God on Campus: Sacred Causes Global Effects

by Trent Sheppard, Pete Greig (Afterword)

Overview

"Let every student be plainly instructed . . . to consider well the main end of . . . life and studies is to know God and Jesus Christ which is eternal life . . . and therefore to lay Christ in the bottom, as the only foundation of all sound knowledge and learning." -Harvard College Laws, 1642 There was a time when Harvard was considered a holy place and Princeton trained prophets, when students and professors could not help but pray because there were certain questions that could only be answered by an Intellect greater than our own. There was a time when student leaders galvanized campus movements, when young revolutionaries defied the status quo of their generation and engaged in sacrificial service that reshaped society and transformed culture. There was a time . . . God on Campus traces a remarkable legacy of spiritual awakening that stretches from the founding of the earliest colleges in the United States to a global movement of nonstop student prayer spreading across campuses today. "This is a book to help you remember your roots," Trent Sheppard writes, "ordinary people like you and me—bold and timid, brilliant and insecure, disillusioned and dangerous, ambitious and naive, holy and fallen, fearless and afraid—people who prayed, people who conspired together with their friends in faith and action, people who believed their lives could actually help shape the unfolding narrative of history." From the establishment of early American campuses during the Great Awakening to the rapidly spreading collegiate movements of the twenty-first century, Sheppard shows how students can integrate their passion in prayer with practical Christ-like living in culture. "The goal," he explains, "is not for us to abandon our studies in economics or education and all become preachers instead. The goal is to live like Jesus in the very soul of society." Culminating in a movement to mobilize prayer on every college and university campus in the United States throughout 2010, God on Campus is an invitation for students to find their place in the story of God today.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780830836314
Publisher:	InterVarsity Press
Publication date:	11/25/2009
Series:	Campus America Books
Pages:	205
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.20(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Trent Sheppard is a collegiate minister and teaching pastor. Before moving to Boston, Massachusetts, Sheppard spent eight years working with Youth With A Mission in the United Kingdom where he helped to lead a young adults community called The Factory. Sheppard travels widely to speak with college students and others about what it means to follow Jesus.

Pete Greig is one of the founding champions of the 24-7 Prayer movement, and the Director of Prayer for Holy Trinity, Brompton in London, and a facilitator for the Campus America initiative. Greig lives in Guildford, England with his wife and two children, and they are actively engaged in a missional community and training hub called the Boiler Room. He preaches and teaches all over the world, and has authored or co-authored four books, including Red Moon Rising.

Table of Contents

Introduction

PART ONE: Campus Foundations
1 Harvard's First Heretic: A History of Holy Rebellion
2 How Students Shape History: Old Oxford's Holy Club and New England's Great Awakening
3 Riots and Revival At Princeton: The Curious Case of the Modern Mind
Interlude: Reflections on Campus Foundations

PART TWO: Student Movements
4 Praying Under a Haystack: Everyday Moments and Global Movements
5 Sacred Space and Civil War: Campus Transformation and Social Change
6 Learning to Live for the Impossible: The Mount Hermon One Hundred
7 Ivory Towers and Tongues of Fire: What Gold Can Never Buy
Interlude: Reflections on Student Movements

PART THREE: Living Faith
8 When History Is Ripe for Change: Uprising at Columbia and the Great
Experiment at Asbury
9 Prayer Is the Place to Begin: The Campus Ohio Story
10 When Our Prayers Become Practical: The Anatomy of Transformation

Afterword by Pete Greig, 24/7 Prayer
Acknowledgments
Author's Note
About Campus America
Notes

What People are Saying About This

Kelly Monroe Kullberg

"Trent Sheppard digs through layers of secular calcification to authentic source--to the wellsprings of water beneath the surface of colleges, where life can still be found, where seeds of faith come back to life. Drink deeply. This book is a rare treasure of honor, honesty and vision."
— Kelly Monroe Kullberg, founder of The Veritas Forum and author of Finding God Beyond Harvard

Loren Cunningham

"College students are entering a new season of service and transformation. The message of this book will give the history, strategy and future for today's youth. I commend the author, whom I know very well, and this book. Read it and change your world."
— Loren Cunningham, founder, Youth With A Mission (YWAM)

Norman Hubbard

"In God On Campus, Trent Sheppard doesn't write history, he reads it and relates to us the ways God has visited our campuses in revival. You won't find a formula for drumming up revival in our day, but you will find a sincere call to seek God with a whole heart in daily devotion. I wept as I read some accounts in this book. I went back twenty years in my journals to the last time I thought God was going to bring revival to my campus as a student. And I'm still praying that God will change the world by awakening our campuses."
— Norman Hubbard, The Navigators at the University of Illinois; author, Left of Matthew and Right of Malachi

Creighton Alexander

"Every Christian needs to read the story of God On Campus. Trent beautifully retells how God has shown up at colleges and universities in the past while tapping into our hope that God will do it again in our day. From the beginning of Harvard to the Methodist movement led by the Wesley brothers, from the Student Volunteer Movement to Campus Crusade, this book gives courage to anyone serving Christ within the context of higher education: campus pastors, faculty, administration and students. Most of all, it should convince the church of the vital importance of reaching this generation of college students with the transforming gospel of Jesus Christ. Reach the campus. Build the church. Change the world."
— Creighton Alexander, campus coach, United Methodist Church, and director of Refresh Conference

Dave Short

"God on Campus is an inspiring narrative of courage, faith and perseverance. I am again riveted by how profoundly God uses young people who won't hide behind their youth to excuse inaction."
— Dave Short, director of Campus Alpha, Alpha USA

Dennis Gaylor

"As Trent Sheppard states in God on Campus, 'Students today want a faith that is wildly courageous, intellectually honest, socially engaged and genuinely free.'His book documents the powerfulrole college students have always played throughout history in what God is doing in the world, and expresses faith and gives examplesthat God's Spirit is stirring on campuses today."
— Dennis Gaylor, national director, Chi Alpha Campus Ministries, USA

Editorial Reviews

"Trent Sheppard digs through layers of secular calcification to authentic source—to the wellsprings of water beneath the surface of colleges, where life can still be found, where seeds of faith come back to life. Drink deeply. This book is a rare treasure of honor, honesty and vision."

Kelly Monroe Kullberg

"College students are entering a new season of service and transformation. The message of this book will give the history, strategy and future for today's youth. I commend the author, whom I know very well, and this book. Read it and change your world."

Loren Cunningham

"In God On Campus, Trent Sheppard doesn't write history, he reads it and relates to us the ways God has visited our campuses in revival. You won't find a formula for drumming up revival in our day, but you will find a sincere call to seek God with a whole heart in daily devotion. I wept as I read some accounts in this book. I went back twenty years in my journals to the last time I thought God was going to bring revival to my campus as a student. And I'm still praying that God will change the world by awakening our campuses."

Norman Hubbard

"As Trent Sheppard states in God on Campus, 'Students today want a faith that is wildly courageous, intellectually honest, socially engaged and genuinely free.' His book documents the powerful role college students have always played throughout history in what God is doing in the world, and expresses faith and gives examples that God's Spirit is stirring on campuses today."

Dennis Gaylor

"God on Campus is an inspiring narrative of courage, faith and perseverance. I am again riveted by how profoundly God uses young people who won't hide behind their youth to excuse inaction."

Dave Short

"Read God on Campus. It will encourage you with its stories of God's greatness in the small places; it will challenge you to continue that close engagement with God; and, never the dry historian, Sheppard will entertain with his quirky cameos of campus life."

Patty Overend

"God on Campus traces a remarkable legacy of spiritual awakening that stretches from the founding of the earliest colleges in the United States to a global movement of nonstop student prayer spreading across campuses today. God on Campus is an invitation for students to find their place in the story of God today."

Christian News

"'God on Campus' is a top pick for those who think God dies when Christians go to college. Highly recommended."

Midwest Book Review

"Reading Trent Sheppard's work on the history of God's movement on college campuses makes me want to go back and relive history. The way Sheppard chronicles the work of God's Spirit in the lives of individuals is compelling reading, and he entices one to imagine what God might be up to next. With great care, Trent walks his readers through instance after instance of God doing something remarkable with the lives of students who are open to His work and ends each chapter with thought-provoking questions on how God might work similarly today."

Brodie Taphorn

"Every Christian needs to read the story of God On Campus. Trent beautifully retells how God has shown up at colleges and universities in the past while tapping into our hope that God will do it again in our day. From the beginning of Harvard to the Methodist movement led by the Wesley brothers, from the Student Volunteer Movement to Campus Crusade, this book gives courage to anyone serving Christ within the context of higher education: campus pastors, faculty, administration and students. Most of all, it should convince the church of the vital importance of reaching this generation of college students with the transforming gospel of Jesus Christ. Reach the campus. Build the church. Change the world."

Creighton Alexander

"God on Campus traces a remarkable legacy of spiritual awakening that stretches from the founding of the earliest colleges in the United States to a global movement of nonstop student prayer spreading across campuses today. God on Campus is an invitation for students to find their place in the story of God today."

--Christian News, January 11, 2010

"As Trent Sheppard states in God on Campus, 'Students today want a faith that is wildly courageous, intellectually honest, socially engaged and genuinely free.' His book documents the powerful role college students have always played throughout history in what God is doing in the world, and expresses faith and gives examples that God's Spirit is stirring on campuses today."

--Dennis Gaylor, national director, Chi Alpha Campus Ministries, USA

"Every Christian needs to read the story of God On Campus. Trent beautifully retells how God has shown up at colleges and universities in the past while tapping into our hope that God will do it again in our day. From the beginning of Harvard to the Methodist movement led by the Wesley brothers, from the Student Volunteer Movement to Campus Crusade, this book gives courage to anyone serving Christ within the context of higher education: campus pastors, faculty, administration and students. Most of all, it should convince the church of the vital importance of reaching this generation of college students with the transforming gospel of Jesus Christ. Reach the campus. Build the church. Change the world."

--Creighton Alexander, campus coach, United Methodist Church, and director of Refresh Conference

"In God On Campus, Trent Sheppard doesn't write history, he reads it and relates to us the ways God has visited our campuses in revival. You won't find a formula for drumming up revival in our day, but you will find a sincere call to seek God with a whole heart in daily devotion. I wept as I read some accounts in this book. I went back twenty years in my journals to the last time I thought God was going to bring revival to my campus as a student. And I'm still praying that God will change the world by awakening our campuses."

--Norman Hubbard, The Navigators at the University of Illinois; author, Left of Matthew and Right of Malachi

"Read God on Campus. It will encourage you with its stories of God's greatness in the small places; it will challenge you to continue that close engagement with God; and, never the dry historian, Sheppard will entertain with his quirky cameos of campus life."

--Patty Overend, Christian Heritage College, Australia

"Reading Trent Sheppard's work on the history of God's movement on college campuses makes me want to go back and relive history. The way Sheppard chronicles the work of God's Spirit in the lives of individuals is compelling reading, and he entices one to imagine what God might be up to next. With great care, Trent walks his readers through instance after instance of God doing something remarkable with the lives of students who are open to His work and ends each chapter with thought-provoking questions on how God might work similarly today."

--Brodie Taphorn, Youthworker.com

"God on Campus is an inspiring narrative of courage, faith and perseverance. I am again riveted by how profoundly God uses young people who won't hide behind their youth to excuse inaction."

--Dave Short, director of Campus Alpha, Alpha USA

"'God on Campus' is a top pick for those who think God dies when Christians go to college. Highly recommended."

--Midwest Book Review

From the Publisher