For all to read

Now a few months ago I sent in a write up for Relevant Magazine dot Kom for them to publish on their website...I never heard a reply...not a yes or a no...I guess they are getting it ready for print... in the waitingsmeanswhile here it is for the first time for all to see, just a precursor for the thoughts on graduation, to get a feelingstanding on how my college experience was exactly here it goes.....Please share comments!!!


“How 25cent wing night changed my life”
Aaron Minton
I am a senior at Liberty University; pastimes include improvisational comedy and loving my neighbors.


“Sorry I’m late, guys”, uttered Adam as he handed me a note and sat on the other side of the booth next to Josh. Mike and I laughed because we knew why he was tardy; he had “prior engagements” with his fiancé. She had written an excusal note to explain his predicament and promised it would never happen again. Josh too had a fiancé and totally understood, refraining from the silly chuckles common of the single man’s response. Adam was late to our weekly meetings held at the local restaurant near campus. You know, one of those places that have every sport jersey signed by the local college teams and World War II newspaper clippings with Uncle Sam wanting you for the US army. Of course my favorite item is, hands down, the Rosie O’Donnell denim jacket, signed of course, just like the signed Eric Clapton guitar which happens to be a priceless Fender Squire. Their specialty is sandwiches but Mondays are twenty-five cent wing night, as college students we are hasty to jump on that deal. It’s a great deal if you are willing to spend the time and effort enduring the horrible, time consuming service. Plus you get the classic celery sticks, which I hear, are eaten to settle the extreme buffalo sauce.
So Adam sits down, I wipe the delectable mix of ranch and buffalo sauce off my fingers slap him some skin, and the fellowship ensues.

Every Monday night is a time we all look forward to. Surrounded by those pyramid scheme guys and boisterous freshman with nothing else to do, we sit and discuss the latest on theology, sports, and the weather; and most importantly the latest on the inter- team dating scheme. Several times we host “guest speakers” who were leaders on our ministry team and who have moved on to better things… like marriage. With two guys about to be married this summer, this is an intriguing topic. Even more interesting is the fact that the guest speaker is also Mike’s brother who, for the first time in the presence of his sibling, discusses the issue of marriage. It is a fun time of laughter, learning and weirdness.

This is an agreed environment where we four guys (the leaders of four teams that comprise a campus ministry team that travels to lead Youth groups’ discipleship weekends) to meet and discuss, well, just about anything. We all have a group of our peers we oversee and lead and we all are learning what ministry and life is all about. The meeting is a place for venting frustrations about leadership and life in general. There I can say things like, “What is so and so’s problem”? I don’t understand why people can be like that!” and know full well that my associates will not judge my love for these people. When you are in leadership in any form you learn two things: 1.people can be difficult 2. I have no idea how to handle them. This forum allows us the freedom of emotional release while bouncing ministry ideas off guys who are experiencing the same situations.

Unconditional acceptance can be a thing we either can’t find or something that we take for granted. I have it with God, who also chooses to express it through His church and its fellowship. Regardless of the situation we are in, finding a place where we can express our disappointments and downfalls without fear of judgment is exactly what God’s love is about. It is what we ought to strive to create for our friends and family as well.


Walking into the restaurant every Monday at nine o’clock, saying hi to Brittany and Alicia (two rolling stone magazines of Spears and Keyes hanging on the wall near the bathroom door), I walked into an environment where I was loved because I was a friend, nothing more, nothing less. Humble confidence was built within me, and whenever I had any anxiety I knew that those guys were there, not for answers, but for recognition and a sense of partnership. The church needs to show more of this love… I need to show more of this love.

The engaged friends are now married which has produced what could be the greatest summer of my life, a missions internship to Spain in between being in two of my best friends weddings in Alaska then Boston. It has provided wonderful pictures to roll through as my screen saver and great memories of glacier hiking, canoeing, and drive through coffee huts (which are amazing might I add), all the way through great times with most of my friends in Massachusetts at a beautiful August wedding. It was so amazing to see my friends start off their lives, and I am excited to see where their ministries will take them. I am sure that beyond the greatest summer of my life, I will always count those Mondays as the finest times in my life.