St. Francis of Assisi,
Trent Sheppard’s book,
God on Campus: Sacred Causes & Global Effects,
may sound like a book only relevant to college ministers and students.
To the contrary, it’s a book that every believer, young and old, can
find a deeper appreciation of our spiritual heritage and a clearer focus
on the “Great Commission.”
Trent writes,
“This is a book to help you remember your roots. It tells
the stories of ordinary people like you and me—bold and timid, brilliant
and insecure, disillusioned and dangerous, ambitious and naïve, holy
and fallen, fearless and afraid—people who prayed, people who conspired
together with their friends in faith and action, people who believed
their lives could actually help shape the unfolding narrative of
history.”
I love what Trent wrote on page 63,
“The urgent need of our generation, and one of the most
important themes of this book, is the rejoining of heart and head in our
understanding of spiritual awakenings and especially in our day-to-day
following of Jesus. Even though the curious case of the modern mind
drove a dividing wedge between the sacred and the secular, one of the
redemptive elements of the postmodern mind is a genuine desire to bridge
that great divide. Can you imagine the global effect in communications
and the arts, in the fields of business and science and technology, and
in education and healthcare and diplomacy if a new breed of believers
emerged on campus whose entire lives (heart, soul, mind and strength)
were fully surrendered to Jesus?”
Stories I Never Want to Forget
Trent really did his homework for this book, digging up stories from
history that I’d never heard before. I agree with Pete Greig, who wrote
in the afterword,
“The many extraordinary stories recounted in this book
should shoot adrenaline into our veins, terrifying and inspiring us to
pray.”
Some of my favorite stories include:
Harvard’s College Laws, 1642 –
Written under the leadership of President Henry Dunster,
“Let every student be plainly instructed and earnestly
pressed to consider well the main end of his life and studies is to know
God and Jesus Christ which is eternal life, John 17:3, and therefore to
lay Christ in the bottom, as the only foundation of all sound knowledge
and learning. And seeing the Lord giveth wisdom, let everyone seriously
set himself by prayer, in secret, to seek it of Him.”
Later in 1654, Dunster—the first president of America’s first
college—was accused of heresy, dismissed from his presidency, and
banished from the colony over the question of infant baptism and the
Puritan tradition.
Accepting the very charge he gave his students to seek and teach
truth, his conscience would not allow him to keep silent, regardless of
the consequences.
The “Holy Club” at Oxford, 1729 –
Students like Charles and John Wesley, William Morgan, and George
Whitefield practiced prayer, fasting, service to the poor, and
accountability together. This club emerged into the movement we know
today as the Methodist Church; helped fan into flame the Great
Awakening; and contributed to the abolition of slavery in English
society.
The “Haystack Prayer Meeting,” 1806 –
At Williams College, freshman Samuel Mills led a prayer meeting with
four other students and dreamed about mission work in China. This
evolved into the American foreign missions movement.
Mills ended up in London where he dreamed with William Wilberforce
about a solution for slavery. He then moved to Africa where he created
Liberia as a place where free slaves could rebuild their lives.
“Mount Hermon One Hundred,” 1886 –
When Princeton graduate Luther Wishard thought up the idea to host a
month-long Bible conference with speaker D.L. Moody, 100 students
pledged to give their lives to missions.
Students at this conference later formed the Student Volunteer
Movement (SVM) that inspired over 20,000 students to go into the mission
field. SVM’s primary leader from Cornell, John Mott, was later awarded
the Nobel Peace Prize.
The book goes on to tell story after story of remarkable people such
as Jeremiah Lanphier, William Borden, and Allison Brooks. Trent Sheppard
also touches on the establishment of student organizations such as
YMCA, InterVarsity, The Navigators, Campus Crusade for Christ, YWAM, The
Jesus Movement, and 268 Generation.
Quotes I Never Want to Forget
“Humility…almost comes naturally when we are awestruck.”
“Contrary to the modern trend of pitting faith and scholarship
against one another, the extraordinary spiritual legacy these earliest
campuses extend to us is the essential knowledge that God and academia
are by no means mutually exclusive.”
“God does not intend to suppress our minds in order to awaken our souls.”
“Since Jesus’ time numberless bands of Christian youth have ‘turned
the world upside down’ and thus led [humanity] forward in its struggle
for freedom and deeper religious experience. The universities have
always been breeding places for such groups.” ~Clarence P. Shedd
“In the purposeful mind of [Samuel] Mills, stupidity had less to do
with one’s test scores and more to do with one’s overall life direction.
The question was not, Are you making the highest mark in class? but
rather, Are you living your life on purpose?”
“Prayer and missions are as inseparable as faith and works, in fact, prayer and missions are faith and works.” ~John Mott
“Am I known more by what I am for or by what I am against?”
“For the friends and followers of Jesus, it was not as if the
controversial issues of their time no longer mattered to them, it was
simply that Jesus mattered more.”
“Unity in prayer does not mean unanimity in opinions, but it does
mean that we have to humbly recognize that none of us have the whole
truth.”
“One of the most disempowering and shortsighted misunderstandings in
the history of Christianity is that the calling of a pastor or preacher
is somehow more sacred than the calling of a research scientist or
elementary school teacher. Jesus was no less holy as a carpenter than as
a rabbi, was he?”
“How can evangelism consider its task accomplished if it leaves the university unevangelized?” ~Charles Malik
“If we get down on our knees side-by-side, we’ll stand up much
stronger together. Unified and humble prayer around the person of Jesus
is a powerful prescription for the ills of our time.”
Five Stars
I give this book a five star review, and heartily recommend you
pick up
a copy to read soon. You’ll especially like the personal application
questions at the end of each chapter, along with the mention of many
helpful links and resources.
