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If you’re interested in college ministry at all, you’re interested in this: The country’s best-known, best-branded college ministry (by far) will change its name in 2012. Campus Crusade for Christ will officially become “cru” nationwide.
(I was going to post about something college ministries can learn from Justin Bieber – really – but I’ll save that for this week’s Fridea. Check back in a couple of days!)
Campus Crusade has done a good job with their announcement page for this change, including the official press release and a very strong Q&A page. It’s interesting to note not only the whys (and the hows) of the name-change, but also to read between the lines and see some of the concerns others have already expressed.
(See some additional thoughts & links in the next post.)
the why of the change
In their words,
There’s only one reason we’d change. We want to do a better job of connecting people to God’s love and forgiveness. It’s all about helping people experience the good news that Jesus offers.
Since 2009, Campus Crusade for Christ International has been officially looking at making a change for its U.S. mission, but various levels have felt this need for a much longer time. The key issues involve both “campus” and “crusade.” The former is a problem because Campus Crusade does have much work beyond college campuses.
But for the huge part of U.S. Campus Crusade that is collegiate work, it’s the word “Crusade” that has been problematic. (I wrote on those “unexpected shiftings of vocabular connotations” back in 2009.) While “crusade” actually has a much more general meaning, newer generations may not associate the word with anything other than the historical Crusades. And when you add the fact that Campus Crusade sends lots of students to the mission field each year, the level of concern increases all the more.
Very interestingly, they write
Our surveys show that, in the U.S., twenty percent of the people willing to consider the gospel are less interested in talking with us after they hear the name. We are changing the name for the sake of more effective ministry.
my first thoughts
From my viewpoint – not only of Crusade but also in broader Evangelical campus ministry – here are some first reflections on this far-reaching decision in the world of College Ministry.
1. The name. I knew this change was coming, and my best guess was they’d land on one of three options:
- Cru, since it is the common nickname across many campuses.
- CRU – as an acronym – since it keeps the common nickname but adds meaning. It could be something like “Christ Reaching the University” (at least for the campus work).
- Campus for Christ, which is the Canadian name already and is (obviously) stinkin’ close.
Officially, the new name is “cru” for the logo and “Cru” in normal sentences. (“Lowercase letters are used in the logo to “avoid confusion as an acronym or abbreviation.”)
2. A tough situation. When it comes down to it, I think they had to change the name. (That 20% statistic alone is enough to sway me!) So once that decision was reached, it’s sensible to go with something derived from what they’ve had, and something already connected to many of their chapters (which they call “movements”).
But having to change at all still makes things tough. There’s no college ministry out there with nearly the name recognition among outsiders; pastors and parents seem far more likely to know to tell their students to “look for Campus Crusade!” than anything else.
As a point of comparison, second prize in “brand recognition” probably goes to the Baptist Student Union… the former name of the Southern Baptist Convention’s campus-based ministry. BSU is now called “Baptist Collegiate Ministries” nationally and all sorts of different things state-by-state. Yet those outside the world of college ministry continue to point students to “BSU,” even though that name is only used in a few states. (You can read about their situation here.)
So Cru is likely to face something similar for a long, long time: As students, donors, and others come looking for “Campus Crusade for Christ,” they won’t find what they’re looking for (immediately, at least). That’s a huge loss from a branding perspective.
3. Growing in Cru vs. Rowing in Crew. While it may sound silly, there will be places the new name will cause confusion with rowing teams. “Cru” and “Crew” are homophones, obviously. So at campuses where “rowing crew” is a big deal – yes, there are such campuses – this may cause a bit of a hiccup. Remember The Social Network? (Fortunately, Cru is known as “Real Life” in Boston!)
The funny thing is, Cru will now share this difficulty with InterVarsity, whose name has long caused some to assume an athletic connection.
4. Internal pressures. No matter what we outside the Campus Crusade family think about the name-change, I imagine it’s probably a bit nightmarish dealing with detractors from throughout the staff and donor base. (The FAQ makes clear what some of the concerns are.)
We should pray for our Cru brothers and sisters as they, again, do the best they can with a tough situation. And we should pray for those on the local level; it’s never fun being told you have to change your name, even if you can see why. Those who haven’t already shifted to “Cru” or something else entirely probably have reasons for keeping the status quo, so I’m sure there will be some level of grumpiness and difficulty!
5. The larger campus missionary community? In describing the process, Cru noted that they solicited ideas from thousands within the organization. The decision itself involved 30 staff members from throughout the organization, as well as input from two outside agencies. All of that is superb.
What I missed in reading the site, however, was any mention of discussing this with those outside the Campus Crusade family. (Of course, they might have involved staff from IV, Navigators, Chi Alpha, etc., but I didn’t see it mentioned.)
Rightly or wrongly, one of the biggest concerns I hear about local Cru ministries is the classic “They’re just interested in doing their own thing” complaint. It seems like both the name-change process and the announcement were big chances for this largest of campus ministries to clarify that they see themselves as members of a much larger community of those “reaching the campus tribes.” But hopefully this was a part of the process; if so, maybe they’ll note that at some point.
6. God cares about names. I really appreciate the emphasis they’ve placed on God needing to direct this process (especially in the video announcements). In the end, the decision may seem “simple,” but it’s good for all of us to remember that God cares about directing us in our individual ministries, too – whether we’re picking a name, designing a T-shirt, or writing a blog. We should be praying about it all!
7. Of course, they’re phasing it in. Don’t be surprised if “Campus Crusade for Christ” is still used at your campus for semesters or even years to come. The page states they’re waiting until “early 2012″ so they can make sure “Cru has high name recognition with our stakeholders.”
But I imagine (and hope) there will be major leeway given to those “on the ground” to phase this in. The tough thing about a major change at the campus level is that word-of-mouth and branding are so key. The nice thing, though, is that within 3 years no one even remembers there was a change!
More tomorrow. This is a big moment in the history of our field. I’ve got additional thoughts & links in the next post. Further, if you’re interested in getting to know Cru better, here are my reflections after attending the DFW Winter Conf, and part two is here. (One of the best ways to get to know a college ministry is to participate in what it sees as a cornerstone activity.)
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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!
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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I posted this video yesterday of Geraldo Rivera interviewing college students outside the White House Sunday night, as they celebrated the news of the death of Osama bin Laden. If you look close – these people make up our mission field, after all – there’s actually quite a bit this one clip reminds us about college students.
While it’s always good for us to analyze the people we serve, this kind of thing can also be useful for sharing with our supporters, our overseers, and others about our unique campus mission fields. And it might even be handy for helping our own students reflect on themselves.
1. College students love an excuse to rally. Not only are college students easily excitable, but they also enjoy being excited. Among other applications of this fact, this is one reason why the Large Group Meeting continues to be one of the more missional methods within college ministry: because collegians love participating in “the big thing,” whether it be a football game or protest or campus-wide concert.
2. Zeal is more common (and certainly comes sooner) than wisdom or reflection.
3. Their lives have been shaped by 9/11. For college students today, their earliest “world-shaping memory” may just be the events of September 11, 2001 – when most were between 8 and 12 years old. We who are even a little bit older are quick to forget that. 9/11 will forever shape their lives, much like an older generation was impacted deeply by the disaster of Pearl Harbor.
4. They live very much “in the now” (and “in the here”). These college students were thrilled on the night of bin Laden’s death. But as you probably noticed (and as Geraldo very much exploited!) they seemed equally thrilled at the possibility of getting to miss Finals the next day. That’s how college students often think: Whatever’s happening now (and often to them) is what matters most.
5. There’s a tribal identity that actually means something. Dallas sports radio played this clip on Monday to laugh at the girl at the end, who unceremoniously exclaims a “Roll Tide, y’all!” (If you’re unfamiliar, “Roll Tide” is the extremely well known, widely used war cry of the University of Alabama.)
It’s easy to think that’s a ridiculous way to celebrate anything beyond a touchdown… but I’m not so sure. I went to one of the more tradition-laden schools in the country, Texas A&M, and our own exclamations – “Whoop!” being chief among them – were bred into me, as well. And though it may sound stupid, that remains my most personal, most “primal” means of expressing excitement – much more than an “amen” or a more generic cheer. For that gal, the most appropriate way to express utter celebration may very well have been “Roll Tide, y’all!”
(Or if she was just taking the moment to represent her campus tribe to a national TV audience… well, that kinda fits #4, doesn’t it?)
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I’m putting the key question of today’s blog first, so we don’t miss it: How are you shepherding your students in processing the news of Osama bin Laden’s death? This is not a teachable moment we should be missing.
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How does an “exploring college ministry” blog respond to the death of Osama bin Laden? With nothing of great importance, I assure you. But I did run across this on Monday (actually, I heard about it on local sports radio!). And in a moment of great national interest, I appreciated the chance to reflect on the uniqueness of the people we get to serve.
There’s actually some interesting stuff to note here (complete with a well-known war cry at the end…), so I’ll probably put on my analytical hat for tomorrow’s blog.
And meanwhile, though you can Google and find more, here are some links that might be worth passing on to college students as they – and you – process this moment in U.S. history. Obviously, we’ll all differ in how we think this through… but let’s just make sure we think it through AND help our students do the same.
The Death of Osama bin Laden: What Kind of Justice Has Been Done? (highlighting differences between the City of Man and City of God by Michael Horton for Christianity Today)
Yes, Justice Has Been Done in the Killing of Osama bin Laden (discussing how we as Christians should respond to this event, by Gideon Strauss for Christianity Today)
‘Do Not Gloat’ over Osama bin Laden’s Death (more on our response by Warren Larson for Christianity Today)
‘Do Not Gloat’ vs. ‘Joy to the Righteous’ (The verses most quoted on Twitter and Facebook after the news of the death of Osama bin Laden, from Christianity Today)
Is God Glad Osama bin Laden’s Dead? (No and Yes, says John Piper)
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My general approach for this “Topics Worth the Tussle” series has generally been presenting a few key verses to present a biblical topic that might be worth “tussling over” with college students. Please don’t think me unspiritual to take a slightly different approach today; I planned to present the topic and then realized that this, too, is a very collegiate topic that might be worth bringing up… even if that’s plenty awkward, too.
The topic?
How we – as Jesus followers – connect to sports.
I have made it very clear that I get really excited about the NCAA Tournament. And I also believe it’s a great chance to see the unique wonders of our particular mission field, the college campus (including in my “Sixty-Eight: A Vision Trip” essay, which apparently some people are even using with supporters and others! Hooray!).
At the same time, there have been some Christians who have (rightly) tried to examine whether our current “sports culture” in America might be at odds with what we profess as Christ followers. So I think that’s great for us – as college ministers – to wrestle with, and it might be great to bring up with your students, too.
Collegiate church planter Russell Atherton sent me the link to a CNN article highlighting some college ministry activity at Duke this week. While I personally have no idea if this thing was a valuable ministry event (but it certainly could have been), it’s definitely an interesting event. AND it was fun to see college ministry discussed at CNN and connected to March Madness. (The line at the end about the “tribal” nature of campuses was pretty interesting, too!)
Here’s the article: Amid March Madness, some Christians decry sports worship
There are several links in that article to people who have written about sports-and-Christianity. It’s definitely worth checking out.
The dangers of Christian obsession with Sports was also a Christianity Today cover story last year, so I’ll close out with some links to a few of their articles.
- Sports Fanatics: How Christians have succumbed to the sports culture—and what might be done about it.
- A Response to “Sport Fanatics” (above): Sport Is More Than Play
- The Joy of Sports: There are a lot of Christian athletes who care about the Cross, the gospel, humility, joy, and sanctification.
- My Top 5 Books on Sports: Picks from Andrew Parker, professor of sport and Christian outreach at the University of Gloucestershire
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I thought I’d post a few videos you might enjoy. They’re related to our field in various ways.
The first is ESPN’s Kenny Mayne’s visit to Richmond, VA, a city which shockingly had two schools in the Sweet 16 – both major underdogs to win even their first game in the tournament, let alone a few games to get to the Sweet 16. The committee that picks teams for this tournament was even highly criticized for letting in Virginia Commonwealth University – something that’s mentioned in the video. (If you didn’t know, last night VCU won yet again – another (slight) upset – but Richmond finally got beat.)
I bet it’s been fun around both those campuses this week – a whole campus can certainly get excited about basketball success!
If you’re unfamiliar with Rebecca Black’s music video, I bet your students aren’t. Her song has definitely gone “viral” in the last couple of weeks (the video below has about 50 million views so far). This video is just so terrible and so popular (both, I promise) that you really should know about it.
And it’s already been the video that’s launched a thousand parodies… I was wondering if any campus ministries had “adapted” it for their purposes yet, but I couldn’t find any. Let me know if you know of one!
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Perhaps besides September, March may have the best potential for an annual commemoration of the awesome work taking place through college ministry of all varieties. Why?
On the one hand, there’s ample evidence of the darker side of the collegiate existence during this month, as thousands flock to the beaches and elsewhere to engage in plenty of well-publicized debauchery (“de-beach-ery”?).
But the flipside of that is that hundreds of college ministries go out to impact during the same Break week – even sometimes in those very party scenes, as well as in many locations nationally and internationally. (I helped take a such a group to the airport early Sunday morning!)
Finally, this is also the month when a large portion of our country turns their eyes to March Madness, even if only to fill out a Tournament bracket and watch a few nationally televised basketball games. As I’ve written before – and I’ll post again soon – the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament can be like a true “vision trip,” starkly highlighting the amazing missiological opportunity among this unique people and their thousands of individual “campus tribes.”
We may be a few years away from the American Church as a whole celebrating what we do throughout an entire month of the year. But perhaps we can celebrate among ourselves for one week – and think about how we might draw others into the celebration of College Ministry.
I’ve seen college ministries and campuses all over this country (and a few places outside our country, too), and I can report that it is… Definitely. Worth. Celebrating.
As I mentioned, I took some students to the airport Sunday morning to catch a flight to Haiti. Exciting stuff, although 4:36am is a particularly brutal wakeup time on “Spring Forward Day”… So since I’m writing this late Sunday night, I’ll keep this short. For now, a few quick things to get us in the spirit of celebration:
- Celebrate. Don’t forget that what you do as a college minister is really important. Think about why. Tell people why (in a humble way!). Ask people why, ’cause they may have some reasons you haven’t thought about.
- Take advantage of this unique month. If I were you, I’d be the one organizing the Tournament brackets and basketball watching parties for your church (whether you’re a church-based college minister or not). I’d be sharing testimonies of Spring Break mission trips. I’d be pointing out the great need, using Spring Break clips from the news (or MTV?). I’d be thinking and praying about other ways to share the story of what we do, while the winds are blowing rather “collegiate” this month.
- Notice. Sometimes we need to be more in awe that God has called us to this unique area of ministry. Whether it’s Googling to find the work others are doing during Spring Break or noticing the beautiful panorama of campuses in the basketball tournament’s field of sixty-eight, wonder should be part of our response. We are a fortunate few. Have you noticed?
- Stay tuned. I’ll offer various helps to keep us in the spirit of celebration this week. I hope you’ll take a look, and I hope you’ll pass ‘em on to others who need to hear the importance of college ministry.
P.S. In case you’re wondering, I’ve visited 46 of the 68 schools in this year’s Tournament bracket. Now to find all those T-shirts…
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Until somebody mentioned it on Sunday, I didn’t realize that Ash Wednesday is tomorrow. And that means it’s the start of Lent, the 40-day period before Easter Sunday.
Recent years seem to have seen an upswing in Lenten activities among Protestants – including those from very non-liturgical traditions. And there’s all sorts of draw for our college students, particularly in these modern forms: Experiencing Lent is vintage (or even authentage), high-commitment (but relatively short-term), and done (often, at least) in community – yet exactly how one observes Lent is often highly individualized. All very Millennial.
In any case, this might be a fit for your group this year, so I wanted to remind you! If it is, you might be able to take an hour or two refreshing yourself on meanings of and ideas for Lent, and then you can contact your group about it. (It may be last-minute, but your students wouldn’t seriously consider it until the last minute, anyway, right?)
But I also wanted to provide a Lenten help from a cool college ministry from the Northwest. Resonate Church is a fairly young collegiate church serving both the Wildcat tribe and the Vandal tribe. (That’s right – two states!)
They’ve also constructed a cool calendar for their students to use during the next 40 days. I won’t worry about explaining it – but I’d encourage you to check it out. It will give you (or your students) some great ideas.
Here’s the awesome download: LentCalendar – Resonate Church. (Big thanks to Worship Pastor Josh Martin for sending it my way!)
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