Why College Students???

This is where the "lightbulb" went on!

In the previous post, we talked about the journey.  During that 5 years, God began placing college students in our path.

Originally we were helping a couple of times per year with a campus ministry and we had a few students in our Community Group.  Our church experimented with having a formal college ministry...which we REALLY enjoyed.  Then I taught about 10 students to kayak one summer...which was great as well.  But what we noticed was that they seemed to enjoy having a home to visit...and we really enjoyed having them in our lives.

Meanwhile, with the advent of the biggest part of the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare), there was real uncertainty with my health insurance business.  If the answers to one or two key questions came back wrong, then the company would fold.

As I considered what I might do if the worst came to pass, I remembered a question my former boss and mentor in Chattanooga would ask every young interviewee..."If money were no object, what would you like to do for the rest of your life?"  Their answers varied widely...and as I asked myself the same question, mine did too.  After some thought, I realized I had four very different possibilities:

1) I could stay in insurance.  But it was not the insurance that is exciting to me.  It is the relationships with my clients (many are friends) and being able to take something complicated and make it simple...give clear direction and not be manipulative in my interactions.  I could truly help people and not care whether I sold anything or not (but that will be a different post).  I also like the teaching aspect of employee meetings where I walked employees through how their benefits worked, how much everything costs, and how to best use their plans.

2) I asked some of the college students that know us well, "pretend you did not know I worked in insurance...what could you see me doing?"  Almost all of the answers involved teaching...either kayaking or rock climbing, or the like.  Which led to inquiring with one of my old Clemson professors about teaching a "Leisure Skills" class at Clemson.  He explained most of those slots are reserved for grad students.  Well if my company folds, getting a doctorate in Parks and Recreation (same as my undergrad degree) might be a great fit...which led to:

3) College professor.  I would get to teach and have access to college students.  I could even do research on work-life balance and a Biblical view of work...which I had been pondering since starting my own company and working from home.  The only challenge was it would require at least 5 years of school and I would probably have to teach somewhere else before applying to work at Clemson.  And lastly...

4) We could be international missionaries.  We looked seriously at Eleuthera about two years earlier.  The time we have spent outside of the US has given us a great appreciation for what God is doing in other parts of the world.  We see great value in our time with believers in other countries and partnering with them for mutual growth and encouragement.

Which led to "the comment."  Sometimes it is the smallest things (the whisper)...that God uses to shift our direction to where He wants us.  I had a long meeting with one of our pastors and I was bouncing ideas off of him when the topic (ever so briefly) turned to college students.  He commented "If you want to do that, you need to go talk to ____" (and he named a large campus ministry).  Then the topic changed and we considered several other things.

Well, a couple of months passed and that comment popped back in my head.  I did not even know who ran that ministry at Clemson...and it was a complete long shot, but I figured I would see if I could buy him breakfast and run some thoughts by him.  At breakfast, I walked him through each option in detail.  I then said "now that I talked way too much, but I would love to hear your thoughts and I am going to eat my biscuit" (which was cold by then).

He simply sat back in his chair and said "You realize we do all of that..."  I think I gave him a puzzled look.  He continued, "Everything you like about each of those options is present in campus ministry."

1) Taking the complicated and making it simple, applicable, and helping people with their problems...that's life-on-life discipleship.  2) We have a program that uses adventure recreation as a shared experience to begin to build relationships.  We would love for you to take students rock climbing, kayaking, etc. 3) You obviously have all the access to college students you want and we could start you out teaching a freshman Bible study in the Fall.  And 4) we will send you anywhere in the world you want to go for two months every summer.

I could barely contain my enthusiasm...and I left that breakfast secretly hoping the ACA would sink my company and make the decision really easy.

So Steph and I started to take small steps and pray through what The Lord would have for us, each step was confirmed...and often in a way that was really encouraging.

While I am slow to use the word "calling" and put a "God stamp" on something...this feels more like calling than anything we have experienced before.