By Justin Wallace
My story begins in a rural town in central Indiana. I grew up under the tin roof of a log cabin, listening to my grandmother’s tall tales. All the grandkids would pile into feather beds, laugh, listen, and learn. There were several nights I would like awake after everyone was asleep and listen to the wind howl, my cousins snore, and the acorns fall from the trees onto the tin roof over our heads.
Years later, God began speaking through the cadence created by acorns on that tin roof.
Each acorn falls as an individual; alone and isolated. Each experiences a disconnect from its source, then a rhythmic reconnection as each hits the tin roof. This reconnection produces what each individual acorn could not alone. Together the acorns come to life and bless the listeners inside the house with a beautiful melody.
Every week I hear college students with hundreds of Facebook friends say, “I feel disconnected. Lonely. Out of the loop. I don”t belong.” How can a generation with networking resources in the palms of their hands feel so disconnected?
With the click of a button they can connect with people around the globe, but lives lived through virtual connections alone are artificial, incomplete, and leave one with a fractured image of life.
The college experience resembles exile for many college students. Thousands leave the familiarity of home for life in a city within a city. They move in with strangers, unpack, and walk all alone to classes on crowded sidewalks. Overwhelmed with loneliness, many students feel like these four years are just a waiting room, a collegiate purgatory they must endure before entering the real world.
Connecting with Exiles
As a campus minister, my calling in life is to connect with these exiles. I want to introduce them to the one who desires to reconnect the disconnected.
I still remember my first walk across the campus of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Stepping out of my car, I took a deep breath of crisp spring air and began my journey. Students walked by each other with headphones in and eyes on the ground. There were no smiles, conversations, eye contact, or connections. They were sharing sidewalks and living alone.
Though this generation is considered the most connected in history, and though they spend most of their time plugged into something, the students were worlds apart from each other. Their loneliness broke my heart. As I sat in the middle of campus, my heart hurt and my mind raced. For several days after that walk I mourned what I saw and prayed for a vision of what could be.
Connecting with God
God laid the vision of Nehemiah 1:9-11 on my heart. In this passage, Nehemiah quotes the Lord speaking to Moses, “If you return to me and obey my commands, then even if your exiled people are at the farthest horizon, I will gather them from there and bring them to the place I have chosen as a dwelling for my Name.”
God has a special place in his heart for the lonely, the disconnected, and the exiled. He goes as far as entering into their place of exile in order to adopt them, reconnect them, and set them free. Throughout the book of Nehemiah exiled people are reunited. Rescued by God, they rub elbows and begin rebuilding the walls. Their world begins to change.
Transformed and reunited by God”s grace, college students can rebuild the walls of a university campus, our churches, a nation, and a culture. Campus ministers from around the nation echo the critical need to reach the university campus. Mike Armstrong, of Christ on Campus at the University of Arkansas, says, “We have the opportunity to disciple those who will be leading the church globally in the years to come and equip them to lead the body of Christ wherever God scatters them.”
Indeed, future leaders, writers, teachers, doctors, politicians, pastors, janitors, professors, inventors, mothers, and fathers walk across our campuses today. They are a melting pot of young minds from around the globe. Quite literally, our campuses are international mission fields in our backyard. Jeff Vanderlaan, director of staff development for Impact Campus Ministries, explains, “The University at Albany”s slogan is “˜The World Within Reach.” They are right. American colleges and universities attracted 690,923 international students for the 2009-2010 academic year, a record number. Will the church be on campus to engage them?”
Thirty-two-year veteran campus minister Tim Hudson explains that campus ministry is important to the church today “because between freshman year and graduation, students wrestle with every decision imaginable. The choices college students make will shape not only their lives but the world we live in. Campus ministry is all about guiding students to include Jesus in their decision making.”
Tim Hawkins of Sojourn Ministries, which is reaching Boston Metro area universities, says, “The university is the gatekeeper of the language and literature of our culture. Collegiate ministry is where the struggle for the language and literature is taking place. We bring a reminder of the language and literature of the Word made flesh.”
Drew”s Story
I met a cynical loner named Drew during his freshman year. He spent the better part of his college experience with only his best friend by his side. They lived together, ate together, and played video games for hours. Even when Drew and his best friend attended our ministry, they seemed to avoid other people.
Four years later, in order to fulfill a senior seminar, Drew was required to complete a yearlong internship, and so he chose a campus ministry position. During that year he discovered two things: God had gifted him with unique creativity and God was not content with his being a loner.
On the hunt for Drew”s heart, God altered Drew”s life and began using him to do something profound and culture shaping. Drew recently started his own design and apparel company to reach an unreached group of young adults in Charlotte. As a businessman with a dream to see the kingdom of God come to earth through his work, Drew is making a difference in the world. This is exactly what those of us in campus ministry hope to do.
Why is the university campus a critical missions field? Because college students are like falling acorns. Given the proper landing place, they can make a beautiful melody””and they can change the world.
Justin Wallace is teaching pastor at Impact Charlotte and campus minister at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. He has a wife, two children, and facilitates heartofcampusministry.com.
Great insights Justin. Thank you.