Casey Coston and Chris Buxton Interviewed on the Christian Chronicle Podcast

Big public universities have been in the news a lot lately, and not for reasons that many in our audience would consider to be good. I think I don't presume too much when I say that some folks in our Church of Christ audience might even use the word godless to describe those universities. But our next two guests are here to assure you that God is very much active and present on public university campuses and young men and women on those campuses are responding. They're learning to pursue God and put their faith and hope in Jesus Christ. Chris Buxton and Casey Koston are board members with Campus for Christ, an organization that serves and supports Church of Christ campus ministry programs at public universities across the United States. Between the two of them they have decades of campus ministry experience. They're organizing a national campus ministry conference in Troy, Alabama, later this month. Chris Casey, are you ready to give our questions? The old college try.

Chris Buxton: 31:46

Absolutely.

BT Irwin: 31:47

Amen, yes, all right. So when we first made contact with y'all, you said that you feel like you know one of the best kept secrets in the Church of Christ here in the United States and you don't want it to be a secret anymore. So here we are. It's time to let the cat out of the bag. What is the secret?

Casey Coston: 32:05

Yeah, thanks, bt. So one of the interesting things I was sharing with our board recently about this great article that Ruhle Emmons did back in 1971 entitled Penetrating the Campus. It was in the Firm Foundation and he had this quote here where he just was very confessional. He said the church really does not know how to reach the campus. We're not experienced in this area. To reach the campus, we're not experienced in this area. Most all who have tried will tell you it simply cannot be done and that any attempt to effectively reach the American University campus today is doomed to failure. We do not buy that. And so Chris and I are part of that small group that say we don't buy that. You know, we believe, although it's been 50 years since that was written, we believe there's been a little progress, but still there's just so much work to be done on the American University campus.

BT Irwin: 32:53

And y'all have been doing that for most of your careers, right?

Casey Coston: 32:58

That's right. That's right. Yeah, I've done it for 20 years now, and Chris has done it for even more.

BT Irwin: 33:02

So I want to ask you a little bit about your background and your experience here. What have you learned about campus ministry from all those years of experience?

Chris Buxton: 33:12

How do you quote penetrate the campus end quote as Lemons said in that article, Well, I'll say that there are around 4,000 colleges and universities in the United States today, and Churches of Christ only have a presence on probably less than 150 of those. It's a little bit difficult to have a specific headcount on that, but we obviously have a lot of work to do. In the United States today, there are around 18 million total college students, and many of them will pass through one of what I'd consider to be one of the most transformational seasons in their entire lives without ever meaningfully interacting with the disciple of Jesus. Wow, so you know, I just wish churches of Christ more fully appreciated this. You know the incredible importance of reaching college students.

Chris Buxton: 34:07

You know, I think about the fact that that that God gave ancient Israel this mission of being a light to the nations, and you know so he placed Israel in Canaan, which was in the absolute center of the known world at the time, and their mission was about drawing these pagan nations to, you know, to God's light. And so this interesting question for us would be if God's people wanted to pick a place anywhere on the globe today to sort of replicate the mission of ancient Israel to be a light to the nations, I can't think of a better place than the American University. And then there's also the fact that there are around a million international students coming from around the world, because the American college degree is still considered the gold standard around the world, and that means that at American colleges and universities the Great Commission is sort of working in reverse. It isn't said to go into all the world, but on American college campuses the world is coming to us.

Chris Buxton: 35:13

And then, on top of that, college students are journeying through what is one of the most transformational seasons of their entire lives. They're not only figuring out their career path, but they're making friendships they're going to have for life. They're finding a future spouse, oftentimes, and they're forming their they're going to have for life. They're finding a future spouse, oftentimes, and they're forming their worldview, whether it's Christian or otherwise. You know I've said this many times to illustrate the incredible urgency of campus ministry. Very few high school students enter college with a fully formed worldview and very few leave college without one. And so you think of vocation, closest friendships, spouse, worldview formation. I mean, can we think of any bigger factors that impact a person's life than those? And so often all of those decisions are made during that season that we call the college years.

BT Irwin: 36:13

That was well said. So, in your experience as campus ministers and engaging a lot of these young people, what has helped you be effective in that work?

Casey Coston: 36:24

I think for me, the biggest thing is trying to find the best way to build trust. Students, for a variety of reasons, are skeptical of churches and Christians, some with good reasons, some just because it's hearsay They've heard it, you know from somebody. So whether you know, sometimes, like especially with international students, you can build trust in a week or a month, sometimes because they're hungry to work on their English, they're looking for friendship. American students tend to be more skeptical and take longer, and so you know, sometimes you can take months or a year to get to know a student better. And that's why we really in my ministry and a lot of our ministries, we focus on Colossians 4 a lot. You know we want to devote ourselves to prayer, but we're going to make the most of every opportunity. We're going to be watchful and thankful, we're going to make sure our conversation is seasoned with salt and full of grace, and that's a skill that takes wisdom and a lot of practice to figure out how to do that with students, but that does build trust over time.

Chris Buxton: 37:24

I think another factor is that students are seeking community. Our culture, I think many of us realize, is experiencing really an epidemic of loneliness. Social media creates this sort of illusion of connection without really very many of the benefits, and this problem, I think, is most acute among young people. And so it's very common for students to show up at campus and drop out within the first semester, not because of grades or finances or homesickness, but simply because they're lonely. They didn't make any friends. But the fact that students are seeking community is this incredible opportunity for us because God's people are in the community business. You know, I think of life within our campus. Ministries really is often the closest thing, in my opinion, the closest thing in the modern church, you might say hyper-communal Acts 2, fellowship that we see in the early church.

BT Irwin: 38:27

Let's talk a little bit about students these days. You talked about the epidemic of loneliness. That's one thing. What are some of the other big problems or big questions that are leading university students today to Church of Christ campus ministries?

Casey Coston: 38:42

One of the things that so I know, like in our churches, an older generation sometimes feel like they don't know how to connect with a younger generation, and so this is part of trying to build bridges.

Casey Coston: 38:53

One of the great things is that, even though some of the details look different, students are still interested in happiness.

Casey Coston: 39:02

They're still looking for meaning. They obviously still want purpose for their lives. They're trying to form their identity, kind of like Chris was talking about worldview. They want hope, they want to hope in something, and so Jesus is always going to be the best answer to all those desires, and so one of the great things about our mission field is just trying to figure out okay, this is what you're wanting to put your happiness into, but let's talk about how Jesus ultimately is your greatest, is going to be your greatest happiness, kind of like, seek first the kingdom of heaven and all these other things will be added to you. You know, we just try and have that conversation about how Jesus is the greatest fulfillment of all those desires where college students go looking for it, kind of like in Ecclesiastes, for in all these other places, what I see very often is that unfortunately, many students, many kids who grow up in Church of Christ are not seeking out our ministries and instead are sort of intent on moving away from God during college.

Chris Buxton: 40:05

And it's very common. Pretty frequently the secular university is blamed for sort of I don't know stealing our kids' faith. But what is far more common in my experience, and I think in the experience of most of my colleagues, is that instead of having their faith stolen by the secular university, our students who are growing up in Church of Christ often are showing up at college without much faith at all and the freedoms and temptations of college just sort of expose that fact. And then regarding, I guess, students in general from all backgrounds, the percentage of students who just sort of on their own are seeking God and faith and church, that's pretty low. Yeah, for the first time in American history, the largest quote religious group is the nuns. Most of us are aware of that N-O-N-E-S. And when we compare generations, gen Z, the generation currently in college, contains the highest percentage of nuns and the highest percentage of atheists and agnostics and agnostics.

Chris Buxton: 41:23

But there's also an incredible positive side to that, because college students are disconnected, often for the first time in their lives from family and church and all their extended support system and at the same time, are meeting new people and being exposed to all these brand new ideas and perspectives and worldviews. What happens is that that sort of creates this sense of unprecedented openness. The college years create in most students a window of receptivity which is really an unbelievable opportunity for God's people to share the gospel with students who didn't know about Jesus before they came to college. But they're probably not going to just walk through the doors of a campus ministry and say teach me about Jesus. That happens rarely. Usually, what happens is that students get invited into community uh, and that happens first, and then that often allows them to begin to belong to that community, which then can lead them to believe. You know that it's sort of cliche at this point, but it's still true. You know, let them belong so that they can then believe.

BT Irwin: 42:40

You talked about how young men and women are coming to college campuses and they're coming from a church background, but when they get to college or university, they seem to want to leave behind their church background. I don't remember exactly how you said it, and so this question has two parts. One, why is it? Do you think that young people who are coming to college are eager to leave behind their church upbringing and I know that's not a scientific answer that you can give, unless maybe you've done some research on this. And then, second, are you finding that students with a church background or students without a church background are more receptive to campus ministry?

Chris Buxton: 43:29

I think, as I think about students growing up in Churches of Christ perhaps they even came from a strong Christian family, perhaps they were part of a strong youth group there can still be this assumption that the college years are just the natural time to sort of sow my wild oats and I'm going to go and I'm going to have fun quote unquote and I'm going to do those things that I wasn't allowed to do. I mean, there's just kind of that natural tendency to do that and, unfortunately, a lot of times, even parents will almost, almost, authorize that informally. And what's, what's? What's troublesome about that is that, as I mentioned earlier, it's during this season in life when students are making literally the most important decisions of their entire life. They're they're during the college years. They're becoming the person that they're always going to be.

Chris Buxton: 44:29

You know, like the metaphor I've used before is like an arrow shot from a bow. Whatever direction they're headed in when they leave college is very likely the direction they will continue to go for the rest of their lives. And so sometimes students, you know, go and sort of quote sow their wild oats and will when they get married or when they have their first child that's pretty often when this happens they will circle back, you know, and return to church and faith in Jesus. But unfortunately it's also very common for that to never happen, and so it's a real tragedy that we're sending off so many kids to college and, I think, unfairly blaming the secular university for sort of ripping the faith out of their hearts, when the reality is they so often show up to college without any faith.

Casey Coston: 45:24

But, BT, I'll just add this just to what you said I think college is advertised as a Vegas experience and you're talking about a wilderness experience and we have not prepared our own kids well to see it as a wilderness. A good that God's with you, but there will be struggle. And so we're looking the entertainment culture and just everything about college. It's like, yeah, we're just going down the strip, you know, instead of recognizing that God is with us in this strange place.

BT Irwin: 45:55

I know a lot of folks listening to this are members of congregations that have to be close to a campus somewhere If they want their congregations to do something right now, to come alongside and minister to both Christians and non-Christians on a neighboring campus, how do you suggest they get started?

Chris Buxton: 46:11

Yeah, well, I'll say part of what I do as a consultant is to help launch campus ministries and help churches figure out how to effectively love and serve college students, and so they can get in touch with me through ulifeconsultingorg and I'd be excited to help them. But for now I'll just quickly say that you know many churches already have college students coming, some who grew up there and some who may come because they maybe came to college and they want to find a church home while they're in school. But so often they show up at our churches and they're sort of these shadowy figures who float in and out and they get unnoticed and sometimes, if they don't get engaged with people in the church, they may not come back, and we don't want that to happen. So my admonition, my encouragement, is to notice the ones who are coming and ask them to invite their friends and invite them out to lunch, or ask them to come to your house for dinner or to let them do their laundry. You know, establish a college class and staff it with the best Bible teacher that you have in your church, with volunteers who will take great interest in these students, who will notice when they aren't there, who will remember their birthday and meet them for coffee or you know, hear how life's going and even develop a relationship with them in which they can love them enough to perhaps speak our truth when it's needed.

Chris Buxton: 47:42

And one other thing I'll mention real quickly. I'm sorry for the plug, but I teach some graduate level courses at Lipscomb University. It's a package of courses on campus ministry. I think it's the only one of its kind in our fellowship. It's designed for anybody who would like to be trained in ministry to college students, and these classes are all online. They can be taken as a nine hour certificate or they can be rolled into a full master's degree in ministry. And I would love to see a bunch of church volunteers across the country enroll and get some training and then go back and launch a college ministry at your church.

Casey Coston: 48:17

Some of these campuses are in their backyard, some it's not are in their backyard, some it's not exactly in their backyard. But if it is in your backyard, just go to that campus and just prayer walk. Take a few people from your congregation and prayer walk that campus and pray for those buildings and pray for the students. And if you got a bold you know person or two you know, stop a student and just say, hey, we're just praying for the campus today. What can we be praying for you? That's a simple spiritual conversation that you can have with somebody that kind of checks the pulse of a student on campus. Some of them will be deer in the headlights but many times they'll tell you something. Most of the time it's got a test coming up and they just want prayers, you know, for that test. So there's just so many great practical you know things you can do, but just getting on a campus, seeing it the way God sees it, is a great start.

BT Irwin: 49:05

Very good. Well, chris Buxton and Casey Koston are with Campus for Christ, a ministry to Church of Christ Campus Ministries. They've got lots of resources, including a podcast for you. Plus, they're hosting a national conference for campus ministry July 25 to 28 in Troy, alabama. Links galore in the show notes. Chris Casey, you passed the test. Thank you for being here.

Chris Buxton: 49:30

Thank you, bt Appreciate it very much. Thank you brother.

BT Irwin: 49:33

Class dismissed. Thank you to our guests today Christian Chronicle reporter Audrey Jackson and Christian Chronicle friends Maurice and Sandro Jadon, all the way from Nazareth, jesus's hometown. Also Cheryl Mann-Bacon, who showed us what a fruitful retirement looks like. And thanks once more to Chris Buxton and Casey Koston of Campus for Christ. And thank you for listening. You are why we do what we do. We pray that God blessed you through what you heard today. If you received that blessing and you want to pass it on, please pray for this ministry and do us a favor or two. Subscribe to the podcast and then share it with a friend. Recommend and review it on whatever podcast service you use, and send us your comments, ideas and suggestions to podcast at christianchronicleorg. If you feel fuller, richer or wiser because of something you heard on this show, please pay it forward. Make a tax-deductible gift to the Christian Chronicle. Just click on the link in the show notes or go to christianchronicleorg slash donate to make your gift now. Until next time, may grace and peace be yours in abundance.

Ursula Clark: 50:40

The Christian Chronicle podcast is a production of the Christian Chronicle Incorporated, informing and inspiring Church of Christ congregations and members around the world since 1943. The Christian Chronicle's associate editor is Audrey Jackson, editor-in-chief Bobby Ross Jr and president and CEO Eric Triggistad. The Christian Chronicle Podcast is produced, written, directed and hosted by BT Irwin and is recorded, edited and engineered by James Flanagan at Podcast your Voice Studios in Southfield, michigan, detroit, usa.