Thoughts on Support-Based Ministry

Benson Hines is asking some good questions about support-based ministry, especially as it relates to campus ministry.  Below are my comments on his blog post.

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This is a topic that certainly is worthy of our discussion, and brainstorming.

I am enabled, financially, to do campus ministry full-time through the generosity of many churches and individuals. Prior to being a 100% support-based campus minister, I was a 100% support-based missionary to Africa. All together, I’ve been doing the support raising thing for 11 years now.

I’ll go on record…I love being 100% support-based. I’ll admit though, I have my days when life is not so good, but that is usually because my focus is out of whack. When I view support raising the way it should be viewed, then all of life is well.

There are at least two traps into which we can fall.

Trap #1: Not viewing support raising as actual ministry.

Support raising is a very important part of my ministry, it is not something I do in addition to ministry. I am not only a minister to college students, but I am also a minister to many individuals, and a few churches, who support college ministry. Forgetting this truth leads to frustration with the time spent on support raising.

Time and time again I have seen that the things that are happening on campus (or in the far away space of Turkana, Kenya) are inspiring for the people who support our service. They see, through us, how God is at work, and it encourages them and motivates them to live more fully for God. I ABSOLUTELY LOVE this aspect of my ministry.

Trap #2: Not trusting God to do what He’s promised to do.

God is the one responsible for, and in control of, raising my support…not me. That being said, I do have to do my part.

I think I’m a pretty decent support raiser, though I need to be careful not to take any glory from God. He does it all! He raises up our support, daily! But I am willing to do my part. I work hard, I communicate vision, and I truly enjoy meeting new people and asking them to be a part of what God is doing through us.

Support raising is not for everyone. But, with the right attitude, and not lacking the call of God, we can find success through it.

“Right Life” Principles, 3: God-Breathed Empowerment

A seven part series on my life principles…entitled The Right-Life, not having anything to do with political bent, but having everything to do with my belief that there is Absolute Truth.  Being (R)ight is being in line with the Creator of the Universe, His Character.

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Our power to do ministry comes from God alone.  I am the vine, you are the branches…apart from me you can do nothing. ~ Jesus of Nazareth ~

It is frustrating, in our hurry-hurry culture today, to see so many people missing this point.  We spend our energy each day on many activities, and we measure the success of each day by the marks we make on our “to-do list.”

Have you ever stopped to wonder if there is some sort of “sync” application that would get your to-do list in complete harmony with God’s to-do list?  I wonder how much I could charge at Apple’s iTunes App Store for developing such an application?  Surely, at least $4.99.

Oh, wait a minute (multi-tasking…searching iTunes as I type).  There is indeed such an application…someone beat me to it!

OK, so maybe there is no iPhone app, but syncing with God is easy enough.

Syncing with God requires stillness on our part.  Syncing requires listening.  Syncing requires intentional focus on the One who is the source of everything Good.

Let’s see…Stillness…Listening…Focus.  No, these are not descriptions of the hurry-hurry life of multi-tasking to which we all have become far too accustomed.  In fact, spend too much time being still and you will quickly be branded a loser.  Life is a tiger, and we have to grab it by the tail before it eats us alive!! Right??

But I’ve noticed a wise life principle that is a bit counter-cultural, and I want to pass it on to you.  God breathes His empowering Spirit upon us when we take time to be still (in His presence), to listen (for His guiding voice), and to focus (on the Author and Perfecter of our faith). For whatever reason, God seems to prefer to use His “still, small voice” that can best be heard from a state of motionless attention.  I tend to think that the reason God likes to communicate to us while we are in this posture is to teach us that it is not by our own strength, not by our own hustling and bustling about, that we will find empowerment, but only by His (God-breathed) strength.

Think about it.  Which would you prefer?

1. To work at a manic pace each day, checking off the items on your self-directed to-do list
2. To move with focus and intention throughout the day, from God-ordained task to God-ordained task

I much prefer to dwell in the #2 realm, and I’m guessing you would too.  So, how do we get there?

Acknowledge these Truths:

• God knows best.  Even simply saying this aloud will probably enable you to sleep easier.  I’d even wager (assuming you just said this aloud) that your blood pressure just dropped slightly.
• Our agenda is often not God’s agenda.  Admit it.  We all chase after things that are simply ridiculous at times.  Are you really pursuing what God wants you to pursue?  Has pride blinded you from even perceiving God’s will, God’s agenda?
• Our self-worth is not measured by the length of our to-do list.  Let me say this again.  Your level of “busy-ness” is no indication of your worth as a person.  Our culture tells us that the busier we are, the more important we are.  This is not true in the Kingdom of God.  Our worth is measured by God.  To Him, we’re of immense value, no matter the size of our to-do list.
• Effective and fruitful ministry only comes as we follow God’s lead.  If God is in IT, then IT is vitally important.  Even the smallest God-given tasks can produce a harvest of fruit, far beyond our dreams.  Don’t fool yourself into thinking you even know what “fruit” always looks like.  You might be wanting a pear while God is sticking a whole bunch of bananas right in front of your nose!

After you have acknowledged these truths, then, and only then, make yourself comfortable.  Be still.  Listen.  Focus.  Make it your “daily bread.”  Don’t do anything else until you have feasted on that still, small voice.  Taste it again and again until you have developed a taste for it, craving it each morning.  Eat it again and again.

Be still.  Listen.  Focus.

The “Thinking” Student

Humanism (the doctrine emphasizing a person’s capacity for self-realization through reason) is becoming much more evident on the college campus.  The other day I was walking on campus, passing by the Secular Student Alliance (SSA) booth when their sign caught my attention:  ARE YOU READY TO GIVE UP YOUR IMAGINARY FRIEND?

I have to chuckle at the creativity of some of these students.

The SSA is a national organization, which is gaining momentum on the college campus scene.  Read this recent article from the Denver Post for more information. The students involved in the SSA are typically atheists and agnostics (humanists).  They also call themselves the “thinking” students, as they take great pride in arriving at their religious (or non-belief in God) convictions through “logic and reason.”

Boise State has a very active SSA group.  I’ve been attending their (Friday Night) meetings frequently this semester.  It’s been fun.  Yes, I said fun.  Most of these students are interested in debating, and putting effort into developing their life-philosophy.  I admire that.  How many Christians never take the time to really research their faith, swallowing what they have been spoon-fed all their lives?

Just this past week I attended the SSA meeting…they were showing the documentary, Jesus Camp.  Interestingly enough, that evening the room was divided 50-50 between Christians and non-believers.  The mix made for a lively discussion afterwards.

My biggest concern, walking away from the evening, had nothing to do with the atheists/agnostics in the room, but with the “Christian” who was so confused in his faith that I actually had to voice my disagreement with nearly everything he had said that evening.  Very disconcerting.

The best part of the evening?  Well, that actually came a few days later when one of the students that attends my weekly Bible study told me that he had had a conversation with one of the non-believers from the SSA meeting.  This SSA student told my Christian student that she was so pleased with the way I responded kindly, and graciously, to the non-believers in the room.  She had loved the conversation that took place that evening.  The only thing she didn’t appreciate about the evening was the “Christian” who didn’t really know what he was talking about.

Can we, my fellow Christians, please do us all a favor?  Let’s do at least half the research on our beliefs as the atheist or agnostic is doing on our beliefs.  I truly hope that this current generation of Christians on campus will be known as “thinkers.”  And as we live life among the non-believer, let’s engage them in loving dialogue.  It is not our job to “debate” the non-believer into the kingdom.  It is our privilege to simply love them, speak truth, and live out the gospel before them.  Allow God to do the work of persuasion.

The Interview with CNBC

I was recently interviewed on CNBC by Jane Wells.  Click here to view the video.

Thank you, Jane, for “showing off” our campus ministry on national television.  Very cool.

Dean Trune, On Success

Dean Trune (my boss), Executive Director of Impact Ministries International, speaks to “success” today on the heartofcampusministry blog.  Check it out!

Dean served as the campus minister at Michigan State University for Michigan Christian Campus Ministries for 11 years, then felt led by God to begin a campus ministry planting organization. So, in 1995 Harvest Campus Ministries was begun.

The first campus ministry to be planted was at the State University at New York in Albany, New York. In April of 1999, the Harvest board of directors changed the ministry’s name to Impact Ministries International.

Impact’s philosophy of ministry has long been: We will not minister where we have not prayed.

“Prayer journeys” and “prayer gatherings” are often our first step onto a campus. Impact currently has ministries in several states and one international campus ministry in New Zealand.

Dean’s book was recently published, Path Toward Passion: Nine Disciplines that Connect your Heart to God’s.

“…it’s five year mission…to seek out new life, new civilizations…”

Star Trek…the original series.  It opened with William Shatner’s now famous intro:

Space, the final frontier. These are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise.  It’s five year mission: To explore strange new worlds; To seek out new life, and new civilizations; To boldly go where no man has gone before.

I loved it…watched it every Sunday afternoon (at 4pm, channel 12) as I was a kid, growing up in the early 70′s.

I know exactly why I loved it so much: ADVENTURE!

Captain James T. Kirk was leading his crew on a five year mission, to seek out new life (in outer space), new civilizations, and was boldly going where no one had ever gone before…well, at least where no HU-man had ever gone before.  Obviously, others had gone, because he met up with these strange “others” each week at 4pm.  It was awesome!

Kirk had a monumental impact on my life.  I wanted to be an adventurer like him.  I wanted to be a fearless leader like him.  I wanted to be an ingenious thinker like him.  Oh, and of course, I wanted to be the guy who always got the girl, just like him.

Just in case you still doubt the formative influence Kirk had on my life, check out my self description which is posted prominently on both my Twitter page as well as my Facebook page:

Part monk, part Starship Captain. I love discovering what God is doing.

I have often joked with others (though I’m not really joking) when I say that God has a Starship in dock for me to command in heaven.

But in the meantime, as my ship is being prepared, God has given me other tasks/missions, and for this I am very grateful.

My current task?  It’s actually a three year mission, to seek out new ways of reaching life…to boldly go where no one (or at least “not many”) have gone before…on the college campuses of the world.

Very simply, the task is to research and develop a guidebook on the subject: “How to do campus ministry with a missional approach.”

Too often, the study of culture and missional methods are bi-passed by those in ministry who are working among people from within their own cultural context.  These people tend to think that since they are not crossing any cultural barriers as they minister to their “target audience,” there is no need to apply cross-cultural methods to their approach.

A huge mistake!  In fact, I believe this mistake is the single greatest contributor to the decline of the church in the West today.  People of the West are not hearing a contextualized Message.  In other words, they are not hearing the message of the life of Jesus in terms that are meaningful to them personally…in terms that speak directly to their soul.

Missional methods are foundational to effective ministry.  If we fail to consider the cultural context of our ministry setting, we will fail to be effective in communicating, at the heart level, the Message of God.  An effective presentation of The Good News will be one that has been customized for the hearers.  Original meaning of Jesus’ Message must be translated into the hearer’s context. (Have I said this in enough different ways yet?  Is the idea getting through?)

As I examine the current state of campus ministry, it is obvious that many campus ministers need to rethink their approach, utilizing missiology in their ministry.  Benson Hines makes a good case for this in his book, Reaching the Campus Tribes (reachingthecampustribes.com).

I met Benson this past summer and have asked him to assist me in my research.  He has agreed (though I’m still trying to talk him into wearing the blue shirt and the pointy ears, as my Science Officer).  Benson’s work on this topic is inspiring, and I greatly appreciate his pioneering spirit.

This project will consume much of my life over the next three years.  I’ll begin the project, officially, in January in Nairobi, Kenya.  I’m going to attack this mission in the context of a Doctor of Ministry (DMin) program through George Fox University.  The DMin program can best be described using three words: Global. Missional. Leadership.

Global.  I’ll be doing my research among a diverse group, from a global context.  George Fox hopes to draw people from all over the world to form a broad group of Christian thinkers.

Missional.  As a group, we’ll discover what it means to do every kind of ministry from a missional perspective.  We’ll also learn to communicate to others what it means to live our lives as missional people.

Leadership.  I’ll be expected to provide something valuable to the Christian community…to lead in new ways of thinking as the Church faces new struggles in this “strange new world” of which we now find ourselves a part.

Let me conclude with an invitation to you.  Join me.  Climb aboard.  I need you.  The road ahead will be long and difficult.  It will be full of challenges.

It will also be filled with adventure.

Yes, this is what it looks like to be on mission with God.  Discoveries await.  Opportunities abound.

May our efforts be all for God’s glory…for the expansion of Goodness…to boldly go…