways of looking at the world. Many of them grew up in marginally religious or non-religious homes, and for the first time they have the chance to embrace their faith apart from parental interference or pressure. Parachurch organizations and campus churches are able to capitalize on this openness.

This is good news for those of us ministering to college students. The fields are indeed white for the harvest...now we just need to pray for workers!

Impressive or Effective?

2007-06-21T18:12:00.000-07:00

When I first began my ministry, I was strongly tempted to judge success based on the number of students who showed up to hear me speak on Sunday morning. To tell the truth, I still struggle in that area from time to time, but my desire to impress and wow the large crowds has faded a bit. Allow me to explain.

One book that has deeply shaped my thinking about ministry is called The Master Plan of Evangelism by Robert Coleman. His book essentially describes Jesus' techniques to infiltrate the world with His message. How did Jesus ensure that when He was gone, the world would hear of His death and resurrection?

He certainly spent time in front of large crowds, often teaching for thousands of people at a time. But large-group evangelism was not his primary strategy.

Instead, he spent the majority of his time building into twelve diverse and often frustratingly obtuse young men. He especially narrowed in on three of them: Peter, James and John.

Instead of expecting five thousand people to effectively carry his message around the world, he relied on a small group with whom he shared His life, His theology, and His deepest teaching.

Jesus understood a valuable principle: A large crowd, while it serves a purpose in the teaching process, is not the most effective means of passing on a legacy. The most effective means is life-on-life, eye-to-eye, heart-to-heart with a few close disciples.

Consequently, the biggest slices of my time are now spent with a key group of interns and student leaders. I love teaching for large crowds, but I realize that the greatest legacy I can hope to leave is a few young men and women who are well-equipped to share the Gospel and to reproduce disciples.

Consider those who truly shaped who you are today. Were they those who believed in you and invested personally in your life, or those whom you only observed from a distance? For most of us, I suspect it is the latter.

Counseling

2007-06-19T05:50:00.001-07:00

Yesterday I saw a hilarious Bob Newhart video on a blog I subscribe to. It has very little to do with college ministry, except to say that I am sometimes tempted to counsel students with the same advice and attitude. By the Lord's kindness, I've resisted that temptation thus far.

I hope you enjoy it.

Dad vs. Homer (Simpson)

2007-06-17T12:39:00.000-07:00

Apparently today's college students generally feel that their fathers are worse than Homer Simpson, according to a recent study. When I first saw this, I thought it had to be a joke. How could the average American father be worse than the irresponsible, perpetually lazy, drunk, outright stupid patriarch of the Simpsons?

When I finished the article and processed it, I understood the issue at hand. At least Homer is there. He might be mean and stupid and drunk and immature, but he is actually around and takes an interest in the lives of his children.

Pretty sad, huh?

A few weeks ago in a sermon I made reference to students who get good advice from their moms. My parents were present, and my dad (who is a great advice-giver) later asked why I did not mention fathers at all as a source of wisdom.

I told him the reason: Many, if not most, of the students in my ministry had absent or distant fathers. It would never occur to them to ask their dad for advice, because he simply was not around. This absence on the part of fathers creates all manner of relational problems in young adults.

As a result, students are looking for a man to model fatherhood for them in some way. Hopefully they can find a real-life, godly man to admire; otherwise, they end up gravitating toward good old Homer.

One of the most humbling and scary parts of college ministry is the degree to which students (especially the engaged ones) seek my advice on how to be a good husband and father. I have even had one or two tell me that they are looking to me as a model. That's not because I'm the perfect father; it's because of the dearth of alternatives in their lives.

If you are a man ministering to college students -- especially if you have children -- rest assured, you are being watched. If that thought doesn't motivate you to prayer, I'm not sure what will.

New Life

2007-06-14T15:42:00.000-07:00

As I write, roughly thirty college students involved in our ministry are overseas on short-term mission trips. They are on six-week trips, some in East Asia and some in North Africa.

Yesterday I got an exciting report that one girl in North Africa trusted Christ for eternal life. This is particularly encouraging because our team is ministering in a Muslim country that is very resistant to the Gospel. At present, there are fewer than five hundred Christians in the country of more than ten million people. So we were naturally thrilled to hear the news of a new sister in Christ.

Today my wife Shannon and I went to the doctor and saw an ultrasound of our expected baby, due this coming January. Watching the tiny heartbeat and seeing this little one instilled a profound sense of awe.

The juxtaposition of these events in my life reminded me of the scene in John 3, in which Jesus tells Nicodemus that he must be "born again" to enter the kingdom of heaven. That phrase is so commonly used in evangelical circles that we often forget how it utterly confused Nicodemus. How could a person be born again?

Jesus explained, in essence, that a human child is born of the flesh, but a believer is born of Spirit. Two births are necessary for true life.

One birth from the mother's womb, in which the child is knit together by God (Psalm 139).

One birth by the Spirit of God alone, in which the believer is made new.

Praise the Lord of new life for graciously giving us both.

And Lord, please lead my two little ones to receive your second birth, one not of flesh but of Spirit alone.

Evangelism Strategies

2007-06-12T17:51:00.000-07:00

I had a great conversation today with the college ministry staff on the topic of evangelism.

If you are not in vocational ministry, you may not be aware that over the past few years a debate has slowly emerged regarding the most effective strategies for sharing the Gospel. This is an especially relevant topic when dealing with university students.

The major question being asked is whether "confrontational" evangelism is as effective in drawing people to Christ as it was in the middle part of the twentieth century. For those unfamiliar with the terminology, the most well-known confrontational strategies are knocking on random doors or approaching random students on campus with a tract or a Bible.

Some writers in the past ten or fifteen years have argued that our country is currently in a "sowing" phase rather than a "reaping" phase (to borrow the language of Tim Downs, the author of Finding Common Ground). They suggest that evangelism in the twenty-first century requires more relational approaches, in which we Christians spend weeks, months, or years developing friendships prior to sharing the message of the Gospel. The best research indicates that most people trust Christ through friends and family members.

While I tend to agree that our increasingly post-Christian society is looking for true community and relationship, I cannot help but wonder if the pendulum is swinging too far in this direction. In other words, many believers have the "relationship" thing down, but forget about the "evangelism" part. Friendships are usually the necessary context for evangelism, but at some point we need to open our mouths and speak. Confrontational evangelism can provide a chance to "practice" sharing the Gospel, so that when opportunities arise with friends and family, we are prepared to accurately share Jesus.

After discussion, our staff has begun to settle on a combined approach to evangelism. We will continue encouraging students to practice confrontational evangelism on campus, but we will also provide training and opportunities for evangelism in the context of relationships.

A book I can recommend on this topic is The Seven Principles of an Evangelistic Life by Doug Cecil. He similarly encourages pursuing a balanced course.

I am curious to hear any thoughts you may have regarding the topic. What do you think are some effective ways to share the Gospel in our current cultural environment?

Talking About Relationships

2007-06-11T12:52:00.000-07:00

Beginning this week, Shannon and I are leading an engaged couple through their required premarital counseling.

One of the most rewarding and challenging parts of college ministry is preparing young men and women to have godly marriages. It is also quite a humbling task, because I never quite feel qualified to give advice on the topic. Shannon and I have a good marriage, but for some reason exhorting a young man to love his wife (or future wife) "as Christ loves the Church" makes me feel just a tad out of my league. Sort of like a junior college basketball player telling a high school kid how to play like Michael Jordan. His heart may be in the right place, but...well, you get the point.

Nonetheless, those of us who work with college students have a responsibility to teach them about dating, sex, and marriage.

Yes, the topic has often been beaten to death by popular Christian writers, as if there were no other spiritual topics worthy of a publisher's time. Yes, some students have heard dozens of "dating talks" and are tired of them. Yes, teaching on the subject can make the university pastor feel a bit cheap, as if he is merely trying to expand his audience by giving them what they want to hear (dating talks invariably draw large crowds).

And of course, feelings of inadequacy go with the territory.

But the truth is that a bad dating relationship or marriage will derail a person's spiritual life. In my ministry, sexual immorality and poor relationships probably distract more students from the Lord than anything else.

So despite the problems inherent to the topic, I do my best to provide students a biblical framework for relational health. The world is working overtime to teach its views on dating and sexuality; why should the church remain silent?

Selling Tickets

2007-06-09T10:47:00.001-07:00

When it comes to college students, expect creativity and ingenuity.

It seems that Harvard University had a bit of a problem this year with students selling tickets to the free commencement ceremonies:

www.cnn.com/2007/EDUCATION/06/07/harvard.scalping.ap/index.html

Although I do not condone the scalping of tickets, it is an interesting story. Let's recap:

1. Ivy League college graduates from the top business school in the country
2. High-Profile Commencement Speakers
3. Too Many People and Not Enough Tickets

Sounds like a situation ripe for entrepeneurship. One has to wonder: What exactly did the administration expect?

Leadership Development

2007-06-07T19:16:00.000-07:00

I just returned from visiting our weekly student Bible studies. This summer one of our college interns is providing leadership for them. Our interns are recent college graduates, ranging in age from twenty-two to twenty-five. This particular young man has been on staff for the past two years.

Each week, after the students meet in their small groups, they all gather together in a large group to get any remaining questions answered. The intern mentioned above is the emcee each week for this large-group meeting. He answers theological and biblical questions, teaches from the text, and suggests appropriate applications for each week's study.

I could not have been more impressed with his leadership tonight.

He was clear and articulate. He was confident and well-spoken, but also humble. He was accurate to the text. And he was worshipful and God-honoring.

One of the temptations of college ministry is to do all of the "real ministry" by myself and leave the gruntwork for the interns and other staff. After all, I have the seminary degree. I have the experience. I have the pastoral position.

The advantage of that approach is that I would never have to leave crucial tasks in the hands of those who might mess them up badly. It is possible, even likely, that they will stumble over words, say something inaccurate, lose control of the group, or simply bore everybody. Of course, I could do any of those as well, but at least I could be in control.

The disadvantage of doing everything myself is that I would miss moments like tonight. Moments in which the Spirit of God works in the life of an extraordinary young man to impact the lives of college students. Moments in which a young leader has the opportunity to use his spiritual gifts and develop in confidence. Moments in which I realize that over the course of two years he has developed into an incredibly gifted teacher and leader.

And he's just one of our ten interns...

Now what were the advantages of doing it myself again?

Happy Birthday, Pastor!

2007-06-06T07:29:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday was my birthday. As a surprise, the college ministry worship leader sang "Happy Birthday" to me in front of our students. He also asked me to ride around on a mop (which I declined) and to put a green flashing "birthday light" on my head (which I did).

The strangest moment, though, happened after the service as I was headed out to my car. A student in the foyer, whom I had never met, greeted me loudly by saying, "MATT! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" He then proceeded to embrace me closely, as if I were a dear relative or old friend. Note at this point that he had still not given me his name.

I managed to say, "Thank you." But then the really weird part...he encouraged me to bend at the waist so that he could give me my "birthday spanking." I declined, of course, but he still made a motion as if he were going to slap my posterior. I nervously chuckled and said an awkward goodbye.

Apparently, after I left, he looked at one of our college interns and said, "Did I really just tell the pastor to bend over for a spanking?" Reality sets in...remorse begins to take hold.

The real irony here: My talk that morning was called, "The Beginning of Wisdom: The Book of Proverbs." I encouraged using good sense in making decisions rather than making them impulsively.

The impulsiveness he demonstrated can create some of the most amusing, exciting, as well as troublesome moments in college ministry. Each year several students in our ministry "impulsively" decide to spend six weeks overseas sharing the Gospel.

But others buy cars with money they don't have, or make poor sexual decisions in the heat of the moment. Or, of course, offer to give a pastor birthday spankings.

I feel like one of our goals in college ministry is to provide to students a sense of balance and wisdom. To help create at least a small moment in their brains for evaluation, planning, and thought. That desire is part of what motivated me to teach from the book of Proverbs this Summer.

At any rate, thanks for the birthday wish, even if it was a bit unusual.

Does Holiness Matter?

2007-06-05T06:51:00.000-07:00

I noticed an interesting news story yesterday regarding college students and marijuana use. See this link:

www.redorbit.com/news/health/955445/marijuana_is_a_popular_part_of_student_life_college_students/index.html?source=r_health

One quote in particular stood out to me: "Other friends prefer to go out and drink a coffee or juice," Gabriel said, "and I'd rather stay at home and smoke a doobie." I find his statement simultaneously amusing and saddening.

The university where I serve is rather conservative socially, so I am not certain if the statistics in the article hold true here or not. I occasionally encounter students struggling with illegal drugs, but it seems that alcohol is the drug of choice amongst our student population.

I have, however, witnessed the same cavalier attitude amongst Christian college students toward the issue of alcohol abuse. In particular, underage drinking and excessive drinking do not seem to be quite as taboo for churched students as they were when I was college during the 90s. There were certainly Christian students who abused alcohol, but their sense of shame was stronger; it was more of a social no-no, so to speak.

I am a big proponent of the doctrine of grace. I believe it, teach it, and try to model it. I strongly believe that we are justified by the grace of God alone, apart from works. I cringe when I hear preachers adding works to the Gospel or implying that a person cannot be a Christian and struggle with sin at the same time. I also cringe when external factors (drinking, smoking, dancing) are consistently used as the primary measuring stick for spirituality.

That having been said, I wonder if the evangelical church has done a poor job in the past half-century of encouraging believers that holiness is worthwhile (perhaps out of a fear of being legalistic). This issue of substance abuse is a case in point. When students are blatantly violating Romans 13 and Ephesians 5 with no apparent sense of remorse, something has gone wrong.

I think what has gone wrong is that they do not understand that holiness goes hand-in-hand with fulfilling our purpose in life. We cannot effectively glorify God by reflecting His character if we willfully disobey Him. What do we stand to lose? A purposeful and eternally significant life. The praise of our Savior at the judgment seat of Christ (Mt 25:23). Eternal reward (2 Tim 4:7-8).

If those who minister to these students do not spur them toward holiness, I fear nobody else around them will. So how well are we fulfilling our task, to raise up disciples for the next generation?

The Powerful Percent

2007-06-04T09:48:00.000-07:00

One the best books about college ministry is The Powerful Percent by Patricia Burgin. If college students are a part of your life in any way, you need to read this book. (It is unfortunately out of print, so you will have to find a used copy online).

The title refers to the roughly one percent of the world's population who are college students. Burgin details the impact this "powerful percent" has had throughout history. College students have been responsible for many of the major cultural, scientific, political, and societal changes of the world. Her thesis (and I agree) is that when college students are captivated by the Gospel, God uses them to change the world.

Here is a great quote:
"There has always been something extraordinary about students. Throughout history they have been on the frontlines of revolutionary change. Their energy and idealism have fueled the gospel's advance through every generation. And just as university-aged people have carved deep marks of influence through the past 2000 years, students today are on the verge of leaving their mark on the final years of this millennium. Their work, too, will be felt for all eternity."

Students have the time, energy, and idealism to make a difference. They still believe that the world can truly change, and they are right! I cannot think of a better way to spend my life than convincing these young men and women to give their lives to the kingdom of God.

Welcome!

2007-06-04T09:27:00.001-07:00

Well, it seems that everybody in my life has lately taken to blogging. I held off for quite some time, because I was uncertain what I could possibly add to the flood of blogs.

It occurred to me, though, that there are few (if any) blogs dedicated to the subject of college student ministry. I am a college pastor at a Bible church near a major state university. We are blessed with a large and healthy college ministry which I feel privileged to lead. Every so often I will post thoughts or experiences or articles that are relevant to university ministry.

I look forward to hearing from you also! Let me know if there are any relevant topics you would like to discuss, and I can do my best to include them.