First Meeting On Campus

[This post is part of the “4 Hour Campus Plant” series. I am live blogging my attempt to plant a ministry at a new campus with only 4 hours a week. This is a continuous story that builds, so make sure to start at the beginning.]

May 12, 2015

Let me start by saying that the cost of planting is high. Ok, I was running late, I hurried out of my car to run to the meeting, and I forgot to pay the parking meter. What should have cost me $2 is now costing me $49 🙁

parking ticket

 

When I finally found where I was supposed to be (this was my first time on the LBCC campus), Kimy was sitting with one other man. I joined them, started in on some friendly conversation and then we got started on the “Start Something New” manual.

About five minutes into the meeting and woman joined us that was from the same “Christian” group on campus as the man at the table with us. Kimy looked a bit uncomfortable but we kept on moving and then about 10 minutes later another guy joined us named Juan. He was really energetic and he quickly jumped in.

He started to share about how he was excited a “real” Christian group was starting because he had gotten mixed up in a cult on campus previously. He finally split from the group when he realized they added extra requirements onto the gospel for being saved. He then named the group and it was the group of the two other people in our group!

AWKWARD.

Tension rose, I quickly became the harmonizer (which is my 34/34 strength), and we moved on.

Juan

Besides the minor hiccup, I thought we had a great first meeting and I was especially excited about Juan. He called himself an evangelist and he was really excited about reaching people on campus with deep questions – especially about science. I came to find out that he is Ecuadorian, speaks arabic, and is running for the presidency of the Spanish club on campus. This guy is a leader!

The fist chapter of the manual is all about helping students discover what their vision is for the campus. We spend time answering questions, talking, and sharing what it is that God had laid on our hearts. As I heard their visions and started to give collective vision to the group, Juan stopped me and made it clear that he didn’t have much time to be the center of another club and couldn’t take on more administrative activities.

It was clear that this guy was an evangelist, and maybe an apostolic leader too?

So I quickly switched my tune and said something to this effect:

“Juan, I am not trying to build a club on campus. Quite the contrary. I am trying to build a core team of missional students that want to penetrate the campus and reach people far from God. I don’t want you showing up to a group of Christians singing “Kumbaya” every week. No! I am assembling a team of leaders that want to sacrifice an hour a week to come and train and pray to be missionaries. In fact, Juan, if you become the president of the Spanish club, I want to train you to lead an evangelistic small group for the people attending. How does that sound?”

Life came back into his body at that point.

Juan was back on board and we kept on cruising.

The meeting ended and we agreed to meet again next week. We switched the time so Juan could for sure make it. I was fired up about Juan, Kimy was quiet, and the other two had pretty much made it clear that it was their last time at the group because they had “their” own group. It was a little awkward but hey, I have a high threshold for that!

The Debrief

As Kimy and I debriefed, it became quickly clear that she was discouraged. I was confused because I thought it was a pretty good first meeting. Trust me when I say I have been in many weird first meetings. This wasn’t that bad. Plus Juan was so cool!

But Kimy began to tell me that she felt really weird when that woman sat down to join our group and kept pitting her group up against what we were starting. She also felt really tense when Juan brought up the group being a cult. She was also bummed because her closest friend couldn’t come today because she had to go to the ER. Furthermore, before I arrived a random guy came up to the table when she was sitting there and asked her what she was doing. Kimy told him that she was starting a new Christian group on campus and the guy told her that would never work and no one would ever come. That totally discouraged her before the meeting even began!

She was sinking in her fears and discouragement – it was all she could see.

I was going to leave the campus then, but I sensed from God that I should stay and encourage her more. We went to the dinning hall, ate pizza, and she poured more of her heart out to me.

Kimy’s Voice Joins The Blog

As we talked I sensed a real strength in her weakness. She was scared, insecure, and this planting mission was testing every fiber of her being. But she still had a real sense of calling, conviction, and grit about her. I instantly knew that she not only was a gift to the campus, but a gift to other student planters who feel the same way she feels as they step out.

I shared with her how I wanted to write about our plant, and about the story I was hoping to tell. I told her that I thought she could be a really inspiring voice to planters and I asked her if she wanted to join me in this blog. I encouraged her that her voice could be heard and it could join mine as we write about planting a campus with 4 hours a week. She was nervously excited but agreed, her voice needed to be heard.

The Invitation

Keep showing up – Even though she was scared, past failures were being triggered, and she felt insecure, I invited her to keep showing up and to see what God would do. I told her I thought Juan had promise and that I believed others would show up next week. You feel weak, unsure, and exposed, but God will work if you keep putting the stake down for him on campus! Don’t let the Devil drive you away!

The Lesson Learned

50% of planting a new ministry is the dream of the ministry taking off and working really hard to see that happen. The other 50% is forming excellent planters and building into people like Kimy the apostolic spirit and formation necessary to do this work. We have to make space to debrief and we have to care for the planter as much as we care for the plant itself. Kimy is not in “planting” shape yet, and it is stretching her completely. This is an intense spiritual battle and she is stepping into the darkness to bring light. One of the most important things I did this day was stick around longer to debrief more. I was tempted to jet after 20min.

What I Was Thinking

I felt so encouraged by Kimy’s strength and honesty even though she felt week and insecure. I also felt excited about Juan. But I was unsure if he would show again. I have seen many students that were fired up in the first meeting never show again. I was also really unsure about those other two. Was their group really a cult? I couldn’t tell from our meeting. But Juan seemed alarmed, and Kimy was unnerved. Who knows what God is doing here…we will see.

What strikes you about this part of the story?

[This post is part of the “4 Hour Campus Plant” series.]

About Beau Crosetto

Beau is the author of "Beyond Awkward: when talking about Jesus is outside your comfort zone". He is called by God is to raise up and release people that want to start new ministries (apostolic) as well as people that want to share their faith (evangelists). He currently is the Director of Louisiana for InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. Beau is married to Kristina and they have three kids: Noah (12), Sophia (10) and Wesley (8).

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