Tag: growth

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.

Leadership Development, Student Leaders

Failure is NOT Fatal; Perfection NOT a Requirement

It’s one of the biggest messages are student leaders need to hear this year:

Failure is NOT fatal; Perfection NOT a requirement.

Because the truth is that — for fear of failure — many of our students will struggle to really give themselves fully to their leadership roles this year.

Of course, this sounds counter-intuitive at first — but when we give less than our best, less than 100%, we’ve then got an excuse for when things don’t go well.

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.

Student Leaders

5 Keys to Your Student Leader’s Success

Strong ministry leadership is foundational to success.

Informed, well-trained, and intentionally supported student leadership is essential to magnifying the power of, and exponentially expanding the reach of, your ministry on campus.

Student leadership isn’t just important for your ministry, but it’s an incredible opportunity for students to develop their gifts, explore their passions, and serve Christ in their campus community.

But good student leaders, and good student leadership, don’t just happen.

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).

Spiritual Formation

Our Future-oriented Drift

“What are your plans now?” This question tortures most soon-to-be college graduates.

High School Seniors are barraged as well, “Where are you going to college?” They are asked over and over again.

I hear it when my friends ask, “When are you getting back into your Doctor of Ministry program?”

Even my seven-year old twins aren’t immune to our culture’s obsession with the future. “What grade will you be in next year?” What do you want to be when you grow up?”

Truly, middle class North Americans love planning for the future. Perhaps no sub-culture is more future-oriented than that of higher education. Faculty and staff are planning for their upcoming semester or their tenure applications, students are planning for the next week, for the rest of the semester, for next semester, for after graduation, etc.

Leadership Development, Spiritual Formation

The Power of Intentional Mentorship

Every four years, I wait with anticipation for the start of the Summer Olympic Games. This year, the world watches the Olympic triumphs of athletes around the world in London.

When I watch these athletes compete and win medals, I am reminded that their journey is a process, not only a solitary moment on the world stage.

These committed athletes train relentlessly with the assistance of coaches intentionally providing strategy, tips and pointers along the way.

As it is with the athletes preparing for their Olympic moment, so it should be with the intentional developing of college students and young adults for the rest of their lives!

Transitions

Against the Current: Understanding the Mindset of an Incoming College Freshman

When I was in college, I went rafting with some friends. We were coasting down a medium-size rapid when, all of a sudden, we dropped about four feet on a dip that we didn’t see coming.

Falling off my tube, I remember having to swim upstream to get back onto my float that had become lodged between a rock and a hard place.

Tired from the struggle, I remember wondering if the experience was worth it at all.

Academics & Vocation

INFOGRAPHIC: Students and Cheating

How big of an issue is cheating for your students?

Now let me rephrase that — how many of your students would say that cheating is a big deal?

In a culture that esteems success and achievement, while having little to say about character and integrity, some of the statistics featured in the infographic below may not be all that surprising.

And although this infographic focuses on the (relatively small) differences between cheating that occurs in online classes vs. on campus classrooms, without any regard for religious or moral underpinnings, we must believe that the students in our ministries fit all-to-comfortably within these statistics.