You are currently browsing the monthly archive for February 2010.
Yesterday, I tweeted,
I am embarking on a process from which I may or may not come back alive: A full catch-up on all aspects of my life. Approximately.
The first day of that adventure included combing through the many online resources I have, as yet, not dealt with in a nice-and-neat way. So today I figured I’d fill you in on some of the things I’ve (re)found interesting – and that might be helpful, too!
The Annex’s Effect on My Ministry: how his College Ministry experience (as a student at First Pres Boulder) taught one church planter what “missional” means – before “missional” was cool
To an Unknown God: A Journal of Christian Thought at Berkeley: There are a handful of really awesome-looking faith journals (often by students) at prominent schools like Berkeley out there, and I figure I’ll try to catalog those sometime. Here’s one… and I’d love any thoughts on how the rest of us can use items like this? Maybe just show our students?
fulleryouthinstitute.org: Don’t forget the important work Fuller Seminary is doing – often quietly – to look at transitions to college through its College Transition Project. Their work is likely to have greater value than much of the popular work on the subject.
Russ Martin’s list of the Top 5 talks he heard in 2009: This leader of Campus Crusade’s Canadian arm is a very helpful blogger, and it’s good to hear about what impacts very helpful bloggers.
whyismarko.com: the blog of Mark Oestreicher, recently displaced head of Youth Specialities. (Cleverly enough, he switched to this site after blogging previously at ysmarko.com.)
hackcollege.com: might be a site your students appreciate.
This American Life looks at Party School Penn State: not sure if I ever linked this, but it’s one of college minister Steve Lutz’s favorite go-to resources for describing the interesting nature of his campus tribe (and for good reason).
That’s it for now. But I wouldn’t be surprised if more dregs-draining is posted later this week!
—————————————————————————————
Annually, I’m thrown off by the fact that February is so stinking short. Monthly payments, appointment scheduling, procrastination – all important activities, and all are perverted by having a month that’s a week shorter than the other months. Approximately.
Do you realize that even though today is the middle of Feburary, Monday = March? Ridiculous!
So if you happen to be reading this on Monday or Tuesday, here’s what I encourage you to remember: Even though this wrap-up of recent online discussions is dated February 27th, that’s only a few days ago! You are not as behind as you may think!
All kidding aside, this is a tiny month. But there have still be some great, college-ministry-related discussions within it. Here are some from the second half that might prove helpful!
specific methods (Hooray for ministers detailing their activities!)
- Transitioning a ministry to a greater emphasis on small groups, by Michael Mears
- Hosting a simple college ministry Q&A, by Michael Armstrong
- Blessing other organizations via en masse attendance (last week’s Fridea here)
- Delegating the ministry’s tasks to more students, by Michael Mears
- Pizza Discussions as outreach, by Bob Fuhs, complete with downloadable discussion guide and training guide!
- Direct (“ministry mode”) evangelism – a 2-minute video discussion, by Brian Barela and Dan Birch, followed by comments
- Teaching about Christ’s work in overcoming habitual sin & other spiritual transformation, by Guy Chmieleski
- Teaching college students about money, by Bob Fuhs
- Valentine’s Dinner for (gal) students from (guy) students, by Michael Mears, with video
religion within the university: First, John Stackhouse just yesterday posted his thoughts about public prayers in the context of a secular university, etc. But religion’s role within university settings has been popular topic of late, and Emerging Scholars Network has provided some great coverage: Here’s a post looking at the question of “Christian privilege” within colleges, and another one with several links on the role of religion within higher ed.
starting a college ministry, continued: Brian Barela continues his excellent posts on starting a campus ministry with a discussion on student-selection – and gets, as he often does, some really helpful comments.
missional campus ministry: Betsy Prosise does a great job of reflecting on college ministry while she’s being trained for ministry. The other day, she noted how campus ministers should be “cross-cultural” in their approach to the campus.
on the college students we serve: Collin Hansen offers a strong summing-up of Smith and Snell’s Souls in Transition, looking at five myths of young adult spirituality. Mark Warrington observes the Millennial desire for community and how that fleshes out in both “Glee” and “Community.” Guy Chmieleski discusses the impact of the “prolonged adolescence” college students experience (well into their 20s), introducing the topic and then offering his own insights. And I reflect on students’ “hunger for their souls”, starting from an interesting quote from a wall at Reed College.
overcoming obstacles to the change you want to lead: Brian Barela provides a helpful, hard-learned theory on how to get change to actually occur, despite overseers who might be… resistant. Good comments, too.
evaluating your college ministry: Guy Chmieleski offers an important reflection on whether our ministries are really impacting our students – and some thoughts on three things that should be taking place.
church history and campus ministry: It’s certainly some “inside baseball” stuff, but Heart of Campus Ministry has produced some neat posts (from Mike Armstrong and from Tim Hawkins) on how being a part of their fellowship of churches (the Independent Christian Church) impacts the ministry to collegians. It’s the kind of discussion that’s really valuable for our field!
reflections on Jubilee (A college ministry conference with lots to offer all of us)
- Mike Hickerson of InterVarsity’s Emerging Scholars Network: particularly notable, this reflection comes from a fellow outsider to CCO and from a particularly academic standpoint
- Recap video, posted by Derek Melleby
- Steve Lutz of the CCO at Penn State: about his interactions with atheists at Jubilee, and then a cool post with ALL the questions (asked and unasked) from the popular Atheist / Christian Dialogue at Jubilee.
- Jonathan Weyer of the CCO at Ohio State: focuses on various aspects of the conference, including his own work with the Atheist / Christian Dialogue
- Chris Bean of the CCO at Cincinnati: noting the highlights for him and his ministry
- From me, my scatter-shot (but resource-rich) reflections on the first day and on the second day
- Pictures from Jubilee, via the Coalition for Christian Outreach Facebook fan page
For the last run-down of important discussions, click here – after all, that was still within this tiny month!
—————————————————————————————
I was planning to use this week’s Fridea to ask what you’re doing to spice up Spring Break (what are you doing to add a little “extra” to Spring Break, by the way? My church’s college ministry holds an annual creative-picture-wearing-our-T-shirt contest!), but my runny eyeballs and scratchy throat have me thinking in a different direction.
This week’s Fridea: Develop a standard operating procedure for serving students when they’re sick.
Families pile on the love when their members are sick, so I figure it’s something we could do, too. It’s a chance to serve your flock – whether it’s as simple as having a stash of Get Well Soon cards ready to send, or it’s something extravagant like sending in the troops to take class notes for students while hand-delivering an electric blanket and chicken soup (or whatever their mom says they might enjoy).
Of course, your ability and mobility in this are contextual; it’s one of those interesting ways a smaller group may actually be stronger, I’d imagine. There might also be different degrees of “love” depending on the level of sickness.
In cases of particularly great illness or tragedy, any of our ministries should be ready with big-time hospitality and soul-care. But being sick tonight – in a minor but annoying way – helped me realize how simple but encouraging our little spoonfuls of sugar might be, when it comes to helping the medicine go down.
If my head hasn’t exploded, look for some additional thoughts on some fun things to do. Or, you can add your own – what are the best ways people have taken care of you when you’ve been sick?
For a list of all the Frideas, click here!
—————————————————————————————
As I wrote yesterday, I’m finding a 4-branch categorization most useful for thinking about American college ministry. Since it was on my mind (and since I shared about these things at my seminar last weekend), I thought I’d do a little riff on the four branches – particularly some points that might be surprising.
Again, I’m not comparing or contrasting. Just riffing.
1. Campus-based college ministry. Campus-based work is of course the best-known of the branches, so there are probably fewer “surprises” here than in the others. But for those outside of campus-based work (or even inside), a few important-but-sometimes-ignored points include:
- This is certainly the most developed branch within college ministry.
- While these ministries may look similar on the surface, each ministry has real distinctives. In fact, there is plenty of variation even within the same organizations. Some organizations, of course, have more diversity-of-methodology or diversity-of-theology than others.
- Denominational ministries and parachurch ministries are two distinct sub-categories in this branch.
- Denominational ministries don’t consider themselves fully “parachurch” (generally), since each ministry is in fact organized by churches (or, in some cases, a single church).
2. Church-based college ministry. Perhaps the hardest to pin down because so many churches have such a vicious turnover cycle (in both leadership and methodology), but here are some surprises from this branch:
- This is by far the least-developed area in the field of College Ministry (and thus the greatest opportunity for immense improvement in our field).
- While many church-based ministries have struggled, there are still plenty of them that have seen great success for many years. It’s also not entirely uncommon to find ones drawing hundreds of students.
- Even within denominations, there are very few support structures (training, resourcing, collaborating, etc.) for this branch.
3. Institutional college ministry. The spiritual life departments of Christian colleges participate in college ministry, too – and that right there is a unique thought for some. Other surprises include:
- This is the branch that seems to take professional development and wide-ranging learning most seriously.
- While many institutional college ministries are (purposely) the only recognized discipleship organization at their campus, other Christian schools allow for various ministries to reach the campus alongside them. (There are good reasons for either of these positions.)
- In recent history, this seems to have been the area of college ministry most likely to partake in campus-wide revival.
4. Collegiate churches. Those churches planted with a major purpose of reaching a campus might surprise us a little, too:
- There are a lot more of these than people seem to think. While it’s not easy to track down, at least several dozen campuses are reached by a collegiate church.
- There’s also a wider range of methodologies here than people seem to be aware of. While many of these churches are nearly student-only (except for the leadership), others have a large percentage of adults – either because members grow older and stay, the church reaches adults in the community, or the church “imports” adults in some way.
Anything you would add? Anything you would change?
—————————————————————————————
Back in October, I blogged about adding another “branch” to my categorization of college ministries. Previously, I had always discussed three branches: campus-based college ministry, church-based college ministry, and the formal discipleship that takes place in Christian colleges. I realized, however, that the prevalence and distinctives of collegiate churches might indeed merit a new branch. (I go into more detail at that post.)
I got a lot of GREAT comments on that post – I really do encourage you to check it out, because it’s a great example of some people really bringing some smarts to bear on our field.
In light of their ideas and what I’ve continued to see, I have indeed begun to refer to Collegiate Churches as a fourth branch of college ministry. This is the first major departure / addendum I’ve made to my discussion in Reaching the Campus Tribes, but it certainly seems merited. (What do you think?)
I used these categories when providing a brief overview of the “wide, wide, wonderful world of campus ministry” for students at the Jubilee Conference this weekend. Here’s the slide I used in that portion of my talk, with pics from my various trips:
- Campus-based: The Baptist Collegiate Ministries at UNC is a denominational ministry, like many campus-based ministries. Obviously, other campus-based ministries are fully parachurch.
- Church-based: “The Annex” college ministry of First Pres Boulder is one of the largest college ministries (of any kind) in the country. (And it’s hosting the upcoming Ascent Conference for church-based ministries.)
- Institutional: Asbury College. (More and more, I’m liking the term “institutional college ministry” for those ministries at Christian colleges. Credit for that term goes to Guy Chmieleski (an institutional college minister himself), who provided a similar idea in the comments on that post in October. Still, I’m open to suggestions on that one (and on any of these!).
- Collegiate Churches: This picture is from the Sunday service of New Life Church at the University of Michigan, one of the larger collegiate churches out there. Like a good number of collegiate churches, it’s connected to Great Commission Ministries.
So there you go.
Any thoughts on this categorization? Remember, placing things in categories doesn’t suggest my agreement or preferences with any of ‘em – just the reality of what’s taking place in the world of college ministry.
Also, do you have any thoughts on what I’ve titled the “fourth branch” here? In the past, I’ve tended to call these ministries “collegiate church plants,” but many of them are decades old – so “plants” might not apply so well. And the term “campus churches,” while fitting, seems to leave out the many collegiate churches that don’t actually meet on campus.
—————————————————————————————
While I was prepping for my seminar at this weekend’s Jubilee Conference, I came across something that really touched me – a book passage that has both a unique tie-in to a particular campus and offers a great parallel to the amazing campus environment in which we get to labor.
During the yearlong road trip, I visited Reed College in Portland – perhaps best-known among many of us for its inclusion in Donald Miller’s Blue Like Jazz.
It is indeed a unique campus setting. (As you probably know, I tend to argue that every campus is quite unique. This one is simply more… obvious in its uniqueness!) And one of many interesting finds while there was this mural:
I hadn’t ever looked up the quote above the hallway before. Turns out it comes from a book published in 1987: Not Fade Away by Jim Dodge. That particular line is found on page 23… and thanks to Google Books, I was able to read the paragraphs that precede it.
When it came time to close my seminar yesterday, I felt it hit the perfect note – reflecting the environment that all those called to college ministry get to bring Jesus into. In the book Dodge’s protagonist is actually reflecting on his life among the Beatniks (“pre-hippies,” I explained to the students yesterday), it sounds a lot like our campus worlds.
(Of course I can’t recommend the book itself – I haven’t read much more than the two paragraphs I’ll include below. And I apologize for the (minor) cursing. I didn’t write the book.)
Sounds like a freshman, right? How many students come to college with that same feeling – that this is a good time, that this is finally what they’ve been looking for?
Isn’t this already descriptive of the college campus? “A passionate willingness to be moved.” Some pretending and putting-on-airs, sure, but better than “the real world.” Those with religious backgrounds often feel just like this guy – that the boredom of religion is dull and desire-smothering and afraid.
Courage. An desire to be moved, and an openness to it. This guy with his passion for cars and the open road sounds like the many students who get thoroughly engrossed in their majors – and he found others meeting (or trying to meet) the same underlying passions in their own “majors.” Laughter and drunkenness, and the “walk of shame.”
And then the climax, the description that made the mural at Reed and that sums up our world: “An eruption of people hungry for their souls. And for all the poses and silliness, it was splendid.”
We have souls to offer the posing and the posturing and the hungry. And yet, even now, it is a splendid place in which to give our lives.
—————————————————————————————
(These are thoughts from Day 2 of Jubilee; for thoughts from Day 1, click here.)
I speak today at 9am Eastern. Really excited about this.
But yesterday, Day 2 of CCO’s Jubilee Conference, was the only FULL day of this thing – and it was plenty good explorin’.
Some various notes on things you might find helpful or interesting:
- I won’t re-write much of what I tweeted, so if you want to see THOSE (rather sleepy) adventures (including songwriter Sarah Masen, a poetry seminar that was mostly way over my head, and a death threat from the main stage, you can see them here (in backwards chronological order, of course).
- One of the seminaries who has college ministry courses (and a great professor, Chris Kiesling) is Asbury Theological Seminary. They’ve got a booth here, so I wanted to give them a shout-out for supporting our field in that way!
- I enjoyed Steve Lutz’s seminar for college students about discerning whether they might be called to campus ministry. I don’t know if he’ll blog it or not, but in case he does (or has any other wrap-ups of Jubilee), I highly encourage you to watch his blog for the next few days. (And then for the next few years after that, of course, ’cause he writes great stuff.)
- Meanwhile, Steve also participated in a seminar yesterday afternoon that’s a little surprising for a Christian college ministry conference: A dialogue with atheists! If you’re unfamiliar with Jonathan Weyer, he has built quite an interaction with skeptics at Ohio State and, from that, even nationally. So he hosted a couple of famous ones here at CCO. Don’t know if he (or Steve) will blog it, but I bet somebody does – you can be watching Jonathan’s blog here.
- I think I’ve finally gotten in the habit of spelling Pittsburgh correctly. That “H” really throws me.
Byron Borger’s second and third rounds of suggested resources. Sorry my notes are a little rugged, but you can Google ‘em, right?
- Deep Church by Belcher
- The Gospel according to Lost by Seay
- The Outrageous Idea of Academic Faithfulness by Opitz & Melleby (yep, again)
- Engaging God’s World by Plantinga
- The Fabric of Faithfulness by Garber
- Culture Making by Crouch
- Make the Impossible Possible by Strickland
- The Poor Will Be Glad by Greer & Smith
- Angry Conversations with God by Isaacs
- Amena Brown spoken word CDs
- Justin McRoberts’s album of cover songs
- Through the Eye of a Needle (about Haiti)
- Here I Am by Schultze
- Don’t Waste Your Life by Piper – with a special shout-out to the “Serving God from 9 to 5″ chapter
- The Call by Guinness
- Reordered Loves, Reordered Lives by Naugle – about vocation and passion?
- The True Story of the Whole World – introduction to Bible study
- The Well summer Bible study (around Pittsburgh with the CCO)
- Ruth: The Story of God’s Unending Redemption by Wauzzinski (released 2 days ago)
- Jesus & Jigga (theological study of Jay Z)
- A Million Miles in a Thousand Years by Don Miller
(These are thoughts from Day 2 of Jubilee; for thoughts from Day 1, click here.)
Written from the Jubilee Conference, David L. Lawrence Convention Center, Pittsburgh, PA
—————————————————————————————
(These are the thoughts from Day 1 of the Jubilee Conference; for my thoughts from Day 2, click here!)
Yesterday was one of the crazier days in my recent explorations, as I took a flight from Dallas to Pittsburgh (via Charlotte). There was a crazy bagel-thing and a haircut in there, too.
Some other high points, followed by some of the best discoveries and rediscoveries for college ministries at Day 1 of the Coalition for Christian Outreach’s Jubilee Conference.
4 Things:
1. It was weird to realize that I’ve taken 3 flights in about 3 months… after taking 3 flights in the 3 years before that. I tend to be more of a “ground guy,” as you know. But flying is nice for a change.
2. Upon landing in Pittsburgh, I helped Deahna Calgaro (of the CCO) and David Kinnaman (yes, that Dave Kinnaman) circle the airport in a minivan. Until we picked up Jim Belcher (yes, that Jim Belcher). Then Jim B. and I wandered the airport for awhile looking for David Naugle, but it turns out he had taken a taxi to the hotel. But we then picked up David Greusel, the lead architect of Minute Maid Park (yes, that Minute Maid Park) and PNC Park (yes, that PNC Park).
It was a bit surreal. Fun conversations on the way into downtown.
3. I’m tweeting the conference, of course. It’s not exactly “live-tweeting,” if that means sending 10 quotes for every talk. Instead, I’m writing some highlights and anything I think you might particularly enjoy. Read those at www.twitter.com/bensonhines. Or, you can see everybody’s thoughts using the #j2010 hashtag.
4. If you think about it, could you be praying for me between now and Sunday morning? I’ll be speaking at 9am Eastern Time, and I’d like to continue honing that talk throughout today. I’m speaking to college students (and maybe some leaders) about the wide, wide, wonderful world of campus ministry!
Of course, you can also pray that I’d spend this conference observing, exploring, learning, and connecting in ways that help our field!
Key (Re)discoveries:
- Gift Card Giver: Amazing charity that it would be so easy for your college ministry to connect to, and they work to make it even easier for campuses
- COMMENT Magazine: I had a great chat with what appeared to be most of their leadership team. The magazine seeks to present fresh Christian intellect for impactful consumption by other thinkers, opinion leaders, and culture shapers. I knew about ‘em before, but the conversation made me want to revisit what they’re doing.
- Don’t forget: RTS Charlotte now has an Institute for Reformed Campus Ministry.
- Two projects your students could consider for their after-graduation sojourn: Teach for America, Mission Year.
the books Byron Borger promoted
You might have seen me mention Byron Borger and Hearts & Minds Books on here before. He’s a real hero among certain college ministers, well-regarded as a bookseller who knows his craft and does it with excellence. His regular “book selections” at Jubilee are quite popular, too.
Here are his from tonight (sorry for those that are incomplete; I’ll try to update soon)
- Halos and Avatars
- some green book about Revolution
- The Fight
- Rouault
- Let Justice Roll Down
- Follow Me to Freedom
- Creation Regained
- Heaven is a Place on Earth
- After World View
- The Outrageous Idea of Academic Faithfulness
(These are the thoughts from Day 1 of the Jubilee Conference; for my thoughts from Day 2, click here!)
When I visited Cornell last semester, Chi Alpha Campus Pastor Matt Herman shared an excellent idea that I wanted to pass on as this week’s Fridea:
Allow your group to bless others with en masse attendance!
Matt’s idea involved occasionally finishing their large group meeting early, in order to join another campus organization’s activity. For instance, they had noticed an organization devoted to playing the card game “Mafia” – and they imagined it might be really fun for the Mafia Club if an extra 20 people showed one night!
Recitals – of any kind – are another time when simply having numbers is a blessing – even if the performer isn’t in your group (and especially if they are!). So too are all those activities the administration attempts to rev up school spirit (especially at campuses where school spirit is pretty minimal).
I bet that sorority down the street could use some extra hands for a service project, and that swing-dancing club might love to show a dozen new faces how it’s done. A senior art exhibition, a regular game of ultimate frisbee on the lawn, a campus lecture, a psychology student’s experiment… The moments when your “union” of Jesus-loving students could bless simply by their presence are numerous.
Is this a form of service? Outreach? Kindness? Campus integration? Building relationships? Whether it accomplishes one or all of those things, you might see if there’s a way your group could crash a few parties.
You can see all the Frideas so far right here.
—————————————————————————————
Recent Comments