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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)
As I’m entering a new mini-phase of Road Trip #11, it’s a good time to take a breather, update you on my next steps, and point out a few things you might find interesting!
something old: reminders of the recent (and not-so-recent)
Regardless of whether you personally Twitter or not, you can see my little observations by going to this page: http://www.twitter.com/bensonhines. It’s just like a blog, only with posts in 140 characters or less… Plus, I’m now adding some picture links along the way.
If you haven’t already, I encourage you to check out my recent interview with Center for Parent / Youth Understanding. I got the chance to talk about my yearlong road trip, my recent book, and more. Here’s Part One; here is Part Two.
If you want another synopsis of the big trip, you can still listen to the 19-minute podcast I recorded last summer. (Information and the podcast link are posted here.) As I neared the end of that huge trip, it was a neat opportunity to talk off-the-cuff about what I had experienced!
something new: updates about next steps
Despite the fears I twittered earlier this week, I was able to get a spot at Princeton Seminary’s Emerging Adulthood Conference. It lasts from this afternoon through Saturday morning, and I’m actually going to commute from Langhorne, PA, where I’ve been staying already – which is surprisingly only 20ish miles away. So that works out nicely, and I don’t have to repack my Pathfinder just yet.
The conference should be interesting. The discussion of collegiate and young adult development, psychology, and sociology will be helpful. I’m also guessing that the crowd will be largely from mainline Protestantism – although we’ll see how accurate that guess actually is. So that will allow me a window into a stream of collegiate work I don’t usually get to explore.
I’ve also got a couple of interviews with local Princeton college ministers lined up, and I’m hoping to connect with more while I’m over there this week!
and next steps further?
Lastly, I’m approaching a real “hinge” for this trip. After Saturday morning, my calendar is completely unplanned. I probably have at least 2 weeks remaining up here in the Northeast. But my locations and explorations during that time are, at present… undetermined.
If you get the chance, pray for direction and wisdom. God will provide it, and foggy-futures are very common during these trips. So I look forward to seeing – and enjoying – the next steps He plans to reveal.
Written from Langhorne, PA
Road Trip #11 update (Day 16):
yesterday’s T-shirt: the Lobos of University of New Mexico
new campus visit: Philadelphia Biblical University (#17)
(click here to learn more about Road Trip #11)
If you’re new around here, Reaching the Campus Tribes is the FREE ebook I just published! The book discusses the major things I learned as I explored college ministry around the United States – on a yearlong road trip. Plus, there are plenty of cool pictures. (Download it here!)
But if you’re not new here, you might be wondering about the response to the book. So many people have played a part in making this book, and I want it to be something that helps us all. So I want to keep everybody posted on how things are going with “our” book! Later this week, I’ll give some ways you can help the book spread (if you wanna help).
It’s only been three weeks since the book went public, but it’s received an amazing response already. I’ve seen that positive response in two different ways: in the reaction of readers and in the way the book has spread.
the reaction
I have heard lots of really encouraging things from those who have read Reaching. Several people have told me they read through it in a day or two (even to the detriment of their other responsibilities)! And for many college ministers, the book doesn’t only give them new ideas, but it helps put into words ideas they’ve had all along. That’s really exciting for me.
Part of this positive reaction has involved people telling me different ways they plan to use the book. Not only do college ministers seem to be edified personally, but they have talked about using it with their student leaders, using it to help fundraise, using it to help their church get excited about college ministry…
One seminary professor even plans to use it as a text for his class!
the spread
Not only has the reaction seemed really strong, but the book also seems to have spread really well in a short time. Last week at the National Collegiate Summit (for Southern Baptist college ministers), it was exciting to see how many had the book, how many planned to read it, and how many had already read it.
The same is true for other college ministers. So far, I’ve gotten “write-ups” in blogs and web sites from people in Campus Crusade, InterVarsity, Ivy Jungle, CollegeLeader, Chi Alpha / Assemblies of God, Churches of Christ, Campus Outreach, and Southern Baptist college ministry. Hopefully those contacts will spread the word even further within their organizations! (You can see links to the specific pages in the sidebar at reachingthecampustribes.com.)
And the best exposure yet came from the Center for Parent / Youth Understanding, who interviewed me just last week.
From everything I can tell, the book is slowly making its way from person-to-person and possibly moving in larger ways, too. (I have seen a few Twitter references to the book – those could be really powerful for helping it spread.) Hopefully more opportunities will arise for sharing with lots of people at once, but I’m really thankful for how things are already going.
But I have other hopes, as well – including hoping non-college-ministers (like pastors, parents, and other Christian leaders) will see the book and read the book. It was written with them in mind, and their involvement could change everything.
Written from Langhorne, PA
Road Trip #11 update:
yesterday’s T-shirt: the Grizzlies of Montana
church visits: Tenth Street Presbyterian (#6) and Epiphany Fellowship (#7)
(click here to learn more about Road Trip #11)
As I blogged last week, I leave tomorrow for Road Trip #11, and this one’s a doozy! This will be the longest road trip since the BIG one, clocking in at 5 1/2 weeks (at least). From eyeing the route, I figure I will see at least 16 states… and besides all the college ministry explorations and college minister hang-outs, there are also 2 or 3 conferences to attend, too.
So with such a big adventure on my hands, I want you to come along – from the comfort of your very own home. Or computer. Or cell phone. Explore with me. Experience with me. Learn with me.
There will be pictures. There will be posts. [All the posts so far are here.]
And there will be something brand new: Tweets!
That’s right, I’ve been sucked in to the wonderful, wide world of Twitter! Except for a brief excursion into Twittering during my nine-church-service weekend last August, I’m brand new to this. (For those who don’t use Twitter, you can follow along without joining; read the note at the very bottom of this post.)
For those who are using Twitter, some notes:
- @bensonhines is now live and tweeting.
- Please be patient with me; I’m new here. In fact, if you have tips or feedback, I would LOVE to hear it. Special thanks to @mynameisbrandon and @rhetter for providing a crash course in this stuff.
- While I’m at it, I made some tiny URLs for sharing the free ebook. Obviously, you can make your own or just point people to reachingthecampustribes.com. But here are some good ones: xr.com/rtct or tinyurl.com/campustribes. (These are now listed at the book site, too.)
For everybody, all the ways to get in touch with me:
I’m really excited about this newest road trip, and I’m hoping to include you guys like never before! So here’s a run-down of ALL the ways to come along on this trip, from least-connected to most-connected:
- Facebook group: Exploring College Ministry with Benson. I don’t send messages very often; during the trip, I might send 2 or 3 schedule updates to members of this group. (But remember, this is still the BEST way to stay posted on the most important updates for this whole project – like new road trips, new books, and other big news.)
- Facebook status updates. While I don’t treat this as a major point of connection, I probably will change my Facebook status occasionally to reflect the twists and turns of this adventure. So, as always, I’d love for you to befriend me!
- This blog. As usual, there will be a post every day (or close to it), so take a look whenever you’d like. Many of the posts over the next weeks will be directly related to the trip, as I discuss (and show via pictures) its adventures and learnings. (For all the posts related to the trip so far, click here.)
- Twitter: @bensonhines
- In person. Of course, if I get to cross your path on this trip, let’s try to hang out! Just contact me and let me know.
So there you have it! I hope you’ll join me.
For those unfamiliar with Twitter, you can still take a look at my regular updates whenever you’d like. Just go to www.twitter.com/bensonhines. Each update has a date and time, so you can watch as my days progress!
In Reaching the Campus Tribes, I write:
It may be that college ministry will be best served in the same way [Youth Specialties helped youth ministry develop] – by a “super-sized hero,” an organization devoted to proclaiming the value of college ministry and helping the field develop. …
An … organization like this could serve as a think tank, a resource producer, a collaborative network, a fundraiser, and a rallying cry for college ministry – across the branches of our field, across denominational lines, and throughout the country (from Chapter 8, “Into the Harvest: A Road Map Forward from a Road Trip’s Findings,” p. 95-96).
I think a national organization devoted to supporting college ministry, providing resources for these efforts, and developing our field could be extremely helpful.
I was discussing this possibility with a colleague the other day, and I remarked that I believe there really is room for this to happen right now. In fact, I think the field of college ministry is heating up, but there’s a real vacuum of resourcing and support for a large number of college ministry efforts.
So here’s the equation I see:
vacuum + growing concern = wide-open opportunity for some group to step up
That means the early bird can get a giant worm. The first organization to muster the investment, focus, and breadth required to serve college ministry nationally might just find an enormous audience… and ultimately an enormous amount of campus-reaching might happen because somebody was called to be our hero.
Of course, it’s also vital that this be done right. One more equation is clearly at play:
vacuum + growing concern – deep understanding = wide-open opportunity for waste or even damage
But besides that concern – which is a true concern that we should all take seriously – I’m pretty hopeful about our situation. In fact, the field seems so ripe that it may simply be a matter of time before there are multiple organizations like this.
But, of course, the greatest amount of worm-munching might go to the early bird.
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