by Pastor Patrick Cho
The leaders at Lighthouse have always seen the importance of having a college ministry so that the collegians could be involved in the life of the church and maintain their identity as college students. One of the goals of College Life has been to establish an on-campus presence so that the gospel could be more effectively preached to other students and faculty. In the past twelve years at LBC, the collegians have always added refreshing excitement and youthful zeal to the life of the church. It has been a great joy seeing collegians that love the Lord and want to grow in their knowledge of Him. Many of these collegians maximized their efforts to make use of every opportunity to be equipped and trained in the faith. This is why it has been such a great privilege and joy shepherding the college ministry all these years.
One of the transitions at Lighthouse with the upcoming church plant is that I will be stepping out of college ministry. It was a great privilege being able to serve as the college pastor for the past ten years. Some of my best memories have come from the context of College Life. Back in 2005, we had a car rally event with a Harry Potter theme. I’ll never forget having the collegians drive all around town looking for the “Golden Snitch” (a.k.a. Beverly Chan, nee Kang) while “bludgers” (a.k.a. College Life staff) hunted them down to steal away their points. A year later, we had another car rally, but this time with the theme of Pirates of the Caribbean, where the collegians needed to unearth a buried treasure somewhere in San Diego by deciphering cryptic clues. Some complained that it was too difficult and even tried to head home early in defeat, but the winning team naturally boasted that the difficulty level was just right.
The retreats for College Life have also been a huge highlight. In 2004, we actually took the entire college group up to Fresno. Virl Tait, who was a good friend from seminary, graciously agreed to come along with us to be our retreat speaker. He covered the theme of “What’s Your Direction?” and discussed the importance of living a life of purpose. During this trip, we tried to visit Yosemite, but came to find that the roads were closed due to the snow. Still it was a great trip and a wonderful time having the staff and collegians all in Fresno. Throughout the years, we have been fortunate to have some really great speakers for our retreats. In 2005, we had Pastor Nam Park from Immanuel Bible Church. In 2008, Pastor Peter Kim from Berean Community Church was our speaker. And 2009 was memorable because Pastor Chris Mueller came and addressed the topic of dating.
In all the years of College Life, I was only able to teach through two books of the Bible (and didn’t complete either of them!). I started off teaching through 1 Corinthians with the collegians, and this was a hugely helpful study. But this eventually became a Sunday morning series because I felt as though the church in general could benefit from the lessons within. This led me to start a series in the book of Mark. Studying the life of Christ is always going to be a great blessing, and certainly it was wonderful opening Mark with the collegians. But unfortunately, since I’ll be stepping out of College Life, we won’t be able to finish. This is going to become a GraceLife study instead, and I’m hoping to actually make it to the end with the married couples and parents. It is the shortest of the Gospels after all!
As I am thankful for all the collegians and the wonderful memories we have had together, I am also very thankful for the staff I’ve been able to work with. Some of them have been serving in college ministry for a long time. We’ve seen collegian student staff become senior staff members, we’ve seen single adult staff get married, and we’ve seen married couples on staff have children. It really has been a remarkable journey together. I know it isn’t like everything is coming to a close. We’re still serving in the same church and will still enjoy great fellowship and ministry together. But I wanted to appreciate the staff for all the hard work, dedication, and love they have shown in College Life. As I step out, they will continue the work on the campuses and I have all the confidence in the world that they’ll do a fantastic job!
If there was one message that I tried to consistently convey to the collegians, it’s to not be collegians. I know it sounds unfair, but it is a valuable lesson to learn. The message is simple. Don’t use your collegian status as an excuse to be immature and irresponsible. The typical collegian is undependable, lazy, a time waster, silly, etc. Biblically, there is no warrant for it. The Bible doesn’t tell us that while we are students we can live foolish lives. Actually, the Bible treats college-aged individuals as adults, so my exhortation to the collegians has been and will continue to be: Be adult in your thinking, living, and speech. Again, I know it doesn’t sound fair, but don’t be “collegians” even though you are in college. All around you, you will see collegians acting like collegians. You ought not to do the same.
This is the stage in life where you will be making some of the most important decisions in your life. It is therefore vital that you make those decisions from a position of spiritual strength. I know what a blessing your college years can be. They are some of the best years of your life. Make sure your main purpose and goal will be to come away from college having grown closer to the Lord than ever before, deeper in your devotion, having sweeter times in the Word and in prayer, and having enjoyed God-honoring, encouraging, soul-satisfying, biblical fellowship with your brothers and sisters in Christ. This will make your years in college memorable in a way that truly matters.