Inside Story
A Day in the Life
Campus Minister on a Mission
By Dean Ridings
“Greg and Lacy’s ministry at the University of Maryland is typical of what is happening across the country,” says Jim Luebe, director of The Navigators’ Collegiate Mission. “We currently have Navigator ministries on 160 campuses investing in thousands of young men and women. Our vision is to see students raised up to serve as lifelong laborers in the Kingdom. Greg and Lacy are certainly key parts in this work!” So what does a day in the life of a campus minister look like?
Countless spiritual generations of people’s lives can be
multiplied by God through four men’s lives.“Typical” campus ministry begins with a man or a woman whose own heart was touched by campus ministry. For Greg, that happened at Penn State University seven years ago. Greg grew up in Central Jersey as a four-sport athlete who found his identity in sports. “School and sports were idols for me to meet my own standards of performance,” he says, “and church was a Sunday obligation to fulfill.”
Within the first two weeks at Penn State Greg met Navigators by taking a survey in hopes of winning free pizza. “Being ashamed of not knowing the Bible and labeling myself ‘Christian’ started me down the road of rediscovering Jesus with fresh eyes,” he recalls. “Peter Trautmann, one of the Navs’ staff, led the study on Mondays in my dorm while we looked at the Gospel of John. I came to know Christ through Peter’s investment in me and because of the love and grace he showed me as I was discovering what Jesus desired from my life.
“Suddenly in God’s eyes, I was a new creation,” says Greg. “And I wanted all my friends and family to know this freedom I was experiencing, so it didn’t take long to grow a heart for those who didn’t know Christ.”
Fast forward through fruitful years at Penn State, where he came to know Christ deeply and to make Him known broadly. That’s when Greg entered a second “typical” stage of becoming a campus minister. He enlisted in The Navigators’ EDGE Corps for recent college grads, a one to two year “faith adventure of impacting their generation with the Good News of Jesus Christ.” The Navigators sent Greg to the University of Maryland to serve under the leadership of Campus Director Matt Nichols.
Greg said God gave him a “mission mindedness” to serve on campus, “and it’s through relationships that the mission is fulfilled.” After two fruitful years of ministry—walking alongside such young men as Chris, Justin, and another guy named Greg, who today lead Bible studies themselves—God confirmed a call for Greg to continue on at the University of Maryland as Navigator staff.
So what does a typical day on campus look like? For Greg, it begins early in the morning with “administry,” the administrative part of ministry all Navigators need to schedule, and confirming the day’s agenda. Then there's Bible study prep, followed by a 15-minute bike-ride up to campus, either to the student union or to the gym, for lunch and weekly man-to-man time with a student or a workout with a man who wants to get in shape. Then it’s off to a coffee bar or to the gym.
Greg and Lacy:
Lifelong laborers in the Kingdom.“Then there’s usually dinner with another student I’m meeting with for the first time, or catching up with from previous semesters—like Phil, Dan, and Dave this past year.” Greg adds that he especially appreciates meeting with friends who don’t know Christ but want to read the Bible with him for an hour.
On this typical day, it’s been nine hours on campus and Greg’s soiled gym clothes remind him he needs to get home. As of this summer, though, it’s not to an empty place.
Greg met Lacy—on staff at Navigator headquarters in Colorado Springs—in November 2007 at The Navigators’ National Staff Conference in St. Louis. The long-distance romance that blossomed would lead to a proposal at The Navigators’ pristine home, Glen Eyrie, and to a June wedding just steps away from where Greg proposed.
Now Greg returns home to Lacy, who reports in on her day with female students at the University of Maryland. “Then I spend my time with the Lord before I turn in for the night,” he says.
Finally, about 1:00 a.m., Greg thanks God for another great day. “I know it comes only as the Holy Spirit chooses to work through me. If my life was completely changed by one person, Peter Trautmann, I know that the Lord has something special in store for me each day. So ‘it’s You and me today, God—and mostly You!’ ”
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