Would Jesus Go to College? (Part 3)

(Note: Many of the ideas for this series of MMMs came from Scott Waller, who regularly speaks on these issues as part of the Academic Initiative of Christian Leadership Ministries. Check out the their web site for other resources and information (http://ai.clm.org/menus/instruction.html) including how you can schedule Scott to come to your campus).

So, would Jesus go to college? Yes, because students are at a critical point in their spiritual journey. And yes, because he is deeply concerned about truth. But he would also go because he is concerned about his call on our lives. Our vocation (latin for calling) is a primary place that God wants us to live out our faith. We've all but lost that sense of God's calling today, but Jesus honors the training and integration of our faith and work. Colleges are now the place where that training takes place for our future leaders. And - one factor that is often overlooked - it is also the place where most Christians get trained and equipped to share their faith, follow-up someone who has made a decision, lead a small group, and get a vision for how God can use them the rest of their lives.

My daughter is a wonderful example. It was at college, involved with Campus Crusade, where she caught a vision of how God could use her. It's where she got her basic training in Christian ministry. It is where she was able to discern and respond to God's call on her life. I can't tell you how many times I have people tell me that they learned how to share their faith and got a vision for ministry while involved in a Christian group at college.

And finally, I would suggest that Jesus would go to college because he would understand it is the gatekeeper for the rest of our society and culture. You see, Jesus is very concerned about the distortion of the media, and the injustice caused by corruption in government, and bad laws that prevent life and personal well-being, and he is concerned about the entertainment industry and what they are saying to our society, and he is concerned about what is being taught to our children. But he also knows the source of many of the distortions and false ideas - our colleges and universities.

Dr. Charles Malik was president of the United Nations General Assembly and a long-time friend of Campus Crusade. He said that "universities directly and indirectly dominate the world; their influence is so pervasive and total that whatever problem afflicts them is bound to have far-reaching repercussions throughout the entire fabric of Western civilization." He also went on to say, "The university is the clear-cut fulcrum with which to move the world ? More potently than by any other means, change the university and you change the world."

When we have a school shooting, who Ted Koppel interview on Nightline as an authority? - A college professor of sociology or psychiatry. When there is an economic problem, where does Dan Rather go for an interview? - A Princeton or Yale economist. How about a medical moral issue like human cloning? - A Johns Hopkins professor. Where are our grade school and high school teachers trained? Where do lawyers and politicians get their training? Where do you go if you want to become a journalist? A social worker? A philosopher? A farmer? A scientist? Where do all the nations of the world send their future leaders to be trained?

It's all happening on the college campuses of America. Would Jesus go to college? He's right here where the action is.

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