If you've read this blog for any length of time you know I had a love/hate relationship with my experience in grad school at Abilene Christian University.

But there is one part of my experience I treasure and will never forget: helping lead the Southern Hills Campus Ministry at Southern Hills Church. It was very much a learning experience for me because it was entirely different than state school campus ministry, so I had to learn a whole new dynamic and how to serve within a different ministry culture. But in the end, it was beneficial to me in many important ways, and there are people God put in my life through it who I will treasure forever.

The story of the Southern Hills Campus Ministry is one of incredible success, having risen from the ashes only a few years ago to being one of the premier ministries anywhere, as far as I'm concerned. It's also one of the few of its tremendous size that works to integrate everyone into real community, not just put on massive events that draw hundreds of people.

Many many props to Jordan Bunch, who was a young, idealistic ACU freshman when we hired him on as Campus Ministry Associate but who has grown into one of the best spiritual leaders I have ever known and will enter the world here soon as one of the greatest up and coming campus ministers of our generation. (Jordan I am still assuming you will pursue campus ministry long term.)

Here is the latest video from the SHCM Fall Retreat, which had about 150 attendees, 140 of whom integrated into the SHCM LIFE Group system. Awesome.



(Facebook users click here to watch the video).