The Genius of The “And”: Plant & Build

How we see our plot of ground makes all the difference

Tracey Gee is going to start blogging with us every month and I am really excited about that. She is becoming an expert at building chapters and training. She is part of the National Chapter Building Initiative with InterVarsity and helps train and lead staff and students into more growth and reach of students on campus. But she is also leading a planting effort in Los Angeles as well now. She is a great example of both a planter and builder!

In John 4, Jesus tells his disciples to lift up their eyes to see a field ripe for harvest. For years, I have preached that word to students and encouraged them to see their friends and their whole campus as ripe for harvest. I want them to believe that God is bigger than their limits and to widen their perspective. “Don’t miss the bigger picture of what God wants to do” is what I have said. Little did I know that I was more like the disciples than I thought and Jesus wanted to speak to me about that.

As an Area Director with InterVarsity, I sometimes get asked what my area encompasses. A year ago I would have said, “My area is UCLA and USC.” Simple, to the point and usually led to some joke about God being able to reconcile the fiercest of enemies. As an area team, God had grown our perspective to not think about our work as limited to just our InterVarsity chapters but to consider how he wants to reach the whole campus. Proxe stations and campus-wide evangelism, planting new ministries, engaging student communities within the university and praying for the campus became the new normal. Thinking about how to reach these two flagship schools in LA each with over 30,000 students and faculty has never felt like too a small job. I have never once thought to myself, “Yeah, we’ve got this.”

However, over the past 6 months, God has redefined how I think about my area. It has gone from a short list of schools to wider territory. Now I would say my area is all of the colleges and universities in Los Angeles. It doesn’t just include schools where there are established chapters. It includes the unplanted campuses in the city. There are 18 by my latest count in the geographic territory I am assigned. This is a much broader picture of a field that is ripe for harvest. Perspective is crucial for a leader. Because my perspective has changed, I am leading differently.

Here’s a few ways:

1) Tithing Time

I love the idea that the Central region, led by Jon Hietbrink, incorporates in their efforts to plant by tithing time to unplanted campuses. Most of us aren’t sitting around wondering what to do with all our extra free time. We’re all busy. But this Fall, I’ve been tithing a portion of my time to unplanted campuses in an effort to allow God some space to show me where there is a harvest. These are some of my favorite times of the week.

2) Seizing Opportunities

Owning the whole field has given me the perspective to follow God’s lead and pursue the open doors on campus. West LA College is a great example of this. West LA College is a 10-minute walk from my house. I’ve gone on walks there, passed by and wondered what God might be doing in students at this community college. But as long as I didn’t see it as a part of “my area” these were just passing thoughts. God has surprised me with what he has done.

The very same day I shared this change in perspective with the staff team and about West LA as an example in particular, my colleague Beau got a text from a friend who is a pastor. He said a young woman at his church had started up a Bible study at West LA College and wanted to know if anyone in InterVarsity could help train her and develop her. When I read that text, I knew it wasn’t just a coincidence. It was God was proving that he was already at work on these campuses.

After meeting Salina and explaining what InterVarsity is she decided that she wanted to affiliate her Bible study with IV and be trained as a leader. Linson Daniel talks about “chasing every lead” when you’re trying to plant new campuses. By doing that, I recognized God’s initiative in a way that I never would have otherwise seen. In the month or so since the new school year has been underway, God has given our division contacts at about 12 unplanted campuses – friends of current students, pastors asking about InterVarsity for a specific school, students initiating with us. We have open doors on 12 campuses that we were hardly thinking about just 6 months ago. Some of them might not pan out but Jesus was right – the fields are ripe for harvest if we will only look up.

3) The Genius of the And

I think that growing existing campus works and planting new ones can easily be seen as an either/or dichotomy. Jim Collins talks about the “genius of the and.” He argues that there is power in bringing together values that seem contradictory. My question is how our area can pursue a both/and mentality when it comes to multiplicative growth in established chapters and to unplanted campuses? We’re seeing some beginning sparks of this. Students at our established chapters are getting inspired hearing the new things starting on neighboring campuses. Student planters are getting connected with resources at established schools.

Tim Keller says,

“The best way to renew the existing churches of a city is by planting new ones.”

I’m becoming more and more convinced that this is true as we plant new chapters. I have seen it reinvigorate our staff and students to embrace a picture of God’s kingdom that goes beyond their individual campus. The schools in my area are experiencing seasons of unprecedented growth. Though it’s easy for me to feel like I can’t possibly think about planting when there’s so much more to do on our existing campuses, I think God is doing much more than that.