Tag: contextual ministry

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:

Big Ideas & 'Best Of'

How Will You Talk Faith & Politics With Students this Election Year?

Two months from today, most of our students will have their very first chance to vote in a Presidential election.

This is one of many “firsts” that they’ll have the chance to experience while on campus — away from home, and away from those who have been their most trusted voices and advisers for much of their lives.

With such a big decision looming, who will step in and offer some assistance in the decision-making process?

Leadership Development

Announcing The Art of Self Leadership Blogathon [Oct. 23-25]

Preparation for the next Blogathon are now underway!

The Art of Self Leadership Blogathon will be a chance for us to talk together about our need to lead self — while faithfully living out our call to lead others. As leaders, we often put our own needs aside in order to focus on those around us. But in order for us to be the effective, healthy, and durable leaders we desire to be, we need to be wise, intentional, and strategic with regard to how we manage our time, establish and protect different boundaries, approach our work, and faithfully live out our call to serve others.

This time will be a chance to explore new ideas and best practices as it relates to our service as faithful leaders, as well as to engage in online conversation about some of the challenges or struggles we face in this area of Self Leadership.

Leadership Development

7 Things I’ve Learned From Being on the Same Campus for 7 Years

You may have caught my post last week, reflecting on 15 Things I’ve Learned from 15 Years of College Ministry. If not, you should check it out!

Those 15 years have unfolded on four different campuses — but the last seven have been in the same place. And truth be told, I’m surprised that I’ve made it this long.

It’s not that I’m a bad employee — often at risk of getting fired. Nor is it that I dislike the place I work (or that I’ve previously worked) — all have been great! It has more to do with me — and my propensity for change.

In the past, I’ve enjoyed starting on a new campus, making new relationships, assessing what’s working — and what’s not, and then discerning how God wanted to use me in that place.

Student Culture, Trends & Issues

Prescription Drug Abuse and The Good Grade Pill

You may already know this, but prescription drug abuse on campus is on the rise.

It’s hard to get an accurate read on just how rampant the problem is, but some reports suggest as high as 40% of students misuse prescription drugs just to aid in their studies.

And that doesn’t account for students who are misusing drugs for the sake of getting high or “taking the edge off” in order to have less anxiety in different social settings.

With a generation of students that were more heavily (and quickly) medicated as youth, now arriving on campus, the amount of prescription drugs on campus shouldn’t surprise us.

Big Ideas & 'Best Of'

The Mindset List for the Class of 2016

They’re here, but are we ready for them?

And what I mean by “ready” is — have we sufficiently done our homework in order to know who, exactly, the students that make up the Class of 2016 are?

If your answer to that question is “no,” — know that you’re not alone.

And thankfully there’s a resource that can help to quickly get us up to speed on this year’s incoming class of college students.

It’s known as The Mindset List and is put out yearly by Beloit College.

Student Culture, Trends & Issues

[ INFOGRAPHIC ] $83.8 Billion Back-to-School Shopping Spree

It started today — for us.

It may have already started for you. If not, it will soon.

I’m talking about the return of students to campus!

It’s time for another academic year to begin — which likely means that there will be a trip (or two — or more) made to the mall, the grocery store, and/or the local Walmart in order to get everything they’ll need to be successful in the year ahead!

And as new and returning students prepare to move to campus, and we prepare to help them lug their belongings from car to room, here’s some insight into what we might be carrying (not to mention the kind of money students — or their parents — will be spending):

Student Leaders

5 Lies (Student) Leaders Believe

Yesterday was our day of campus-wide leadership training.

It’s a time when we bring together all of the students leaders of varying student groups across campus for some shared training and team building.

For the day, we set aside the planning and preparation for our specific areas to recognize that we — as leaders — are not alone on campus. There are others who aspire to similar heights, and face many of the same challenges that we do.

From year to year it’s never quite the same — and I think this year might have been one of our best efforts!

Personally, I had the chance to co-present to our student leadership population of 350+ about the lies many leaders believe. Many of these lies were identified by different student leaders who have seen them — in some shape or fashion — played on within the student leadership culture on our campus.

Transitions

‘Stuck in a Moment’ That They Can’t Get Out Of

The beginning of the school year — it’s one of our busiest times of the year.

So many students to meet, so many to reconnect with.

It’s a season in which life seems to move at an incredibly pace — nearly impossible to keep up with — or so it would seem.

Yet I was recently reminded that while this might be true for many of us, it isn’t true for everyone.

I’ve got a friend I’ve been visiting in the hospital the past few weeks. In my visits with him I’ve been reminded that time moves slower there. Much slower.

Student Culture, Trends & Issues

The #1 Thing on the College Freshman Mind

You may already know the top issues for your incoming freshman, but Dr. Tim Clydesdale has actually asked them. And in a workshop at this year’s National Collegiate Summit he shared seven common themes uncovered by his interviews with college-bound high school grads.

The #1 theme? Navigating relationships (making friends, finding a boy/girlfriend, getting along with roommates) and managing gratifications (particularly sex and partying, hence connecting gratifications to relationships).