Prayer List and Thoughts – 10/27-11/2

Prayer List

Leadership Team – We are moving forward with some new ideas on evangelism regarding a focus on service and giving away things. Prayers for us as we seek books and resources to give out and opportunities to preach the Gospel.

Evangelism and changed hearts – Pray for the students as we continue to meet an entrenched people who just don’t want God. Roland and Scott are two young men more interested in philosophy or why the bible could be wrong than actually engaging with who Christ is and what He came for.

The University – We were asked by the university to hand out hot cocoa and cider on Sunday November 3rd for 3 hours on campus which is a wonderful opportunity to put this into action. Pray for students to come hear the Gospel.

Family – My children and wife all have the flu, prayers for their speedy recovery.

Campus Ministry Thoughts

As an addition to this, for those who are interested in reading, I wanted to include some of the things we are seeing on campus so you can understand the gravity and necessity of the prayers we ask for. This is meant to be a meaningful and hopeful but about my time in campus ministry and I hope it encourages you out in the world, Serving the King.

On our campus here, we notice a few different categories of students:

• The indifferent to the world – The students who simply want to geta degree and get out, no plan, no real goal, just don’t want to be here
• The opposition – These students actively have something leading them away from Christ, whether it be the vain philosophies warned about in Colossians 2, an addiction to video games/pornography they don’t want to give up on, or an attraction to demonic spiritual things like Tarot Cards or Pagan symbols.
• The desirous but – These students often show some initial desire to be a growing Christian, initially joining a bible study or meeting with me once, but then they soon disappear into the void of school work or clubs or meetings.
• The workers – These students are the ones really devoted to community, church, inviting people, and they are pretty consistent, even when they get wrapped up in school they still burning for glorifying God.

I’ve been hard pressed for the last 10 years of campus ministry to try and figure out how to inspire people, how to cultivate the ground so that they are better positioned to grow. I’ve looked many times over Matthew 13 and pondered what to do:

3 And He spoke many things to them in parables, saying, “Behold, the sower went out to sow; 4 and as he sowed, some seeds fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate them up. 5 And others fell on the rocky places, where they did not have much soil; and immediately they sprang up, because they had no depth of soil. 6 But when the sun had risen, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. 7 And others fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked them out. 8 And others fell on the good soil and were yielding a crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty. 9 He who has ears, let him hear.”

It seems like the more and more I am around campus this passage is supposed to be more of an understanding than the way I have heard it explained that you can move in between them as a Christian, producing and not producing. I think I’ve seen it actually more played out that somehow the producing plants are supposed to make up for the other seeds as well, trying to convince them to change their soil. Jesus own explanation contradicts these things.

18 “Hear then the parable of the sower. 19 When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is the one on whom seed was sown beside the road. 20 And the one on whom seed was sown on the rocky places, this is the man who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; 21 yet he has no root in himself, but is only temporary, and when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he falls away. 22 And the one on whom seed was sown among the thorns, this is the one who hears the word, and the worry of the world and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. 23 And the one on whom seed was sown on the good soil, this is the man who hears the word and understands it; who indeed bears fruit and brings forth, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty.”

This section is actually saying that this is how people really are, that in ministry there is only one person moving the seeds around, causing the growth. It’s God (1 Corinthians 3)

5 What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, even as the Lord gave to each one. 6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth. 7 So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth. 8 Now he who plants and he who waters are one, but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor. 9 For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.

Preaching, Teaching, Discipling

In my talking with the Salvation Army, some of the Church Plant, and the leaders, it seems like there a heavy emphasis on stimulating growth in others. Students who are confused why their friend is always so excited but never comes around. People who talk about following Jesus but never want to read or pray. Christians, as a culture, have put a heavy emphasis on forcing the work of God onto His people instead of teaching them how to diligently follow their calling. Instead of using the words of Christ, instead of preaching, we’ve replaced it with trying to get others to come to bible studies, game nights, or other festivities. We’ve made a whole generation of those who cannot share the gospel, but simply grew up in a culture and like it.

The big faults of the Christian groups like Cru and IV on campuses are showing up in the real world: The lack of leadership (students teach students, not actually trained men), the failure to cultivate the gifts of young men and women, the failure to tell each of them their God given callings (even as individual genders), the “bible study” or “small groups” as a replacement for discipleship.

However, I think it’s come to an end. There’s young men and women in these groups coming to me who are sharing a disdain for the engaging the lost and a refusal to train up evangelists and disciples. People want to ask real questions and want real answers instead of a bible study. In my own time, I’ve had the blessing of two young men and a young women who really took the call of discipleship seriously and went from lackadaisical to now seeking to build the Kingdom of Christ. God seems to be stirring up within Christendom a desire to “walk like Christ” to have Christ in all of their life. I am encouraged by the students graduating taking into consideration if the places they are going to work have faithful churches or not, if they would have to start a church and call a faithful pastor.

And you, my allies against the forces of spiritual darkness, I hope this encourages you, that at least some of the up and coming see a value in being the Church for God’s sake, instead of attempting to get others to produce more. It’s a step in the direction of faithfulness to not worry about what others are doing, but build and invite others along for the ride.

I don’t know if I will do this every week, but there’s a piece of what my mind goes through attempting to raise up Godly young men and women who take the bible as the inerrant truth of God, capable of molding every aspect of their days, weeks, and years to come.

To God be the Glory

Brandon Charbonneau