T. A. McMahon & Emily Rand (Part 1)

Program Description:

Tom and his guest, Emily Rand, from Collegiate Christian Fellowship at the University of Oregon, discuss some of the pitfalls and also the helps available for Christian students attending secular colleges and universities.

Transcript:

Gary: Welcome to Search the Scriptures 24/7, a radio ministry of The Berean Call featuring T.A. McMahon. I’m Gary Carmichael. We’re glad you could tune in. In today’s program, Tom welcomes Emily Rand from Collegiate Christian Fellowship. Now, along with his guest, here’s TBC executive director, Tom McMahon.

Tom: Thanks, Gary. Today and next week, I’ll be interviewing a young lady who’s involved in Christian ministry at the college level. Her name is Emily Rand, and she’s a part of the leadership of CCF, Collegiate Christian Fellowship, which is a ministry of First Baptist Church of Eugene to the students of the University of Oregon.

Emily, welcome to Search the Scriptures 24/7.

Emily: Hi! Thanks for having me today.

Tom: Emily, let’s start off with an easy-yet-insightful question: How long have we known each other?

Emily: Mmm, well, probably longer than I can remember.

Tom: Mm-hmm. So, what would you say – 27 years and counting?

Emily: Um, I’m 28, Dad, thanks for remembering. (Laughing)

Tom: And that’s why we’ve known each other, because yes, I am Emily’s dad, her father.

Em, you minister to young women at the college level primarily. How did you get interested in such a calling?

Emily: Well, I didn’t have any idea that I would go into ministry. I went to the University of Oregon, and I thought I would go into the medical field – was interested in missions work and possibly doing nursing overseas, but as I went through college, I was really involved in the college ministry, CCF, that I now work for. When I graduated, I just felt like I really needed to – and wanted to – give back to the ministry that I had grown so much from. There’s a girls’ Christian house on campus called the Trinity House, which I help oversee and lived in my freshman and sophomore year of college. It’s an old sorority that First Baptist bought. There’s 46 women living there, and I decided to move back into the house after I graduated to be the House Advisor to oversee the girls.

Each year I just continued to take on more responsibility and realized that not only did I love doing it, but I had somewhat of a gift, I would hope, in it, and really just had a heart for it and wanted to continue to pursue that. I didn’t have an interest to go back into seeking a medical career. I wanted to really pour into the girls at the college level, and that’s what I’m doing and will continue to do until the Lord leads me in some other direction.

Tom: Yeah, or until He returns!...

Emily: Yeah! Or maybe then! (Laughing)

Tom: That would be great!

You know, Em, I remember that when you applied to the Trinity House as a Freshman, the application that you had to fill out really asked you about your commitment to Christ, and as I remember back…and help me out here…I don’t remember on the tests…or, not the tests, but the application, whether or not biblical literacy was stressed. Now what was done to assist the girls at Trinity House over the years that you were involved, and even when you were involved as a – I would call it a “House Mother,” I mean, you were there to advise the girls…a Director, House Mother, whatever one would want to call it - what was done to assist the girls in understanding the Bible?

Emily: Yeah, so the house is definitely not meant to be a place that everybody is at the same place in their walk with the Lord. It’s not a school of ministry or a place where people have to be a certain maturity level. The main criterion for living in the house is that you be at a place where you’ve committed your life to Christ and you want to continue to grow in living, loving, and leading like Him, and serving Him. So, wanting girls in the house that are going to be able and willing to pursue that. And some of the ways that we’ve…I mean, just living in a community like that, I think, is a huge way that people grow. I know that really impacted me, having 45 friends who are all seeking after “What is truth?” Learning from professors who don’t believe the same things and then questioning: “Okay, is what they are telling me actually true? Or is it their opinion?” And looking at Scripture in light of that…

So we have within the houses different small groups, accountability groups, small group Bible studies. The ministry of CCF is a lot bigger than the houses. It’s anywhere from 100-150 students that come on Sunday night, and we have a Sunday night worship night, where the college pastor speaks, and then beyond that, we have student-led Bible studies – we call them community groups – and the point of them is to not only just sit and listen to what a pastor tells you at church on Sunday or at the meeting on Sunday nights but to have a time where you can engage Scripture in a smaller environment and really talk about what the Scripture says and ask questions and grow and challenge one another. Because even among the Christian walk, as you well know, there’s a lot of different backgrounds and a lot of different ways that people view Scripture and look at Scripture and apply Scripture to their lives.

So the beauty of being in a place where you’re around that is that it challenges you to really seek what is truth as opposed to just “what have I been taught all my life?”

Tom: Mm-hmm. Now, Emmy, you’ve had the experience of nearly a decade of being involved with Christian students – you mentioned CCF as well as the Trinity House. Have you seen a difference over that decade from not just your - when you got started as a Freshman - but in terms of your peer group, who profess to be Christians, have you seen a difference over the decade between then and now?

Emily: Yeah, that’s an interesting question. I’ve been trying to come up with a solid definite answer of what the change is, and I think with anything over time there are definitely subtle differences, and some things are more favorable, and some things are less. I guess one of the biggest differences is that – I’m sure everyone has noticed, whether in college or out of college – is the change in technology, and the change in the ability that we have to, at the touch of a button, look up anything, go to the internet, look for answers; and there’s such a wealth of information out there these days, but there’s not necessarily a wealth of truth. And I think that that’s probably one of the biggest challenges that I see affecting college-aged people now is that there is a beauty and a blessing in the fact that there is so much information out there, but when it comes down to figuring out what is truth, you’re so bombarded with so much media, so much technology, like everything from your phone to walking down the street to TV to whatever it might be that it’s hard to really know who you can trust and what you can trust. And also, because everything is so readily available and so easily available, I think, I mean, I include myself in this, it’s easier to become lazy – to become a person that doesn’t have to seek out truth because someone else will just tell you what truth is.

So, I think there is that change. I think there’s also…I think this is true, and I’m not completely sure if this is 100 percent true, but I would say that there’s been a change in people’s openness and willingness to talk about things, but with that change comes the point that there’s no absolute truth. And I don’t really remember as a freshman in college what that was like, but now, being in a ministry position, I see how overwhelmingly popular that idea is, and how, especially at the University of Oregon, that’s something where people say, “Well, yeah, that’s good for you, but don’t put your truth on me. I will see how I want to see it, and what’s good for me is good for me, and what’s good for you is good for you.” And I know that’s been a thought that’s been around for a long time, but it’s something that definitely is running rampant, and as our society shifts to a more accepting society – accepting of everything – it becomes harder to stand firm in saying, “Yes, the Word of God is truth, and this is the absolute truth!” instead of just looking at it as “Well, this is a truth,” and “This is how you get to God, but I’ll get to God a different way.”

Tom: You know, Em, you’re absolutely right. It’s been around for a while. We’ll take you back to chapter 3 of Genesis, you know, the Adversary, Satan, saying “Yea, hath God said…?”

Emily: Yeah.

Tom: So, his whole program has been to undermine the truth of the Word of God.

Now, CCF - Collegiate Christian Fellowship, which you’re involved in leadership there. Tell us about that organization. Is it a national organization? Is it unique to First Baptist of Eugene, or…what’s the deal?

Emily: Yeah, we are not a national organization. We are definitely a church ministry. So we’re not a parachurch ministry. We are supported fully by First Baptist Church, and that’s one of the things that I’ve been growing and understanding the value of that. It’s so easy – there are lots of Christian ministries on the U of O campus, and there are a lot of parachurch organizations on the U of O Campus, and they all are great, and they’re working very hard for the same goal as us, but I know, personally, I would find it really hard to be doing ministry without having the support and the backing of a church body behind you, because it not only helps for the leaders to be supportive, but it helps to find other adult figures that can pour into the lives of college students and to support the lives of college students, and to walk alongside them, and mentor and build them up so that it’s not just this pod of college-aged people trying to do it all on their own. There is beauty in coming together with people in your own age group, but there also is such necessity in having the support of people who have been there before and done it before. And the church has just been an awesome resource and an awesome blessing, especially this year. We’ve been pushing it all the more to get those connections between college-aged people and people in the church to recognize that that’s something that should be a relationship that continues beyond college age. It’s not just a time in your when you’re around college students who believe the same thing, but it’s a life commitment, and you’re going to want to have people to walk alongside with in and outside of college-aged living.

Tom: What you’re saying – there’s no doubt that evangelism is a major part of it. But, Em, I remember when I was asked by…years ago…by the leaders of CCF to speak on campus for…I guess it was a particular event. But he said, “Yeah, but, Tom, here’s the problem: you can’t evangelize; you can’t put down any other belief system, and so on. So I didn’t know what to do, basically. But the Lord gave me an idea, and you know, it worked out pretty well. We maxed out the seating at the…I think it was the Student Union. We had Muslims there, I think 20-some Muslims, some people with a Jewish background, and so on.

So, going according to the rules, it actually worked out, as you remember what I did was I had them bring in a Muslim Imam – basically the head of the student Muslim organization there - and then a Jewish rabbi, and myself. We each gave our perspective on what we believe, and then we opened it up to a Q&A, which I (chuckling) thought was great! Because when somebody asks you something about your belief, you’re not proselytizing directly. You’re just explaining what you believe and why you believe it.

So, does CCF have issues along that line – guidelines, and so on? You are a student organization, is that correct?

Emily: Yeah, we are approved by the University.

Tom: Do you have certain parameters that you have to stay within, or certain things that you have to avoid?

Emily: Not specifically, to my knowledge. I know that we have to have meetings with other religious groups once or twice a year, and in those meetings, being…just as long as you’re not hostile toward the other groups, and I think that’s the main criterion for being on campus.

We are allowed to go on campus and talk to people about our faith, but we’re not allowed to…if we were going and pounding people with the Bible and telling them, “Repent or you’re going to hell!”, that would be something that would be grounds for us getting kicked out of the ministry.

But that’s how we see Christ talking to people anyway, so that’s not the way that we encourage our students. And it’s been cool this year, I think more than ever, that students have been finding creative ways to be on campus and to share the love of Christ in creative ways. Every Friday these last two terms students have been going out in the middle of campus, and they set up a table and are handing out hot chocolate to people, and through that, they’re able to have conversations with people. People always ask, “Why are you doing this?” “Why are you giving us free hot chocolate?” Because they love it…

Tom: Mm-hmm.

Emily: And they’re able to then respond and tell them it’s because of the love that Jesus has bestowed upon us that we can then give you this, and we hope that you know that you’re loved by Him. And sometimes those develop into deeper conversations; sometimes at least people just walk away thinking about Christ. We also have a brownie outreach that goes into the…has been going into the architecture studios once a term, and they’ve now started doing it twice a term, where they go into the library during midterms, when there’s tons of students studying and hand brownies to people, and similarly have those types of conversations; and then in the architecture studios, where students are working on projects, they basically sleep in their architecture studios because they’re working so hard, they bring them a brownie to cheer them up and just show them, tangibly, the love of Christ.

And so those are more ways of really showing the love of Christ, and then we do have students that try to go out once or twice a week and have conversations with people about what they believe, asking them questions about what they believe…

Tom: In terms of rules, when you’re doing something officially as CCF, that’s one thing. But as individuals, you can go on campus and spread the gospel any which way, you know, the Lord puts on your heart…

Emily: Right…

Tom: …to do, so…

Emily: For sure.

Tom: …that’s really a cool thing. I know, Em, probably…too few, sadly…youth pastors who are greatly concerned about preparing their high school students through discipling for college and what they may have to deal with at the college level. Certainly there are some that do that, but what about when you’re ministering to young women at the university level? I’m sure just trying to help them grow in the faith through the college years has got to be a major part of what you do, but what do you see as the biggest hurdles to their faith as they go through college?

Emily: I would say the number one thing that I would advise any high schooler or high school leader or parents or whatever of people that are entering into college to really encourage their students, or for a high school student that’s going into college, is to find community. When the most struggles happen, it’s when we are on our own, when we are isolated from other believers, and we are in an environment where no one else has the same values, has the same truths, has the same morals as us, and college can be a really overwhelming time for students coming from being in their parents’ home, being in the safety of their parents’ home, or maybe even not coming from a home that was loving, but just all the while stepping into a brand new environment and maybe living with someone that they have never met before that either is a good fit for them, but more often than not is a completely opposite person from them and causes struggles right off the bat. We were created for community. You know, in the beginning, God said, “It is not good for man to be alone,” and even God himself is the Trinity – three parts in one – and so to see students that come to a campus and then try to do it on their own is when things go awry. When students coming from Christian homes all of a sudden don’t have any gauge of where they should go or what they should do, and it’s hard to continually fend off the lies of Satan, and continually fend off the darts of the enemy and to take a stand on your own. But when you have a support system around you, and you have other people to walk alongside and grow with, that’s when I think…I know for me…it made it so much easier to ask the questions and to even go through times of doubting the Word of God, or doubting my faith, to be able to freely do that without being taken down because there were other people there alongside me to seek out truth with, and to encourage me to seek out truth and to challenge me and hold me accountable. But doing that on your own would just be so difficult! And not to say it’s impossible. I think there are definitely students that can do that and have done it, but I don’t think it’s the way that the Lord would want us to walk in life in general, especially in those college years.

Tom: Well, you know, that’s so basic to the Word of God, as you mentioned. The Trinity. People say, “Well, I don’t understand that.” Well, logically and reasonably, you know, it gives diversity as well as unity. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. There is love. You can’t… you know, God is love, the scripture says. And God needs the object of His love. He didn’t create us for that end because He was perfect in Himself, but He did have…you know, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit that love each other.

So, you’re absolutely right, Em.

And, you know, I agree with you that – I’ve seen this in ministry and other ministries that I’m concerned about because it kind of becomes, or it has become, in some cases, a Lone Ranger kind of thing. And in that case, not only do you not have the input of brothers and sisters in Christ at that level, but you’re a target for Satan to knock you out of the saddle, you know – a Lone Ranger kind of thing.

So I couldn’t agree with you more, and it’s the strength…well, it’s what the Scriptures call us to do, you know, as the body of Christ we have different gifts, we have different abilities to build, to strengthen, to encourage each other, and I’m glad – now, I knew you saw it that way, and I’m glad that that’s one of the things you’re concerned about and push in your ministry.

Emily: Yeah, I think another thing I just thought of that is also important, but it’s hard to know exactly how to instill in people, and I know that The Berean Call’s all about this, but really challenging - the younger you can learn this, the better – to not just take whatever your teacher says and accept it. Not just take whatever your pastor says and accept it. To not just take whatever your parents say and accept it. To highly regard people that you trust and to take in what they say, but then, ultimately, to learn to not just be a sponge and soak up everything but to learn to live in a way where you really use your brain to process things, and ask questions and seek truth. Because coming into college, that’s what college is about is taking in all of this information that professors and people throw at you, and if all you’re doing is coming like a sponge and taking it in, you’re going to get led astray, and you’re going to…even if you don’t realize it, little subtle things that professors tell you can completely change your view of God and completely change your view of this world and the people around you. Because Satan doesn’t – his dangerous attacks aren’t the ones that are so blatantly lies, because it’s easy for us to recognize those. It’s when he takes truth and just slightly twists it, just like he did in the Garden.

So I don’t know – I don’t have this amazing answer of how to instill that into high school students, or how to instill it into young people, other than modeling it and encouraging it and, ultimately, I think, giving students…and, as children grow…giving them more and more opportunities to stand on their own and to take on responsibilities on their own because that can be one of the most detrimental changes from going from living at home to moving away is having zero freedom and zero understanding of how to manage your time, how to make good choices, because your parents are always doing it for you or you are just following exactly what other people have told you to do, and then all of a sudden you have all this freedom, and there can be a danger in that of not knowing how to do that.

So, somehow, and, again, I wish I had a perfect answer. I think every one is different in what they need, and I think that’s why there is no set criterion in the Bible.

Tom: Yeah, but, Em, you’ve hit some really good points. I’m thinking of one – they need to search the Scriptures 24/7. That might not be a bad idea for a radio program! What do you think? (chuckling)

Emily: (Laughing)

Tom: Yeah, no, it’s critically important. You know, God has raised up great teachers and so on, but everyone who claims to know Christ is personally accountable for what they believe and why they believe it. And we need people to help us out to that end! But the teacher, the main teacher, is the Holy Spirit, which for every believer, if you’ve put your faith in Christ, if you’ve been born again, you’re indwelt with the Holy Spirit, our Teacher, our Counselor, our Comforter, and so on.

So, that’s where it has to start, but after that, the Lord has given us many teachings, many instructions, on how to go about it.

Well, Em, we’re out of time for this session, but the Lord willing in our next session we’ll keep up with this, and it’s…I just think it’s important for …especially for parents concerned about their children who are at college level or entering into that age group, and I think your wisdom in what the Lord is having you do is really important.

So, anyway, thanks for being with us on this session. We look forward to next week.

Emily: Yeah, thanks for having me!

Gary: You’ve been listening to Search the Scriptures 24/7 with T.A. McMahon, a radio ministry of The Berean Call. We offer a wide variety of resources to help you in your study of God’s Word. For a complete list of materials and a free subscription to our monthly newsletter, contact us at PO Box 7019 Bend, Oregon 97708. Call us at 800.937.6638.  Or visit our website at the bereancall.org. I’m Gary Carmichael. We’re glad you could join us, and we hope you can tune in again next week. Until then, we encourage you to Search the Scriptures 24/7.