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Friday, January 12, 2018

Tools of a College Minister

1.  Be intentionally Relational.  
Relationships to students, churches, administration affect everything we do.  We must work at being intentionally relational and work on our relationship skills...dumb things like remembering names, etc.

2.  Demonstrate Integrity.
The Apostle Paul said, "We want to avoid any criticism of the way we administer this liberal gift.  For we are taking pains to do what is right, not only in the eyes of the Lord but also in the eyes of men."  2 Corinthians 8:20-21  I have only met or been aware of a couple of College Ministers I thought were "crooked", but I have met several who through sloppiness did not always appear to operate with integrity (particularly in the area of finances).  Take Paul's advice...."take pains to do what is right...in the eyes of men".

3.  Work at the craft of Being a Good Communicator
Whether you speak at a weekly event or talk about your ministry to others, are you continually trying to grow as a speaker, communicator?  Before speaking, do you do speak it out loud as you would do it?  Have you ever studied a really good communicator to see why they are?  Do you remember that every one connects to a story and do you practice telling the story ahead of time?

4.  Work at Your Multi-tasking.
We must live in the moment....but Summer Orientations, etc are coming.  Are you keeping a good calendar?  I have increasingly put deadlines, meetings in my phone calendar that sends me a reminder.  I sometimes just list something I have to get done on Friday....and it pops up on Friday reminding me.  But, I have to confess I still use a lot of sticky notes!

5.  Be the leader.
Everything that works needs a leader...someone in charge.  A friend who attends a well known church in a major city in the south told me with great horror that his pastor told him, "I am not the leader of the church; the chair of the deacons is.".  My friend who leads a large organization felt the pastor was not accepting part of his role.  A leader is not a dictator.  Accept and work at being the leader...if you are THE one in charge.

6.  Balance Ministering and Ad-ministering.
Most of us in College Ministry are people centered.  But, there is administration to be done.  There are times we must be talking to students.  But, if we have no plan or budget to rely on, our ministry will simply become only what we can do personally.  Administering a ministry means building, leading, empowering a ministry that is much larger than what you can do personally.

7.  Schedule Family time and days.
Are there nights you do NOT go to campus?  Does your family eat meals together on a regular basis?  First, you and your family need to survive and thrive.  Secondly, you are modeling family to your students.  Don't cheat your job.....AND don't cheat your family!

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