Tag: priorities

Student Culture, Trends & Issues

Practices for Campus Ministers Courtesy of the Rolling Stones — Part I

Friendship is a diminishing of distance between people. from Life p. 312

In my work with students, the two refrains I hear again and again go like this:

1) I want more friends

2) Community is hard

Who doesn’t want more friends? Certainly a major reason students attend school is to find connection, meet new people, and develop long lasting friendships.

But, community is hard. Most of the students I work with attend Boston University, which presents a unique environment. The school is embedded into Boston, stretching across two miles of the city, while running parallel to the Charles River.

Student Culture, Trends & Issues

[INFOGRAPHIC] Teens and Porn: 10 Stats You Need to Know

As I mentioned in my post yesterday, I’ve got a second book in the works…

The first book is geared towards Mentors — really anyone who might speak into the lives of college students (including, but not limited to: parents, pastors, professors, coaches, directors, et al). I hope it will serve as a guide for having important and timely conversations with students during their formative college years.

The second book will be geared towards college students and will examine some of the things that are literally “killing their souls.”

Student Culture, Trends & Issues

7 Things College Students Wish Every Educator Knew

Earlier this summer I had the chance to sit with Dr. Tim Clydesdale, author of The First Year Out: Understanding American Teens After High School.

His current project (which I think will be released sometime this summer or fall) is on college students collectively.

The research he conducted with high school grads (many of whom went to college), that was presented in his first book, was carried on and was the focus of our conversation.

Big Ideas & 'Best Of'

Do You Have An APP For That?

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.

Student Leaders

Leaders Who Live in the Gray of Life

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?

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.

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.

Big Ideas & 'Best Of'

Evaluating Before Hibernating

For most of us the school year has now come to an end.

The natural reaction is to breathe a sigh of relief and start packing for the beach. However, judging by the fact that you’re reading this post you realize that, while the summer means more time to rest, there’s still work to be done.

So before you enter the period of college ministry hibernation, take some time to assess this past year, while it’s still fresh in your mind.

Here are 5 questions to ask as you evaluate your ministry: