The Importance of College Ministry

I came across this post by Curt Harlow one day and he captures the heart and passion that Melody and I have for university students. Please read further.

Francesco or Friedrich? by Curt Harlow

Francesco and Friedrich had a lot in common. Both grew up with supportive families and were afforded excellent educations. Like many others, both went through a time of questioning in their late teens and early twenties. This searching caused a dramatic change in they way they looked at life. It fashioned in them determination that in turn impacted tens of millions of people. In fact, the shock waves of their impact were so intense that they are still keenly felt to this day.

At age 21, Francesco, or St. Francis we know him, rejected the luxury offered by his wealthy father. Instead, he literally stripped away material seductions and embraced an existence of prayer and simple living.

His epic devotional life sent a jolt of conviction through the corrupt power structures of Christendom. His ministry to lepers, discipleship of young leaders, and love for nature inspired multitudes to abandon material pursuits. His heart to reach Sultan Melek-el-Kamel are still so relevant 780 years later, they read like a headline from today. His famous quote "Preach the gospel at all times and when necessary use words" so adeptly describes Christ-like outreach that it has been cited by nearly every preacher, pastor, and small group leader who ever cared about genuine ministry.

Friedrich Nietzsche also stood to inherit his father's position. His skill in languages made him a natural candidate for the ministry and so as a teen he began his studies to be a pastor.

At the age of 21, Nietzsche also stripped off what he felt was a horrible encumbrance. Against his mother's pleas, he dropped his theological studies and embarked on a career in philology and then philosophy. A hatred for the religious traditions of his childhood and the ideas of key intellectuals merged in his brilliant mind. He ended his college experiences not as a pastor but as a skilled and ruthless enemy of Christianity.

This pastor's son has inspired more serious denigration of the faith than any other thinker in history. He is a founder of existentialism and postmodernism, and an icon to atheist groups everywhere. His concept of the self-realizing superman is said to have influenced Hitler. His quote "God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him" has energized anti-supernatural apologists in almost every philosophy department on the globe.

The stories of Francesco and Friedrich are not unique. The fact that college-age people are at the root of almost every history-shaking moment can be seen over and over again. Charles Wesley was a 20-year-old student when his fate as a Methodists founder was sealed. Charles Darwin was 22 when set foot on the Beagle. Hudson Taylor was 21 when he sailed for China. The father of all anti-supernatural philosophers, David Hume, embraced his worldview at the age of 18. At 17, Spurgeon was a seminary student and pastoring near Cambridge. Stalin also attended seminary at 17. By 21 he dropped out to dedicate his life to the socialist movement he discovered there.

It is not an exaggeration to say that the majority of great world leaders found their mission during this season of life. The inescapable conclusion is that the next great leader is sitting in any one of a million coffee shops near a campus contemplating their future right now.

In this era of globalization, no one can say if the next leader will be male, female, rich, poor, fair or dark. We know that he is around 20, brilliant, and impressionable. She lives near Los Angeles, London, Tokyo, Johannesburg, or any one of the urban areas that attract crowds of post-Christian twenty-somethings. Unlike younger teens, he has gained the social and intellectual maturity to follow through on his idealism. Even so, she does not yet know that the ideas she is blogging about will soon influence the globe.

Will he be Francesco or Friedrich? Will She send shock waves of spirituality through a sleeping church and world or will he use his political and philosophical skills to convince a generation that God is dead? We do not know, but make no mistake - he or she is out there. The only question is, who will reach her first?