Yesterday at Philadelphia Biblical University (92 kids sponsored, by the way!) Ben and I had dinner with the director of student life. She asked me if there was a place I love to play more than any other. ”Texas A&M,” I answered without hesitation. She seemed a little surprised so I explained why.
Texas A&M is a school with a fearless culture of participation. I know from having an Aggie for a father that students are indoctrinated into this culture. They’re told that Aggies don’t sit at football games, that it’s not a fight song but a war hymn, that it’s t.u. and not U.T. and they learn a secret language made up of hand signals and strange words like “whoop”, “hump” and “hullaballoo caneck caneck” - and I don’t even know if that’s spelled right because, how could I, I’m not an Aggie?
Students at Texas A&M don’t see bonfires and homecoming and football games as elective. These are things real Aggies do and if you’re not willing to assimilate into that kind of culture, to give yourself over to that kind of involvement, well, then you can go down the road to Baylor and get a fine education and do whatever the heck you want outside of the classroom. You can sit at football games, huddled around with the folks from your sorority, and have no idea what the score is. Seriously, Baylor will score and a large portion of the crowd won’t react at all, because they didn’t see it. But don’t try that crap at Texas A&M - you’ll be deported from Aggieland real quick like.
And this makes for a very different kind of student body. Aggies aren’t generally afraid of being judged by their peers for making some noise, for showing a little enthusiasm, and - this is radical - actually singing along. In short, they participate. Fully. It’s what’s accepted (expected) by their culture - you’re a dork if you keep your butt in the seat and your mouth shut. WHOOOOP!
But at Baylor (my alma mater), the culture is a bit different. At Baylor, you generally don’t stand without being told to, sing along without being bullied into it. It’s a culture of non-participation. Great education - fantastic! - but the most apathetic and stoic student body I’ve ever played for...four times. Ever. In seven years. And I’m not the only one who’s noticed: Shane and Shane, Ginny Owens, and Bebo Norman have all gone to Waco with me and commented on the chilliness of the crowd.
At A&M the crowd is deafening. At Baylor the crowd is texting. That’s the impact of culture on behavior.
Why is it that smaller schools are more likely - in my experience - to have a culture more like Aggieland’s. At Philadelphia Biblical University, Emmaus Bible College, Taylor University - these places are so small that a student can literally know half of the student body by name. Maybe there’s comfort in that, the ability to loosen up a bit. Maybe it’s not comfort at all but a more positive (for an artist) form of peer pressure forcing students to conform to an expectation of exuberance. I don’t know, but exuberant participation does seem more common at smaller schools.
But somehow A&M pulls off the same sort of participation culture with - geez, how many students now?
So, I’m thinking about the kind of culture we’re creating in my neighborhood, in my church community, and family. Can we even create a culture? Or does it just happen?
An entire culture of enthusiasm and participation is downright miraculous. Have you found that kind of place/people? Brag a little. Who? Where? What’s it like?
Oh, and sic ‘em bears. (I just raised a bear claw high in a crowded airport. Yes, I did.)
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I’m getting on a plane to Indiana now Then I’ll drive to Illinois. I’ll join the conversation here when I arrive there. See you this evening.
Christian chicken has crept all the way up the map to Philadelphia. Thank you, Jesus. Amen. I needed me some chicken and egg bagel power this morning. My body thinks it’s an hour ago and I’m just not awake enough for the job I get to do this morning. Oh, how I miss you Coca-Cola products of every invigorating caffeinated variety.
In a few minutes I’m singing three songs and then speaking about poverty and hope to about 800 students at Philadelphia Biblical University. Billy Dunn, the chaplain here, is making compassion and Compassion the spiritual theme for the campus this year. Today is kicking that theme off. I’ll let you know how it goes.
In the meantime, we’re curious, how many of you went to a “Christian college”? What were the pluses of that experience for you? How about the downside?
"I wanna hand Daddy the cans!!!!” Gresham, age five, screamed yesterday. (Though, to be fair to the kid, it’s hard to tell when he’s screaming and when he’s just talking. He’s got a voice amplification issue of some sort.)
“No, Gresham,” Gabriella, age seven, (aka Mini Mom) insisted. ”I’M handing Daddy the cans. You give me the cans and Penelope gives you the cans like we planned.” (Her sentences are always a bit italics heavy.)
On Wednesdays I’m taking the kids to The Well, a food pantry in our area. Stores and individuals donate food. Our church buys what’s lacking. Volunteers (and their kids) stock the shelves and staff the place. Meals On Wheels and others help distribute beyond the pantry’s property. It’s a collaborative effort. Generosity that soothes the hurts of entire cities, states and nations has to be.
FINDSHELTER.ORG
A few years ago a couple of hurricanes named Rita and Katrina pummeled the Gulf Coast. Ben, who didn’t work for me back then, helped a merciful entrepreneur named Carsie get in touch with me after a concert in North Carolina. Carsie, in the 24 hours after the first hurricane hit, built FindShelter.org. And he asked for my help getting the word out about it. (This was the beginning of the Compassion Bloggers idea, by the way) The site allowed churches willing to board and employ hurricane refugees for one year to enter their contact information. At the same time, Carsie and his team had volunteers in shelters taking down the contact info of refugees looking for a place to relocate. FindShelter.org simply existed to connect the two lists: the families in need with generous churches.
There was a problem though. The biggest list of refugees was not compiled by Carsie’s volunteers but by Mormons. That’s right, a group of Mormons had a list of families in need but no list of churches willing to care for them. The Mormon group wanted to give Carsie and his churches their list - no strings attached.
Problem: Carsie was leaning on the Baptist mission something-or-other for help building the list of churches (Baptist churches) willing to help refugees. And when the boss of that Baptist mission something-or-other found out that some of the refugees (a lot of the refugees) were signed up by a bunch of Mormons? Well, the Baptist guy said if Carsie took that list then he couldn’t have the Baptists list of churches.
The refugees on the list weren’t Mormons - not that that should matter either - but they had been disqualified from receiving assistance by simply having their names written down by Mormon fingers. Lots of Baptist churches willing to help a very small list of families. We were able to help a few people but unable to make the impact we’d hoped for - the kind that was possible.
The result? Today, the Gulf Coast is once again under water. Once again, there are thousands of people trying to find shelter. But this time FindShelter.org isn’t there to match the needy with the generous. FindShelter.org was pretty much undone by one man arguing about who gets to hand Daddy the cans.
IDEAL VERSUS REALITY
The other day I blogged about Obama’s lists and we discussed what things we can and cannot do for ourselves. I didn’t write those words because I disagree or agree with Senator Obama but because his lists have left me torn. I’ve got some thinking to do. I’m torn between my ideals and the reality Obama and that Baptist guy remind me exists today.
Ideally, the church/Church would collaborate across denominational, racial, economic, state and national lines, pool resources and expertise and meet the needs of people in holistic ministry, leaving those in government with a much smaller job description. But realistically, there are too many people shunning cooperation for empire building to believe unity and generosity will ever be the rule in the church/Church and not the exception.
So where do we invest our hope? Who do we demand change and kindness from? I’m not sure anymore.
But I’m not standing still either. I’m thinking things through but that’s no reason to settle into cynicism or apathy. Thankfully I don’t have to have the church-and-state problem figured out entirely in order to give myself entirely to loving the people I’ll meet today. I can stack cans in a food pantry. I can sponsor a child. I can play with the kids in my neighborhood, be a generous friend and neighbor, adopt, recycle, listen, be patient, teach my kids how to stack cans...without fighting...so that someone gets the help they need today.
While some argue in the pantry, what am I doing today to love people?
