Community life

Our little community is a mountain refuge where you breathe in acceptance, simplicity, and honesty of the quest for God. Really, this isn’t an exaggeration. But, if you don’t believe it, sign up or come and visit us so that you can taste the delicious Acts 2:42-47 life in the Sierra Madre mountains.

The following paragraphs describe some of the practical aspects that make the Exus community what it is. If you have any questions or suggestions, please send us an email.

Simplicity

In heaven it doesn’t matter what brand of clothes you use, how cool your cell phone is, or what movies you've watched recently. It doesn’t matter at Exus, either. There’s only room here for a limited number of “things”, and upon eliminating the “non-essentials”, even if it’s just for a few months, we allow more room for the things that truly are essential. The meals here are very simple, and the dormitories are basic. The only “complication” in life at Exus is surrendering to Christ what He wants from our lives. And that CAN be hard, knowing how we humans can be!

Isolation

The campus is situated almost two hours from Madera, the nearest town. This isn’t because we couldn’t find a place closer to civilization. It’s because we want to get away from the distractions of the city. This way, we can concentrate on other things like worship, meditation, fasting, and fellowship. So, please don’t’ bring your cell phone, laptop, iPod, mp3, Discman, walkman or the like. They will just be a distraction for you, and we don’t have enough solar power to even use most of those items anyway.

Diversity

The staff and students at Exus form a diverse community in every aspect. When it comes to denominations, we have Baptists, Presbyterians, Pentecostals, Methodists, Independents, Catholics, and more. Financially speaking, we have some who just opened their wallet and paid for the entire semester, and others who had to work, fund-raise, and go into debt to be able to pay the tuition. What we all have in common is that we want Jesus to reign in our lives more and more. This makes us all learn from each other, in our God-given diversity. And if we can’t love each other as different as we may be, we can’t love God (1 John 4:7-13). Also, this diversity reflects the reality of heaven, where we will live for all eternity with people from all nations, all social and cultural backgrounds, and all ages. Oh, what a beautiful day that will be!

Shared responsibilities

Just like in the best of families, each member has his or her responsibilities and privileges. During the semester, we all are committed to helping with the daily responsibilities in the kitchen, cleaning, and gear and facility maintenance. By doing this we cultivate to a greater degree the sense of belonging and cooperation, while eliminating the comfort mentality of having others serve us. So, if you like to be a chef, or if you’re one of those who likes everything super clean… you’re going to fit in great. And if you’re not one of those, don’t worry. We’ll help you.

Size does matter

We don’t accept more tan twelve students per semester, and the personnel (staff) is never more than eight adults. We are interested in quality, not quantity. We’ve made a commitment to the Lord to invest our lives and experiences in the lives of our students and fellow staffers. With a larger group, we could not fulfill that commitment without making things more superficial. Also, we want you to experience a deep friendship with everyone in the group, and that happens best in a small community setting. Upon arrival you’ll see that we really are a family, as diverse and united as they come.

The food

The students and the staff at Exus have almost every meal together, and share the responsibility of doing the dishes after each one. This contributes to a family atmosphere on campus, especially when one of our children spill their lemonade on an unsuspecting visitor.

The menu for the semester is very simple, but also very nutritious. Yes, you’re going to miss your mom’s apple pie and casseroles, but we assure you that you’re going to eat enough to be able to do all the exercise we do here. We have included here some examples of what you will eat at Exus, so that when you arrive, you won’t go into shock:

Breakfast: oatmeal or cold oats, scrambled eggs, or migas (egg and tortilla chip casserole).

Lunch: refried beans, quesadillas, or veggies with cheese.

Dinner: pozole soup, pasta, tostadas, or ground beef casserole.

We ask that you not bring snacks, candy, nor the like. The idea of eliminating food as an artificial stimulus loses its effect if we offer you simple food in the caf, and then you pop down your twinkies and snickers bars in the dorm :)

The Dorms

The dorms are austere and functional, with separate facilities for women and for men. There is living space for a maximum of eight people in each. Each dorm has two bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a lounge for doing homework and chatting with your newfound family about life and all of its facets.

Each room sleeps four people in bunk beds. Students use sleeping bags all semester long on their bunk bed, which comes with a pillow. Each bedroom has a bathroom, and a wood-burning hot water heater for those who want to shower with hot water. And, guess what? The matches are included in your tuition!

The Exus family

The Exus community is comprised of students (max twelve), the staff (max eight), and the staff’s children. At present, we have children from a few month’s old to seven years old. In the afternoons it’s quite common to welcome any and all to join in on a spontaneous frisbee golf game or to perhaps a play some baseball. And, though the competitive level isn’t history’s highest (since the three year olds don’t bat really well), we still have a lot of fun.

Click here to go to the Program page, where you can find out more about the staff families

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