No, I haven’t left the country recently.
What I have done, though, is return to college. The summer is past, the winter is coming, et cetera.
So, I’ll be taking a slightly different approach with this blog for the next little bit–don’t really know for how long yet. I don’t even know how often I’ll post; for now, it’ll just be whenever I have something relevant to say. If you get tired of checking and finding nothing new, I totally don’t blame you–but I would hate to post a bunch of silly, false nonsense. So what I do post will be issues I’ve been thinking on a lot lately. For the time being.
So, to start in this new direction:
InterVarsity Christian Fellowship (my homeland CU) has officially begun holding meetings with the advent of the new school year; as always, we begin the year with a series of outreach events to let freshmen know that we exist and even, hopefully, to show nonbelievers why we’re different from the world. So, I have been doing a good deal of thinking about outreach. May I share a couple of things with you? Nothing too deep, honest.
Last night, we hosted what we like to call an “Ice Cream Social” outside of the highrise dorms here on campus. We set up a table outside, provide about 30 gallons of ice cream and a multitude of condiments (no ketchup or mustard, of course), and we serve it to anyone who stops by the table. For free. We don’t ask them for any donations, and we don’t even ask them to sign up for anything. We just handed out ice cream. (Now, if they wanted to learn more, we would gladly point them to our flyers–which are wicked cool, let me tell you!–or tell them about our small groups and things. We answered their questions, in other words, but we didn’t force anything on them.) About halfway through, we had this group of incredulous guys come over to the table asking what we were selling. “We’re not selling anything,” we answered, “we’re just giving away ice cream.” They smiled at us as if we were joking, but when they saw that we weren’t, their smiles faded into bewildered stares. “Really, what’s the catch?” This went on for a couple of minutes, no joke, until a couple of them actually finally decided they wanted ice cream for totally free. And, guess what? Not only did they take the ice cream, but they took a couple of flyers without our even pointing them out.
The point of my story: it’s effective, sometimes, to just give stuff away for free. People won’t believe it. They’ll wonder what’s the catch. But, when they find out that there really is none, they’ll be grateful that you supplied their need and may desire to know more about what you’re all about. (Not that ice cream is a need–but on a muggy summer night, it can certainly seem to be!) Besides, remember salvation? It’s free–to us. Jesus paid the price for you and me to enjoy eternal life with Him, and there is no catch. There’s nothing you can do to make yourself more Christian than you are when you trust Jesus to take away your sin and lead your life. Give it away.
The second story is shorter, I promise:
Today, I went to the gym to exercise, because health is important. Unfortunately, I haven’t been there very frequently thus far this semester (but I’m seeking to change that). Anywho, I walked into the reception area where the guy swipes my card to prove I’m allowed to use the gym for free and, guess what? Before I had even handed him my student ID, he called me by name. He said, “Hey, there, Sierra” (or something like, but I was too shocked to really process the whole sentence). I’ve only seen this guy once this semester, and already he knew my name. (Not in a stalker way, okay? Just in a friendly, you-really-matter way.) I was super impressed.
The lesson here is probably more obvious: people are impressed when you remember their names. I’m not very good at it, I’m afraid, but I’ll try much harder to be better now. Because it’s important that Christians develop relationships with people in order to open up an avenue for witnessing. A great way to begin a relationship is to learn someone’s name. Besides, it makes a huge impression. And, hey, if you’re already really good at this, start using your skill in your church, learning visitors’ names and greeting them if they come another week. Good news: you don’t need a committee. You don’t have to ask anyone’s permission. If you’re good at it, start using it to minister in your church. We all have different gifts so that we can all work together to bring the world to Christ. If you have the skill and don’t use it for God’s glory, we’re all missing out.
Thank you for your patience; I’ll try not to have so much to say next time. Until then, be seeing you!
