For some reason I must admit I have always enjoyed those sessions where College Ministers get to laughing and talking....and someone confesses to something they did and were not supposed to do. Oh, I don't mean immorality, theft, etc. It will be something they were told they should not do or were embarrassed for people to know they did.
I once confessed to a fellow College Minister that I had kept a small petty cash bag in my office for when one of our students had to make a dash for some food item for one of our food events, etc. Our bosses had told us we were not to do that. I knew my friend was a very straight arrow and would chastise me. He laughed and told me he had kept a petty cash bag with twice the amount of money that I had kept in mine. The other day one confessed that through a side trip he had made on the ministry van they had messed up the van lights. He had gotten up early the next morning and gone to a parts store, bought what he needed and fixed the van before anyone else realized it.
This past week I was in New Orleans with forty or so great College Ministers...both campus and church based. Several of them are deeply involved in a project of identifying the "50 Forgotten Campuses" in North America where there is no gospel presence...on campus or in the community. I love their passion and excitement about sharing the gospel on these campuses. It really pumps me up with energy and joy to be around them.
But, I have a confession. That is not what my passion is with students. My passion is working with students who made a profession of faith when they were eight, nine, or ten years old and have walked away from it. Or, it is like a third artificial leg they have strapped on that not only is not meaningful them, but it even gets in their way. I love it when working with them and the light comes on about their faith...and they GET IT! Yes, I share the gospel with students and take joy in seeing what some of them who have come to Christ are doing with their lives now.
But, I just love it when a student tells me they walked the aisle at a camp a long time ago to accept Christ or made a commitment to the ministry......and now.....and now, it is starting to make sense to them. Wow...it charges me up. I loved it the day one girl told me her faith now made sense to her and she was getting out of her sorority to serve in our ministry. The same week her roommate said that her faith now made sense to her and she was staying in their sorority to make a difference.
As different studies today tell us, from seven out of ten to nine out of ten students are walking away from faith in college, we cannot lose sight of helping these students see the light come on! It is a passion of mine and I hope some of you share that passion as well. As we continue to work toward going to college campuses that have no gospel presence, let's keep going toward those students who know it, but have not fully embraced and been blessed by it.
Confession is good for the soul. Don't tell anybody my confessions. And, I will not share your confessions with anyone.....unless they are really funny!
Arliss Dickerson is the author of five books on college ministry at amazon.com (type in Arliss Dickerson). "ALMOST Everything About College Ministry" will be available in early summer.
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