Postmodernism, Emerging Church, and Religion

At the beginning of the semester Dr. Drumm came and spoke to the class about postmodernism. What is postmodernism you ask? Well that is the funny thing. Honestly, I have no idea. I have heard many people talk about it, and many people try to explain it, and no one has given a definition that even remotely makes sense. It has something to do with a reaction to modernism. Helpful, right? It has something to do with the way my generation thinks. Dr. Mike Miller, my roommate’s pastor, also came to class one day to talk about it and he helped a little bit. He discussed the emerging church which is a contemporary attempt to make church available to all. The emerging church is apparently the Christian’s answer to postmodernism. Dr. Drumm said that postmodernism is the single greatest threat to Christianity, greater than Islam or Atheism. Well I do not at all agree with this statement. No doubt that Dr. Drumm is smarter than me, but I just can’t agree with him on this point. My reason being, you can go into any church and ask hundreds of thousands of people what postmodernism is and I am willing to bet that 90 percent of the church has never even heard the term before. If that many people have never heard of something, how can it be the biggest threat to our church? The biggest threat to our church today is the church itself. The fact that ninety percent of the church (again a stat I am just making up that I think is probably true) probably does not know what postmodernism is, is a prime example of the church killing itself. If a church is not aware of the issues of the day, how are they going to combat the complacency to accomplish anything at all? Church today has become about getting members and not about reaching people for Christ. I am simply going to use Wikipedia’s definition of postmodernism. This is a simple definition and does not at all encompass the entirety of the idea. “Postmodernism is a tendency in contemporary culture characterized by the rejection of objective truth and global cultural narrative or meta-narrative. A meta-narrative symbolizes all the ideas that we have been told and have grown up learning. Postmodernism rejects any objective truth (although saying there is no objective truth is a self-defeating statement because if there is no truth then the statement itself cannot be true). Postmodernism is a threat because people are becoming less and less concerned with the church and any spiritual ideas or questions. However, if the church is doing nothing to spark this interest, it is the church’s fault. If a person does not hear about Christ, it is not that person’s fault it falls on the shoulders’ of the church. The emerging church is an attempt to show postmodernist that worship and Jesus can be fun. These churches are changing their traditions and practices (and some are changing all core beliefs) in order to reach these intellectuals. I have always hated the fact that churches split because of slightly different interpretations of the Bible. If the churches worked together instead of fighting, postmodernism, atheism, and other religions such as Islam would not be as big of problem as they are. Dr. Stewart came to class to give us an overview of some other religions. I am a philosophy major to we all know that to me it is extremely important, especially in ministry, to really know what and how other people think. If I know nothing about Islam, how am I ever going to witness to a Muslim? The point in all of this is that the church as a whole needs to get its head out of its rear and start focusing on what is actually important. I love Jesus. The words of Scripture inspire me. I am not perfect and I am not all knowing. Far from it. I cannot solve all the problems of the day. However, the church can. People ask how God can exist with so much evil in the world. The question I ask is, “How can there be so much evil in the world when God has put the church here to combat it?” God has put the church in charge of the safekeeping of the world. I don’t know about you, but I would say the church is doing a pretty crappy job. Let’s forget about whether or not Methodists, or Baptists, or even Church of Christ is the right denomination and let’s start focusing on changing the world. Let’s live like Jesus and these problems will cease to be problems.

Discipleship Model

Discipleship is one of the most important aspects of ministry but also one of the hardest things to really accomplish affectively. It becomes even more difficult when dealing solely with collegiate students because they are so much more diverse than other groups of people. Coming up with a good discipleship model should be one of the major goals of any collegiate minister who wants to be successful in not only reaching the lost but mentoring those already in the ministry. Creating a successful discipleship model is difficult because there are so many variables that have to be considered. One of the most important aspects of ministry is going to be the location of the ministry. An event that might receive an extremely warm welcome in the south may not necessarily get such great acclaim in the northern states. Another variable is whether or not the ministry is campus based or church based. There is absolutely no model that is going to be successful everywhere, in every situation, and within any ministry. This being said, it is possible to come up with some semi-generic model that can be used, and modified where needed, that can be successful. There are three areas that must be considered when coming up with a discipleship model. Different things are going to reach different people in different stages of their spiritual journey. It is important to reach those who are lost, connect with people of all backgrounds and all faiths, and to strengthen those relationships that have already formulated. Strengthening relationships can refer to helping those who already have relationships with Christ grow further in the Lord and also can refer to strengthening the relationships built with the students in a ministry or on a campus. Even within the confines of these three categories of discipleship, it is necessary to distinguish the discipleship of one-on-one relationships, small groups of people, and large groups of people. Focusing on one particular group over another is going to leave some people out. Some people are uncomfortable with one on one contact yet very comfortable in a small group setting or vice versa. Any combination of those can be arranged that would make it impossible to disciple to everyone if only one area is focused on in a ministry. Because every category, and every group, is different, it is a necessity to distinguish between all of these groups in each stage of their development.

Reach
An extremely important thing to remember regarding any ministry is that the goal should never be simply to get people to fill all the seats. Ministry is more than that. The term reach is not about simply letting people know that a ministry is there and available to them, although that is certainly part of it, but it is about actually reaching the lost people for Christ. Reaching people is possibly the hardest stage in ministry, although this could vary depending on location. In a ministry reaching people must start very far in advance. It cannot start in August when the school year starts. There are many ways to reach students on an individual level before the school year begins, and this is especially important with incoming freshman. Most colleges hold events for prospective students each year, and it is completely necessary that a ministry make itself known at that very beginning, at the first impression a student has on a campus. Getting information and forms of contact from these students is vital, whether it be a cell phone number, email address, or a Twitter of Facebook account. If this information is gathered, it becomes possible to get to know these students before they even set foot on campus to begin classes. This connection becomes extremely important because the beginning of the year is the most crucial time for a college ministry. If the beginning of the year is spent trying to get to know all the incoming freshmen on a personal level then there is going to be no time for any other students. However, if you already are familiar with a lot of new students, it becomes possible to get to know any students who had not previously been on campus, and also try to get to know current students who may not have been to your ministry. It is very important to really know the students. No ministry can be run by one person. There must be delegation involved, and in a ministry, it is vital that the delegation be given to the right people. Any person on any leadership team must have a strong relationship that he or she models to the community and to fellow peers. If a student leader goes out partying every night, that person is not going to be a very good witness or spiritual leader. Choosing the leaders is so important. In order to choose good student leader, a minister has to know the students from the onset of a ministry and build those relationships over time. However, reaching individuals does not stop once the beginning of the year is over. Reaching the lost through evangelism should be a never ending process. Jesus tells us our entire purpose on earth is to make disciples of all nations. This calling never diminishes. So what are some ways that can actually be implemented in order to reach students on an individual basis throughout the year? Although getting people in the door should never be the main focus, it is still an important step. After all, if a student never comes to a ministry it is a lot harder to disciple that person. However, reaching students individually cannot remain within the confines of the ministry. A college minister must go out to the students just as often, and probably more often, as they come to him. At least a couple times a week throughout the year it is important that the campus minister be on campus talking to students, getting to know them, and sharing the gospel with all the people on campus.

Reaching people in a small group is going to be completely different than trying to reach individual people. Knowing how to reach small groups is important, because not everyone is going to be comfortable with talking to you in a one on one setting. Reaching a small group of people can be done in a variety of ways. Maybe one day a week a minister should go sit with a table in the cafeteria and get to know those students. Share with those students ideas about the ministry, and see if they have any ideas to share that would be beneficial to your ministry. The best place to get ideas on how to reach students is from the students themselves. This cannot only be the job of the minister though. Students within the ministry should do the same thing. The student leaders should be assigned at least one day a week, where all days of the week are covered, to really just go talk to some small groups of people and get to know them. Even if ministry is never mentioned at the onset of the relationships formed, those relationships can lead people to Christ.
Reaching people through large group gatherings is another venue that can reach people for Christ. One of the best ways I have seen on campuses to really reach large numbers of people is through a lunch that is hosted by the ministry at least once a week. College students are usually tight on money, but love to eat a good meal, especially for a good price. A way to get people to the lunch is to offer it for free for first time guests. This will be very appealing to any student. After the initial free lunch, or dinner, offer the lunch at a very reasonable price. Between a dollar and five dollars would be ideal, because students can always find that much change in their car once a week. This event can easily bring a large number of people into a BCM building or at least make them aware that the ministry is in fact there. One way to make this even possible is to partner with local churches on who cooks, or caters, the meal. If different churches could sponsor the event throughout the year, it would be much easier financially to hold the event. A weekly lunch should not be the only event to try to reach a large group of people. Especially at the beginning of the year there should be events to let large numbers of students know that the ministry is there and trying to make a difference on campus and in the community. Having previous students helping people move in could be a way to impact a lot of students in one day, especially if the campus is located somewhere that is always hot. Reaching large groups of lost students is a hard concept to try to figure out. Most large gathering are going to be focused on people within the ministry. Reaching people on an individual or small group level is going to work better, because people want to feel important and loved and this feeling is hard to achieve in a large group.

Connect
Connecting with students is what ministry should be all about. Ministry cannot exist with just a minister. College ministry is students ministering to other students. Reaching people is all about bringing those students who are lost into the ministry and sharing the gospel with them in such a way that is also attractive. Connecting with students is all about building relationships. Once a person is in the ministry they cannot be pushed off as someone else’s responsibility. Reaching people is important, but if a person actually comes into the ministry and is then forgotten about, that person is not likely to stay in that ministry. Now it is illogical to think that a minister can be best friends with every single individual in a ministry. However, it should be a reality that every student in a ministry should be loved and wanted. One way to connect to students is to have at least some event on every day of the week. Although this initially seems like a bit much, in reality it really is necessary. Students are busy people and they cannot be expected to not be busy on the same night every week. If a ministry really wants to connect to people, there must be ways for those students to be connected. If there is some event, even if it isn’t a major event, every day or night of the week, there will always be some way that a student can connect. If this task seems too daunting, it is possible, in a large ministry at least, to delegate some responsibility to student leaders. As leaders more can be expected from these students. If there is a group of five students in charge of an event on Tuesday night, there will be at least one student of that group that can be at that event every week and they can alternate weeks of facilitating the event.

Once the seed is planted in an individual, it is important to build relationships with those individuals. Connecting is all about that relationship aspect. Like mentioned before, it is impossible to be best friends with all the students. However, it is not impossible to let the students know that you are available for advice. A minister is always going to be busy, but it is always necessary that the minister always have time for the students. A minister that has no time for his students will soon have all the time in the world. Connecting with individuals is really up to the individual. Every person is different. As a minister the office door must always be open. Students are the most important component of ministry. Connecting with them on an individual level is going to have a great impact on what kind of ministry you want to have. In order to connect with students, there should be designated office hours every day so that students know when they can come by without an appointment and talk about anything they need. Connecting with students does not always have to be about the minister actually connecting with every student. Connecting is about every individual feeling comfortable in the ministry. Without this connection, no student is going to want to remain in a ministry.

Connecting to students in a small group setting is accomplished by actually having small group sessions. A lot of churches have either Sunday school or community groups or something similar. People that may not feel comfortable coming to a large group atmosphere may love to come to a small group where there is food and fellowship. It is a lot easier to build relationships in these small gatherings. There does not have to be one specific night for small groups to meet. They should meet throughout the week in different locations at different time, to give everybody the opportunity to get connected. If a small group is the only event a student goes to within a ministry, that small group will still change the life of that student. Small groups are extremely vital. Without this small family of gatherers not nearly as many students can be reached. The leaders of these small groups need to be well trained and well monitored also. A small group that starts smoking weed may attract a lot of students, but will not be reaching these students for Christ, which is the goal of any ministry. There should be weekly meetings between the minister and the members of any leadership teams. This is not only a way to monitor the progress of each small group, but it becomes a small group in itself connecting the minister with the lives of each of these students. Small groups should only be structured enough to give some idea of what is going to go on. If they become too structured, they are going to become like the church and be very unattractive to outside students, and if they are not structured at all there may be some relationships formed, but no relationships that are strengthened through the will of Christ.

Connecting with students in a large group setting is difficult because there are going to be too many people to really connect with each student. However, large group meetings are important. Any large worship gatherings are going to be vital to a ministry. There needs to be at least one worship gathering each week. This needs to be on a night that does not compete with the worship gatherings at any local churches. If a college ministry’s worship gathering is on a Wednesday night, students will have to choose between a local church and the ministry and this conflict need never arise. A college ministry should never interfere with a local church. The two should be synonymous with one another. One goal of a ministry should be to plug the students into a local church. If they do not get plugged into a church in college, once they get out of college and that ministry is gone for them, they may not attend church anymore. However, if the ministry strongly encourages students to be involved in local churches, those students will remain involved in that church or another church for the rest of their lives. College ministry should never be about getting the largest group together that is possible. That thought is a worldly thought. Students will change from year to year. It is a college ministry’s job to equip these students with all the tools necessary for them to build a relationship with Christ and remain strong in that relationship throughout their lives.

Strengthen

Strengthening the students’ relationships with Christ is what a ministry is all about. However, this must be done in an attractive and fun way. The attractiveness and fun should never be the focus though. Ministry is all about Christ. Anything in a ministry should be aimed at getting students to this ultimate goal. Strengthening the faith of individual students will in turn strengthen the relationships of large numbers of people. One way to strengthen each individual student is through prayer. Not just prayer for the students on the part of the minister, but prayer by the students. A weekly prayer meeting, perhaps on a Sunday morning before church, would work wonders on the students’ prayer lives. Some people do not know how to pray and they are never taught how to pray. This prayer meeting should be extremely structured. Even so far as to have specific stations to pray for specific things. In one main room there should be a prayer walk set up. Each student can begin in one place and at each station there are specific things that need prayer. These prayers can range from things in an individual person’s life, things on the college campus, needs of the state, needs of the country, and needs of the world. This prayer walk should take about thirty to forty-five minutes to complete. In another room there should be a cross or image of Christ set up with soft music playing in the background. Passion conference one year had something similar set up. Individuals need to devote about thirty minutes to prayer for themselves, or prayers for specific instances in their own lives. This should be a time of focus and worship for the students to really just start their day and week of with reflection on the sacrifice that Christ made for them. Prayer is a very powerful tool and will affect a person’s life forever. So as students they need to be taught how to pray and given the opportunity to do so diligently.

Strengthening relationships in Christ through small groups should be through the weekly small or community groups. There is a reason the idea is not a unique one. Every minister I have talked to says that community groups are essential to really reaching and connecting to people. Bible study should be part of every community group. People who would never show up to an actual “Bible study” will show up to a “community group,” especially if the community group has food and fun, such as Rockband or Guitar Hero or something similar. This creates a unique opportunity to share the gospel. If an hour of time in community group is devoted to community and another hour or so is devoted to bible study, people will grow in their relationships with each other and with Christ, and people will be saved through the grace of the Holy Spirit through this event. This is not to say that we need to be sneaky and force people into Bible study. If a person just wants to come for food and fellowship and then leaves, that has to be okay. The conversations and the Holy Spirit will eventually take hold of that person. The point of these community groups is to instigate the possibility of bringing lost souls to Christ.

Strengthening relationships with Christ in large gatherings is the easiest way to really reach those people in large groups. Worship gatherings are an important part of any person’s relationship with Christ. Although it is not necessary to go to church to receive salvation, it is vital if a person wants to grow in Christ. Worshipping the Lord and hearing the Word of God is the best way to really focus on God. These worship gatherings are not meant to replace the worship gatherings of the local churches, but merely an opportunity to preach the gospel to those who may not go to a local church. If this worship service shares the gospel with one person who has never heard it before, than it is all worth it. The worship service can be held in a similar fashion as a church service, with worship music, preaching, an offering, and more worship, but this is not necessary. That type of worship service may not work in some areas. However a worship service is orchestrated, it is a necessary aspect of any ministry. Some people may not feel comfortable becoming a member of a church and going to an actual church building, but may feel comfortable coming to a college worship service on campus. That should not be the only type of ministry to large groups though. Another great thing for a college ministry is the accessibility of conferences and other worship services such as Passion. These things should be readily available to all students. Mission trips are also a huge part of worship and growth. These events can sometimes be expensive so there needs to be some sort of fundraising in order to help students who may not be able to attend otherwise. One way to help this is to do not take huge mission trips every single year. Students cannot always afford to go to Africa or South America every year, but they may be able to go to trips within the United States or even within the state of the campus itself. There are so many ways to do ministry. The balance is making many options available so that students who cannot go to one event can come to another event. These events should also encourage students to take on their own challenges, such as volunteering and community service. Students need to gain the tools to think for themselves and it is the ministry’s job to equip students for absolutely any situation.

Finding distinctions between the reach, connect, strengthen ideas can be difficult because they often blend together, and this is an important factor. All the ideas should not be completely separate from one another. No one aspect should be more important than the other ones. Because of this is can be hard to distinguish but that is not necessarily a bad thing. If the lines are blurry, it becomes easier to plan events that are planned to reach, connect, and strengthen at the same time. The best way to model a ministry is to model it after Christ Himself. Christ was one man, just as a minister is one person. He, as an individual, ministered to individuals. He healed individuals. These actions did not remain with the individual people though. They spread his greatness throughout the world. He surrounded himself with twelve disciples, as a minister should surround himself with friends and student leaders. He prayed with the disciples, he preached to his disciples, and he trained his disciples to go out into all the world and make new disciples. He preached to large groups of people, he fed the multitudes not only with food but with the gospel, and he changed a world that needed change so desperately, as all Christians are called to do. Jesus started the greatest ministry the world has ever seen. Any minister who models a ministry after Jesus will never fail.

Catch Up: Emerging Adulthood

So. Apparently I don’t really pay attention in class. My collegiate ministry blog/journal assignment is more in depth than I thought. Looks like I am supposed to write a blog entry every time we have a class meeting. That is once a week since August 23. That is 12 weeks ago. That means that I am supposed to have at least 12 entries that pertain to each day of class. So, now I am going to have to catch up considering I did not really know that it was suppose to be that much. Luckily I have a week to write all of these. Which means almost two blogs a day. Which is good for me, because I can now review all that we have talked about throughout the year and see how much I have learned. I hate that I waited so long because it adds to my stress which is not good at all, but I think it is going to end up being a good thing! So that is my introductory paragraph. Now I am going to begin the onslaught of blog entries that hopefully you will read all of instead of stopping now.
This first blog is just going to be about my first day of class. The class is called Guiding Collegians in their Faith Pilgrimage. Obviously it is a class geared towards teaching us how to teach and disciple college students. The first day of class we defined most collegiate students into the emerging adult category. We first looked at the definitions of adulthood as defined by sociologists and then as defined by college students. Sociologist use actual events as meaning a person has entered into adulthood. These events are finishing education, entering full time work, getting married and becoming parents. College students define adulthood quite differently. According to students they are adults when they begin taking responsibility for one’s actions, making independent decisions, and becoming financially independent. Well for me, I am not an adult based on either one of these definitions. I am single, still in school, working full time and nowhere near having children. I am happy to admit my mistakes, I make all my own decisions, but I still rely heavily on my parents when it comes to money. But I am a seminary student, so that is okay, right? Speaking of which, rent is due in a couple days….. Anyways, according to Reifman, Arnett, and Colwell, there are five stages of emerging adulthood. It is the age of identity exploration, the age of instability, the age where a person is most self focused, the age where one is not really an adolescent but not an adult, and the age of possibilities where a person’s life can be completely up to them. Along with these five stages are four sub cultures of college students. There are college students who want fellowship and partying, vocational students who are seeking success, academic students who genuinely want to gain knowledge, and the rebel students who are completely against conformity.
An important aspect to remember when ministering to college students is the idea of personal growth. There are many aspects that students want to grow in when they come to college. When I started college I wanted to make friends, wanted to get my life started, wanted to find a girlfriend and get married, and do something to be recognized by people. Well I ended up making friends. That is about all of the goals I met while in college. It is very important as a minister to keep these needs in mind, no matter how selfish they are. Every student has desires and these cannot be ignored. Whether a student wants to be successful, wants to party, wants to gain knowledge, or just wants to live life, all these wants are very important. How can college ministers cater to these needs? That is a very complicated question. Each person is different. That is why one of the most important things as ministers is to know your students. It is important to have events that everyone can relate to. One thing that we have had pounded in our head all semester is that the context of where a ministry is has a huge impact on what how a minister should arrange the ministry itself. The first step that is necessary is gaining students’ trust. In order to do this we must know them and know how they think. Important aspects in a student’s faith pilgrimage are worship services, bible reading, friends, and prayer. There are many more, these are just a few. As a college minister, I am going to be responsible to hold students accountable and lead them to higher standards in their faith journey. The thresholds mentioned above become very important when thinking of practical aspects of ministry. These stages must be considered when planning events and thinking of how to arrange a ministry to minister to many people of many different backgrounds. Emerging adulthood is a very complicated stage of life that we all have to go through at some point. College ministers have been where college students are now. Having been there, the most important in a minister’s guidance can be the experiences that they have that are similar to those in college now. If a college student knows that a minister has gone through the same things that they are going through now, the student is more likely to relate and trust the minister. Without this initial trust, there can be no discipleship.

Worship

This particular blog is in an attempt to catch up with some work that I need to do for my College Ministry class. In the past few weeks we have discussed a lot of things. We had one special guest that came and spoke about worship and we are supposed to journal (blog) about some practical applications to some of the things that we talked about regarding worship. The first thing that is the most important thing is that worship does not only take place in a church building on Sunday morning. Worship should encompass everything in everyday life. Worship is not singing. Singing can, however, be worship. Worship is prayer, song, life, and everything that can possibly get you closer to God (which should be everything). Worship should not just be on a Sunday morning, or even an everyday quiet time. Worship has to become more than this. It has to be putting God above yourself in every aspect of your life. What are some ways that we can make everyday decisions and everyday life into constant worship? We have to realize that all the things we have and do everyday are less important than bringing glory to God. Every act can be an act of worship if done with the right motives. And by every act I mean there are some exceptions. But most things can be used to glorify God. Holding a door for someone, smiling at someone, buying someone flowers for no reason at all. All of these things can be acts of worship. We have to make them acts of worship though. At some point doing all of these things joyfully will create an attitude in us that makes them second nature. Worship can become a part of everyday life without us even realizing it. Worship is a way for us to get closer to God. It is a never ending process that we need to remain diligent in. Worship is more important to our spiritual lives than food is for our physical bodies. Even with all this in mind, it is important to remember that worship on Sunday morning or in a worship service is as important also. We have to keep in mind that there are many people that attend the worship services and it is important to make this worship a great experience for everyone present, especially those who may not know the Lord. This is a complicated task and is going to vary depending on location. However, it is a task that can absolutely be accomplished. Young people often want contemporary music and upbeat sermons; where as older people typically want more traditional music (if it can be called music!! I’m just kidding!!!) and fire and brimstone sermons. If a church has a combination of both, having two services catering to both wants could be a possibility. The question that I asked in class, however, is that when does worship become more important than God? Because although worship is important and vital for our spiritual lives, God is still more important, and we cannot let worship itself become an idol. My point is, it should not really matter what kind of music there is, or what the sermon is about (as long as it is biblical). Worship does not need specifications. Worship is about a relationship between every individual person and God. If the type of music comes between you and God, you should probably reevaluate your relationship. Worship needs to be worship. Worship should not be music. Worship IS God. Without God, there can be no true worship. Lights, sounds, an amazing worship leader, and an awesome speaker are simply a means for a type of worship, but should not be necessary. If they are necessary, something is wrong with your worship. The church I have been attending is simply a guy with a guitar singing. I didn’t think that I would like it at first, but then I realized that it does not matter. God is God no matter how we sing about him. Old people give up your traditions, and young people be considerate of your elders. We all need worship, and we can all get worship in many ways. We should not need to put parameters on acts of worship. Trust God, and love God and worship will be part of your nature.

My Ten Page Paper on Pornography

 
Death to the Living
An Investigation into the Pornographic World
 
Kevin Sattler
10/11/2010
 
 
Pornography has become an addiction that has taken over the world.  Millions of people are addicted and even more are affected by the atrocities that are caused by the world of porn.  It is not something like poverty that can be put on the backburner of the mind because it does not affect you directly.  It will at one point affect everyone.  Do not ruin your life and those around you because you are too weak to accept God.
 

David
David walked through the tunnel wearing a huge smile and carrying his helmet under his arm.  Sweaty, engrossed in the events of the evening, his smile reflected the joy in his heart.  David finally achieved what he had worked so hard to attain.  He was the MVP of the state championship game, and he was loved by everyone except the members of the opposing team.  The last one in the locker room, he thought nothing could penetrate his intense happiness.  In this thought, however, David was wrong.  Very, very wrong.  He walked briskly into the locker room to the all encompassing sound of applause.  The game ball and the honor went to David, the senior quarterback who could do no wrong in the eyes of his fans.  On his way to a great college with a full football scholarship, his life was seemingly perfect.  At that moment, it was pretty darn close.  As he was changing clothes after his long shower, however, his life was about to change forever.  As he was pulling on his shirt, he glanced around and noticed a group of his team standing together with smiles of a different kind upon their faces.  He walked toward them, an action he later regretted, and got simply a glimpse of what their eyes were viewing.  He saw just enough skin to be embarrassed.  He congratulated the guys one last time on a victory well earned and walked out of the locker room with his bag over one shoulder and his mind racing.  As he walked out of the building, he put on that same smile, and forgot about everything except the hug he was giving his mom and the kiss he was giving his unlikely girlfriend of two years.  He was back on cloud nine.  That night, after an amazing dinner with his family and proposing to his beautiful new fiancée, David picked up his Bible and began reading through Psalms amazed at his wonderful blessings.  However, his mind kept returning to an image he was not even sure he witnessed clearly.  With his mind turning, he put down his Bible and picked up his computer.  
Meredith
​Meredith had done this countless times, but something felt so different.  She did whatever the cameraman and other guy, Tanis, instructed her to do, but this time something just felt different.  As she put on her clothes and walked to her car, she knew something was wrong.  However, she ignored the feeling and went to a party she was invited to, as she usually did at the end of every work day.  Engrossed in the numerous drugs and other things of the party scene, Meredith’s mind could not concentrate enough to focus on anything, let alone an abstract thought that she knew nothing about.  Later that night, after being used by numerous guys as a sex toy, Meredith returned home to her boyfriend who knew just how to physically hurt her without anyone being able to distinguish any abnormalities.  Meredith was broken.  However, this was the only life she had known in her entire twenty years, so she thought everything was fine.  She would soon realize her mistake.  Lying in the hospital bed after her boyfriend had lost his temper, Meredith began to gain clarity as all the drugs she had used the night before begin to wear off.  She opened her eyes and only saw one thing before her eyes became blurred with tears.  For the first time she could see the utter loneliness that she had been feeling for so many years.  The only people present were the officer outside her door and a man she did not recognize carrying a book she could not stand to see.  Tears streaming down her face, she could not believe what she was feeling as this stranger told her that she is loved by someone who had the power to forgive her for everything she had ever done and would ever do in the future.  The gentleman closed his Bible and took her hand.  She gathered what strength she had and threw her arms around him.  She could not imagine any act any purer of love than his simple gesture of taking her hand.  This person is the only one who had ever shown her any real tenderness.  As she closed her eyes, for the first time she had a smile of true joy upon her bruised face. 1
​“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.” (Romans 1:18 ESV)  The world is not an easy place in which to live.  Temptation surrounds everything and everyone.  The strength and integrity of a person defines what a person does when they are backed into the corner of temptation.  A pandemic of epic proportions is spreading through the hearts of the young people in the world today.  On average, a boy encounters his first pornographic material at the age of just eleven.2  The problem with this statistic is not trying to understand why this occurs.  That question is an easy one to answer.  The question that must be answered here is how to take a person who has been entranced with porn since the age of eleven and shape them into a Godly person throughout their college experience.  By the time a person is in college the likelihood of that person already having some sexual experience is extremely high.  Pornography has become a major problem in society today that the church3 can no longer ignore and try to dance around.  A large number of bible verses can be given that illustrate what God thinks about sexual sins and how they can negatively affect a person.  The problem goes beyond that of any individual, however, and can lead to a twisted spiral that affects every person around that individual.  The impact that porn brings to a person and all the people that person knows, is absolutely devastating.  As devastating as porn can be to a college student and all others, there is always hope.  There is always a solution.  In the case of porn, the solution is easy.  The solution may be easy, but the path to purity is one that men have struggled with throughout known history.  Beyond the solution, however, is a way of life.  There are many ways to live, many paths that one can take; however, there is only one right way.  Simply offering a solution is not enough.  Teaching a person to live in a godly way takes more than a simple answer and is a road that is not easily done, especially for someone so entranced in the world of lust, porn, and adultery.
The Problem
​There are so many problems that are facing teens, college students, and adults, which make the problems caused by lustfulness all that much more detrimental.  With so much other stuff going on, it is so very easy to get roped into the world of pornography addiction.  There are so many statistics that would prove very useful to portray how far society has slipped into the sensual world of lust.  Craig Gross, founder of XXXchurch.com, has been helping people both Christians and non-Christians alike fight the hold that porn can place on the mind.  In his recent book Eyes of Integrity: The Porn Pandemic and How it Affects You, Craig does a very good job of compiling some very surprising stats that are essential and understanding just how many lives are affected by porn:
Today pornography is a 57-billion-dollar, worldwide industry, making more than the combined revenues of all the professional football, baseball, and basketball teams in America.  Porn revenue in the United States (12 billion dollars) exceeds the combined revenues of ABC, CBS, AND NBC (6.2 billion dollars), and, disgustingly enough, child pornography alone generates 3 billion dollars annually.4
Every second 3,076 dollars is being spend on pornography, 28,258 internet viewers are viewing pornography, and 372 internet users are typing adult search terms into search engines, and every 39 minutes, a new pornographic video is made in the United States.5
Most estimates put the number of Christians in the United States at 40 million, and a recent anonymous study done by Promise Keepers discovered that 54 percent of pastors had viewed porn in the previous seven days.6
Of the Christian women polled, 20 percent admitted they were addicted to pornography, 60 percent admitted to having significant struggles with lust, and four out of ten admitted to being involved in sexual sin in the past year.7
The statistics go on, and on, and on.  They all point to the very same point.  Pornography is a huge problem in society today.  How does this specifically affect the lives of college students?  In the current affair of things, it has absolutely everything to do with college students.  By the time they have entered college the average male has spend seven years since the first exposure to something pornographic.  If these young adults continue with the sin of porn throughout their college career, and get jobs, and start families, there are countless scenarios that will ruin a person forever.  The longer any sin is sustained, the less terrible it becomes in the mind of the sinner.  After years go by, an addiction to porn can be almost impossible to stop.  As statistics stand, pornography is shaping the lives of all of the future generation of leaders, both political and religious.  With corrupt political and religious leaders for the future, the status of the world will increasingly decline until it resembles Sodom and Gomorrah and will need to be destroyed.
This may seem like a slippery slope that seems unlikely to happen any time in the near future, however, that is a main problem that porn proposes.  It is extremely sneaky.  People do not see it as a problem, because people do not want to admit that they have a problem with it.  Porn inevitably causes a slope that cannot be avoided.  Look at King David, for example.  “With a glimpse, he had a thought.  The thought became an action.  The action became a heartbreaking, twisted tale of sin and seduction.”8  A glimpse is sadly, but simply, all it takes.  Another example is infamous Ted Bundy:
As a young boy of 12 or 13, I encountered, outside the home, in the local grocery and
drug stores, softcore pornography. Young boys explore the sideways and byways of their
neighborhoods, and in our neighborhood, people would dump the garbage. From time to
time, we would come across books of a harder nature - more graphic. This also included
detective magazines, etc., and I want to emphasize this. The most damaging kind of
pornography - and I’m talking from hard, real, personal experience - is that that involves
violence and sexual violence. The wedding of those two forces - as I know only too well -
brings about behavior that is too terrible to describe.9
This is a section of an interview that serial killer Ted Bundy requested merely hours before his execution.  Now these certainly are extremely cases.  Not every person who views porn is going to go on killing sprees.  However, every person who views porn will, in some way, hurt those that are closest to them.  The impact of pornography is just too great to prevent.
The Impact
​“Maybe your marriage is in a shambles because of porn use.  You aren’t alone.  Marriage therapists report an increased number of clients presenting porn-related problems.  For example, 50 percent of divorce cases in 2002 involved porn, according to The Porn Trap by authors Wendy and Larry Maltz.”10  Porn never simply affects the user.  Porn is like a loaded gun.  If a person plays with a gun long enough, that person will eventually shoot someone.  “We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day.” I Corinthians 10:8.  The impact of pornography is greater than any individual can ever know.  A person cannot know whose life they may change, for the better or for the worse.  Marriages, relationships, families, friendships, and all emotional and physical ties can be severed once pornography is entered into the equation.  Mark Driscoll puts it very bluntly when he says, “Sure, the naked people you like looking at are hot…but so is hell.”11  Porn will most certainly affect everyday life of all addicts, but everyday life is not the only thing being threatened.  As if ruining every aspect of one’s physical life is not enough, porn can also have an effect on the eternal life offered to every person by the grace of God.  A porn addiction can always start as something so small.  It can go from being turned on by a kissing scene in a movie, to finding a movie that shows a little bit more skin, to movies with sex scenes, and then to actual porn photographs or videos.  Every bad thing can start out as an innocent plea for some type of physical pleasure.
​Is the impact of porn even higher for college age students?  That depends on how deep a student is into a porn addiction upon entering college.  However, the potential for disaster is greater, as is the redemptive possibilities.  Students go to college to gain knowledge.  Well most probably go to earn more money in the future, but they most certainly gain knowledge in the process.  Maybe a porn addiction begins without the knowledge that it is really wrong and why.  Perhaps a non-Christian gets addicted to porn and then becomes a Christian in college.  College student’s lives change more than the lives of people in any other age group.  Because of the drastic changes that occur during this time period in a person’s live, college age students are more capable of making decisions, such as giving up porn, than those of other age groups.  College students also think about the impact that their current decisions will have on their future lives.  This is a reason to believe that college age students might be more willing to accept that the problem of porn will negatively impact their future relationships, families, and even job opportunities.  The impact of porn is never ending and vast.  However, there is always, most certainly, always hope for the broken.
The Solution
​The solution for any addiction can be summed up very, very quickly.  Jesus.  The end.  So maybe that is a cheap answer.  However, it is most certainly the right answer.  People who have accepted Jesus, however, are far from perfect.  As a matter of fact, they are probably less perfect then some of those people who have never accepted Christ.  There is just one major difference.  A person who has accepted Jesus will go to heaven, no matter the transgressions.  However, Christians do fail, and the area of failure can also include pornography.  So, how does someone who is a believer in Jesus (as well as those who are not) escape the seemingly inescapable web that is pornography?  There are three simple steps to follow:  tell someone, avoid temptation, and worship vigilantly.  These steps need to be explained a little bit further.
Tell Someone
​There is nothing quite as affective as putting all of one’s sins on the table for someone to see.  Telling a best friend or family member of an addiction to pornography does many things.  First, it is shameful to admit (or it should be).  Because of this, telling someone is an effective way to avoid porn because it is very hurtful to disappoint a loved one.  When tempted to view porn, simply think of how that loved one might change their outlook and the temptation may not be strong enough to face that disappointment.  
Avoid Temptation
​It happens to be very easy to avoid sin if the initial temptation is avoided.  Selling all electronics, though it seems like a good idea, only changes the surface of the problem not the root cause.  But if it comes to that, it is better to be extremely tempted and have nothing around in which to follow through with that addiction.  It could be harder to view porn without any electronics.  If electronics are a must have, keep them in public places.  No one wants to look at porn in the living room with the parents watching.  Well, no normal people want this.  Avoiding temptation is the easiest way to avoid sin.
Worship Vigilantly
​Obviously temptation cannot be avoided altogether.  Jesus was tempted.  Jesus was a human male.  Jesus was perfect, which means he would have had to be a virgin.  Jesus was tempted.  What did he do when facing temptation?  He worshipped an Almighty God through the knowledge of Scripture.  When feeling tempted, pick up a Bible and start reading Revelation.  No one wants to sin with the immediate threat of hell in the mind.  When feeling tempted, get on your knees (by yourself), life up your hands, and worship the Creator of the Universe.  Whether this be through song or prayer does not at all matter.  God is a friend.  Confess your temptations and give them to He who can handle them.  I Corinthians 10:13 makes it very clear.  “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man.  God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.”  God is great.  When feeling tempted, simply remember this small, but oh so awesome fact.
David
​Ten years down the road and David had nothing.  His life as he knew it was over.  Drugs, porn, sex, and idolatry fully encompassed his life.  He was at a precipice that would determine what would happen from this point forward.  He still, somewhere deep within the depth of his mind, remembered all the Bible stories he read years ago, but these were far from helpful in his current state.  As he stood at the edge of the bridge, no crucial thoughts entered his mind.  He was at the point where he literally had absolutely nothing worth living for.  His family had disowned him years ago.  He had not had a relationship, or even a friendship, in years.  As he stepped up on the railing, someone gently brushed his shoulder.  As he turned, a girl smiled sweetly at him.
Meredith
​The life of porn was all she had ever known.  For ten years, however, she had not dwelled on any thoughts of her previous existence.  For the past five years Meredith had been in Africa as a nurse trying to heal anyone and everyone.  The day she got back to the United States she decided to walk home from the airport.  It was a five mile walk, but she wanted to bask in the glory of everything God had been doing in her life.  Glancing at the sunset over the beautiful lake Meredith accidently bumped into a man more focused on the water below than the majesty above.
​College ministry is a unique and challenging adventure.  Everyone at that age is so volatile that no two people can be dealt with in the same way.  No matter what the impact is, every person has issues.  Whether self inflicted, or thrust upon them by others, every person has problems.  It is the people that help them with these problems that can alter a person’s life, for good or bad, forever.  Porn is a plague.  This particular plague has only one cure.  The cure is sitting in an unmarked syringe in front of every person in the world.  However, these people must pick up the syringe themselves and inject the contents.  No one can do that for them.  It is easy to point out the syringe and tell a person what affects it will have.  But it is up to each individual to trust that the contents will cure them.  Pornography is a cancer spreading through the youth and adults and leaders of all societies.  For the world to be saved, this cure must reach all those who are reaching for it.  Are a few seconds of meaningless pleasure worth an eternity of torment?

Notes
1. The stories of David and Meredith are completely fictional and are in no way meant to be stories of real people.  They are merely stories meant to grasp the reader and get the reader to start thinking.
2. Mark Driscoll, Porn Again Christian: A Frank Discussion on Pornography and Masturbation (Mars Hill Church, 2009), 35.
3. I refer to the church here not as a building but as a group of people who are living their lives for the only and only Savior, Jesus Christ.
4. Craig Gross, Eyes of Integrity: The Porn Pandemic and How it Affects You (Grand Rapids:  Baker Books, 2010), 21.
5. Craig Gross, Eyes of Integrity: The Porn Pandemic and How it Affects You (Grand Rapids:  Baker Books, 2010), 22.
6. Craig Gross, Eyes of Integrity: The Porn Pandemic and How it Affects You (Grand Rapids:  Baker Books, 2010), 30.
7. Craig Gross, Eyes of Integrity: The Porn Pandemic and How it Affects You (Grand Rapids:  Baker Books, 2010), 58.
8. Craig Gross, Eyes of Integrity: The Porn Pandemic and How it Affects You (Grand Rapids:  Baker Books, 2010), 49.
9. Mark Driscoll, Porn Again Christian: A Frank Discussion on Pornography and Masturbation (Mars Hill Church, 2009), 39.
10. Craig Gross, Eyes of Integrity: The Porn Pandemic and How it Affects You (Grand Rapids:  Baker Books, 2010), 80.
11. Mark Driscoll, Porn Again Christian: A Frank Discussion on Pornography and Masturbation (Mars Hill Church, 2009), 12.
 

Why Christianity?

I have answered the question on why I feel that college ministry is the way to go. Now I feel the need to justify why I am a Christian and why I believe Christian doctrine is the only way to go [to heaven]. There are hundreds, maybe thousands of world religions. So what makes Christianity the right one? Why isn’t Buddhism or Islam right? My answer to you is to say thank you for asking that question. If you are asking that question that means you are not comfortable with simply accepting the religion of your parents (if you are from America) or of those others around you. You are curious. I absolutely hate when people take something that someone says and believes it without justification. That goes for you. Meaning, please do not take anything I say here and automatically accept it as truth. If you do, you are stupid, because I am stupid on the grand scheme of things so if you take my word as truth without figuring it out for yourself, you in turn are also stupid. But I don’t think you are really stupid so please figure this stuff out on your own. But feel free to take what I say here under advisement and use it as a tool to get your brain thinking. :)

So. Christianity. Let’s talk about it. Main truths (simplified of course). God created everything. Except for himself. He was not created by anyone, otherwise there would be someone greater than Him which is not possible. Nor can He be self-created because that just makes no logical sense. God sent His son (Jesus) to the earth to take on the sins of all mankind so that we don’t have to spend eternity in Hell. That is it in a nutshell. So with that simple description, what makes Christianity different? Well, Jesus (who could be considered the founder of Christianity in a way) and he died for us. Siddhartha Gautama, aka Buddha, was born a prince. He gave up his riches to pursue a more knowledgeable life. He died when he was old. L. Ron Hubbard (founder of Scientology), a science fiction author, made millions of his religion and died on his ranch leaving behind his almost billion dollars. Divorced three times supposedly because he was abusive and also was into drugs. Great guy. To each his own. Muhammad. Now, I am not mentioning him to step on any toes by any means. I promise. I don’t purposely offend people. It just so happens that the truth often does. Don’t kill the messenger. Islam. Isn’t it just a little strange that they claim to be a peaceful religion, but yet Muhammad edited the Koran whenever it suited his needs? It sure is convenient that whenever he needed to attack someone, a passage would appear in the Koran that justified his actions. Hmmm. Now, I won’t really continue any farther because I think I have made my point. What makes Jesus different than those guys? Well, first of all, while He was alive, all He did was help people. He healed countless people. He befriended the least of these. He loved people. Most of all what makes him different is, HE WAS CRUCIFIED AND KILLED FOR US!!! If that sounds a bit morbid, it is because it was. The crazy thing is that the beating and ridicule and pain that he faced as he was hanging on the cross were not the worst thing he endured. As the sin of mankind entered him, he was separated from God. Even for the shortest amount of time. Just think about the pain that that act caused Jesus.

Now, my claim here is that Christianity is right. My claim is not at all that Christians are right. Because most likely, they aren’t. Christians, just to be honest, really piss me off. Even I piss myself off. Christians are in no way perfect. Far from it. I know many people who aren’t Christians at all that are way, way better people than Christians. I am also not saying that Baptists are right. Hopefully, I won’t get kicked out of my Baptist seminary for saying this, but I highly doubt that Baptists are right about everything. And by highly doubt I mean I am sure that they aren’t. People do not make Christianity different from other religions. Jesus makes Christianity different. Christianity itself stands apart. If us Christians would get the hell (pardon my pun) out of the way and let Christ work, this world would be a lot better.

This post really only applies to other religions. If you are an atheist or agnostic type of person please be patient. I am sure that one of these days I will have a philosophical post with logical arguments about why God is real and all that. Until then, I love everyone and hope you are all having a freakin spectacular day!!!!

Friendship

Today, I am going to try to tackle a few tough questions concerning friendships. Now some of these may not seem like tough questions at first but they really are important and will have a huge impact on each individual’s life. I am going to start off in a general sense and then maybe become more specific to a certain demographic. The question you must first ask yourself is “How do I choose my friends?” This question is an extremely easy one for me to answer. I befriend those who want to befriend me. If I initially try to be friends with someone and they don’t really seem all that interested (meaning they don’t message me back on facebook or don’t really talk to me on a personal level) than I decide that I don’t really need to pursue that friendship any further. My friends up to this point have always been made on circumstance. When I first went to college I met the people my brother hung out with and became friends with them, and would then become friends with their friends and so forth. I am probably one of the worst people ever at making friends. I have been in New Orleans now for about two months and would really say that I have only one person that I really consider my friend. Pretty sad huh? It isn’t like I don’t want friends. I try to talk to people, but with they don’t seem interested I back off. Anyway that isn’t what this post is about. After you think some about the question of how you choose friends we should examine the question of how we should choose friends. Is there a specific set of criteria that we should look for in friends? Should we only become friends with a certain kind of people? After we look at that we should try to think about what makes a friend a friend. At what point does a friend cross over the boundary of acquaintanceship into the realm of a beloved friend?

How should we choose friends? In my collegiate ministry class today, we discussed how some people choose friends. I found my way of choosing friends to be unique. No one else in my class ever discussed choosing friends just by who wants to be friends with them. Now I am not saying my way is right. Quite the contrary, by results, my way is not right at all but far from it. Some of the other people in the class chose their friends based on similar interests. If a person has the same major as you, it seems that maybe they have some of the same thoughts and views as you do. It is easiest to become friends with people that you relate to. Maybe this way does not really work for me because I don’t really relate to anyone. Haha. What kind of impact does choosing friends have? To me, it seems like choosing friends is one of the biggest decisions a person can make. Real friends are going to be there for every aspect of your life. They are going to go through your darkest moments with you. They are going to be there to celebrate the best moments of your life. In essence, they are going to help shape the person that you become. So, with such an important decision, how should we choose our friends? To me we should ask the question, how did Jesus choose his friends? That is a good question. He didn’t choose people who had the same beliefs. He did not choose people for their looks or social status. He did not choose people by who could offer him the most benefit. Jesus did not necessarily even choose the most trustworthy people (Judas, Peter). Jesus chose his friends through prayer. Jesus prayed. I don’t know that God is going to send down any divine revelations about who our friends should be, but it is certainly a good place to start. Maybe we should simply expand our horizon when it comes to making friends. Jesus befriended prostitutes and tax collectors. Yet churches today completely shun those people from even entering their doors. Do you really think Jesus would want a homosexual turned away from church because they are different? Because they choose to have a lifestyle that we think is the wrong kind of lifestyle to have?

What should a friend be once they become a friend? What defines a friend? To me a friend is someone who you can trust, who you know will be there for you no matter what with absolutely no complaints, and someone who you can tell anything to without the slightest hint of judgment. A friend is someone loves you for who you are no matter what you have done. The bible defines a friend as being loyal (Proverbs 18:24), honest (Proverbs 24:26), and forgiving (Colossians 3:13). An important lesson to learn, however, is how to live alone. How to be comfortable enough with yourself to not have to have people surrounding you all the time. To be able to do things along is a sign of maturity (one that I have not really learned yet). But friendships sometimes don’t last forever. Sometimes people will grow apart, and it is important to have that social connection to have other people to fall back on when this happens. Friends are one of the most important aspects of life. Without friends I would be a completely unhappy and terrible person to be around. Friends keep me grounded. Friends keep me humble. But most of all friends keep me happy. What do your friends do for you? IF they don’t life you up constantly, maybe you should invest the time to make some new ones.

Why college students?

Why college students? What makes a college minister so much different than ministers of other kinds? Well that is a very good question. I believe that college age students are poised more than any others to impact the world. Am I saying that college students are the only ones that can change the world? Heck no. That is not what I mean at all. The answer is simple. Well maybe not that simple. Before we examine why college age people are better poised than others, let’s look at those other groups. I am going to simply divide them into two categories. There are the youth, which are younger than college students, and seasoned adults, which are older than college students. When I say college age, I am referring to ages 18-25ish. Let’s start with youth. Go talk to some youth in your church. Ask them why they are there. Ask them to give you an honest answer. The majority of youth (and I am basing this assumption on personal experience) go to church because their parents make them. Very few middle school kids would consciously choose to wake up early on a Sunday (one of their two days off) morning and go to church to hear a guy in a suit talk about a book (the Bible) they really can’t understand anyway. Youth have the potential to change the world, but not really the resources or the drive to do so. Now let’s look at the older adults. Why can’t older adults change the world? They can. Of course they can. However, the older a person gets the more the potential for world changing events lessens. Older adults have had their chance to change the world. They have made their life choices and cannot really go back in change them. Most adults are going to already have their major theologies and philosophies nailed down. The older a person gets, the less adaptive, the less open to change they become. It is hard for a person who has lived a long life to break down the walls of their own mind and let Jesus do the work he wants done. It is hard for an older person to really change their minds and be open to change. They are so engrained in their beliefs that the opportunities they are going to be presented with will most likely be missed. So what makes college age people so poised to alter the very fabric of the world?? They CHOOSE to be where they are. No one forces them to go to church or bible studies or prayer meetings. A friend may strongly suggest they come, but ultimately they make the conscious decision that they need to be at those meetings. These people have a set of basic beliefs and principles that they have gathered from life experience and through various other sources. Not many college students are so engrained in their beliefs that they are not open to any other options. If they are in college, they are there to pursue an education. They are there for knowledge. Knowledge can be gained outside of a classroom. College is when people start to make decisions that can impact the rest of their life. Obviously high school students can make life altering decisions too, but these decisions are limited. The decisions college age adults make are completely limitless. College students are training to be the future leaders of this world. They are standing on the edge of a chasm of world change. All they have to do is jump and the world will never be the same. They will not die from this fall, but they will soar into unknown realms of thought that will bring so many new insights that will completely alter the very fabric of how the world functions. College students are the future (the near future anyway). Letting Jesus Christ work through these adults will set them down a road that will impact millions.

Welcome to NOLA

First of all, this is my first experience in trying out having a blog. I really would not have time to have a blog at all, but this blog is qualifying as a class assignment, so that got me extremely interested. Although it does fulfull a class requirement, that is not at all my sole purpose in creating a blog. I have a lot of thoughts and beliefs that may or may not be able to benefit the world. But how will I know their impact if I don't attempt to share them?

I will start off my hopefully soon to be popular blog by simply telling random stuff about myself and who I am. My name is Kevin Sattler. I am a 22 year old student at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary in (you guessed it) New Orleans, Louisiana. Telling everything about myself at the onset would be a long and arduous process and I do not want to overburden a first time reader with facts so as to turn them off every reading again. I really want this blog to get out there in the world. Not for my own benefit by any means, but so that something can be accomplished or set in motion that could have an impact on the world. I am a first year graduate student getting my Masters of Divinity in Collegiate Ministry. I recently (May 2010) graduated from Arkansas State University (Go Red Wolves!) with degree in Philosophy and a minor in Religious Studies. I am planning on joining the Army as a Chaplain once my years of seminary are over. Whether or not a serve in the Army for simply four years or for much longer will depend on the calling God places on me at the time. I cannot know the future (thankfully), so I cannot really presuppose any actions that I may or may not take at any moment happening after this one. This is not at all my entire story. That would take a ridiculously long time. And you would have stop reading by now. Hopefully, that has not happened yet. As I blog more and more, my life story will unfold bit by bit and hopefully have an impact on yours.

I need to clarify something that I probably should have clarified at the beginning. I am a Chrisitian. There are certain aspects of Christianity that I will (as Pastor Rob Wilton) die on. Some things are absolutely true and cannot be changed. However, do not be turned off immediately if you are not a Christian. On the contrary, I would certainly love for you to keep reading. As a philosopher, I respect and try my best to understand all views over all issues (which I should tell you is an impossible task!!) and keep an open mind about all of the issues that are not certain. A lot of my blogs will be for my Guiding Collegians in Their Faith Pilgrammage class. Meaning I will be covering specific topics relating to how to practically implement certain practices into a collegiate ministry setting. These things will be from a college minister's perspective. If you are a college minister, feel free to try them out with your group of collegians. If you are not a college minister, you can skip them if you want. However, they will probably give a little bit of insight into how my brain works (which isn't very well sometimes) so if you want to know me, you might want to take an interest in them. I will also blog about things that happen in my day or maybe about something I read and contemplated about something biblical or whatnot. Many blogs will probably be random. Others will be structured and hopefully helpful.

Well that is it for my introductory (and first one ever) blog. I hope you will continue reading all of them. Or at least some of them every once in a while. Feel free to comment or email me with any questions or thoughts or prayer requests or absolutely anything you feel like chatting about. Thanks!!!