Everyone loves getting those cardboard packages on the porch. Just this week, our household received and opened up boxes containing a gymnastics bar, a Door Buster big-screen TV, and a new skateboard (to replace the one that unfortunately got run over by my neighbor, Dave). On each of these occasions, we eagerly waited for delivery, immediately ripped open the box, and began to assemble and use the contents. My daughter loves the gymnastics bar, my son loves the skateboard, and we’re all enjoying the TV we figured we’d never buy—until the price got so low that we thought, why not?
Most of the time, we know these boxes are coming because we ordered them. But every now and then, we get one that comes as a total surprise. It’s a gift.
Maybe you, like me, have received surprise gifts at work from the seminaries, agencies, etc…. T-shirts, coffee mugs, pens, stickers, and books. They are all fun boxes to receive, even if they don’t really change your life long-term. But, about a decade ago, I received a gift at work that was—and is—intended to help me be the best I can be at my job.
The Gift with No Cardboard
It didn’t actually come in a physical box. But from my perspective, it was framed as a container of sorts.
It was a framework of essentials for Baptist Collegiate Ministries (BCMs), along with a directive to design a strategy for my specific campus context. Metaphorically speaking, this box of essentials was addressed to me, and it came from our state BCM leader Cris Lowery.
Let me tell you about this “box”, what it contains, and how operating out of it has made me a better leader on my campus. It boils down to three things:
- It contains my priorities.
- It has opened up my possibilities.
- It has helped me prepare to maximize our potential.
1. It Contains My Priorities
First of all, the framework tells me what to do. It might be hard to admit, but rules and guidelines are what make games and sports fun. Our ability to operate within these lines is exactly what allows us the opportunity to participate in the game. We are a missionary organization, and that makes me a missionary to the people on my campus.
Our Core Priorities
To represent Oklahoma Baptist churches by establishing and maintaining good relationships with the people at the University of Tulsa, in order that I may be allowed year after year to recruit students to join me, develop them as leaders, and together share the gospel and make disciples on our campus and beyond. This is a clear, thoughtful, and targeted set of priorities.
2. It Opens Up Possibilities
Along with this focused set of priorities, I was challenged to consider the possibility that we might engage more broadly than we currently were. At the time, we were engaging 1–2% of our student body. The new challenge? Engage 10% on our way to every campus, every life.
This would only be possible if we prayed, planned, and prepared for the potential. It challenged my assumptions and prompted me to begin asking radically different questions. I could no longer focus solely on building a tight-knit, insular community. We had to extend ourselves broadly and commit to meeting hundreds of people who weren’t currently on our radar—and on whose radar BCM didn’t exist. Plus, as you know, we’d have to do this with an entirely different rotation of people every 3 to 4 years.
What a compelling challenge! What would that look like on your campus?
3. Maximizing Our Potential
I’d love to tell you in detail how the process has gone from that day to this, but, let me offer a summary of how I have come to enjoy operating out of this box.
I am really helped by living simply. To do that, I regularly ask myself and our team these two questions:
Question 1: What do we NEED to do? Thankfully, the box tells me the big-picture essentials. From there, I’m always evaluating who is with me, what we are currently doing, and what we need to do next.
Question 2: How can we enjoy accomplishing that with excellence? Once we know what we need to do, we can focus on doing things we actually enjoy. This connects us with the people who are our purpose, opening up the possibility to maximize our potential at TU.
For me and my team, leaning into what we enjoy looks like a lot of different things:
- Food and Hospitality: I enjoy cooking and hosting community meals and treats, in-season and out of season. That means Summer dinners, Monday lunches, and Men’s and Ladies’ lunches. We even bought a shaved ice machine!
- Sports: I love athletics and naturally enjoy being an encouragement to student-athletes.
- International Ministry: I love welcoming internationals and sharing the good news with those who’ve never heard it before—lately, especially the graduate students.
- Leadership Development: I want to lead leaders whenever possible. This allows me to partner with others who can use their unique passions to meet even more people.
The Bottom Line
As a result of opening this box and operating within it, the return on investment has been incredible. This semester alone, we have been blessed to have a one-time direct impact with over 30% of our student body, and an ongoing impact with around 10% of campus every single week.
The strategic plan will look different in your context, with your students, on your campus. But our fundamental priorities remain exactly the same. We all got the same box. Let’s keep operating out of it—or maybe today is the day to recommit to challenging our assumptions, asking different questions, and working together to truly engage every campus and every life.
Brandon Brister is the BCM Director at the University of Tulsa. You can reach him at bbrister@oklahomabaptists.org. You can also follow him on IG @brandonbrister and the ministry @tulsabcm.