In a recent blog, Rob (Loane) talked to us about connecting the “answers” with questions. For many years, my work put a grant in our hands that allowed us to develop campus ministry leaders in two ways: leadership practices and spirituality. As a group, we loved times for “shop talk,” when we opened the floor for new ideas, innovations, and methods for spiritual formation on college campuses. The ideas would flow, copious notes would be taken, and many of us returned home with a “plug and play” mentality about what we heard from our peers.
Over time, however, we needed to remember that best practices are “answers” or “responses” to questions that emerged out of local issues, contextual problems, or partial “solutions” in vivo, that is, in life lived on a campus in Indiana, upstate New York, urban LA or Minneapolis, small town Kentucky or metropolitan Dallas. We discovered that “answers” in the form of new programs or practices are not universal but specific to place, setting, staffing, ecclesial identity, and practical movements in the story of the ministry itself.
A new campus pastor might bring something new to the table that a long-time pastor might have tried years before. A large staff team might initiate multiple complex plans that a campus pastor with a part-time assistant could not. Once again, questions matter.
Questions That Stay With Us
After reading Rob’s thoughtful work, I was digging around in some of Henri Nouwen’s writings and was nearly knocked off my feet by a question that caught my eye. As I skimmed the book, the question flashed briefly, but I returned immediately. He asked, “Did becoming older bring me closer to Jesus?” It’s one of those questions you cannot easily ignore or escape if you’re paying attention.
Brennan Manning has another question that has haunted my life as well. He said he believes that God will ultimately ask only one question of us: “Did you believe I love you?” It’s another question that hit me between the eyes. Great questions often come to us that way as a complete surprise or something out of the blue when we’re on our way looking for something else. We used to say in campus ministry, “when we’re in the van on the way to the thing.”
A Question for Our Community
So we’d like to ask something of you. Would you be willing to comment below with a question or two from your life that made you pause and linger, questions that made a great difference in your life over the years? It could be one you heard in a sermon or asked as a mentor. It could be a question you were asked as a mentee, student, or participant in “the thing.” If we can gather enough of your questions, we’ll publish them in a blog as a resource for the At the Table community.
I asked a question of Dr. James Houston, then president of Regent College:
“What have you learned over the past 25 years that, had you known 25 years ago, would have made a true difference over those years?”
It was unplanned, completely spontaneous, and surprised me, but not Dr. Houston. He answered quickly:
“You cannot get back time you’ve lost with your family.”
And then,
“The most important things that have happened to me over the past 25 years happened when I was not “in control,” and I’ve spent most of those years trying to be in control.”
Questions matter.
Please accept our invitation…
What question(s) have made a great difference in your life over the years?
__________________________________
Keith Anderson, D.Min., is a Faculty Associate for Spirituality and Vocation at VantagePoint3 and President Emeritus of Seattle School of Theology and Psychology. He is the author of several books, including his most recent: On Holy Ground: Your Story of Identity, Belonging and Sacred Purpose (Wipf & Stock, 2024). His other works include Reading Your Life’s Story (IVP, 2016), A Spirituality of Listening (IVP, 2016), and Spiritual Mentoring (IVP, 1999). In his writing, teaching, and mentoring, Keith seeks to set a table for people looking to enter the “amazing inner sanctuary of the soul” in the most ordinary and extraordinary moments of life.