My Ministry Minute

Vocare

Steve Pogue — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 21:13:58 +0000

Lonnie R. Welch,
School of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science,
Ohio University

[Jan 29, 2011]–

def. vocāre “to call”

A student whom I mentor said: “I want my life as a Christian to have a direct impact on people. I don’t want to be stuck in an office, having to write proposals and research papers.” I countered: “Being a professor opens up many doors for touching lives.”

I could say this with assurance because I am entering my third decade as a professor, and I have reflected on how God has led me progressively into a life of full-time Christian service in academia:

In my first decade, He taught me how to succeed as a professor and still be a godly husband and father, lessons that were training grounds for the next decade.

In the second one, two things ignited a passion in me to serve God full-time as a professor. Reading The Case for a Creator by Lee Strobel led me to view my research as actually a study of God’s creation and an opportunity to commune with my Creator. Hearing William Lane Craig speak, “On Being a Christian Academic,” at a Cru-sponsored breakfast opened up even greater understanding of how my influence as a professor can be significant ministry.

As I embark on my third decade as a professor, I continue to do research that builds on the foundation established during the previous decades. Because of the tremendous opportunities I have as a professor, I endeavor to inspire others, both faculty and students, to serve God in secular universities.

The bar is high for entering this mission field, but for those willing to commit their time, talents and resources to the task, numerous opportunities exist for serving God as a professor. Os Guinness expresses in his book, The Call, that calling is the truth that God calls us to Himself so decisively that everything we are, everything we do, and everything we have is invested with a special devotion and dynamism lived as a response to His summons and service.

N.B.

Know of a student sensing a call to become a professor?
Please consider inviting them to join me in June at the Vocare Summer Project. It is sponsored by Faculty Commons in beautiful Durham, North Carolina. Details at http://wannabelikeclive.com.

office photo ©istockphoto

Adversities Transformed

Steve Pogue — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 23:46:36 +0000

Duane Keilstrup,
Professor Emeritus,
German,
University of Texas-Arlington

[February 5, 2012] –

I was never a cutting-edge scholar, dynamic orator, or award-winning teacher during my career in academia. I was, however, in love with the Lord Jesus Christ, and by His grace God led me one spring to be part of a Faculty Commons short-term mission to universities in South Africa.

Although unsure of how I might contribute, I was excited to be a part of this amazing pioneering outreach. Yet my willingness to be used by God did not exempt me from adversities — before, during, and after this trip. At the time I was suffering from severe acid reflux and ulcer problems that continued throughout my stay in Johannesburg. We were, of course, asked to speak before several campus groups, and I feared I would not have the stamina and clarity to present my lectures.

Unusual Freedom

Amazingly, however, each time I approached the podiums, I felt completely free of pain. In Christian faculty workshops I explained how the Holy Spirit led me to integrate the Gospel into my teaching of German language and culture, and these workshops led to opportunities to share in more detail on an individual basis as well.

On the third day a Campus Crusade student leader introduced me to a science professor whose wife had been witnessing to him. This professor had expressed interest but had not come to a decision. He told us he felt he just needed a push. Sensing the Holy Spirit’s leading, I shared my testimony with him. Though hearing the details of my journey with the Lord made sense to him, he still was not ready to accept Christ’s forgiveness for himself.

Positive Results

However, later at the end of our mission, as our group was about to board the plane for our flight home, the news came that he had indeed finally come to Christ. In addition, I later learned that the speech I gave to the faculty at Johannesburg College opened additional doors for my host professor to share Christ with small student groups.

Upon returning home, new adversities arose. First I received a few mean-spirited teaching evaluations, something I had never faced before. On that same day a confrontation with an out-of-control lab technician erupted. I suddenly plunged from the spiritual African mountaintop experience into a valley of frustration and disappointment. Hadn’t I done what God wanted?

Simple Gifts

The very next morning God graciously intervened through an earthly angel in the form of a custodian who left a beautiful drawing with words of encouraging Scripture on my desk. God clearly led this young man to provide encouragement, because he had no way of knowing about my problems.

More drawings arrived daily, and I developed a friendship with this man. I learned about his own problems and his need for mutual encouragement. The expression of his faith through art encouraged me to continue to share Christ with others on my own campus, even as I had done in South Africa.

Through all of this God reminded me that sharing acts of kindness and God’s Word can contribute more to the present and eternal lives of others than we may ever know on earth. And clearly the Lord intervened to transform adversities on my own campus as well as on campuses abroad into His victories.

climbing photo ©istockphoto

The Master Mechanic

Anne Wenger — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 21:04:52 +0000

Dusty Wilson,
Mathematics,
Highline Community College

[January 22, 2012] –

Our car’s squeaky brakes caused this mathematician to turn mechanic due to these tough economic times! Perhaps you can relate.

It was the Christmas holiday when the brakes were beginning to rap out a nice beat and a CV boot was cracked. So I asked a student friend of mine if he would mind lending a hand for this simple half day job.

Surprisingly, I was still calm when the task stretched into the second day. Sure it was Christmas Eve, but isn’t this called “Christmas Brake”? Everything seemed to button up nicely … except for the intermittent grinding sound that seemed to be coming from the new CV boot.

Major Problem

Had I poorly packed the grease?
Were the ball bearings smoking with every turn?
Had I just botched a simple job replacing it with the nightmarish task of replacing an axle?

By then I was no longer calm, in fact I was freaking out (the technical term is “perturbed” or “distraught”).

So I did what most of us do when we get in over our head. I called another friend (this time a retired mechanical genius) and said, “I can’t do it! Can you help?” He graciously offered to see what he could do. After a minute of listening to the rock concert in my brakes, he made his initial diagnosis (I think he said that a thingy was rubbing the whatchamacallit). So we popped the tire off to take a look.

Just One Touch

My friend took his hammer and carefully hit the assembly one single time. We put the tire back on. That was it. One single tap was all it took. No more grinding.

The power of that imagery leaves me awestruck. My plaguing car problems, our family foibles, the roof that leaks, the students that complain, the coworkers that either miss the “co” or the “work” … Our problems are just one single tap away from being solved in the hands of our Master.

Why He doesn’t solve all our problems this simply, I don’t know. Pain and suffering of many varieties are all around us. But this simple personal experience encourages me to remember that God, the Creator and Master, is in control. Not only that, He cares for us, hears our prayers, and acts on our behalf whenever we ask Him to do so.

He invites us to “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” Matt. 7:7

The Annual Review

Anne Wenger — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 15:46:42 +0000

James M. Kenderdine,
Professor Emeritus,
Marketing & Supply Chain Management,
The University of Oklahoma,

[Jan. 15, 2012]—

“Your Annual Report is due January 2nd to your Department Chair.”

Those words signal that it is time to grade myself. Based on what we professors submit, we are graded by our Chair, the College Committee and the Deans, then we are ranked with the other college faculty and finally we are rewarded accordingly.

I came to genuine faith in Christ in January of 1985 after 16 years of teaching at Oklahoma. As an Associate Professor I loved teaching, but my ambition and focus were really on research and becoming a full professor. That year some colleagues and I were working on a major study of the correlates of success in wholesaling. Prior to that time I had been a typical religious person who attended church and even occasionally was stirred to a deeper understanding of what the matter of faith had to do with life. Becoming a Christian rocked my little academic world in unexpected ways.

God-appointed Interruptions

Reviewing statistical data, drafting and refining our analysis seemed never-ending jobs. I became very frustrated when students came to my office outside the posted office hours, often for what seemed to be no apparent reason. As a student left one day, I remember thinking “I could get so much done if it were not for these darn interruptions!” Immediately I sensed the Holy Spirit telling me “These interruptions are your job.”

Hearing that, I stopped what I was doing and just sat still. My view of my job and my priorities changed in that golden moment. Instead of resenting the interruptions, I began to look forward to them.

The reminder about the annual report was never something I eagerly welcomed each December. As I struggled, thinking “This report probably won’t please either my Chair or the Dean” the Holy Spirit reminded me, “You don’t work just for them. You work for God. You should be most concerned about whether or not what you have done this past year pleases Him.”

New Perspective

Wow, what a concept! When I finished my report and looked it over, I realized that it had been a great year when seen from the proper perspective. Not the kind of year that would get me a big raise perhaps. But the Holy Spirit taught me something valuable: What I am paid is not the best measure of my true value or worth; it is just money.

Those two moments changed my life as a college professor. My only regret is that they came so late in my career.