If you’re reading this, it means that at some point in your life, you were following Jesus and when He asked you to be a light on this campus and serve as a leader at AACF. I do not dare assume or assert that leadership or ministry is what God calls you to do or what it means to follow Jesus. I cannot do that, only God can tell you that. However I do know that Jesus calls us to follow him and He has commissioned us to “make disciples of all nations.” And I know that for many of you, as you follow Jesus, He will ask you to serve and commit to what He started long ago, what He’s doing now, and what He will do at NYU. 

I guess I’m writing this to you because I want you to know that what Jesus calls you to do will so often be what you cannot bear to hear, think you cannot handle, or even want to do. And sometimes (and for me about every time), Jesus will ask you to do what seems so unreasonable, so illogical, even reckless. Coming on to leadership was one of the biggest steps of faith that I took during my sophomore year. It didn’t make sense – I didn’t think I was qualified, and the time commitment it took would take away from studying, and if I said yes to leadership, it would mean saying no to so many other opportunities I had in front of me. Most of all, I wish I could promise all of you success or greatness as you obey and follow Jesus, but I can’t. To be honest, the only thing that really wooed me into coming on to leadership was when the Holy Spirit asked me, “Do you trust me? Do you trust me with your life?”  

  

I do believe that God has called each of you to do great things, to advance his Kingdom, and become great people. I am writing to you because I don’t want any of you walk away like the rich man. The Bible doesn’t talk about what this guy was thinking about, but I’d bet there was so much fear, that maybe there was an unhealthy addiction or attachment to the things and comforts of this world, and that there was even a logical and reasonable thought process that convinced him that it would be too crazy to give up everything and follow this Jesus, just because He said to. 

     
I have a feeling that Jesus will look into some of your eyes and see into your souls and ask you some tough questions. He might ask you to do unreasonable things. He might ask you to put your dreams on hold. He might ask you to give up some your time. But above all else, I hope that you will seek what Jesus has to say about your life, and I pray that as he asks you tough questions, that you will trust in Him with your life. But don’t take my words for it though. “I tell you the truth, no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields – and with them persecutions) and in the age to come, eternal life.”-Jesus (Mark 10) 

  
I can’t promise you success or greatness when you follow Jesus. But what Jesus promises are eternal rewards. And as you follow Jesus, your relationship with the God the Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit will become more intimate and “rivers of living water will flow from you” (John 7). Jesus calls us to radical living and loving, and I charge you as one of Shane’s professors did to him, ”All around you people will be tiptoeing through life, just to arrive at death safely. But dear children, do not tiptoe. Run, hop, skip, or dance, just don’t tiptoe.”