Chris Bean

I’m always amazed to find how many lessons from the world of sports translate into other areas of life. Jamie is one of my campus ministry peers here at the Edge House. We just had a great conversation in the kitchen (where MANY great Edge House conversations take place) about things we are both learning as we minister to college students. As we were reflecting on the process through which a few students have connected with her bible study/felllowship deal on Monday nights, we both recognized the need to have a light grip when it  comes to planning and programming for relational ministry (as if there’s non-relational ministry?)

So I was reminded of a golf lesson I had a few years back while visiting Hilton Head during the PGA event at Harbortown. Two buddies and I were treated to some time with one of the most sought-after golf instructors on the island. The first thing he corrected was my grip. He showed me a few places where my glove betrayed my bad golfing behavior…gripping the club too firmly. It didn’t take him long to find my next fundamental error…tension and tightness in my arms. Most golfers know this simple lesson: relax! As soon as you try to muscle the club at the ball…you’re likely to turn the hands over too quickly or make any number of other potential errors. The greatest golf shots often feel effortless…like the club just ’smoothes’ its way through the ball.

That’s the lesson I’ve been learning so far in my short time of ministering to college students: lighten up, relax, and let the club do the work. Perhaps that translates into ministry and relationships like this: lighten up (the expectations), relax (in prayer and in faith), and let the club do the work (realize it’s God who transforms students lives…not our effort or intensity).

Although it wasn’t one of the books I was already reading in preparation for this first week of 2010, I quickly realized that it would be difficult to put down. While turning the page from 2009 to 2010,  reading A Million Miles in a Thousand Years by Donald Miller has proven to be quite timely. You can hear a great introduction to the book by the author here.

The book is basically more of Don’s story (can I call him “Don?” it’s not like we get together occasionally at the Ugly Mug.) But in the process of telling his own story, he enlightens us with inspiring notions about what it means to LIVE a good story and be engaged in the process of transformation.

Another book I’m in the process of reading is The Art of Pilgrimage by Phil Cousineau. It is all about the process and purpose of pilgrimage, a concept which I have been sensitive to for years but very much awakened to more recently. As Miller shares stories about hiking in Peru, cycling across America, and kayaking into beautiful inlets my passion for incorporating travel, adventure, and ‘sacred’ geographical destinations into my own story has enlarged.

I would imagine that anyone could enjoy what Donald Miller is sharing in this book. But especially for those who find themselves bogged down by the mundaneness of their own stories…or searching for the “inciting incident” which might propel one into a better story or scene…A Million Miles is contemplatively energizing.

One of my goals for the upcoming year which I attempted a couple of years ago (not even coming close) was to read about a book a week for the year.

Here’s my list…we’ll see how it goes.

Book List for 2010

Hope…

Hope has been a key word and reminder for me during this Advent season. Now the things that have been hoped for and realized in the coming of Christ also provide great hope for the coming year.

Gospel…

Paul points out in Romans 1 that the Gospel is the manifestation of God’s saving power in the world…for everyone who believes. That is certainly reason for hope. Regardless of economic, political, financial, and cultural upheaval…God’s mission is one of reconciliation, restoration, and redemption. And I’m on the lookout for ways to partner with God in Christ through the Spirit…engaging in any possible opportunity to live out the Gospel.

Twelve…

Specifically, in terms of ministry at the University of Cincinnati, I am hoping for spiritual influence and transformation in the lives of at least twelve students. If I could have the blessing of sharing life, friendship, and a discipling journey with a dozen college students this year I know I’d be well on my way to seeing a whole new trajectory of hope and Kingdom living.

My first quarter at UC is mostly a blur now, but this two to three week “break” has given me a great opportunity to bring some clarity to the previous few months of life and ministry.

Actually, I have felt inclined to include an significant opportunity for reflection, planning, and spiritual refreshment at the end of the calendar year. I had originally planned for that to take the shape of a 2 or 3-day retreat/sabbath get-a-way starting this past Sunday. But due to some poor planning and some back pain, I post-poned for a few days.

Along with this 2-3 day end-of-the-year reatreat, I am adding two more similar spiritual pilgrimages to my calendar in order to maintain a good rhythm of rest & reflection. My next one will probably be at the beginning of Spring quarter and then another in late August or early September.

As I look forward to planning and setting a good trajectory for the journey in 2010, that playful impulse to just poke my head out the window and enjoy the ride is definitely getting the best of me.

This word “secular” has been giving me fits recently.

As I was reading a good post over at Jesus Creed here, I found this question.

How do you integrate your Christian faith with “secular” life and discipline?

The question itself reinforces the great chasm.

It’s one of those words the church came up with to talk about everyone/everything else and the idea works against a biblical worldview of integrating our faith with all of life.

My first quarter of campus ministry at UC has come to an end. Most of the students survived their final exams and projects and have left Clifton Heights for a few weeks.

Having a few weeks now to reflect on the previous 10 or 12 weeks of ministry, relationships, events, bible studies, etc will hopefully become the fuel for what is to come in 2010.

The outcome which I would celebrate most as I look back and evaluate my first quarter’s worth of campus ministry would be the relational rhythm of it all. Although we hosted some events along the way (at the Edge House, local Nazarene Churches, CCO stuff, etc)…the past few months were certainly most defined in terms of relationships and time with students. THAT is a win as far as I’m concerned.

There about a dozen UC students who have allowed me the opportunity to know them, spend time with them, and even coach/disciple them spiritually. And I’d say there are 5 or 6 students with whom I have developed intentional “be with” time. I am looking forward to pouring more relational and spiritual effort into these students as the next quarter begins.

In terms of an “opportunity” (which is how we referred to weaknesses and behavioral challenges at Starbucks)…I believe my greatest opportunity is connected with my own personal spiritual development and growth. I am more convinced than ever that the greatest thing I offer to students is the demonstration of a life completely surrendered and integrated with faith and Gospel and Kingdom. If college students are going to be transformed and living out their faith ten years from now, it will probably have more to do with my character and devotion to Christ than the content of my teaching or the number of events I convinced them to attend.

Between now and the new year, I hope to think more deeply about achieving two main objectives:

–The spiritual development and formation of the campus minister (myself)

–Creating more opportunities for ‘being with’ students and building those relationships.

I’m a bit emotional…sappy, you might say. Sometimes it humors my wife as we’re watching TV together and the dramatic tear-jerking scene (it can be anything really…even a commercial) reaches out extracting my heart from its proper place and lodging it in my throat.

I had one of those tearful moments as I drove to campus this morning. An NPR report came on the radio which involved a teen suicide cluster in Palo Alto, CA. You can find the actual report or even listen to it here.

Apparently, there have been four suicides at this particular commuter train railroad crossing in the past 6 months. What continued to capture my attention as I listened to the report was the response of the community and about 70 parents who began to volunteer for “Track Watch.”

I think this is a profound act of love and compassion…a true ’standing in the gap’ for teens in this community who are tempted to solve temporary problems with a permanent solution. This is no miniscule effort on the part of these parents either, spending several hours at a time as guardians of such an abused place.

As my heart was aching for these students, parents, school, and community…I was also infused with hope. As we enter this season of Advent, I’m looking for glimmers of Gospel…and a bunch of parents guarding a railroad track until 1 AM every  night looks like Gospel to me.

Success? Winning? Progress?

In some areas, this is an easy concept to define. As I have been training for marathons and trying to drop some extra pounds, all I have to do is step on the scale to see if I am “winning.”  When it comes to ministry and people, success is a little more elusive.

Not too long ago I was part of a church staff that was engaging Andy Stanley’s book “7 Practices of Effective Ministry” and we spent a good bit of time trying to define the “Win.”  That process instigated some healthy discussions regarding our vision, allotment of resources, evaluating success, etc.  A typically frustrating conclusion I often came to during my 15 years of staff ministry (youth, worship, discipleship) was that the “win” was nearly always defined in terms of numbers, dollars, programming, etc. I would even say that my own ministry with middle and high school students was more often geared towards being attractional and programmatically impressive than it should have been.

As I contemplate the next 10 to 20 years of my life, vocation, and mission…I am determined not only to define success differently, but to engage in ministry and relationships differently.

Several weeks ago I was sharing this re-orientation towards discipleship and long-term transformation with my friend, Phil. He was asking some questions about what I was trying to accomplish in campus ministry here in Cincinnati. My attempt to articulate this model of ministry never seems as clear or adequate verbalized as it exists in my head. But within a few minutes I think I was able to convey my passion and commitment to pouring myself into a few with hopes to impact many over time.

Another friend in campus ministry is wrestling with the same issue just across the river at NKU. Aaron Klinefelter is director of the Wesley Foundation and you can track with his discussion here. (Isn’t this a great shot of him with his son?!)   As Aaron and I discussed the topic of success briefly, I was challenged by something he said which I think is very true. If we don’t define success in our campus ministry, someone else will define it for us. Whether that’s a supervisor, a board, students, or any number of other possibilities…we must be intentional about shaping and modeling campus ministry strategically, ESPECIALLY if we have a definition of success and faithfulness which is not the default understanding of numbers, budgets, and a full calendar.

I especially like Jim Musser’s comments about measuring success by the future. You can read his perspective over at the Heart of Campus Ministry Blog here.  Jim makes this statement early in his post,

“The success of any campus ministry is found in what its students are doing five, 10, 15 years in the future.”

That is definitely the approach to ministry I am taking for the next 15-20 years. My goal is to disciple 12 students each year…with hopes that 4-6 of those students really flourish and are spiritually transformed. (Obviously, I would hope for 12 of 12 to succeed…but we all know better than that, eh?!)  Ideally, those 4-6 students would be discipled in such a way that they would own the calling of disciple-maker themselves. If that pattern continued for even 3 or 4 years, it would dwarf the “success” of my first 15 years of staff ministry. That’s pretty exciting…and as I have been praying to have maximum Kingdom impact with my life…campus ministry is an answer to that prayer.

Within the culture and context of my own family and extended family, Thanksgiving is a big deal. It only took a couple of our 15 years together for my wife and I to discover the optimal system for dividing up holiday time between our families. On my side of the family tree…Thanksgiving has always been the big family gathering. There is always more great food, more family present, and more good will surrounding this holiday than any other. So typically, we spend 2-3 days with my parents and brothers, grandma, etc around the traditional Thursday celebration in late November.

One little bonus this year was running the Drumstick Dash in Indy on Thursday morning with my big brother, Bill, and his oldest daughter, Erin. The 4.5 trek around the Broadripple community in northwest Indy was Erin’s first official race while she was home from Hanover College.

After only one quarter on campus at the University of Cincinnati, I’d say it’s a pretty big week for many families. Several students left campus after only attending a handful of classes on Monday and Tuesday of the Thanksgiving week. I heard mention of professors canceling their Wednesday classes because they knew students were leaving campus early. Perhaps the only thing that kept the masses hanging around campus this past week was the big game against Illinois on “Black Friday” which was particularly ‘black’ for the fighting Illini (Bearcat Black!)

My campus ministry-mates at the Edge House were engaged in some great efforts of hospitality and compassion…serving up some delicious Thanksgiving meals for those in need. Even after only one quarter’s worth of ministry, I know the Edge House is making a great impact on the students, campus, and community. Being part of the Edge House while serving students via the CCO & Nazarene Church has been a great combination so far. And we’ve only just begun!