Breakfast on Campus

My friend Bryan recently revived a rich tradition in our church known as the "Breakfast Club". It started today in the Student Union on campus. Four of us met at 9:30am, went our separate ways for about 45 minutes to pray, journal, study the Bible, and just spend time alone with God, and then we regrouped at 10:15 to eat breakfast together and talk.

I have fond memories of the breakfast club dating back to 1996 as a Sophomore here at BGSU. The first breakfast club required much more of a commitment than today. If my memory is correct, in the old days our mornings began around 6:30am in Offenhauer Residence Hall. Andy, Eric, Greg, Jonas, and sometimes Dustin and myself (maybe a few others that I can't recall) would meet downstairs no matter how late we may have stayed up the night before. In some cases, the strict commitment meant that there could be a loud knock on my ninth floor room door at 6:35 if I was not awake yet. Though sometimes rather sluggish, I remember great times of prayer and reflection during this early breakfast club. I may not recall exact scripture or Biblical themes of my individual times, but I still attribute some of my discipline to those days. In addition, we began and cultivated friendships that would last ten years and continue to grow and mature even today. Most of the men have moved away and are serving God in influential ways in new locations. It was during this first breakfast club that inside jokes such as the "Big Asp Bowl" of cereal and "I will kill you and your children and your children's children" began (these probably sound strange to someone who wasn't there, but the jokes are fairly innocent). I miss those days and the men who were involved.

The breakfast club ended for a couple of years, but was revived the year after I graduated from college. As a new school teacher, I was unable to attend this group, but several of the members were the same. The same discipline that was required for the first breakfast club continued to this one, and I felt bonded to many of the new members because of their similar commitment. I picked up several more close friends from this revival even without being personally involved.

Again the breakfast club ended for a couple of years, but was brought back for the third time just three years ago. This time, the discipline also included first working out in the student recreation center, then meeting for breakfast in the Kreischer Sundial cafeteria, and finally ending in individual practice rooms of the music building for alone time with God. It was during this version of the breakfast club that I remember spending countless hours praying about my decision to date Lindsay. I read stories about Jim Elliot and wondered how God may ask me to "lay down my life" for Him. I was new to full-time ministry and felt excited about how God could use me. I love the passion and zeal characterized in my memories of this breakfast club.

And now, a new era begins. Two years later, a new breakfast club has started. I'm looking forward to sharing this discipline with Bryan, Jarrod, Chris and whoever else may show up. I'm looking forward to God's lessons and the memories that will develop. And, of course, I'm looking forward to breakfast.