15 Things I Wish I Knew as a Freshman in College
Hello fellow adventurers!
So now that summer is done with, this week is back-to-school here in Manitoba for University and Secondary schools! Now it’s time to get back into my blog rhythm too, which is likely very nice for you, the readers!
So without further adieu, I’d like to start this week off by addressing a very specific group of people, Bible College students. I can’t believe that it was six years ago that I started my 3 year journey at Central Pentecostal College, now known as Horizon College and Seminary.
As a 20-year old fresh-faced freshman, there were so many things I was being told, yet so many things I dismissed in my youthful ignorance. There are so many things I wish I had done, or done better during my college years. There were things that I saw others doing that I wished I had the discipline to do. Over the next couple of days, allow me to share with you my rage and regret as I look back and wish that I had done things differently! And PLEASE… if you are a freshman in Bible College, don’t ignore this like I did… you might look back one day when you’re 26 and wish you did things differently!
Here are a few things I was told, but never paid any attention to:
1. The best way to prepare for ministry during college is to devour God’s word. PERIOD.
If you’re just getting into Bible college mode, you might find it strange to be reading the Bible so much for class, chapel, papers, debates and such. You might just say to yourself, “don’t I have enough Bible in my life? Perhaps I should read some Donald Miller or fiction or something.” FALSE. Devour that thing. Memorize entire chapters, start each day with a quiet time. Beg God to show you His desires for your life. The Bible won’t do you much in Bible college if you just use it as a textbook!
I fell deep into this trap during my first year and basically went the whole year without letting Scripture refresh me and strengthen my relationship with God. I saw it more as a text and could analyze it front and back and talk my way into an A+ on any exam or paper. But guess who else was really good at analyzing text and talking about rules and how they applied? The Pharisees! Don’t be like them. They sucked!
Seriously. When you enter ministry, you will never have as much free time as you do now. Spend time in prayer. Become that weird guy who spends his time in the prayer lounge early every morning.
My senior pastor also went to CPC (though much longer ago than I). He likes to tell me tales of getting close with God, and being that prayer chapel guy, along with a few other faithful friends. It’s now 25 years down the road for him, and guess what? The only people who survived in ministry this long are those who took the time to get a good foundation in the Word and in prayer.
Quit caring what the “cool” homeschooled rebel kids across the caf think. If you’re there to get into ministry, then get serious NOW.
2. Keep a file of ministry ideas for after graduation
Oh how I wish I had done this. I thought my memory would hold onto those great ideas that I had in class. Or that project that I read about in one of my textbooks. Or that campus ministry brainstorming session I had with my friends. We had it all figured out, and nothing written down. What a shame! Don’t think of ministry as something far off in the distance. Start writing down your ideas now and how you would implement them. You have a blessing on your hands, you don’t know who you’re going to end up ministering to, or what they’ll be like, so you can pretend it will go perfectly!
3. There is no later, only now!
I had several opportunities through work to share my faith (and when people ask, “what are you going to school for?”, it’s the perfect opportunity to share the gospel!). I chickened out every time, because I thought I wasn’t ready. What I really didn’t know is that even when you’re supposedly “ready” you are scared out of your wits. It takes time and a few failures and successes before you can feel confident in sharing your faith. Just because there is no “rev” or “pastor” in your title, it doesn’t give you an excuse to slack off in sharing the greatest most life changy-est thing that can happen to anyone!
4. Utilize chapel and service times while you can!
Seriously! When I am getting close to holiday times, one of the things I most look forward to is getting to attend a church service without any responsibilities. Sunday can start to feel like any other work day if you let it, so use those chapel times and worship your heart out! Go to church every Sunday morning and be thankful when you get to participate in communion without having to lead worship, hand out elements or clean up afterwards. You are blessed with a few dozen Sundays before you are locked in for life with responsibilities and pressure to be a good steward of the time people are giving to hear you speak or sing every week!
5. STOP WORRYING
Student loans are stressful
Paper deadlines are stressful
Exams are stressful
Friendships are stressful
Dating is stressful
Employment is stressful
Finding the right internship is stressful
Advisory meetings are stressful
Proverbs 19:21 says “Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails.”
If you’re at all like me, you spend a lot of that free time I was talking about earlier worrying about things that are completely out of your control. Don’t worry. God is in control! Can I get an amen on that????? Seriously, quit spending that free time worrying about things you can change, and use it to dive in deeper with the One who can change everything!!!!
Come back tomorrow and Thursday for parts 2 and 3!
How to Train Your Mouth!
So around our youth group, we have a sometimes controversial rule:
If filth comes out of your mouth, we make you do 10 pushups per filthy word.
It’s been a great rule so far. A lot of the time, we hear “why do we have to do that anyway?” Kids are looking for the reason… so….
Here are 10!
- Ephesians 4:29: “Don’t use foul or abusive language. Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them.” NLT
- Swearing doesn’t make you sound tough, it makes you sound stupid!
- Using clean language makes you seem classier
- Swearing in church is considered an act of disrespect towards God
- “Profanity is the last refuge of the uncreative”- get creative with your colorful language. One semester at Bible college, we used the word “pants.” It was hilarious!
- Swearing is not a productive form of problem solving
- Swearing gets you in trouble
- You don’t have to censor yourself around people if you use clean language all the time-
- People will notice you because you are different- seriously!
- You have influence with other people! Just think, would you want your little bro or sis to copy what comes out of your mouth? If you don’t have a younger sibling, what about that junior high kid at youth that looks up to you? Or you friend’s little bro or sis.
Soooo…
Those are our reasons for dishing out the pushups.
There are a few other things you can do to quit swearing too!
- Ask your friends/family to point out when you swear- ask your friends you punch you really hard whenever you do (lol!)
- Start a swear jar in your home and become faithful to it – bonus points if your siblings get the money… you’ll be extra motivated!
- Put a rubber band on your wrist and snap yourself
- Come up with your own list of reasons why swearing is stupid and read it daily
- Hang around people who use clean language (it rubs off on you, really! The opposite is also true- if you hang with people who are very vulgar, you start talking like them)
- Google the topic and become informed about the subject matter!
- Do your pushups diligently at neXus if you’re caught!
- Decide that you want to become a better person and accept responsibility for the words that come out of your mouth
- Think before you speak
- Decide that you only want to speak good and uplifting things about yourself and others.
T
Milestones!
Ok, so the month of August has a lot of meaning to me!
A lot of new things happened in my life about 3 years ago that I’d like to point out to you:
1. Today is our 3rd wedding anniversary!
2. In the month of August, we bought our first house!
3. In the month of August, we moved to Winnipeg!
4. In the month of August, I officially started as a full-time staff at Cross Church
*memories!!!!!*
Perry Noble is the Master List-Maker These Days..
Perry Noble is one of my favorite church leaders these days. He is full of passion, down to earth, and somewhat of a redneck… I also love that he says what a lot of pastors are thinking…if I were to get an offer to work under his leadership, I would have no choice but to take it!
Here’s something he posted today…
10 Characteristics Growing Churches
#1 – They have leaders that lead!
“For God so loved the world that He did not send a committee!” Not sure where I heard that…but its true!
#2 – A desperation for God’s power!
Prayer isn’t a good luck charm that is attached at the beginning or at the end of something…people are legitimately desperate for the power of God. They pray Habakkuk 3:2 prayers every day and…
#3 – They believe that greater things are in store.
They don’t just pray big prayers…but they have a sense of anticipation that is contagious! They don’t read Acts 2 and think “those were the good ‘ole days” but rather they think, “that’s where God STARTED this thing…we should be WAY ahead of this!!!”
#4 – They are full of ordinary people.
God always uses ordinary people to accomplish extraordinary things. Jesus didn’t choose one scribe or Pharisee when He launched the church…and Acts 4:13 talks about how He used ordinary people to absolutely turn the world upside down. The staff LOVE the church…so much so that they would actually attend there even if they were not on staff!
#5 – They leverage technology.
They don’t view technology as of the devil but rather as a tool given by God to reach as many people as possible for Jesus. (Btw…isn’t it funny that some churches are against the use of technology yet all of them rode to their church in a car and their church building has air conditioner?)
#6 – The church is full of passion.
People in the church actually LOVE the church and do not attend because they feel like they have to! (The only reason people get angry with the fact that you love your church is probably because they have no idea what it is like to actually love their church!)
#7 – They take ownership of the great commission.
They REFUSE to be “keepers of the aquarium” and instead embrace the COMMAND of Jesus to reach the world for HIM!
#8 – There is a willingness to change and adapt, even when it means they have to go against the very “innovative” ideas that they themselves once established!
#9 – Generosity is embraced.
#10 – The people in the church are OWNERS, not merely “members.”
Members have rights, owners have responsibilities. The people in these churches understand that it is not the pastors job to minister to the people but rather the bodies job to minister to the body! And as a result people serve Jesus by serving others instead of sitting on their “blessed assurance” and expecting to be waited on hand and foot.
Senior High starts a new series this week!
Woo hoo!
On Wednesday night, we are starting a new message and small group series entitled “Taking Responsibility for Your Life”
I can’t wait to discuss what this means in each of our lives!
Summer is halfway done!
And what a summer it has been!
Do you miss hanging with your friends yet? How do you usually communicate with them? Take our poll to see how you compare with others!
Peeling Back the Layers
Last weekend, my mom and dad came into town. I love it when family comes to visit. We get to share our lives with them for the weekend and see parts of the city that we normally drive by without thought. Since they were purging their house of some unwanted furniture, they brought in two dressers for Brett and I to use in our home. Nothing special, but they came from my grandma’s house and smell just like her place. The smell instantly takes me back to sneaking into her room as a little girl and admiring her beautiful brush and hand-held mirror from the green bedspread she had carefully laid on the bed.
I decided that, since the dressers were not aging as gracefully as one would hope, that they deserved a fresh stain and some TLC. Thinking to myself “this will be a fun day project!”, I headed to my local Home Depot for supplies.
Upon starting the project, I discovered that the perfectionist in me was turning this into MUCH more than a day project. Brushing, scraping, wiping and sanding are all separate crafts which must be perfected to make a piece worthy of a new stain.
During some sanding that I was doing yesterday, I was reminded somewhat of our jobs as ministers to students. Sometimes our kids come in looking like an old beat-up dresser. They are offensive, stinky, and have obvious cracks and nicks in their character. God, in His ultimate grace, allows us to be a part of a process where we take these kids, go below that ugly surface layer, sand them down, and help them to become beautiful pieces of art.
God, being the perfectionist that He is, does not make perfect students from a “day project.” It takes several years of brushing, scraping, wiping and sanding to shape them into better individuals.
I’m not sure about you, but with the drama that has taken over for the summer, it can be hard to see those potential gems below the surface. But God sees it. He sees every single student in our group for who He created them to be, not who they are right now. He loves them unconditionally. He could not love them more. He will not love them less.
God, help me to see below that top layer. Use me to help grind off stuff that is offensive. Wipe away all the crud. Help these kids to become who You created them to be!
10 Ways to Kill the Boredom Monster!
1. Drop-in Every Friday night from 7-11
2. Volunteer for Summer to Serve! You can rock babies, help in Sunday school, turn lights on and off, hand out candy in the parking lot… The sky’s the limit!
3. Two words: Coffee date. Terrin and Lindsay would be very happy to take you out to Starbucks if you call and make an appointment!
4. Read your Bible. Seriously. Memorize some of it too!
Suggested reading: Book of Proverbs, James, Mark, Acts, Romans, Ecclesiastes, Job, 1 & 2 Kings, Nehemiah. Head to www.biblegateway.com if you prefer online reading.
Suggested memorizing: John 3:16, Matthew 28:19-20, John 10:10, Romans 3:23, Romans 6:23, Proverbs 3:5-6, Proverbs 19:21, Jeremiah 29:11, 2 Corinthians 5:20, 1 Corinthians 13
5. Art! Terrin and Lindsay need some artwork or amazing photography for their office walls!
6. Volunteer to make dinner! Even if you don’t know how to cook! Visit www.kraftcanada.com for some easy to follow recipes. Seriously, even if all you know how to make is cereal, this site can transform you into a master chef!
7. Organize your bedroom for the new schoolyear to come! Sift through old paper, give away old toys and clothes (to Caring and Sharing, of course!), and make everything spotless. It’s a good feeling!
8. Go for a walk! All winter long we complain about how cold it is outside…. So now that it’s warm, get out there!
9. Free Swim at Cindy Klassen Rec Centre every Saturday night!
10. Junior High or HSM night (depending on how old you are!) Every Tuesday we have Junior High ministry for kids entering grades 6-8. Every Wednesday night we have HSM for those going into grades 9-12. We play some sports, video games, sing some worship, have small group time. It’s like a mini-neXus night made just for you!!!!!!!
Dealing With Conflict
So this post is a bit of a felt need, especially in our group with some summer drama developing. I hope it can be useful to everyone.
Here is what I’ve been seeing over the last 3 weeks or so:
- Friends A and B disagree over something
- Friend A posts a passive-aggressive “you-know-who-you-are” Facebook status that spills their emotions, but is vague about what the subject matter is. E.G.: “I wish that a certain someone knew how stupid they are being and that our friendship will be over if they don’t change!”
- Friend B retaliates in the same passive-aggressive manner: “If only the world knew what I am dealing with right now, all people need to do is walk in my shoes to understand my decisions!”
- An actual fight breaks out, usually in public. E.g.: Pastor Terrin is sitting at her favorite Starbucks and overhears people she knows saying words that would deserve about 150 push ups in the church.
- Terrin and Lindsay do some digging and messaging on Facebook and uncover what is really happening
- Terrin and Lindsay decide it’s time to intervene
- A meeting takes place and we discover that it was all a miscommunication and a friendship almost ended over practically nothing.
So here is a little how-to for those of you out there that are dealing with conflict.
You see, Jesus was very strategic to help solve these problems (ones that especially seem to cause drama amongst teenage girls and those who have the emotional intelligence of a teenage girl). If we follow it to the letter and approach the situation with love, a desire to reconcile and humility, a lot of trouble can be avoided!
Let’s look at some scripture:
If a fellow believer hurts you, go and tell him—work it out between the two of you. If he listens, you’ve made a friend. If he won’t listen, take one or two others along so that the presence of witnesses will keep things honest, and try again. If he still won’t listen, tell the church. If he won’t listen to the church, you’ll have to start over from scratch, confront him with the need for repentance, and offer again God’s forgiving love.
(Matthew 18:15-17 MSG)
Clearly, Jesus gives us some steps if we are experiencing conflict:
- If you are hurt, TELL THE PERSON. Other versions of scripture, like the NASB tell us to do this PRIVATELY. So, that means, no passive-aggressive “you-know-what-you-did” statuses on Facebook. I mean seriously. What does this accomplish? It makes you feel good to have a mysterious status that the person could possibly figure out if they read it, but might have some doubt as to whom it is about? Jesus is very clear about this, go and tell them and work it out privately! In 90% of cases, this will resolve your conflict. You two will share your emotions, cry, hug, forgive each other, and then be even closer than ever!
- If, for some bizzare reason step one does not work out for you, Jesus even has a solution for that! If the whole one-on-one thing doesn’t work out, bring a friend or two into the situation (Terrin and Lindsay are trained professionals! They make great mediators, as do other youth workers here!). Have them come and help you resolve the conflict. I would say that if you have to resort to this, chances are mediation will work for you!
- If mediation doesn’t work, bring it to the church. My guess is that this will probably happen once in the next ten years. Conflict is resolvable. But there are rare instances where we need to get our senior pastor and board involved. If this needs to happen, come talk to me first.
So there you have it. Jesus puts it out there, plain and simple. If I see any more passive-aggressive comments on Facebook, you’ll be getting a link to this post and likely a stern talking-to from yours truly! Have a great day!
Terrin
