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| Why I am not Rah-Rah Over the Campus Missionary Movement (At Least Not as We Know It) |
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| Written by Admin | ||||||
| Tuesday, 11 December 2007 | ||||||
Page 3 of 4 ll three types present obstacles for growth and sustaining a club. The same can be said of our youth groups. It really takes one or two special people to have the club affect the "mission field" who have the vision of the club as the avenue to do it.Last Tribal Experience? Mark Senter, author of Coming Revolution in Youth Ministry, wrote in another article, "The assumption is that high school represents the last tribal experience in American society and as such is the best place to evangelize the whole tribe. Supposedly the only roadblocks to success have been discovering a biblical strategy and the total commitment of the people trying to take a high school for Christ." (Mark Senter, "View to the Future," www.youthworkers.net). Perhaps there are other more practical roadblocks. Something to make you go hmmm... Students Who Really Make a Difference From my perspective, the students who really "change their schools" are those who are good students. Not only with grades, but their very presence can influence the atmosphere of the classroom, lunchroom and team or club. In doing this, they are also "prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect." 1 Peter 3:15. This makes the largest impression on teachers and administrators--who are often the only antagonists to reaching the schools. And when students make such a responsible impression, privileges are given. They really are- -whether it is fair or not. It is with those privileges that real opportunities are available. This truth became particularly true when Frank, one of "my boys," died. For the entire story, go to www.wildfrontier.org/Godsfamily. In a nutshell, Frank's life as a good student, good athlete, and one simple Christian t-shirt led to 1,200 students of the school making a commitment to live for Jesus at his funeral. It is a great story. I recommend you check it out completely. One more thought, what good is a campus missionary who has low grades, tardies and/or bad classroom behavior? My school system is more concerned over tardies than cussing. Campus missionaries don't have a problem with cussing, but they may with tardies. The Slack Attitude Donna Harrington-Lueker wrote in an editorial to USA Today, "It's that many students, especially seniors, have learned the system we call high school: a certain amount of seat time, a respectable score on the SAT, a successful effort on a state's 10th grade exit exam, and they're through. Having figured out precisely what's expected--the least teachers will accept--they do precisely that and no more. To many students, high school has become a game to be played, a hoop to be jumped through, a stage to be tolerated. It's a world where academic excellence doesn't win them recognition. And it doesn't bring them the satisfaction of a real world job..." (Donna Harrington-Lueker, "Got Bored Students? Click on Their Passions?" USA Today, March 20, 2000). This is so true. What a bright spot a good student is. Imagine what a brighter spot a good student who is a true "light?" These students could be called "suck-ups" or "brown-nosers" which might not challenge some youth to be that way. Particularly those youth who are not naturally good students. These kind do legitimately exist. Some students just don't fit into the way the education system is set up with teachers lecturing, students taking notes and not enough hands-on learning. But if there is respect and any effort, most teachers will go out of their way to help. That often strikes within them why they got into teaching in the first place. (There are also some teachers who won't do a thing to help students. They exist also.) That student can turn out to be the biggest blessing, even with his/her D, which certainly leads to those wanted opportunities. No Agenda to Help the School Honestly, it is our vision-driven, God-desire and all-out love for teenagers that motivates us to start Bible clubs and raise campus missionaries. We love teenagers and want as many to be saved as possible. Righteous and pure motives. |
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