I’m not sure I’m in the best position to make a contribution to this blogathon, given its topic, Sex and the Soul. I have grown long in the tooth and I find myself sounding like my parents.
But, I must be honest: I think the topic looms huge, the veritable 500-pound gorilla always there in the corner of the room.
Maybe a story from my own college experience will help to frame my concern.
I’m excited to announce that as a part of next week’s Sex & the Soul Blogathon, we will be giving away 5 copies of Abbie Smith’s forthcoming book Celibate Sex: Musings on Being Loved, Single, Twisted, and Holy.
Make sure to read all the way to the bottom to learn the context rules!
Preparation for the next blogathon is now underway!
As you very well know, today’s college students are more wounded than ever. They’ve been exposed to, or personally experienced, a lot of pain and hurt in relation to sex, issues of sexuality, and their intersection with the Christian faith.
And what they need most are women and men who are willing to “get dirty” with them in order to understand the depths of their hurts.
They need someone like you and like me to come alongside them — suspending judgment — and journey with them towards healing, reconciliation, and redemption.
The 3rd Annual Sex & the Soul Blogathon…
You can’t do it all. Right?!
If you’re reading this, than you’ve probably already figured this out for yourself — to some degree — because the majority of you (my faithful readers) work with college students and have gone through the process of vocational discernment in order to end up doing what you’re doing right now.
But this is not the case for the vast majority of students we serve.
They don’t know they can’t do it all.
In fact, most of them believe that they CAN do ANYTHING they want.
When I started my blog in 2006, I was planning on blogging 4-6 times a month. Unfortunately, over the last two years, I’ve been largely dormant on the blogging front. I won’t bore you with what’s taken precedence, but I’ve decided that in 2013, it’s time to fire up my blog and get it started again. I hope that there might be some things of interest to readers of Faith on Campus.
In the coming year, here’s what you can expect to see:
It’s a new year, which means that a new season of ministry with students is upon us.
And as we’ve launched into 2013, I’ve generated a new reading list, and decided to start the year by re-reading a couple of classics.
One of my first re-reads of the year is Richard Foster’s, Celebration of Discipline.
I couldn’t venture a guess as to the number of times that I’ve worked through this book. The first time I read it I was in grad. school — and it changed my life! Since then I’ve re-read it several times on my own, and led numerous groups through it as a way of learning to work on the interior life.
Merry Christmas — one and all!
As we move further in to the Christmas season, and nearer the end of 2012, it’s time to for some of my annual countdowns.
It seems fitting to start with one of the things I am most thankful for — because it’s what makes being a part of Faith ON Campus so enjoyable for me — and that’s YOU!
Some of you have gone so far as to offer guest posts at different seasons, that have helped to provide a unique perspective and/or insight that I myself could not offer — and the collective Faith ON Campus community has benefited from it — GREATLY!
So for my first countdown of 2012, I bring to you the Top 12 Guest Posts of the year!
I recently had the pleasure of enjoying lunch with a couple of friends — and a few strangers.
And when one of the young guys put his phone in the middle of the table, two others quickly followed — and then looked at the two of us who had yet to clue in.
As I looked at the growing pile of phones, and then back at the young guy who started the pile, he could see that I needed an explanation.
“The game,” he said, “is quite simple. The first person to reach for the phone — for any reason — buys lunch.”
“YIKES!” I thought.
I haven’t been to work in over a week now. It’s because late last Thursday (the 8th), my wife gave birth to our fifth child (yes, 5th).
Lailie Grace (pronounce Lay-lee) is now one week old and has given me good reason to completely alter my work schedule for the rest of the fall term.
It may be that the fifth time’s the charm when it comes to learning how to take a paternity leave.
Leading is a challenge.
Leading in the midst of division is all the more so.
But I’m confident that it can be done.
As our nation begins to settle into the reality of last night’s election, and the direction of our country for the next four years, there are some things that I hope our elected officials might consider — and that we, as ministry leaders, might model — as we seek to move forward for the betterment of those that we have been called (or elected) to serve.