Your College Choice

Your College Choice :: The 4 Weeks that Will Change Your 4 Years

by Todd Lesher

Introduction :: The Starting Line

Life is full of starting lines.

A new friendship. A new job. A new semester. A new school year. A new day.

Freshman year of college is a starting line.

Crossing the finish line is obviously important, but the starting line can’t be taken lightly. The starting line requires a good deal of preparation and focus. Runners don’t approach the blocks without knowing what or why they’re running. If a runner, at the sound of the gun, began crawling around the track it would be clear they were not prepared for the race. This goes for all starting lines. A swimmer doesn’t cannonball off the platform, a running back doesn’t do a handstand through the line, and baseball players don’t leapfrog around the bases. To perform well after the starting line, preparation, planning, and practice must take place before one approaches it.

This idea applies to the beginning of college as well. Once you step on campus your performance, behavior, and decisions will expose how you equipped yourself for college. If your boundaries, plans, and goals aren’t defined before you attend, most likely they will be defined for you. How are you going to prepare yourself? What decisions are you going to start making before you settle into your dorm room? What boundaries are you going to put in place before you date and befriend people? What steps are you taking to guard and grow your faith before everything you believe is challenged?

We’ve heard the stories of college freshman who learned how to drink and party instead of learning how to study. We have friends who were on fire and grounded in their faith, so sure of God, who returned home for summer break atheist or agnostic. One stat¹ reveals that 30-50% of Christian college freshman turn away from the faith during their first year at school. The majority of new students don’t go into college hoping these things will happen, but they will, if you cross the starting line passive and unprepared.

Pastor Andy Stanley writes in his book The Principle of the Path (something all high school seniors should read before the first week at college), “Direction, not intention, determines destination.”² We are the sum of our decisions not our desires. Desires may influence our decisions, but dormant desires will never shape who we are. This doesn’t mean that our thoughts don’t factor into the decisions we make. Paul, one of the first Christian missionaries, wrote in Romans 12:2, “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, then you will know God’s will, His good, pleasing, and perfect will.” Most of our decisions are determined by our thoughts. Right thinking doesn’t directly lead to right living. Right thinking leads to right decision making, which in turn leads to right living.

Before you cross the starting line you must prepare yourself to make four key decisions the first four weeks of school that will influence and shape your years in college. These are the four actions you must proactively pursue:

• Find and establish a regular time and place to be with God.
• Find and participate in a local church or college ministry.
• Find and connect with a group of Christian friends.
• Find and attend your classes.

This article exists to offer advice and guidance for exciting, but unfamiliar and very influential territory. Making these four decisions will define your college experience, shape your walk with God, determine your church involvement, influence your friendships, and strengthen your studies.

Chapter 1

Find and Establish A Regular Time and Place To Be With God

While in college, people usually invest a majority of their time and energy in one of two areas: their social life or their studies. Don’t misinterpret that analysis, many students work hard to balance their social lives and their studies. But taking a closer look at a student’s grades may reveal something about their social life. A closer look at a student’s social status may reveal something about their focus on school. But the most commonly neglected area of someone’s college career is his or her spiritual life.

There are a number of factors that influence the spiritual vitality of an individual. Social life and studies will affect a student’s spiritual life and a student’s spiritual life is going to impact their social life and studies. Everything is spiritual. Often times faith, religion, spirituality, etc is lumped into a particular category and given special attention on Sundays. What a person believes about God will affect how they live and how a person lives will shape what they believe about God. For instance, if you believe that God is waiting for you to screw up so He can punish you, you most likely will attempt to live a flawless life, which leads to legalism. If you don’t believe in God, then there’s no standard of moral law or salvation from sin and you’ll live however you want. Our spirituality permeates our entire being, whether we admit it or not.

In light of this reality, it is necessary to proactively engage our spirituality the way God intended. To live the way God desires, we have to know and practice God’s way. God’s way is revealed through the life of His son, Jesus Christ, and His Word, The Bible. One of Israel’s first monarchs, King Solomon, wrote, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to Him, and He will make your paths straight” (Proverbs 3:5-6 TNIV). Trusting and submitting to God’s way for living will guide our lives in the right way; it will never steer us wrong. But to know God’s way we have to learn God’s way, and this requires and demands us to make time to be with God regularly.

During the junior and senior years of high school teachers, guidance counselors, and parents will continually describe college as excessively challenging and busy. People usually go off to college with a load of anxieties about the workload, study sessions, and school performance. When classes begin many are stretched academically, but soon discover that there is a large amount of free time teachers and parents neglected disclosing (maybe they knew about it, they were just nervous about the way it would be handled). Most students will spend an average of three hours in class a day and then they’ll be free to do as they please. This free time can be used to study, play basketball, take a nap, get a job, or sit around and play video games. The options are endless. And most students choose from the aforementioned list. And by doing so they’ll ignore what matters most – being with, listening to, and learning from God.

If you don’t set a time to be with God on a regular basis throughout the week, the less important things will swallow up your time. You need to find a consistent time of day, a comfortable place, and Bible study method that helps you understand and apply the Bible to your daily life.

Find a Consistent Time

This is an important aspect of being with God regularly simply because it’s predetermined and predictable. Mark the time each day on your calendar and block it off so that nothing else conflicts or battles for this essential time of day. Once you know your class schedule, pick a time of day that is best suited for your schedule. Pick a time when you’re most awake. There’s nothing special about the time of day, but the time of day you choose will affect your attention span. If you’re not a morning person, don’t force yourself to be with God before class. If you dorm is loud and interrupting during a particular part of the day, don’t establish this time to be with God. Once you pick the time of day, commit to a specific amount of time. Just like time of day, the amount of time doesn’t matter, but for starters I would recommend a 15 to 30 minute block. This is a decent amount of time to read Scripture, think about what you read, and pray. As you develop a routine, the time you spend with God may increase.

Find a Comfortable Place

Comfortable does not mean in your bed under the covers with the lights off, but a place without distractions where you are free to relax. This may be your dorm room sitting on your futon. It may be a local coffee shop. If you go to school on the coast, it may be the beach. It could even be in the library. It may be a daily walk or hike. It may be a patch of grass in the quad or by a local stream. Whatever location you choose to be with God, it should be a place where disruptions or people won’t distract you. Turn off your cell phone and computer during this time as well. It’s very easy to let text messages, Facebook, and phone calls knock your time off track. People can wait and you’ll have time to respond. Don’t let the less important things keep you from what’s most significant.

Find a Bible Study Method

The Bible is the most intimidating and, some say, a “heavy” book to read. People will use a number of excuses for not reading the Bible, “It’s irrelevant and outdated,” “It’s confusing and hard to read,” “It’s boring.” At the root of these excuses are at least two issues: 1) A lack of desire to know God’s way or 2) a lack of a method or knowhow to study, understand, and apply God’s Word. Both issues are a matter of prayer. Psalm 42 vividly paints the picture of an individual who yearns to know God and who is honest enough to express his lack of desire to God during times of distance or disinterest. An absence of longing doesn’t give us permission to refrain from meeting with God; it is an indicator we need to communicate our dependency on God to develop the desire for Him lacking in our lives. Philippians 2:13 explains that God is the one who causes us to will and to act to fulfill His good purpose. Pray for a hunger and thirst for our God, who wants us to hunger and thirst for Him.

The second issue, lacking a Bible study method, must also begin with prayer. Ask God to not only help you hunger for Him, but also to help you study, contemplate, and practice His Word. There is a vast assortment of Bible study methods available to you. It is going to take some test runs, but eventually you will find the study method that fits you best. Here are a few study methods to begin with:

Chapter a Day Use this method to develop a study habit and establish a routine.

• Each book of the Bible is divided into chapters.
• Pick a book and read a chapter a day.
• A couple good places to start: Proverbs (31 chapters), Mark (16 chapters), James (5 chapters).
• If you miss a day, it’s ok, pick up where you left off.

Topical Method Use this method to gain Biblical perspective on specific topics.

• Pray, asking God to reveal, or surface, the topic He wants you to study.
• Most Bibles have a concordance or, “What does the Bible say about?” section for you to reference specific topics.
• Read 1 – 3 verses, write your observations of the Bible’s teaching on the topic, and formulate an overall summary of what the Bible has to say about each topic.

Inductive Method Use this method to understand the context, content, and implications of the Bible for your daily life.

• Pray, asking God to reveal the lesson/insight He wants you to learn.
• Read a verse or paragraph each sitting and answer these 3 questions:
  • What did it say?
  • What does it mean?
  • How does it apply to my life today?

As you read, use a pen, pencil, or highlighter to underline meaningful, convicting, or confusing verses so you are able to return to them and remember them easily. Also, it may be helpful to use a journal to write out prayers, thoughts, questions, and application. Three great online resources for studying the Bible include, www.biblegateway.com, www.youversion.com, and www.esv.com.

Other Suggestions Spending time reading and praying should be a regular practice, but there are other ways to be with God. Take a walk and listen to worship music such as Hillsong United, The David Crowder Band, Jesus Culture, or Passion. Listen to a church’s weekly podcast. Some great preachers to begin with include: Andy Stanley, Francis Chan, Mark Driscoll, Beth Moore, and Perry Noble.

How to Apply the Bible to Our Lives.¹

• After your time of reading, indicate the message God wanted you to hear and apply it.
• James 1:22 – To understand and transform into Christ’s likeness don’t just read the Bible, do what it says.

Application Statement: “I will __________________(lesson) by _________________(practice)”

Sample Statement: “I will purify my mind by memorizing 1 verse about purity a week.

Practice: Read Ephesians 4:32-5:2 and complete the application statement below.

“I will ______________________________ by ___________________________________”

Reading the Bible regularly is a wonderful habit to develop. Reading the Bible will never impact you until you begin applying it to your life. In Luke 6:46-49 Jesus says,

“Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say? I will show you what he is like who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice. He is like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete.”

The Word of God transforms our lives when we read it and put it into practice. It opens our eyes to the Gospel – the message of God’s love, truth, forgiveness, and freedom through Jesus. It reveals our sinfulness and God’s plan to rescue and save us. It guides us in God’s wisdom and strengthens us to face and overcome the trials, temptations, and troubles of life. It describes God’s intent for our lives, homes, marriages, sexuality, future, relationships, and eternity and how to attain it. Because of these things and many others, it is vital to your college experience to find and establish a regular time and place to be with God.

Chapter 2 :: Find and Connect With a Group of Christian Friend

You can tell a lot about who someone is and what he or she will become by meeting their friends. “Your friendships,” writes pastor Andy Stanley, “determine the direction and quality of your life.”¹ You may have heard it said, “You are what you eat.” This may be true when it comes to the food we eat, but when it comes to our relationships, you are whom you hang out with. This is not only an important concept to understand, but it must be the standard by which you evaluate your friendships in college. The friendships that form in the first four weeks of college may be those that comprise your social circle for the remainder of your time at school and possibly even throughout the rest of your life. Those you befriend will be some of the most crucial and life-changing decisions you make.

Relationships with Christians

Psalm 1:1-3 gives some clear insight and instruction into the type and quality of relationships you would be wise to invest in; “Blessed are those who do not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but who delight in the law of the LORD and meditate on his law day and night. They are like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither—whatever they do prospers.” The writer of these verses is warning the reader not to partake in the ways of the wicked, but instead invest in God’s way and His Word. This leads to a flourishing life like that of a tree planted and nourished by streams of water. On the surface, it looks as if the author wants people to shun and reject the wicked to go into seclusion as a hermit with nothing but a Bible. The verses are actually comparing two paths of living – ungodly and godly living. Those who live according to God’s way and by His Word will grow, so let your closest friendships consist of those who are walking with God and whose greatest desire is to live like Jesus.

The Apostle Paul wrote a major portion of the New Testament (Romans through Philemon). His letters are filled with theological teaching (who God is) and Biblical practice (how God wants us to live). In 1 Corinthians, he spends a good deal of time explaining how proper Christian behavior should be lived out among professing Christians. While describing the power and significance of Jesus’ resurrection in the lives of Christians, he writes, “Do not be misled: ‘Bad company corrupts good character’” (1 Corinthians 15:33). Paul holds no punches here, our character will be affected by our companions. Those we hang out with will affect how we live. The other side of Paul’s statement is also true, “Godly company transforms our character.” Just as friends can have a negative affect on our character; they can also have a tremendously positive affect on your character as well. Who are you becoming because of who you are befriending?

Friendship in college is uncertain. You may go to college with people from your high school. You may go to college across the country and not know a single person. You may stay in town and maintain the friendships you already have. Whatever your scenario is, college exposes you to a number of social opportunities. The primary areas where you will form friendships include roommates, those in your dorm, classmates, those from a campus club, or those in a fraternity or sorority. While you may make friends in a number of these categories, you must understand a fact about friendship: You don’t choose your friends, your friends choose you. We don’t get to decide who will befriend us. It may look like we do on the surface but the reality is people have to let us into their lives for friendship to occur. This is a reciprocal exchange. If hypothetical Henry and fictional Fred want to become friends, Henry has to let Fred into his life and Fred has to do the same for the relationship to work. A one sided relationship is not a friendship.

People crave belonging and acceptance. We want to be included and connected. This is why being conscious of who you’re befriending is so important. Because we place such a high value on belonging we often sacrifice quality for acceptance. There is one filter by which you to need to assess every friendship: Are you becoming more or less like Jesus because of who you’ve befriended? Are you becoming more loving or more hateful? Are you becoming kinder or more judgmental? Are you becoming more forgiving or vengeful? Are you becoming more truthful? Are you becoming less prideful and more humble? Are you becoming more or less dependent on and submissive to God? Our friendships are going to impact our character and our faith.

Relationships with Boyfriends and Girlfriends

This filter is extremely important for your dating relationships as well. For most guys it’s really easy to jump right into a relationship with the first good-looking girl who responds positively to your request for a date. And many girls will date a guy for companionship alone, whether or not he’s committed to taking care of her heart.

Before it goes too far and you find yourself saying “I do,” ask yourself or a close friend if you are becoming more or less like Jesus because of the person you are dating.

When it comes to dating, guys need to stop acting like boys who are fixated on satisfying their lustful desires and physical pleasures and start acting like men who are focused on leading your girlfriend to a deeper relationship with God and loving her with the brave and selfless love of Jesus. A woman’s heart is the most fragile part of her being; treat it with the utmost respect and value. Set boundaries for your relationships in all areas including purity. You don’t need to spend every waking minute together. You both need a healthy balance of time with and away from each other. You don’t want to neglect the friendships you had before you started dating because the day may actually come when you break up (even if you promised her forever and always), and where will your friends be if you remove yourself from them?

You also need to write out the physical boundaries for your relationship. Here are a few highly recommended suggestions: Keep it vertical, not horizontal (a.k.a. no laying down together). Keep your clothes on. Keep your hands off each other’s body. Keep the lips above the neck. Keep to a curfew (nothing good happens after midnight).

One of a girl’s greatest dreams is meeting, falling in love, and marrying the perfect guy (does Prince Charming ring a bell?). They have the whole scenario—dress, flowers, ceremony—visualized. Some even cut out pictures, catalogue ideas in notebooks, and play dress up to practice for the momentous occasion. To illustrate the difference between guys and girls, girls dream of the wedding day and guys dream of the wedding night. This may discourage the ladies, but be reassured there are guys out there who are actually concerned and committed to taking care, protecting, and nurturing your heart.

Proverbs 4:23 says, “Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.”  Girls, your most prized possession is not your appearance, style, humor, or voice. Your most prized possession is your heart. Your heart is essentially the center of your life. Your heart is the seat of your emotions, dreams, desires, and fears. Whoever you give your heart to will either protect and nurture these things, or they will damage and discard them. Whoever you give your heart to will direct your life. This truth not only applies to boyfriends and your future husbands, but also to those you befriend.

Matthew 22:37 says, “Love the Lord your God with all of your heart…” and Proverbs 3:5 says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart…” Before you give your heart to any guy you must give it to God. When you surrender your heart to Him, you are practically giving Him your life—your past, present, future, hopes, dreams, fears, and secrets. He created you and knows how to properly handle your heart. Proverbs 3 goes on, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight” (vv.5-6). When you trust God with your heart, you learn to let Him guide and direct your life and decisions. This is especially important when it comes to dating. No guy is perfect and every guy you date will hurt your heart or break it in some way. The truth is everyone will hurt our heart at one time or another. It just hurts the most when it’s in the hands of those we love the most. You must let God direct you to the guy He wants you to date.

As you walk with God, trusting and obeying, He will be shaping you and your heart as He desires. You want to date a guy who has given His heart to God, allowing Him to form and mold it. Just because a guy says he’s a Christian doesn’t automatically validate him as a worthy candidate for relational exclusivity. If a guy, Christian or not, is more concerned with your body than contributing to God’s formation of your heart, he offers you no promise but a broken heart and potentially fractured future. If a guy isn’t a Christian but takes really good care of you, beware of his focus being primarily humanistic in nature. He may treat you well, but he will only contribute to your civility, but not your Christ-likeness. A quick note on missionary dating (trying to convert a guy to Christianity by dating him): A boyfriend who becomes a Christian for the sake of his girlfriend has most likely made a shallow commitment to Christ. If you break up, there is great potential that he will “break up” with Jesus as well. Everyone must take personal ownership of his or her own faith. If a guy who is not a Christian wants to start a relationship with you it is a great demonstration of obedience and trust to refrain from dating, so you can share Jesus with him as friend without getting emotions and strong feelings tangled in the mix.

Sound overboard? Guys have a tendency to believe they can handle the physical side of a relationship. Girls have a tendency of giving their hearts away too fast. It is very difficult to say “no,” physically and emotionally, when you are in the heat of the moment. Setting boundaries and having accountability are proactive ways to avoid getting burned.

Relationships with Non Christians

There is one final area of relationships that must be discussed. Scripture is very clear that Christians need to invest in and befriend non Christians with the love, truth, forgiveness, and freedom of God. The Gospel accounts (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) are full of stories detailing Jesus’ interactions with the spiritually lost in His day (see Luke 5:12-32). The final words Jesus spoke before He returned to heaven were instructions to His disciples to make more disciples. This required them to understand who Jesus was and what He came to earth to accomplish, so they could share it with those who were not yet followers of Christ. Jesus’ command to His disciples 2,000 years ago is His command to us today. Christians are called and commanded to make disciples of people everywhere. To be obedient to Jesus’ directions requires love, knowledge, relationships, and faithfulness.

It was love that moved God to send Jesus to save and free us from sin through His death on the cross and resurrection from the dead. Knowledge of the Gospel is what we must possess and know how to communicate. It is through sincere, authentic, and non-judgmental relationships that trust is built and opportunities arise to share God’s love with others. And it is faithfulness alone that makes us successful in making Jesus known. Successfully sharing your faith with others is not about how many people give their lives to God. Successful evangelism is determined by our faithfulness to live our faith in front of people, share our faith with people, and trust God with the results.² We can’t save anybody. Only God can. But we have to befriend non Christians and be faithful to show Jesus off and explain who He is and what He has done to save and free us. You must enter their world to impact their lives. Evangelism is all about show and tell. You can’t have one without the other. 1 Peter 3:15 says, “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.” Sometimes we’ll have to show people our hope through our actions before they’ll let us tell them about it with our mouths. At other times, people won’t accept the hope we share until they see the hope we show.

The relationships you form with others in college will mold you into different people by the end of our time in college. They will influence your attitude, preferences, choices, style, decisions, opinions, beliefs, and your faith. Your friendships will cause you to become more like Jesus or less like Him. Be careful who you trust with your heart. Let God determine who you date. Enter college with a commitment to point every person you befriend, Christian or non Christian, boyfriend or girlfriend, toward Jesus.

Chapter 3 :: Find A Church Or Campus Ministry To Participate With

You can’t be a Christian on your own.

Everyone must make the decision to follow Jesus on his or her own. Your best friend can’t make it for you. Your parents can’t make it for you. Your girlfriend or boyfriend can’t make it for you. Becoming a Christian is a decision made by the individual, but the Christian life is impossible to live out all alone. When someone tries out for the basketball team, they make an individual choice to try out. Your dad or mom may be really athletic, but their attempts to try out for you will fail. Once a person makes the team, they become part of a group of individuals committed to one another and to a common goal. It would be foolish for one of the players to tell their coach that they didn’t need the rest of the team and that they would take on the opponent by themselves. Individual players can only thrive when they are part of a team supporting, strengthening, and encouraging one another. It is just as foolish for a Christian to attempt to live the Christian life without the support, encouragement, wisdom, prayers, truth, and grace of Christian community.  It is imperative you find a church or campus ministry to plug in to and participate with during the first four weeks of college.

Church isn’t a building, a worship service, or a Sunday tradition. The church is made up of people around the world who have put their faith in Jesus and submitted their lives to Him. The church’s primary responsibility is to worship Jesus and make His name great. Another responsibility of the church is to make disciples (Matthew 28:18-20) by revealing Jesus and reflecting His love, truth, forgiveness, and freedom to others. Ephesians 4:11-13, “It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ,” tells us that the church exists not only to proclaim the message of Jesus, but also to train and equip others to live like Jesus. Based on these verses, those who lead the church have the responsibility of pouring the truth and teachings of the Bible into the lives of Christians, so that the church can grow, unite, and become more like Jesus.

Unfortunately it’s hard to ignore the reality that the church hasn’t always done these things. Many have been hurt by a church that is known for characteristics such as judgmentalism, gossip, pride, and hypocrisy instead of love, forgiveness, humility, and hope. This doesn’t permit us to reject the church (remember Christians collectively make up the church). It should cause us to pay attention to the way we live and the perception of Jesus we project to others. It should also make you intentional and proactive about the church you join.

Most likely there are going to be a bunch of churches in the area around the school you attend. Just because it says it’s a church doesn’t automatically mean that it’s a good church. There are a number of things you need to pay attention to when selecting a church to attend throughout college. Here are a few questions to ask about the churches you visit while trying to find the one God wants you to get involved with.

Prayer. Have I prayed asking God to lead me to the church He wants me at?

The Gospel. Does the church teach that we are sinners separated from God destined for hell and the only way to be forgiven and freed from sin and hell is through faith in Jesus?

The Bible. Does the church view and teach the Bible as the perfect word of God which reveals His nature, character, and activity in and through people?

Sacraments. Does the church practice communion (The Lord’s Supper) and baptism?

Changed Lives. Does the church teach that Christians should live transformed lives that produce evidence of a life under the influence and control of Jesus?

Outreach. Does the church teach that every Christian is a missionary sent to proclaim the message of Jesus, through word and action, to everyone in your life and all people everywhere?

Community. Does the church have opportunities available to connect with other Christians to care for one another, grow in Christ together, and impact the needs of others?

Ownership. Does the church provide ways to volunteer and serve the church in its different areas?

Grace. Does the church proclaim a message of works (you have to earn God’s love and salvation) or a message of grace (God offers you His love and salvation through faith alone)?

Love. Does the church model an attitude and behavior of love towards all people: Christian and non Christian, men and women, any age and any race?

Each of these questions focuses on the values of a church. What a church values it will practice and promote. It is important to understand what a church values because they will influence your involvement, transformation, and contribution.

When I was in college, I visited a couple churches. Each church had it’s own style and feel. I went to some welcoming churches. I went to some boring churches. Some churches were filled with a bunch of people who loved to hug each other which weirded me out. I visited stiff churches where it felt like every Sunday gathering was a funeral service. I finally selected a church at the end of my first semester and decided to plug in and commit to participating regularly throughout the remainder of my time in college. The church consisted of around 300 people, Jesus was emphasized repeatedly, and the pastor not only preached the Bible with authority he also preached it with relevant application to my life. The experience was tremendously rich and impactful. I connected to a church community that upheld many of the values listed above and was impacted by the experience.

One of the realities that can’t be ignored is that you may try a number of churches but none fit well or hold to the values listed above. The next best place to connect is a college campus ministry. Solid campus ministries provide a place to be exposed to the Gospel, grow in Christ’s likeness through small group community, and share the message and compassion of Jesus with others on campus through outreach. Some of the top campus ministries to check out and invest in include: Campus Crusade for Christ (campuscrusadeforchrist.com), InterVarsity Christian Fellowship (intervarsity.org), Fellowship of Christian Athletes (fca.org), Reformed University Fellowship (ruf.org), or Young Life (younglife.org).¹ Each one of these campus ministries are Gospel centered, Bible believing, and outreach focused. They provide opportunities to learn, transform, and impact.

There are four words of caution when looking for a church or campus ministry to join.

1. Campus ministries aren’t churches. Most campus ministries take an aspect of church (i.e. outreach, worship, or service) and do a great job focusing on that aspect alone. It is healthy if you join a campus ministry to be connected to a local church body, so you are exposed to the holistic nature and values of the church.

2. Don’t say “yes” to every church and campus ministry available because you won’t be helpful to anyone. Once God leads you to the ministry He wants you in, take root and invest. Ministry done a mile wide and an inch deep is shallow ministry that can easily lead to burn out. Choose one or two and say “no” to everything else.

3. Be aware of cults. According to AllAboutCults.com cults are “any religious group that deviates from the fundamental teachings of the historic, Bible-based, Christian faith as confirmed through the ancient ecumenical creeds. Generally, if a religious organization follows Jesus Christ, but denies or distorts essential Christian doctrines such as the Trinity, the resurrection, or salvation by grace alone, that organization is considered a cult.” Some examples of religious cults include: Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormons, Christian Scientists, Freemasons, and Kabbalah. This is why it is so important to pay attention to the values and doctrine (set of beliefs) of the church and campus ministry you invest in.

4. Be aware of the tendency to become a church consumer over a contributor. It’s very easy to judge a church on what it can do for you. Instead it will transform your life when you view the church as a place you can grow and give your life for the promotion of the Gospel and the benefit of other’s lives.

Finding a church is hard work. It requires prayer, waking up on Sunday mornings (though there are a couple churches that have Saturday and Sunday night services), and committing to worship and participation regularly, despite what the rest of the student body’s weekends entail. Individual Christians need the church to live the Christian life. Those who fail to connect with a local church or campus ministry will find their spirituality stunted. Those who are intentional and proactive about finding and investing in a church or campus ministry while in college will set habits and experience God in ways that will influence the rest of their lives.

Chapter 4 :: Find Your Classes and Study Responsibly

Classes must be a priority or college will be a waste.

It would appear obvious that people go to college to get an education to prepare for their future. You pick a major, you sign up for classes, you pay tuition, and you buy books. You can do all the right things to prepare for college classes, but if attending and studying aren’t top priorities, school will only become a future regret.

Treating school responsibly begins with gratitude. Being grateful for something leads to contentment because you appreciate and value what you’ve been given. Contentment causes people to become responsible with what they have because they aren’t always trying to find something better or more worthwhile. Are you grateful to be in school getting an education? If you are ungrateful for the opportunity to attend college, you will find it very difficult to be content going to school, which will lead to academic irresponsibility.

Part of Luke 10:27 says, “You shall love the Lord your God…with all your mind.” This is one of the most well known, yet overlooked and ignored verses in the Bible. It’s easy to think that this verse is instructing us to use our minds to think about God. Using your mind to think about God is definitely part of loving God with your mind, but it’s not the whole part. Our minds are full of potential for loving God. When we create, reason, meditate, and contemplate, we worship God. When you’re studying for a test or memorizing anatomy definitions or working out a math equation, you’re telling God that you’re grateful for the mind He’s given you. We dishonor God when we don’t use our brains.

My brother has an unusual Christmas tradition. After all the presents have been opened and the Christmas festivities have been enjoyed most people begin using or wearing the gifts they received. This is not the case for my brother. On a number of occasions, months after Christmas, I would find my brother’s gifts in his closet unused in the box or with the tags still attached. The lack of use revealed something about my brother’s attitude toward the gift he received. Most of us feel the tension when we open a package to discover the ugly sweater or gift we asked our parents not to get us. It’s terrible having to fake a smile and we force out our “Thank yous,” and, “I love it.” My brother may have played the role of a grateful recipient really well but neglecting his gifts exposed his real attitude, ungratefulness. The way my brother treated his Christmas presents is similar to the way we use our brains. God has given everyone a brain to maximize, not to let it sit dormant in the closets of our skulls.

There are positive and negative aspects of this reality. As mentioned above, we honor God when we think, ponder, reflect, critique, analyze, and create. Understand this—using your brain to impress others or gain approval can create a dangerous fixation. We will always let people down and to some our work will never be enough. The motivation for responsibly using our brains should not be the opinion of people, but out of gratitude for the tremendous gift God’s given us. On the other hand, we dishonor God when we don’t pay attention in class, when we cut corners, when we procrastinate, when we cheat or plagiarize someone’s work, or when we designate all our time to hanging out with friends or playing video games. It’s the minority of people around the world who are given the privilege to attend college and pursue higher education. Many would kill for the opportunity to receive a legitimate education—don’t waste it because of mental ingratitude.

To avoid throwing your brain in the garbage while in college, it’s important to place some structure around your studies. Here are a few pieces of advice to get the most out of your academic experience.

Be Proactive. This may be obvious to many but if you’re not proactive, you will be reactive, always responding to something that happened instead of causing something to happen. Buy your books early (use half.com or other college book websites to get discounts on your books). Find your classes before you have to attend them for the first time. When you get your syllabi, don’t freak out about the amount of assignments. Faithfully do your class work over the course of the semester instead of always at the last minute. Get to know your professors, not so you can suck up to them, but so you can appreciate them, dialogue with them, and receive greater clarity on assignments. Find a study partner or form a study group (some teachers encourage this, but the reality is they don’t just form themselves). Get some sleep. College students are notorious for late nights. It is as if they think being in college requires them to get less than three hours of sleep a night. Caffeine pills, make up work, and cheating are all reactionary measures taken by those who fail to get an adequate amount of sleep while in school. Sign up for classes early because the best ones and those with popular professors fill up quickly. Turn in your work on time.

Schedule Your Time. You will realize soon enough you actually don’t spend a lot of time in your classrooms during college. You may spend an average of anywhere from three to five hours in class a day. That’s 15 to 25 hours in class a week. There are 168 hours in a week. The point is that you will have more free time in college than you’ll know what to do with. If you don’t dictate your schedule people, opportunities, and entertainment will dictate your schedule. Your studies will take a back seat. Block out time each day to study and then let your social life and other activities fall in place. Study lightly for exams over the course of a week prior to your test. Spend the two days before the exam to study for a longer period of time and then lightly review the day of the exam. Don’t waste your time pulling all-nighters. Schedule your time and study faithfully so you can be rested when you take your exams.

Get a Tutor. Many colleges provide tutor programs so students can excel in the classes that may be more difficult. Humility is the key here. If you struggle with material in a particular course, you’re not going to prove anything to anyone by failing a class because you did it all on your own. Tutors exist to assist you, not humiliate you.

Choose a Major. During their freshman year, most students are not able to take many of their core classes for their major but choosing a major early may allow you to take a couple of courses within your degree program your first year. Taking degree program courses provides a little more motivation for studying because you are working within an area of passion or interest. Seek God’s direction for the selection of a major before you attend to get a head start on your future. You can always change your major, but the sooner you decide the sooner you’ll be able to participate in those classes.

Apply What You Learn. All your course work will only be a bunch of head knowledge, if it is left unapplied. Your teachers will give you assignments and projects to help you apply the material to potential circumstances, but nothing trains and develops you like hands on experience. If you’re studying sociology or government, volunteer with a local organization or government office. Get a job in your area of concentration. You may have to start at the bottom but the more experience you get from different areas of the job will only qualify you for more opportunities. Apply for an internship. Most internships give you great exposure to the field, look great on a resume, and they could potentially set you up for a paid position after you graduate.

The Gospel changes everything. It’s common for people to think that believing in Jesus is only about getting into heaven when you die. This is a very narrow perspective on the death and resurrection of Jesus. Jesus died to forgive us and set us free from sin. Salvation is holistic. Going to heaven is only a part of surrendering your life to God. Jesus died on the cross to save every aspect and area of your life. The cross saves how we think, how we speak, and how we live. The cross saves how we worship God, how we love one another, and how we care for the planet. The cross saves us from using our brain to gain approval and it saves us from wasting our brain on idleness and immediate gratification. Jesus died so we could use our brain to honor God, benefit the lives of others, and excel mentally. Our thoughts impact our heart and many of our actions stem from the condition of our heart. You can tell about how someone thinks by the way they live their life. The truth is many people want to waste their brains in college. The Gospel calls us to a higher level. Because Jesus has offered up His life for our salvation, the only appropriate response is to offer Him our lives—heart, soul, body, and mind—to Him for Him. Make the name of Jesus great by using your brain faithfully and responsibly while in college.

Conclusion :: How Will it End?

Before you step onto a college campus evaluate your faith. Are you a Christian so you can avoid hell and go to heaven when you die? Have you surrendered your college years to God? Has your faith been a cover-up that you’ll discard once you’re out of your parent’s, friend’s, or youth pastor’s sight?

Psalm 37:5-6 says, “Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him, and He will act. He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday” (ESV). Do not begin your time in college without committing that time to God. This isn’t a one-and-done kind of commitment either. It won’t do you any good to say a prayer of commitment to God and then live however you want for the remainder of your term. Committing yourself to God is a daily practice of submission and dependency. Based on this verse, your life will reveal the sincerity of your commitment. This begins at the starting line of college, it will affect every leg of the race, and it will determine how you will finish.

Maybe the appropriate question to ask yourself before college begins is, “How do I want my time at college to end?” Do you want to finish school walking with God? Then, immediately make it a priority to meet with God on a regular basis. Do you want to be surrounded by friends who make you more like Jesus? Then choosing healthy friendships must be something you’re intentional about. Do you want to get plugged into a thriving church community where you can grow and serve? Then proactively take the steps to find a church in the area. And do you want to get the most out of your academic experience and graduate? Then set boundaries right away that will assist you in fulfilling this desire.

The thoughts and ideas shared in this article are not fool proof. Temptation and sin will still distract you and trip you up from time to time. It is very easy during times like these to get discouraged and give up on your faith. You will even wrestle wondering if God still loves you when you mess up. Shame is one of Satan’s favorite ways of deterring college students from walking with and obeying God. Shame is a way of thinking that makes you believe you’re worthless, unwanted, and hopeless before God. When we accept shame as reality, we begin to allow shame to determine our identity. God knows we’re going to sin, but He doesn’t require us to earn back His love. All God asks is that we confess our sin to Him by telling Him we’re sorry and repent of it by turning away from the things we confessed. Your feelings don’t negate the fact that God has offered you His love, truth, forgiveness, and freedom through faith in Jesus. Our feelings are but a catalyst to greater dependency on God. So when you’re feeling discouraged, depressed, and defeated, depend on God. When you’re feeling alive, excited, and joyful, depend on God. It’s only through dependency on God that you will be able to start college focused and finish well.

Endnotes

Introduction The Starting Line

1            http://www.fulleryouthinstitute.org/college-transition/#research

2            The Principal of the Path by Andy Stanley (Nashville, Thomas Nelson, 2008).

Chapter 1 Find and Establish A Regular Time and Place To Be With God

1            I learned these concepts while taking a class on Biblical discipleship at Liberty University. You can also find a great deal of Bible study help in the book Living by the Book by Howard and William Hendricks (Chicago, Moody Press, 1991).

Chapter 2 Find and Connect With a Group of Christian Friends

1            The Seven Checkpoints by Andy Stanley and Stuart Hall (Louisiana, Howard Publishing, 2001).

2            I heard this from my buddy Ryan Carson’s friend Jason Bessire.

Chapter 3 Find A Church Or Campus Ministry To Participate With

1            This site may help direct you to a Gospel centered church located near your school http://thegospelcoalition.org/network/church-directory/

Copyrighted by Todd Lesher 2010