Tag: relational ministry

Blogathons, The Campus Minister

Cracks

Right about now collegiate leaders all around the country are having a severe dose of reality. Pure pandemonium is about to commence because we’ve realized that in just over four short weeks we’ve got students arriving back on campus and our Fall Semesters will be in full swing.

Dang that was a short summer!

All of our well thought out plans and strategies are about to be tested with a vengeance. We’re hoping our student leadership teams are prepared and have brought their A-Games. And we ourselves are screaming like banshees praying like mad that we haven’t forgotten anything because before we realize it we’re going to have incoming freshman crawling out of the woodwork all over our campus.

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.

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 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.

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.

Big Ideas & 'Best Of'

A Dark Place; Not Hopeless

Gallaudet University (GU) is one of the only known Deaf Universities in the world, where students flock from all over the world to receive a prestigious education, since 1864. With only have about 1,800 students attending, many leave after their undergraduate or after receiving a masters or Ph.D. But what’s missing?

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.