MBU News

Abandon the Ordinary

September 5, 2007

By Karen Kratzer

MBU starts each school year with a big bang by having Welcome Weekend. But after all of the fun, classes must begin and a somber tone falls over the campus. That is why MBU instituted the Fall Renewal Sermon Series, a time for the student body to come together, relax in our school schedules, and honor God in our worship and studies.

Jonathan White, MBU’s campus pastor, said that through this year’s fall student renewal, he hoped that Christians would be moved to have a closer relationship with Christ and that non-believers would be moved to begin that relationship with Christ. He also said that He wanted this year’s series to “be different and not so ‘preachy’.”

White also listened to a request of the students’ and brought back his brother, Chris White, who visited MBU last spring, to open the services in worship for us.

Chris White was raised up a preacher’s kid and was saved at the age of 6. He grew up wild, though, and experimented with drugs and alcohol until, at the age of 20, Chris got sick with a bad case of the chicken pox. At that age, chicken pox is a much more extreme illness and can cause infertility, according to Jonathan White. It was then that Chris got scared and turned to God asking him to show Himself to him.

After that, Chris went to seminary and became a youth minister at First Baptist Church in Jonesboro, Ga. until he felt a call to go into full-time music ministry. Now, he has been singing for over a decade and is doing so nationally and internationally. You can read more about the Chris White band and missions opportunities by logging onto www.mobilizingstudents.com.

The speaker for Fall Renewal was Steve Austin, a man who struggled with addiction. He was so deep into drugs that he took a strange sense of pride in it. His friends all called him “Iron Lungs” because of the fact that he could “handle” the effects of the drugs so well. But at the age of 24, he realized that that life was not working for him and was not the life he was intended to live. So he accepted Christ in 1976 and began preaching in February of 1995 at Calvary Church in Memphis, Tenn.

The MBU student body heard part of his testimony in Tuesday’s chapel service. It was there that he encouraged students to find themselves, but to do so in Christ. He reminded students that they were made for God and that “everything is always all about God.” God just needs people to join what He is doing and wants us to say, “If there is anything you can use of me, God, use me.” He ended by asking what students were going to do with their lives – if they would live them for themselves or live for Christ.

Lately, students have confessed to wanting younger speakers with whom they can relate, speakers who have struggled through life and have had real and tough experiences. Austin is the first speaker of the school year to do just that.
Austin also works with 180 Degrees Ministries, which is a program dedicated to helping set people free from their addictions by encouraging them to make Christ their foundation. More information on this program as well as Austin can be found on their website at www.180degreesministries.com.

Fall Renewal gave examples of people who did what it took to cross over to follow Jesus. They did as the motto for Fall Renewal says: abandon the ordinary. They went on to the extraordinary. Pastor White further explained the motto for this year’s sermon series.

“Abandon the ordinary. Jesus is not ordinary. Christians should not be ordinary. We should be passionate for Christ and live our life for just one thing, Jesus Christ. Wherever that takes us, into accounting, the rock star world, or whatever it may be, He should still be with us as we abandon the ordinary for Him,” said White.

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