On a cold night in Washington, D.C., this past February — when the snow had turned to ice — four freezing bundles of coats and scarves went tramping through the streets in search of dinner: pizza dinner, to bring home to their hotel where 20 others were waiting.
It sounds like a winter wonderland, I know. That’s because it was.
Hayden Phillips headed the quest for food, taking the group of us through piles of two to four feet of ice-like snow. Along the way, a family was pushing their sedan through the snowy roads, and Phillips waved us to join them in pushing the vehicle through the ice. After helping, we ventured on to dinner, ate our pizza then ventured out again. Extra pizza from the night was left with a few homeless people on the streets.
Phillips, assistant director of campus ministry and men’s discipleship at Union, and his wife, Gracie, a Union nursing alumna, had joined a group of us Union students on our trip to D.C. for the March for Life as chaperones, and the extended stay through the snowstorm led to story time. After a game of cards, Phillips surprised me when he explained what his major in college had been: chemistry.
What was a chemistry major doing as the head of Life Groups — the Bible study ministry for freshmen — and men’s discipleship on campus?
“He takes his work seriously,” said Julie Bradfield, director for student discipleship and engagement. “That probably comes from chemistry because you can’t be halfway about it. It requires diligence and focus.”
Phillips’ role is not merely to interview and hire Life Group leaders but also to be available to foster individual relationships with various students in various positions. And sustaining relationships — creating room to go deeper among students — can be as simple as choosing to fill up for water at Barefoots’ Joe rather than the office water fountain or SUB hallway fountain. Say hey. Keep the jokes alive. Show up. And keep margin to chat.
Phillips especially pursues the local church conversation — where have you decided to go to church?
“Hayden holds the expectation to be a part of the local church for student leadership,” Bradfield said.
Phillips would be involved with or without that expectation.
“It’s a conversation I’ve had most often with freshmen and seniors,” Phillips explained. “When I’m getting to know new freshmen within their first semester, I just ask straightforward, ‘Where have you gotten to visit so far? What churches have you been to?’”
There were a few more ways to ask this question. He listed them out, then concluded.
“I try not to frame the question as, ‘Are you going to church,’ but more of ‘Where have you decided to go to church?’” Phillips said. “I’ve talked to freshmen before who will say, ‘You know, I don’t get why I can’t just go here sometimes and go here sometimes.’ And I’ll be honest and chat with them. Hey, it’s never not going to be a good thing to sit under teaching and fellowship with believers and like” — here he paused to think — “sing together with other believers.”
There was an awe in his voice.
“But you’re just missing the point of the local church. It’s to grow and develop those gifts that the Lord is giving you for the building up of other believers,” Phillips said. “And it’s hard to do that when you’re not there long enough to build up other believers.”
Phillips also serves in college ministry at Calvary Baptist Church in Jackson. He, too, wants to belong to a church where he is building up the believers. And Phillips is getting this straight from Scripture, such as 1 Corinthians 14:26.
“Let all things be done for building up.”
It takes commitment to a church to obey this command. Church hopping can’t fulfill it.
“The conversation with seniors is more like, ‘Where did you end up? Where do you go? Whether in Jackson or not in Jackson, how are you hoping to be involved in whatever church you find yourself at?” Phillips continued. “But even more so, ‘Are you looking to contribute to that church?’”
I may not be a senior yet. But wherever I may go from Union, I need those questions. I need people in my life bold enough to ask. I need Hayden Phillips-like folk in my life to emphasize to me commitment to a local church. And our student body does too.
Speaking about himself in the second person, Phillips continued, “You’re able to have a lot of those [conversations] because you’re putting yourself in proximity to students. So, you’re able to just ask that question because you have five minutes.”
And five minutes can quickly take you from a joke to a good question. Five minutes is enough. Because sometimes, all that’s needed is five minutes to minister to others. Five minutes to push a car out of the ice. Five minutes to fill the water bottle. Five minutes to point someone in a wise direction. Five minutes to the local church.
