I’m sitting here at Georgia Tech CCF during the first real downtime I’ve had in a few days (since before Gatlinburg last weekend). I’m basically hanging out down here with the staff and students so that I can get a taste of a successful campus ministry. It happens that this particular campus ministry is tied directly with CMF | Globalscope. I have been attending meetings, spending time with students, helping out where I can and generally being around. It’s been a great experience…truly.

What am I noticing? First and foremost, I am seeing that ministry is happening all around me at all times. People sitting and talking. Playing ping-pong while talking about their day. Playing music with circles of musicians. Meeting together for meals. It’s incredible to watch. It’s informal. It’s rough around the edges. It’s mostly unplanned. It’s chaotic. It’s deep, meaningful and lasting. It’s as real as it gets. It feels unconfined and yet very focused. It’s very affirming within me.

I don’t want to compare it to church experiences that I’ve had, as it’s a completely different thing. What I do feel comfortable saying is this: it’s for me. I want faith expressions like this. Leah and I will be coming back down here again so that we can experience it together and I feel completely confident that she’s going to be saying the same things.

Since most of our England team is down here, it’s also been great to continue to develop those relationships and get a deeper understanding of personalities and character traits and quite honestly, after having the time, I’m more confident than ever that our England team is set up tremendously well for the task at hand. (Wow, that was a long sentence)

Next week, this same team will travel to England. We’ll spend a number of days there and continue to develop those relationships and catch more of the vision for England in September/October 2007. Stay Tuned.