Revival and College Ministry: A Conversation with Pastor Mark Herbster

speaker-0: ⁓ Faith Baptist This Week in the Word.

speaker-1: This church and tailors present the word. Thank you again for joining us at This Week in the Word at Faith Baptist Church in Taylor, South Carolina, a podcast and video series where we really focus on things that are happening here at Faith Baptist Church and a focus on really what's happening the week of as we speak about these things. As we begin the podcast today, I'm glad to again have Pastor Mark Herbster with us, our family pastor here. So thanks again for joining us.

speaker-0: It's always great to have these conversations with you, Pastor. It's exciting.

speaker-1: This has been a fun format, I think, for all of our pastoral team just to kinda let loose a little bit.

speaker-0: Yeah, we kinda chit chat about life and family and philosophy and ministry and it's really fun.

speaker-1: I'm hopeful those that are watching or listening have also enjoyed this and you can certainly get it anywhere you get your podcasts and share it with others. That's right. No one has to listen to what we're saying. Exactly. You know, w one of the things I wanted to speak of today was first to begin with a conversation about revival. And as I begin the conversation about revival, you're a former evangelist. Really still are an evangelist.

speaker-0: If they don't enjoy it, we do. Yeah. I love the subject of revival. Yeah. And ⁓ as an evangelist for seventeen years before going into the college ministry at Maranatha and then course here ⁓ for the last year or year and a half. Right. I still feel like the Lord's gifted me in the area of evangelism and so revival has been something I've thought about and talked about for many, many years.

speaker-1: Right. And and it may seem odd for some of our listeners to think and connect the dots between revival and college ministry as you just did in your own testimony, but history bears mentioning here because it is not all that disconnected. Let me just read a couple of things from an article I found related to that. It says revivals have been central to the history of American higher education. The first Great Awakening of the 1740s directly or indirectly produced several colleges: Princeton, Dartmouth, and Brown that would later become the illustrious Ivy League. The second Great Awakening of the early 1800s produced even more institutions of higher learning than the first awakening did.

speaker-0: It's a very fascinating thought. And really sad when you think about those those very institutions you just mentioned. Right. Which literally have nothing to do with God much anymore. Right. But they historically were involved in seeing great revivals.

speaker-1: Great revivals and started for the principal purpose of

speaker-0: Training ministers and and solid Christians. Right.

speaker-1: Here's the article. It says consider the Yale College revival during the first Great Awakening. The school had been founded by conservative congregationalists in 1701, giving it deep roots in Puritan tradition. Jonathan Edwards, the leading theologian of the Great Awakening, graduated from Yale and taught there for a few years in the mid 1720s. Today today's Yale may be a typical elite secular school, but in 1740 it was thoroughly Christian. It proved more open to revival than Harvard College, which was already becoming influenced by liberal theology. But even at Yale, the Great Awakening caused great controversy as it began. The primary earthly catalyst for the Yale revival of that time was George Whitfield. That scratches an itch for Mark Herbster.

speaker-0: Goodness. Yes. And I could talk about George Whitfield for a long time because I've studied him quite in depth and written about him. Even part of my dissertation included ⁓ excerpts about George Whitfield. But he is by, in my opinion, the ⁓ classic example of a biblical evangelist that we find throughout church history, which is why he became my church history hero. Right. And remembering that he was from England and he was originally Anglican, but you know, God rescued him from Anglicanism and brought him to a true faith in Christ.

speaker-1: At one point ministering not too far from here in in Georgia. Yeah.

speaker-0: I've visited places in Charleston ⁓ in in Georgia and in Charleston, South Carolina where he actually preached. Yes. And ⁓ established ministries. Yeah, and and of course he had a an orphanage here that he started. It's amazing. As well. But so he saw revival in many different places. He saw revival in England, of course, but he was greatly used here in America. And recently the mo the the most recent testimony, Whitfield, was this this Great Awakening film that came out, movie that came out.

speaker-1: I have not seen that yet.

speaker-0: And it's actually worth watching. It's really it's really very accurate to church history and shows George Whitfield coming to Philadelphia and his connection and his friendship with Benjamin Franklin. Interesting. And ⁓ one of the things, of course, I really respect is the fact that he was a doctrinal preacher. Yeah, but he did doctrinal, expositional, gospel preaching with power and authority. It's awesome. And a loud voice, which some people have told me I have a loud voice. So I I don't know if I'm George Whitfield or not, but I'd love to claim that. That would be f he's my hero.

speaker-1: Well, it's fascinating, and this is why I'm bringing up this as kind of introduction material to what we're talking about today. Whitfield, and we're gonna get into some of the other revivals hopefully later during our conversation, he was instrumental of God in you starting a revival here in America through predominantly what began the conversation, a series of messages and lectures he gave at Yale, a college setting. And God got a hold of college students' hearts and their youthfulness and their energy and their passion for the Lord. Really through that college ministry began to create a sweeping revival that we still talk about years later. But it started in this college-focused ministry. And to that end, I think it's good for us as a church here in Greenville, South Carolina, to go ahead and talk about college ministry.

speaker-0: I get excited just hearing you talk about it right now. Right. And to think about what happened in those years that you were just mentioning and what's happening even in our day in the higher learning space in the college environment. It's a huge opportunity. Huge huge opportunity to take these young people that are just on the precipice of a lifetime of service for God to shape their thinking, to disciple them. to make good decisions and to also energize them for a a long lifetime of ministry for the Lord. And whatever occupation I used to say when I was working at the college, whatever occupation is is an opportunity of ministry. Absolutely. Every occupation is an opportunity of ministry.

speaker-1: Luther used to say there's no difference between the secular and the sacred. Of course, in his ministry, he was thinking in terms of the hierarchical system they'd placed in the Catholic Church, where you had the the clergy and the presb and the parishioners, you know. And he's saying, No, no, no, no, no. Every person's responsibility before their God is to worship him in the environment that God.

speaker-0: Yeah with this. This is just a little side note on that, but this is why I have been burdened ever since I did become an evangelist, right? To make sure that my preaching towards full time Christian ministry surrender was also balanced with this reality that not everyone is called to full time ministry as far as a pastor, evangelist, missionary, but everybody is to be a full time minister. And so I think that that's a the right balance when we preach to young people and even college students, that we don't put them on a lower plane because they're an accountant or doctor or lawyer or studying to be a writer or journalist or whatever versus a preacher. And I think that we do need more preachers. I don't wanna we do. You know, I don't want to turn away from that. But we need the servants of the Lord.

speaker-1: It's interesting though, and and and today's podcast, we're just talking about college ministry. And and I wanted to begin with revivals because you can look at that and you can see this is where God used young college students to equipped to start revivals. And that is tremendous. You came as a family pastor, and then There's been a a ⁓ little bit of a focused, intentional. Some people say, Well, that's different. I thought he came to be the family pastor. Now he's helping in college. How is that connected?

speaker-0: I mean it's directly connected, which and actually in my original job description coming here, I know you mentioned and and you put it in there that you wanted me to be very involved in the college ministry. So student ministry. So student and family pastor really drives my ministry. And those are the two ⁓ two angles that I'm working on all the time.

speaker-1: Use it forward. But how is college connected though? Yeah.

speaker-0: It's very connected. And I used to say it all the time when I was even in the college environment, the actual college environment, working at Maranatha a number of years ago. And that is that we are partnering with families. When we when these students come to Greenville, South Carolina, whatever college they're going to, of course, we get a lot from Bob Jones University, but we have other colleges, Furman, Clemson, North Greenville, other community colleges. W when they are coming to Greenville or they're in enrolled in a school. They are leaving their families. This is a big deal for these families. Parents like me and you that have invested for all these years in training our kids, educating their kids, and then all of a sudden they leave us, which I do think is a positive thing, that they go to an environment where they can learn leadership and they can grow. But that's a very volatile time period. In their lives. And so I feel like our ministry with the college students.

speaker-1: In a college setting.

speaker-0: is directly connected with the ministry the parents had in their lives up to that point. And let's just be honest, the parents have more invested than any of us. Yeah. And so our our role is to come alongside of those families. And what's amazing is often I don't even get to meet the parents when they're coming to our church, when when I'm investing in them in the college ministry here, when I see them on campus. But I will tell you, I am thinking about their parents, even though I don't know a lot of them. It is interesting, I do know a lot of them. Yeah.

speaker-1: But we're trying that's why we're doing this, to let parents know this is why we ha this is the purpose of our college ministry. It is not different than our youth ministry in that regard. We are a partnership ministry with parents.

speaker-0: That's exactly right. And you think about how closely aligned it is. There I mean, they literally just came out of a youth group. Yeah. Like just a few months before they come to college. Right. And I'll tell you what, it is exciting when you see the the starry eyed freshman showing up to our church on that first Sunday, which is coming up here in just a couple of Sundays. Yeah. And and then we can love on them and serve them and guide them. And we have this open opportunity for just a few years while they're here in Greenville going to school. For us to invest in areas that are really crucial for their future decision making. And that's what's driving like the choice that I that I make and like what I'm teaching them and how I interact with them. And then of course any of the the personal conversations that I can have as well. And I do believe this is the seedbed for what could be a spiritual revival in the next generation because

speaker-1: not gonna happen if you're pulling homes apart. And how many t you traveled into evangelism, you also had a ministry at a Christian college. How many times have you even talked to parents who that is their concern? I if I send my child away from college, they might not come back to my home church that they were grown up in.

speaker-0: That keeps happening. Real transparent, Greenville, South Carolina has a plethora of options for churches. And I do believe there are parents that are a little nervous about when they send their kids away because of the many, many different options that are available, even here in Greenville, where their virtues and values that they've invested in are. are actually being torn down and it's probably unintentional, but they're torn down by the methodology or the practice or the doctrine or the or the lack of.

speaker-1: ⁓ and and now the kids are coming home from college. They don't want to go to their home church. I ⁓

speaker-0: And they don't even want to go to the I have heard this and I even in my travels I've heard this from pastors and parents. We send them away to college and they come back and they don't even want to come to our church. And I know that's a that could be a very complicated discussion. And sometimes there are reasons why you need to leave a church, but what what they're referring to is that while they were in college, somewhere their the virtues and values of their ministry, their church ministry and their families was being undermined. Yep. And and that is not helpful.

speaker-1: It's not a partnership ministry in that regard.

speaker-0: We want to be supportive of not only the parents but also the pastors that have invested. I mean, I think about that as well, especially when I ask the the students that come to our church, what is your home church back home? Yep. And a lot of times they already have a relationship with the pastor. Yep. So that's helpful too. Obviously that helps us if we do ever face issues where we can call the pastor and maybe even call the parents and and guide them through those kinds of things. But they're only with us. I mean this will not be their permanent church unless they reside in Greenville after college, which some of them may. Some of them may. But but we have this just this specified time period that's and it is exciting because they're so fresh and they're so energetic. Right. And they're most of them are eager to just learn.

speaker-1: And our job here then is we want to turn the hearts of these children back to their fathers, especially if they're coming from good homes, which many of them are, coming from good homes with good churches, as you just alluded to. Some of these churches you know, you know they're pastors. Right. We don't want to be the kind of ministry which is becoming more and more typical. I'm I'm hearing about this, where parents are very concerned to send their kid away from home to Greenville, South Carolina, which is our con context. And they're concerned about that because what they're discovering is that I send my kid to college and by their sophomore year of college, they're coming home even at Christmas break and they don't want to go to the church that they grew up in. They to go to the contemporary church up the road. And we don't want to be a part of it.

speaker-0: Yep, I know. That's a shame. It's too bad that that that's taking place quite often. And sometimes it's a result of a lack of confidence that the child has, maybe from their upbringing, which that's a whole nother subject, which is why I'm the family pastor. We're we're trying to develop that early on in their lives. Sometimes it's a result of the actual environment of the college campus. ⁓

speaker-1: But we wanna be a different we we get a different environment here.

speaker-0: But yeah, exactly. But what we know is that young people that are Christian young people, whether they're going to a place like Bob Jones University or whether they're going to Clemson, they need to be involved and committed in a local church that is teaching proper doctrine and practicing a methodology that honors and reverences the Lord.

speaker-1: We've got four pretty large colleges within reasonable drive dis driving distance from our location, from our front door. Yep. Bob Jones, Furman, North Greenville and Bob Jones and ⁓ Clemson. Yeah. So there are thousands of students and you have an opportunity that you have been often teaching and leading that class through various conversations and focused around what we're talking about. What are some of those conversations that you've already had and planned to have?

speaker-0: Thousands of students. Yeah, so ⁓ last year when we did when I started this college ministry, of course, just moving here, ⁓ I really was burdened about ⁓ growing the college students in their leadership skills. I believe one of the primary goals of the college years is to learn how to be leaders. And here was my first subject that I dealt with, and I'm sure I'll have this on a rotation for every like three or four years or whatever. But my first subject was because of the the the necessity of college students evaluating their own lives, it was leaders leading themselves. And I felt like that was a an important subject to start with because Generation Z is excessively skeptical of leadership and often very critical of leadership. And my goal in that was to be a positive influence on saying, If you want to be a leader, first you need to critique yourself. And so we talked about all kinds of virtues and values that need to be in our lives in order for us to properly influence. And then I tagged onto that in the second semester. Leaders not only lead themselves, but leaders, this was the second semester theme was leaders build others. Okay. And so then it was the one another passages of scripture and how, because the other issue that they face. Is individualism. And we're in a a very individualistic society where young people don't want to get into other people's lives. They want to have their close friendships and relationships that kind of make them feel good about life and themselves. But often they're skipping out on these kinds of intentional ministry opportunities in people's lives. Right. And so we talked about all kinds of scriptural teaching on loving one another, praying for one another, serving one another, helping one another. Confronting one another. I mean it was it was really interesting and we had a lot of really good discussions. My goal this year as we enter into a new school year is we're starting a series on the local church. And I'm calling it Choose Your Church. Right. And here's the the premise or the underlying philosophy behind why I chose this theme. Right. I'm concerned that these are crucial years for college students to determine

speaker-1: Okay.

speaker-0: How they're gonna make their decision after graduation. All right, maybe I could ask it this way. If the student graduates tomorrow and they move to a new city, what would determine the church they join? Where would they get the criteria or the thought processes? What would guide the thought processes for them to choose the church they're going to attend and commit themselves to in some local? in some ⁓ community across America. So ⁓ at the heart of this whole discussion w will be developing a commitment to a lifetime of faithfulness to the local church. And so we'll have I mean we'll have a you can go many different directions with that, which is awesome.

speaker-1: I love that 'cause that's such a need to be hey, we we're committed to what Christ is committed to. And Christ said, I will build my church.

speaker-0: Right. I'm and I'm concerned as I've been working in the college environment a number of years now, and and then of course even here working in the the college students' lives, I'm concerned that there are particular cultural philosophies that are attacking the younger generation's commitment to the church. Yeah. And you know, Colossians two eight says, Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy in vain deceit after the traditions of men, after the rudiments of the world and not after Christ. So the philosophies that are taking our young people captive are things that also will prevent them often from being fully on board with a local church.

speaker-1: I wanna come back to this because I I I wanna make sure as our listeners, even some of our local church listeners here at faith, are understanding the the balance that you've now struck in our ministry. You are with the college students, and then you are with the young families and you're doing both. How are you working out that balance?

speaker-0: Yeah, that's a great question. And it is a a little bit of a challenge and it's a little tricky to get the schedule all right. But what the plan is, is that we actually have every other week we have teaching and then group discussion.

speaker-1: Based on the teaching from the week before. Exactly.

speaker-0: Okay. So both of the classes will will go back and forth from that, which means I'm doing I'm gonna be doing the majority of the teaching unless I have a guest speaker or something, but ⁓ but then when I'm teaching in the other class, then the college class would have a group discussion and we have group leaders and I f facilitate them and I actually give them the group discussions, the questions, I lead them up to that. That allows for us to have kind of a a little bit of a lecture style one week. ⁓ there's always give and take even in those as well. But then the next week is completely a discussion group where they can actually communicate with one another, feel like they're assimilating to our local church, and also get to know by way of fellowship and friendship our group leaders and other other students and of course in the family class, other families.

speaker-1: I just wanted to help connect the dots for our local listeners. And they're saying, so wait, we've heard Mark talk about his family conversations class. Now we're hearing Mark talk about his college class. How much does this guy do? And the answer is a lot, actually. And we're thankful for that.

speaker-0: What's amazing, Pastor, is these are the real heavy burdens that I have carried for a a number of years. I will tell you that when I was serving in the college environment full time, that my burden was still for their families. Right. And which is why whenever the parents came to the campus, I was handing them a business card. You you can ask them of the We had parents d just this past Sunday that were visiting our church. They walked in, they

speaker-1: You're carrying both into

speaker-0: They didn't even know I was here. I didn't know they were coming. And their son was in my department at Maranatha all four years that he went through ⁓ Bible training. And now he's serving the Lord. He's married. He has a baby and he has one on the way. And and I have a tight connection with that family because of that student. Right. So that's a perfect example of how it works together. That family has conf had confidence in in my ministry with their son. Because I was connecting the dots between their family and the college ministry. And that's what we're doing here. And I so I have a burden for the college students. I think partially because of my family emphasis and but also as well as you have this burden as well, but also my burden for just seeing young people. I mean, give your lives to the Lord. Well I mean get g get your eyes off of the the wealth of this world, though you may get wealth, but make sure your your eyes are on

speaker-1: That's what we want here.

speaker-0: full surrender of God, full surrender to ministry. Yeah. And ⁓ I I believe that that's so exciting potential. The potential with the college students is amazing. And they will be the next parents too, by the way, most of them.

speaker-1: And get back to the revival conversation that led off this podcast. Yeah. Right? Revival. That's revival. Right. And then it started through these college classes. There's other neat anecdotes like September 1741. So September 1741, Jonathan Edwards delivered a lecture called The Distinguishing Marks of a Work of the Spirit of God. Yeah. He did that at Yale's commencement.

speaker-0: I mean Yeah, and that was the first when you told me that, that was the first time I had heard that, I'm very familiar with that document. Okay. Yeah. That he presented. He must have presented a lecture form of the pamphlet because he produced this pamphlet. Right. That pamphlet, which was spread across the colonies, called The Distinguishing Marks of the Spirit of God. And I think it had a longer title and everything. Sure. As well. Yeah. But that I didn't realize he actually did that at the college at Yale's commencement. That's an amazing thing because you I know what those distinguishing marks are. But it's One of them is that you attack the kingdom of Satan. And one of them is that there's a greater love for the brothers and sisters in Christ. These are the characteristics that define a genuine reveal.

speaker-1: Well, and here's here's where coming back to college class is pretty exciting. So Edwards delivered that. It was the beginning of Edwards' effort to biblically discern these signs of true revival. When he did this, some of the college faculty at Yale ⁓ be opposed him, began to oppose Edwards' statements on that. Wow. Whitfield, who had already seen God work to start a revival. begins to join Edward's cause and say, no, no, no, this is the marks of the biblically you know, this is what what it actually revival should be. Actually I have all five of ⁓ You already you named, you know, two of them. The other one would be ⁓ a ⁓ well here here the not in the order you gave ⁓ but an enhanced glory for Jesus. Right. Damage to the interest of Satan. A people's greater regard for the Bible and their scripture greater love for God and their neighbor. Yes. That there's your five. I know.

speaker-0: Yes, attacking Satan's kingdom.

speaker-1: And as a result, some that know Church History may know this name, David Brainerd was so convinced Edward was correct, he began to stir it up amongst his own student body. And a revival began to take shape in the 1740s in an amazing way, again through a college campus. Yeah. So for us, I'm looking at and going, hey.

speaker-0: Hmm.

speaker-1: We got college students that are about to join Greenville coming in from other parts of the country, some maybe from around the world, but mostly from the US. We have a remarkable opportunity to see God do something, and we better not waste it.

speaker-0: Yeah. I feel like stirring up that kind of those kind of results in the lives of I mean th those are the distinguishing qualities that we're shooting for. Greater esteem for Jesus, you know, lifting up you preached about this just this week, that Christ is all and in all and that that He is the focus of our life, greater love for the Word of God and and it's really exciting to see the young people, the college students get fired up about it. Right. And and as they're getting the academic training. Which by the way, this was exactly the history of Whitfield and Wesley. They were in the Holy Club in Oxford, I believe, or Cambridge one of the one of the ⁓ schools over there in in England. Right. And they were in the Holy Club when they got on fire for God. Right. And they started having all these conversations about like what what is God gonna do in our lives. And both W Wesley and Whitfield were great greatly used of God, but it started when they were in the intellectual community and when they were in academic institutions. So I I do feel like, yeah, you're right. That's an amazing connection of revival and how how the the young people are growing and changing at that stage in their life.

speaker-1: It's such a remarkable transitional step that God has placed here for us to steward. And we're speaking to many different facets of that. We've spoken to the partnership with the parents, to the responsibility of taking the youthfulness of that age group and really targeting it towards a passion, the the passion being God's church that He is establishing here locally. I just want to even say, okay, well, what about the college student that's still about to start? as a freshman. Right. They haven't moved, but they're thinking about coming down to Greenville. They know that's the intention that God has for them. What would you say to them as they get ready to start related to what's most important for their beginning tenure there at the university?

speaker-0: I think well, definitely that's a great question. I mean, what when I'm thinking about the college student, if I had the chance to talk to every freshman, yeah, I would be saying things like, listen, the most important thing about college is not the academic credentials you're getting. The most important thing about college is the development of your heart for God that comes through relationships, that comes through the environment that you're in. And that comes from a commitment that you give to the preaching of God at a local church that you're involved and you're committed to a local church that is promoting the virtues and values that you stand on that you believe in. Those things are worth every dollar that's spent on the tuition of being in the in the Greenville area. I mean, you think about the money that's being spent to send them. I was just talking to somebody just today about this. It is worth it. ⁓ The cost not to send them is heavier. If you don't have them in an environment where they can meet their friends, their spouse, be in a local church that gives them a solid theological and practical foundation, all of that. And this does not negate the fact that a lot of what we do is also these personal mentoring and discipleship, that we're I'm over at the campus every week. On Thursdays, I I tell the students that that come here to our church, I tell them I'm over there if they want to talk.

speaker-1: It can be.

speaker-0: They can ask questions. I'm sending them emails every week. I'm encouraging them. I'm trying to exhort them through all these different means. And with the goal that they would grab a hold of these truths. Right. Yeah. Because the academic credentials are necessary in in many I mean, ⁓ that's why college is so expensive. Okay. But way more important is the spiritual commitments. in the relationships that that they build. Let let's say they come and then they they meet the right person and then they become a married couple that then raises their kids and then then we have impacted that family, which is a part of a right family. That's why I see it as a direct connection. I'd like the student ministry and the family come in. And and I'm actually actually really one of these times I'll talk ⁓ to the students about family too.

speaker-1: The family connection, yeah. Well and and I brought it up to say some are I think incorrectly think seeing a disconnect. They're saying, Well, college and family, those are two different things. Excuse me. Yeah. No, they're not. Right. There there's two ways that they're intricately connected that you just touched on. And that is one, we are connected to their families back home. Right. And two, we want them to start a family. We're a pro marriage kind of

speaker-0: Percentage of them will be married probably shortly after college. Not ⁓ I don't want to insinuate everybody does. Some people remain single and God has that for them. But the vast majority of them will be married and have their own families in just a few years.

speaker-1: So these are not two divergent right you know, purposes that Mark Herbster has, two different hats. He one week he wears the college hat and the next week he wears the family pastor hat. No no no wait. These are the same, they are the same hat.

speaker-0: The uniqueness of my experiences of having the years in the higher learning space in Wisconsin, but also the years of traveling around the country and seeing the desperate need in Christian families and Christian ministries. I think that combination is obviously the burden that the Lord has given that I can now live out in a town where we have these colleges, and of course, s so many from BJU that come over because of because of the history of of our church. We're close. The conservatism and of our church and those kinds of things. That's wonderful. And we would love to have many, many more. And we love ⁓ We love ⁓ We spend a lot of time with them.

speaker-1: We would We do. And I would go a step further now. I there may be some thinking, and I've seen this, you've seen this, where where they come into town and they're still unsure and there's understanding about that. Like you're you know, there's a lot of things that you gotta figure out. You get your class syllabus and all these other things. You know what you shouldn't wait to figure out? And actually often I've seen does kind of get kicked down the curb as if it's later decision. Right now I need to deal with this stuff. What I find often gets put down at the bottom level is church. Like where am I going to go to church? Which church? As if this stuff is more important. And I'd say, wait a second. No. Yeah. Church decision when you come to college, that should be your first primary primary purpose. Establish that. Connect yourself there. Right. And the nice and beautiful thing about even what we're doing today and other venues, if you're from a different part of the country and you know you're moving to Greenville, you can already know a lot about our church before you ever visit.

speaker-0: Right. That's why even what we're saying now can be a help as people see it across the country and they if they're if they're sending their kids our way. I will tell you, w I I I know how serious that is. I saw it every time they would drop their kids off at the college in in Wisconsin. And I want the parents to know they can have great confidence that our church is gonna be one that will support them and be a help to them as they continue to disciple their children while they're in college. Right. That That's what we hope for. We hope that they can have great confidence in us.

speaker-1: I'll give you a for instance that was fun last year. ⁓ so we have a unique thing that's probably unique to a college town called associate membership. And I had to figure it out when I came here because I was in Florida. We likewise had an associate membership, except for our associate membership in Florida was for snowbirds. This is now a very different people. Yeah, right. This is now very different. One of the s my favorite things about associate membership happened this past semester of the school year, and that is when we have someone join an associate member here.

speaker-0: Tired be

speaker-1: We actually call the church from which they are full member, ⁓ their home church. And you know, check, you know, hey, so and so is coming. And then of course we connect with mom and dad. And one of the associate member girls that joined last semester as an associate member, mom and dad, remember this? Yes. We're here in our service, and she kind of came as an associate member, and then people greeted her, and we actually had mom and dad come and stand with her as You know, people created her as an associate member. And what associate membership does is it allows her to understand and any other people that do it, this is an extension of your home church. We are doing this as stewards, so you will go home to your home church, which is so often sat tragically not happening. Yeah. Where we want you to go home to your home church and serve like you're learning to do here. And the associate membership also allows you to right away begin to serve. If you you you can't get it unless you're a full member somewhere else. So it's a it's a wonderful stewarding kind of partnership.

speaker-0: I love that. And and what's great is you saw that that combination of the parents and the pick on the one. The other side note is w what's great is we also have quite a few missionary kids. We do.

speaker-1: That was such a fun. That's been unique.

speaker-0: And for me to then connect with their parents through email and just encourage them that we're taking good care of them when they're at church. I see ⁓ on campus. ⁓ you know, these international students are it's a big deal for them to move from a different culture and come here and then come to our church. It's such a I mean, I I view it as such a privilege to serve these families. Yep. And if I can continue to do that, we'll take the ones that God brings ⁓ our way. I would love to have all the freshmen come over.

speaker-1: Yeah, well.

speaker-0: They won't all come. There's there's other churches they can choose. I mean we're not the only ones.

speaker-1: No, but if you're not ⁓ at least in Bob Jones case, if you don't have a car, by the way, we can pick you up.

speaker-0: Yeah, we run the bus. We run every service. Every service.

speaker-1: How about add us for radical? Come on Wednesday college students and Sunday night. It's exactly right. I know this is not for everybody, but just as a way of testimony, I committed as a freshman that I would not do my homework on Sundays. And I would right away from my freshman year through, that was my day to serve God in the church. And and I still made it. Yeah. And and I can't say that you have to do that to be spiritual. That's not my point.

speaker-0: He still made it.

speaker-1: But my point is I wanted to be committed to a local church right away from from day one on the campus. I already had I knew where I was gonna go before I got to campus because I I'd read ⁓ church constitutions, I'd listened to sermons, I had conversations with my parents, I knew where I was going, I was settled on that. Because in my estimation, and this I do think is where we should lean, that is the most important decision a freshman can make as they start their college tenure. Where are you gonna go to church? And so often it gets put to the last and I don't think that's right.

speaker-0: first. And I and I hope that they would really seriously consider our church. I do. I I mean I feel like we do have a good heart for them and we do have a we really have the type of ministry that can be a great resource to launch them into what you're talking about, the spiritual revival for the future. Amen.

speaker-1: Aren't we all praying for revival? I think we should. And I think God. Now you've you're and we're getting close to the end here, but like what are you most what how are you gonna start it off? You you're you know, your cassoons are coming, how are you gonna rally the troops?

speaker-0: So one of the things we do is course we we just try to get to know each other and and really focus on, you know, ⁓ me getting to know them, them getting to know our church, and that because they're very starry-eyed when they come in, especially the new ones. I want to really engage the upperclassmen and trying to help the freshmen and sophomores. And and then the main focus ⁓ in these first early early weeks is just to kind of launch this this series on the church. And the first way I'm gonna do that is I'm gonna talk about some of the cultural attacks on the young generation that cause them to often be uncommitted. Things like consumerism, things like even hedonism or individualism. They're not all isms, but these philosophies of the of the world that really are defining a lot of our college students. Right. ⁓ and and and seeing if we can We can get them into a place where they're humble and receiving the truth about the biblical teaching on the local church and then ⁓ the methodologies that really should they should be considering. What are the things that are important when I look for a church? Right. We'll probably talk about some of the even the differences in in doctrinal denominations and things like that. We want to clearly talk about the idea of separation, which very few the college students have ever even heard anybody delineate. And it's a tough subject to talk about, but it's an important one that that a lot of the pastors would really like us to be teaching the college students. So there's a lot of exciting things that will come as a result of of of this series. Right.

speaker-1: Well, it's coming around the corner for some. You're getting excited about college. And and I just wanted to end by saying to moms and dads and y potential college students, we we really do. We we would love to have you join us. Come visit. And if you are a mom and dad and listening, come shake Mark's hand as he just told you he might even give you his business card, right?

speaker-0: I definitely will. I want the parents to to communicate with me. And can I just say this to you, Pastor? Yeah. That one of the greatest things that they will have at this church, and I can say this, you know, you won't toot your own horn at all. ⁓ and I y let another man praise you. But Pastor, your preaching is right what our college students need. And I I feel like that is so powerful. They do get a lot of preaching in in the Christian campus environment, but they need more. And your preaching is right on their level. It's easily accessible and understandable and it's inspirational. And I think that parents you will not be disappointed with the preaching and the influence and the love that we'll show the the the students when they come.

speaker-1: Well, we're we're pleased to have ⁓ and and we really are. And we're looking forward to it. We wanted to record this now to let you know about that. And also I wanna end by mentioning we mentioned moms and dads, but even pastors. We we have a lot Mark, you've preached at a lot of churches over the years, and we want to let those pastors know that we are for you. And and that is our goal. If if we get to help steward some of the kids that are from your church, then our goal is to send them back to your church to serve with you and

speaker-0: It's a privilege.

speaker-1: It is a privilege and and we tount that as a tremendous privilege. So we covet your prayers as we go through that. And ⁓ we certainly would love to have it. I hope this is a help to you. ⁓ please, this particular episode you can even send to other potential college students and their parents and the pastors who are sending them even locally. Let them know a little bit about at least what Faith Baptist in Taylor, South Carolina is doing related to the college ministry. Thank you. ⁓ yeah, that's great.

speaker-0: Thank Mark's. Thank you for joining us today. For more information about Faith Baptist Church, visit us at www.fbctailors.org.

speaker-1: W dot.