Tag: struggle

Student Culture, Trends & Issues

Morality vs. Holiness Among Young Christians

I ran across this collection of statistics and wanted to make sure I shared with you — in case you hadn’t run across it in your own online reading.

There’s a lot here.

And the good folks at Gallup did a great job of covering a broad range of “moral” topics.

What we don’t know about those who were polled for this data is what religious affiliation (if any) the respondents claim. Likely, it’s a pretty accurate cross-section of the American population, and therefore, it would be safe to say that these are the dominant “beliefs” of American culture.

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'

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.