Tag: discipleship

Student Leaders

Connecting With Student Leaders… Over The Summer

They’re gone, but not forgotten.

They are our student leaders — the heartbeat of our ministry on campus — and they’ve dispersed for the summer months.

But thanks to all of the advances in technology, keeping up with them this summer has never been easier!

And it will be important that we do, because the pace of life that most students live at is mind-boggling. They are heavy consumers of experiences and information… and they don’t like to say “No” to much that comes their way.

Transitions

Don’t Get Blindsided by Life Mechanics

Stepping out, taking the risk to dive into this crazy world as an adult, as Miss Independent (cue Kelly Clarkson), can be totally scary.

We like to think we are self-sufficient and not at all apprehensive about living out on our own, out from under the wings of the grown-ups in our lives.

I remember when I moved into my first apartment post-college. It was a seven-hundred-square-foot space that was mine to decorate, leave messy, and clean up only if I felt like it.

Exciting . . . until it came time to pay rent for the first time. Yikes.

Big Ideas & 'Best Of'

Hospitality: More Than Greeters & Coffee

Somewhat ironically, though not surprisingly, I’m sitting in a coffee shop reflecting on the idea of hospitality.

At the Edge House, the place where I engage college students at the University of Cincinnati, I have often described my approach as a mix of discipleship and hospitality.

We think hospitality is a pretty critical metaphor for the Gospel.

But when I use the word hospitality, I sometimes hear reactions which betray a misunderstanding of the biblical/Jewish/Christian practice of hospitality.

Academics & Vocation

Just Keep Breathing: 3 Reasons You Should Consider Seminary

I remember a pastor once referred to seminary as “cemetery” because “that’s where promising pastors go to die.” Like most maxims, I’m sure there was a kernel of truth in that statement somewhere. But seminary isn’t just for pastors anymore. Nor is it only for people with plans to enter into full-time, paid ministry.

People from all walks of life with all different kinds of aspirations are increasingly entering into seminary as an opportunity to work out their “callings.” What about you? Could seminary be right for you? Making that determination is as simple as taking a breath.

The Local Church

I Love Jesus and I Love His Church

We need a redeemed and transformed ecclesiology.

Ecclesiology is simply a big seminary word for the way we think and talk about and practice this thing called Church.

It comes from the Greek word ekklesia, which means “a public gathering of people,” and is the word that gets translated “church” in the New Testament.

Leadership Development

Campus Ministry as a Bridge, Not an Island

The other day I wandered into the woods of a local park.

The combination of a coffee drink in one hand (a prerequisite in the Northwest) and a sunny day in April (a rarity in the Northwest) brought me and my two boys to a muddy little creek tucked behind a set of tennis courts in the very same park I had played in as a little boy.

The creek – which created a border between the park and a local neighborhood – was muddy and cold, but that was no deterrent for two ambitious and adventurous little boys.

Big Ideas & 'Best Of'

PERSPECTIVE

Fridays are for ‘Reclaiming Words!’

The intent of this series is to explore words that I think need to be introduced — or re-introduced — to this current generation of college students.

These words have lost their meaning… or have been mis-used or redefined in unhelpful ways… and therefore need to be reclaimed and redefined (again) so that they can be realized by our students!

Today’s word: PERSPECTIVE.

Transitions

Are They Ready To Go?

If you’ve been serving students for very long at all, then you know that the summer months can be a challenging season for many of our students.

Spiritually speaking, many will struggle to re-engage back in the community of faith they were apart of before they left for college… (which assumes, of course, that they had one to leave in the first place).