By Cameron Crow
I recently started my second year in Campus Ministry, and it is amazing. God is doing great things through the obedience of a few students who are being bold in their faith. One of the best experiences, not only as a Student Pastor, but as a Christian, is watching a student lead another student to a relationship with Christ. Last year, we saw over 60 students in one high school give their hearts to Christ. One of my favorite stories is of a senior named Noemi during an evangelism training meeting. We were in the middle of reviewing the “3 Circles Evangelism Tool,” by Jimmy Scroggins, that we had used all semester when Noemi promptly exited the room with no explanation. She opened the door and rushed out leaving us all in a confused state. Three minutes later she returned back to the room to ecstatically introduce us to our newest brother in Christ.
Noemi saw her fellow classmates through spiritual eyes and wanted to give each one of them a chance to respond to the Gospel. Her passion for her campus and her obedience to God’s calling on her life was addicting. Together with Chelsea and Carrie, Noemi gave over 1,000 students a chance to respond to Jesus Christ and to be equipped to share the gospel on their own. That year, our Christian Club grew from 8 students at our first meeting to upwards of 300 students squeezed into a much larger room. This was my introduction to Campus Ministry.
CAMPUS MINISTRY IS VITAL TO REACHING STUDENTS
In my opinion, Campus Ministry is the most effective form of Student Ministry. It is more effective to go to them than to attempt to get them to you. The days of 1990s event driven Student Ministries are in the past. Don’t get me wrong, events are still a vital part of Student Ministry, just not the central focus anymore. No matter how cool or relevant your ministry is, you will not be able to draw that many students to your church. The reality is that students spend 25% of their waking hours at school, and you cannot compete with that. So, like the old saying goes, “If you can’t beat them, join them.”
The majority of our campuses are plagued with the religion of “False Christianity.” Every day I encounter students on campus that tell me they are a Christian. Upon further discussion, we discover that their “Christianity” holds that salvation is obtained through inheritance, church attendance, good deeds, etc. According to the Pew Research Center in 2014, two-thirds of people under 30 do not go to church regularly, much less have a relationship with Christ. That means over two-thirds of students are lost and going to spend eternity away from God if we do not bring the Gospel of Jesus Christ directly to them. This is our mission field as Student Pastors. Matthew 9:37-38 says it like this, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into His harvest field.”
THE BIBLE IS ALLOWED ON CAMPUS
I remember sitting in a principal’s office as we reviewed the different clubs on campus and how our Christian Club could be effective. As we were scrolling through the list, the ex-Student Pastor turned high school principal grumbled on the fact that political correctness had infiltrated the schools. He voiced his concern at the message that these clubs promoted and his desire for them to go away. It was at this point God grabbed my attention with this one verse, “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart,” Hebrews 4:12. God reminded me that HIS proclaimed message was stronger than any secular agenda that was currently popular. He also pointed out to me that not only did this group of students need to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ, but He had gathered them all together in a group so that they were easier to reach.
It is popular for Christians to plaster social media with the issue of Christ being taken out of schools and blame the politicians for removing the Bible from campuses. THIS THINKING IS DEMONIC. Legally, Christ and the Bible are allowed on campus, but stupid people are not. When a Student Pastor stands on a table in the cafeteria with a “Turn or Burn” 1980’s style message, he forces the school administrators to guard their school against becoming a distraction instead of a place of learning. By discovering and respecting the campus rules and district policies, student pastors can infiltrate our school campuses with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Schedule a meeting with the principals and/or superintendents to learn how you can PARTNER with them to better their campus. School administrators would love to have all of the behavior issues removed from their campus. We just have to do it the right way, relationally.
TRANSFORMATION DOES HAPPEN ON CAMPUS
This year was a frustrating start for me on campus. God had called me from Houston, Texas to Big Spring, Texas in late August. We had to start all over at a different school, with a different culture, and a different group of students. We had to find a different way to reach students on this campus than how we did in Houston. Starting the new school year, we offered Bible studies and training sessions. We were inviting students to attend through morning announcements, 3″x 3″ personal invite cards, and school approved posters. None of this worked. We rejoiced in the fruit of two students who give their hearts to Christ, but we knew there was more in store. My pastor growing up always said, “Figure out what God is up to and get on board.”
We started praying and seeking what God would have for Big Spring High School. In what way did he want to reach these students? Through this process we began to be drawn to First Priority of America. First Priority of America is an organization that I knew from past ministry opportunities, but I had never worked with them. As we continued to seek God’s will, meetings began to happen between the First Priority regional director (40 minutes down the road) and us. Stories started to pile up of how God was moving in the Midland/Odessa Area where over 600 students had given their lives to Christ. God is moving through the obedience of 26 First Priority Clubs in Midland/Odessa, Texas. We immediately knew this was how God was moving and we needed to jump on board. God is moving on School Campuses across America and lives are being transformed.
PARTNERSHIP IS IMPORTANT!
What I am about to say will be affirmed by almost every local pastor vocally. The devil is secretly attacking each of us in this area, targeting our flesh and our pride. It is easy to focus on growing our own ministry rather than the entire body of Christ. We are called to work together as pastors, not against each other. We must get rid of our selfishness, bitterness, and pride, and build up each other in the faith. Paul says it like this in 1 Corinthians 12:12-14, “For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit. For the body does not consist of one member but of many.”
Not only is it important to partner with ministers from other churches, it is important for us to partner with different ministries. When God moved me from Houston to Big Spring, He decreased the ministry budget that I had been used to. The best way for us to do Campus Ministry effectively in this new reality was through partnering with First Priority of America. First Priority of America not only brought a huge financial help, they were able to fulfill the lack of structure and excitement that our current Christian Club desperately needed. First Priority provides each club with curriculum, student leadership training, and a structure designed for success. Through local donations, each student that attends also receives a t-shirt in their school colors, a lanyard, donuts, and a chance to win really great prizes. The excitement generated by the structure and promotional items gets students to the club, while the training allows for the development of student leaders to lead their friends to Christ.
FOLLOW UP…FOLLOW UP…FOLLOW UP
Follow up is where Campus Ministry and your Student Ministry connect. Getting students from campus to your church happens here. As students make decisions to follow Christ or grow in their relationship with Christ, they will naturally begin seeking a place to connect. You are that connection point. This does not mean that students end up always attending your Student Ministry. It means students are connecting to a Bible believing church where they feel comfortable and able to grow in their walk with Jesus Christ.
I have learned that getting students involved in church is tricky. Students typically do not just jump in feet first. It takes some encouragement. The threshold of any church is scary to cross. So how do we work to fix this awkward disconnect? Relationship, relationship, relationship. We must constantly work on teaching our student leaders to be relational as well as leading by example. Students will not do what we say. They will do what we model. Be their Barnabas. Lead and train up Paul’s to go out into a broken world to be the light on the hill.
OTHER WAYS TO MAKE AN IMPACT
I have found that Christian Clubs alone are not the most effective way to do Campus Ministry. Campus Ministry needs to be a well-rounded strategy, not just a box to check off each week. Not only do we need to be ministering to the students, but we need to be ministering to teachers, staff, administrators, and parents. In Matthew 28:18-20 Jesus lays out the Great Commission in this way, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” We need to look at the Great Commission in a way that we normally do not. We need to find the different “nations” on our school campus and strategize ways to reach each one. Click here to see a few different ideas to reach local school campuses for the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
God calls us to go. When we follow the calling that He has on our lives, we get to dwell in the blessings that He has prepared for us. Student Ministry must be a calling that you are willing to go to the ends of the earth to fulfill. You have been called to a mission field full of nations. Are you willing to do whatever it takes to reach those different nations? How will you be obedient to the calling God has on your life?
The bottom line is this, grow where God has planted you. People are people and all of us have our hang-ups. Find YOUR place. You can still live the adventure. Stop trying to get to the greener grass on the other side of the fence. If you do that, you are missing the opportunity you have in front of you. If you think the grass you have under your feet is brown, and it’s better over there, water and fertilize where you stand and recognize you are there for such a time as this.
“We had several students this morning that attended First Priority for the first time. We had a lot of First Priority students reaching out to bring in friends. We had more than 60 students in attendance today and we are so excited that 11 students prayed to receive Christ and five students responded that they would like more information about the Gospel! God is good!” FP Birmingham
First Priority has been the spark in some students lives to help them be open and eager to further their knowledge in the Lord and they have come to know the Lord personally by joining a church. This year, we have seen things that this club was built on more than ever. Thank you so much to those who are praying for us and giving. Seeing students grow and come to know the Lord is not only a praise in their lives, but also has opened the eyes of our leaders and have helped them grow. The Bible says in Isaiah 6:8, a verse used quite often but is so true, “Send Me”. As a high school student, it’s hard to grasp that completely when we are stuck in Florida. But, we tend to miss the point of that verse. Everywhere on the planet is a battlefield and my school is our mission field.
