Chris Bean

“Frankly, twentysomethings are perceived by most leaders in churches as a transient demographic, people who don’t tithe and who need to solidify their faith on their own.”

Reading this statement was not as shocking as it was disheartening. From my conversations with pastors over this past year of ministering specifically to college students and various twenty-somethings I would completely agree that most have this hands-off approach to this demographic.

I swiped this little sound bite from Chuck Bomar’s blog as he was bringing attention to a new book on the subject which he co-authored. The book is called Slow Fade and you can find some more information about it here.

The positive side of this observation, however, is that the churches and pastors who I see really connecting and discipling college-age folk are doing some pretty simple things.

• They’re loving college students and young adults
• They’re giving them a sense of belonging and significance within the Body
• They’re sharing life beyond casual conversation and helping these young adults see what faith looks like in real life…and in a variety of vocational settings.

The covenant formula–you will be my people and I shall be your God–formed the essence of the covenant relationship from the beginning (Ex. 6:7).

One of my tasks as a campus minister is to communicate the biblical story to students. What is God’s Word all about? What is God’s plan? What is the Gospel? How do we read God’s Word…study it…live it?

There are a few books on my 2010 reading list which help me towards this goal and Michael Williams Far As The Curse Is Found falls into that category. Perhaps the most helpful aspect of this particular book has been the emphasis on covenant as a lens through which we can see the drama of Scripture unfold.

God has indeed, completely of his own initiative, covenanted with his Creation…certainly including humanity. Sin is the disruptor of covenant…the barrier which makes it impossible for us to keep covenant with God. Through the cross of Christ, death is put to death and the righteousness of Christ becomes the righteousness in which we stand. The church becomes extremely significant as the community which cooperates with sovereign God to mediate His covenant to the world (the ministry of reconciliation which Paul speaks of).

Williams skillfully unpacks the idea of covenant in a way that makes sense from beginning to end. Within the context of this robust view of the Gospel…from Creation to Fall to Redemption to Consummation…God’s covenant relationship with Creation and all that He has done to maintain that covenant stirs the heart to respond in love and obedience. And as we live into this covenant relationship with God, we must be very careful not to divorce internals (heart) from externals (law/obedience) as Israel often did but look to the cross and the resurrection as our means for living as people of God.

My purpose in reading and posting about this book is not to promote a stout beer but a stout faith!

The story of Arthur Guinness and his faith is one that could inspire anyone to search for the secret of integrating vocation, calling, and work. As I disciple college students, one of the values I hope to instill in them is a grand vision for integrating faith with their academic and vocational pursuits.

For the past 250 years, members of the Guinness family have pursued various careers in brewing, banking, ministry/missions, etc. What most encourages me from their story is the redemptive use of wealth and commitment to leverage their passion and their lives for the benefit of others.

I began reading this book while flying to Atlanta for a marathon last month and nearly finished it on the plane. Even as I often see something as so-called  “secular” as running to be a spiritual endeavor, I was certainly challenged to think about brewing beer as a calling and a craft. This is probably not hard to believe given my own view of coffee, espresso, and hospitality.  Here are a few lines from the book which especially caught my attention:

“They did not see themselves as secular, but rather as called.”

“It seems that Patrick [Saint] understood godly hospitality and captured many an Irish tribal chieftain with his tasty beer before he won the man for God.”

“…the firm promised to hold the job of any man who enlisted in the armed forces and to pay him half his salary while he served.”

This last statement is one of hundreds of examples of corporate responsibility which Guinness pioneered from the early days. From providing health care, housing, financial assistance, and many other services during the most devastating times in Dublin, the brewery set amazingly high standards for the treatment of employees and their families.

Mansfield’s book tells a great story of faith and craft while inspiring one to search more carefully for God in his/her vocation as well.

This particular Sunday morning found me experiencing a couple of different expressions of church. Although they were both pretty large gatherings, the style of worship was quite different as was their impact on me personally and spiritually.

At the first worship gathering, I saw some old friends and connected with people in a way that was familiar, comfortable, etc. Since I was meeting up with a student and his mom, it was also a great opportunity to build relationships and connect with someone that I am discipling. During that service, the pastor brought some challenging and inspirational thoughts about ‘church’ from Hebrews 10. Interestingly, embedded in this passage is a set of verses which I’ve been recently trying to commit to memory.

“Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts psrinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.”

These couple of verses (vv.22-23 of chapter 10) have been part of my “freedom journey” over the past few weeks as I continue the process of living completely in the awareness of God’s grace and not out of any ability to live righteously on my own.

But the encouraging words the pastor shared today emphasized what we can experience as church based on the reconciling and priestly work Christ finished on the cross for us. A priest builds a bridge between people and God. And Jesus did that once and for all so that we have direct access (in the context of community) to God. This access doesn’t legitimize the individual attempt to live a life of faith, but should increase our awareness of what it means to belong to one another IN Christ.

Often times, pastors come across as desperately trying to convince people to come to church for trivial reasons:

• for the sake of numbers
• or to sustain the church financially
• perhaps to feed the pastor’s ego for “success”
• etc

But this morning I heard a passionate and scriptural call for believers to be engaged in the community of faith. It’s a two-way street. We don’t just go to church for what we can get out of it, or because we desperately need it even. And in fact, when we think of it in terms of “going to church” we’ve already betrayed a lack of understanding in what it means to BE the church…to intimately BELONG with a group of people who share in this transforming journey of relationship to God through faith in Christ.

Atlanta was my 5th marathon in two states now. On Sunday March 21st I took the next step towards my eventual goal of running a marathon in all 50 states.

Having had lots of knee pain and a drastically reduced training schedule, I was really unsure of how my body would respond to the 26.2 mile test this time around.

Greg and I arrived downtown Atlanta with plenty of time to park and find the starting corrals. We made the mistake of waiting to use the restroom near the start area though and the lines were backed up to a ridiculous point. After scouting out a restroom in the restaurant of a nearby hotel I made it back to the start line just in time to see the initial festivities. I watched a few thousand people pass by before I spotted Greg, my running buddy from Athens, GA. The ING Georgia marathon experience was underway for both of us.

For the first 6 miles of the course I ran at Greg’s pace and we enjoyed some occasional  chatting. Between mile 2 & 3, Greg stopped for a potty break and I noticed that my knee pain was already flaring up. Not good! But we were having a good time running figure 8′s, hopping curbs, and generally goofing off…which helped distract from the belligerent knee.

As we came up a hill on mile 6, the course split and separated the half from the full-marathoners. Greg and I exchanged some “skin” and went our separate ways. He was shooting for 2:20 or less on the half and I was hoping for anything sub 4:30 on the full. It must have been between mile 7-8 that we ran through the Candler Park area and I noticed the left knee was quieting down. Hmmm…that’s a good sign, right?! There were several nice stretches of course that went through beautiful/historic neighborhoods and college campuses. I especially remember downtown Decatur as a nice spot along the course with plenty of cheering crowds to keep the spirits high.

Dedicated Decatur Fans

Coming out of Decatur I remember thinking “Hey, I feel pretty good! This might actually end well.” At mile 14 I started a split time on my watch planning to run the next six miles in less than an hour. But at mile 17 I had to take a walk break and the left knee flared up once again as we meandered through a very nice residential area. I was climbing a hill to the 18-mile marker when it became quite clear that pain was going to be my companion all the way to the finish. By the time I got to mile 20, I was having difficulty putting much weight on the left knee. So my right leg was really taking a beating.

After passing the mile 21 sign we came into a park and ran a little loop that turned around at the 22 mile marker. I was walking a good bit during this stretch and met a guy from Wooster, OH who was also trying to manage some discomfort. At this point I also caught up to a guy named Kevin who kept me company and offered some encouragement for a little while. He was from Atlanta and actually running his 26th marathon. Originally I had noticed Kevin because he was wearing a knee brace. Somewhere between miles 12 and 16 I asked him how the knee was holding up as I passed by. He and I exchanged multiple conversations throughout the 2nd half of the course.

A Picture of Pain

Just before mile marker #22 I went from a hobble-walk to a hobble-jog and had hopes of running out the final two miles of the course. But the legs were spent and the left knee continued in its degradation while the back of my right knee started stiffening up severely. I geared down to a shuffling pace once again. The frustration was mounting as I sensed the weight of my own disappointment with the day’s effort. The 5-hour mark was getting dangerously close and I certainly did not want to breach that old performance threshold again.

Just after passing the mile 25 station, I stretched out the stride and set my mind on a sold finish. Fortunately the noise and cheers of the crowd always energize me and I saw the last turn coming up on my left. As I neared the corner some guy cheered me on saying, “Just turn the corner and you’re done.” Sure enough, I turned that corner and the finish line was downhill and less than 100 yards away. There was my buddy Greg…cheering me across the finish line.

In spite of the pain and damage which would take several weeks to fully recover from, my goal of running another 26.2 in a new state was accomplished.

Thousands of people around Cincinnati are participating in a journey with Crossroads Community Church in Oakley/Cincinnati. What they call their “all-church journey” this year is a series called “Free*” and it has been a great opportunity for many believers around the city to connect and be on the same spiritual page.

No piece of curriculum or teaching series perfectly meets everyone’s needs but they’ve certainly touched on a crucial life issue with this material. Many of us live out of brokenness and have our identity more shaped by that experience than by our experience with truth and the Gospel.

For me, the great lie has to do with my performance…comparisons…competition…fear of rejection and/or failure.

The great truth is this: In love, God has chosen us way ahead of time to be adopted into His family and that adoption has NOTHING to do with our performance (what we do) and EVERYTHING to do with trust (in what Christ has done).

At the Edge House we’ve been hosting a monthly Friday night conversation that we call the “Theology Throwdown.”

Typically, this “throwdown” is just an opportunity to host a conversation and discussion which has some sort of theological or philosophical flavor to it. So far we have tackled such simple issues as…

• The Problem of Evil
• The Two Natures of Christ (humanity/divinity)
• Who needs the Church
• The relationship/tension between faith & science

Last night was probably my favorite conversation to date. In addition to a good topic, we had an interesting mix of students who all contributed fabulous perspectives and experiences. Everyone’s input combined for a really rich mixture of interaction.

A highlight moment for me was when one of the students (coming from a very atheistic/pluralistic worldview) commented on his experience at the Edge House so far. He said something like this,

It’s cool to have someone say, “I’m a Christian…so let’s talk’ instead of ‘I’m a Christian…and you’re going to hell.”

The atmosphere of hospitality and faith discovery we are developing at the Edge House should continue to grow. I hope we’ll have many more conversations take place like that one!

Not sure if you can read the subtitle on this image, but it is “the call to daily dependence on God.”

That has been a challenging posture to thoroughly condition into the muscle memory of our lives. Of course we would always give lip service to the notion of trusting God for provision over the years, and have certainly seen God provide in amazing ways in our first 15 years of ministry. But it seems like we’ve entered some new territory lately.

Raising most of our support as we’re on mission to transform the lives of college students in Cincinnati is revealing some head trash, bad habits, and trust issues. This book was a helpful read for Debbie and I both as we become determined to trust God more than anything or anyone else.

One of our temptations has been to put our trust in the provision rather than in the Provider. Jesus didn’t really do us any favors when He taught us to pray for daily bread. That essentially means we are to live in a posture of constant dependence on God. At one point the author correctly points out “We enjoy provision. But we detest daily provision.”  Our materialistic and consumeristic culture does not submit easily to this Kingdom notion that God’s ability to provide far exceeds our ability to gather.

Some other quotes which caught my eye in this quick read…

God wants to teach us that His presence is what provides safety, not our resources.

Can we follow Jesus if it means abandoning a value system committed to accumulation?

Is enough for today enough for me?

As we continue moving further up and further in…on this journey of trust and transformation, I want to be much more mindful of the “manna moments” which God uses to teach me about His unlimited capacity as Creator and provider.

Occasionally I browse my way over to the Northumbria Community online to pray the daily offices. You can learn more about that here if you’re interested. Recently I also downloaded a dramatic and interpretive reading of the Psalms inspired by the Bible Experience. These and other tools help me do something which seems to be a necessity in order to daily walk with Christ.

It’s no secret that if I stop running and training regularly for marathons, several things will happen:

• Gain weight
• Lose endurance
• Perform poorly in the event
• etc

In the area of financial responsibility…careless spending, failure to save, and neglecting the behaviors which produce income will result in debt and financial ruin.

All these lessons are quite easily learned and without much difficulty can be applied.

Is it the same in the area of spiritual health? I often “preach” that it is…our spiritual health can appear to be directly proportional to the effort and time which we invest in appropriate Christian disciplines and behaviors:  prayer, bible study, worship, fasting, meditation, serving the poor, reading, etc. In fact, I was just discussing the need for “daily quiet time” with a student who has allowed me the privilege of discipling them in the faith. As I challenged him to incorporate this component of spending time with God, two issues began to irritate my own mind on the matter.

1. First of all, it was a reminder to practice what I preach. I’ve become lax, you might say, when it comes to my disciplined approach to a daily “quiet time” with the Lord over the years. That has been a reaction, in part, to the second issue.
2. There is a danger of cultivating a spiritual work ethic which can lead to pride and entitlement. A friend of mine shared a quote (or paraphrase) from Brennan Manning recently which suggested something to the effect of this…if he had his life to do over, he wouldn’t waste one minute on trying to develop his spiritual life.

So I come back to the analogy. Is developing our ‘spiritual’ life (as if we have a non-spiritual life??) similar to mastering our finances, or our health, or any other area which requires discipline? Is our spiritual health directly proportional to the amount of time we spend “with God” or engage in the disciplines of the Christian life? Or are we compelled to engage in those disciplines as a response to the overwhelming grace of God?

Resolving that tension is perhaps not  the right question. Maybe the right question is this:

How do I live within the tension of grace and working out salvation?

How do I push myself to lean further up and further in to the Kingdom while avoiding a tendency towards pride, duty, or entitlement?

The CCO sponsors a fabulous conference for college students each February in Pittsburgh. The final session ended about 24-hours ago and I’m still processing and cataloging the experience in my head.

Joining me at my first official Jubilee as a campus minister was…Joey Dupps & Paul Harris (two UC students I’ve been discipling), Jamie Noyd (a fellow campus minister at the Edge House), Kalman Tinka (my backpacking Beavercreek bud who is interested in OLT ministry with the CCO), and my family (my wife Deb and two daughters–Jessica & Jaquey–were able to attend as well).

The weekend was a terrific time of reconnecting with fellow CCO staffers…these are truly some of the most intelligent, faithful, fun, Kingdom-minded people on the planet!

The general sessions were highlighted with a few of these faces:

Amena Brown shared several powerful spoken word vignettes.

She is a poet, speaker, and journalist.

Each time she would ‘do her thing’ I got chills!

Over the course of the weekend, the crowd of about 2500 engaged in some energetic and inspirational times of singing and worship.

It’s always good to gather as the Church and pour out an offering of praise and worship to the God who has so graciously reconciled us to Himself through the Cross.

It was a bit of a tossup for me between these two speakers as my favorites of the weekend (especially from an entertainment and comedic angle). Susan Isaacs (left) beautifully shared her journey and at one point said, “God ruined my life…and it’s the best thing that ever happened to me.”  Bob Goff (right) is an amazing lawyer, father, professor, Kingdom advancer, etc who shows up in Donald Miller’s latest book (A Million Miles in a Thousand Years). What he shared was simply an inspirational life of “playing riffs in the key of Jesus.”

There were so many other great moments, speakers, and truths shared at Jubilee. Dr. John M. Perkins challenged the present generation of college-age “young folk” to take the baton of reconciliation and be the post-racist generation that becomes fluent in a language of love. The impact which that man has had on the urban America and the reconciliation movement is astounding. It was a great honor to be in his presence….especially as I listened in on a more informal session with him and student leaders who are seeking justice.

Besides the great content, programming, and speakers which all made Jubilee quite amazing…sharing it with Joey, Paul, Kalman, and Phil was especially good. I see that God is doing great things in each of their lives and look forward to seeing what kind of great adventure God launches their lives into in the coming weeks and months!