By Katherine Riendeau

What a whirlwind this week has been for you! You’ve planned for months, running through the list of essentials and packing up those extra-long sheets, posters, and bed raisers, only to make numerous trips to Walmart during move-in. You finally realized there were no more errands to run to finalize the dorm room and no more paperwork to turn in, so you looked your son or daughter in the eye, took a deep breath, and said, “I guess it’s time”.

It’s been 15 years since my parents left me at my dorm room at Virginia Tech and I still remember the sadness of the goodbye that would eventually settle into an unnerving reality that things were different now. I loved my parents as much as ever and desired the freedom that becoming an adult brings, but they were no longer going to be there every night to ask how my day was or help me navigate life’s challenges.

Now that the dust has settled from move-in, I’m sure some of these realities are hitting you, the parent, as well. I believe this experience can hit Christian parents especially hard. You’ve “trained your child up in the way he should go”, teaching him God’s law “diligently when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise” (Prov 22:6, Deut 6:7). Now you are sending him off into the world and fear creeps in. “Have I done enough?” you wonder. “Will he walk with Jesus now that he’s on his own?”

Some of the hardest phone calls and messages I receive are from Christian parents, deeply troubled that their student may not choose to join a church or campus ministry or show any interest in following Christ now that they’re out of the house. This breaks my heart, because while I have never sent a child off to college, I am a mother of three little ones, and just recently sent my oldest to kindergarten. “Will she be influenced by the world? Will she continue to love God and love others?” I have wept while pondering the question of whether I am equipping her and discipling her so that she will walk with Christ for a lifetime. Parent, I hear you and understand your concerns. I truly feel for you while you fear what the future could hold for your child and start to realize you can’t control it. From a fellow parent, and most relevantly to you, a campus minister, here are a few suggestions for how to practically care for and guide your college student, as well as process these fears.

Give them space

I know, I know. The piece of advice you probably don’t want to hear but already know to be right. Your student is journeying into adulthood. Their first semester of college, whether they realize it or not, they will begin to figure out who they are and who they want to become. You won’t be doing their laundry anymore, making their meals, or hearing from their professors if they miss class. Give them some space in their spiritual life as well. They are at a point in life where they need to be the ones to decide for themselves if they will invest in a church and campus ministry. Don’t misunderstand me; your input into their lives is still incredibly valuable and will be for the rest of your life! But trust me, unwanted pressure from parents to join a campus ministry is almost always a recipe for rebellion. Give them space and time, ask a lot of questions, and offer a listening ear.

Every year, I get at least a handful of calls or messages from parents telling me they are concerned because their student isn’t showing interest in a campus ministry or church. I welcome these calls! I am your ally and want the best for your child. It’s why our family spends our life on college campuses. Sometimes I am asked by parents to contact students without telling them that the prompting and contact information was from them. I’m happy to do this if I already have a relationship with the student. However, if I’ve never met your son or daughter, a more helpful way to connect us to them would be to give them our contact information or ask if it’s ok if you share their number with us. Part of giving space is having healthy boundaries and letting your student take the initiative. Give them some space, and then incorporate the suggestions below.

Ask for and plan for quality time

Giving your son or daughter space does not mean you are waiving all responsibilities as a parent! Your role in their life looks different now, but you’ll never stop being mom or dad. Think of ways you can connect meaningfully with your student while they’re away at school. Maybe instead of waiting by the phone every afternoon after their 2pm class (because, let’s be honest, you have their class schedule memorized), wondering if you should call or if you’ll hear from them, you could set up a weekly time for a phone call. Preserve your Tuesday mornings or Sunday evenings for that time of connection, and in the meantime, don’t stress about whether you’ll hear from them. I know this isn’t true for every college freshman, but many will miss hearing your voice after day 2! Set up your routine time and be pleasantly surprised when you hear sooner.

If you are concerned about your child’s spiritual health, try not to bring it up in every conversation. Sometimes your daughter will call you needing help with the laundry machines because, remember? You’re not doing it anymore. Don’t try to sneak in a mention of how she should check out Cru or the church down the street in between answers to her actual questions. Rather, ask the Holy Spirit for wisdom and seek out unhurried moments of quality time with your child. Bake her favorite dessert together or stay up late for some tea when she visits. If she doesn’t have a car, offer to drive her home for break rather than take the bus.

When I was in middle school my dad would occasionally offer to drive me to school. I quickly learned that these were good for “moments of instruction” and I got a little nervous every time he offered. Then, over time, I realized that he genuinely wanted to spend time with me and that not every car ride was a learning moment. If you build in this quality time throughout the year, don’t pounce with “have you joined a church yet?” after 5 minutes of conversation. Be quick to listen and slow to speak. I bet before long you’ll be talking about her spiritual health without even asking a direct question about it.

Give up the illusion of control

Too often when it comes to discipling our kids, we assume that there’s a formula. You heed the instruction in Proverbs, they memorize the catechism, you do evening prayers and voila! Before you know it you’re sending off a perfectly mature, Jesus-loving 18 year old to college. What we forget is that even the instruction in Proverbs to “train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he shall not depart from it” is wisdom, not a promise. Even if it were a promise, let’s be honest, none of us are going to do it right! If we truly believe the gospel, that we are imperfect sinners saved by grace, we will recognize that every aspect of our parenting will be tainted with sin. What good news that God, by his grace, saves our kids despite our imperfect efforts.

We don’t neglect the important responsibility of raising up our kids to follow Christ, but at the same time recognize that it is God who changes hearts and lives and not us. You may be feeling right now that you have “lost control” with your son or daughter at college, but the reality is, God has been directing the steps of everyone in your family since they were conceived. The popular modern hymn, “In Christ Alone” says this well: “From life’s first cry to final breath, Jesus commands my destiny.”

Parent, rest in this truth! Rest knowing that your child is in the hands of the God of the universe. I’m not going to promise you that your child is certainly saved and will eventually get “back on track” with your ideal for him. However, I can promise you that God, who is rich in mercy and abounding in steadfast love, sees and knows you, and sees and knows your kid, and is “working all things together for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28).

Pray!

Parent, whether you’ve been praying for your child since conception or are just starting this practice, it’s never to late to start praying for your children. When you are fearful: pray. When you feel out of control: pray. When you lack wisdom: pray. Even, and especially, when you feel hopeless when your child walks away from the truth you’ve taught, “rejoice in hope, be patient in affliction, be constant in prayer” (Romans 12:12).

Here are some suggestions of how you can pray for your child. Pray for:

– Your child’s salvation if he or she doesn’t already believe
– Believing friends and a community that will point your student to Christ
– Protection from anything that promises fulfillment that will ultimately not satisfy, and the realization that only Christ gives satisfaction
– A good relationship between you and your child, and opportunities for quality time and deep conversation
– Your own trust in God’s sovereignty

Dear parent, one day I will be the mom saying goodbye to my kid and I’m sure if I could talk to you, you’d tell me it’ll happen faster than I could ever imagine. For now, I’m a campus minister who desperately wants your son or daughter to know Jesus and the gospel that captures hearts and transforms lives. I’ll be praying with you and for you, and who knows? Next time I’m on campus maybe it’ll be your son or daughter the Spirit prompts me to say hello to.

Katherine Riendeau is a staff member with Cru at James Madison University. She is the wife and ministry partner of Jerry and mother of three. You can contact her at katherine.riendeau@cru.org.

By Jane Story

We all want to be known and loved. Many of us know someone who has maintained certain friendships over the span of time. Perhaps you have an uncle who still talks to his army buddies ten years out, or your parents still keep in touch with college friends from twenty years ago. I often looked on those adults with envy.

I grew up as a military kid, which meant I was great at meeting new people, but I had no experience maintaining relationships over time. Much of my young adult life, including college, has been dedicated to learning this exact skill. I’m not an expert yet, but I’ve learned a few things. We can’t control what our relationships look like, but we can practice being a good friend. In so doing, God may in fact bless you with friends who you’ll keep your whole life!

This list is by no means exhaustive, but it’s a great place to start. Here are some ways to pursue those kinds of friendships:

Initiate and Respond

This is going to sound like the silliest tip in the world, but I am shocked by how few people implement these rudimentary skills. If you meet someone who you want to be friends with, initiate with them. That means ask if they want to get lunch, or shoot them a text to ask how their day was.

One reminder is that, unfortunately, not everyone wants to be friends with everyone. You may come to a point where you discover that you are the only initiator in the relationship. Don’t be a stalker, and don’t pursue people who won’t pursue you back. But, in my experience, most people need to do more initiating, not less.

On the other side, if someone initiates with you, respond. This means text people back! I know this can be hard, but try not opening a text or DM until you’re ready to reply. Or set a reminder in your phone for a time when you know you’re free to write the person back. Even if it’s a person that you weren’t originally trying to become friends with, respond to them. Some of my closest friends are people I never would have expected. Give them a chance!

Listen and Ask Questions

You’ve probably heard the corny saying, “You have two ears and one mouth, so you should listen twice as much as you talk”. But the principle is a good one. Make it your goal to be a listener in conversations. You’ll actually learn about your friend, and you’ll make them feel valued. Most times people will return the favor.

Is your new friend a little quiet? Prompt them with some questions. You can start with basic things like, “Where are you from?” and “What do you study?”. But then pepper in something that’s interesting, but not too invasive: “May I ask, what’s your religious background, and does that impact you today?”, “What kind of kid were you in elementary school/middle school/high school?”, or “When you imagine your life 5 years from now, what do you see?”

And finally, ask followup questions. If they tell you they’re the only girl with three brothers as siblings, ask, “Wow, what was that like growing up?”. If they mention they might join the fencing club, ask, “Cool! Have you fenced before? What do you like about it?”

Demonstrating your interest in someone else will help the person trust you, and will help them feel valued. This is a worthy goal even if you never become their friend, but most times they’ll return the favor.

Move Towards Difficult Things

While the skills above are most useful in the beginning stages of friendship (although you should practice them throughout), the real secret sauce of the deepest relationships is their endurance through tough things.

Many of you are in college, and may not have experienced the worst of what life has to offer yet. So when your peer tells you they’ve just lost a parent, or been diagnosed with a debilitating disease, it makes you uncomfortable. We often fear that we’re going to say or do the wrong thing. Or we wonder if we can really support this person when they’re facing something so huge. The result is that we pull away from hard things and, without knowing it, pull away from the relationship.

This is a double whammy, because most tragedies and struggles make it hard to reach out. It is at this moment when someone needs their friends the most, that they find it hardest to ask for help. Your friend’s trial is the ultimate test of your friendship.

If you want to make lifelong friends, you’ve got to lean in. Google their terrible diagnosis and educate yourself, then go ask questions and listen to them. Send flowers when something bad happens, or whatever the dude equivalent of flowers is (maybe just a card?). Make them a meal or, if you can’t cook, ask them if you can bring them take out from a local restaurant. Go sit with your depressed friend until they feel better, even if you have no words to say.

It is more important to show up and feel uncertain than it is to be perfect. Often you can ask someone how to support them. If they don’t know, turn to a pastor or campus staff or a parent who might have ideas. But the point here is to love your friend at their lowest. That will bond you in ways nothing else can.

Christ the Perfect Friend

Think about this. God did not wait for us to initiate with Him. He sent Jesus while we were still His enemies (Romans 5:8). God is always listening to us, and often asks us questions He knows the answer to, in order to help us grow and to relate to us (Jonah 4, 1 Peter 3:12)

And God has moved towards us in every difficult thing. He came as a human (Jesus) and experienced every ounce of pain the human life can produce, even death. Then, Jesus came back to life and left earth, but sent His Holy Spirit. This means that, if you are a Christian, the God of the Universe is living inside you (1 Cor 3:16). God is with you through everything you will experience.

Human friends will sometimes let us down, but we have Christ the Perfect Friend. It is because we are already loved and secure that we can offer friendship to others. Go and extend the love of Christ to those around you! Friends will appear in the process.

What about you? Do you have any tips about how to form long-lasting relationships? Comment below, we’d love to hear them!

Jane is campus staff with Cru at JMU. You can connect with her by commenting below!

By Jerry Riendeau

We had an awesome plan.

My roommates and I were juniors in college and had just moved into a townhouse. We were excited about everything. New house, new school year, and new neighbors. In this excitement we decided that we wanted to make sure we were good witnesses of the gospel to our neighbors with whom we shared a porch. I don’t remember how we formulated this plan, but it more or less came down to this: we would be the best neighbors we could be, all the while making sure we constantly mentioned we were part of “Cru”. The implicit idea was that they would be so impressed by our neighborliness that they would want to know more about Jesus.

Why did we come up with this plan rather than a more straightforward plan of making friends with them and talking to them about our faith? Well… talking to people about Jesus can be pretty uncomfortable. Being nice is a lot easier. In other words. I was hoping to share the gospel without actually sharing the gospel.

We actually did a pretty good job being good neighbors. We hung out a number of times, including going to the lake together once. We tried to serve their practical needs too. For instance, the morning after they had big parties, I would pick up all of the beer cans and other trash off of our shared porch. One time I even picked one of them up from jail (long story).\

We lived next to each other for two years. By the time we parted ways I considered them friends. One of the last weeks we lived together we had them over to our house. That evening one of them noticed I was wearing a “Cru” shirt.

“What’s Cru?” he asked.

I was dumbfounded. We must have mentioned Cru to them a hundred times. “It’s that Christian ministry that we are a part of.”

“Oooohhhh, I thought you were part of C-R-E-W, like the rowing team!”

For two years we had done a fantastic job representing not Christ, but rowers. So much for our great plan.

In the years since this experience I have realized that there was a bigger problem with my plan than just forgetting to tell my neighbors how to spell Cru. My roommates and I were trying to find a way to share the gospel without ever actually sharing the gospel. We wanted to exclusively use our actions to communicate something that requires words.

The gospel is not common sense. It is not intuitive. It cannot be fully understood through observation of creation or Christians. It must be explained with words. Our actions, when winsome, can make people more receptive to those words, but they do not replace them. Romans 10:17 says, “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” This is why God gave us the Bible in the first place. A book full of words.

If we want to share the gospel with someone, we have to use words. We have to tell them about what sin is and how much God hates it. We have to tell them about who Jesus is and what he did on the cross. Perhaps most importantly we have to explain that a person must respond to Jesus by faith in order to have access to the gift he offers. Anything short of this is trying to share the gospel without sharing the gospel.

Here are two dangers of trying to share the gospel without sharing the gospel…

We Won’t Be Good Enough

I was full of good evangelism ideas in college. One summer I stayed in my college town and worked at the student center. I decided that I was going to be a witness to my co-workers by being the nicest person and best employee there. I prefered this approach to having conversations with them about Jesus because it was far less uncomfortable.

There was one problem. No matter how hard I tried, I simply couldn’t be the nicest person at work. There was this other guy, who wasn’t a Christian, who was just SO nice. He was humble and thoughtful. He was always willing to pick up a Saturday night shift for anyone. He never complained or gossiped. No matter how hard I tried, I just couldn’t keep up with his niceness. 

You see, when we assume that, as Christians, we can out-nice, or out-moral the non-Christian’s around us, we demonstrate that we do not understand sin or salvation. Think about Jesus’ ministry, who was attracted to him? Was it the most moral people in the community? No, it was the sinners and the tax collectors. In fact many people discounted Jesus as a teacher because his followers were such a mess.

Why do we expect to be any different? Jesus said that it is not the healthy people who need a doctor, but the sick. He went on, “I do not call the righteous, but sinners (Mark 2:17)”. People who have their act together morally (at least by the world’s standards) are less likely to realize they need a spiritual doctor, a savior. Do you know what this means? The fact that you decided to follow Jesus is evidence that you are likely a more obvious mess than people who have not decided to follow him.

Therefore, we should not find it surprising when non-Christians are able to be nicer or live more morally upright lives than us. We don’t become Christians because we are good people, we become Christians because we realize we are not good people and need a savior.

Don’t misunderstand me, all people are deeply sinful and in desperate need of Jesus. But not all people’s lives equally express that sinfulness to the world. We also should never be at peace with our moral failures. The Christian life is a journey of being transformed by the Holy Spirit to be more like Christ.

We Will Accidently Share a Different Gospel

Let’s say my strategy above worked. What if I was able to be such a good person that my co-workers that summer were amazed. And let’s say they were even able to connect the dots between the fact that I was a Christian and a morally good person. Does that mean I shared the gospel with them?

No. In fact, if that is all I did, I actually shared a different gospel than the true gospel.

If all I have done is live a morally upright life in front of my coworkers, all they know about Christians is that they are morally good people. So, if they decide they want to be Christians, what do they do? They try to be really, really good people. Not only is that not true, it is the opposite of the truth. The real gospel message is that we cannot become Christians by living a good life. We are far too sinful for that. We can only become right with God by acknowledging that we cannot do it on our own and need a savior. 

My actions, no matter how good they are, cannot teach that truth. I have to use words.

So Where Do We Go From Here?

Should I abandon my efforts to live a kind and morally upright life? Of course not. I should strive to live like Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit, knowing that I will fail at times. And when I do, I should admit my failures and apologize.

In addition to that, I need to recognize that if I want the people around me to know about Jesus, I eventually need to actually tell them about Jesus. This might be uncomfortable, but it is the only way. You can’t share the gospel without sharing the gospel.

Jerry Riendeau is one of the directors of Cru at James Madison University. He is married to Katherine. Together they have three children, ages five years and under. You can contact Jerry at jerry.riendeau@cru.org. You can follow him on twitter here.

By Jerry Riendeau

So you’re about to start your freshman year at college. Or maybe you’re transferring to a four year school after finishing community college. Or maybe you’re just starting another year and want this one to go a little differently.

Regardless, below are a few things I have observed over the years that have helped students get off to a great start. Theoretically you could do one of these each day for the first week of the semester.

(Almost) all of these things would be more fun with a friend. Grab an acquaintance from high school, or better yet, meet someone on your hall and bring them along. Trust me, every other freshman on your hall is hoping someone will invite them to do something.

Travel to Your Classes Before the First Day

You’re going to be nervous on your first day of class. That’s unavoidable. What is avoidable is being stressed because you can’t figure out which bus goes to campus or why in the world room 105 is not next to room 106. In the age of Google maps being available in your pocket, most of us assume we can figure out how to get anywhere without planning ahead. In my experience, college campuses, especially old ones, are unique creatures that heroically resist being conveniently labeled and located on map apps.

Extra credit: If your campus has a bus system, jump on a couple of them and just ride the whole circuit. This may confuse the driver, but it will give you a good sense of how to use the buses to get around in the future. 

Call Home

Your mom did not pay me to write this. I am a firm believer that college can be the most relationally exciting season of your life. But that does not happen overnight. You will, almost certainly, feel lonely for some period of time. A call home may be just the thing you need to help you over the hump. On top of that, don’t underestimate how difficult your leaving home is for your parents. They may have put on a brave face when they dropped you off, but their lives have just irreversibly changed. A call from you would certainly do them good.

I know not everyone has a relationship (or a good one) with their parents. If that’s the case for you, reach out to another familiar voice. It could be a friend from high school or a sibling. The point is that a dose of familiarity and affection will greatly improve your first week.

Visit Several Campus Ministries

Ok, so this is probably not one you can reasonably do in one day. Nevertheless, it is very important. You may be tempted to say “I need to focus on classes my first week, I’ll check out the Christian ministries after I settle in.” That would be a huge mistake. That first week every freshman and transfer student is in the same boat. It is not weird to show up and not know who to sit with. In addition, the upperclassmen are geared up and ready to meet you. No matter how hard the ministry tries, they will not seem as welcoming week two or three as they will week one.

Your college certainly has a website that will tell you about all of the college ministries and when/where they meet. Ask your pastor back home if he would recommend any particular ministries at your college. Check out several that first week and be prepared to give them another try the next week. Eventually you will want to choose a particular ministry to really invest in, but that can wait.

Update Your Calendar

For some of you, the first step for this one will be to start using a calendar in the first place. This is a must. Do not fool yourself into thinking you will be able to manage college well without a calendar of some form. Even if you think you are succeeding at doing so, the people around you will not. You do not want to be known as the person who always forgets about group project meetings and friend hangouts.

You basically have two options here. You can use an electronic product like Google Calendar or you can buy an actual, physical, planner. To my continual surprise, many of the college students I work with still prefer the second option. It is not uncommon for students to reach into their bag and pull out their planner when I ask them when they are free to meet. There are some advantages to that route. For one thing, if you are artsy, your planner becomes not only a useful tool but another form of expression.

Regardless of which option you choose you’ll need to add your class, work, and social calendar. I would also highly recommend that you go through all of your syllabi the first week of college and add every single assignment due date. Just the process of adding them will help you internalize your responsibilities.

Explore Downtown

College towns are strange bohemian colonies plopped sporadically around the country. The ratio of coffee shops, restaurants, and thrift stores to population is always absurd. There are entire industries built up specifically to entertain you. Beyond that, the town almost certainly has a rich history and culture all of its own. It will take you a couple of years to really grasp how awesome your college town is, so start early. Take an afternoon and just stroll through town that first week. Stop into a couple of stores and buy a cup of coffee and a used book of poetry (possibly at the same place).

Go to a Game

I am a sports fanatic. Attending both home and away games was my primary hobby in college. But even if you aren’t into sports at all, don’t miss out entirely on this aspect of college life. At many colleges, sports are a primary expression of school spirit and community. They are places where you go to cheer for your community. In some respects, the game itself is secondary to the experience. Check out the athletic schedule and attend one event that first week.

Visit a Church and Don’t Leave Right Away

This is the most important piece of advice on this list. Go to church the very first Sunday you are in college. If you skip even once you will start to get into the habit of sleeping in on Sundays, and that is a very hard habit to break. 

Sunday mornings on college campuses are… weird. No one is moving around. If you live in a dorm with old plumbing like I did, you might find that it takes like 10 minutes for the hot water to start flowing in the shower. I got into the habit my freshman year of going to the hall shower, turning the water on, and then going back to my room for a bit while it warmed up.

There are two mistakes you need to avoid here. First, do not believe the lie that you don’t need to find a local church because you visit your hometown church sometimes. The obvious exception here is if you go to college in your hometown. Church is intended to be both local and constant. You can’t take four years off of being a member of a local church.

Second, don’t get into the habit of showing up late and leaving as soon as the service is done. You’re a college student, so arriving late may be unavoidable. That means you need to stick around a little while after the service so you can get to know people a little. If you’re an introvert, this may be a challenge, but it will be worth it. Say hi to a few people you don’t know, preferably non college students. Not only will this help you connect with the community, it could open up some really valuable relationships for you. Need a place to do laundry for free? A home cooked meal? A quiet place to study during exam week? The families you meet at church have all of these things!

Jerry Riendeau is one of the directors of Cru at James Madison University. He is married to Katherine. Together they have three children, ages five years and under. You can contact Jerry at jerry.riendeau@cru.org. You can follow him on twitter here.

By Jerry Riendeau

I recently asked a student, who is a fairly new believer, what Christian books he has been reading. He replied that he was not much of a reader. This surprised me. This young man had gained a great deal of knowledge about his faith in a relatively short period of time. So I asked him how he had managed to accumulate so much information without reading.

“TikTok mostly”, he replied.

I am guessing his response will elicit at least three reactions from those reading this post. Those over 35 will probably ask, “what is TikTok?” (Answer: it is a social media platform where users post short videos.) Those between the ages of 25 and 35 will probablys ask, “there is Christian content on TikTok?” (Answer: Apparently.) Those under 25 will probably not find it all that surprising.

Praise God that quality Christian content is available on so many platforms these days from social media, to Youtube, to podcasts, and yes… even TikTok. With so many sources of content available, it begs the question, why read Christian books?

This is supposed to be a post about what you should read, not why you should read. But let me give a brief apologetic for books themselves before getting to my list. And to be clear I am not saying that you should only read books. By all means, absorb truth from any platform available. I am humbly suggesting that you include a healthy serving of books in your media diet.

Reading books forces us to be reflective in a way that consuming content on other platforms does not always accomplish. In my experience, watching or listening to Christian content is like a nice relaxing bath. I just sort of soak it in. Reading Christian books on the other hand feels a lot more like a wrestling match. I read an assertion and find myself saying (sometimes out loud) “Prove it!” And so the battle is joined. The author makes her case in the text of the book and I present my counter arguments in handwritten scribbles in the margins. Sometimes I find myself bested, and other times I leave unconvinced. Either way, I understand the issue better than when I began.

Though a relaxing bath has its place in a healthy lifestyle, no human body remains healthy and fit for long without some strenuous exercise. Reading provides for the mind what exercise provides for the body in a way that other media forms often fail to.

Another reason that books are important is that they are, by their nature, more thoroughly vetted. This does not mean that they are perfect. In fact, many aren’t even good. However, the process of publishing forces at least some degree of reflection, editing, and correction. CS Lewis would argue that reading old books provides an even greater degree of vetting, but that is a topic for another day.

So, college student, here is a list of books that I want to challenge you to read before you graduate. I chose books based on a few criteria: 1) I selected books to fit 7 different topics I thought were important, including apologetics, biblical theology, and evangelism. 2) I emphasized brevity. Let’s be real, college students already have a lot to read for their classes. Short books are more likely to be read. 3) I emphasized practicality. I picked books that could be directly applied to your life.

A disclaimer: I am not claiming that these are the ONLY books a college student should read. I’m not even claiming these are the most important books you should read. I humbly propose that these are 7 books you should make sure you read among others.

So, without further delay, here is the list:

Confronting Christianity by Rebecca McLaughlin

McLaughlin identifies and responds to the twelve most prevalent and powerful objections to the Christian faith in our culture today. The chapters are short and readable, yet her arguments are compelling and powerful. This book accomplishes two things at once. It helps the reader wrestle with his own doubts while simultaneously equipping him to engage with his friends on these topics. 

For further reading on apologetics: The Reason for God by Tim Keller

God’s Big Picture by Vaughan Roberts

Hopefully you have heard someone explain that “the Bible is one unified story”. But honesty, how does the book of Numbers or the weird second half of Daniel fit into that story? Roberts provides a framework that can be used to insert whatever text you happen to be reading into the story of scripture. For visual learners, he provides a very helpful diagram.

For further reading on Biblical Theology: Biblical Theology in the Life of the Church by Michael Lawrence

What is a Healthy Church Member by Thabiti M. Anyabwile

Thabiti covers an incredible amount of ground in just 117 unusually small pages. You could read it in an afternoon if you wanted to, but it is better absorbed over time and, if possible, in the context of community. Consider reading this and discussing it with your Bible study or a group of friends. Thabiti succinctly explains how a Christian can be an expositor of scripture, a Biblical theologian, and an evangelist. But, most importantly, he explains the absolute necessity of being a committed member of a Bible preaching local church. If you were only going to read and apply one book on this list, pick this one. If you get your commitment to the local church right, most everything else will follow in due time.

For further reading on Ecclesiology (the church): How Jesus Runs the Church by Guy Waters

Changes that Heal by Dr. Henry Cloud

At the risk of sounding melodramatic, reading this book in college was borderline life changing for me. Cloud explains the importance of both bonding with others and separating ourselves from others (boundaries) and the consequences of failing to do so. In recent years I have reached out to several trusted Christian counselors to confirm that they would still recommend this classic. The response I received is that many of the truths in this book are indeed, timeless. One criticism I have is that Cloud sometimes ventures out of his area of expertise into Biblical exegesis with mixed results. 

Questioning Evangelism by Randy Newman

Do you worry that you would not know how to respond to questions if you were to share your faith with friends or classmates? If so, this book is for you. Newman explains the importance of asking questions, not just answering them when doing evangelism. I guarantee that if you read this book you will feel far more comfortable having spiritual conversations with anyone. I should note that this book was originally published in 2003, though it has been updated since then (purchase the 2nd edition). As a result, some of its content, including how to handle questions about sexuality, is in need of a revamp.

For further reading on evangelism: Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God by RC Sproul

Pressure Points by Shelby Abbott

Walking with Jesus in college is not easy. How are you supposed to navigate issues such as dating, alcohol, loneliness, and new dynamics with your parents? Shelby asks, and answers, the question: how does the gospel apply to these and other “pressure points”? Frankly there are not many books out there written specifically for Christian college students or written by people with decades of experience working with said students.

For further reading on walking with Jesus in college: Seated with Christ by Heather Holleman

A book about Justice and Race within the Church

Ok, so I am cheating here. I am not recommending a specific book. For various reasons, my old “go tos” on this topic need to be updated. I am in the process of trying to find a new favorite book to recommend. Perhaps you could join me in that search. Here are the next two books I intend to read about justice and race in the church. Perhaps when I finish them I’ll write another post.

• The New Reformation by Shai Linne 
• The Beautiful Community by Irwyn Ince

This is an incredibly important topic. I would recommend you read broadly and with a generous heart. Warning: if you choose to read a book on this topic you are almost guaranteed to feel uncomfortable. And that is not necessarily a bad thing. 

Jerry Riendeau is one of the directors of Cru at James Madison University. He is married to Katherine. Together they have three children, ages five years and under. You can contact Jerry at jerry.riendeau@cru.org. You can follow him on twitter here.

Joe Slater recently shared with me about his experience as a student involved in JMU Cru. If you haven’t been following our little series, we have been talking to former students and Cru staff who were a part of this ministry over the years.

First off, I need to tell you about Joe. Before I moved to Harrisonburg, at least three different people told me that I absolutely MUST meet Joe Slater. Man, were they right. More than most of the people I met in the community, Joe made an effort to get to know me, pray for me, and encourage me in my ministry. This is particularly remarkable to me, because Joe is the campus pastor for Reformed University Fellowship (RUF) at JMU. RUF is a fantastic ministry of the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) that seeks to “help students fall deeper in love with Jesus and develop a lifelong faith.” This demonstrates something I really appreciate about Joe. He has chosen to see other campus ministries as friends and allies rather than competitors. Learn more about Joe and his awesome ministry here.

Long (really long), before Joe was working with RUF, he was a student at JMU and involved with Cru. In fact, I was born while Joe was a student at JMU (1985-88). Somehow, this reality has not stopped certain students from responding with shock when they discover that Joe and I are not the same age (cough cough… Nate Szarmach).

The biggest difference between JMU Cru then and now is that there were no staff on campus back then. Instead, a couple of Cru staff named Bill and Linda White would drive over the mountain from UVA to meet weekly with the student leaders. Besides these weekly check-ins, the students ran everything.

I asked Joe what the highlight of his time involved with Cru was: “High points for me were just being with a community that genuinely loved each other and took seriously their walk with Jesus. I was at a fork in the road with my faith at the time. Was I going to play games with Jesus and my faith or was I going to surrender everything to follow Him? God, in His kind mercy, used Cru and the people of Cru to push me to follow Him.”

I also asked Joe about some of the challenges he and the ministry faced during his time: “We had the usual challenges of staying focused on mission, of balancing school with serving our campus, and trying to daily maintain a walk with Jesus. I think we also had the challenge of young and immature leadership. We had 21 and 22 year olds leading the movement. God was extraordinarily kind to keep us out of some serious weeds despite our immaturity. I also think we very much undervalued and underemphasized the importance of the local church. Maybe some more mature leadership would have helped us correct that.”

Joe, what was the most life changing moment of your time with Cru? “I was standing at the door (of our weekly meeting) to greet newcomers and in walked this beautiful transfer student who would become my wife! Isn’t God good??!!”

Indeed he is Joe.
Contributed by Jerry Riendeau