Desert Conference... part 2

As we arrived at the Chai Alpha (XA) conference,  we were part of  a big crowd of nearly 700. However, soon that crowd became a group of people. We had the privilege of meeting many of them and getting to know pieces of their stories. Further, God used some of them to touch our lives. This is the Holy Spirit element that I appreciate. They don’t make a big show of being ‘spirit-filled’. They just live it. It is the intangible element that puts the whole thing on fire.
As I told Karen before we left, I love hanging with these people. Just like our gang in Mission Canada, they actually are the New Breed. They are smart, courageous, creative and spiritually grounded. It shouldn't be surprising. They certainly don’t do campus ministry for fame or fortune. They do it because it is one of the most challenging and rewarding ventures on planet earth

XA is an intergenerational family, ranging from people older than my venerable self to those just graduating from university. This is not to mention the students, themselves.  XA has distilled wisdom from over forty years of university ministry, some of which is simply some of the most dynamic and powerful ministry that anyone would see anywhere. It was great to just soak it all in….

 Here are a few thoughts I scribbled into a notebook--- that I have no intention of cleaning up grammatically:

• They are Intentional about networking and resourcing. 

• They are generous in Sharing their expertise and strengths. 

• It was encouraging to see how the task groups they would strike up actually got stuff done. 

• After task groups met………..Ministries were created. Material was published. Events happened. Numbers were recorded. All levels would pitch in to make Chai Alpha continually bigger and better. I am hopeful that we can share in the fruits of their hard work. 

• They have a similar denominational structure to ours.

• While we might have more flexibility in the models we employ, they do what they do with excellence.

• I look forward to a strategic partnership between  XA and Campus Mission Canada. This could happen at a personal and relational level . It can also happen at a more formal level where we share resources and events.

• The XA Great Lakes Region is close by. We can do things together….

A Desert Experience... literally.

There we were in the desert. I mean the Desert..... actually, Chai Alpha’s national campus ministry conference in Phoenix, AZ. This past week, we averaged nearly 115 degrees in the shade. It is a heat such as I have never before experienced in the outdoors. But, dry heat is actually an acquired taste. I was growing to like it. Having previously exchanged emails with our host, Dennis Gaylor ( see picture below ), the director of Chai Alpha, he would intersperse his correspondence with a question: “Did I mention that it was hot?” He didn’t want anyone to be surprised. It was Shhhmokin…! One of the speakers fired off a bunch of “hot jokes” to the crowd. “It was so hot!” “How hot was it?” “It was so hot that I saw two trees fighting over a dog.”

Karen and I were taken under wing by Dennis and his wife, Barbara. We had the privilege of spending an evening with them, eating room service and talking for hours Twenty years ago they lost their vivacious eighteen year old daughter, Jennifer, to a drunk driver. They shared with us their journey of grief which helped to validate our own. We are deeply grateful for the time they spent with us as we unpacked our story and described our own peaks and valleys. There are certain things that only those who have undertaken the journey can understand or share, and they gave us a special gift in their time, love and prayers.


As the director of Chai Alpha, the campus ministry arm of the Assemblies of God, Dennis has played a key role in building a multi dimensional ministry that is one of the most dynamic and potent student movements in America. As Dr. Rick Richardson , author of Evangelism Outside the Box and Associate Professor of Evangelism at Wheaton college said in his plenary address to the conference, Chai Alpha is a combination of spiritual power, biblical fidelity and cultural relevance. Often groups or movements tend to align under one banner or the other. Those which do are often intolerant of each other ( he gave examples). Biblically, the NT models an integration of all of three ( think: Apostle Paul ). Chai Alpha is one movement in which all of these elements are in operation.