A Second Spiritual Experience

 "I got really saved yesterday."

One of the things College Ministers must be prepared to respond to in a right and helpful way is when students share they have had a "second spiritual experience".  Many years ago in reading applications for  missions appointments, the vast majority of them, in telling their spiritual story, would say something like, "I came to Christ when I was 8,9, or 10 and then when I was 19...."  They would then share some other very meaningful spiritual experience.

Some declare it "when I really became a Christian".  Some call it a re-dedication.  First, we must be grateful that students are growing, changing in their relationship to the Lord, and being serious about it.  Most of these students I have dealt with were the ones who were already very serious about their relationship to the Lord.

How do we deal with this and help them?

    First, we must hear it with a warm heart and express joy with the student in this experience.  For many, it is what I call a "discipleship commitment".  They have gone from a "child-like" faith to the beginning of an adult faith....not just "I don't want to go to hell" to..... "I want my life to count for the Lord." Hooray for that kind of experience!

    We must let them name it and decide where it is leading them now and will lead them in the future.  It may be an initial salvation experience or it may be a new understanding.  We must avoid telling them what it means.  It is easy for us or someone else to tell them God has called them to the ministry. Or,, this is what it means.  We must also beware of talking them out of it. If they decide it is "coming to Christ" for the first time, we must trust that. We must walk with them....not for them in this experience.  Listen to them as they process this experience and put it into their words.

    One point of understanding may be to talk with them about different spiritual peaks in our lives.  Some come through gaining knowledge, some through a direct encounter with the Lord, and sometimes as one of different signposts in maturity and change in a full life. It is part of what the Apostle Paul spoke of in Philippians 2:12 to "continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling."

The great privilege of a College Minister is to be part of this process.

Arliss Dickerson's book, Almost Everything About College Ministry, is available at amazon.com/dp/B08CMD9CXX.  A College Ministry Success Formula is at amazon.com/dp/B091F5S1RF.