Category: Student Culture, Trends & Issues

Blogathons, Student Culture, Trends & Issues

Announcing the 3rd Annual Sex & the Soul Blogathon | Feb. 26-28

Preparation for the next blogathon is now underway!

As you very well know, today’s college students are more wounded than ever. They’ve been exposed to, or personally experienced, a lot of pain and hurt in relation to sex, issues of sexuality, and their intersection with the Christian faith.

And what they need most are women and men who are willing to “get dirty” with them in order to understand the depths of their hurts.

They need someone like you and like me to come alongside them — suspending judgment — and journey with them towards healing, reconciliation, and redemption.

The 3rd Annual Sex & the Soul Blogathon…

Student Culture, Trends & Issues

The Voices They Hear

Parents play a powerful role in the development of their children.

Seems obvious to say, yet I think we can tend to forget this truth when we work with students on college campuses — primarily because we don’t see parents, just students.

Sure, from time to time our students might bring their parents up in conversation. But it can be all to easy to forget that the ways in which our students think, believe, and live are without doubt a product of the ways and environments in which they were raised.

It’s true for all of our students — those who are thriving and those who are not.

Big Ideas & 'Best Of', Student Culture, Trends & Issues

A Cure for the Stressed Life of a College Student

A cure for the stressed life of a college student — REALLY!?!?!

I think we’d be the most popular office on campus if we professed to posses such a golden ticket — because we can all testify to the fact that we hear our students complain about this far more than we hear them complain about anything (or even everything) else.

Our students struggling — and they need our help.

I recently ran across this INFOGRAPHIC depicting the many things that today’s college students are stressing about… and a rather surprising set of cures for the student who feels too busy, broke, lonely, and/or stressed to keep it all together.

Spiritual Formation, Student Culture, Trends & Issues

Overcoming the Curse of Our Age

It’s a new year, which means that a new season of ministry with students is upon us.

And as we’ve launched into 2013, I’ve generated a new reading list, and decided to start the year by re-reading a couple of classics.

One of my first re-reads of the year is Richard Foster’s, Celebration of Discipline.

I couldn’t venture a guess as to the number of times that I’ve worked through this book. The first time I read it I was in grad. school — and it changed my life! Since then I’ve re-read it several times on my own, and led numerous groups through it as a way of learning to work on the interior life.

Student Culture, Trends & Issues

How Might Technology Change the Face of Higher Education by 2020?

60% of college presidents surveyed said they believe we’re going to see major changes in Higher Education by the year 2020 — just seven short years from now.

What’s driving this shift? A major factor is most assuredly is the high price of education.

In fact, 75% of adults polled in a recent Pew Research study said that college is too expensive for most Americans to afford, and 57% of adults said that U.S. Higher Education system fails to provide students with a good value for their money.

So what’s the alternative to traditional Higher Ed.? What’s a more cost-effective way for young people to get further education beyond high school?

Student Culture, Trends & Issues

CAMPUS gODS

The North American campus is filled with things — ideas, opportunities, and experiences — that vie for the attention and allegiance of today’s student.

Christians and non will give themselves to something — with the hope that it will be significant, and change everything!

And although there are a lot of great things to think about, opportunities to explore, and experiences to have — these things fail to be understood correctly when placed in Supreme position in one’s heart — and life.

These things aren’t bad in and of themselves, but when elevated to an unhealthy place, they begin to mis-shape and mal-form our students.

Here are a few of the more prominent gods I see on campus today — what would you add to this list?

Student Culture, Trends & Issues

The Growing Population of “Nones”

A few days ago the Pew Forum Research Center released some new statistics on faith in America. And what it revealed was not good.

19.6% of Americans claim no religious affiliation. This includes those claiming to be both agnostic and atheist.

And this number has gone up nearly 5% in just the past 5 years.

Even worse, 33% of Americans under the age of 30 claim no religious affiliation.

Student Culture, Trends & Issues

Dying to Fit In

As the fall term progresses, new social scenes will solidify, leaving some students on the outside.

After starting the year with hope and optimism, some students will begin to question what’s wrong with them…

Why have they been left out?

Why can’t they belong?

It’s beyond frustrating. In fact, for many it quickly gets to the point of being debilitating.

Student Culture, Trends & Issues

In Christ Alone

This is a guest post I did for one of my new blogger friends, JR Forasteros. He’s a pastor in Dayton, OH and this post is a part of his ‘After Happily Ever After’ series. His blog is a great resource on faith and pop culture. Check out his blog and follow him on Twitter!

In the mid 1990s, the movie Jerry McGuire romanticized the notion of a soul mate — that one person that exists to “complete” us. Maybe you remember these infamous words that still conjure up feelings of desire, destiny, and fulfillment: