Back in the day, when someone was very busy, people would say they wore a lot of hats. At the United Methodist Campus Ministry at Fort Hays, students don’t wear hats, but they do wear a lot of different t-shirts.
Programming begins on Tuesdays. For Chat-n-chew, a free weekly meal for 25 – 35 college students at 5:30 p.m., we wear really old t-shirts. Somebody usually needs to brown hamburger, wash dishes, or some other messy job.
Just before the meal, we change into something like an “iPray, Do you pray?” t-shirt for the informal worship in the chapel. This fall, our informal worship will start at 4:45 p.m. After the meal, its back to an old t-shirt for clean up.
On Wednesdays, we usually change shirts a couple of times, too. The day will start off with about any Christian t-shirt. It doesn’t matter what we wear when students stop at The Center to study, watch TV, play ping-pong, or to have a cup of coffee.
By mid-afternoon though, we are changing into a Fort Hays State or Adidas t-shirt for our weekly service project reading books with students at Washington Elementary afterschool. PLA, Primary Language Arts, is all about providing additional English language experiences for students age kindergarten through second grade who primarily hear another language at home. Four to six college students help each week, and there is always room for more.
By 5 p.m., some of us are back to Christian t-shirts for The Gathering worship and meal at Hays UMC. Others are changing into a work t-shirt. At 8:30 p.m. it’s back to Christian t-shirts for Mid Week Boost. Students gather again at The Center for snacks, games, and whatever. Sometimes it is TV or a board game. Others times it is mainly people sharing clips from You Tube on their laptops.
“Abreadcrumb and Fish” t-shirt is good for One Bible Study at noon on Thursdays. We eat beginning at noon, but make sure Bible study is finished in time for those who work or have class at 1 p.m.
Fridays find some of us in our High School t-shirts. Many of us live close enough to Hays to make the hometown games, and some of us even keep our High School jobs as weekend work during college.
No matter what kind of t-shirt you usually wear, if you are a college student looking for a good Christian group, check out United Methodist Campus Ministry at The Center, 507 Elm. E-mail us at umcmfhs@yahoo.com to find out what’s happening. It’s like that t-shirt with the big red button says “Jesus, It’s Just That Easy."
