The soft-power benefits of educating the world’s leaders

High School Senior and College Freshman;What They Need to Know To Attend College 

Excerpted from a two-part article in the Arkansas Baptist News  by Adam Venters, June 22 and 24, 2021

Exciting senior trips, inspiring graduation speeches, nostalgic summer vacations, bittersweet goodbyes in high school and so much more. Transitioning to college has all the feelings. In a few short weeks, recent high school graduates will transition to college as freshmen. As the anticipation mounts, how can a believer in Christ make this transition into college well? How can a student transition from high school to college and make informed decisions from the Bible? 

The book of Proverbs is helpful in any stage of life but is particularly helpful for the heart and mind of a young adult. There are so many truth nuggets that can be found in this book of wisdom.   

• There is more to our life than it being OUR life. 
• Righteousness is the best security; be satisfied by God. Nothing to hide, nothing to fear.
• Doing good will always last. Make time for what lasts. 
• Be teachable. The best opinions are marinated in wisdom.  
• Do not let looks steal your heart. Let a person’s speech guide your perception of them.  
• Speak affirmations of truth to others. Do not let your speech be filled full of jokes and sarcasm. 
• Having a critical mind is a great thing. Having a critical soul can be detrimental. 
• Be discerning with what you say and how you say it. College is a great time to gain knowledge.
• Enjoy your study. Learn a lot about others. 
• Have life altering encounters with God.  
• Wealth can be seen in many different ways. Learn how to build the kind of wealth that would honor God. Choose to invest in God and build a life on Jesus.  
• Plan your calendar with the disciplines of God going first and fill in the rest of the ‘To-Do’s’ around Godly commitments. 
• Do not let hatred stay long enough that your life is dictated by it. 
• Be wise with social media.  
• Let God guide you to your major.
• Insecurity can lead to an inimical life. Be secure in Christ. 
• Be as diligent as you can in all the ways that you should be. Cultivate your growth in God and plant deeply where he shows you. Beware of shorts-cut or instant gratification.  
• Think of sharing Christ as planting a seed with what you say. You will not have fruit overnight, but fruit comes when we plant seeds.  

Walt Henrichsen, author of the classic Disciples Are Made Not Born, made this shocking statement: “If you are at college for any other reason than to be on mission for Jesus Christ, you are there for selfish, sinful reasons.” 

That is a bold statement. Did Walt, a former pastor and Navigator go too far in his challenge to students, or has he found an open nerve that desperately needed to be uncovered and dealt with?  

Adam believes, “God’s definition for college is a four-year (or more) window in a person’s life when God has maximum opportunity to build a foundation into a life lived for him.  

Growing a Student Movement,

The Development of Chi Alpha Campus Ministries,1940-2020

At the beginning of the 21st century, Chi Alpha Campus Ministries USA is a major national student movement communicating the love of Jesus Christ and the good news of the gospel to thousands of students each year who matriculate through college. Chi Alpha students actively take part in campus ministry both stateside and abroad. Fifteen hundred campus missionary staff and volunteers serve 20,000 students on 300 campuses nationwide. Sister campus ministries are active in seventy-five nations. 

Dennis Gaylor writes Growing a Student Movement, The Development of Chi Alpha Campus Ministries, 1940–2020 after having served as the national director of Chi Alpha Campus Ministries USA from 1979 to 2013. This 674-page comprehensive overview illustrates the profound influence of Chi Alpha in the church and world today. 

Chi Alpha is rooted in the Assemblies of God (AG) denomination, a church formed at the beginning of the 20th century as part of the modern Pentecostal movement. They derived the name Chi Alpha from the two Greek letters, XA, and the biblical passage, 2 Corinthians 5:19-20, identifying “Christ Ambassadors” or “Christ sent ones.” The AG created a national Youth Department in 1947 and soon explored ways to minister to AG youth attending state colleges and universities, particularly as thousands of men and women entered college after returning from WWII. Chi Alpha was first organized at Southwest Missouri State (now Missouri State University) in 1953.

A stateside chronological history of Chi Alpha is brought to life through the decades in eight chapters. The book records 800 photographs, 50 charts, and 100 quotes to help tell the story of people and events in Chi Alpha’s growth. A single watershed moment changed the trajectory of Chi Alpha in 1986 with the organizational move from the national Youth Department to AG US Missions. For the first time, Chi Alpha personnel are missionaries, and mission strategies and methods apply to advance the ministry on campuses. AG World Missions also began appointing world missionaries to start university ministries in other nations.

Three chapters cover the vast influence of Chi Alpha in world missions, international student ministry, and a parallel history of university ministry outside the US. The final chapters focus on change, new leadership, and spiritual awakening. The epilogue observes the impact on college students and campuses in the year 2020 during an unprecedented global pandemic, racial justice issues, and the presidential election.  

In Growing a Student Movement, the reader can know the history, experience the present, and catch a vision for the future.