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Yeah, it’s a Fridea on Saturday. I’ve been in Brazil.
One of the very simple ideas we used this week in Brazil – and one that seemed to bear a lot of fruit – was giving all of our team members small business cards about Zoe. The cards very simply advertised the church – with the name and the web page, but also with the two Starbucks gatherings that are hosted each week.
This isn’t unheard-of within college ministry, but I’m not sure why we don’t see it a lot more. (Actually, I have some ideas; that may be tomorrow’s blog.) What tools are available to your ministry’s students to point people they meet towards
- More info?
- Next steps?
Basically, the things you hand out during New Student Orientation or the first weeks of schools should (probably) be available to your students all school year long! Why not?
“Really great …but tough.”
That’s the basic synopsis I offer as people ask me how the recent trek was. And it’s true! The trip really was phenomenal, with an amazing number of powerful connections packed into only 16 days. But the trip really was tougher than most I’ve taken.
So if you’re interested in some of the highlights of this tough-but-great / great-but-tough trip, read on!
the deposit of wisdom in the ascent network
The original occasion for Road Trip 14 was the chance to attend the biannual Ascent Conference. I am so glad I got to attend, especially since my next chance will be 2012!
My visit to the conference continued to affirm the high opinion I have for the Ascent Network college ministries. A high level of college ministry competency simply seems to run within the “veins” of this relational network – all the more notable because most of their ministers serve in the toughest branch of college ministry, church-based college ministry.
Does that mean that all of ‘em succeed? Certainly not. But there is no getting around the fact that these college ministries have apparently seen a high ratio of success, have impacted an enormous number of students, and have experienced strong longevity of vision (and often leadership) in their ministries.
The Ascent Network is certainly “required learning” if you’re seeking to understand the field of College Ministry as a whole. (You can find my more complete description of the Ascent Network here.)
when the learners appear
If you’ve been following this blog for awhile, you know that I’ve had countless amazing experiences on these trips. God is the great Adventure-giver, that’s for sure.
But now I have one more experience to add to the “most-encouraging” file: my time with the Great Plains International regional team of Campus Crusade. Organized by college ministry advocate and Crusade veteran Don Wilcox, a dozen of us ended up in a room together one morning. Long story short, they peppered me with questions for 2 1/2 hours – not to mention at lunch after that. (And I got to ask them plenty of questions in there, too!)
Here’s why these Q&A times excite me so much:
- They prove – without a doubt – that I’m in the presence of fellow campus ministry learners.
- They allow me truly to “scratch where people itch”; in situations that don’t involve direct Q&A, it’s harder to tell whether I’m providing the info people want.
- Sadly, these experiences are pretty rare.
Numbers 1 and 3 are connected, of course. Based on what I’ve seen, college ministers who vigorously seek to learn more about the ins-and-outs of the field of College Ministry are relatively rare. And sadly enough, I’m not sure that the percentage grows as one observes the ranks of regional, national, denominational, or other larger-stage leaders.
But there are exceptions. And Cru’s regional team proved that once again. What a morning.
thinking about the under-thought-of
Beginning with the trip’s very first campus – Midwestern State in Wichita Falls, Texas – I spent a good percentage of my time thinking about ministry to schools that aren’t on the tip of most of our tongues. And yet these amazing tribes draw millions of students each year, provide some real advantages for reaching students, and often present deep challenges to that impact, too.
I already blogged about this vital topic for our field during the trip: check it out!
health & hospitality
The main reason this trip was so tough involved 8 or 10 little physical issues that impacted my time in one way or another. It didn’t help that I wasn’t 100% when I started the trip, either. The biggest problem of all this was a persistent requirement that I sleep as much as possible (and yet rarely sleeping through the night). This made it tricky to work out logistics, blog, and otherwise perform all the essential functions that often need to take place in the evenings.
But my constant refrain – and a blessing indeed – was “When I’m weak, You’re strong.” And He was.
Meanwhile, one of the coolest blessings of this trip was the incessant hospitality provided by God’s people. 6 out of the 15 nights of the trip were provided free (thanks, Lees and Shaloskys!). Mark Warrington, my traveling buddy for the first five days (another great distinctive of this trip) graciously paid for gas. And several others provided meals, coffees, garb from their campus tribes, and other outstanding instances of hospitality.
The enormous love of God’s people, expressed in masses of hospitalities, has been of the most profound parts of the last three years.
the totals
5 states, 23 campuses, 2675 miles, and 30+ individual college ministry discussions. You can see ALL the explorations at the Road Trip 14 page.
the crazy and the rest
And don’t forget, I did experience firsthand one of the crazy reasons we need college ministry to be stronger and stronger. Plus, you can see pictures from other key experiences right here. Or, see all the blogs that touch on Road Trip 14 here.
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Road Trip 14 came to a close last night, after 16 hard-fought, exciting-and-encouraging days of exploration!
So as you might imagine, I’ll be taking a couple of down-time days – but look for a recap of this phenomenal trip, sooner rather than later (probably Monday).
what i did: Until then, you can check out all the info at the Road Trip 14 page – including every campus I visited (all 23!), total mileage, and every college ministry visit. If you have any questions about any of it, feel free to ask!
what i wore: And last but certainly not least, I’ve updated the Campus Tribe of the Day photo album. Four months into 2010, we’re going strong – with garb from 120 awesome campus tribes! (And the recent 16 days of pics were taken “live on location” throughout the various venues of Road Trip 14!)
See all those great shirts right here.
Have a great weekend! Hooray for being home.
I’ve come to learn that relatively common college ministry methods still aren’t always widely known. This week’s Fridea is one of those tools that I’ve seen in a number of ministries, but I would still guess it hasn’t come into play in plenty of others.
This idea is also a particularly Missional undertaking – and just happens to be one of the many ways college ministries have been “missional” since long before “missional” was cool.
The Fridea? Encourage students to stay in the dorms, as intentional ministers to next year’s residents.
I hope it’s not too late to share this idea, but it’s amazing how God can turn students’ plans, even at the end of the school year – and even in the summer.
Certainly, in some contexts this method takes place “organically”; students, having been gripped by Jesus, recognize the unique soil provided by the dorm environment. So instead of jumping into an apartment or splitting a house with buddies, they decide to renew their dorm lease for another year… or in some cases, even choose to return to the dorms after a hiatus off-campus.
But unless this is happening in a widely known way on your campus, you might need to nudge your students to consider this sacrificial sojourn. The OU BSU did that through a student testimony just last night; they also have that as one of their scrolling announcements on their home page right now.
And here’s the thing: An intentional decision (maybe even especially if it’s a hard decision) to live in the dorms will help students become even more “on mission” than they were before. It’s the principle of your heart following your treasure (Matt. 6:21), which is actually a psychological principle (and thus the way God made us). As students give of their comfort-treasure and coolness-treasure and money-treasure and alone-time-treasure and Christian-environment-treasure to live in the dorms… their heart will find itself more firmly embedded in those places than ever.
So might this be worth an announcement, an email, a push? If not, could you put it on the calendar for next year?
Written from Motel 6, Oklahoma City, OK
Road Trip 14 recap, Day 15 (see all explorations here)
new campuses: Oklahoma City Community College (#22), Hillsdale Free Will Baptist College, Moore, OK (#23)
yesterday: exploring OKC and another run to OU in Norman!
today: more at OU… and then, we’ll see. If nothing comes up for the weekend, I’ll probably head home!
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My visits to CU and OU notwithstanding, this short road trip has afforded more great opportunities to visit some cool campuses that aren’t of that “household name” variety.
One of the things I’ve been pondering recently* is college ministry’s attention toward the millions of collegians** who aren’t attending Duke, Texas A&M, or UCLA.
This is one area in which I (and you) can’t judge any individual calling for a particular ministry or a particular person to reach a “name-brand campus.” Certainly, God does and will call some of us to the better-known mission fields – even fields with a dozen or more present campus ministries.
But as I (and we) observe the sum total of campus missions efforts, I don’t think it’s presumptuous simply to question whether every national ministry is predestined to establish a beachhead at Wake Forest… whether every local church is called to reach the University of Texas rather than Austin Community College… or whether every brand-new college minister is meant to serve a school with a real possibility of producing either a future U.S. President or a Super Bowl-winning quarterback.***
Perhaps we in the field of College Ministry can pray for Macdeonian calls, that some blessed adventurers might be called to reach Front Range Community College, Oklahoma City University, University of Northern Iowa, or the countless other schools that are highly unlikely to beat Kansas in the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. If I had dream-invasion skills****, I might just have to use them.
There are millions of students at campuses you’ve never heard of (and that’s just in our country). What are the chances that at least some of us are called to labor for Christ on the less-reached fields, to build works in places where few or no works exist (of any kind)? (Such an ambition would be oh so Pauline, sayeth Romans 15:20!)
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*All this traveling (and my brain) tune me to pondering new ideas all the time. Feel free to ask.
**Collegian = noun. Collegiate = adjective. Always.
***There are four that have produced both.
****Not an implied tie-in to the new Nightmare on Elm Street remake. Rather, an implied tie-in to Acts 16.
Road Trip 14 recap, Day 14 (see all explorations here)
new campuses: Southwestern College (#18), Oklahoma Christian University (#19), University of Central Oklahoma (#20), University of Oklahoma (#21)
new states: Oklahoma (#5)
yesterday: finished up in KS, then made my way to the OKC area
today: continued exploring in the Oklahoma City and Norman areas
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Yesterday, I posted some expanded thoughts on Unity & Cooperation within college ministries. Not only is this one of the topics that comes up most often in my chats with college ministers, but the theme has arisen several times on this trip.
Here are some additional thoughts, first written in a comment during in the Campus Ministry Blogference, but now edited and expanded a bit:
how do we decide when / how to cooperate with other ministries?
I start with assuming that we keep our actual commitments – obeying our particular leaders and keeping our promises. Cooperation that demands we break our allegiance to our particular organization, church, or other overseers isn’t really doable, is it?
But beyond that, I don’t think there’s a Magic Rule to be applied every time (though we would all prefer a Rule).
Instead, we should take each opportunity on a case-by-case basis, evaluating what is gained and lost and comparing that with the outcomes we’ve already determined to aim for within our ministry. So if we haven’t cataloged each semester what our Aims are, all is lost already! I can’t make a good decision about cooperation if I don’t know how it might help (or hurt) my ministry’s goals.
For some of us, taking each opportunity on a case-by-case basis will provide a remedy to our knee-jerk acceptance of any and all cooperative invitations. For others of us, it will fight our auto-assumption that each invitation couldn’t possibly be worth our time, input, or effort.
My bold guess? Either always cooperating or never cooperating with other ministries is likely unhealthy.
I would aargue that our Aims should likely include goals that involve the bigger campus tribe. It’s hard for me to imagine that any ministry should be satisfied with a reputation as the “aloof ones,” whether rightly or wrongly deserved. But those campus-wide goals shouldn’t be our only goals, either, so it’s likely we’ll need to say No quite a bit.
An example of weighing cooperation with our Aims: Perhaps you’re invited to give up one Large Group a semester for a Multi-Ministry event. Giving up that Large Group will indeed interfere with your goals for Large Group – perhaps Evangelism or Teaching a certain topic or Building Community in your ministry or all of the above.
However, it may be worth it because of what you gain – perhaps helping the campus as a whole thrive, providing an outward show of unity (which also helps with Evangelism in its own way), building students’ unity with other believers, and influencing students with the emphasis of the event. So in that case, cooperation may be wise – while some Aims are set aside, others are accomplished.
In other cases, cooperation may not be the best move.
Once again, the big suggestion: Take each opportunity at face value, and discern what’s best for your students that time around.
Written from Motel 6, Salina, KS
Road Trip 14 recap, Day 12
new campuses: Fort Hays State University (#11) Kansas Wesleyan University (#12), & Bethany College (#13)
yesterday: some great chats with college ministers at FHSU that worked out at the last minute, and a little drivin’ and campus-visitin’
today: not exactly sure (for the 2nd day in a row), but making my way through Kansas!
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This is Part 1 of this discussion; click here for Part 2.
For some reason or another, this Road Trip has already led to several discussions of efforts to build unity between various college ministries on a campus. This is actually a recurring issue in the field of college ministry, and it’s one of those areas in which – seemingly – it helps to have a wide-angle lens. Up-close, it’s easy to theorize and philosophize. But look at enough ministries, and one starts to see that intentions and hopes don’t always equal success in this area.
Sadly, I’ve heard of far more cooperation / unity efforts that seem to have failed than those that have gone well. In the former case, sometimes ministries (or at least their ministers) may end up less unified than before the “unity attempt” took place! That’s no good!
This topic came up in the Campus Ministry Blogference only a few weeks ago. Since it was within the comments there, I wanted to edit and slightly expand the thoughts I wrote. My hope is to help us think about this wisely – and also encourage those who might have struggled in this area.
I’d also love any additional questions / comments on this. I know it’s a touchy issue.
thoughts for college ministers hoping to build unity… wisely
1. Go slowly. Far better to remain here than to be even more disunified in 3 years. There’s no biblical mandate for HOW unity has to look, so take the time to pray and think things through before launching an initiative (even an initiative that seems “simple”).
2. Understand. Many longtime college ministers have lived through (or at least heard about) cooperative attempts that wasted time (at best) or ended in disaster (at worst). So it’s understandable for them to be skeptical.
3. Occasional or short-term activities seem to work best. A month-long project may be better than some permanent agreement. Monthly prayer meetings may work better than weekly ones. And so on.
4. Remember that everybody has their own agenda – and they should. They’ve been hired (by an organization or by supporters) to accomplish certain aims and/or do certain things. Approaching unity as a confederation rather than a republic or a democracy seems to foster unity the best.
5. Activities need a leader. …for each project, each monthly prayer gathering, each campus-wide event. It’s far easier to unify for a common project/mission under a designated point person – that’s why Veritas Forum and similar outsider groups can help produce unity so well. Of course, some projects may have different leaders for different parts of the project. But the main point is that Unity doesn’t require that nobody take the lead.
6. Sometimes true unity doesn’t look like it. I’ve shared with several on this trip: One of the coolest unity ideas I’ve ever heard are those ministries (on multiple campuses) that have decided to adjust their schedules to hold Large Group on the same night! To the untrained eye (like the students’), that looks like competition and disunity. But those ministries do it to help their students choose a ministry and go deep in it. It’s actually a unified attempt to shepherd their students, even though every ministry’s weekly attendance will probably go down. That’s some amazing cooperation!
There may be other unity attempts that look “weird,” too. But we shouldn’t let our methodology be driven by students or others who don’t understand the full picture.
7. Relationship trumps. In places where there is distinct unity (even between a couple of groups), it doesn’t seem to be because it was “master planned.” It started from people being buddies.
Because I don’t believe a certain methodology here is mandated by Scripture, building unity is a question of wisdom, not obedience to any specific methods. And it is HIGHLY contextual – which means how unity works out on one campus will be very different from how we should approach it on another campus.
Remember, my suggestions here are borne from numerous, nationwide conversations (and my own years of college ministry). Personally, I would prefer a “step-by-step approach” or some other “rule” (I like my rules). And if I felt like the Scriptures demanded some certain methodology, I’d push for it regardless of the pragmatism.
But since I don’t think they do, then pragmatism is part of wisdom here, and observing what has worked (and what has hurt) is important.
[Part 2 of these thoughts in tomorrow's post]
Written from Motel 6, Hays, KS
Road Trip 14 recap, Day 11
new state: Kansas (#4)
yesterday: lots of needed rest, and a fun church visit
today: not exactly sure, except for making my way through Kansas!
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Some of my views from this adventurous trip. It’s been a really big 9 days; this only scratches the surface.
What kind of great church leaves up the placards from the Ascent Conference? They mentioned God working through college ministry around the U.S. THREE times in the service I attended!
The Glen Eyrie castle at The Navigators HQ
Cadet Chapel at the Air Force Academy (Protestant chapel)
The Pagan Worship Circle recently instituted at the Air Force Academy, which led to quite the brouhaha in some quarters
One kind of work our college ministries - & our students - should be known for (this wasn't produced by a ministry, by the way)
I already blogged about this one.
Three of the better-known college-ministry-related large group services: Here, the Merge high school through young adult service of Flatirons Community Church...
...the Annex college ministry of First Presbyterian, Boulder...
...and The Mill college & young adults of New Life Church
Written from the Shaloskys’ house, Colorado Springs (these Cru staffers have been kind enough to host me!)
Road Trip 14 recap, Day 9
yesterday: was shocked and apalled by the heavy snow that fell much of the day. And I did some college ministry stuff.
today: Leaving Central CO, headed for Kansas and – presumably – less snow.
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I wasn’t sure I should blog about Tuesday’s afternoon exploration. I’m cognizant of the fact that on any given day, it could be someone’s first day here at the blog… and this may be an interesting first impression.
But my attempts to learn the field of college ministry mean that sometimes it’s right and good for me to observe the darkness on our world’s campuses. That darkness is not the only or even the main reason for college ministry (and plenty of Christians need to realize that). But it is ONE reason for missions to the campus tribes.
Early on my yearlong road trip, I learned about a particularly pungent campus celebration of debauchery, Brown University’s “Sex. Power. God.” on-campus semi-orgy (that links to my post about it). Blue Like Jazz filled the world in on another, Reed College’s Renn Fayre (that links to Wikipedia). And yesterday, I saw another: CU Boulder’s 4/20 pro-marijuana gathering.
And lest there be any doubt: I did not partake.
the crowd on the outskirts of the field near where I was standing
As you may know, “420″ is code within the Pot Culture for marijuana. So the ideal of smoking pot each year on 4/20 at 4:20pm is a sort of liturgy, you might say, for devotees. At the University of Colorado, a tradition has grown of doing just that, and many thousands gather to participate. Though the Buffalo tribe isn’t the only location to hold such an event (and get away with it), it seems to be one of the better-known pro-marijuana gatherings, which are (perhaps rather loosely) connected to the drive to legalize marijuana.
Please understand: I am in no way celebrating this crazy event. But since I can be your eyes and ears among the campus tribes, I’m glad to share what I experienced Tuesday (in brief; you can ask questions if you want to know more).
While I had assumed the gathering at CU would mostly organize around the 4:20pm moment, people were already gathering at the site by 2pm (and perhaps much earlier). That site is Norlin Quad, the largest “green space” at CU. (It does provide a great “center of campus” spot; I really appreciate such spaces in my campus visits.)
I had heard – but perhaps I misunderstood – that police line the edges of the field, but that certainly wasn’t the case. What appeared to be a mixed force of several dozen police and hired Event Staff instead dotted the campus. Mostly they were concentrated around the field, but I saw others at different locations – including some seeming to sweep a building near the field, perhaps making sure that the pot smoking was limited to external areas.
I forgot to note that as I drove to campus, I met my only obstacle. A staffperson was dialoguing with each of us as we drove onto campus. However, I was only asked for the purpose of my visit to campus; when I replied that I was visiting campus, that seemed to suffice. (It’s possible they were there simply to emphasize that “someone is watching” – potentially quite psychologically effective as people descended on campus. It might also provide some sort of legal defense.)
I expected a similar consultation on the way out, since driving under the influence would be hazardous to both CU’s students and their legal fund. But no such luck.
my view at 4:20pm
The gathering was certainly not only collegiate. Many of the participants appeared to be high school age. Many others… have probably been smoking marijuana longer than the CU students have been alive. Another segment of the rally population that’s important to mention are the countless bystanders, who seemed (like me) simply there to observe. However, I wouldn’t be surprised if for many locals and students this is the one day of the year in which they do partake in the drug. There was much sharing; the adult cameraman next to me certainly offered me some product.
That leads me to an interesting turn in my observations. My cameraman buddy made an interesting comment while we were observing from the edge of the field. He reflected that the environment before us was wonderfully “chill,” that “this is the way it should be.” He clearly saw in this event a reflection of the peace, fun, fellowship, relaxation, and unity that he envisions in a “perfect world.”
I saw plenty of creativity, too, which is notable and important even when directed toward darkness.
What do I occasionally hear from people wiser than me? That sin is fulfilling legitimate desires in illegitimate ways? I don’t think it’s unwise for us to notice the capability, the genius, the hopes, and the passion of the campus tribes – even when we have to observe those things through the haze (figuratively or literally).
In any case, I certainly learned more in those few hours about Pot Culture (and pot odor) than this sheltered fellow had ever learned before. And I prayed. I cringed. I watched. I hoped. I wondered how we reach into this version of the darkness.
And then I Febrezed, scrubbed, shampooed, and stuck my poor Dartmouth T-shirt in an ice chest.
Road Trip 14 recap, Days 6 & 7 (click here to see all explorations so far)
new campuses: Front Range Community College – Westminster Campus (#9)
last 2 days: including the weird exploration described in this post, Tuesday was one of the “largest” days I’ve had in my many explorations – with a phenomenal time with the Cru Regional Team and experiencing The Annex church-based ministry. Wednesday was finally a day for some (very much needed) rest, as well as a couple of more cool encounters.
today: Chapel at Colorado Christian University, and more!
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If you’ve read my book or many of these blogs, you know I think it’s important to recognize that there are serious contextual differences between campuses. And one of the really important things about these road trips is that they always provide real-life, in-my-face examples of such differences. Sometimes these differences are relatively “small,” yet they help us recognize that each campus is its own unique tribe, worthy of being approached in its own unique ways.
So I pass on to you some of the differences that have already been discussed (in only 3 days of this trip). For a good mental exercise, you could ponder the positives, negatives, and interesting strategies that might arise from these situations!
- Midwestern State University in Texas has many Caribbean students.
- UT Chattanooga has already finished classes for the year.
- Many freshmen may not have cars at some schools (like at Wake Forest) – or may not even be allowed to have cars.
- At some schools, freshmen are likely to go home on a weekend early in the semester; on others, they might avoid going home because they’re afraid of missing something.
- Some schools are on the Quarter System instead of the Semester System (like University of Washington).
- Community college ministry will likely encounter students with emotional, mental, or other such difficulties.
- An enormous percentage of Pepperdine sophomores study abroad. (Think that affects ministry?)
- Commuter-heavy campuses abound (like CSU-Pueblo).
- Many schools (like CSU-Pueblo) now lock their dorms to outsiders (so don’t plan on recruiting or serving door-to-door).
- Some freshmen have curfews.
- Some schools (like Midwestern State) have a full Nursing Program – providing an especially service-minded (but often busy) group of students.
- Some major universities are within 10 miles of other major universities (like WSU and U of Idaho, or NDSU and MSU-Moorhead).
Written from Longmont, CO
Road Trip 14 recap, Day 3
yesterday: spent the day at the Ascent Conference, with LOTS of great learning & connecting
today: church stuff, including some college ministry
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