Doughnuts and the Constancy of Life
It’s a tradition I’ve repeated 10 times. Every year after the RUF Summer Conference in Laguna Beach, Florida I go to my favorite hole-in-the-wall doughnut shop, “Thomas’ Doughnuts”. Two weeks ago while taking part in my annual ritual slaughter of the vanilla cream filled doughnut I noticed a group of RUF students sporting Florida State University paraphernalia. I struck up a conversation with them. You see I started the RUF ministry at Florida State University in 1988. “Wow”, one of the students said. “I was born in 1988”.
Yes, I am old. Not to offend you if you’ve got me beat age-wise, but for a Campus Minister I’m up there. Three years ago I took up the RUF Campus Minister mantle at Covenant College after an 11-year stint working in the local church.
Age does have its advantages, not the least of which is perspective. For all the change I’ve seen in college students over the past 21 years I’ve seen RUF stay the same when it comes to our goal of, “Reaching Students for Christ and Equipping Them to Serve.” Every year at the Summer Conference I get to see and hear real live examples of individuals from all over the country who have come to faith in Christ because God has been gracious to keep working through RUF. Some things stay the same.
The summer gives a Campus Minister the opportunity to do what he should have been doing all year. For me it meant finally ripping up the carpet in my home office and sorting through years of accumulated junk. I found an old audiotape of RUF student testimonies from 1981. How in the world this was in my possession I’ll never know. I was a junior in college when it was recorded, had never heard of RUF and wasn’t even considering going into ministry. One after the other these students from Mississippi got up and spoke about how God had used RUF in their lives to “reach them for Christ and equip them to serve.” These were gripping testimonies with a distinct Southern drawl.
Today you are just as likely to hear a student from California or Pennsylvania expressing gratitude for God’s work in their lives through RUF. We are a lot bigger these days but God is still is at work reaching and equipping students for Christ through RUF. I’m glad to be part of this ministry.
Ron Brown
Ron was born and raised in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. He graduated from Geneva College in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania and Reformed Theological Seminary in Jackson, Mississippi. He and his wife Susan moved to Tallahassee, Florida in 1988 to start RUF at Florida State University. In Tallahassee God blessed Ron and Susan with the birth of their son Chris and daughter Anna Shay. In 1995 they moved to Crystal River, Florida where Ron was called as the Pastor of Discipleship and Education at Seven Rivers Presbyterian Church. In 2002 the Brown family moved to Chattanooga, Tennessee where Ron was installed as the Pastor of Education and Discipleship at First Presbyterian Church of Chattanooga. In 2006 Ron became Campus Minster for RUF at Covenant College.
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