Yesterday, I wrote about the need to make our entry points kind to people, not simply attractive or student-drawing or student-retaining. Today, a few ways you can do that with your “front door gatherings” (like Large Group Meetings): Train your greeters (including yourself) to acknowledge new visitors’ plights. For those new to your scene, nothing may be clear. …
Ever since I took the opportunity to visit 165 weekend worship services across my yearlong road trip (a trip that was far more about collegiate ministry exploration than about visiting churches), I’ve been a bit of a hospitality addict. This hope for a useful “product” – anytime Christians are doing ministry – bleeds …
Do you record your weekly messages? That’s really the gist of today’s Fridea. If you do – and if you do a great job of promulgating those messages – then you can check this one off! If you don’t, is there a reason why? I do realize that some ministries …
I had the chance to give announcements at one of our church’s services yesterday, and it was a neat chance to be reminded about the excellence and intentionality of our staff members who direct the worship services. A few days before, they sent out a “briefing” that shared their vision for that …
I’m at a “Hunger Summit” here in Dallas today, and that of course gets me thinking about how this format might apply to collegiate ministry. Here’s how: Have you considered joining with other ministries on your campus, to work through a particular issue or discipleship topic? There are plenty of …
A couple of weeks ago, I spent some time talking about ways to better mobilize students, based largely on what I learn in my job (which involves mobilizing our church’s people). By “mobilizing” I mean helping those who are already attending get more involved – from the first-time guest who needs to hear …
I last posted this idea in my “Going for Broke” series, which offered some rather big ideas – perfect for considering before the year starts! What if, mid-semester, you took a week off to let student leaders truly “run things” – whatever “things” compose your ministry on a weekly basis? The idea is straightforward enough, …
All week I’m posting Frideas… in lieu of the holiday-skipped post on July 4th. While the titles may be slightly enigmatic, we’re looking at provocative possibilities for your coming school year: on Monday asking what to cut, then what to host, and today… It’s interesting to see the dividing line …
On Monday, I presented a challenge for us not to view highly successful college ministries or ministry activities as “machines” to be copied, but rather “toolboxes.” We should learn from others and their successful programs, but always discern which components are most useful in our original context. What’s difficult about …
This week, I’ve been reflecting anew on the Millennial wizardry of Jimmy Fallon – and you can see not only those posts but ones from my original “Jimmy Fallon & Gen Y” series right here. But this gets me thinking once again about a question I ponder regularly: Could campus …
