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Being a Lifegiver

Alaska Transformation Was Awesome! (or, How Real Life Doesn't Have to Be a Drag)

Well, men, I'm back in the saddle here in the Men's Hall. It was a good time, my three weeks with Campus Crusade's Alaska Transformation. Wait, no: It was an amazing time. Hiking, camping, catching my first salmon, catching and slaughtering crabs on rocks and eating them, hanging out with Native Alaskans, seeing young men take steps of faith. … It couldn't have gone any better. I'm not overstating things when I say my time in Juneau was a vision of what life in the Body of Christ can look like.

Now, a summer missions trip is not "real life" — or so I'm told. But I've found myself asking why real life can't be more like "project" (as it's referred to in Campus Crusade parlance). I mean, seriously: Why should I settle for mediocrity when, as a disciple of Christ, I'm promised "life to the full"?¹

I've spent some time reflecting on those three weeks. What made Alaska Transformation such a special experience? One thing I keep coming back to — an idea we tried our best to pass on to the 10 young men who participated in AT — is the concept of being a "lifegiver."

"Being a lifegiver" is not touchy-feely jingoism, guys. Instead, it's about living as Christ did. In everything He did Jesus called people to renewed, vibrant, fulfilling lives. People were transformed simply by being with Him! As apprentices, we're to imitate the Artisan. As Jesus affects your life, your job is to pass on that transforming power of relationship with Him.

The following are a few of the opportunities we had on AT to practice giving life.² I hope they inspire you to think of ways you can become a lifegiver.³

Giving the Gospel

The most obvious — but certainly not the only — way to be a lifegiver is to introduce people to the gospel of Christ.

We gave our students an opportunity to share the gospel — what Campus Crusade refers to as "ministry mode" evangelism — on one particular occasion, which we called our Day of Outreach. Having equipped them with some tools for generating spiritual conversation, we went out on the town.

As nerve-wracking as it can be to strike up a conversation about spiritual matters with a stranger, I think it's a fundamentally good thing. It orients us to the reality that so many people are treading water, spiritually. They want something upon which they can ground their lives. Part of being a lifegiver is helping people find their footing.

Take the Plunge

Sometimes being a lifegiver is decidedly less overt than "cold call" evangelism. To paraphrase St. Francis of Assisi, we're to preach the gospel at all times, but use words only when necessary.⁴ Which is to say, sometimes we just need to participate in others' lives — enter into their reality, attempt to understand.

That was our purpose as the Alaska Transformation team headed off for a weekend in an isolated Native Alaskan village called Kake.

It was an experience I'll never forget.

During our time there, the students and I saw poverty. We saw the effects of addictions and abuse. We saw a town plagued by suicide. We saw a clash of cultures — First Peoples meets Western Civilization; subsistence living meets American consumerism. But underneath it all, we saw families who love one another deeply and a community trying its best with the hand it's been dealt.

In a place like Kake, a little bit of love — genuine, Christ-like love — goes a long way. Our goal for our time there was, surprisingly enough, not to do the "ministry mode" evangelism we engaged in during our Day of Outreach. The people of this small community, with four or five churches in their midst, are already highly evangelized. Instead, we wanted to communicate to the locals by how we associated with them that they are a people God cares about deeply.

The highlight of the trip for me was participating in the village's Fourth of July activities. They had egg tosses, three-legged races, watermelon-eating contests and a five mile fun run, with cash going to the winners of every event. But the best part of the day was the water events — in particular, what the guys and I now affectionately refer to as the "polar plunge." Six of us, along with a number of the local young men, jumped 20 feet off a pier and swam in the frigid ocean water to a floating dock some 40 yards away. The entire town watched us as we raced against one another. And they shared in our joy afterward as we reveled in what was, for us, such a unique, rewarding experience.⁵

Our jumping into that water, I hope, represented to the people of Kake why we had come: not to condescend to them, but to identify with them. To participate in their lives without trying to fix them. Basically, to understand.

It's my prayer that our new friends in Kake saw that weekend a glimpse, however small, of a different and higher reality — life in the Kingdom of God.

Operation Compliment

Words matter. That's a conclusion I was a long time in coming to at the end of 2007, when I made the somewhat nebulous New Year's resolution to compliment people more. I had observed, over the past few years, what drew people in droves to certain other people. I ascertained that those certain other people were generous in dispensing compliments.

Another part of being a lifegiver — and perhaps the easiest to begin now — is choosing to tell others the good that's in them. We are all "fearfully and wonderfully made," as Psalm 139 puts it, but so many of us forget that fact. Which doesn't do anybody any good — least of all the people who need to see that being a Christ-follower is, if not always a happy thing, at least a joyful one.

Being a lifegiver, especially in this sense, doesn't come naturally to all of us. Which is why we gave ourselves the opportunity to practice. As our last official piece of project business — after our "commissioning" ceremony and an Alaska-style meal of battered halibut and blackened salmon — we engaged in a "lifegiving exercise." We paired up and expounded upon the good things we saw in one another. Or we told the other man, if it was apparent after having spent the previous two weeks together, how we thought God might use his giftings.

All told, it was one of my favorite parts of the entire project — much less corny and much more life-giving (tada!) than you might think. Two weeks hence, some of the compliments I received are still echoing in my head. And I suspect these commendations, like other special ones I've received, will stick with me, strengthening me to accomplish the tasks God gives me.

I'd encourage you, young man, to be this kind of lifegiver — especially to the other men in your immediate circle of influence. I know, I know: Compliment-giving, for whatever reason, can be fairly torturous. But just try it. Put yourself aside, along with your fears of awkward pauses and those things women call feelings, and simply do it. Trust me, you'll make someone's day.

It's Hard; It's Simple

C O F F E E  S H O P

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In what ways can you, where God has you, be a lifegivier?

Join the discussion!

Being a lifegiver does not come naturally to us. Unfortunately, being a lifetaker — abdicating responsibility, tending toward passivity, committing only to what entertains us — is all too natural. But praise God that by the gospel of Christ we are able to be young men who walk another way.

Though you weren't able to accompany me to Alaska, you do have the opportunity to join me and other Men's Hall residents who are making it our mission to positively impact others' lives. Yes, it's hard sometimes — but it's not complicated. In every situation, just ask yourself a very simple question: Am I being a lifegiver?