Question about son in college

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[qwex]

Greetings,
 
I happened upon this web site. I have a college-aged son who recently has become involved in Great Commission, to the point where he is talking about going on a week-long trip to Honduras over next spring's break.
 
In a word (or perhaps a few), what would your counsel be about this, given the recent history of this group? And, if I may ask, as objectively as possible?
 
Thank you,
 
A Virginia parent

[namaste]

I've known people that have gone on STM (short-term missions) to Honduras, and had a lovely time.  My concern as a parent, would be that stm trips are often used as a "spring board" to encouraging students to make potentially poor decisions regarding their futures.  For example, encouraging students to drop out of school to do overseas mission work, etc.  

I've never done the Honduras trip, but I've done other stm's in Europe.  Invariably, part of the "training" for these trips involves pressuring students about missions, going on staff, etc.

HTHs.

[boboso]

I think the mission trip would be a super experience for your son.

However, ensuring he understands biblical leadership (by example and in love) before he goes would be wise. GC is great about evangelism, but once you are involved, the corporation takes over.

In other words, ask your son if he's going to Honduras to love, serve, and share the gospel or if he's going to find more people to join a GC church.

You would think these go hand-in-hand, but sadly, they do not. It takes a little digging to see the authoritarian structure for what it is.

[Angry]

Do what you can to talk him out of going.

This is a very dangerous group your son is dancing with.  The book "Cult proofing your kids" by Dr Paul Martin is a must read (for both yourself and your child) prior to your child's commitment to the trip.

People on this blog will attack this book because it was written in the early 90's.  The early 90's was also when this cult wrote an acknowledgement letter of their weaknesses and problems.

Both the "Weakness paper" AND "Cult proofing your kids" could have been written in the last twelve months and BOTH would be just as relevant currently as they were fifteen years ago.

This is a very dangerous group.

Try to get your child not to go.  If they do go, do not be surprised when they are "too busy to get to a phone or write a letter home to their old family...."  classic brainwashing technique at work - convenient to go to an area without access to friends, family, and other loved ones.

Angry

[namaste]

I think I'm going to revise my answer a bit, and maybe add a personal insight or two.  My experiences are fairly recent (post-2000).

In GCx, there is a pretty pervasive sense that someone going on staff is the highest and best thing a person can do.  Hence, it doesn't matter how stupid a decision someone would be making, who else (ie, parents and family) might be hurt, or whether what the person is doing makes any sense at all.

I for example, really enjoyed my experience on the STM trip I went on.  I also really enjoyed the host family.  So much so, in fact, that by the end of the week, the host family was begging me to stay, move into their spare bedroom, and play nanny for them.  On the heels of a fantastic trip to a European country, OF COURSE I wanted to stay.

The elder and staffer on that trip were actually encouraging me to do this.  They saw no problem at all with me not getting on the plane to go home, and then just casually alerting my parents when they got to the airport.  They saw no problem with me making such a stupid decision, forfeiting the work I had done that semester in school, and screwing my parents out of the tuition they had paid for my school.

In the course of a fun, new, and emotional experience, you need to know that there are responsible adults making sure that your child is making responsible decisions.  If you let your child go on this trip, you need to know that the adults you're counting on for supervision have a serious ulterior motive.

[DrSam]

javascript:emoticon(':cry:')
Crying or Very sad

It saddens me to see invectives as this ANGRY person uses. He is over the top, resentful, and unbalanced in his views and vitriol. I would take the advice the others shared that the experience would be positive if your son is going to serve God while being strong against any possible "dropping out" out of school.

Do what you can to talk him out of going.

This is a very dangerous group your son is dancing with.  The book "Cult proofing your kids" by Dr Paul Martin is a must read (for both yourself and your child) prior to your child's commitment to the trip.

People on this blog will attack this book because it was written in the early 90's.  The early 90's was also when this cult wrote an acknowledgement letter of their weaknesses and problems.

Both the "Weakness paper" AND "Cult proofing your kids" could have been written in the last twelve months and BOTH would be just as relevant currently as they were fifteen years ago.

This is a very dangerous group.

Try to get your child not to go.  If they do go, do not be surprised when they are "too busy to get to a phone or write a letter home to their old family...."  classic brainwashing technique at work - convenient to go to an area without access to friends, family, and other loved ones.

Angry

[Angry]

Please let it be noted that Dr Sam is a former GC* leader.

Angry

[randomous]

Well, that's quite a story namaste weaves, but I'd have to say it's quite an exception.  GC staff never encourage people to drop out of school (at least in recent years), and I'm pretty sure it's even part of their employee manual and training not to do so.  My first year I went on a stm to europe and it really helped me develop my worldview and opened my eyes to the spiritual need in Europe.  
STM's do certainly have an impact on people's desire to do full-time ministry or missions, especially overseas.  Most missions organizations (GC included) have that as one of their stated goals for STM's - they simply aren't as effective as long-term stays in impacting countries, so they hope to give people a taste of what it can be like, allay their fears, and give them something real to base a decision on.  The primary benefit of STM's is in changing the perspective of the person going, as many different people from many denominations will attest.  
I understand you have concerns about the group; if I were a parent I'd certainly wonder if I saw a forum like this.  But remember, there are 20 or 30 active people here who think GC hasn't changed since the problems of 20 years ago.  Compare that to the twenty years of almost no respectable  criticism and the acceptance and recognition of changes by the National Association of Evangelicals, the ECFA, the IFMA, the EFMA, Campus Crusade, Aseemblies of God, etc. etc.  There were some major problems, and there will always be problems in GC just like any other church, but they aren't going to corrupt or abuse your son.  
If your son deciding God's calling him to full-time ministry as a result of actually being somewhere ministering to people with the gospel is the worst you've got to worry about, I'd be thankful he's found whatever church he's part of.

[namaste]

Randomous-
I'm glad to hear that my experience was/is an exception.  

I also very much appreciate your perspective on the issue of STM and long-term GCx involvement.  You articulated a big piece of my concern.  Yes, STM can (and is) used as a way to give people a "taste" of overseas missions work.  My issue, is that (at least in my experience), those in charge of recruiting members for these trips don't frame it that way at all.

They frame it as a neat way to spend Spring Break (or summer, or whatever).

In all honesty, it could be a simple miscommunication.  Many staffers may believe that it's obvious that STMs are meant to be a way of getting people to commit to long-term overseas work.  

Perhaps this is an area of communication that GCx can quickly, and effectively, remediate.

Edited to add: I'm completely aware that elders/staffers/etc are prohibited from encouraging students to drop out of school.  Forgive my bluntness, but are you seriously deluded enough to think that stops them?  

Do students and their families have access to this manual, so that they know what is and is not allowed, and who to go to about the problem?  It's not like parents and students could google the name of the organization and discover that pushing students to drop out was an issue in the past.  Of course, thanks to this website, inroads are being made in fixing that problem.

If a pastor did encourage a student to drop out of school, what disciplinary action would be taken against him?  Would "autonomy of the local church" be used as an excuse for the national leadership not to take action?

If I came forward with documented evidence that I was encouraged to drop out of school to go on staff post-2000, would anything be done about it?  Isn't the obvious excuse/defense, "Well, God told me to encourage namaste to ditch school?"

[randomous]

Again, this isn't a GCM-specific goal - that's one of the major intentions of short term trips across the board, I'm sure Crusade or the Souther Baptist IMB would tell you the same.  But it's jsut one of the goals.  It's not like "ok, we've got 15 people coming on this trip, let's try and get all 15 to move over here and be missionaries".  Realistically, they probably hope that one person will seriously consider that.  For the rest of the team, it's more about developing a "missions mindset" of "being missionaries wherever you're at" as people often put it.  So the trip is not about recruiting people, but that is a natural result of being there, that some realize God might be leading them there.  Usually there's a cooling off period afterwards where people kinda decide how serious they are, and most decide not to go long-term.  Of the trips I went on, I remember a post-trip evaluation (while still there) that included a question along the lines of "would you be interested in returning for a year or long-term".  That's really the extent I saw, and I went overseas five times with GCM.  Being overseas just has that effect of "wow, these people really need the gospel, my 2 new cars and a nice house american dream looks really shallow now, maybe I should reevaluate my life".  

I don't know your specifics and can't answer your hypothetical.  I've never seen a need for that prohibition as none of the staff I've ever been around have ever done anything but encourage people to focus on their studies and stay in school.  It's not the prohibition that stops them, but their own convictions.

That said, I think it's about time we recognize in our country that college isn't for everyone.  It's been held up a goal for everyone for a while, but it really isn't that special.  We have way more college graduates than we have college jobs in America - if someone feels like college is a waste of time and money for them personally, that would be a difficult situation.  There's nothing morally superior about going to college.  If someone wants to go into college missions though, it is really helpful, so actually at the present time I would say if someone is being encouraged to pursue staff on a college campus they would pretty much always be encouraged to complete their degree first.  It may even be a requirement for full-time staff to do so, if not it is highly encouraged, just for the sake of credibility and understanding what students are going through.

[Angry]

The gc* in our post 2000 has a strong message for "chosen" students to either drop out of school or more commonly, to switch majors towards a curriculuum which frees up the student's time for more and more gc* activities.

Either way, the student's plans will be altered to the group's desires.

If your son is a quiet follower, they may deem him unworthy and leave him alone.  If he has more of an outgoing personality, they may tap him on the shoulder and declare him a project to be worked.

As always, daughters are simply there for having babies and are not targeted as heavily.

It has been brought up several times that there are good gc*s and bad gc*s.  The question is which do you have in Virginia?

Angry

[Angry]

Namaste wrote,
If a pastor did encourage a student to drop out of school, what disciplinary action would be taken against him? Would "autonomy of the local church" be used as an excuse for the national leadership not to take action?

That is the exact excuse they used.

Angry

[namaste]

I don't know your specifics and can't answer your hypothetical. I've never seen a need for that prohibition as none of the staff I've ever been around have ever done anything but encourage people to focus on their studies and stay in school. It's not the prohibition that stops them, but their own convictions.

Randomous-
I think you're confused.  I asked several simple, concise, and straight forward questions.  These questions included:

1.) Do students and their families have access to a manual (or some comparable compilation) that specifies that pastors, staffers, etc. are not allowed to solicit students to quit school (or otherwise compromise their academic careers)?

2.) If parents/students don't have access to said manual, how would they know GCx's position on this issue, and to whom they may direct their concerns so that the situation may be adequately resolved?

3.) What specific disciplinary actions will be taken against those soliciting students to quit school?


In case you missed it, these ARE NOT hypothetical questions.  I have experienced this, as have others who are here.  The fact that you have not experienced this is irrelevant.  

Now, answer my questions (DIRECTLY!), or please save your contrite platitudes for someone who has time to read them.  Yeesh- I spent 45 seconds of my life that I'll never get back reading that drivel.  If I want to read the GCx party line, I believe I know where the non-specific, useless information regarding this very important issue is located on their website.

Thanks.

[G_Prince]

Tell him to get involved with campus crusade or navigators...less crazy (maybe?).  :?

[J]

Well, that's quite a story namaste weaves, but I'd have to say it's quite an exception. GC staff never encourage people to drop out of school (at least in recent years)

Wow. Does randomous' blunt dismissal of namaste's concerns and assurances that there's "nothing to see here folks, move along" remind you of anything? Those of us who have had the 'pleasure' of expressing our concerns to GC leaders have gotten the same response from them. It probably won't surprise many of you to learn that randomous is a GCM missionary, and according to one website, he is going on staff with GC full-time this year. I have little doubt his presence on these forums is an attempt at some form of damage control for the movement he is working for. If you look at his history of posts you'll see that he never says anything negative about the group, and rigorously defends almost everything the movement does. Not that it's wrong to voice an alternative opinion, but geesh. Telling namaste that "GC staff never encourage people to drop out of school" seems pretty darn arrogant. You can't speak for every church in GC just as I can't speak for every church in GC.

As far as discouragement of college, yep, seen it as recently as 2004/2005. I come from a different church than namaste, in another state. A good friend of mine was frequently rebuked by leaders for wanting to apply to colleges in cities without a GC church in them. These leaders knew that it was her parent's wishes for her to go to the best college she could, but that didn't stop them. They didn't explicitly tell her to drop out, but they certainly weren't supportive of her education.

Another time I listened to a traveling GC pastor explain to a group of several hundred college students how much of a distraction having a college education would be, and how happy he was that he didn't have one so that he could focus fully on God. The message being sent to a group of mostly college students was basically: if you're going to truly follow God with all your heart, why are you wasting time at college? I'm sure that was really encouraging for them to hear! This was a guy who was traveling, so he probably gave that message at several other GC churches as well.

I think randomous pretty much summed the attitude about college that I encountered at GC when he said:

That said, I think it's about time we recognize in our country that college isn't for everyone. It's been held up a goal for everyone for a while, but it really isn't that special.

The prevailing attitude among leaders was the same "college in unimportant" attitude you just expressed. I'm sorry, but in America, college is very important, and one of the most important factors in determining long term financial status. Parents understand this, that's why they send their kids to college.

Keeping in mind that GCM leaders (in the 1991 church error statement) have admitted to discouraging people from attending college, and given the number of issues listed in the error statement that are still problems today, I would say that any parent needs to keep a close eye on their college-aged children in the group.

[Linda]

Hi Virginia Parent,

I'm a Minnesota parent and wanted to make sure you were aware of some things as you ponder what to say to your college-aged son.

My husband and I have been Christians for a long time. When we were married over 30 years ago, my husband was a Bible teacher at a Christian drug rehab center and a preaching pastor at an Alliance church. His degree is in missions and theology. We should have known better and questioned more things.

We were attracted to our Great Commission church because we knew many really nice Christian families who attended and appreciated a church that had a lot of homeschoolers, took a conservative stand on social issues of morality, and had a focus on evangelism.

But, we didn't ask a lot of questions. We wish we would have. You are wise to ask questions.

One thing that we were not aware of until 9 years into our 10 years at our Great Commission Church was the long standing teaching of lifetime commitment to the local church.

This teaching, in my opinion, is unbiblical and gets at the heart of the problem with Great Commission.

If you read their statement of belief, you will probably find it comparable to many conservative Christian churches. The board of reference is impressive (but keep in mind, a board of reference is not a board of directors and I doubt that anyone on the board of reference knows that the organization is on cult watch lists and had an 13 page statement of error and apology). What you won't discover is the extent of the authoritarianism and the emphasis on commitment to THEM.

Here is part of a message that has been available online for over 2 years and was given at high school leadership session (HSLT). Keep in mind that when Mark Darling (a pastor of a local church and also a member of the board of GCC) is asking these teenagers to commit for life to their local GCM church, he is asking minor children to vow that they will not attend another church. This was said at a national event for high schoolers. Most of these student's parents were not in attendance and to this day have no idea of what was said. Only parents who take the time to listen to teachings and read the writings of the leaders will learn the truth of what was taught.

This teaching was a huge betrayal of parental trust. A pastor must be able to teach, must teach clearly, and he should never place himself between a child and his Christian parents. Parents decide where their children will attend church. Children should not be asked to make commitments they cannot keep. For our family, this talk was the end of the line.

It has never been publicly retracted or explained. In fact, it came 5 months after he gave a talk at a Fanning the Flame session with our local church where he said that leaving your local church was tantamount to divorcing your wife. And, was followed by many other talks about commitment to "the movement" (as opposed to God) given by other board members and pastors.

The talk was on "The Ten Commitments". Here's number 9:

Commitment Number Nine. Make the commitment to devote yourself to your local church for the rest of your life. This is going to be controversial, I will explain it. Devote yourself to your local church for the rest of your life.

You need other Christians, you need the body of Jesus Christ. There are a lot of Christians today that frankly are not committed, but they like to say they are. To the universal. I'm committed to the universal body of Christ, Mark. I visit this church over here for a while, and then I date this church over here for a while, and then I date this church over here for a while and then I show up at these 22 Christian concerts over here. And it's this wonderful life. Let me tell you something, that is not the kind of commitment I'm talking about, nor do I believe it is the kind of commitment the New Testament is talking about.

But it's linking yourself arm in arm in the local church with men and women of like mind and doing something great together, together.

I made a determination as a young man to not leave my church in Ames until and only when I was sent. I was sent.

Now, there is, of course, maybe a unique exception within "our movement" and it's a beautiful thing it's why some of us moved to different cities, big metropolitan areas. One, you may need a job and you can still stay linked with Great Commission Churches because you can find one in that city.

Secondly, you may be leaving your local church to go to college to join another Great Commission Church that's like minded and I think that will equally accomplish the same thing.

Perhaps the most frightening part of the talk was stated at the beginning when he said this:

I'm here for life. You're not getting rid of me. I'm here. I'm here. I'm with these Christians. I'm with Great Commission. That's where I'll stay. That's where they'll bury me and that's where I'm going to make my stand...because this is where God supernaturally led me.

The essence of the teaching is that you should be committed to your local church for life. And, your "local church" is the church you are currently attending when you hear the talk. That's the place God supernaturally led you!

The biggest irony of all of this nonsense is that the founder, Jim McCotter, left mysteriously in the late 80's. Whenever we asked why, we learned that he left to pursue business interests in the media!

So much for his commitment to the local church for life!

J makes some excellent points.

And, if I were you, I would encourage your son to take Gene's advice and try Campus Crusade or Navigators...these are campus Christian organizations, not churches.

[randomous]

Randomous-
If I came forward with documented evidence that I was encouraged to drop out of school to go on staff post-2000, would anything be done about it?  Isn't the obvious excuse/defense, "Well, God told me to encourage namaste to ditch school?"

Well, namaste, actually the above is what I was responding too, not one of three simple questions but a hypothetical regarding your specific situation, which I don't have the info to answer.

J - Not sure how it is that you think you know who I am - I certainly haven't identified myself here, and I have never used the screen name randomous elsewhere, so not sure where exactly you think you're finding info about me.  I won't justify any guesses with a response, so you can just stop now - I haven't chosen to reveal certain details about myself, as others here have, and you should respect that.
On a different note, it's quite funny that you equate leaders saying to apply to cities with a GC church in them to "discouragement of college".  It isn't at all the same thing, not to mention that there's so little difference among our country's top colleges that it's ridiculous, at least in terms of job placement.  GC, as has been noted, does happen to be on a lot of top colleges - UNC, UF, Virginia Tech, Iowa, Ohio State, etc. are pretty high up, while others like say Bowling Green may not be.
Perhaps I should have said I've never seen staff encourage people to drop out - I can't imagine any that I've met would, but I have no way of knowing for sure, but it is required of them by GC, although I'm sure there are exceptions (once heard of a girl in an accident, brain damage, she was encouraged to drop out for a while by her doctors, family, and GC staff, for example).  I'm sure there are other personal circumstances that might dictate - I think GC is not bought into the academic elite's vision of college as the end all be all of American life.  There are more important things, and I don't see how you can disagree with that.
Can somebody please show me in the Bible where we're encouraged to unilaterally decide to switch churches(obvious exceptions aside)?  It's not like this is a GC-specific teaching - Joshua Harris wrote a great book on the subject entitled Stop Dating the Church.  One of the things I notice on this forum all the time is people saying "I disagree with this, they're wrong" but very rarely applying Scripture.  I understand that some, as they've stated, don't believe the Bible to be true, which I think is quite telling, but I really wish people would dig deep and stop talking about "I believe this" and move on to "i see this in Scripture".

[Linda]

Can somebody please show me in the Bible where we're encouraged to unilaterally decide to switch churches(obvious exceptions aside)?

I don't know what this means.

About the Josh Harris book. You are presenting us with the either-or fallacy.

EITHER you stay committed to your local church for the rest of your life regardless of what they teach or where the Holy Spirit may lead you OR you run around from church to church randomly taking what you can get from each one and leaving when you don't like the color of the carpet.

Obviously, there are choices in between. There are legitimate reasons to move on to other churches or cities.

Job changes, false teaching and persecution to name a few. Or, how about this, the Holy Spirit tells you to go somewhere else.

There has been a lot of scripture used here to validate points made. When I say "I believe" I am referring to my understanding of theology based on scripture. You can't just be throwing verses around to support your point if they are taken out of context and out of the message of the Bible.

The New Testament tells us that we have one mediator between God and man and that the Holy Spirit speaks to all believers and that all believers have gifts. Therefore, if you read Hebrews 13:17 and tell people that because you are a leader they have to obey you, you are violating the essense of the New Testament. And, I might add, putting yourself on some dangerous ground.

Try reading Matthew 23 to see what it says about having other men as your "masters".

I'll leave you with a biggie that I believe gets at the heart of the teaching that Mark Darling gave which I put in bold face above for your reading pleasure. He, you will note, says distinctly that there are a couple reasons you may leave, but they involve going to a different city to attend a GCM church there.

Paul tells us that this type of sectarianism is the essence of division.

I believe that GCM is by its sectarian nature divisive in precisely the sense that Paul speaks of in 1 Corinthians 1:

10 I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment. 11 For it has been reported to me by Chloe's people that there is quarreling among you, my brothers. 12 What I mean is that each one of you says, I follow Paul, or I follow Apollos, or I follow Cephas, or I follow Christ. 13 Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?

[randomous]

I'm glad you brought that passage up.  Notice that the last faction was "I follow Christ".  Paul isn't condoning that faction either.  Some people were saying "I follow Christ", it's just me and God, don't submit to or obey any pastor, I just go where the Spirit leads me.  You commit the either or fallacy yourself when you mention the Spirit leading you to change churches as being opposed to what I said.  It's not changing churches that's the issue.  It's unilaterally doing so.  If you're serious about following the Scripture and submitting to your elders, you know what you should do in that situation?  You should go to the pastor(s), say "hey, I know you're accountable for my life, I really feel like the Spirit is leading me to location X for these specific reasons, here's why I feel that's God's leading, before I make a decision I just wanted to get your counsel and ask how you'd feel about that and if you'd send me from here to pursue this."  I don't know many pastors that are going to refuse you, especially if you come with that kind of spirit of humility and submissiveness.  If they do object, you might want to listen, it just may be that God has put them in a position of authority in your life for such a time as that, and that you should (gasp) obey them in that.

Switching churches unilaterally (i.e. entirely on your own) is kinda like a daughter going to her father one day and saying "Dad, you know, I really appreciate everything you've done for me in my life and I know you're in authority over me, but I've found one who I like more.  He's richer and a bit wiser (he can fix cars all by himself), and I just feel like he can take better care of me.  I'd feel more comfortable with him giving me away next week at my wedding and transferring authority to my husband.  So, sorry, but you're off the dad post - I've found another."  People just don't do that.  (Yes, in extreme abusive/molestation cases they might).  But the basic idea is that your authority is your authority.  I obey the US govt because I am a US citizen.  I honor my parents because they are my parents.  I submit to my pastor because he is my pastor.  It's arrogant and presumptive to go above your authority and just tell them what you're going to do.  What it reveals is that you don't really believe they have any authority at all, which I think is a core issue for many people on this forum.   And I hate to break it to you, but if you're not obeying each of those authorities, you're not obeying God, because he put them there for you.  

A division should be distinguished from a distinction.  A division is us vs. them.  In this case, Christ vs. Paul, Peter vs. Appolos.  What you're saying is Holy Spirit vs. Pastors, and that shouldn't be the case.  It's not follow the Holy Spirit or your pastors, but rather follow the Spirit and your pastors.  It's impossible to say you're following the Spirit if you're not submitting to the ones he's told you to submit to and put in your life to be an authority.  Logically speaking, it's like saying 2 + 2 = 2.  Distinctions (ie denominations) are not precluded by that passage, but rather division.  We should not be saying "we're the only true church, follow us".  Portions of GC did that in the past, and that's why that topic is in the apology.  The idea of committing to people and to the local church is all over Scripture, but the caution is against setting one up as superior to another and opposed to others, not against specific committment.

[Linda]

You commit the either or fallacy yourself when you mention the Spirit leading you to change churches as being opposed to what I said.

Huh?

It's not changing churches that's the issue. It's unilaterally doing so. If you're serious about following the Scripture and submitting to your elders, you know what you should do in that situation? You should go to the pastor(s), say "hey, I know you're accountable for my life, I really feel like the Spirit is leading me to location X for these specific reasons, here's why I feel that's God's leading, before I make a decision I just wanted to get your counsel and ask how you'd feel about that and if you'd send me from here to pursue this."

This is blasphemy.


Finally, you say:

We should not be saying "we're the only true church, follow us". Portions of GC did that in the past, and that's why that topic is in the apology. The idea of committing to people and to the local church is all over Scripture, but the caution is against setting one up as superior to another and opposed to others, not against specific committment.

GCM students are taught:

Now, there is, of course, maybe a unique exception within "our movement" and it's a beautiful thing it's why some of us moved to different cities, big metropolitan areas. One, you may need a job and you can still stay linked with Great Commission Churches because you can find one in that city.

Secondly, you may be leaving your local church to go to college to join another Great Commission Church that's like minded and I think that will equally accomplish the same thing.

I rest my case.