If you follow me on Twitter (and happened to catch the few tweets that mentioned my plight), you know I’ve been without my beloved Dell laptop for a week. The extended warranty expires on Tuesday, so I figured it was high time to count up the computer’s various issues and send it for some free service.
It arrived back today and looks like a stinkin’ new computer. Pretty fun. And it runs better than the laptop I had been able to borrow (though I’m very thankful for that opportunity). Between that computer and my iPhone, it really wasn’t that bad a week.
In any case, this was good timing for constructing another “week in review” of the online conversations that connect with our field! If you ever find a discussion that connects to our field, please don’t hesitate to let me know!
College ministers learning along the way: Matt McComas has now posted twice on the adjustments involved in changing from a “cowtown” resident to an “urban hipster” (in his words). The posts (first and second) are asking some great questions and drawing some great comments – definitely worth a look. Meanwhile, Mark Warrington points out what he’s learned in his first year as a church-based college minister, after serving for a few years before that in other contexts.
An evangelism tool from the IV world: Canadian Inter-Varsity staff member Tom Greentree provides a helpful look at a staple of IV ministry: the “Investigative Bible Study.” Check it out for a helpful primer on this aspect – AND a great evangelistic tool.
Books worth discovering: Two more “best reads of 2009″ lists came out from big people connected to our field: Tim Elmore and Derek Melleby. Elmore’s post also includes what he plans to read in 2010.
Books and more worth suggesting to students: Byron Borger reviews a bunch of daily devotionals – which may be worth pointing your students to, particularly here at the front of 2010! Meanwhile, Donald Opitz at the Academic Faithfulness blog points students to a John Updike short-story entitled The Christian Roommates. Sounds like a good read for urging / discussing making the most of the college years – including beyond the classroom.
Helping collegians think about grad school / seminary: Wheaton English prof Alan Jacobs posts (and links) thoughts for students about attending (or not attending) grad school. While he focuses on English / the Humanities, its principles are quite adaptable – especially when he starts talking about how to choose a school (which would be helpful for those headed to seminary, too). (HT: Scot McKnight) JesusCreed also takes up the discussion, specifically about counseling students about spending their seminary years well – and pointing to some good resources for helping our future seminarians.
Souls in Transition: All week, Scot McKnight has been discussing “emerging adults” (those 18-29), in response to Christian Smith’s Souls in Transition. As always, it’s worth reading both these posts at the JesusCreed blog and the comments they attract. Here’s the list:
- Part 1: Introduction
- Part 2: The cultural world of emerging adults
- Part 3: Trends affecting emerging adults’ religious leanings
- Part 4: The comparative reliosity of emerging adults
- Part 5: The religious expression of emerging adults
The Recession Generation: Scot McKnight also pens a brief post on how the present economic climate might impact our students for life. Interesting to ponder.
And around these parts…: Finally, here at Exploring College Ministry, my post on dealing with TOO MANY good ideas seemed to be encouraging to some college ministers! Hooray! I followed it with a couple of posts on how to decide which ideas to use (start here for that). I also had the chance to guest blog elsewhere about “The Art of Brainstorming” – start here for that timely discussion as 2010 is getting underway!
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