Ownership revisited

For some reason this idea of student ownership has been on my mind since last weekend. Not just student ownership, but the quick turnaround of students doing ministry, ie. students coming to faith and 3 days later sharing there faith.

So isn't it ironic that I met with Alex today. He is a freshman who placed his trust in Christ roughly a month and half ago. He met me at a coffee shop on the edge of campus with the idea of a major outreach. His almost exact words were, "I've never done anything like this, but more and more I feel like God is in this and I want to go big or go home." So not only is a freshmen (A FRESHMEN!) saying this to me, but his outreach idea is meant to build bridges in a compassionate, humble way to people that would never check out 'Real Life,' our weekly meeting. I'll explain more later. I'm really kind of blown away.

So my challenge is to coach him without stiffling student ownership. I've literally told him that this is his baby. I given him some helpful hints and set him up with a bit of organization for a outreach team and prayed with him. But this is his brainchild and I want him to deeply own it. I want him to own it in a way that he is on his knees, petitioning the Lord for wisdom, strength, and for the Spirit to direct him. I want him to link arms with others and be deeply dependent on the Lord.

More than ever I believe that if students have that experience of stepping out of the boat (props to John Ortberg) and trusting the Lord for something way bigger that themselves, it will shape them forever and have lasting impact in our local ministry, in recruiting for staff, and in how people are involved in ministry wherever they are at.