Big Ideas & 'Best Of', Transitions

It’s Important to Remember That Move-In Day is NOT About YOU

Most campuses I know of seem to have some sort of formal programming and process for welcoming students to campus, helping them to get moved in, and then oriented to their new community, before classes begin.

Most of us went through this process as a first-year student… once upon a time… and it may be that we have forgotten some of the emotions and overwhelming feelings of disorientation that often accompany this time of transition.

And on move-in day specifically, new students and parents are about one thing and one thing only — getting into (and then settled in) their dorm room.

So let me encourage us — each and every one of us — to be about that one thing as well.

Student Culture, Trends & Issues

The Demise of (College) Guys?

A former female student of mine recently shared this TED talk on Facebook with the comment, “this sucks!”

I agree.

I’m just becoming familiar with TED talks, so this video may have already “made the rounds,” but if you haven’t seen it, I encourage you to watch it (it’s under 5 minutes in length) and then share your thoughts about how we might better assist the guys on our campus.

Big Ideas & 'Best Of'

Campus Mapping || A More Strategic Approach to Ministry on Campus

While at a conference last summer I had the chance to sit in on a session led by Creighton Alexander, Campus Pastor at the University of Alabama Wesley Foundation, where he talked about coming up with a strategy for ministry on campus.

He shared a lot of good stuff, but there was one idea in particular that seemed to jump out at me — and has stuck with me ever since — and it’s the idea of “mapping our campus.”

There’s a good chance that many of you already do this — in fact, we all do to a certain extent because we all have “strategic relationships” across campus (and if we don’t, we should!) — but Creighton’s idea, while simple, was profound to me.

The Campus Minister

The Messianic Virus

Is it just me, or does it often feel like there aren’t enough hours in the day to do all of the things that we want (or need) to do?

As pastors we can find ourselves sought out for a variety of reasons.

And we can give ourselves to a lot of different ministry-related tasks and to-do’s.

Some of this happens for good reasons, some for the wrong reasons and some due to no decision of our own.

But I find myself wondering how frequently many of us get sidetracked, or even sidelined, by giving too much of our time and attention to the wrong things.