Why Do You Do What You Do?

 I am occasionally asked, "Why do you do what you do?"  That question refers to the fact that I retired from the ministry at Arkansas State University and since then have served 2 years as the part time College Minister at my church and continued to speak, lead some workshops, write my college ministry Blog, and self publish some college ministry books.

So, here is the simple answer.  It is who I am.....when people ask, my most honest answer is "I have not stopped being who I am."  I still think college students are the most interesting people to talk to.  I think it is the most critical place for Gospel Ministry.

Second, one of the things I came back from the war in Vietnam with was the sense that I wanted my life to count.  That feeling has not gone away.  I have a friend who retired and now one day a week he volunteers at the hospital.  Another day, he volunteers at a food pantry to give food to needy people.  And another day, he drives a van taking veterans to the hospital.  He wants his life to continue to count.  I don't volunteer in those ways.  Hooray for him!  I volunteer in college ministry.

Third, I was blessed to continue to work for Lifeway for about 5 years after I stepped away from the ministry at Arkansas State as a parttime college ministry consultant.  That and other college ministry positions were done away with when Lifeway had to cut $25 million dollars out of their budget.  There was no replacement for those positions.  Steve Masters at LSU, who had filled one of these positions, and I decided we would continue to do what we were doing as much as possible because there was still a need and we could help meet it.

Fourth, my church asked me to step in to the College Minister role when there was a sudden staff change at a critical time.  I made a commitment a long time ago to try to do whatever my church asked me to do. It was fun 90% of the time.

A fifth reason is a little more ticklish.  Nobody tells me what I can and cannot say in my Blog articles.  I can say something, if I think its correct and needs saying.  Occasionally, employees are told something they cannot say.  Several years ago, our ministry lost a fulltime worker and we were told not to say there had been cuts.  I understand not being critical of the people you work for.....but there had been cuts. I try to be careful what I say.....but nobody tells me what I can or cannot say.  Very seldom will I say anything that would fall in that category......but I can and once in a great while, I do.

God called me to do college ministry.  I have been offered jobs that paid more......they were ministry, but they were not college ministry.  I totally understand that sometimes people have to make hard decisions to support their families.  Sometimes, God calls and leads in a different way. Fortunately, I never had to make that tough decision in regard to college ministry or felt called in a different way.

My life is blessed because of college ministry.  It is a wonderful thing to feel blessed by what you feel God has called you to do and to continue to feel blessed by that calling and opportunities. The joy has way outpaced the hard years....and there have been a few. I hope you feel blessed by what you are called by God to do.

Arliss Dickerson has been called, "The Guru of practical college ministry" and has written several college ministry resources such as "Almost Everything About College Ministry" Amazon.com/dp/B08CMD9CXX and "Reaching MORE College Students" Amazon.com/dp/B0MW8NPMN