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As Road Trip 13 is drawing to a close, it seems to be getting even zanier! But while much of my time this weekend has involved driving through Upstate NY in the dark, the daytime has reminded me just how pretty it is up here!
I was really excited that this week’s post listing the college ministry blogs I read (Russ Martin helpfully posted some of these as a public feed), was much-visited and much-shared. As college ministers, we should all be learners – including learning from each other – and blogs are a great way to do that! If you know of other college ministry bloggers, check out that post, and then please let me know!
Now on to some of the fantastic college ministry discussions this week, which include Evangelism resources, college ministry history, new DVD teaching curricula, atheist college “ministries,” and more!
defining success in college ministry: Quite providentially, several college ministry thinkers have turned their attention simultaneously to the very important topic of how we define success in college ministry. (God is a gracious Synergist, isn’t He?) HeartOfCampusMinistry began a weekly series on the topic – with a post by the much-respected Dean Thune. (I’ll be posting in that series in a few weeks!) Aaron Klinefelter wrote a great (and interesting) post on an “ecological” understanding of college ministry success. I posted on why aiming for numbers isn’t (usually) a good college ministry priority. And Ian Clark is asking the same question about how we define success.
atheist campus groups (from ABC news): Yesterday, ABC News ran a story online titled, “Atheist Student Groups Flower on College Campuses.” Check it out here. (HT: Kirby Oaks)
dvd series for college ministries: Famous book guru Byron Borger turns his attention to two new DVD series, each of which might fit a need for large-group or small-group teaching next semester. One is from a group of major (and hip) Christian thinkers about compassion / social justice issues, and the other series is from Don Miller. (Of course, the Hearts & Minds Books blog is always good reading, to learn about… potential good reading.)
a short history of an interesting college ministry: The Austin Stone Community Church has one of the more interesting models of college ministry out there, and they’ve happily begun posting a short history of their transition to this model! (Have you considered doing this? Have you done this? Let me know!) Part 1 is here, and Part 2 is here.
the weary life of a campus missionary: A cool, personal reflection from Alice Connor on what it means to be in the messy, difficult, awesome vocation called “College Ministry.”
evangelism resources for college ministry: Keith Davy lists several resources for evangelism among college students – specifically for discovering “where they are spiritually,” in fact.
service and evangelism: Why do Christians feel like they need to witness amidst their service? Glen Davis offers a helpful response to that question, in light of a recent mini-controversy that popped up on the Stanford campus. (He links to a Stanford Daily article on the issue, which involves Charles Darwin and evangelist Ray Comfort. And free books.)
attending a conference as a college minister: Not only did Nick Melazzo blog his thoughts on a conference he attended this week, but he blogged from the standpoint of a college minister. Hooray. As I’ve argued recently (like Nick noted in his intro post), college ministers should be good at viewing what we learn through the lens of our calling! (Hopefully Nick will be adding to this mini-series on the conference, so check for new entries…)
jimmy fallon meets the millennials (once more): This blog has actually had a pretty big week, too! Besides the aforementioned posts, I also was able to complete another entry in the Jimmy Fallon & Gen Y series, on Jimmy’s use of Eclecticism to reflect / reach Millennials!
written from the collegetown district next to Cornell University; posted from Camp of the Woods, Speculator, NY
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Exploring College Ministry Road Trip 13: Day 49 recap
recap: finished up at Cornell and made my way to Campus Crusade’s NE Regional Staff Conference in the Adirondacks! (see all explorations so far)
T-shirts: the Bearcat tribe of Cincinnati
sunday: I’ll spend the morning at the conference, then make my way to (or toward) Virginia
When discussing true “college towns,” I appreciate having the SuperExamples with names like “College Station” (where I myself went to school) and “State College,” where I’m presently spending the weekend. Now I just need to find a town called “Universityvilletown,” and I’ll be all set.
Without further ado, here are some of the best college ministry discussions, etc., from the past week!
cross-cultural campus crusade: Did you notice Campus Crusade staff were missing from your campus early this week? Or did they seem particularly interested in cross-cultural ministry? That’s because every Crusade staffer was involved in Cross ’09, apparently. Read a good description from Truman & Amber Lo, Denver Metro staff, a great testimony from Northeast Regional guy Ryan McReynolds, or a “local” take from a Northern Illinois University student newspaper, the Northern Star!
niches and other impactful routes: Accidentally left out of last week’s review is the article from the Florida Baptist Witness describing some of the more unique and impactful ministries around the state of Florida. Especially helpful to rest of us are the good niche-based ministry ideas in there!
churches connecting with collegians: Chuck Bomar requested thoughts on how students do (or don’t) connect well within local churches – and that post has drawn several solid comments so far.
millennials under non-millennials: How can Millennial leaders (whether that’s you or your students) serve well under non-Millennials? Brian Barela examines the need for proper “translation,” generation to generation.
impacting the intelligent: In response to two discussions with two Christian professors, I asked, “Does Your College Ministry Give Spiritual Support to Smarties?” earlier this week at Exploring College Ministry.
written from the Lutzes’, near State College, PA
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Road Trip 13: Days 41 & 42 recap
recap: great days in State College, topped off with attending the football game (see all explorations so far)
T-shirts: the Keelhaulers (!) of California Maritime Academy and the Bruin tribe of George Fox University
sunday: more State College explorations, then heading eastward…
It’s been great to be back in Ann Arbor – this time during the school year. If you’re interested in my live reflections on all the Gameday festivities, check out my Twitter feed from Saturday morning.
But here’s some of the week’s most interesting college ministry reading, including connecting to atheists, a book review, a service project idea, and much more:
playing to a ministry’s strengths: Jason Yarnell ends a series on college ministers playing to their own strengths with a great post on playing to your ministry’s strengths. “Being more of what they are” is one way many college ministries could improve, in my humble opinion. (Yarnell does a great job of giving specific examples of strengths he hopes to lean toward – including areas that we might not immediately see as strengths.)
atheist Bible study: Ohio State CCO minister Jonathan Weyer posts a fascinating report of his time leading (by request) an Atheist Bible study. JW serves among the Buckeye tribe at Ohio State – but more specifically, he has been quite well-received by the campus community while connecting with skeptic, atheist, and agnostic students!
ideas for atheist event follow-up: Along the same lines, Nick Melazzo is looking for suggestions for strong follow-up activities after a planned debate next semester. Any ideas? Be sure to let him know.
dealing with cults on campus: Here on Exploring College Ministry, I presented a question I’m asked on occasion: As college ministers, how do we deal with campus cults and unhealthy college ministries? There have been some great comments on that post so far, but your wisdom would be helpful!
outdoor activity niche ministry: The University of Vemont student newspaper highlights the “Lifelines” chapter of Campus Crusade. Lifelines is a unique niche-based ministry focusing on outdoor activity (I got to meet with the NAU director during the yearlong trip), and this is a good summary of what they do. (HT: Chuck Bomar, where he makes some related points)
service project: Brandon Smith offers details (and pictures) for a cool clean-drinking-water effort their college ministry is participating in.
book review: Heather Lodovico covers Kevin Roose’s Unlikely Disciple. As a native of the Northeast herself, HL shares her unique perspective on Roose’s book, which describes his transfer from Brown University to Liberty University, where he spent a semester pretending to be a Christian.
student leader qualifications: Brian Barela offers a really interesting critique of Justin Wallace‘s post about choosing student leaders. It’s an interesting discussion that basically asks, “How specific should we be in the qualifications we require?”
a different form of disciplemaking: Cru staffer Matt McComas follows up on his provocatively-titled “I’m Anti ’1-on-1′ Discipleship!” post with a new explanation of what his model looks like. I always appreciate people presenting, explaining, and defending college ministry models, new or old… I wish it happened more often!
written from Motel 6, between Detroit and Ann Arbor
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Road Trip 13: Day 35 recap
recap: experiencing the amazing festivities surrounding a Michigan home game (see all explorations so far)
T-shirt: the Kangaroos of University of Missouri, Kansas City
sunday: church (at a collegiate church plant) and then down to Toledo
Here’s this past week’s lineup of helpful links and particularly important blog conversations about our amazing field!
Jeff Widman offers something superb: his expertise in social networking, applied to college ministry! Apparently Jeff had a great college ministry experience himself; now, he’s a major social networking guru. (His clients include Microsoft, Seth Godin, and others – really, this is legit.) Receive the fruits of his generous combination of those two loves by joining his Useful Facebook Tips for Campus Pastors group.
Here at Exploring College Ministry, I asked for wisdom about how we classify various college ministries – and people responded with some great thoughts. If you get a chance, take a look – and add your own thoughts on this important issue.
The Association of Collegiate Ministries posted the first of two posts about college ministry fundraising, reprinting (with permission) Steve Shadrach‘s 5 Keys for this important area. Shadrach is a well-known consultant in this area, and it’s great that ACM has been able to share his wisdom.
Need some cool ideas for simple service – for individual students, small groups, or your ministry as a whole? The Simple Love Project provides all sorts of ideas, at the touch of a button! (HT: HeartOfCampusMinistry.com.)
Also at Heart of Campus Ministry, Brandon Smith wrote a great, quick post on college ministry as “reverse missionary work.”
What an amazing idea for your college ministry: offering free peer-tutoring to your campus! Florida State’s Michael Mears shares Christian Campus Fellowship’s idea and their (very cool) advertisement right here.
Christianity Today posts a lengthy interview with sociologist Christian Smith, discussing his new book, Lost in Transition. Smith is a well-known expert on young adults’ connection (and disconnection) from spiritual life and church life.
written from Riverside, California
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Road Trip 13: Days 13 & 14 recap
finished up at the CollegeLeader Conference
T-shirts: the Screaming Eagles of U. of Southern Indiana and the Wave tribe of Pepperdine
today: churches and catching up (see all explorations so far!)
I’m so excited that the Association of Collegiate Ministries started their new blog this week (heartofcampusministry.com). This is a great blogging model for any regional or national organization of college ministries to think about – “team blogging,” which takes the pressure off individual bloggers but produces something consistent, broad, worth reading, and worth following! (I recently detailed the ACM, which is a network of Independent Christian Church college ministries.)
Derek Melleby alerts us to an upcoming campus outreach by Kirk Cameron and Ray Comfort, in response to the 150th anniversary of The Origin of Species. Worth checking out on the CPYU Bookshelf blog, regardless of your stance on their approach.
Brian Barela guest-posted at major church-tech site ChurchCrunch, discussing his college ministry’s live broadcasting and other online presentation. Brian is the director of Campus Crusade at Cal State Chico, and I actually plan to hang out with him tomorrow! He is one of few college ministers who blogs regularly about our craft, focusing especially on innovations and how they spread through our field. This post, meanwhile, received comments from more than the usual college ministry crowd, which is always great.
Happily, Guy Chmieleski seems to have begun blogging on college ministry again! The University Minister at Belmont has served in the spiritual life departments of several different schools (from different denominations, even), so he brings a great depth of experience to our world. His other blog records his incredible home-lacking adventure this summer, and between that and the start of the school year, it’s understandable that he’s been a little distracted from blogging of late…
And here at Exploring College Ministry, the College Ministry Poles series continued to attract some great comments from readers, this time to discuss using Peer Teachers vs. Adult Teachers. And of course, I headed out on Road Trip 13; you can see quick updates at the bottom of each day’s post, read a reflection on the first day, or see all the explorations so far!
written from a Motel 6 near Sacramento
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Road Trip 13: Day 7 recap
explored more college ministry & visited a church in the Sacramento area
T-shirt: the Catamount tribe of the University of Vermont
today: more explorations in Roseville, CA, and a drive up to Chico!
Recent blog posts and other web events I’ve found most interesting for the field of college ministry:
young adults / collegiate webinar this tuesday: As I tweeted the other day, Christianity Today is holding a free webinar this coming Tuesday morning. Christian Smith, a well-known expert on young adults, will be discussing “how emerging adults view religion and spirituality, and will suggest ways the church can reach emerging adults at a time when they are most likely to float away.” There’s a Q&A, too. As far as I know, you can still sign up.
ivy jungle monthly update: The Ivy Jungle monthly update about campus life and ministry is always good reading. September’s came out this last week, and you can see it here.
mike gaffney interview: Mike Gaffney is one of the true deans of college ministry in the U.S., and he now heads up Young Life College (which I profiled back here). He was recently interviewed for the “40 Conversations” series from College Union. (I’m really looking forward to catching up on all those Conversations during my upcoming road trip!)
campus crusade’s unpopular name: Cru staffer Ben Meredith writes about how he deals (or doesn’t) with Campus Crusade for Christ’s politically incorrect name. It’s attracted a few interesting comments by now, too.
disillusioned millennials: Always important reading, Tim Elmore blogs about some of the shifting trends within the Millennial Generation in “From Illusion to Disillusion.”
testimony site at stanford: The Stanford Daily highlighted a very cool campus testimony-sharing site, started by a couple of students in the Chi Alpha chapter at Stanford. This is a great example of how college ministries can see amazing works spin off from within their groups! (HT: Glen Davis, Stanford Chi Alpha director)
top posts at exploring college ministry: As for this blog, the College Ministry Poles series continues to attract some great discussion: #3 discussed present-looking vs. future-looking, and #4 examined co-ed vs. single-gender ministry. Two other well-visited posts include the “name the college ministry” challenge (how well do YOU know national groups?) and a post discussing why America’s “top churches” aren’t always the place to look for strong college ministry. I also blogged a wild day last weekend, spent viewing three Gen Y-oriented movies (and then posted an expanded Millennial Review of Whip It, as well).
want even more?: For more recent reading, check out this wrap-up from mid-September or this one from a week before that. (Those were a couple of weeks of really solid discussions around the campus ministry blog world, so it’s some good reading!)
Last weekend, I offered a list of some great campus ministry discussions I’d found around the web. It seemed to be useful to some people, so I might make this a weekly feature!
It’s actually been a doozy of a week in the world of college ministry blogging! So I’m going to stretch this across the weekend, because I really hope you’ll check out several of these, at least. I’ll put everything here (in case you’ve got more time today than Sunday), but I won’t post tomorrow – because who needs another post from me when you’ve got all this other great stuff to read?
If you’ll take some time to dive in, I think you’ll be intrigued (and hopefully edified) by all the discussions…
In case you’ve missed it, I just wanted to point you to a few college ministry discussions around the web I found to be interesting reading this week:
Tim Elmore on “Karaoke Leaders” is, as always, good for us and good for our student leaders. If you’re not following his blog and checking out his resources, all of the above is well worth it.
Chuck Bomar’s post on “Thoughts for Campus Ministers” (by which he means campus-based ministers) has continued to garner comments since last week (including several from me, after someone asked me some direct Qs). The post and comments could be helpful for thinking about campus-based / church-based interaction (and the difficulties involved in that). I encourage you still to add your two cents if you have some thoughts.
Steve Lutz offers some really helpful analysis of students’ “spiritual openness continuum” – and how little we minister effectively to most college students. (And if you missed his post last week, I will again say it was some of the best college ministry reading I’ve read recently: be sure to check out his post about doing college ministry like we’re the Visiting Team.)
Really interesting thoughts at the Academic Faithfulness blog by Keith Martel on “Marks of Academic Revival,” discussing what effects he believes true spiritual revival will have on students academic lives.
And, of course, College Union is still trucking on their awesome 40 Days of Prayer for Campus Ministry. (Today is Day 28.)
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