1. Develop a Healthy, loving Community - People are drawn to it and can be helped in their healing and growth by just being part of a healthy loving community based on Biblical truth.
2. Enlarge Students' World View - Help them see a wider world than where they grew up and where they go to school. Help them see faith is more than God helping them be happy!
3. Train and Develop Leaders - If you want to help the church of tomorrow, reach the world today, touch your campus and even grow and maintain your own ministry, developing leaders is a must...not a nice option.
4. Ride the Horse that brought you. - Use the gifts God has given you in the unique situation where you are. You can't just copy someone else's ministry because they are not identical to you and their situation is not identical to yours.
5. Develop a wide network of Partners. - People who love you, encourage you, share your vision, provide financial support. Never ever think you can go it alone. Or, you will go it alone away from the ministry!
6. Work the Seasons of Your Ministry. - Different things need to be done at different times. You can't do everything all the time...give priority to what is in season and then give the next season's priorities the time they deserve.
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Is a College Minister a Teacher or a Preacher/Speaker?
Some would say this is a false question because you must and often do both. Yet, I know many very effective college ministers that would not rate themselves highly as a speaker and don't see that as their strength. I do think there is something in the way we view and define our role as to which one of those titles we choose.
Although I speak each week at our large group worship, I would catagorize myself as a teacher. Part of what that means to me is that I am to be helping students learn to think and teaching them to be evaluative. I understand that there are certain topics I need to talk about every year...cause they are basic and no one else is talking about them. Jeff Iorge, President of Golden Gate Seminary who wrote the little book, IS GOD CALLING ME? said recently that he spoke to a group of 300 college students about calling and asked them to hold their hand up if they had heard a message from their pastor on calling...3 or 4 held their hand up. I try to talk about "Calling" every year.
I think church based college ministers tend to see themselves more as preachers and campus based college ministers tend to see themselves more as teachers. Partly, I think church based folks do that because "preaching" is central to church events. The danger I think when we classify ourselves as "Preachers/Speakers" is that we may be thinking about what is something new, different, and exciting I can say that will grab attention. And in doing that, we neglect to "teach" about some of the basics.
Which are you Teacher or Preacher/Speaker and why???
Although I speak each week at our large group worship, I would catagorize myself as a teacher. Part of what that means to me is that I am to be helping students learn to think and teaching them to be evaluative. I understand that there are certain topics I need to talk about every year...cause they are basic and no one else is talking about them. Jeff Iorge, President of Golden Gate Seminary who wrote the little book, IS GOD CALLING ME? said recently that he spoke to a group of 300 college students about calling and asked them to hold their hand up if they had heard a message from their pastor on calling...3 or 4 held their hand up. I try to talk about "Calling" every year.
I think church based college ministers tend to see themselves more as preachers and campus based college ministers tend to see themselves more as teachers. Partly, I think church based folks do that because "preaching" is central to church events. The danger I think when we classify ourselves as "Preachers/Speakers" is that we may be thinking about what is something new, different, and exciting I can say that will grab attention. And in doing that, we neglect to "teach" about some of the basics.
Which are you Teacher or Preacher/Speaker and why???
Thursday, February 3, 2011
A great Idea for Church College Ministers
One of the issues for students today is not knowing what they want to do or how their major fits with real life. Zach Allen, college minister at 1st Baptist, Tallahassee, told me he has a lunch once a year for students and they are seated at a table with people out of the church who do what their major is. The Accounting people all sit with a CPA; the Pre-law folks sit with some attorneys, etc. What a great idea.
Besides helping them with career and life thoughts, it connects them to someone in the church other than just their peers. Way to go Zach! It might even dawn on those students to reach out to students and befriend them when they are "the old folks" at the church.
Besides helping them with career and life thoughts, it connects them to someone in the church other than just their peers. Way to go Zach! It might even dawn on those students to reach out to students and befriend them when they are "the old folks" at the church.
Sunday, January 23, 2011
What's A College Minister Supposed to Do???
Some years ago a friend in college ministry said they thought a college minister should just go sit on campus and help people that came up for help and had questions. Unfortunately, I don't think it works that way.
There is a mistaken idea developing today that a college minister is a preacher/speaker to college students. I think that is wrong....being a great college speaker and being a college minister are not the same. I know lots of great college ministers that are not speakers and I know lots of college speakers you wouldn't want on campus all the time.
So, what are we supposed to do?
-Help students handle college life (learn to mature, handle tough questions, figure out who they are).
-Even be a partner with parents....lots of parents come to me asking me to help their son or daughter on big issues and little issues. One mother at Summer Orientation 2 summers ago asked me to promise I would stay at ASU till her son graduated.
-Be a teacher....I think it is more important for a college minister to be a teacher than a great speaker. Thru the years some have fussed at me for talking about some of the same things....that's cause I believe we still have to be teaching the basics over and over again...if I just come up with something cool and new to talk about each week, I am just trying to impress students, not help them. It is easy to get caught in the trap of wanting to impress students.
-Have the guts to tell them things they don't want to hear (you need to go to class; you need to develop some discipline in your life, yeah you need to grow up etc)
-Help them realize that God may be different than they thought in high school, but that doesn't mean that God isn't there or real...it probably is God is even better than they thought.
-Help them know when a pastor or youth minister they admired/trusted has a moral failing....God didn't fail and the faith is not hollow and phoney!
If you aren't talking to college students about what is going on in college (cheating on tests, finding a major, how to deal with guys/girls, etc) you may be helping them spiritually, but you aren't doing all a college minister needs to be doing. Hooray for all the great college ministers out there who don't get the credit they deserve because they aren't cool college speakers. We only need a few great college speakers, but we need a ton of great college ministers.
There is a mistaken idea developing today that a college minister is a preacher/speaker to college students. I think that is wrong....being a great college speaker and being a college minister are not the same. I know lots of great college ministers that are not speakers and I know lots of college speakers you wouldn't want on campus all the time.
So, what are we supposed to do?
-Help students handle college life (learn to mature, handle tough questions, figure out who they are).
-Even be a partner with parents....lots of parents come to me asking me to help their son or daughter on big issues and little issues. One mother at Summer Orientation 2 summers ago asked me to promise I would stay at ASU till her son graduated.
-Be a teacher....I think it is more important for a college minister to be a teacher than a great speaker. Thru the years some have fussed at me for talking about some of the same things....that's cause I believe we still have to be teaching the basics over and over again...if I just come up with something cool and new to talk about each week, I am just trying to impress students, not help them. It is easy to get caught in the trap of wanting to impress students.
-Have the guts to tell them things they don't want to hear (you need to go to class; you need to develop some discipline in your life, yeah you need to grow up etc)
-Help them realize that God may be different than they thought in high school, but that doesn't mean that God isn't there or real...it probably is God is even better than they thought.
-Help them know when a pastor or youth minister they admired/trusted has a moral failing....God didn't fail and the faith is not hollow and phoney!
If you aren't talking to college students about what is going on in college (cheating on tests, finding a major, how to deal with guys/girls, etc) you may be helping them spiritually, but you aren't doing all a college minister needs to be doing. Hooray for all the great college ministers out there who don't get the credit they deserve because they aren't cool college speakers. We only need a few great college speakers, but we need a ton of great college ministers.
Friday, January 14, 2011
A Must Read Book for College Ministers
I must admit I have been disappointed in the last couple of books that have been written to help us understand and help this generation of college students. BUT, that is not the case for me with Tim Elmore's book, Generation IY. It is great, but scarey. It is excellent! Some things he addresses are Why guys are not growing up. One factor is that students today more and more live in a world of just their peers and they do not have enough adult role models to help them gradually transition into the adult world. When they get to it, many now are turning around and moving back home.
As I contemplate retiring from the ministry at Arkansas State University, someone the other day was kind of enough to tell me they wanted me to continue and why was I quitting. I jokingly said, "I don't have enough hair to spike." As I have read Elmore's book, I am reminded how much, even more now, that students need folks working with them that are not just like them. There needs to be some old guys and gals prodding them to keep growing up and maturing, I even said to Sue this morning, "maybe, I shouldn't quit."
Tim comments on how more and more activities are aimed at seperating people. This is where the church collegiate ministries have a huge opportunity that campus based ministries do not have....getting college students with people in different age catgories....student adoption programs that get students into homes and see how families work, sitting by people of all ages in worship, seeing familes doing life together.
This is the best book I have read for college ministers in the last couple of years! I am suddenly feeling even better about being an old guy in college ministry!
Arliss
As I contemplate retiring from the ministry at Arkansas State University, someone the other day was kind of enough to tell me they wanted me to continue and why was I quitting. I jokingly said, "I don't have enough hair to spike." As I have read Elmore's book, I am reminded how much, even more now, that students need folks working with them that are not just like them. There needs to be some old guys and gals prodding them to keep growing up and maturing, I even said to Sue this morning, "maybe, I shouldn't quit."
Tim comments on how more and more activities are aimed at seperating people. This is where the church collegiate ministries have a huge opportunity that campus based ministries do not have....getting college students with people in different age catgories....student adoption programs that get students into homes and see how families work, sitting by people of all ages in worship, seeing familes doing life together.
This is the best book I have read for college ministers in the last couple of years! I am suddenly feeling even better about being an old guy in college ministry!
Arliss
Monday, January 10, 2011
Friday, December 31, 2010
An All-Star Team of College Ministers/Some You can Learn From
"Who's the best?" one of the pilots asked in the Top Gun movie when they arrive for their training? Often, this question is asked, sometimes in an unhealthy, competitive way. But, it is often asked in wanting to know who are some people I can watch, talk to and learn from. I remember how I used to corner Ircil Harrison at national meetings and just annoy the daylights out of him asking questions. He was then the Campus Minister at Mississippi State University. There is no answer to "who is the best?' because every situation is different and one person may be great in their situation, but could not make it in the situation in which you serve. But, here is an All-Star Team from which you can learn some things:
Johnny Pons, Penn State
Lloyd Lunceford, Southern Mississippi
Dave Buschman, Princeton
Bruce Venable, FBC Lubbock
Steve Masters, LSU
Joel Bratcher, Texas A&M
Mike McQuitty, Syracuse
Charles Lillard, Central Oklahoma
Lynn Loyd, U of Arkansas
Darrell Cook, Virginia Tech
Tim Stewart, U of South Carolina
Linda Osborne (She hasn't forgotten it all yet!)
Mike Whelan, Georgia Tech
Keith Cating, McNeese State, LA
What are your nominations for this All-Star team?
Johnny Pons, Penn State
Lloyd Lunceford, Southern Mississippi
Dave Buschman, Princeton
Bruce Venable, FBC Lubbock
Steve Masters, LSU
Joel Bratcher, Texas A&M
Mike McQuitty, Syracuse
Charles Lillard, Central Oklahoma
Lynn Loyd, U of Arkansas
Darrell Cook, Virginia Tech
Tim Stewart, U of South Carolina
Linda Osborne (She hasn't forgotten it all yet!)
Mike Whelan, Georgia Tech
Keith Cating, McNeese State, LA
What are your nominations for this All-Star team?
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