Vision and Calling

Since last year, I really have been wrestling in a good way with our calling as staff, and in light of that, how and what in the world do I invest my time in light of so many important things. As a student in Campus Crusade, I always thought of Crusade in light of the masses--how many people came to the weekly meeting, what we were doing for a social. On the other side now, I see Crusade in light of leaders.

What seems to define the quality of a movement in my eyes is not so much how many people come to the weekly meeting, although that definitely vies for my attention, but instead how many people get what we're all about, and have the time and passion to invest in what we're all about.

There has been so much talk lately since Crusade's main philosophy has been influenced by the decentralization-ist talk of multiple movements. I am a huge proponent of them, and wholeheartedly believe in that strategy in light of our scope, but it seems that somehow in focusing so much on decentralizing, that one of our primary roles, at least in my mind, is to develop kingdom-leaders, not just kingdom-laborers.

A good friend of mine here in Chico works full-time as a loan-officer, and is an assistant pastor at a local church. He came to Chico with hopes of starting a college ministry within his church. I just talked with him last week and he and the church have not seen hardly any growth or development of their college group. The biggest reason he notes is that he simply cannot get time on campus with the students that come to his group. What I heard from that is that he really has no way of developing his students.

One of the best questions that I think anyone can ask is "What can I, and only I, do as a ____?" Unlike this guy, I can spend all day on campus, and I can develop students into leaders. It would be an absolute travesty is we thought that somehow a local church can do a better job than we can as campus ministers. If we lose our focus on developing and investing in kingdom-leaders, then we really don't need to be on campus. Local churches have tons of mentors, programs, and people that can minister to a person. However, I have not seen one local church that can develop leaders as well as we can as staff.

When I form my weeks around the vision and calling of Campus Crusade for Christ, I see what a privilege it is to be a part of this mission-organization. I participate with God in developing people that will literally go out to the world and bring Him more of the glory that he deserves.