Every semester in campus ministry is a new adventure. Students from the previous year have moved on, either graduating or transferring to University Park. A new influx of students comes in. The community that forms in CSF and on campus looks and feels different. It is always a bit exciting and a bit nerve-racking going…
Continue reading ➞ The Numbers Game and Investing in One Life
As I mentioned in my previous post, I spent a week with Penn State Berks students, many of whom could be classified as "nomads." David Kinnaman defines the nomads in his book You Lost Me: For these young adults, faith is nomadic, seasonal, or may appear to be an optional or peripheral part of life.…
Continue reading ➞ Young Adults Who Wander From Faith (You Lost Me 4)
I want a pair of Google glasses. A pair of glasses that are basically a computer in your field of vision. How cool would they be? I actually got into an argument with some of my students a few months back. They seemed more skeptical then me about the possibility or usefulness of something like…
Continue reading ➞ Young Adults Who Wander from Faith (You Lost Me 3)
A couple weeks ago my wife and I sat down for a game of Settlers of Catan with my sister and brother-in-law. It was Sunday, the end of a LONG holiday weekend in which we managed to take Junia to see all four sets of her grandparents. We were tired and a relaxed game of…
Continue reading ➞ Dreaming about what the Christian Community Could Do…(Part 2)
A few days ago a student asked me if I thought the church today could be like the church in the Bible. After dispensing my usual sarcastic response ("You mean like the church in Corinth where people have all kinds of sexual immorality and get drunk at the Lord's Supper...yeah, we could probably do that")…
Continue reading ➞ Dreaming about the the Christian Community Could Do…(Part 1)
When I was a student at Penn State University Park there were at least fifteen evangelical Christian ministries on campus (and there may be more now). As far as I recall, the groups got along well, recognizing they all had similar goals. That said, some groups had more of a reputation for being intensely committed…
Continue reading ➞ On Campus at PSU Berks – Two Kinds of Students in Campus Ministries
Kenda Creasy Dean begins the fifth chapter of Almost Christian with a beautiful story from Texas. It is about a high school football coach who encouraged the fans from his wealthy district to show love and blessing to a team on their schedule made up of juvenile offenders from a local youth prison. You can…
Continue reading ➞ Almost Christian 5 – Missional Imaginations: We are Not Here for Ourselves
One of the central questions the NSYR gives input on is what factors in a teenager's life put her on a path to being a committed religious adult? It would be tempting to read a book like Almost Christian looking for the "key" to making teenagers into lifelong people of faith. If that is what…
Over my nearly six years at Penn State Berks, CSF has always had a diverse group of Christians. We have had, and still have today, students from all kinds of backgrounds and denominations: Methodist and Mennonite, Presbyterian and Pentecostal, Catholic and Calvinist (and now I am at a loss for other doublets I can make…
The biggest event CSF at PSU Berks does each year is our spring break trip. I came on staff the summer when Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast and because of that CSF went to that region four consecutive years (New Orleans twice, Mississippi twice). Last year we changed it up, heading to Miami. Each…
Continue reading ➞ On Campus at PSU Berks…or should I say Off Campus?
David Hershey 