What Does a Campus Missionary Do? A Glimpse into AACF at USC
Hi there! My name’s David, and I’ve been serving as a campus minister with AACF at USC for two years. Although I’m newer to JEMS/AACF, USC is my alma mater (class of ‘14) and also the place where I started my campus ministry journey shortly after I graduated. It’s good to come back home, after a long period in which I served at other campuses, attended seminary, and served in church pastoring. As a campus missionary, the question I get asked most often is “What do you really do?” I’d like to take some time to introduce you to the work that God is doing as I unpack that question for you all. Life as a campus missionary is many things, but it is certainly never boring!
Leadership Development
When I think about what I would like USC AACF to be, I think immediately of a playground or a sandbox. When kids come to a playground, they receive a safe place to explore, try new things, stretch their limits, exercise their creativity, and ultimately share joy as they enter the spirit of play with one another. Similarly, it’s my hope that AACF is a place where my students are able to find that our Christian lives are filled with that Spirit—a Spirit that draws us towards the frontiers of faith, towards creative forms of expression and outreach, towards love and care and the sharing of narrative with one another. I want my campus to be a place where students feel safe to try great things for God, to make mistakes, and to offer even what little they have for his glory! To do that, it starts with student initiated leadership. I’ve been blessed with amazing core leaders who are actively growing in discerning God’s voice in their devotional lives, who want to build bonds with other believers inside and outside of AACF, and who are eager to try out new methods of outreach and community building.
This past school year, our core helped guide our ministry through the theme "Offered Together" (Romans 12:1) to help address two areas of growth. First, they wanted the brothers and sisters to grow in offering themselves in complete surrender to God's purposes, especially missions and evangelism. Through the messages and their devotional lives together, many of them ended up being involved in homeless ministry, cross-cultural missions, and cold-contact evangelism in collectives that formed with other campus fellowships. Second, they wanted to focus on the theme of "togetherness" to address the perennial issue of church cliques and the inertia towards only associating with their close friends. Relationally, this has been one of our healthiest semesters, and we were able to welcome our largest freshman class in five years as a result.
Discipleship
Prior to AACF, I spent 11 formative years in a ministry that followed the Navigator model of one-on-one discipleship. In being discipled, I learned so much of the building blocks of devotion, character, and ministry that made me who I am today. In discipling others, I learn that our Triune God truly has given each person unique giftings, callings, burdens, and pains, and that He calls us together for this season to grow them accordingly. For any AACF member looking for someone to consistently meet up with for growth, accountability, and support, I'm always available. This past year, I was able to meet weekly with three students one-on-one to help them grow in their own unique ways. It has been wondrous to stand with them in their moments of crises, to get to know their family and friends, and be able to simply study and marvel at the Word together as we meet.
Reliable Presence
We often talk about people who serve on the frontline—an infantryman in the military, or nurses and doctors in the healthcare field—people who are turned to at the first sign of concern, crisis, or emergency. For the students that I'm with, my consistent, on-campus presence puts me at the frontlines of ministry. Whether it's a mental health crisis, dealing with struggles fitting in with church, processing a challenging conversation with a roommate, or just sharing a deep talk after large group, my students feel comfortable to ask for meetups and let me into the ground zero of their need. This is the part of my job I love best! But it's not about me offering the perfect fix for their problems, or that they necessarily always feel better after the conversation. It's that we've been able to walk together and find companionship walking along the edge of faith and uncertainty, discovering that Jesus' promise is true: That when two or three come together in his name, He has truly been in our midst.
I wanted to share one of the most remarkable memories that happened over the past year that links these elements together. One of the guys that I disciple comes from an unbelieving family, besides him and his mother. As we met, he was able to process a lot of the particular brokenness in his family and earnestly pray for their salvation. Last summer, through those prayers and the efforts of him and his mother, his grandmother finally came to Christ and wanted to be baptized. However, she was infirm because of a very aggressive cancer, and being in Beijing, she did not have access to a local church or a pastor to visit her. As it happened, that summer I was taking a vacation in China and spending time with my own family in Beijing, and so my disciple asked me if I would be willing to baptize her. I was able to come to their home (which was not too far from my own grandmother's house), confirm her faith, and baptize her—my first baptism! Exactly a week later, she went to be with the Lord, and although we grieve together, we found peace and joy knowing about her salvation, and marveling at God's sovereignty in allowing all things to work for her good. I think about all these elements that define my service with AACF—my student's initiative and leadership in his own family, our process of discipleship, and my privilege to be present at the right time and place—and I rejoice in this ministry that God graciously called me to!
David Lee
