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I’m on my 15th multi-state, college ministry-exploring road trip! (Details here.) So this week’s blogs are providing a little bit of an “under the hood” look at what I learn and experience on these trips, both for the world of college ministry and otherwise. Enjoy!
Road trips taught me to balance my diet. At home, “enough” fruits and such would enter my system, and I’d simply “eat what I was hungry for” a good portion of the time. So my body would balance things out fairly well. On the road trips, negligence in balance soon enough brings headaches, lethargy, or general grossness. And tighter-fitting college T-shirts.
At home, intentional time with the Lord finds its way into my schedule; on road trips, it has to be planned, purposed, guarded.
When the weeks stretch before me in unending semi-pattern at home, procrastination never stings me too deeply. Little diversions and distractions don’t seem to matter much. On a road trip, the seconds don’t really matter more – but they seem to; I’m reminded that they do; I’m taught to “number my days” out here in a special way.
Road trips always remind me about the value of time spent on people. The joy from one dinner with one longtime friend last night… the beauty of getting to encourage college ministers (who just about always need encouragement!)… doing in-person what I get to do – what I’m supposed to do – from a distance every day: support these men and women who labor among the collegians. Each is worth the time spent (in Dallas or in Las Vegas), but road trips have to remind me.
Road trips demand marshaling.
By even taking this trip, I’m marshaling my funds to the causes that matter most to me. On the trip, I marshal my time towards the most necessary, whether that be accomplishment or relationship or administration or rest or, yes, definitely sometimes play. So I marshal wisdom and prayer to determine what is most needed at this point, caring far more about “I should do this now” than “I should do this soon.” On road trips, I’m far better about going to sleep when I need to, finding odd half-hours to tweak my upcoming seminar, spending real time with real people, turning the TV off, and also begging God to show me how to proceed – knowing (in my heart and not only my head) that unless He builds this trip, I labor in vain who build it.
Road trips remind me how to live like a sojourner. Because I should be living much more like this all the time.
Some have said I’m supposed to live like it’s wartime, a phenomenal (and biblical) metaphor. But since I’ve never been in a war but have taken a few extensive road trips, I’ll put this metaphor alongside that one.
Written from Henderson, Nevada
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On this day three years ago, I took off on a great big adventure – what would become a yearlong road trip through 44 states and to 181 campuses. Taking this trip wasn’t “like me,” that’s for sure; as I’ve said many times since, I’m not naturally an adventurer.
Instead, I had come that summer to realize a new call, a call to help advance the field of Evangelical college ministry. So I prayed through what that meant next. Would I get hired as a college minister and use that spot to advocate for and advance our field? Would I broadcast what I’d learned already, in eight years of ministering to students? (Surely not, since my experiences so far weren’t quite the stuff of “See How I Did It” books.) What paths might most help our field, and most help the hundreds of college ministers whose ranks I was part of and whose work I adored?
As I wrote in Reaching the Campus Tribes,
It was my friend Steven who first threw out the idea of taking a road trip to see college ministry in action across the nation. I scoffed a bit at first, but the truth is, that suggestion wasn’t as out-of-the-blue as it might seem. (page 13)
I had taken some surprisingly large road trips before, and I’d also spent a lot of time seeking wisdom from various college ministers. At conferences, as a journalist, locally, and otherwise I picked many a campus minister’s brain. And I realized that the national wisdom was much greater than what I – and perhaps every other college minister – had access to so far.
In other words, as I prayed, I came to recognize that breadth was one thing our field desperately needed. (Then, as now, we campus ministers were fairly niched, regioned, denominated, and otherwise isolated from the greater wisdom of the greater field.) If I could do nothing else as a 28-year-old single devotee to collegiate ministry, I could explore that wide, wide world and offer the resulting breadth back to us.
After much prayer, thought, and wisdom-seeking, I decided I would indeed take that big trip.
Knowing this was now a matter of obedience, I took out loans, packed up my stuff, and left Dallas in time for the fall semester – only three weeks after deciding to take the trip. I counted on God’s provision for His call, and He certainly confirmed that call throughout the year. (Reaching the Campus Tribes, page 14)
The three years (so far) that began on that day have been, of course, radically life-changing. I would finish that particular trip 370 days later, indebted financially but also forever indebted relationally because of the rich tapestry of college ministry that hundreds of people had allowed me to see.
Soon after, I would start blogging daily, to share everything I had gained. I would take seven more road trips – none a year long, of course, but still plenty adventurous and fruitful. I would publish that ebook the spring after the trip finished, make it freely available, and watch it spread widely and happily through our field. I would give away whatever wisdom I could however I could, and I’d have opportunities to share in other forms – speaking, writing, consulting.
All of this was partaking in adventure at the hands of the great Adventure-Giver. The yearlong trip wasn’t the only adventure – though that was the most far-flung. But so was the adventure of wondering how this all gets provided for (and still wondering). The adventure of seeing college ministries (and college ministers) grow during the last few years – and having chances to help that growth happen. The adventures of encountering heroes, of fighting against unhealth in our field, of advancing our field any way I can… step by step, project by project.
I don’t know what adventures lie ahead, bundled under this call of “advancing college ministry.” Sometimes – like now – it feels like I’m in the narrows, hoping I can continue to push forward well. Other times, I’ve gotten glimpses that thrill: about our field… where it’s going… its future impact… and a future where Christians care about it like they should (which, as we know, is much, much more).
As I could have said a month or two in, I still say today: “A wide door of effective ministry has opened to me,” and while most of the adversaries aren’t (so far) of the flesh-and-blood type, there are many difficulties indeed.
It all started three years ago today, a day that put my world on wheels and brought into action the awesome call to serve the field of college ministry. Thanks for it, Adventure-Giver. And thanks, college ministers, for letting me partake of the beauty of your many calls.
Evangel University (pictured at the top) would be the first campus of the yearlong trip. I stopped in on August 17th (mostly to take a nap); I returned in the last month of the trip for further exploration, T-shirt purchasing, and picture-taking.
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Last week, I had the opportunity to see the musical “Wicked” once again, on opening night of its Dallas Summer Musicals run. My first opportunity to see this “best musical of the decade” came three years ago, also in Dallas; the second came early in the yearlong road trip in Chicago.
I do listen to the soundtrack on occasion as I roam about the country. But finally seeing the show again reminded me how clearly this musical “shouts some themes, concerns, and reflections that I think touch directly (and powerfully) on Collegiate Ministry.” (Those are the words I wrote after that second visit to “Wicked,” long before most of you were reading this blog.)
The show is on a two-year tour all over the U.S. – in fact, it’s on two simultaneous tours through 2011 (and apparently has permanent runs in NYC and San Fran)! So I wanted to update my original post from September 2007 and look again at this show through “college ministry lenses” (without ruining the story, of course).
It’s clear “Wicked” has a Millennial sensibility about it, revealed in what the show itself proclaims as reality, as “good” and “wicked,” and as truth. If you have the opportunity to see the show, it’s not simply highly entertaining – it’s a chance to reflect on the values, circumstances, and hopes of the generation we serve.
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If you’re completely unfamiliar with this musical, “Wicked” serves as a parallel tale to “The Wizard of Oz” (the movie). It highlights the supposedly “untold” story of the Wicked Witch of the West (Elphaba) and Glinda the Good Witch. We view their early days at college together, all the way through the timeline of “The Wizard of Oz,” and even a little beyond.
(If you do see the musical, I highly suggest watching “The Wizard of Oz” first, even if you’re familiar with it already. You’ll appreciate the connections and timeline within “Wicked” much more.)
And now, five ways we are indeed serving a “Wicked” generation:
1. Diversity valued and commonplace
With munchkins, animals, witches, and humans all side-by-side, the world of “Wicked” is certainly not lacking in diversity. And it is along these lines – beginning with others’ disgust over Elphaba’s green hue – that the whole story revolves and evolves.
Ultimately, those rejecting the different, suppressing the speaking, and oppressing the small are shown as evil. Meanwhile, time spent with the most unlike ourselves offers great opportunity: “Who can say if I’ve been changed for the better? / But because I knew you / I have been changed for good.”
2. Authority not rejected – but not automatic
Like the generation we serve, the leads in “Wicked” do not immediately reject the establishment, and they truly desire to hear from, learn from, and follow leaders. These deep feelings certainly extend to family, which, for good or wicked, deeply matters to these characters.
While these characters may start by trusting authority, disillusionment quickly arises if (and when) those leaders prove not to be transparent or worthy. Doubting the system – but not with the utter cynicism exemplified by Gen X – proves wisest in this world. In the end, participation in the Emerald City establishment does “work” for some individuals, while others make their way outside the system.
3. Morality present but often ambiguous
This is perhaps the most obvious and most central Millennial characteristic of this show. There certainly is a morality to “Wicked,” but you’ll never find it as clean-cut as that of “The Wizard of Oz.” White gowns, black hats, and “wonderful” labels don’t mean everything (or anything?).
“They call me wonderful / So I am wonderful,” sings the Wizard… but we in the audience aren’t supposed to buy it. This explicit denunciation of labels-equaling-value runs throughout the show. Even the story itself is not a “fairy tale” but a sort of “anti-fairy-tale”; it turns out that “getting your dreams / It’s strange, but it seems / A little – well – complicated.”
Again, a backdrop of values is present – but it’s quite hazy… just like our Millennials deal with everyday. If you do get to see the musical, pay attention to all the turns on the word “good” (and other value-words). It’s dizzying and brilliant.
4. Optimism and Action
Where Generation X let these moral ambiguities lead quickly to pessimism, today’s generation has a shocking optimism. Likewise, Elphaba has no doubt she can – and will – change the entire land of Oz from the first moment someone believes in her.
But even after harsh reality darkens this first optimism, she doesn’t wither but fights. And, interestingly enough for us in college ministry, it’s a Social Justice fight.
Of course, the naïve may pursue simply “dancing through life … because dust is what we come to,” but we (and they) soon learn that this laissez-faire mentality doesn’t suffice. Certainly, such a life may mean less pain, but it also means less good. So it’s necessary to “try defying [the] gravity” of one’s own situation and keep striving to save the world.
5. And it all happens in college…
Not only is “Wicked” extremely Millennial in tone, but huge turns in the plot take place in college. There, new friends are made, new ideas are explored, causes are decided, horizons are broadened, arrogance is tempered, romance is found (or flounders), disillusionments arise, and personal purpose is found in the very thing once considered a burden, “a weird quirk I’ve tried / To suppress or hide.”
All this and more occurs at “Dear Old Shiz.” The Shiz University experience – its faculty, its opportunity, even its roommate assignments – provides the hinge moment for our characters.
Not unlike the students we serve.
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Yesterday, as I made the snowy crossing from Wyoming into South Dakota, I did more than just pass into State #9 of this road trip. And as I “landed” at South Dakota School of Mines & Technology in Rapid City, I accomplished more than exploring Campus #19 of this trip.
I have now had the immense privilege of exploring campuses in all 48 states in the Continental U.S. in the last two years!
In fact, if I’m figuring correctly, I think my streak actually started with University of Oregon in March 2008 – so it’s only been some 19 months. (So if anybody has suggestions for getting up to AK or getting out to Hawaii by March, then that would be awesome…)
This milestone leaves me in awe once again at this crazy adventure I’ve been called to, and I hope I (and we) never miss the point that it makes so clearly: We who serve in college ministry serve in a wide, wide world! God is doing amazing things, encountering the campus tribes in powerful and exciting ways, all throughout our country. And it’s a BIG country.
So any of us would be foolish to rely on generalizations and well-worn playbooks when we have so many states, regions, and circles to learn from. Any of us would be ridiculous to presume some “manifest destiny” to establish work without first examining the work of God already taking place on a particular campus. Any of us would be poor stewards of the ministry we have received not to take advantage of the creativity, innovations, useful methods, and collective millennia of wisdom available from a nation full of awesome campus missionaries.
But on the other hand, any of us can be so, so proud that we serve among the outstanding guys and gals who labor among the campus tribes.
It has been my pleasure and a deep honor to meet a bunch of them, face-to-face, right there on their turf. (Not nearly enough, but many of them.) They are awesome people, and it’s my joy and my job to tell you about them and their wisdom – and to introduce you to each other as often as I can. (That last part might be the most fun of all.)
Thanks for joining me on these adventures. Count ‘em up, friends – we’ve now been to 48.
written from Sioux Falls, SD
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Road Trip 13: Days 24 & 25
recap: 2 more huge driving days, with some cool stops along the way (see all explorations so far)
mileage: 5,186 miles (so far)
campus visits: Colorado State University (#17), Gillette College (#18), South Dakota School of Mines & Technology (#19)
T-shirt: the Gators of San Francisco State University
thursday: heading to Fargo/Moorhead & college ministry fun there
As you may have seen via Facebook or Twitter, I wasn’t a huge fan of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. But for what it’s worth, watching the original Transformers movie (which I like) immediately beforehand AND watching the sequel opening night at midnight both improved my experience.
(If you’ll remember, I encouraged as much just last week. Hopefully some other summer films in that list will be better!)
But I did notice something, being a college minister and all: Transformers 2 is heavy on good reasons for investing in college ministry! So here’s the (mostly tongue-in-cheek) list:
(no vital plot spoilers here, but don’t read if you don’t want to know anything about the movie)
12 Reasons We Need College Ministry, as Revealed by Transformers 2
- Students need help dealing with the relationships they’ve left at home (e.g., parents, favorite cars, and Megan-Foxes).
- Parents need help letting go of their students.
- The party scene.
- The computer-geek-conspiracist scene.
- Crazy roommates (e.g., kitten-calendar magnates, mentally unstable room-trashers).
- Aggressive hotties!
- Aggressive bullies!
- Pompous professors (who look like that one guy on that one show…).
- Know-it-all classmates.
- The dangers and opportunities of traveling abroad.
- Co-ed dorms!
- College freshmen might just turn out to be heroes – they just need help (from awesome robots or senior adult robots or college ministers) to get there!
I noted yesterday three “campus-visiting milestones” I’ve had on this trip. And the truth is, I’ve probably visited something like 240 campuses in the past two years, and a good many more than that in the past six years.
But why does it matter? What good is it for me – and you – to visit college campuses and connect with ministers on those mission fields?
- We see the broad differences between contexts. If anyone believes they have “the model” for college ministry, they should spend more time on more campuses. Soon enough, we realize that these individual tribes have striking differences – whether they’re across the country from each other, across the state, or across the street. Then this exposure should bring us to our knees to beg for God’s specific brilliance for any particular tribe.
- We have the opportunity to support our fellow collegiate missionaries. By simply viewing the mission field that another brother or sister serves, I’m respecting and promoting the work they do. Further, as I talk with ministers and ask about their work, I let them know that their field is not forgotten. Stanford University matters. Richland College matters. Emporia State matters. So as the opportunity arises, we walk upon the field that others weep over, and by so doing we honor their work and their world.
- We better understand the actual needs. Until you and I have been “on location,” we have a much harder time knowing what is truly needed. Many collegiate ministry “experts” struggle because of this very point – their experience isn’t broad enough. (This problem has actually come up in several conversations on this trip, so it’s on my mind and is something I’m desperately trying to avoid.)
- Our hearts are stirred. For whatever reason, God has rigged many (or most? or all?) of us to respond to immersion. Being among the campus tribes – even many of them – does something to our hearts. Climb to the top of the bell tower and see the campus before you. Stand among the disoriented pre-freshmen at New Student Orientation. Watch the drama of a Friday night on Fraternity Row. Campus visits call us to this task more deeply than before, even as we return to our own contexts and our own students.
- Our hearts are awed. In the same way, we are hopefully reminded of the awesomeness and beauty of our task. Sometimes it takes a trip to another campus to remember just how wonderful it is to work at such amazing places.
- We get to practice. Finally, visiting campuses gives us the chance to “practice” for our own. As you observe a new campus and (if you have opportunity) connect with ministers, you’re sharpening your skills of observation and exegesis for your own campus. Further, there is no better way I know of to catalyze your own brainstorming than to learn what’s happening elsewhere. By “discovering” a new campus, you’re aiding your ability to discover your own.
Written from the Lutz house in Boalsburg, PA (near Penn State)
Road Trip #11 update (Day 32)
yesterday’s T-shirt: the Hornet tribe of Emporia State
campus visits: none, actually, which hasn’t happened in several days
plan: I’ll be in and around State College, PA, for a couple of days, then on to Ohio!
(click here to see all the explorations from Road Trip #11)
If you’ve met me in person, there’s about a 98% chance I was wearing a college T-shirt (or hoodie if it was cold).
Why? It’s not just that I’m a fan of these colleges (though I am) or that I’m dying to be comfortable (which isn’t a big deal).
This is missionary garb.
I could be wearing a kimono, an elaborate headdress, some wooden shoes. But I’m not trying to represent missionaries to the Japanese, the headdress-wearing tribes (?), or the Dutch.
While I’m a big fan of all those missions efforts, I get the phenomenal opportunity to live in support of collegiate missionaries. Our tribes are Aggies and Rams and Hoyas (just to name the shirts in my field of vision right now). So I wear the garb of those tribes, reminding myself – and perhaps others – of the uniquenesses and glories of many of the tribes I’ve visited.
(I have a few shirts people picked up for me from other schools, so I happily represent those tribes, too!)
I have a dream that someday at Vacation Bible Schools, youth camps, career days, and church services these sorts of missionaries will spin tales of the greatness of serving among the campus tribes. We’ll wear our T-shirts, and we’ll tell our stories, and we’ll help raise up young people to one day reach the campus tribes, and we’ll help turn the affections of adults to the generation coming right behind them.
So that’s why I wear a lot of T-shirts.
But I recognize it’s not always appropriate to wear a T-shirt; I have a few collegiate polos, too. :)
Written from Lynchburg, Virginia
campus visit: Liberty University (the sixth campus so far)
yesterday’s T-shirt: the Hoyas of Georgetown University
new state: Virginia (the fourth so far, but it’s about to get crazy as New England enters the picture)
click here to see all the posts from Road Trip #11
(I think I’m going to keep writing short notes about the present road trip at the bottom of posts, so look for those in blue even if you skip the post!)
Two nights ago I had the marvelous opportunity to spend significant time with a college minister and his family. The Killerlains took me for some great Memphis barbecue (ribs and banana pudding, no less!), and they actually let me use their guest room for the night. In all, we spent a good few hours at dinner and at home talking about college ministry. The next morning, they even gave me some Honey Bunches of Oats – and we talked more college ministry! So fun!
And the real kicker is, I’d never met these people before in person. Ben K., the college pastor at a Bible church in Memphis, had connected with me over Facebook awhile back. So I made a point during this trip to meet him, his wife, and his son.
Here’s what I hope for us who are involved in college ministry (like Ben and I and maybe you are): I hope that we can develop a better and better kinship with others in our field.
A kinship is there in some circles, where college ministers get genuinely excited to see each other, to fight alongside each other, to learn from each other, to encourage each other.
But too often the semi-competition on the ground and the lack of support from our overseers and the lack of “college minister identity” in this underdeveloped field cause us to battle every-man-for-himself-style.
Seeing things as a battle is not the problem. We will be helped to see this more and more as a battle, not less. As we realize that we are all fighting tooth-and-nail for students to see Jesus and His life more clearly, I think we’ll naturally turn from “every man for himself” to “we’re all in this together.”
There can be / should be / sometimes already is a kinship among college ministers. Let us appreciate that we are a valiant, crazy few: called to one of the weirdest, most specific, most contextual, least understood, most ignored, most impactful, least stable, most dramatic, most ridiculous ministries in God’s Kingdom. Each of us enjoy this same awkward, wonderful reality – the church-based college minister down the street at First Not-Your-Denomination, the new parachurch girl in that other ministry, the longtime chaplain at the local Christian college, all the college ministers serving the state school three hours away, and you.
We’re not all the same, of course. But we knew that already.
But we are the same kind. And if we believe it, then “kindred” and kinship can’t be far behind.
Written from Goodlettsville, TN (Nashville area)
Tuesday’s T-shirt: the Poet tribe (really) of Whittier College
Tomorrow, more College Metro and Collegiate Summit
- I’ll be updating occasionally at Twitter
The NCAA tournament came to an end the other night (a little anticlimactically), but one of the best annual facets came after the final buzzer.
CBS’s annual “One Shining Moment” video montage does an incredible job of capturing the tourney and its significance. Yes, I know it’s “just sports,” but I honestly do believe this tournament in particular shows the awesomeness of the wide, wide world of colleges – which just happen to be our mission fields, the tribes we love.
So if you’re a college minister, why wouldn’t the first 20 seconds of the “One Shining Moment” video take your breath away?
We’ve got to remember that what we’re a part of is quite dramatic. The stakes are high. The dangers are many. The potential is huge. But the window is small. Which college student do these lines not fit?
But time is short
and the road is long
in the blinking of an eye
ah that moment’s gone
Not all students experience the story, the contest, the moment like they should. Until that changes, we have coaching and cheering to do.
Again, you can download my article connecting the Tourney with college ministry if you want. Hopefully it’s inspirational. Regardless, I’d encourage you to watch the “One Shining Moment” video with the eyes of a collegiate missionary. (The lyrics can be found here, too.)
I announced yesterday that I would be taking my ninth solo, multi-state road trip over the next couple of weeks. But I realized I still haven’t counted down all the early road trips that were so integral to how God got me to this exact spot in my life.
Of course, I didn’t know the importance of the first six trips until God took me on the seventh, the yearlong road trip I concluded last August. So here’s how it all began – the six trips that prepared me for a year on the road:
1. The First One (Spring 2004 from Abilene, TX to Los Angeles, CA)
Back then, I was supporting my college ministry habit (in part) by buying and selling Christian books online. As a result of a particularly mighty eBay victory, I sojourned out to L.A. to pick up my 600 books. I spent time with my nearly-married friend Jake, loaded my Corolla to the brim with as many books as I could, threw the rest away, and headed back.
But during the trek I also visited some college campuses. It was neat exploring these cool mission fields, fields so different from the ones I presently served. I liked it.
2. Collegiate Week (August 2005 from Abilene to Asheville, NC)
I was between college ministry involvements at this point, so I figured I’d travel to the eastern version of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Collegiate Week rather than my usual visit to the conference in New Mexico. Great week, and I had several opportunities to interview college ministers for some articles I was working on. I also remember sleeping in my car, which was still that Corolla.
I was learning one important equation: visiting campuses + college ministry training + interviewing college ministers = awesome.
3. Campus Revival (February 2006 from Abilene, TX to Wilmore, KY)
Spring Semester, 2006, turned out to be quite the road tripping extravaganza.
First, my dad sent me an email reporting a few-days old revival situation at Asbury College, and soon enough I was spending a cold Friday morning in their final chapel service of the week. I toured the campus, spent the snowy weekend in Wilmore and Lexington, and headed back. By this time, I was quite adept at finding other colleges along my route, as well.
4. Collegiate Summit (April 2006 from Abilene to Nashville, TN)
This trip took me to a once-every-three-years conference for Baptist college ministers at a Nashville hotel. Once I realized I would benefit from arriving early, I took off in the middle of the night and slept in a park east of Dallas on the way. Still, I experienced a great conference, plus some additional campus visits (even though I had been thataway only a couple of months earlier).
5. Hawaiian Honeymoon (May 2006 from Abilene to Hawaii, kind of)
The road part of this road trip was actually only to L.A. and back, but I also attended my buddy’s wedding in Hawaii. I detailed this absolutely phenomenal trip and its craziness here.
It’s important to note that this trip finally destroyed the Corolla, while also providing my present car, the Pathfinder. (Details are here. It was all a little nuts.) And this trip also provided plenty of college visits, particularly when I spent a few days longer in L.A. than I was counting on.
6. Hidden Preparation (Spring 2007 from Dallas to Chicago)
At the time, I thought I was taking some vacation days at the end of an exhausting year of college ministry. I did, of course, visit several schools along the way – and they was a large part of my Chicago wanderings, too.
What I didn’t realize is that I would return to Chicago only a few months later, as the first stop on the yearlong trip. This was amazing Providence, as I was scouting the area where I would need both information and confidence… and didn’t even know it.
Bonus: The Mad Libs eBay Road Trip (March 2007 from Dallas to Birmingham, AL)
This one wasn’t solo (it was a college ministry mission trip), but it did prepare me for fast-scheduling and unknown destinations. Read about it here.
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