The Student Life
We’re looking for true soldiers of the Cross Crying out for Souls. We’re looking for people that want to raise the standard high and fight for the least and the lost. We’re looking for people of covenant, people of truth, people of hope, people of faith, and people who want to be a part of an army that fights “not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” (Ephesians 6:12). To be the best army we can be we need our people to live by the Rules of Engagement.
Being a part of spiritual warfare guarantees many exciting opportunities, making this the best year of your life. As war always includes losses, this year has the potential to be a difficult one. It is in these challenges that you will experience enormous growth and intimacy with your Commander, Jesus. We have arranged a year of teaching, serving, digging, and soaking for you. Accordingly, we have outlined some boundaries within which this must take place. As these guidelines are tested and proven, please accept them as wise advice and in a spirit of submission.
Mission
We exist to train warriors to win the world for Jesus. Anything that accelerates, accentuates and/or amplifies the mission is welcome. Conversely, anything that thwarts the mission and grieves God’s heart needs to be quickly weeded out so we can maintain blessing Jesus and establishing His kingdom here in Blue Island and in each of our lives. In everything we do we aim to train you in being a part of God’s Hero Army!
Attitude
Humility – Our attitude should be the same that Christ Jesus had. Though He was God, He did not demand and cling to His rights as God. He made himself nothing, He took the humble position of a slave and appeared in human form. And in human form He obediently humbled himself even further by dying a criminal’s death on a cross [Phil 2:5 – 9]. Don’t be selfish; don’t live to make a good impression on others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourself. Don’t think only about your own affairs, but be interested in others, too, and what they are doing [Phil 2:3-4].
Expectancy – Come before God with anticipation and eagerness. Expect to have a good time of fellowship with Him and receive a blessing from your time together. That was what David expected: “O God, You are my God, earnestly I seek You.” (Psalm 63:1)
Willingness to obey – This attitude is crucial: you don’t come to God to choose what you will do or not do, but with the purpose of doing anything and everything that God wants you to do. Jesus said, “If anyone chooses to do God’s will he will find out whether My teaching comes from God or whether I speak on My own.” (John 7:17) So come to meet the Lord having already chosen to do His will no matter what.
Community
Living in community is a tricky process that we are still figuring out. Community is difficult for a variety of reasons but a few standing out: Our Western culture is anti-community in philosophy and practice. In the West the individual is valued before others. This fact is exemplified in “The American Dream,” and new levels of apathy with crimes of omission escalating. The American Dream states that we will be happy if… we live for ourselves and gain resources, homes, fame etc for ourselves and our immediate community. This is anti-biblical where we see believers sharing everything they had, selling not only their surplus but their needed items to support each other. Crimes of omission exist such as allowing someone to be raped because ‘That’s not my business!’ This prevailing philosophy allows for the breakdown of social care and results in extreme lawlessness as exhibited in our neighborhood. No, we are in this together. Every person is our neighbor and we take responsibility for them!
Every War College student is part of one body and we will ensure that we support, cover and train each other into the image of Christ. Paul illustrates in Philippians 1.27-30, “But whatever happens to me, you must live in a manner worthy of the Good News about Christ, as citizens of heaven. Then, whether I come and see you again or only hear about you, I will know that you are standing side by side, fighting together for the Good News. 28 Don’t be intimidated by your enemies. This will be a sign to them that they are going to be destroyed, but that you are going to be saved, even by God himself. For you have been given not only the privilege of trusting in Christ but also the privilege of suffering for him. We are in this fight together. You have seen me suffer for him in the past, and you know that I am still in the midst of this great struggle.” Our unity is a testament to the love of Christ. This happens when we lay down our own personal agendas and submit to the message of Christ, If you’ve gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if his love has made any difference in your life, if being in a community of the Spirit means anything to you, if you have a heart, if you care—then do me a favor: Agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends. Don’t push your way to the front; don’t sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don’t be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand.” – Phil 2. 1-5
Living Above Reproach
The previous scripture leads us to know that our actions, within the seen and unseen realms, have consequences in our warfare. We must be on guard for anything that would compromise our collective witness and discredit the testimony of Jesus. The Message version of Phil 1:27 – 30 brings this to light, “Meanwhile, live in such a way that you are a credit to the Message of Christ. Let nothing in your conduct hang on whether I come or not. Your conduct must be the same whether I show up to see things for myself or hear of it from a distance. Stand united, singular in vision, contending for people’s trust in the Message, the good news, not flinching or dodging in the slightest before the opposition. Your courage and unity will show them what they’re up against: defeat for them, victory for you—and both because of God. There’s far more to this life than trusting in Christ. There’s also suffering for him. And the suffering is as much a gift as the trusting. You’re involved in the same kind of struggle you saw me go through, on which you are now getting an updated report in this letter.”
Billy Graham’s integrity has resulted in huge numbers of people accepting Christ and sticking to the faith. He has been an exception to the disgrace of prominent Christians through decades. The religion section of the {Tacoma News Tribune} (Saturday, November 6, 1993) carried an article commemorating the birthday of Billy Graham. Religious News Service writer, Randall Balmer, said, “Graham has had a remarkable career and there will never be another like him, who could combine charisma, conviction, integrity, and media savvy to become a speaker known and respected throughout the world.” He went on to point out that in Graham’s lifetime there have been many other evangelists who have fallen because of various moral indiscretions. But throughout a career that has spanned fifty years there had never been a serious charge of malfeasance – financial, sexual, or otherwise – leveled against Graham.
That was not left entirely to chance. Early in his career Graham gathered his associates – “the team,” he called them – into a hotel room to discuss how they might avoid some of the pitfalls that had “done in” other evangelists. What emerged was what Cliff Barrows, Graham’s long-time associate, called “the Modesto Manifesto.” Graham and his organization resolved never to exaggerate attendance figures at their meetings and to accept only fixed salaries from their organization, the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, rather than a percentage of the offerings. The team agreed not to criticize fellow members of the clergy, and they set up elaborate precautions to protect themselves from sexual temptation or even the appearance of sexual impropriety. The writer then suggested that in an age that has seen evangelists succumb to all manner of spectacular scandals; Graham’s greatest legacy may be his integrity. – Paul W. Powell, {Taking the Stew Out of Stewardship, }(Dallas, TX: Annuity Board of the Southern Baptist Convention, 1996) 11-12
Our neighborhood is rampant with compromise and lurking eyes with the devil’s pointing finger to discredit the message, and discourage converts. This is not a new trick of the devil. We are not unaware of his schemes! We will ensure Christ’s message will not be questioned and his reputation not be dragged through the mud. There are three very common ways the devil can trick us to compromise our witness:
Sexual innuendo – we will not give even a hint of sexual immorality by occupying private spaces with those of the opposite sex. [Also, we will be careful when with people of sexual orientation of which we are an object]. This means no being in washrooms, bedrooms or behind any closed door. Billy Graham went so far as to not enter an elevator alone with a woman.
Finances – We will not accept or pay people in our neighborhood to which we minister to. If someone would like to bless us and the Lord we will ask them to fire a cartridge [give an offering] at cell groups or to our leadership. We will be with a witness when handling any money that is not our own. We will be honest about our own stewardship and pay any debts we have incurred.
Our tongues – We will speak words that build up ourselves, other believers and the church. We will not use words or tones that create offense, approach on gossip or are foolish. We will be joyful and use our words as honey to heal and love.
Relationships
Exclusive relationships rob you of the blessing of making relationships with more people and pouring into mission. Any relationship that is shown to be exclusive, such as dating or romance will not be tolerated. Furthermore, dating relationships demand extra attention and stress. While recognizing the value of God’s plan for intimacy with a spouse, you are not permitted to enter any romantic relationship [engagement, courting, dating, casual physical contact] until your year at The War College is completed. “Promise me, O women of Jerusalem, by the swift gazelles and the deer of the wild, not to awaken love until the time is right.” [SOS 2:7]. Simply, this year is to train with a focus on Jesus rather than finding love.
Training & Learning
You have heard it said time and time again, “You get what you put into it.” This is true. Your year has been planned for you to go through a gauntlet of experiences ensuring that you grow in spirit, wisdom and grace. However, the tempter would like to augment our attitudes so that Jesus does not fulfil His wonderful plan for your year at The War College. Therefore, be on guard; make the most out of every opportunity and persevere through every challenge. Each student is responsible to their squad to ensure they are meeting all the requirements of The War College. Students who are not fulfilling requirements will be corrected in squad and further by leadership if required. It is our delight to share with you in a growing and changing process. You will thrive this year with scheduled sessions and the lifestyle of warring for Jesus!
Time
To show the most respect to our neighbors, whoever is leading and each other’s time we will be punctual. That is at least 5 minutes early to scheduled events. We recognize that our time is not our own. We have been bought for a price and will offer our bodies as living sacrifices at all times of the day and night as a Holy offering to God.
Worldly Items
We live not for what is seen but what is unseen for what is unseen is eternal! Also we recognize God’s blessing in our lives. Every good thing we have he has given to us and we’ll try to share it and take care of it to the best of our ability. We will not be distracted with TV’s, worldly magazines, video game consoles, movies etc. During the week we will fast from such media.
Finances
We will be good stewards of our incomes. We will give and share with a cheerful, generous spirit. We will pay our entire tuitions to The War College prior to graduation and give at least a tithe to the Lord.
War Room Shifts
We will honor The War Room by being faithful in prayer during our scheduled shift. We know that if we are faithful God will show Himself faithful to us. We are expecting blessings from the Lord for ourselves and the World.
Bonus Blessings
Bonus Blessings are a lot like the push-ups my basketball coach used to give us as a punishment/reward. Nobody really wanted to do the work at first but we were impressed with the results. Our punishment made us into superior basketball players by discouraging selfishness and irresponsibility. You are responsible in your squad to acquire and do bonus blessings. A bonus blessing is a bonus spiritual exercise consisting of at least an hour for such things as lateness, not doing assignments, attitude adjustments etc. The group does the bonus blessing together teaching us that we are responsible not only for our own behavior but the behavior of those entrusted to our care. In some circumstances, it is not a group’s responsibility and therefore, individual blessings can be obtained from squad leaders.
Diet
Students will learn to plan ahead, prepare a weekly grocery budget and stick to it. Breakfast, lunch and dinner will all be prepared by the student in their quarters, based on the groceries purchased at the beginning of the week. Each person is responsible for making their own food as well as cleaning up the kitchen immediately after eating. Failure to do so will incur bonus blessings.
Correction
We love you enough not to allow you to continue to walk away from God’s best for your life. Correction follows the Matthew 18:15 principle [Take time to read it now]. In addition, we rely on The Holy Spirit to highlight issues which He would like students to work on. Most correction will take place through peer and squad relationships. Squad leaders are responsible for correcting behaviors and intentions of the heart along with squad members. In cases where severe rebellion and consistent sin are highlighted, leadership will put a student on probation. Probation is a status where if a students can be expelled for any further rebellion in any area of their lives. Once a student is on probation it is up to leadership to decide whether the student can come off probation.
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