I LOVE UK!!!

Since I’m an avid University of Louisville basketball fan, the above headline may come as a shock to you – especially since both rival teams (UK-UL) reached the Final Four of the NCAA tournament and will be playing each other on Saturday. But this past Thursday I fell in love with the Christian Student Fellowship at U.K. I went because Brian Marshall, who leads this dynamic campus ministry, had invited me to preach to their weekly gathering.

Although I’m not a big fan of U.K. basketball, I absolutely loved what I encountered last Thursday evening. At 7:30 as we drove through the University of Kentucky campus, the scene was fairly quiet until we neared the CSF facility. The yard was abuzz with hundreds of students, eating a meal provided by the campus ministry and really enjoying themselves. It was obviously the “happening place” on UK’s campus that night.

When it came time for worship, the meeting room was jammed with students – 450 of them! Three hundred packed every available seat upstairs and another 150 watched on a live video feed in two other rooms downstairs. The atmosphere was electric. The worship was loud (of course!) but the band was great and the kids really sang and unashamedly praised God for His goodness.

I was assigned the topic, “Understanding God’s Will For Your Life.” I had mumbled all the way to Lexington about why I was speaking at UK at the same time the Louisville Cardinals were playing Michigan State in the Sweet Sixteen. I couldn’t understand God’s will for me at that moment much less explain it to the kids! But their participation and spiritual hunger lifted my spirits, and I was glad I went.

The topic, “Understanding God’s Will,” is not an easy one and I didn’t have a particularly engaging message, but the kids seemed hungry to hear from God’s Word and really listened. For 35 minutes they paid attention and some took notes. I’ve spoken at dozens of college chapels and the audiences are often cynical and challenging. The audiences at campus ministries are always much more receptive because the students are there by choice rather than coercion. But the UK students were one of the most spiritually alert and eager that I’ve ever encountered.

Afterward, even though I was hurrying out to watch the tape of the UL basketball game, five students stopped me and introduced themselves as being from Southeast Christian Church. As they excitedly told me of their involvement in CSF and how much it meant to them, my heart was warmed. One Southeast father told me before I went that CSF was the center of his daughter’s social life and he will be forever grateful.

My heart is often grieved over what happens to church kids when they go off to state universities. We lose so many to the secular worldview and the carnal temptations that are ever-present on campus. But that brief experience at CSF illustrated for me the importance of campus ministries. The church needs to have a vibrant presence on campus to constantly remind our kids that it’s vitally important they understand and follow God’s will during the college years because so many life-altering decisions are made during that time.

At the end of the worship service it was announced that next week, CSF is hosting a scholarly believer who will give an apologetic for the resurrection of Jesus and then invite questions from the audience. The students will be given a reason for the hope that is within them.

Obviously I was impressed. I went to UK an avid UL basketball fan and left an avid UL basketball fan. But I’m now a huge fan of The Christian Student Fellowship at UK.

Thanks to Brian Marshall who is doing an outstanding job of leading this ministry. It’s the best I’ve seen and it sets the pace for others that are developing.

Thanks to the visionary leaders in the Lexington area churches who established CSF four decades ago. You planted productive seed and your tireless efforts are now reaping a bountiful harvest.

By the way, you’ll be glad to know that Ben Hardman and his team are off to a terrific start on the University of Louisville campus in a new ministry called “The Avenue” which now meets at what was previously Masterson’s restaurant. They are already reaching a couple hundred kids on Sunday night.

Thanks to Steve Wigginton and Chris Morgan who are working with hundreds of students through FCA at the University of Louisville. There was even a story in the Courier-Journal last week that talked about the U of L basketball team’s Bible Study having more than 20 attendees!

Thanks to the Southeast Christian Church missions department for having the vision to invest financially in campus student ministries. Those ministries can continue to exist only through the generosity of the church. But it’s one of our wisest spiritual investments.

Thanks to Godly parents who, when sending their graduating seniors off to the university, make sure they are connected with the campus ministry.

Eugene DePorter, who has been a valuable staff member at Southeast for two decades, has often said that he owes much of his spiritual development to the campus ministry at the University of Tennessee. There are thousands of other faithful believers today who have been rescued from potential hell-hole temptations and owe their salvation to effective campus ministries like CSF.

The Apostle Paul cautioned that a man who doesn’t provide for his family is worse than an unbeliever. That principle applies spiritually as well as financially. Godly parents and church leaders need to provide a spiritual haven for their children when they are sent off to college. The effective campus ministry merits our best financial support and our daily prayers.

I’ll resume the study through the gospel of Matthew in next week’s blog.