"Mountain peak moments" inspire a campus-wide Bible reading plan
Spring semester finds Campus Pastor Wes Lutes’ returning to his role on campus, rather than showing up as “the new guy.” Throughout his first semester, he became acquainted with the student body and began working to pull Lee's campus in the direction God was leading him.
At the return of the semester, Lutes wanted to try something new on Lee's campus and announced a campus-wide Bible reading plan for the semester, that would be scheduled to start after convocation. The plan is for everyone who’s interested: students, teachers, and faculty alike.
The reading plan is twelve weeks long—set to end just before finals—with six days of scripture reading for each week. This leaves one day as a rest or catch-up for those who missed one.
Lutes said he thinks of the plan as the “mountain peak moments” of the Bible.
“We're starting in Genesis going to Revelation, but we're hitting kind of those big moments throughout scripture,” Lutes said. “We want to promote this redemptive story in scripture so that when students read it if they go through the plan, they'll just have a better understanding of the general scope of the Bible because it's very hard to find that if you're not in some kind of a dedicated reading plan.”
Lutes was also inspired by the idea of building community throughout campus.
Image designed by Nicole Sloan. Complete reading plan can be found on LeeU Connect and online.
“I think it's important for a community to read scripture together. If we're going to be a Christian university, we should put certain habits in place that we all do together to stay on the same page. It promotes us hearing from the Lord together as one institution, and I would also say it creates habits of holiness in those that read it,” Lutes said.
In reflection, Lutes said it isn't about every student completing the entire plan, as even he might miss days, but about everyone on campus actively seeking the Lord together.
“The goal is not to check off a list and say, I read every part of it… If a student stops halfway through because they just kind of fall off, it's ok, we all do. At least they read what they read. And I think that's wonderful,” Lutes explained. “There might be students or faculty members or staff that are like, ‘I forgot that we're doing this. I need to jump on this and it's halfway through.’ Join the back half. I don't care. I'm going to skip some days. I'm going to get behind. I may not finish the whole thing, but it's an aim point. It's a target for us to aim together towards.”
The reading plan can be found online or through the Lee Connect app.
