8. Second Interview with Tim and Kathy (Part 2)

A How do you care for a student who questions the faith….

K I need to know where they are. What is their roots? We need a context. We see an increasing number of students with no context. We will give you the Lutheran context that we know best. If they come from a Lutheran context, then we speak more of contrast. Finding out their starting spiritual context.

T "Something inside them says there is a god story inside of them" Maybe they are here for us to "grow that garden". "Just working the soil". I think we both like a language and we are not afraid to let them (students) craft their own language and metaphors.

It's kind of fun to learn from them. It's a treat to share this experience.

A Can you speak to how community is formed here?

Tim These students bring some of the friendliness that happens at UND. There are also those who see us not an oasis in the desert, but a family room. This is a family room of a big mansion. Maybe the family room and maybe the kitchen, but it is the place where people gather and conversation happens. When they need it they move through the place.

K I'm not a linear person. We anticipate that this will be a healthy system. When we see that something is out of whack, we attend to it. The community is established by creating the safe. We stay in touch with the faculty and staff and they feel free to contact us. Often people report that this place "feels like home for them"

T There are also some blessings of some tenure. People know us and who we are and we have a shared history with them.

The one part that we fuss about and that bugs us is those alums who say that "we haven't found a church home that is like Christus Rex." It's affirming to the time we shared with them, but the down side is that we feel a responsibility to integrate them into parish ministry."

A You obviously have worked hard to create a healthy community. The fact that the alums can not find a church is not really your fault. You have created people who know what a healthy community looks like.

T What can we do to make our students those transformational leaders in systems that may be resistance to their gifts?

We somewhat regularly prescribe the diversity and ask the question of "how do we live with that?" There are many issues that would divide us. Sioux logo issue for example. One of our deacons put a sign out to change the name. Another said that this does not represent this community. Signs would be better to have stayed out there together. It was a sign of health that both signs we place together. We hope to demonstrate the diversity. Another example is with issues of Human Sexuality. We had a student lead our discussion. A student came to us and asked if she could lead us. And she did a wonderful job. Not everyone was on the same page, but diversity allowed our conversation to take place.

A What does a day look like for each of you?

T Most of our time trying to come up with one clear agenda. We've gotten worst since the flood.

K One is that every Wednesday morning we spend our whole morning together as staff. We talk about everything, pray, gospel, as well as share the details. We are tending to each other. Second, we spend a lot of time going to the ministry team meetings. Both of us go and we do pretty well going back and forth with each other. We found it a whole lot more effective to both be here. We tried splitting and didn't work. The ministry team meetings are ministry opportunities in itself.

T One of the things I worry about after 10 years is that I spend too much time in this place. The first years I was out much more building relationships. Now the community is coming to us and we spend much more time here on our site. I'm questioning this. Both of us have degrees in counseling. K does more in this area, I don't do as much therapy.

K We also serve on some campus organization meetings. Worship preparation. We try and stay connected with national organizations, but we don't invest too much time there.

T I very seldom get up in the morning and say "Oh yuck".. The ministry takes the form of what we as staff people like to do. There isn't the ongoing illness interruption that happens in the parish. There is the freedom to do what turns you on. If people don't like us they simply don't come back.

This is a luxury. When you have enough of those around you that like what you are doing then something happens.

A Can you say more about your worship preparation?

K Freedom is the up side and you have to enjoy the process because they are always in process of forming. We often embrace other congregation models so that if it works here, then it might work in other places. We may be closer to the liturgical movement. Neither one of us are willing to go towards the praise and worship "glory" modes. We don't do that here because that is available in other places. We are not interested in doing bible camp here either. Bible camp would not work in worship, but may in another place.

T Tuesday at Barney's is a good example. We ask, "What happens at bible camp to the kids at camp? Can we do some of that same things here?" I don't know, but I think so. Christus Rex can do some of the same things that happens at bible camp. So we challenged Barney to do that "camp thing" here on Tuesday nights. And it's been a great experience for everyone. He shares his gifts and we all benefit.