Learning from some of the best

Tim Casteel, who leads a growing Cru movement at U of Arkansas, has interviewed some of the leaders from the largest Cru movements in the country to understand what makes their movements so fruitful. He's sharing his findings over at timcasteel.com

If you're looking to grow a campus ministry this year, Casteel has some great principles he'll be sharing.

The Unwise God

Some of my friends--my spouse included--have given me a hard time for the number of times I start a sentence with 'In the first-century.' The initial context that the first Christians inhabited intrigues me. Recently, I've read a number of books on concepts of forgiveness among the Greeks and Romans to better understand how the typical guy on the street who didn't read (or even know about) what we call the Old Testament would have understood the offer that in a guy named Jesus was forgiveness of sins.

Seneca and Socrates, back to back, in Pergamon Museum, Berlin

One of the authors I read is Seneca--a contemporary of the Apostle Paul and a shaping influence in the Roman Empire. Seneca served as a tutor for Nero, which sounds like a bad role since most of us only know about the terrible ending to Nero's reign of megalomania and pyrotechnics.  But Nero started out a good emperor under the influence of Seneca. For the record, once Nero went totally nuts, Seneca was involved in a plot to assassinate him. For this, Seneca was forced to commit suicide by Nero in 65 AD; the same year that tradition says Nero killed the apostle Paul. Enough history lesson, I'll get on with the post.

Seneca was a Stoic philosopher, one of the worldviews mentioned when during Paul's interaction in Athens (Acts 17).  Seneca wrote a number of moral essays to Nero that have been preserved. One of these is titled "On Mercy." In this essay Seneca argues that giving people mercy is a good thing. But he considers giving people forgiveness a foolish thing. Mercy means that someone is guilty but is given a lesser punishment or perhaps no punishment. But, mercy still views the person as guilty.

He argues that forgiveness or pardon is foolishness, since it sees a guilty person as now innocent. One of the things that bothered Seneca about forgiveness was that mercy gives one options. Mercy gives one freedom to determine what punishment if any will be exacted. Forgiveness takes away the options. Once you forgive someone there is no punishment that can be given.

Consider his words below.


“Pardon is given to a man who ought to be punished; but a wise man does nothing which he ought not to do, omits to do nothing which he ought to do; therefore he does not remit a punishment which he ought to exact. But in a more honorable way he will bestow upon you that which you wish to obtain by pardon; for the wise man will show mercy, be considerate, and rectify; he will do the same that he would do if pardoned, and yet he will not pardon, since he who pardons admits that he has omitted to do something which he ought to have done.” (Seneca, On Mercy 2.7.1–2)

Seneca would have understood the offer of forgiveness in the name of Jesus as foolishness (cf. 1 Cor 1:23; Acts 17:18-20)--something that a wise person would not do. The idea that God would forgive people would have been outside what Seneca could see as wise. Why wouldn't God just be merciful to people but continue to hold over their heads the reality of their guilt and a fear of later condemnation? Why wouldn't God just be merciful and give a lesser punishment to his people? These options would have been wiser in Seneca's eyes.

Yet, in Jesus an offer exists for forgiveness. The earliest followers of Jesus could stand in the streets of Jerusalem and say to the very people that killed Jesus. "The God of our ancestors raised Jesus from the dead—whom you killed by hanging him on a cross. God exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Savior that he might bring Israel to repentance and forgive their sins." (Acts 5:30-31)


I'm grateful for forgiveness--that God would no longer hold my own guilt over my head. I can understand that Seneca and others may think it foolish, perhaps unbelievable. But, I'm grateful that "there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." (Romans 8:1).

Turning Shades of Brown

One of the things our kids have enjoyed about Texas has been the lizards and toads around the yard. The most exciting of these is the anole lizard. They dart up trees, climb walls and escape most attempts to capture them.

I impressed myself by snagging one of them last night. I held it out for the girls to see it and then put it on William's arm. After the anole scampered away, I captured it again. But this time it quickly changed from the bright green to dark brown right in my hand. Apparently, this little creatures change color when they become stressed.

In addition to the sheer amazement of seeing this transformation first-hand--pun intended--I thought about how I respond to stress and pressure. Clearly, I don't change colors. Unfortunately, some of the changes in me are not so easily detected. I can slip into 'worst-case' imagination and quickly conceive of all the bad things that might happen to me in light of this new challenge. I've found over the years that under stress I react more emotionally and at times less rationally (not that I'm in favor of Stoicism--I'll post about the Stoics later this week). I can lose perspective on reality and fail to remember how God has provided again and again in my life.

What about you? How do you respond under stress? Do you change colors? If so, please post a photo.

Shaping Heroes

I've always wanted to be a hero. But, where does one learn to be a hero?

After reading a few abridged revisions of Beowulf to my girls, I decided to man up and read the real story. Beowulf is one of the oldest tales in the English language. The work tells the exploits of the heroic Beowulf. He defeats man-eating monsters with his bare hands. He swims to the bottom of hellish waters to face off with wicked beasts. After serving as king for 50 years, he goes toe-to-toe with a fire-breathing dragon. It's a great story.

One aspect that struck me was how Beowulf is portrayed throughout the story. The epic not only highlight the great results of Beowulf's escapades but the courage, character, and selflessness he exhibited. Stories are told for a reason; to have an intended effect upon the reader. Beowulf would have shaped in its hearers and readers a picture of what it meant to be heroic--not only to produce heroic results but the qualities embodied in one who is truly heroic. Thus, the effect on the reader would be to aspire for the type of qualities weaved into the story.

When we tell stories of great success in our ministries, do we focus on the heroic results alone? What difference would it make to not just celebrate the great result but to weave the qualities of courageous faith, perseverance and selflessness in to our telling of the story. Let's share stories that inspire people to heroic character not only heroic results. Do you think this would help create a hunger in people for greater character and faithfulness and not only a hunger for great results? How can we share stories that help people learn how to be heroic?

What We Want Every Student to Experience

I wrote a guest post on Tim Casteel's blog about 5 Things We Want Every Student to Experience. It's the second part of a two part series on discipleship.

Bringing Focus

One of our campus ministry leaders, Tim Casteel, asked me to write a guest blog on his site. If you are looking for a good place to get ideas for leading in campus ministry Casteel's site offers some great resources. The post, What we talk about, They will talk about, discusses the importance of focusing our efforts in discipleship.

Simply Saying

This morning, I finished reading a classic text in New Testament theology, Forgiveness and Reconciliation by Vincent Taylor. Dr Taylor was a Methodist evangelist in early 20th century Britain, who by the time of his death in 1968 had become one of the leading New Testament scholars of his day. The book examines a great breadth of issues in New Testament theology related to the issue of God forgiving people and reconciling them to a relationship with him.

One of the final paragraphs summarizes his quest.
"The test of a theology is the extent to which, after full investigation, it permits us to describe the Gospel. We ask, therefore, What is the Gospel, and in what manner does it depend on the work of God in Christ? Perhaps, the final test of the theologian would be his ability to write a tract."

In Dr Taylor's opinion the truest test of a robust theology is that it expresses the gospel clearly and simply, especially to those still outside the faith.

What do you think about his statement that "the final test of a theologian would be [their] ability to write a tract"? What makes it difficult to keep things simple and clear? What attracts us to complexity?

When I was in seminary many times I heard people taking shots at tracts like The Four Spiritual Laws. Have you looked at the theology expressed in tracts like Would You Like to Know God Personally? or Two Ways to Live?