What did your ministry schedule look like?

[RAIDER]

While at HAC being in a ministry was pushed pretty hard.  What ministries were you involved in and what year of college were you in those ministries?  What were your weekends like?

 

[prophet]

Sat—hitchhike to Hammond, visit.  Try to find the Bible club i was supposed to be in.
stay in Hąmond ,til Sat. night class.
go back to HAC, change in a phone booth, and play rescue ranger til 4a.m.  (I worked midnights, so i couldnt sleep anyway).
Then I would crash for a few hours,and go meet my ride to the LC Juvenile Center at the front, around 9:45a.m., where i would alternate preaching, and song leading with a few guys.
(Another demerit thread candidate, here Then i go to Hardees in Griffith, or McD's in Highland on the way to Hammond, for coffee and breakfast.
We'd slide in after the offering, plop in the M-Rack, and catch the Preaching.
At 12.pm, I'd head over to the Rescue Mission to help feed,  preach to, and sing with the homeless people that we rounded up at 4.a.m. ( you guessed it, i just didnt sleep once we started that, my freshmen year, spring semester.
Once that started, we sat in the M-rack anyway, with all the homeless.
if i wasnt waiting with someone, for them to get baptized, i went to a local nursing home with my father, where we had visited bi-monthly for 12 years.
after this, i would head to the Youth Center at 700 Sibley, to preach to and go out visiting with the Bible Club Teens afternoon program.
We would play bball, eat a decent meal , , and head to the Eve. Service.
After church, i would go  to  the Outreach ministry meeting. I would preach in it every once in a whild, or wrestle Roy Moffit in the hałlway, lol. Then, if i was exhausted, id go out to eat with the outreach ministry fellas.
If i was still alive, i'd jump on somebody's night bus, just to hear the stories from the other Students.

Didnt take me too long to never schedule a class before Church Ed.  on Mon/Tue anymore.

And i loved all of it.  :-*

 

[patriotic]

Saturday
6:30 AM - Division prayer meeting
6:45ish AM - get sack lunch,  eat breakfast; prepare large tote bag to bring on girls' bus
7:30 AM - Division meeting
9:00 AM - Girls' bus leaves foe Chicago; travel time and visiting time varied according to when "dark" was established
6:00 PM - eat supper and make fun of all the dead beats...I mean guy youth workers who were back on campus
11:00 - Curfew
11:30 - lights out

Sunday
5:20 AM - leave dorm with large totebag of Sunday items to get a double portion from sack lunch line
5:30 AM - leave campus to ride to bus center to stand or sit on floor for at least an hour before leaving with own bus workers to do wake ups and pick ups
11:00 Sunbeam department
2 ish- return to Chicago to drop off, meet bus for night church and hopefully make it to night schurch BEFORE offering
9:00 - run to green girls' bus with hopes of gettin on first bus and having only 1 other girl in seat and hopefully the seat next to window for easier crashing.
9:45 - hopefully get a bowl of soup before crashing before any deadbeat roommates caused disturbances because they had napoed all afternoon.

(During my senior year, divisions were changed somewhat and our Sunday morning girks' bus didn't leave until 6:45!!!!)

 

[Smellin Coffee]

Saturday:

Driver for Teenage Soul-Winning. Bus calling. Then went to work most Saturdays.

Sunday:

"A" bus captain - got an early start. Can't remember how early.
Went to SS.
Went down the street to "B" teen Sunday School. Set up the gym for the girls' service.
Made sure all teachers were present. Recorded attendance.

After "B" Sunday School, set up for "B" church. volunteered kids to usher. Made sure enough workers were in the service. Sat in most services myself.

Went to Afternoon Program until getting ready for Q&A with Hyles.
Q&A, then evening service.

WENT HOME! (after all, I'm a stinkin' HB punk!)

 

[RAIDER]

Freshman year - Bus ministry full force!  Started on Saturday morning with Division Meeting and ended on Saturday evening after bus calling with getting back to the dorm at 10:30pm.  Sunday was up and to the bus barn before daylight.  After a full day of bus and church and night bus we would arrive back at the dorm between 1:00 - 2:00 on Monday morning.  Did this faithfully during my complete freshman year.

Sophomore - Youth Bible Club Ministry full force!  The schedule was much better.  On Saturday mid-morning we would go to the Youth Center in Hammond.  After the meeting we would head to our Bible Club in Hammond.  We called, witnessed, and held our meeting.  Unless there was a special Bible Club activity we would get back to HAC in time to enjoy an activity or an evening at HAC.  On Sunday we worked in the youth department.

Junior Year - By this time I had learned the ropes.  I had no desire to be around the idiots that I had worked with in the bus ministry.  The Hammond Bible Club had a different leader.  I had a job that I worked on some Saturday mornings.  Me and a few of my friends thought it would be a good year to be in no organized ministry.  There was pressure, but we held tight.  We would do our hour of visiting and soul winning and enjoyed the rest of our day.  We were actually living a semi-normal college life!

On Sunday morning we would get up in time to make Dr. Hyles' SS class.  After church we would head for Shakeys.  We would stuff ourselves, watch some football, and head back to the dorm and hit the rack!  We would get up in time to head to the Q&A time.  It was a great year!

 

[Teri in NC]

We would get up in time to head to the Q&A time.  It was a great year!

Especially when you got to sit with me in the mezzanine!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[RAIDER]

We would get up in time to head to the Q&A time.  It was a great year!

Especially when you got to sit with me in the mezzanine!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The only thing I remember about the Mezarack was how hot it was and how the inside of my eyelids looked.

 

[Fresh Air]

Five years in Bible Club, typical weekend schedule...

...Saturday
7 AM meet with Jeff Owens to plan set up for the day
7.30 AM Leaders' Meeting
8.30 AM Workers' Meeting
10 AM route/club workers meeting
10 AM until 2 PM visiting teenagers
2 PM north Hammond McDonald's meeting, plan pickups for club
3 PM to 5 PM club and drop offs
evening either more visiting, a date, or Saturday night class...

...Sunday
7.30 AM route meeting with my workers in the parking lot of City Baptist on Sibley
7.30 AM to 9.30 AM running the Hammond/Whiting route
9.45 AM leading singing for Junior High High School III Sunday School assembly
10 AM sneak late into Bro. Hyles' auditorium class, sit still for a blissful 30 minutes
10.45 AM to 11.30 AM chase my teenagers all over the property making sure they were actually sitting in the Bible Club section
11.30 AM to 12.10 PM sitting in church with my teenagers
12.10 PM to 12.30 PM goofing with my teenagers during baptism
12.30 PM to 1 PM goofing off with my teenagers in the bus parking lot
1 PM to 3 PM drop offs
3 PM to 4 PM taking my workers to Lake Michigan in Whiting and letting the men preach to each other
4 PM to 5 PM cleaning the bus, swinging by Rally's for the first food all day
5 PM to 6 PM picking up for night church
6.10 PM to 6.50 PM enjoying the entertainment of Q and A
7 PM to 9 PM night church
9 PM to 10.30 PM drop off, loved the teenagers singing on those long, dark nights; I can still hear it my mind and my heart... then clean the bus again, take it back to the bus center, back on campus by midnight...

I cannot say enough how much I loved my weekends. Just loved 'em. If you ask me, it is what HAC did better than any other Bible college of the past 50 years, and what made up for all their mistakes. They gave me a pastor's heart for people and a set of deep friendships that have lasted these 20 years.

 

[RAIDER]

I cannot say enough how much I loved my weekends. Just loved 'em. If you ask me, it is what HAC did better than any other Bible college of the past 50 years, and what made up for all their mistakes. They gave me a pastor's heart for people and a set of deep friendships that have lasted these 20 years.

Now come on, Tom, you know that can't possibly be true. 

 

[Fresh Air]

Now come on, Tom, you know that can't possibly be true. 

Doesn't have to be true. It just has to be said with authority...

<signed, an HAC alumni pastor>

 

[RAIDER]

Now come on, Tom, you know that can't possibly be true. 

Doesn't have to be true. It just has to be said with authority...

<signed, an HAC alumni pastor>

Tom, if I were giving out Honorary Doctorates..........

 

[Tarheel Baptist]

Were these type schedules have been expected of the lay people of FBCH or were they just taking advantage of the unique position of college students as free labor?

 

[Fresh Air]

Were these type schedules have been expected of the lay people of FBCH or were they just taking advantage of the unique position of college students as free labor?

They pushed lay people harder than you or I do as pastors but not near as hard as they did the college students.

 

[prophet]

FBCH had its ministries divided between College and Church members.
College students were not allowed to oversee minstries in which non-college students volunteered.

The purpose of this was to keep the church members from being pushed by someone who wasn't a volunteer.

If you (Tarheel) had known some of th e college ministry "leaders" (meglomaniacal dictators), you would have clearly seen the wisdom in this.

Typical schedule for an FBCH ministry volunteer:
Bus:

Visit for 2 hours, on Sat.
Pick-up to drop-off done by 1-1:30 on Sunday.
Workers meeting for 1/2 hour after one of the weekly evening services.

For years we visited a nursing home every other Sun afternoon.
My father worked in a hospital my whole childhood, so he worked every other weekend.

We spent 2 hours at a nursing home 20 minutes from our house, and a half hour Sun eve, after the service.

There was zero pressure ever.

My Dad would volunteer to drive a bus, and kept his licence for many years. 

I would ride a bus to church, on the weekend that my dad worked, just to feel involved.

Binaca Chugger's Dad was in charge of the bus in my area for a while.
Since my parents were members, he didn't visit us on Sat, it wasn't necessary.

No, we weren't pushed, as church members.

 

[Tarheel Baptist]

FBCH had its ministries divided between College and Church members.
College students were not allowed to oversee minstries in which non-college students volunteered.

The purpose of this was to keep the church members from being pushed by someone who wasn't a volunteer.

If you (Tarheel) had known some of th e college ministry "leaders" (meglomaniacal dictators), you would have clearly seen the wisdom in this.

Typical schedule for an FBCH ministry volunteer:
Bus:

Visit for 2 hours, on Sat.
Pick-up to drop-off done by 1-1:30 on Sunday.
Workers meeting for 1/2 hour after one of the weekly evening services.

For years we visited a nursing home every other Sun afternoon.
My father worked in a hospital my whole childhood, so he worked every other weekend.

We spent 2 hours at a nursing home 20 minutes from our house, and a half hour Sun eve, after the service.

There was zero pressure ever.

My Dad would volunteer to drive a bus, and kept his licence for many years. 

I would ride a bus to church, on the weekend that my dad worked, just to feel involved.

Binaca Chugger's Dad was in charge of the bus in my area for a while.
Since my parents were members, he didn't visit us on Sat, it wasn't necessary.

No, we weren't pushed, as church members.

Tom Brennan: They pushed lay people harder than you or I do as pastors but not near as hard as they did the college students.

Thanks. That gives me perspective, and sounds very reasonable...as far as the church members were concerned.

When I attended Liberty, each student was required to have a Christian Service...a ministry that they volunteered in weekly. The bus and youth ministries required the most volunteers and the most from their volunteers. I worked in the Jail Ministry one year, which I found very rewarding.

I mostly (3 years) had my CS as weekend staff members at local churches.
I worked as Youth Pastor at a church 100 miles from Lynchburg and went there from Friday nights- Sunday nights. This is where I received the very best of my practical ministry education.

Did Hyles students also help at other local churches in the same way?

 

[Fresh Air]

Not unless they came from another church originally. Bro. Hyles' stated philosophy was the the FBCH was the primary classroom for our education. To him, it didn't make sense to ship the students off to area churches. It would hurt their education (comparatively).

His motives for that position have been criticized. I will not speak to those. The practical wisdom of his approach has both merits and demerits. On the whole, I think whether it has more merits or demerits depends on the individual student. For me, it was good to work six years in a large church. But I came from a 'regular' church where I was very active. For others, it might have been better to ship them out as interns their senior year.

 

[prophet]

Not unless they came from another church originally. Bro. Hyles' stated philosophy was the the FBCH was the primary classroom for our education. To him, it didn't make sense to ship the students off to area churches. It would hurt their education (comparatively).

His motives for that position have been criticized. I will not speak to those. The practical wisdom of his approach has both merits and demerits. On the whole, I think whether it has more merits or demerits depends on the individual student. For me, it was good to work six years in a large church. But I came from a 'regular' church where I was very active. For others, it might have been better to ship them out as interns their senior year.

Maybe Fishinut and Raider and others who were there earlier can shed some light on this.
I think that there was a time when serving In the other local churches would've been normal.
At some point, we decided to build our own brand at the expense of the rest of Christianity.
FI: A local church sends a young person to HAC for training, they are discovered to be very able, FBCH keeps them when they graduate.
This is what we had devolved to, by the early 90's.