Everyone in college ministry is looking for a Rainmaker when making a new hire. When churches call me looking for suggestions for their College Minister position, they usually want a speaker who is better than Louie Giglio, who many consider the premier college and young adult speaker of our day. Everybody wants a "Rainmaker".
Wikipedia, that source of all knowledge, defines the term this way, "In business a rainmaker is a person who brings in new business and wins new accounts almost by magic." In ministry a Rainmaker is one who instantly draws a big crowd and brings immediate credibility to the ministry with his or her charisma. That's my definition.
Rainmakers are overrated in ministry! First, I do not believe there are many Rainmakers...there are maybe a handful of people who are so obviously gifted and/or God's hand is on them in such a way that out of the ordinary happens over night.
HERE IS THE PROBLEM WITH OVERNIGHT SUCCESS......
Overnight growth is sometimes even unhealthy. It can disappear as quickly as it comes! This sort of overnight success is usually tied to the personality of that one person. The day that one person is gone....the response is gone. College ministries that continue to have an impact over time are built one day, one semester, one year at a time. In most instances, it takes three years to establish a college ministry or for it to begin to take the overall direction needed, if it has been struggling and is starting with new leadership.
Why three years? Obviously, that is not a magic number and it does not mean to sit and wait for three years to pass. The main ingredient is that three classes will have come in under that leadership and philosophy. There is time to develop a culture of excellence, strong student leadership, and financial support. Three years can pass without ANY OF THAT happening. It must be an intentional process.
The danger of totally building a ministry around a charismatic speaker is that that is all the ministry is. It can ignore one to one discipleship, training of student leaders, and the sending out of students to the next phase in their life.
I love big crowds. But, there is more to college ministry than big crowds and the charisma of one person. One College Minister I know who has had large ministries everywhere he has been is not a very good speaker. He has a ton of ideas and works night and day. Maybe, he is a WORKHORSE.
A Workhorse is defined this way by Collins English Dictionary, "they can be relied upon to do a large amount of work, especially work that is dull or routine.". Bingo! Don't worry if you are not a Rainmaker...most of us are not.....HOWEVER GOD USES WORKHORSES!
Arliss Dickerson is a part time college ministry consultant for Lifeway Christian Resources and is the author of five books on college ministry available in eBook and print at amazon.com (type in Arliss Dickerson).
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