Distinct College Town Dynamics

I went to Asbury College in rural Wilmore, Kentucky. Surrounded by rolling hills, horse farms, and tobacco barns. Beautiful.

Asbury College is a Christian interdenominational school (although it has strong Methodist roots and champions the Wesleyan-Arminian tradition).

I (mostly) loved attending chapel three times a week. I loved the emphasis on confession, sanctification, and worship. I loved that profs and students sang the parts in hymns.

Dynamic #1
Binge and Purge, or Purge and Binge
Due to my cold heart and cynical nature, even though I appreciated people getting right before God and giving up material things that might be hinderances, I also thought about profiting from such "purges".

It seemed like every year there were chapel messages that spurned students to throw away lots of movies, comic books, and CDs. But that those same students often built up their collections again, with often some/all of the same titles that they gave up.

Some materials were ritualistically burned, but those that weren't could be valuable. I thought a few times about collecting these items for resale or to serve as a pawn shop so that students could repurchase their own items.

I do believe, deeply, that these purges were spiritually valuable. They were a call to obedience. Hence, my difficulty in even mentioning my profit motive.

Dynamic #2
Studio Time
This one could probably take place in any college town. When I was at Asbury, it seemed like everyone that wanted to be in a band WAS in a band, no matter the talent level. So these bands were TERRIBLE. There was something in the air about wanting to be Christian bands filling a niche in certain music genres. So I thought again about profiting from such a situation; create a music studio so that every lame band could pay me lots of money to cut a recording demo, which is what everyone seemed to want. The big break....cut a demo and wait for a record label to call.

Dynamic #3
College Towns Are Life-Support Environments for Bad Businesses
This one could also take place in any college town. After being in Wilmore for many, many years, you started to hear about businesses with bad reputations. Like THE car repair place. I took my car there frequently. Usually came out of the shop with something repaired and with something else broke. With a new group of students each year, there were a new group of suckers every year. The car repair shop would never go out of business, because students didn't have enough time to learn it was a scam. Every year another 400+ undergrad students/customers had to learn the hard way that this repair shop was a rip-off. College towns allow bad businesses to stay in business because future customers cannot be warned.

Dynamic #4
Relationships
This might have more to do being in a small college, rather than a small town. One morning at church, a girl that I knew came to sit down next to me in the pew. She was late getting to church and I'm sure found the closest seat. We knew each other and were friends. In the meet&greet/pass the peace section of the service, one of the greeting pastors asked if we were married and pronounced some blessing on us. In the CPO the next day, I received a note from the girl saying that she did not mean to lead me on. That she just wanted to be friends. I DID NOT DO ANYTHING. THAT WAS THE GREETING PASTOR.


Dynamic #5
Seminary Practicums
After 9 years of attending the same church, one of the ushers asked if this was my first Sunday at the church. This could be related to three things: a) this is often something an usher says (should be stricken from usher-school, b) I had been bad about not integrating myself in that church and being a true part of community, or c) seminarians often have to complete practicums. I'm not sure if ushering qualifies, but I saw lots of seminarians come and go through that church that were newer than me, but thought they weren't. I'm thinking its a combination of all three.