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I’m on my 15th multistate, college ministry-exploring road trip! (Details here.) So I’m writing whenever I can this week, about both the college ministry learnings and reflections on the trip itself.
I get asked a lot about my “favorite” campuses. But I’m not a big fan of playing favorites. I truly do love all these campus tribes scattered around the country, and I’m excited about the work God’s doing here, there, and everywhere… and the work He’s going to do!
But I have had a multitude of campus experiences, and sometimes those experiences have produced a certain fondness for certain places. Northern Arizona University is like that for me, and maybe not for the reasons you’d think.
Four reasons the Lumberjack tribe holds a special place in my heart:
- This was one of my earliest explorations. Long before God called me to more drastic, truly nationwide exploration, I did take several pretty large road trips. And Flagstaff just happens to be an excellent stopping place between Texas and Southern California. So I’d been to NAU long before I visited here during the Yearlong Road Trip – and that gives it a special place in my heart.
- It’s beautiful. Okay, this might be a reason you’d expect, but it’s true. For a boy from North Texas, seeing mountains, snow, and lots of trees is a very big treat. The campus itself is laid out in a sorta tricky way, but the surroundings are excellent. (The Lumberjack mascot is therefore apropos – and yet another reason I like this place. I appreciate unique mascots.)
- It’s Flagstaff. I went to one of the most conservative public schools in the country (Texas A&M), and while I was perfectly comfy there, I get a kick out of campus settings that are quite different from my own alma mater’s. This is a unique, offbeat sort of place, like Boulder (which I got to visit on my last official road trip). It’s tricky soil from a college ministry perspective, but that means it’s all the more exciting to think of God invading this place with peace and community and purpose.
- I’ve slept here. Like I said, Flagstaff is a great stop between Texas and California. And that hasn’t only meant exploring the campus; once or twice it meant staying here overnight… in the parking lot. In what I’ve sometimes dubbed the “Pathfinder Motel” (or maybe even the Corolla Motel before that?), air conditioned by the wonderfully chilly air here at 7,000 feet. And something about that experience has increased my fondness for NAU too; perhaps “where your bed is, there your heart will be also”?
In case you’re wondering, I’m staying in a Motel 6 this week.
Posted from the University Union, Northern Arizona University
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Welcome to the new school year! All the students are back (or soon will be), all the ministry plans have been detailed, and you’ve got a fresh canvas on which God wants to paint something amazing in your college ministry this year!
…pardon me?
While most of us see this week in our college ministry as something like Week 4 (a.k.a. We’re Finally in the Groove Week), there are lots of college ministers – including in some very major schools – who are getting underway. Now. They’re many of the schools on the Quarter System, which divides the school year into thirds (with a fourth quarter in the summer). In most cases, that school year starts about now, has a much shorter Winter Break, and ends later than other schools.
So if my opening paragraph seems like a blast from the past to you, don’t forget that for many, it’s apropos indeed.
One of the guys in the college ministry I volunteer in has a cousin on Campus Crusade staff at UCLA. He mentioned that UCLA is getting underway this week – and it’s true. Campuses like UCLA, Stanford, Ohio State, Drexel, and others are starting this week. (And I noticed UW doesn’t start classes until September 29th!)
UCLA’s classes start this Thursday, with a whole host of first-week activities (like tomorrow’s second annual Volunteer Day). If you’re interested in a stroll down Welcome Week lane to see how UCLA pulls of an activities fair, service day, etc., they’ve got a great article with a lot of links.
And the very fact that some of you might have time to surf through the various sites at the UCLA web page reminds us that we happen to be well into our semesters, well past the craziness of those first weeks. But some college ministers out there are just getting started, and NOW is their craziness.
So we can pray for them. We can send some messages of support. We can go visit or even go help (if we’re nearby a Quarter System campus). And we can be reminded that the world of college ministry is a wide, wide world indeed!
Quarter System people, you are a major part of our world. And while we may have been jealous of your enjoyment of several more weeks of summer, we’re behind you heart and soul as you join us in the 2010-2011 school year. We hope it’s absolutely amazing!
Picture: The Anteater tribe of UC Irvine is one of many Quarter System schools getting started this week.
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In our intro session / orientation for the Brazil trip last night, we had the chance to learn a big difference between what it means to be a college student here (in Brazil, or at least in São Paulo) and what it means back home in the States. Here, college students are generally what we would call “Young Adults”; their post-high school lives are immediately thrust into the working world. While many may begin attending college classes (at the numerous schools in this city), those educational endeavors are placed on top of their lives, instead of providing the setting for their lives. It sounds like there are very few dorms; one girl also noted that students rarely see campus as a place to build friendships.
(Don’t worry; none of this means we won’t be learning applicable things this week – beginning with one big point of this post, contextualization.)
It’s vital that anyone reaching post-high schoolers recognize that there is a spectrum: Some individuals are extremely “collegiate,” while others – even if they happen to attend classes – would never be defined in that way. And there are shades in between those extremes.
Without recognizing this spectrum, we might ridiculously extrapolate our contexts to nations that don’t treat “collegeness” in the same way.
But lack of attention to this spectrum also causes some U.S. churches to lump young adults and college students into the same categories. In our country, there are generally deep sociological differences there, so we have to “mind the gap,” as it were – perhaps making use of wise overlap, while never forgetting that the truly collegiate person is often quite different in key ways from the non-collegiate person, regardless of the age (or enrollment) of either.
Forgetting to recognize this spectrum also causes some campus ministries (of any kind) to be less campus-oriented than they should be, even though their students’ center of community happens to be right there, on the campus.
Meanwhile, others ignoring this spectrum err on the opposite side, treating their college students exactly the same as they might at a big State School – despite the fact that college students in their context may not situate their lives around the campus, might not be nearly as “collegiate,” or might truly be much more like “young adults who happen to be taking classes.”
Our hopes to be missional, if anything, demand that we be contextual. And this is a start – one we can learn even by comparing Brazil with North America. Examine how “collegiate” our college students actually are, and we’ll understand better what they need from us.
This post was adapted for use at the Planting Brazil blog, as well.
Update: Brazil Missional Trek
Friday and Saturday: I met those who had flown into Dallas, where we all took the red-eye directly into São Paulo (after several delays because of weather issues in Dallas. On Saturday, we hit the ground running, holding our orientation and attending the weekly service at Zoe, the church we’re working with this week. (To follow along, see our blog at plantingbrazil.wordpress.com.)
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If you’ve read my book or many of these blogs, you know I think it’s important to recognize that there are serious contextual differences between campuses. And one of the really important things about these road trips is that they always provide real-life, in-my-face examples of such differences. Sometimes these differences are relatively “small,” yet they help us recognize that each campus is its own unique tribe, worthy of being approached in its own unique ways.
So I pass on to you some of the differences that have already been discussed (in only 3 days of this trip). For a good mental exercise, you could ponder the positives, negatives, and interesting strategies that might arise from these situations!
- Midwestern State University in Texas has many Caribbean students.
- UT Chattanooga has already finished classes for the year.
- Many freshmen may not have cars at some schools (like at Wake Forest) – or may not even be allowed to have cars.
- At some schools, freshmen are likely to go home on a weekend early in the semester; on others, they might avoid going home because they’re afraid of missing something.
- Some schools are on the Quarter System instead of the Semester System (like University of Washington).
- Community college ministry will likely encounter students with emotional, mental, or other such difficulties.
- An enormous percentage of Pepperdine sophomores study abroad. (Think that affects ministry?)
- Commuter-heavy campuses abound (like CSU-Pueblo).
- Many schools (like CSU-Pueblo) now lock their dorms to outsiders (so don’t plan on recruiting or serving door-to-door).
- Some freshmen have curfews.
- Some schools (like Midwestern State) have a full Nursing Program – providing an especially service-minded (but often busy) group of students.
- Some major universities are within 10 miles of other major universities (like WSU and U of Idaho, or NDSU and MSU-Moorhead).
Written from Longmont, CO
Road Trip 14 recap, Day 3
yesterday: spent the day at the Ascent Conference, with LOTS of great learning & connecting
today: church stuff, including some college ministry
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Last week, it was breadth to the four winds – and that garnered some pretty interesting comments, especially interesting for a boy from the South.
The same questions I asked then apply here, too:
- What are the unique college ministry aspects of your region? (Do you know them?)
- What college ministry aspects of other regions have surprised you?
- What don’t you know about other regions’ and other circles’ college ministry norms? (It’s something we can never answer – and that fact humbles us!)
And please remember, these are riffs, not comprehensive reviews. The awesomeness of all this is how diverse everywhere is – campus to campus, town to town, state to state. I haven’t seen enough, but I’ve been blessed to see some cool things!
Northeast
I am blown away by how much effort is put into vocational spirituality in the Northeast quadrant of our country, especially compared to the rest of us. Many in the Northeast (leaders and even students) are ahead of the game on this. (Those working on this include, for instance, Brian Musser in Philly or Manna Christian Fellowship and others at Princeton or the CCO all over…) The Northeast will (I so hope) lead the rest of us slowpokes in this urgent matter.
Southeast
Is this quadrant the cradle of American college ministry? Perhaps. It’s not simply that campus ministry giants Passion and Campus Crusade and Growing Leaders and Baptist Collegiate Ministry and RUF and Great Commission Ministries all headquarter here (who am I forgetting?). There are also many individual college ministries with a great history of success, scattered throughout this corner of our land. While size and history certainly don’t mean everything, it’s hard to imagine “knowing” college ministry without knowing these exciting, “classic” college campuses.
Southwest
This innovative, not-too-worried-about-tradition corner will be, I’m guessing, the site for much college ministry innovation. Already, it’s not shocking that Campus Crusade originated here, nor that the Four Circles Evangelism method did, too. Nor that the Jesus Movement spread largely from here. It’s not particularly easy to do college ministry from SoCal through New Mexico (although some places are friendlier than others), but that’s part of the fun – and I imagine we’ll see much more from all these who are happily open to following the Spirit wherever He blows.
Northwest
It’s perhaps easiest to count out the Northwest when it comes to college ministry, seeing as how the region isn’t known for Jesus-ness and isn’t as known for collegiate-ness as its secular cousin, the Northeast. But certain facts bust up our generalizations – like Don Miller’s exciting report from the front lines of college ministry up here in Blue Like Jazz, to the recognition that the most impactful church-based college ministry resides in the heart of Seattle, to the surprising prevalence (at least from what I’ve seen) of collegiate discipleship communities. Like everywhere else, it isn’t always easy… but it is interesting up there, to say the least.
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West
It’s surprising (to the rest of us) that an enormous number of campuses up and down the Left Coast operate on the Quarter System. That means college ministers are dealing with a quite different school calendar, have only eleven or twelve weeks in each period, and even need to shift their summer plans by a month.
South
It’s surprising (to the rest of us) how many college ministers in the South don’t personally raise their own financial support.
Bonus: It’s surprising (to the rest of us) that many church-based college ministries must have collegiate Sunday school (either because of their overseers or even because their students demand it).
East
It’s surprising (to the rest of us) that so many amazing, college-student-filled metropolitan areas with dozens of campuses can still be such difficult ground for college ministry work (especially when they have no “focus campus”).
North
It’s surprising (to the rest of us) that plenty of places across the North are perfectly comfortable with or receptive to Christian faith and college ministry work. There are good reasons that the very multi-campus Grand Rapids has been called the “suspenders of the Bible belt,” that the University of Minnesota’s Twin Cities made the cover of Christianity Today recently, and that Moscow, Idaho (home of University of Idaho) reflects a very Reformed influence.
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What are the unique college ministry aspects of your region? (I promise, there are some.)
What college ministry aspects of other regions have surprised you?
What don’t you know about other regions’ and other circles’ college ministry norms? (That’s the question we can never answer – but it’s a great humility-catalyst!)
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For those of you who enjoy this sort of thing, I wanted to use this post to look back at my adventures last weekend – and let you know about this weekend’s (strangely parallel) exploits as I enjoy some great campus tribes!
Last weekend, I got to experience the well-known festivities that take place during a home football game at the University of Michigan.
Of course, this wasn’t just a fun respite from my calling to explore college ministries; it’s all part of the process of learning the campus tribes. (And I hope you do the same sort of thing – with some regularity – on your own campuses, walking among the “masses” as they go about their fun, their work, their studies, their parties, their lives.)
I now find myself in State College, PA, also known as the Happy Valley… and also known as the home of the Penn State Nittany Lions. Like last weekend at Michigan, this is also a home game weekend, and the home team is also playing a squad from Indiana. (Last week, Michigan played Purdue; today, Penn State plays IU.)
So I plan to explore the famous Gameday experience here, comparing and contrasting with last weekend to my heart’s content. (The tailgating at Penn State was voted the best collegiate tailgating by SI readers, and #5 by ESPN. And like last weekend, you can join in on the action, because I’ll be Tweeting my experiences throughout this morning.
Yet unlike last weekend, I’ll be attending the game – through a very providential set of circumstances, God has provided a free ticket!
So in case you missed last week, you can find my “reports” from Michigan below. Remember, all the “twitpic” links provide pictures from that big day. And if you want to follow my adventure in Happy Valley, just click over to www.twitter.com/bensonhines to see today’s reports!
- If you’re playing Michigan Game Day Bingo, cross off full gorilla suit, beekeeper helmet, & live band playing rock version of “Scrubs” 10:44 AM
- Made it to the entrance (see pic), now I walk back to campus & enjoy it again http://twitpic.com/omdh3 11:01 AM
- A classic tailgating scene: http://twitpic.com/omedb 11:07 AM
- A view up State St.: http://twitpic.com/omgh1 11:23 AM
- The biggest lawn party I’ve seen so far, complete w Halloween decor still up: http://twitpic.com/omhf1 11:29 AM
- As for instances of blaring Party in the USA this mornin’, the count is now 4 11:31 AM
- I had to take an alternate route to get back up to main campus, because walking against the gameday flow on State became a non-option 11:37 AM
- Best view of the day: Bongo Man in front of the stadium, who rhymes about the people who pass (& probably CLEANS UP). Brilliant. (Pic next) 12:04 PM
- Picture of Bongo Man at UMich Gameday: http://twitpic.com/ommmg 12:05 PM
- Tailgating with a TV: http://twitpic.com/omnlk 12:12 PM
- Fortunately, @ Michigan gameday I am wearing a UM T-shirt with blue & yellow… Unfortunately, it’s Univ of Missouri Kansas City (go ‘Roos!) 12:28 PM
- Oh, that campus missionaries would so work among the college tribes that the desires indulged in during a normal Gameday would be… 12:42 PM
- …not weakened but strengthened! “Our desires are not too strong but too weak.” – C.S.L. 12:43 PM
I myself was part of the Aggie tribe, as a proud member of the Texas A&M University Class of 2002. But there are, as you may know, other campus tribes known as “Aggie” around the country. I’ve now been to two of those: New Mexico State and, just this last week, University of California Davis.
UC Davis, up here in Northern California (which isn’t anywhere near the actual northern border of California), was a pretty interesting place to visit last week. Here are the things I discovered just in my short time there:
- It boasts about 24,000 undergrads, plus another 6,000 grad students
- With a Davis population of only 64,000, it seems to be a true college town
- It’s in Northern California, so that adds a very unique regional vibe
- Academically, UCD apparently sits somewhere between the absolutely rigorous environments found, for instance, at Berkeley or Stanford, and far less rigorous institutions like… some other schools
- UC Davis has high college ministry involvement, at least comparatively
- The school functions on the Quarter System (so there are three periods during the school year rather than two)
- UCD is known academically for a lot of things, including viticulture and other agricultural pursuits (which is where they get their mascot name). Apparently they also lead the nation in number of biological sciences degrees conferred, and they had the first Native American Studies department.
- They call freshmen, “frosh”
- Like many California schools, there is a high Asian population
Of all the 300-or-so campuses I’ve visited in the last couple of years, we could write a similar list FOR EACH ONE. And even for UC Davis, there are probably a dozen or more unique points that somebody who was there for more than 2 days could add!
Here’s the kicker: every point in that list affects college ministry in some way or another. (Take a look – each of them could potentially impact some aspect of campus ministry work.) This is why I argue that we must approach campuses like missionaries approach tribes – because to reach the Aggies best, we’ve got to know how to deal with the large size of the school, how to navigate (and discover true needs) within the college ministry community, and even to make sure to call first-year students “frosh” and not “fish.” And again, that’s just from what I picked up in a couple of days through a few conversations!
Every campus I visit, my understanding of our need to contextualize is refreshed. I’m sure as I explore Cal State Chico, I’ll see comparisons and contrasts with UC Davis – and with hundreds of other schools. I’m an analytical dude, so all this is pretty fun for me. But even if it wasn’t, it’s vital practice for any of us who hope to reach our own campus tribes best.
So if you need to remember how to exegete your campus context, then I suggest you explore an unfamiliar one every once in awhile!
written from Chico, California
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Road Trip 13: Day 8 recap
spent most of the day at Adventure Christian Church, then drove up to Chico
total mileage: 2,080 miles
T-shirt: the Cardinal tribe of University of Louisville
today: exploring Cal State Chico, then a drive over to the Bay Area (or close)
CHAPEL HILL, NC — The king is dead! Long live the king!
Finalizing the intra-family coup that stunned the Chapel Hill community this week, mascot Rameses XVII has died of complications stemming from the wound inflicted by his son, Pablo.
Barring any further treachery, Pablo will now reign as University of North Carolina’s Rameses XVIII. The progeny successfully broke his father’s horn completely off via a violent head-butt 2 weeks ago. After infection set in, all hope was lost for the older ram, who died Thursday.
Pablo was immediately slated to assume his father’s former post upon the loss of the horn, so it is uncertain whether the junior ram’s treacherous plot included patricide or only his father’s dismemberment.
For more on this story, click here.
For brief histories of the UNC traditions, including Rameses, click here.
Written from Durham, NC.
As I’ve journeyed from Portland to, presently, Minneapolis, I’ve obviously covered a lot of country. And like so much of this trip, it’s been an opportunity to enjoy locality – the “localness” of various cool places all across the U.S.
While I’m not hanging out for long in any one place during this TRECC, there has still been some great locality to enjoy this week.
[If you're new, this is a special week on the blog. Catch up at the TRECC Itinerary.]
The accents, for instance. I just about freaked the first time I heard somebody really talk like that. You know, the Great Plains accent that we sometimes hear on movies – films about yous guys up here, don’tcha know.
The first version of this accent I got to hear belonged to a lady at the info desk at Montana Tech in Butte. I asked her where the bookstore was, but once she opened her mouth I had to force myself to pay attention to her information. I was enthralled by the accent, to say the least.
Later that day, elsewhere in town, I even got a “You betcha!”
Meanwhile, my own accent continues to betray me this week. And along with that comes the first-name problem Read the rest of this entry »
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