Category: college ministry

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church college ministry missional

The Ordinary: The Rabbit and The Elephant.

We have some great students who think deeply about the church universal and the church local, and are living expressions of mission on their campus.  Aaron is one of them, and I’ve been blessed to watch him wrestle with the concepts of missional community.  He’s writing about it at The Ordinary, and here is an excerpt from his latest post:

Basically what Im getting at is not hard. Its not the rabbit OR the elephant… its the rabbit AND the elephant. Its a “variety of ministries, and the same Lord. There are verieties of effects, but the same God who works all things in all persons” 1 Cor 12:5-6. One is not better than the other but I do think in the future the American church majority will consist of rabbits and I think most can agree on this.

via The Ordinary: The Rabbit and The Elephant.

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church college ministry

Parachurch and Church | Moore to the Point

This is an interesting insight from Russell Moore about campus ministries and the necessity of connecting with a local church.  I would probably take a less hard line approach than he does and value a less “formal” expression of church, as well as argue that a church needs to adapt to its cultural context to effectively minister.  In spite of my subtle disgreements, I do believe the article does a good job of capturing the importance of the local church within the climate of many campus ministries.

The reason many college students identify primarily with a campus ministry rather than with a church is not because of any flaw in most campus ministry organizations. It is because, too often, we evangelical Christians have a deficient view of the church. We assume that it is any gathering of people who believe in Jesus and who do churchly things. Many Christians assume the church exists simply to help us learn more about Christ and pool our resources for missions. If that’s the case, a campus ministry can do all those things, and more. But the Scriptures tell us the church is much more than that.

via Jesus Didn’t Die for a Campus Ministry: The Spiritual Danger of Unchurched Spirituality.

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austin stone college ministry

CGI | Austin Stone Student in the Statesman

This is why I love doing what I do…I get to watch amazing students do amazing things.  Jackie Markovich is an intern in the College Ministry at The Austin Stone, and The Austin American Statesman printed an article about her project in Sudan for the Clinton Global Initiative.  Here’s an excerpt:

In Nagishot, Sudan, women work in the fields and in their homes.

And with the help of Jackie Markovich, a 21-year-old University of Texas junior studying political communication, they will start their own businesses — making a local pastry and chai to sell on the roadside, as well as soap and cooking oil from sunflowers.

The poor, Markovich said, “just need someone to basically give them a hand.”

Read the whole article here.

Great work Jackie!

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austin stone college ministry

The Austin Stone on Campus – Review

Wednesday night we gathered the students of The Austin Stone to worship on campus and cast vision for this coming semester.

I preached on our call as believers to make disciples through Matthew 4:18-22 (we are called to radical obedience to a radical Jesus), Matthew 28:16-20 (we are given the task of making disciples of all nations), and Matthew 24:14 (Christ will return when this task has been completed).

Hopefully we’ll have an audio of it up soon so you can listen.

Aaron Ivey, who led us in worship, has some great thoughts from Wednesday night here.

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austin stone church college ministry

TASCC Student Story | Aaron Hayslip

Another story from the TASCC College Blog here.