I’ve always felt the “weak link” of CCC was, “what do we do after graduation if we don’t join staff?” I know CCC has other ministries (e.g., Priority Associates), and things my have changed, but it seems that these ministries are not integrated.

Working with clients in the business world, the first thing I look for is inefficient and ineffective processes (e.g., Customer service hand-offs) which lead to costs and lost revenue. I view the “graduation” event as a hand-off between the various CCC ministries. When the hand-off is handled poorly, people get lost.

I agree with CCC’s historical and future role in the Great Commission – focused, sharp, on-point. Would like your thoughts on the post-graduate question as we all agree that discipleship needs to extend beyond the 4-5 years we spent on the college campus.

just was reminded of this quote from walter brueggemann in The Prophetic Imagination: “It is difficult to keep a revolution of freedom and justice underway when there is satiation.”

i think part of why we in the states struggle with urgency is also due to this. i have to be honest and say that the times when my staff account has been full and my life trial free, i’ve been less effective on campus than when the lord has been pruning my soul.

Benson, what a great question! Yes, having spent 13 of our 23 staff years living overseas, I believe that most staff serving outside their culture labor with a much more heightened sense of urgency. Mission clarity seems more present – in the air – as if the clock is ticking. Staff members see themselves as pioneers seeking to reach influential nationals who will reach their peers. I don’t sense that same level of urgency or mission clarity among most staff members serving in their home country.

My conclusion (recently, at least) has been that the more we approach college ministry like we do classic foreign missions – rather than anything akin to “Christian Education – the better off we are. This seems to fit with your discussion of how we determine success, how we involve local “tribespeople,” and having a bent toward Kingdom-mindedness and cooperation.

For a lot of Christians, these things seem obvious – elsewhere. It’s a little trickier to engage and think missiologically in the U.S.

But I have a question – do Cru people overseas have an easier time applying what you wrote in your post, because it feels so “missions-y” already? Or do you see this difficulty regardless of where CCC people are working?

I think that if we “do it” — if we “are disciples who make disciples” the numbers, the money, the resources will take care of themselves.

What if every USCM staff member, …both field, office, full-time and “moms” invested 1 day a week in 100% “making disciples” (which would probably eventually translate into all our USCM staff having a little “band” of college student we’re discipling.

What if the other 4 days of their week supported this investment (and didn’t take them “off task” or “out of town” or “off mission”).

The result? Jesus Kingdom on campus would begin growing by Kingdom proportions (10, 20, 50, 100 fold) in a matter of months. Can you imagine what could happen in 4 years of this?

I would definitely love to hear you speak about what you’re talking about here. One thing that I would like to add though… I think that the most effective context of win, build, send is with one person. In other words, I have “won” many people, and “built” many people, and “sent” many people, but I have never won, built, AND sent a single person. I know you could bring up Paul and Apollos here, (I planted, Apollos watered, etc), but I think more condensed forms of win, build, and send need to happen.