Glumly sitting in my newly decorated living room, I recalled my first official week at Athens, OH with discouragement. I had such great aspirations for this ministry, yet, my first week proved, to me, disappointing. In my mind I had envisioned meeting and connecting with student after student. My cozy new home would be filled with lively discussions from young, intelligent, impressionable, and passionate minds. Instead, there was only me (And Darrin in the background commenting how the sandwich he was creating would be epic).
I sifted through the past week’s memories, hoping to find some reassurance that my first week at Ohio University (OU) was not as disappointing as I was making it out to be. Instead I was mockingly greeted by nothing - no student encounters, which then equated to no expansion of our ACF group.
Truthfully, I had not done much the past week to reach out to the OU students. And, for some reason, I had subconsciously expected students to sort of appear at our weekly Bible Study and Saturday church service, eager to be ministered to. Embarrassed at this thought, I new I had to reevaluate my expectations and approach to this ministry.
My thoughts turned to our ACF meeting last Friday night. We had discussed the story in John of the Samaritan woman at the well. A powerful discussion had ensued of Jesus ministering to this shunned woman - Jesus meeting the woman at the well, fulfilling her needs, and subsequently ministering to the whole town through this woman’s testimony. I recalled someone pointing out John 4:4, “Now he (Jesus) HAD to go through Samaria” (NIV). This individual reminded me of the fact that, in reality, Jews actually mapped out a specific route from Judea to Galilee that ensured no passage, whatsoever, through Samaria. What a powerful picture of Jesus insisting he had to pass through Samaria and stop at that very well. Jesus knew He had an appointment that day. That’s why He HAD to go to Samaria.
As I reflected more on this, I realized, for the first time, that I had already been provided with my very first lesson in campus ministry! Doing campus ministry at Ohio University did not mean sitting around and waiting for students to show up. It means meeting students at their wells: meeting them in the cafeteria, the Baker’s Center, dorm room, gym, and wherever else students roam about! It means maybe stepping out of my comfort zone and not waiting for students to initiate relationship building. It means not being concerned about numbers, but instead, being concerned about hearts.
With the Samaritan woman in mind, I resolved to change my approach with our ministry. No more waiting around or tallying up numbers. You see, Jesus has an appointment with OU students and their wells. He HAS to go through OU and I’m not going to get in His way.
