" ... Like a 'Christian' pastor?"

This past week my wife Beth and I went to Paris, France with a Cheltenham high school group. It worked out well because she is a French teacher and they needed me to be a male chaperone, so we both went for free. As I started connecting with the guys in the group, one asked me what I did for a living. I told him I was a pastor. He asked me, "...Like a 'Christian' pastor? I don't believe it." Then he asked me if I could quote John 3:16 for him. I did of course quote it and then I told him what it meant. He was blown away and just kept saying, "No way, no way, you are a pastor." I am not sure if that is a good or bad reaction. 

Later, while visiting a cathedral, the tour guide asked if anyone could tell her who wrote the four gospels: sadly no one could. I whispered to a student, "Matthew, Mark, Luke and John." This next generation has all the information of the world at their fingertips, yet knows little to nothing about God and His love.

I am not sure that adults around us are any different.  Did you hear what happened on the game show Jeopardy? The participants who are hands down brilliant and knowledgeable about nearly every aspect of life were asked in June of this year this question: "Matthew 6:9 says, 'Our Father, which art in heaven, [blank] be thy name?'" Not one knew the answer, which is "hallowed," meaning holy. Obviously these three participants hadn't spent a lot of time in church or possibly knew the Lord.  

The college campus is one of the most Post-Christian places on the planet. College students not only didn't grow up in the church but their parents didn't go to church either. When I start Gospel centered conversations on campus, a lot of times I am told that their grandparents went to church but it stopped at them. In Judges 2:10, the author said this, "There arose another generation after them who did now know the Lord, nor yet the work which He had done for Israel."  

When Josiah became king, the previous king, Manasseh, turned God's temple into a place of idol worship. Josiah cleansed the temple of its idols, and the high priest Hilkiah found the Book of the Law, which had not been read by the previous generation (2 Chronicles 34).

This is where we come into play: we know The Truth and The Truth has set us free (John 8:32). God has strategically located all of us to share John 3:16 with words, actions, and kindly whispering the words of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John while praying the Lord's prayer to our Hallowed Heavenly Father. If not the people around us are all in jeopardy.  

Thanks for all your prayers this summer as we continue to raise support and awareness of the need for Gospel centered conversations on the college campuses in Greater Philadelphia and around our great nation.  

• IF you are already Giving - thanks so much!

• IF you are not, we could use your help this fall as we bring Campus Ministry to 4 different Colleges.  

• Praise God, we have a new part-time intern starting at Delaware Valley University and hoping for another to volunteer at Montgomery County Community College.  

• Each campus needs an operation budget and outreach monies.

• Your gifts and prayers go a long way! Tell a Friend or invite us to speak at your church or small group!