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Here’s this past week’s lineup of helpful links and particularly important blog conversations about our amazing field!
Jeff Widman offers something superb: his expertise in social networking, applied to college ministry! Apparently Jeff had a great college ministry experience himself; now, he’s a major social networking guru. (His clients include Microsoft, Seth Godin, and others – really, this is legit.) Receive the fruits of his generous combination of those two loves by joining his Useful Facebook Tips for Campus Pastors group.
Here at Exploring College Ministry, I asked for wisdom about how we classify various college ministries – and people responded with some great thoughts. If you get a chance, take a look – and add your own thoughts on this important issue.
The Association of Collegiate Ministries posted the first of two posts about college ministry fundraising, reprinting (with permission) Steve Shadrach‘s 5 Keys for this important area. Shadrach is a well-known consultant in this area, and it’s great that ACM has been able to share his wisdom.
Need some cool ideas for simple service – for individual students, small groups, or your ministry as a whole? The Simple Love Project provides all sorts of ideas, at the touch of a button! (HT: HeartOfCampusMinistry.com.)
Also at Heart of Campus Ministry, Brandon Smith wrote a great, quick post on college ministry as “reverse missionary work.”
What an amazing idea for your college ministry: offering free peer-tutoring to your campus! Florida State’s Michael Mears shares Christian Campus Fellowship’s idea and their (very cool) advertisement right here.
Christianity Today posts a lengthy interview with sociologist Christian Smith, discussing his new book, Lost in Transition. Smith is a well-known expert on young adults’ connection (and disconnection) from spiritual life and church life.
written from Riverside, California
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Road Trip 13: Days 13 & 14 recap
finished up at the CollegeLeader Conference
T-shirts: the Screaming Eagles of U. of Southern Indiana and the Wave tribe of Pepperdine
today: churches and catching up (see all explorations so far!)
A few weeks ago, I mentioned my friends at NewChapter as one example of outside specialists who complement the work of college ministries. I’ve been hoping to highlight NewChapter for a long time, because they’re not only a solid example of that, but their specific work could be revolutionary for some college ministries around the U.S.
NewChapter is actually a construction company that has been (re)building fraternity and sorority houses for several years. However, with several Christians in the mix, they took the opportunity to embark on something new: building a big student housing complex for a college ministry (at Purdue).
And in that process, they began to realize that they could help other ministries, too, by partnering with them to build “Student Living Centers.” I have encountered several examples of ministries dabbling in student housing. This is that idea on steroids! It provides:
- An alternative funding source. In the case of NewChapter, this Center doesn’t just pay for itself, but also ultimately could provide additional funds for the ministry, for salaries, for whatever. How would that change your ministry?
- An alternative platform for impact – the chance to connect with residents under your own roof. And those may be students from the general population of your campus, or international students (who often need affordable housing options).
- An alternative to the classic “college ministry building.” While a Center provides the benefits of worship- and office-space, it doesn’t come with the headaches of normal “ministry houses” (bills, upkeep, etc.). NewChapter brings their management expertise, so the minister doesn’t have to be the go-to-guy (or gal) for their building.
- An alternative to everything else. “Student Living Centers” are not the norm in college ministry (even if the Greek system uses them all around us). So a Center might reach a whole segment of campus that’s unreached, help your ministry integrate with the campus in new ways, or even introduce a new season for a college ministry.
Whether or not you go with NewChapter, have you ever thought “outside the box” in big ways like this?
If you read this blog regularly, you know I don’t hype too many things. NewChapter is a group I feel really comfortable “hyping,” though. For one thing, they’re intent on making sure this is truly a fit for a ministry before proceeding. We’ve had several discussions this year, and I’ve been floored by how intent they are on understanding how they can help college ministries best. (I wish more organizations paid closer attention to what goes on in our world!)
In fact, NewChapter’s support for college ministry has also led them to help me financially on occasion. I honestly would share what they’re doing even if that wasn’t true, but maybe that’s one more “push” toward contacting them: By connecting with them, you might even be helping me out! (So please tell ‘em you heard about this from me!)
Clearly, undertaking a large-scale building project is a BIG deal and certainly isn’t for every ministry. (They actually just discussed that fact on their blog.) It takes a calling and a commitment, for sure. But it’s crazy enough that it just might work, and it’s backed by people who know what they’re doing.
You can certainly contact me to learn more (and I’ll be objective). But of course their site and their blog have lots of good info, too.
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written in the Memorial Union, Arizona State University
Road Trip 13: Day 4 recap
finished at Arizona State, made my way across the border to Blythe, CA
T-shirt: the Redhawk tribe of Miami University (Ohio)
today: the trek to the Sacramento area!
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