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The mission was impossible. Take the head of a public research university and hide him in plain sight for a week. But the University of California, Riverside accomplished it at the request of the hit CBS reality show “Undercover Boss.” (from the UCR web site)
While it wasn’t my favorite episode of Undercover Boss ever, the season finale DID provide an awesome chance to go undercover on a college campus! Chancellor Timothy White dyed his hair, donned a fake ‘stache, and added some specs to complete the disguise – so he could tour his own campus from the inside.
As college ministers, it’s a very cool chance to think about schools the way administrators do – something we don’t spend enough time doing, in my opinion. There are so many moving parts, important (but unrecognized) people, and daily decisions. I appreciate what this Chancellor did to better learn his campus; hopefully we’re doing what we can to learn (and love) ours.
(I also learned some cool stuff about the Highlander tribe of UCR!)
The link below will take you to the video (which may go away soon), and be sure to notice there are seven bonus clips down below!
And for more, here’s the Los Angeles Times‘s coverage of the episode. You can also read a post I wrote awhile back that applied something I learned from Undercover Boss to our world – and it’s still one of the campus ministry ideas I’m most intrigued by.
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Update: Happy Memorial Day! Look for a new blog on Tuesday the 31st.
Friends,
Like many of you, I’m going to take a bit of a breather this week… or at least a blogging break. It should actually be a fairly busy week for me, especially as I set up the summer portion of my newest official Project to serve you guys. It’s called Books-to-Impact, and it’s a great way for any college ministry to raise funds or support causes. (I’ve mentioned it before.)
I’ll also be praying and thinking through some other facets of my ministry, and I’d be honored if you pray for me this week!
Meanwhile, if you’re hungry for some college ministry learnin’, use the week to catch up on posts you haven’t gotten to read, or check out the extensive archives. (I’d use Categories list on the left to find topics that will help most!)
Finally, if I can help you assess and brainstorm your campus ministry through a site visit, speak to a gathering of college ministers (or others who need to hear about college ministry), or serve you in-person in some other way this summer, let’s talk about it!
Otherwise, see you next week!
As this week’s Fridea, I simply want to encourage all of us not to let this summer get away.
Not only in the way I discussed yesterday. There are likely several things you could do this summer to improve your college ministry, improve your own abilities as a college minister, and serve your present (and future and past) students.
Narrowing down that could list to what you should do is the next-to-trickiest part.
The trickiest part is actually doing those things.
(Yes, this still applies if we have a major ministry activity all summer – like a Summer Project or a mission trip – right? Certainly there are other, smaller purposes to be accomplished, too? Reading a book? Auditing the ministry back home? Emailing students not participating? Something?)
I myself have felt reinvigorated toward tackling certain projects in this ministry this summer. But I sense the imminent and lethal dangers of inertia and busyness, and I know that May will soon be June, and July could creep by sooner than I think… until I’m standing at the threshold of August, lots of nothing to show for my time.
I don’t want to let this summer get away. It’s an enormous amount of time to do enormous things.
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I’m slightly uncomfortable with College Ministry’s stance toward the summer months. While individual ministries vary in summertime activities, the field of College Ministry as a whole seems to shrug off summer as either expendable, tailor-made for support-raising, or primarily for “special events” like weeks-long projects or mission trips.
Like I said, I’m only slightly uncomfortable. I understand all the reasons this happens, and I don’t have some sort of broad edict on how we need to do it better. But I can ask questions, so that’s what I’ll do for the rest of this post.
This is key: These questions are for you to ask yourself (and maybe even God) about your ministry. But many of them won’t apply at all to your ministry, and I completely understand that. Only if the shoe fits should you wear it! And there are a variety of “shoes” in the list below.
- Are our students coming out of summer closer to God than they were in May?
- Do we treat students who are called to stay home / stay local during the summer with the same honor as students who do missions, work at a camp, or work on special ministry projects?
- Do we share any responsibility for shepherding our students when they’re not in town with us?
- For the summer activities we do, are we giving local students the “B Team” when it comes to staffing, planning, purposefulness, or activities? Should we be?
- Are we ministering in light of the fact that college students often have more time to invest in spiritual activities in the summer?
- Are we fully taking advantage of the other advantages of the summer months (perhaps group size, campus accessibility, student boredom, chances to partner with other ministries, and more)?
- For campus-based college ministries: Should we be solely counting on home churches to shepherd our students (students they may not have seen for 9 months)?
- What specific purposes have we already thought through, prayed through, and written down for this summer? Did we spend as much energy and focus on planning for the summer as we did for the spring?
- Are we basing our local summer work on how many students are around? If there were 100 more students, would we be more purposeful? How should purposefulness, energy, etc., be affected by ministry size?
- Do our summer ministry activities accord with our recognition that the college years are truly a “hinge” moment in students’ lives? Are we okay with 1/4 or more of that hinge remaining largely “unshepherded”?
Again – I’m not writing assuming that all these apply to your campus ministry! (In fact, I know that some ministries have their strongest work in the summer, and some might need to ask these Qs about the school year!) But I wanted to ask questions that would challenge us to rethink our approaches and make sure we’re fulfilling our ministry in a year-round way.
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A couple of weeks ago, I posted a video of students’ celebration following the death of Osama bin Laden, and I pointed out five things it reminds us about collegians.
I read a good article this week that took a slightly different spin on what we could learn from the celebrations that popped up around the country. Craig Fehrman, Ph.D. candidate at Yale, discusses what collegians’ response shows about Millennials. While it’s a fairly pessimistic take, it’s certainly worth reading.
He also makes some great points about how the media might not always portray Millennials accurately.
In any case, I encourage you to take a look:
Osama bin Laden’s Death: The Millennials Have a Moment (LA Times)
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The king declared to Daniel, “O Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to deliver you from the lions?” Then Daniel said to the king, “O king, live forever! My God sent his angel and shut the lions’ mouths, and they have not harmed me, because I was found blameless before him; and also before you, O king, I have done no harm.” (Daniel 6:19-23 ESV)
In many cases, our “foot forward” to those in authority on our campuses is not “O king, live forever!” But the Book of Daniel (as I mentioned yesterday) is an amazing case study of a man who feared God and honored the king (a la I Peter 2:17). Yes, he shared about his God and was not shy in following Him… but he “packaged” that divine obedience with human respect as often as possible.
(Notice he begins above with “live forever!” and ends with “before you … I have done no harm,” actually sandwiching his proclamation between statements of fidelity – and that after a night in the lion’s den, which surely is more troubling than getting deprived of our normal spot in the Student Center.)
Does the administration, faculty, and staff of your campus see your campus ministry as a valuable addition to the campus tribe? And do they recognize that you honor their authority?
We will offend. But let it be, as far as depends on us, that they “shall not find any ground for complaint against this Daniel unless [they] find it in connection with the law of [our] God” (Dan. 6:5).
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Sometimes it’s just helpful to have a pile of ideas or resources to think about in regards to college ministry – especially as we enter the summer and start thinking (or continue thinking) about next school year. (Meanwhile, some of us – including many church-based college ministers – are jumping right into their “second college ministry” with summertime students.)
This small pile of ideas, links, and thoughts comes directly from my amazing time with the BASIC College Ministries leaders at their Propel conference this week. I wanted to give everybody those same things, as well as provide an outline of my talk – which obviously provides a whole “pile of ideas” itself!
So here you go. Hope it’s helpful.
- Simple Church. I brought up this great book several times to help college ministers think through the “path of progress” they’re providing for / expecting of their students. Though it’s written about churches, it’s easily “translatable” – and profoundly helpful for us.
- The Books of Daniel and I Peter (and probably Esther, too). These all came up in the context of how campus ministries live “under captivity” (or something like that). How do we work, serve, witness, and thrive within a campus tribe that may be not only indifferent to our message but even concerned about our methods? These books of the Bible answer this question differently than popular Christianity and even some college ministries do.
- The Dip. This came up a couple of times, especially in the context of newly forming college ministries. Are you prepared to do what it takes to establish a long-lasting and long-effective campus mission? And have you considered all the options for the scope of your ministry – including not aiming for a traditional, full-fledged college ministry? This secular (and very short) business book will help you answer those questions.
- CruPress and NavPress both came up multiple times as great places to look for tips on leading small groups (especially the former) and curriculum for small groups (especially the latter).
- Veritas Forum came up multiple times as a great example of an outside group that can be awesome for multiple ministries on a campus to rally around (and thereby unify around). I also discussed Veritas as really helpful for providing Christian forums that can still appeal to a fully secular campus.
- I actually failed (I think) to give most of the group the address for my (free!) ebook. You can find that at www.reachingthecampustribes.com.
Here’s the outline of my two seminars from the weekend. Remember, I was speaking to leaders from multiple church-based college ministries, so these seminars tilt that way. But there’s lots in there that would apply to most of us.
SEMINAR ONE: WHO WE ARE
We Are College Ministers
- we have an awesome and noble calling
- we must be learners (whether our personality tilts that way or not)
- we are missionaries to a specific tribe
We Are Missionaries
- this is difficult
- long-term and short-term strategy is vital
- we should be building toward longevity
- contextualization is fundamental
We Are Part of the Campus Tribe
- we should respect the land we’re called to
- we should love the land we’re called to
- we should connect with life there
- we should connect with and join in with what God’s already been doing there
We Are Sent By a Church
- there are some advantages to being church-based; use them!
- we should share our story and our specific role with our church; help them understand and support us!
- we should help our church own the vision and work toward a long-lasting, fruitful campus mission
- we should consider how we’re shepherding home-grown students – perhaps even first
SEMINAR TWO: (NEW?) IDEAS WORTH PONDERING
- Purpose-based Methods (every time)
- Preparing students for an excellent Transition Out (to the “real world”)
- Don’t be afraid to love your campus
- Don’t be afraid to take a step back and make sure you’re building the best possible College Student Plan
- Don’t be afraid to invent
- Be excited about what you can do
- Learn more about the Millennials (since they’re our mission field right now)
- Don’t be too student-centered (they need adult direction and wisdom)
- Prioritize teaching students to be “great in the basics”
- Get great in the basic skills of college ministry
- What you’re doing – campus ministry – is so very worth it
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speaking and “consulting” in new york
Yesterday I flew up to Lima to serve as a speaker at Propel, the ministry leadership conference of the BASIC College Ministries. BASIC is a fellowship of church-based campus ministries mostly located in New York state, and I get the chance to share a whole bunch of key ideas from what I’ve learned.
On top of the seminars I’ll deliver, I also have the awesome chance to participate in some Catalytic Conversations. In eight 30-minute slots, I’ll sit down with the leader(s) of individual ministries to offer brainstorming, coaching, encouragement, or whatever the need of the hour (or half-hour!).
Please be praying for me and us. (I love college ministry conferences!)
visiting students is the bomb
One of the best – and most random – parts of this trip was getting to spend a couple of hours in Rochester with a student from Dallas! He’s been in my church’s college ministry during the summers, and now – right before he graduates – I got the very cool opportunity to see him within his own campus tribe, the prestigious Eastman School of Music up here in NY.
Remember, even if you’re a campus-based college minister, your students would love a visit when they’re away from you this summer – even just a lunch gathering in that city where several of them live, perhaps. And church-based college ministers have two groups they can visit: home-grown students who go away to school, and students who go to school locally but live elsewhere in the summer!
This is definitely a very cool way to love students (and to explore some other campus ministry settings while you’re at it!).
textbooks lead to money which helps with impact
Meanwhile, I’m excited to see how this season of Books-to-Impact has gone (as many schools finished their Finals this week). I know some college ministers are hesitant to get excited about something new like this, but things continue to look really good for this fundraising effort. I believe it could be helping dozens of college ministries to raise money for ministry or causes (or both!) over the next couple of years. If you haven’t taken a look at Books-to-Impact, I hope you will.
And please be praying that this round of Books-to-Impact work would be a huge financial blessing to the ministries involved (including my own!).
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All week long, I’ve been looking at “ingredients” that might be worth considering as you prepare next year’s bountiful college ministry feast. Today’s suggested ingredient is like the others: It’s an element we’d all agree is wonderful, that some campus ministries have found enormously beneficial, and that’s often in shorter supply than – perhaps – it should be.
Here’s a question: How regularly are students in your ministry being personally discipled?
I’m not talking about small group discipleship or even the “organic” conversations that so often pop up within our contexts. Those things are highly important, but so is the more intentional, more systematic shepherding that happens when a leader disciples a college student, or one college student mentors another.
I was blessed to be in a college ministry and at a school where one-on-one disciplemaking was both natural and widespread. But I realize that’s not most of our contexts, and unless we’re involved in college ministries that have made this a pillar (like The Navigators), it’s likely this awesome tool gets overlooked in light of methods that involve more people, more “performance,” or more popular acclaim among students.
In my mind, though, there are few methods that produce more individual growth… and yet because strong disciplemaking is always multiplicative, the impact can spread far and wide in only a few semesters.
Honestly, disciplemaking doesn’t only have to come from a formal, “Sign up to get discipled / Sign up to disciple somebody” format. In fact, that may not always be the best way to go (though it can be useful if it’s done right and trained well). But what if small group leaders looked for someone within the group they might disciple? What if strong, older students made it clear they’d love to disciple a person or two in the coming semester? What if you too looked for a few individuals who are clearly teachable and ready for some tailored impact?
Sprinkle this ingredient liberally in your college ministry, and I bet you’ll see some awesome fruit in the years to come!
There’s a third ingredient I would love to see far more liberally applied to college ministries.
Evaluation.
Regular. Evaluation.
Except for those whose personalities are specifically attuned to assessing and/or tweaking their ministries, it has never seemed that “spot checks” and other quality control measures are a big priority among college ministers.
Sure, I recognize that we have our forms and assessments required by many of our overseers. And those things can (sometimes) be helpful.
But I believe one of the biggest roadblocks to the effectiveness we could have as college ministries is that MUCH is “lost in translation” between the hopes in our heads and actual accomplishments – of our various special events, our weekly activities, and even our entire semesters.
How often do you semi-objectively evaluate EACH of the methods within your college ministry? This means far more than spending 15 minutes after an activity saying, “How’d it go? Did students like it? Did we get any compliments or complaints? Was it worth the effort?”
While some of those questions may be a jumping-off point, the far more important questions come along the lines of
- Did it accomplish the purposes we developed that activity around?
- Could it have accomplished those purposes better?
- Did we plan and prepare well enough before this activity?
- How did it help (or hinder) the progress we’re pushing for in our ministry and individual students?
- Are our leaders (student leaders or otherwise) skilled in what they did / what they’re doing? How can we continue to train them?
- How sure are we about our answers to these questions – and how can we measure these well?
…and we shouldn’t just be asking these questions about individual events (a Large Group Meeting, a message, a campus-wide event, a retreat). We should be regularly asking these kinds of assessing Qs about every single one of our standard forms – our small groups this semester, our regular social activities, the series of messages we’re in the middle of, the worship at our Large Group Meetings, announcements, etc. Even little bitty things – your email communications or the ways you setup for Large Group.
While the title of this blog isn’t prescribing a set time (I just wanted a good round number), I imagine running a hard-core, well-done evaluation of your ministry every three weeks would drastically improve your effectiveness. Whatever time frame you choose, would you consider adding the Evaluation ingredient a lot more next year?
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