Over the last couple of days, I had the opportunity to do some much-needed catch-up, including working through plenty of online items of interest. So, before I bookmark those and close the browser windows, here are some of those updates, resources, etc. The first ones may interest quite a few of you, and they get progressively specific (and collegiate) as they go:
Expelled (the Ben Stein movie)
There’s finally a release date for this show, which deals with Intelligent Design and its “blacklisting” within higher education. April 18th. Here is the main movie site. And the resources site is worth checkin’ out, too. Hopefully this will be a good conversation-starter, at least, and it deals directly with the way religious thought is handled in the halls of academia (where we get to minister!).
The Whiteboard Sessions
This conference sounds like a great idea: 8 major speakers (like Mark Dever, Ed Stetzer, Perry Noble…). Each get 30 minutes to share 1 idea. Early Bird deadline for signin’ up: March 31st.
Paradise 2008
Speaking of unique gatherings… if you work with college students (or youth), you should know about Paradise 2008. It’s a seek-Jesus, no other headliners event in a field in the middle of the country. The whole thing is being organized by some long-time, awesome ministers to college students.
College Transition Initiative
I found CTI a while back, dedicated to helping high school students make that transition to college better – part of the Center for Parent / Youth Understanding. Here are some articles there that look like they could be helpful.
From the Big Daddy
As you may or may not be aware, the 100-year-old University Presbyterian Church in Seattle is one of the kings among church-based collegiate ministries. The ministries started within their UMin include The Inn and the Ascent Network. Fortunately, they also make their model available to the rest of us as a .pdf. Sweet action.
Links a’Plenty
A good list of links to the Collegiate Ministry departments of several mainline denominations, via the National Campus Ministry Association. Under those, quite a few varied “Collegiate Ministry Resources” can be found. Definitely a site worth exploring, regardless of what denomination you’re in (or not in).
Presents from the Presbies
This is probably part of the links package from the previous entry, but I have the PC(USA) resource page bookmarked separately. It is a good lookin’ set of resources, including several downloadable articles.
Threads Media
Finally, I’m excited about the new “young adult” resources from Threads Media. These books look good, which says a lot these days. Hopefully the contents are just as excellent – they have a pretty good lookin’ list of authors, for one thing. And their site has a lot more than just stuff to buy, too.