From Forest to Tree: Changing our view of discipleship to value the individual

Have you ever felt like the only tree in the forest that wasn’t like the others? Like all of the trees around you have roots that suck water through huge PVC pipe while your roots are trying to suck through a coffee stirrer?

At some point I am sure each of us have felt this way.

This awkwardness is felt by many when entering a discipleship group on a week night in the dorm.

You know what I mean–you are so envious when the person next to you starts spouting off quotes from last week’s reading. They eloquently recite half the book of James while you struggle to stay focused and wade through the material in order to participate.

Three Practices for Campus Ministers Courtesy of the Rolling Stones — Part II

At the heart of Christian theology lies the idea that God is one. And if God is one (Deuteronomy 6:4), then the implications are astounding, with, perhaps, the largest being (to borrow a phrase from Richard Rohr) that “everything belongs”.

Many of us live with a bifurcated (or muti-furcated…just made up a word) world. College students are bombarded with this constantly. Whether it be sacred vs. secular, personal vs. public, on-line vs real-life, dualism abounds.

Be Still and Know: Helping the Freedom-Seeking Freshman Slow Down and Experience the Lord

Artist David Arms uses the image of a hummingbird to symbolize humans, and I would dare to say that a freshman in college is like a hummingbird drinking a five hour energy drink.

Arms says we are like hummingbirds because we are in perpetual motion.

We never slow down!

To an eighteen-year old, we add that perpetual motion to the thrill of freedom in a whole new world, and suddenly the hummingbird is chugging that five hour energy in order to put motion in hyper drive.

The Consistency of Some…

What does it do for you?

Or maybe a better question is what does it do to you?

The consistency of some…

How would you complete that statement?

I live out in the country — and I love it! And as I make my way into the city each day I will inevitably pass several runners — and their consistency inspires me.