Part Time Planting

Hello, friends!

On Tuesday and Wednesday of this past week, I had the pleasure of gathering together with 9 other staff from around the Region (Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, and Missouri) to do some training and workshopping about part time planting, which is what I'm going to be doing at Lincoln this year.

Part time planting is in some ways a new concept but in many ways it is an old concept too, one that has unfortunately been forgotten over time. Our hope in this team is to be able to recapture the magic and find best practices for a new generation of part time planters in the 21st century. Much of what we're going to do and try isn't new (it's happening with great success in many other parts of the world) but it's new to us and to our context.

The full time planting model that we are used to implimenting is one that I was taught and have embraced for years. The name of the game is total immersion. You spend as much time as you possibly can on campus, in that community, building relationships and casting vision for the group. In my case with ACF, it meant moving to Columbia. For others, it can be moving even further or just changing your commute. Either way, it's a method that is high investment and definitely has its strengths. I'm so glad that I was a full time planter for ACF and I wouldn't change that experience for the world.

On the other hand, part time planting focuses on People of Peace, folk who are ALREADY invested in the community, who ALREADY have a vision for the campus, and who just need a little empowerment or coaching to get things done. What I love about this model is that it allows for students, staff, faculty, people in the community, and the like to take on a majority of the load for a group of people with whom relational trust is already built. Another thing I love is that it allows for a greater reach by the staff. Instead of spending 40/week on one campus, I can plant of 3-4 campuses simultaneously, increasing the scope and influence of InterVarsity and the Gospel.

This idea is hardly novel. In Ethiopia, our sister movement EVASUE has a  student to staff ratio is 1000:1, compared to the 35:1 ratio we have here in the US. Back in the day, when InterVarsity first came to the United states, there were 8 staff covering 90 campuses. Somewhere along the way, we changed our model. Some of the change has been good but some of it has led us to miss a lot of campuses that are right in our neighborhoods.

Ultimately, I'm really excited about this team and this experiment. It is going to require a lot more intentionality and a lot more dependence on Jesus to do the work that needs to be done but I am confident that he is willing and able. My role is going to be less "centerpiece" and more facilitator, which will be different for me but something that I think I am looking forward to.

Friends, please pray for me as I embark on this new journey. Pray not only for fruit at Lincoln in limited time but also for peace as I plant and for eyes to see where he is moving. This is an experiment that we are hoping will go national in a few years so please, also pray for eyes to see what is happening from a structural level and words to describe my experiences clearly.

Have an excellent day!

~Adam