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On recent Mondays, I’ve been looking back at some of the passages from my book on campus ministry, Reaching the Campus Tribes, expounding on some of the ideas that sprang from my yearlong research trip. (See those posts here and here and here and here.)
In this case, I wanted to offer a portion that is especially interesting to read right now, as many of us finish out our school years. I really hope you’ll read and reflect – and pass this on to anyone who needs to be reminded (or told) about the great mission field we get to serve!
In the last week, I’ve had the opportunity to visit two campuses – West Virginia University and George Mason University – which happened to be holding New Student Orientation activities during my visits.
For the uninitiated, NSO is a summer event when freshmen make their way to campus, often with parents in tow, in order to (presumably) get “oriented” for the year to come. This event often involves registering for classes, touring the campus, learning traditions and other school “rules,” and perhaps even moving in to the dorms.
Orientation also brings recruitment by countless organizations. Depending on the school, this can include extracurricular activities (frats, clubs, ministries, etc.), but it very likely also includes community establishments…
…such as banks, with their slick cups and pens and checkbook holders, recruiting students and their (parents’) money. You’ll also find newspaper subscription-hawkers, cell phone companies, and the ever-present bookstore, who will remind you from the beginning of your college experience that its convenience and support of the school make higher prices worth the cost.
Each business recognizes that this is a fresh crop, a group of pre-freshmen ready to be served! After all, a whole bunch of customers just graduated in May, and while their faces are long forgotten, their patronage is certainly missed.
(The credit card companies are probably absent at this point; they will instead show up within the semester, when parents aren’t around, with lots of free T-shirts or other flashy giveaways.)
This is Orientation.
But as missionaries, we look closer.
This is a land of fresh, wide-eyed potential. 18-year-old men and women walk these halls with maps they won’t soon need. Over the next four years, they will encounter a sort of life they haven’t known, with freedoms to do and be and become. The skin of high school, often so restrictive with its cliques and malformed “cool” and Babel-like, single-language culture, will be shed. New friends, new acceptance, new opportunities are here, whether this place is 50,000 people strong or much smaller.
A college is bigger than its numbers.
The hustle and bustle that will soon be found daily on campus will be a great visual metaphor for the life, the energy, the haphazard but steady progress that happens in this place.
Successes in the next four years will lead to the greatest joys imaginable, with experiences that last a lifetime or even lead these beautiful people to a new sort of life altogether. Reinventing oneself is not an uncommon event on a college campus.
These men and women will “find themselves” in all the best ways: within majors they didn’t know existed, within communities they didn’t know could exist, within new routines and challenging schedules and the maturity that makes life breathe easier. Leaders will rise up, either realizing the potential we always knew they had… or shocking everyone with ability we never knew existed.
Some of these men and women will find husbands and wives over the next four years, and many others will have their “antes upped,” as co-ed friendships help raise the bar on what they’re looking for in a significant other.
In even the first month of school, many of these guys and gals will join clubs that will “stick.” Many will start a friendship that will last forever. Many will be invited to a Bible study. Many will find their church – or at least start looking with intentionality. Many will reflect on this new experience after a few weeks, grin, and look forward to an amazing four years.
In those next four years, plenty of these men and women will get a leadership position. Or two. They’ll get in shape. Get a kiss (even their first, in some cases). Get engaged. Learn to schedule. Get a 4.0. Get honored. Make 2,000 Facebook friends. Find a career. Study abroad. Let go a little, loosen up a bit, mature a lot, and laugh nearly every day.
Some of these nearly-collegians will be back smiling next year at Orientation, happily representing the glories they’ve found to a new batch ready to be influenced and trained. Many of those glories would pleasantly surprise them today.
And some of those booths will be ministry booths, because the college ministry communities will have welcomed in Christians and non-Christians for discipleship and fellowship and conversion and love. Lots and lots of love. Boys and girls will come to school uncommitted and will leave vibrant, wide-eyed Jesus followers, and the whole world will be different because of it.
As missionaries, we look.
This Orientation also presents a land of unspeakable danger. 18-year-olds walking these halls at Orientation don’t realize the changes about to take place, and there are few good maps. Over the next four years, they will encounter a sort of life they haven’t known, with freedoms to fail and waste and destroy. The buffers of high school and family, often places of unappreciated coziness and naiveté and ever-present help, will be long gone. New kinds of pain, new temptation, new harshness are here, whether this place is 50,000 people strong or much smaller.
A college is bigger than its numbers.
The hustle and bustle that will soon be found daily on campus will conceal much of the death, the hurt, the haphazard and steady decay haunting this place.
Simple “mess-ups” in the next four years will lead to the deepest pain imaginable, in some cases pains that last a lifetime or even lead these beautiful people to take their lives altogether. Collegiate suicide is not an uncommon event.
These boys and girls will “find themselves” in all the worst ways: within temptations they didn’t know existed, within relationships they didn’t think could exist, within new routines and schedules and the stresses that can color days gray. Cults will rise up: cults of personality, cults of pleasure, and even real religious cults.
Many will “play house” over the next four years, and even today at Orientation the girls flaunt bodies, and even today the boys muster courage and methods to take them up on it. Many boys and girls will lower their expectations, willing to do much and accept many that they wouldn’t have only a year or two before, in hopes of touch and friendship and love and promise.
In even the first month of school, many will be invited to parties that get them in over their heads. Many will get drunk for the first time. Many won’t be invited to a Bible study. Many will attend church for the last time for many years. Many will reflect on this new experience after a few weeks, shudder, and walk forward into four long years.
In those next four years, plenty of these men and women will make a life-changing bad decision. Or three. They’ll get in heavy debt. Have a homosexual encounter (even their first, in some cases). Get an eating disorder. Get depressed. Reject their faith. Abort their education. Abort a child. Bring shame to themselves, their family, or their student organization. Masterfully learn “the world,” in all its selfishness and evil and temporary gratification. Lose friends. Let go of too much, loosen up too much, mature too little, and cry on many, many days.
Some of these nearly-collegians will be back smiling next year at Orientation, happily representing the “glories” they’ve found to a new batch ready to be influenced and trained. Many of those glories would repel them today.
This is the brink called Orientation, as men and women walk the halls of campus with their soon-tossed maps and their soon-absent parents and their fearful hope in tow.
[Remember, you can download Reaching the Campus Tribes for free!]
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On Mondays for a little while, I’m looking back at (and expanding on) some points from my book, Reaching the Campus Tribes. So far, I’ve looked at our need to use greater means to reach the campuses and the truly contextual nature of college ministry (even if some college ministers don’t really like hearing it).
Today, a section from the final chapter – a substantial epilogue, really – entitled, “Into the Harvest: A Road Map Forward from a Road Trip’s Findings.” I start that chapter by expressing that we need heroes – including potentially an organization that will display the wisdom and breadth to help jump-start Collegiate Ministry advancement. But then I turn the corner to look at individual ministers:
Of course, many of college ministry’s heroes will be men and women called to impact students directly as college ministers. We need to pray for God to send more people into the harvest field of the campus tribes, whichever branch of college ministry they serve in.
And hopefully a number of these ministers will become college ministry “lifers,” those women and men who serve for decades in this noble cause. As I saw numerous times throughout my trip, veterans have a wisdom for other college ministers (and for their students) that simply can’t be matched. Having an increasing number of seasoned collegiate missionaries will be enormously powerful in helping our field develop.
College ministers also must do their part in helping draw others to this task, by sharing their stories with the greater Church. From early years, even children and teenagers should hear the stories of faithful efforts among the campus tribes. Articles and books should be written about these missionary efforts, and local congregations and even larger audiences should be privy to the captivating testimonies. God may use those stories to call other people to join this noble missions effort – whether they are called to pray, to give, or to go.
It’s the second and third paragraphs that I wanted to focus in on. Have you considered what role you’re meant to play inthe field of college ministry as a whole? Is it possible God wants you to help impact beyond your own ministry, to help college ministry thrive in other places?
Just as not every foreign missionary is called to spend some time appealing for the cause of foreign missions, not every college minister will take part in this task. But some should. Let me reiterate all the possibilities I mentioned, only this time a little more personally:
- You can serve in our field for years and years, and share your seasoned wisdom with younger ministers
- You could help recruit more college ministers
- You could help draw others to impact students and invest in college ministry – like churches, organizations, and other Christian people and groups
- You can tell stories of your work (and others’ work) among the “campus tribes”
- You could submit an article or even write a book about the glories of college ministry or what you’ve learned
- Through any of these methods (or others), you could help raise funds for college ministry work
- Through any of these methods (or others), you could help increase prayer for college ministry work
Is it possible your college ministry passion and knowledge are meant to be shared?
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I’m taking the next several Mondays expanding on some of the points from my book, Reaching the Campus Tribes. (You can read the first installment in this series here.)
One of the key points is that collegiate contexts are widely diverse. That one fact is probably the most important (but is certainly not the only) characteristic for understanding how collegiate ministry parallels foreign missions.
Here’s a paragraph from the book:
Like any tribe, each campus has a particular context that affects the ways it will be reached best. For example, large metropolitan areas, mid‐sized cities, and true “college towns” are all separate contexts that require different college ministry approaches. A community college is a context of its own, as is a medical school or other training institution. In a large city with many campuses, the presence of a “focus campus” – like the University of Washington in Seattle, or Ohio State University in Columbus – changes the context; large cities without one “focus campus” – Dallas, Boston, Washington, D.C., etc. – require different strategies (and can be far more difficult for college ministry). Schools with a Quarter System calendar require different ministry methods than colleges using semesters. Christian colleges require a very special sort of ministry. Campuses in the Northeast are different from those in the Deep South, which are different from those in the Midwest. With nearly endless contextual possibilities, each tribe presents unique circumstances that affect how we engage it for the cause of Christ. (p. 42)
Beyond those regional and structural differences, schools also vary widely in their culture. As I note there (p. 43), you’ll even find much variation between “Harvard and MIT and Tufts and Cambridge College and Boston College, even though they’re all accessible from the same subway system.” (For more discussion of all this, check out chapter 4!)
The problem is, very few college ministers have actually examined more than a handful of campuses themselves. Many of us have only worked at one or two schools, and it’s likely those are in the same region.
So that’s probably why so few college minsters are interested in hearing things like:
- You should consider starting your new ministry very slowly, learning the context carefully before you ever decide the basics of what your ministry will look like.
- Don’t assume what you’ve learned about college ministry will necessarily transfer well to others’ situations. You may not even realize all you don’t know!
- We shouldn’t automatically assume our brand of college ministry will serve a particular school well (whether we’re a church, a campus-based college ministry, or a college minister looking for a job). There is no “manifest destiny” for any organization to reach any particular campus(es).
Believing that contexts differ doesn’t mean I believe that every school’s the same or that there aren’t any transferable principles. This is more a question of approach than it is about actions. If we enter a new mission field humbly, learning its unique context before we start our work, then we can be pleasantly surprised when some elements turn out to be familiar. Certainly, our actions may often look the same as they would have elsewhere, but we will have started in the right place for maximum effectiveness and impact.
On the other hand, if we approach a campus with our methods ready-to-go and only later try to “tweak” as we learn the campus, we’ve started well behind… and we may even damage a campus in the process. (Again, look to the history of foreign missions for this phenomenon.)
Humility is a cornerstone of good foreign missions, and it should be a cornerstone of our work, too. The contexts really are different – take it from the guy who’s seen several hundred.
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In 1792, during an era of particularly long book titles, William Carey published An Enquiry into the Obligations of Christians to use Means for the Conversion of the Heathens. Many Christians believed that missionary activity was not especially necessary, since God could accomplish salvation without their “help.” As Carey’s title implies, his book argued that Christians should use means – should carry out purposeful activity – to reach unsaved people throughout the world.
In the centuries since, Carey’s words have taken hold within Christendom – to say the least! Today, it’s hard to imagine not “using means for the conversion of the heathens.” Churches, denominations, and thousands of individual Christians have been gripped by a call to international missions, and this effort is now one of Evangelicals’ most significant investments. The entire world is different because Christians decided to “use means” to reach it, despite the difficulties and costs involved. And we continue to look for even better ways to reach more and more people, laboring in missions until Christ returns.
one hundred and eighty-one mission fields
Recently, I had the marvelous opportunity to visit one hundred and eighty-one separate mission fields in a single year. I walked among the natives, examined the Christian work (if any) being accomplished, and prayed for God’s wisdom for better reaching these tribes.
This was an eclectic group of tribes, with differences in size, history, economic prosperity, regional prominence, culture, and traditions. But these particular tribes share one thing: They may have more potential to influence the entire world than any other single kind of tribe. While we can never judge the overall importance of reaching one group of people over another, missiologists recognize the strategic value of reaching groups that serve as gateways to greater impact. And without a doubt, these 181 tribes (and the few thousand tribes like them) provide an immense opportunity for impacting not only their regions but the entire world.
Yet the sad truth is that we have reached these people for Christ far less than we can or should. Despite the ease of accessing most of these tribes, despite the relationship American churches already have with many of the tribes’ members, and despite these tribes’ clear potential to influence the world, mission work among these millions of people is given very low priority by most Christians. This is true even among Christians who otherwise exhibit a true passion for missions.
But as in Carey’s day, Christians are waking up to the necessity of greater missions efforts among these key tribes.
We call these tribes college campuses, and we desperately need to use greater means to reach them.
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As you may already realize, those are the opening paragraphs of my ebook, Reaching the Campus Tribes, which turns 3 years old this month. If you haven’t had the chance to read it – or if you want to be re-encouraged about what you do and what you CAN do – I encourage you to take a look.
I’m going to be spending some Mondays revisiting some of the themes. In general, I’ll offer commentary, not simply quotes. But I thought today’s quotation might stand alone as a good intro to the Monday series – and a good reminder that American Christians need to be told what we’re up to as we labor among the campus tribes! Remember, my book was written for them – not simply for us college ministers. I encourage you to share it!
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O
One year ago today, I e-published Reaching the Campus Tribes: An Opening Inquiry. The response – then and continuing – has been utterly encouraging.
So I want to THANK YOU. Thanks to the many of you who helped spread the book: electronically, of course, but also via CD, via email… even via paper! Thanks to everyone who has said the book encouraged them, taught them, or catalyzed some part of their work.
If you haven’t read the book yet (c’mon, what are you waiting for?), I’ll tell you what I tell everybody:
You can easily read this book in a day… and it’s even got lots of great pictures!
But I’ll also add this: I really believe this book reflects much of the collective wisdom that can be found throughout the country, because it was borne from interviews with hundreds of college ministers. We know that what we do isn’t like most other ministries in Christendom; this book simply gives us a framework to make sense of this incredible thing we get to be a part of.
And hopefully – and this is one area that depends on you guys – those outside of college ministry will read Reaching the Campus Tribes, too.
Because they need to understand this. They need to value this work. They need to support this work.
So, again, THANK YOU for helping Reaching to thrive over the past year. I hope it continues to inspire, encourage, and teach. I’m blessed to have any hand in it at all.
thanks to the many who helped spread Reaching online
(if I’ve left someone out, let me know!)
Center for Parent / Youth Understanding · Chi Alpha Campus Ministries (National) · Emerging Scholars Network of InterVarsity · Impact Campus Ministries (part of the NACCM) · Internet Evangelism Day · The Ivy Jungle Network · Jesus Creed blog at BeliefNet · School Christian Fellowships, Canada · Matt Adair, Pastor, Christ Church Presbyterian, Watkinsville, GA · Brian Barela, Campus Crusade, Cal State Chico · Joe and Heidi Barrale, Freedom Life Christian Center, Christiana, PA · Chris Blair, Kats for Christ, Sam Houston State · Chuck Bomar, Founder, CollegeLeader · Chris Bridgeway, Great Commission Ministries national staff · Alice Connor, Lutheran Campus Ministry, University of Cincinnati · Nathan Creitz, ChurchETHOS · Glen Davis, Chi Alpha, Stanford · Jeff Dyer, Calvary Assembly of God, Dover, DE · Tom Grosh, InterVarsity Graduate & Faculty Ministry / Emerging Scholars Network, Central PA · Michelle Geesaman, Pastor, LSU Chi Alpha · Joel Hughes, professor, Kent State University · Kairos College Ministry, Colorado Springs, CO · Brian Kiley, former and future college minister, Pasadena, CA · Larkin Avenue Baptist Church, Elgin, IL · Steve Lutz, Coalition for Christian Outreach, Penn State University · Nick Melazzo, Baptist Student Ministries, University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada · Ben Moore, Nazarene Student Ministry, Boise State University · Morschmellow blog, Xenos network · Kirby Oaks, Youth Minister, First Reformed Church, Mitchell, SD · Peace & Power Christian Fellowship, Drexel University · Nick Stromwall, Campus Outreach Minneapolis · University Fellowship of Christians, University of Tasmania, Tasmania, Australia · Bill Victor, statewide Baptist Collegiate Ministry, Missouri · Bill Westfall, Impact Ministries, Boise State University · Wes Woodell, Campus Ministry United · Kevin Wright, Sheridan Hills Baptist Church, Hollywood, FL · Xenos Christian Fellowship, Stow, OH · Youth Ministry Institute, New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary
Written from Longmont, CO
Road Trip 14 recap, Day 5
i finally updated the Itinerary page: click here to see all explorations so far!
new campuses: University of Colorado (#6), Colorado School of Mines (#7), & Colorado Christian University (#8)
yesterday: a breakfast with college ministers and visits to THREE campuses! I also took Mark to the airport, so I am a solo traveler once again.
today: several explorations, mostly in Boulder, including an… adventure.
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As a college minister, you probably have some room in the schedule over the next few days. Of course, family and football take precedence, but if you have some time beyond all that, I want to encourage you the same way InterVarsity’s Emerging Scholars Network just encouraged its readers:
Add Reaching the Campus Tribes to your Thanksgiving Break to-do list.
www.reachingthecampustribes.com
If you haven’t had the chance to read my (free and full-of-pictures) book yet, this week is a magnificent time to do so. The book offers major encouragement and major ideas for anyone involved in ministering to college students. Could you use a huge boost as the semester or quarter draws to a close – and as the next one is right around the corner?
You can easily read the whole thing in a day – especially a lazy, cozy day during Thanksgiving Break. And there’s even a mobile version if you need it, perfect for loading onto a phone and sneaking a peek during Halftimes!
I appreciate the thousands who have visited the site and downloaded the book so far. I’m excited that it seems to be helpful to a wide range of college ministers. After roaming the country over the last few years (and 8 years of direct college ministry before that), it’s still the best way I can share with you the fruit of what I’ve seen.
And if we’ll pass Reaching to other American Christians who need to understand what we do… it might just be a tool God uses to grow their support for our work, too.
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Meanwhile, as many of you are indeed beginning your Thanksgiving break today, I’m going to join you and take a few days off of the ol’ blog. Personally, it’s a doubly good time for me to take a pause, since…
…the enormous Road Trip 13 comes to a close today (presumably, at least).
I’ll have recapping to do next week, but for now it’s going to be a good time to rest up, hang with family, and clean out my car once more. It’s amazing the entropy that sets in during 7 weeks on the road!
See you on Monday.
written from Dickson, TN
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Exploring College Ministry Road Trip 13: Day 52 recap
recap: VA to mid-TN, with a fun stop at Tennessee Tech (see all explorations so far)
mileage: 9,213 miles (so far)
new campus: Tennessee Tech (#36)
new state: Tennessee (#24)
T-shirt: the Huskies of UConn
wednesday: I make my way home to the Dallas area! (final T-shirt today: the Pride of Widener University)
Fifty-two.
That’s how many of Outreach Magazine‘s 2009 100 largest churches I’ve gotten to visit for a weekend service in the last TWO years. And that’s only a fraction of my total church visits, which number around 250 different churches I’ve attended – for a weekly worship service – since August 2007. Many of those churches have likewise been quite famous, extremely influential, or on similar “lists” within the past several years.
You can see most of those churches right here (though the list is only updated through 2008 right now).
Attending worship services has certainly been one highlight of my road trips around the U.S. Every church I visit – small or big, famous or little-known – provides the chance to see “living Christian history.” It’s also a unique experience as a Church Visitor to-the-extreme – an experience that I imagine few, if any, have ever duplicated in such a short time. There’s plenty you start to notice, get the chance to ponder, and begin to imagine in hundreds of visits all crammed into a couple of years.
But though I’d love to share all those things someday, this is a college ministry blog.
Back in April and May, whenever I ran into college ministers I knew, they seemed a little sheepish about not reading Reaching the Campus Tribes yet. But my usual reply was, “That’s what summer is for!” Because I knew that few college ministers would be able to read a book – even a short one – in the closing days of the school year.
Fast forward a few months.
We’re now a month away (or maybe two if you’re on the Quarter System) from your next awesome-though-tiring school year. So I just wanted to remind you… in case you haven’t read it… that there’s a book out there written for you.
It’s for you as a college minister, because it’s written with you in mind.
It’s for you because it shares what I learned about college ministry by sitting down with 300+ guys and gals in our profession, seeing 181 campuses, and visiting all sorts of college ministries around the country!
It’s for you because it’s designed to make our case and enhance our thought.
It’s for you because it’s absolutely free!
And it’s for you because it’s short – short enough to read today. Or tomorrow. A very quick read. (I’ve been there. I know that’s important.)
Since its release in April, I’ve received all sorts of encouraging words about the book from college ministers from all over the spectrum of denominations and fellowships – as well as in church-based, campus-based, and Christian-college settings. Pastors, professors, and others have also been really favorable. (You can see the blogs and other sites that have noticed Reaching at the web site.) The hit count on the book’s site – already nearing 4,000 – is also pretty exciting. And that doesn’t even figure in people who receive the book from others!
I feel like this thing has touched a nerve, hit a niche, and may even be sparking a fire. I hope so.
Have you read it yet? That’s what summer is for!
www.reachingthecampustribes.com
If you have read Reaching, what did you think? Any suggestions for helping others find and read it?
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As I’ve been preparing for my newest Exploring College Ministry Project, an unexpected byproduct has been produced.
And don’t worry, this is no industrial waste byproduct, but actually something that could be really helpful for spreading the word about the IMPORTANCE of ministry to college students.
Here’s the resource:
If it looks familiar, it should! This is the bootleg version, the black-market version, the pirated-to-the-max version of Reaching the Campus Tribes…
Actually, it’s just an abridged version. What I’ve done is repackaged chapters 5 & 6 of the book, along with the “Conclusion and Vision Trip” – the three parts that talk most clearly about why reaching college students is vital, helpful, and practical.
This way, we can introduce others to this theme even if they’re not willing (yet) to read an entire book about college ministry. So although the original book is a very quick read, this newest book – Why Reach the Campus Tribes? - is even smaller, with about 40 pages (and plenty of pictures!). So it’s a perfect intro for parents, pastors, college ministry supporters, youth pastors, church members, and others who need to know what we already know – that college ministry really matters!
As with the full book, Why Reach? is free – and sharing is encouraged! Send it, print it, Facebook it, blog it, Twitter it, read it… and help our field!
Get it at www.reachingthecampustribes.com/why. Or for a shorter URL, you can use http://bit.ly/whyreach
You’re right – we are now officially friends. :) Facebook makes the world go ’round!This is all in response to your email – hope it’s okay that I moved it to Facebook…
It has been quite a week – I keep getting semi-sick, which is a big pain. I think my body’s just catching up from all the road-tripping – it was pretty taxing this time around. But I’m also needing to get stuff done…
I’ve been working on my next project – it’s going to be interesting. I’m looking for some churches to let me strategize their ministry to college students. If you wanna check it out, it’s at http://www.collegestudentplan.com. We’ll see if God wants to bring this together, but I know I’m supposed to try!
Thanks for the low-down on your life! That’s interesting about the differences between grad and undergrad – but I’m a collegiate nerd. I’m glad you still get to be around those undergrads still. I would miss them, too.
I think that even old people can go to Schlitterbahn. But that’s just my opinion! Do you really mean that some of your first cousins are SIXTY? That’s pretty crazy. Do you have a billion cousins?
Either way, I hope you have a fun time in my state! I appreciate the thought of the shoes+swimsuit. That does seem very California – I appreciate y’all’s pragmatism out there. :)
I didn’t get to go to New Braunfels, but I’m sure I’ll be back down there sometime. I have gotten to go to something at T-Bar-M Ranch recently; that’s down thataway. It’s been a long time since Schlitterbahning, but since I keep mentioning it, I’m growing in my hope to go back.
I was indeed on another official trip at NACCAP – in fact, it’s a big part of the reason I was on the trip! This time around, I had something I spoke at in Nashville in early May (a college ministry conference), and then the NACCAP thing. So I had to decide… would I take two road trips to roughly the same part of the country, back-to-back? Or would I take one BIG trip?
I took one big trip.
Glad you made it home safe and sound. I didn’t realize that you were on another official road trip when I met you. I assumed incorrectly, obviously. So, tell me more about these road trips of yours. You’ve peaked my interest… What motivated you to embark upon them? Which campuses are doing the most creative things and what are they doing? In what areas have you worked in college ministry previously? What jobs did you like best? I’m assuming you plan to stay in college ministry for the future… I’d love to hear more.
Dionne
I mentioned earlier this week that the response to Reaching the Campus Tribes, my college ministry book, has already been phenomenal – and in less than a month since the official release!
But I honestly believe that if lots of people find this book – and read it – all of us who serve in college ministry could benefit. In fact, if even some of its ideas find widespread use, EVERYTHING could change!
That’s my prayer & hope for this book. But we’re a long way from being there.
So here are a few thoughts on what YOU could do (whoever you might be) to help share this free book, organized from the least crazy to a little bit braver. Remember the book can be downloaded for free at http://www.reachingthecampustribes.com. And it’s certainly email-able, print-able and copy-able, as well.
- Share the book with buddies. Is there anybody you’ve meant to send the book to? Friends, students, fellow campus ministers in your circles? (You know they’ll at least like the pictures, right?)
- Go public with your support. Stick something about reachingthecampustribes.com on your Facebook status or Twitter update, and I bet some new people find the book. Blog posts are extremely helpful, too!
- Share the book with local college ministers. This takes a little more guts… What if you told every college minister reaching your campus(es) for Jesus about this book? Reaching the Campus Tribes could be a real help within any community of college ministers: for building mutual appreciation, building some level of better cooperation, presenting a common language for your common task, and even just serving as a rallying cry for this amazing work we do. But a rally’s only a rally if others are involved!
- Share the book with your church. What if your pastor, your church’s staff, or even the whole congregation had access to Reaching the Campus Tribes? Wouldn’t that encourage them to support college ministry better? Wouldn’t that encourage them to make sure students are well-served? You betcha!
- Cast this book upon the waters… Finally, the guerrilla strike! What if you shared this book with people you don’t know – like leaders in your town, presbytery, association, state, or national body? Are there any innovative people who might like thinking big thoughts about reaching college students better? Are there any major opinion leaders who need to think those thoughts, whether they’d enjoy it or not? Would it help create change if 20 copies from 20 people (even if they’re strangers) showed up on a leader’s e-doorstep?
God may choose for this book to spread widely, or He may have other plans. But I encourage you to think about helping others enjoy it this week! While I’ll be walking through those steps myself, your word will actually mean more than mine; a recommendation from a friend (or even a stranger) often means far more than the recommendation from the author himself!
Thanks a bunch for any help you can give!
Written from Princeton Theological Seminary, Princeton, NJ
Road Trip #11 update (Day 18):
yesterday’s T-shirt: the Maui Community College tribe and a polo from the Tiger tribe of LSU
Please be praying for direction for where to go next (after the conference ends this morning)!
(click here to learn more about Road Trip #11)
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