Wednesday, August 31, 2016

How Many Students Do You Plan to Keep?

If you do College Ministry, you are in the midst of or just finishing your start of school outreach events. If I were to ask you, "How many are you planning on keeping?". Some would say "all" and others would say, "who knows".

If your ministry does lots of different outreach events, there is the obvious realization all of them eill not stick and many will be touched only once. But seriously, how many are you PLANNING to keep? I was talking with a friend about a ministry he is close to. They have in the last couple of years had way more students in their outreach events....but, when the dust settles....they have the same number involved. Are you content with your same old number you have every year?

If you manage to touch more, why don't more stick? There can be lots of answers to that question. But, I believe the simplest answer is, you did not have an organization or structure to keep more. Want to reach more freshmen? Do you just plan to have more in each Freshmen Bible Study OR are there more Freshmen Bible Studies or some that meet at different times and places as previously? What changes the equation?

Are there additional seats at your weekly worship event or are the same old number and your hope is they will fill and overflow? Remember, the 80% rule.

Ok honestly now....how many are you structured to reach and maintain?

Wednesday, August 24, 2016

5 Reasons to Develop Student Leaders for College Ministry

1. When you develop student leaders you multiply your time.
-Students will do tasks that free you to do other things.

2. You reach students that you would not reach.
-Students serious about the Lord and the ministry have contact with students you would never even see once.

3. You increase their growth in relationship to the Lord.
-When students accept and take responsibility in ministry it tends to deepen their desire and need to walk with the Lord.

4. It grows your relationship to them and allows them to see into your life.
-Many of them will never have had a personal relationship to an older adult who walks with the Lord. If you are married, it gives them a look into a (not perfect) but godly marriage. That's something's lots have never seen at their home.

5. It develops and trains people for leadership roles in the church for the years to come.
-Every strong local church has strong lay leaders....no church has too many. Where else will godly, mature worship leaders, teachers and deacons or elders come from?
25 Tips for Developing College Ministry Leaders
If you are interested in knowing more about working with student leaders, check out my new eBook,25 TIPS FOR DEVELOPING COLLEGE MINISTRY LEADERS on Amazon for 99 cents. It is just the practical every day way to build into the lives of students. You can read it in an hour or just read whatever tips speak to your present need.

Friday, August 19, 2016

Legal Issues for College Ministers

Although none of us in College Ministry like or want to think about it, we must be aware of legal issues that could affect us. Here is a quick view of three legal issues College Ministers must keep in mind. This is a quick summary of information provided by State College Ministry leaders Joe Graham of Georgia and Bruce McGowan of Texas at the Glorieta College Ministers conference. My purpose is to alert you to issues you may need to further consider and investigate. This is in no way a complete view of the issues and I am certainly not an attorney.

1. Travel Issues

Know the difference between "Direct Volunteers" and "Indirect Volunteers".
Your insurance likely distinguishes between them. Direct volunteers are those under your supervision. Indirect are those you send to serve somewhere else. Liability follows the vehicle first. Beware who you hand the keys to.

Vans and Mini-Buses - Most 15 passenger vans assembled before 2012 will NOT pass the "mice type" of a liability policy. Most model years since 2012 will-BUT only if you do not allow passengers to occupy the back seat (effectively turning a 15 passenger van into an 11 passenger). Typically, mini-buses will meet the stipulations. Check your policy to see if trailers are excluded.

2. A BCM in Georgia received a bill for $528 for using a picture on their website they found on the Internet to promote a mission trip. After some back and forth, they did not have to pay in this instance. Be careful what you use! There are programs that search the Internet looking for use of protected images.

3. Child Protection Issues must be considered in instances where your students work with children. Consider having these volunteers go through a "Ministry Safe Certification". One practice is to always have two adults (not of the same family) present. Ministry Safe is a Texas company that specializes in training and information for these type issues.

Monday, August 15, 2016

SBC Collegiate Ministry Figures Released - 2015-2016 School Year

Total Number of BCM Ministries - 860
Total Number of Staff - 975 (696 full time)
Total Number Involved - 86,706
Total Students Impacted - 615,965
Total Number of Students Who Accepted Christ - 3,989
Other Salvations Thru BCM Ministries - 6,643
Total Salvations Thru BCM - 10,632
Total Number of Small Group Bible Studies - 9,472
Total of All Contributions to Missions thru BCM - $6,372,647.24
Total Church Staff with Some Form of Collegiate Ministry Responsibility - 1,063
Churches with Full Time College Only Positions - 270

Other Interesting Figures:

1 in 17 students involved in BCM are preparing for Church Related Vocations.
1 in 5 students involved in BCM are International students.
1 in 19 students involved in BCM served in Summer or Semester Missions.
1 in 9 students served on a short term mission trip.
1 in 2 students in BCM are involved in Discipleship/Small group Bible Study.

Send Mudout Teams or Donate to Help Louisiana Flood Victims Thru BCM

Approximately 35,000 to 40,000 homes have been damaged by the flooding in Louisiana. They need mudout teams to tear out carpet, carry out damaged furniture and rip out sheetrock. Student teams will be housed and fed the weekends of August 19-21, August 26-28, and September 2-4. They would come in on Friday night, work Saturday and Sunday, and leave to go home Sunday afternoon or evening according to your travel distance.

Ways or Places You Can Help Flood Victims in Louisiana:

Lafayette Area:
Contact Joe Wood at woodjoejason@hotmail.com or text 337.224.1915 (University of Louisiana, Lafayette).

LSU AREA:
Contact Steve Masters at lsubcm@eatel.net or text 225.964.0830

Donations may be sent to:

Collegiate Ministry Department - Flood Relief
P.O. Box 311
Alexandria, Louisiana 71309


Monday, August 1, 2016

The Multiplier Effect in College Ministry?

Roughly defined a multiplier is an expenditure that returns way more than it costs you. For those in College Ministry, we are always looking for something to multiply our time, multiply our resources, and multiply the response, etc.

Without a doubt, the multiplier in College Ministry is the development of student leaders. Student leaders impact students the College Minister could never touch. Student leaders bring gifts to the ministry the College Minister does not have. A wider variety of students can be touched, reached, and involved in a ministry more than any one College Minister could ever do. But, it is an investment of time and intentionality to enlist, develop and pour into student leaders. But, that investment of time multiplies the investment.

Three things we have to do to create this multiplier:

1. Look for students who have potential to lead and challenge them as to how God can use them in the days and years to come.

2. Walk with them and teach them how to lead. Help them process their experiences and learn from them. Help them deal with negative experiences. I do not subscribe to the "sink or swim" theory of leadership training. Too many sink and never come back.

3. Trust them to lead in their areas of leadership. Encourage, guide, but don't micromanage.

Check out my new eBook, "25 TIPS FOR DEVELOPING COLLEGE MINISTRY LEADERS" on Amazon.