Do you know about Prezi.com?
It’s not brand new, I think I’ve been using it for about a year now — and for some reason it just dawned on me that I should share about it here, in case YOU haven’t ever experienced it.
Why?
Because it has totally revolutionized the way I do presentations (sorry if this sounds like an infomercial — I just like sharing cool stuff with cool people).
What is it?
I recently conducted a short interview with Creighton Alexander — Director of the Wesley Foundation at the University of Alabama, Co-Editor of CollegeUnion.org, and Director of the Refresh Conference about the upcoming Campus Ministry Boot Camps that he’s offering. Here’s what he had to say…
For the past several years our ministries have been challenged to consider how to better reach — and connect with — an increasingly digital world.
From websites to blogs, to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIN and Pinterest accounts, online registration and release forms, images and videos — even live streaming.
In many ways it’s felt necessary to obtain additional degrees in web management and social media strategy to co-inside with the ministry degrees many of us hold.
And things continue to grow and change in this area.
Faith ON Campus is excited to announce the next Blogathon:
Back to School | August 7-9, 2012!
I know it probably feels like the summer just started — but the reality is that the new school year is just around the corner — so with that in mind, it’s time to make plans and preparations for this upcoming opportunity to come together for some collective thinking and sharing about how to make the most of this critical time of the year!
That’s what the Back to School Blogathon is all about!
Do you have standards for your leaders?
You know, those people who mean so much to your ministry efforts — the ones who serve as extensions of you and the ministry you oversee. Those people that multiply your reach and effectiveness exponentially. Those individuals that magnify the effectiveness of your ministry because of the unique gifts, passions, and talents the bring to the table.
You know, those folks…
Do you have standards that might qualify (or disqualify) them for leadership within your ministry?
I can’t quite recall when the switch happened, but it was probably 4 or 5 years into my college ministry career when I started to look forward to conference more for the relational connections than for the conference content.
Do you know what I meant?
There’s just something about being with people who get what we do that’s so significant, so generative.
People of similar heart and mind, who feel called to reach college students with the Good News of Jesus Christ.
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.
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.
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.
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.