5 Questions to Ask After Spring Break

 The time following Spring Break is a time to look forward and to look back.  One Campus Minister who has been transitioning into a new ministry this year told me he was excited to get to this point and be able to begin to look to the fall.  Now is a time to begin to evaluate the year and to learn from it.  It is time to look forward in making plans and prepping student leaders for the fall.  To best plan for the coming year, we have to evaluate and learn from this year.

Here are some questions to be asking:

1.  What is something that happened this year that I need to be especially grateful to the Lord for?

2.  What is something we did that just was not worth the time, effort, and/or expense?

3.  What do I need to prepare or do differently to be ready for the summer's outreach to new incoming freshmen?

4.  What student leader or leaders do I need to be intentional in helping them finish the semester strong with a good experience for them and their area of responsibility?

5.  I ask this one every year at this time. What is something we need to experiment with to see if it might work better.....a new night for our worship.....a different time.....a different location.....a different approach?  A new outreach idea?  Now is the time to try that idea that has always circled around in the back of your mind.  Try it once and see what you learn.  It could affect your whole thinking for next year.

Arliss Dickerson's book, Tips for College Freshmen:  124 Tips for Fun, Faith & Good Grades is available at Amazon.com/dp/B09QFB9DJ9.

Which Campuses Do You Prioritize in College Ministry?

 In my Blog article about the Georgia Baptist Convention considering selling some of their Baptist Student Centers, the five being considered were described as "Flagship campuses".  Some do not like the term "Flagship campus" used in describing a particular campus and ministry.  I think their main objection is that every student is of equal value in God's sight.  Obviously, I could not agree with that more.  But, I do believe there are Flagship campuses either in terms of the ministry being very high profile OR the campus itself being described as such because of its size and or reputation in a state or even nationally.

In a previous Blog article, "College ministry Funding Options/Strategies for Southern Baptists",  I talked about different funding methods Baptists might choose when faced with budget cuts for campus ministry.  Those options were in no specific order::

1.. Leave college ministry to the non-denominational groups. - that will cost us nothing, but provide no denominational distinctives and direct strengthening of Southern Baptist churches.

2.  Adopt the Virginia model.  Convention employed College Ministers raise a percentage of their own salary.

3.  Ask the local churches to take up the college ministries.  Provide encouragement, training and perhaps some coordination.

4.  Go ONLY to the underserved campuses.  Many college campuses, especially in the south, have multiple Christian ministries.  If we must cutback, then why not go to those campuses that have little or no Christian ministries is the argument.

5.  Develop partnerships between State Conventions and Local churches. - This would be where local churches and the convention would put money together for a salary of a Campus Minister or one would own and maintain a Center and the other would provide staff, etc.

6. Go Only to the Flagship Campuses.  Work on those campuses that are larger and/or are best known and high profile.

I said in my previous article that I did not like any of the choices.  Some, I dislike more than others.  But, if forced to choose one of these options, I would choose,

Go Only to the Flagship Campuses.  I have worked on both a smaller campus where we saw a significant response and I have worked on a Flagship campus.  In many ways, Flagship campuses are harder.  On smaller and more regional campuses, there are not as many activities or competing forces.  Often, the administration on these smaller campuses is even more cooperative as they often have to work to develop healthy campus life and activities.

So, WHY the Flagship campus?  It is not unusual that there are more freshmen involved in a flagship campus ministry than total students involved on a smaller campus.  

5 Reasons to Prioritize Flagship Campuses:

1.  Larger population which provides the opportunity to impact more student lives.

2.  More leader type students tend to attend flagship campuses.  One of the tasks of college ministry is to be developing leaders for the church for the coming years. 

3.  The leaders that graduate from flagship campuses tend to become the financial and political leaders in a state.  Impacting them while in college impacts an entire state.

4.  It is easier to raise money for a flagship campus ministry. The alums of flagship campuses tend to remain loyal alumni which increases the likelihood of their financially supporting a ministry that impacted them.  Plus, the overall awareness of non-alums impacts their giving to it.

5.  A strong ministry on a flagship campus will be more generally high profile and known outside the campus community which will continue to raise the flag of college ministry and its benefits.

AGAIN, God does not love one student more than another.  This is an argument for making hard choices if and when resources decline.

Arliss Dickerson's book, Tips for College Freshmen:  124 Tips for Fun, Faith & Good Grades, is available at amazon.com/dp/B09QFB9DJ9.

 

Georgia Considering Selling Some Baptist Student Centers

 The Georgia Baptist Convention is negotiating with a developer to possibly sell five of their Baptist Collegiate Ministry Centers on five flagship campuses that have excellent and central campus locations.  This follows a period of the last three or four years where several Georgia Baptist Convention employees (including several BCM Campus Ministers) were asked to take early retirement due to convention funding issues.

If the conversations develop and the Centers are sold, the developer would demolish the BCM Centers and build a multi-use commercial building.  The Baptist Collegiate Ministry would then lease some space in the new building.  This would be somewhat similar to what has been done at the University of Texas by the Texas Baptist Convention.  One key difference is that the Texas BSM purchased their space and the Georgia proposal calls for a lease.

It is my understanding that the building would be sold and demolished but the Georgia Baptist Convention would retain ownership of the land and lease it to the developer on which the new building would be built.

Those who have heard of the conversations have raised the following questions:

Would all or any of the money received from the purchase go back to the collegiate ministry or simply go into the Georgia Baptist Convention general funds?

Will the amount of space they lease be equivalent to the space they have in their current Centers to allow the same sort of ministry?  Or, is this just office space and a conference room?

How long will the BCM lease be and is it possible that the developer will continue to raise the price of the space they are leasing to the point they will not be able to afford to continue in that location?

Is this a good new option to consider as the cost of maintaining Campus Centers increases or is this just about money?

Will each BCM be able to negotiate specifications for their space prior to it being built, such as having a kitchen, etc, or will they simply get whatever type space the developer does generally?

What provisions are made for the BCM ministries on those campuses while they are without their centers and the commercial building is being built?  Is each ministry on their own for the interim?

I do not know the answer to these questions.  But hopefully, these are being addressed in the negotiations.

There is no doubt we must always be looking to the future and what approaches are best in reaching the college campus today.  Obviously, money is always a factor in what we do and cannot do. 

Is this an approach that is possible everywhere there is a Baptist Student Center?  The simple answer is no.  First, it all depends on location. In many cases, the land which the Centers are on is owned by the University and is provided for a ministry center, not a commercial building. In most of these cases, the University would be the only one that would have the option of buying the building. And, for a developer to be interested, it has to be a prime location.

It would be my prayer that in this situation and any other similar ones that the collegiate ministry experts would be part of these conversations and that Baptists as a whole would have input into these kinds of decisions. This is not a decision that can be re-visited when finances are better.  As we lament the loss of the young adult generation to faith and the church, we must be wise in our decisions.

Are we being strategic in our college ministry decisions or just making dollars and cents decisions and are we giving Baptists as a whole, the opportunity to speak into these decisions? These days are days of hard and difficult decisions and choices.

Arliss Dickerson's book, Tips for College Freshmen:  124 Tips for Fun, Faith & Good Grades, is available at amazon.com/dp/B09QFB9DJ9.

College Ministry and the Transfer Portal

 I am a big college football and basketball fan.  If you follow these sports at all, you know that the new and very different thing affecting both sports is the Transfer Portal.  This is where a student athlete can decide he or she is leaving a school and they list themselves as available on this portal or website.  They then can be immediately eligible at another school.  They do not have to set out a year or lose a year of eligibility as they did prior to this.  The result has been major movement as student athletes go from one college to another.  I was watching a basketball game on TV this past week when one of the players was playing at his third four year college.  Wonder where he will play next year?

One of the things that has struck me is the football and basketball players at my school will announce their intentions to enter the Transfer Portal on social media.  In that announcement, most of them will say how much they have loved it here, how great people have been to them, and how grateful they are for the opportunity that was given them and then, now I am leaving.  Perhaps, they are not being totally honest, but I think in many cases they are.  People often say, If they are happy, why are they leaving.

The last ten years or so, College Ministers (and others) often have asked what is the main difference I see in students from now to when I started in college ministry in the dark ages.  Long before the Transfer Portal, my answer was, lack of loyalty.  That is my answer now on steroids.

I think quite likely these students were happy where they were.  Some leave because they are mad or feel they have not had the opportunity they deserve, but I think most leave just to go somewhere else and do something new and different.

So, how does that affect college ministry?  I believe we must (just like coaches) be re-connecting students every year.  We cannot assume that students will stay involved in our ministry just because they have been involved this past year.

So, what are some ways we do that?

1.  Personal relationships and Investment - We have to make sure that students know that we care about them personally and individually.  They are not just a cog in the wheel of our overall ministry.

2.  When they leave, we have to let them go with GRACE. - This is hard and I know it.  When a student you were counting on and have invested in a great deal walks away to another ministry, it hurts and stings.  It is a personal hurt.  Yet, I think we must ask the Lord to bless them and try to continue a warm relationship to them.  Why?  Well, they might circle back.  But, more importantly, it is about their not feeling they were used and we are done with them.  Because, we want them to serve in a church leadership role in their years to come.  How we treat them in leaving and later can have a huge impact on that.

3.  Stairstep leadership roles and opportunities.  By stairstep I mean, there are different opportunities available in different years.  Sophomores can do this.  Juniors and seniors can do this.  There are things to look forward to and to work toward.  Maybe where your ministry offers different Spring Break trips, there are trips for freshmen and sophomores and a Juniors and Senior trip.  Maybe, this is out of the realm of possibility for you.  But, think about the possibility of stairstepping your roles in different ways.

4.  Realize it is not just you!  A Youth and College Minister said the other day that he thought this year's college freshmen had the maturity of high school sophomores.  Due to Covid, they missed normal junior and senior years and that had to have some affect.  

5.  Summer Connections with Upperclassmen Matter More.  Of course, summer will continue to be key in reaching and connecting to incoming freshmen.  But, is there something different you could do related to returning students.  What about having a mid-summer picnic for upperclassmen to come back and see each other, etc?  Or, what about two or three regional picnics?  Send them a newsletter mid-summer with different news that would be of interest to them.  

NONE OF THESE IDEAS IS WONDERFUL!  But, here is the take-away.  Admit to and be aware of the growing reality of lack of loyalty in this generation and try some different things.  Let us know what works for you.  Please!

Arliss Dickerson's new book, Tips for College Freshmen:  124 Tips for Fun, Faith & Good Grades, is available at amazon.com/dp/B09QFB9DJ9.

What Should a Student Leader Do?

 A friend was kind enough to ask me to speak to his college ministry's leadership team.  One thing I was asked to share was what a good student leader should do.

1.  Be an Example.....in 2 Ways

    -In the ministry.  Be the first to sign up for an event, when it is time to set up or tear down, jump in.

    -On campus.  People likely know you are a college ministry leader.  Represent the ministry well.

2.  Be involved in something else on campus.

    -It will be good for you and it will connect you to a wide variety of people that can be touched by the            ministry.

3.  Ask others to help you in your ministry task.  Never do it all yourself.

    -It helps them "belong" and be invested.

     -It trains them up to take your place one day.

4.  Don't just hang out with your ministry friends at your large group events.

5.  Be YOU in the way you do your responsibility.

    -Bring your unique gifts and personality to bear in the way you do and fill your role.

6.  Be a servant.....be willing to do little tasks that others will not do or do not even see that need doing.

Arliss Dickerson's new book, Tips for College Freshmen:  124 Tips for Fun, Faith & Good Grades" is available at amazon.com/dp/B09QFB9DJ9.

A Word of Encouragement

 I am fortunate to get to see a lot of college ministry newsletters, alumni newsletters, and college ministry family newsletters.  The other day I got one from a friend who serves on a campus in the east, that certainly is not Bible belt territory. Let me share a brief quote from his newsletter.

"On a mundane day last last fall, a senior student leader, said to me, 'I want to give you a word of encouragement.  He quoted Zechariah 4:10, Do not despise these small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin....".  The College Minister went on to write, "The Lord is sinking this word into my heart as we are in a season with ministries and programs going, discipleship meetings happening, yet the work is often slow and hard.  Still as we pray for revival, church plants and salvation in our neighborhood, we labor in small, normal ways."

If you are in one of those hard situations or one of those hard seasons, I hope this will be an encouraging word to you.  I believe the Lord sees and knows what you are doing in His name.  Keep on!

Arliss Dickerson's new book, Tips for College Freshmen:  124 Tips for Fun, Faith & Good Grades, is available at  amazon.com/dp/B09QFB9DJ9

The SECRET of Developing Student Leaders

 I harp about the importance of training and developing student leaders all the time, because I just think it is that important.  But, is there a key piece or technique to raising up good and strong student leaders for our ministry and leadership in our churches in the years to come?  I think there is.

The SECRET to developing Student Leaders is AFFIRMATION.

FIRST, we must affirm the potential in students we connect to.  I have said to students, "I think you could be a leader on this campus and even president of the student body one day."  I have often said to students, "You could be a key leader in this ministry, if you choose to."  But, there is an important, HOWEVER here.........that affirmation must be genuine.  Don't tell a student something that is not true.  You put them in position for failure that is hurtful to them with false affirmation.  But, I believe there is something in the life of every student that can be affirmed and they need that.  Many have never heard it from anyone.

SECOND,  we must and can affirm effort.  When students are trying to grow and serve, they will mess up. They will not do it perfectly.  We have all been there....maybe just an hour ago!  But, we can say, "I really appreciate the time, effort and care you put into that.  Then, we help them learn and grow from that experience.

THIRD, don't take it for granted when they do great and when they just do what they were supposed to do.  We can and should affirm their faithfulness.  Showing up and doing what you were supposed to is becoming more and more a rare trait in some circles these days.  Bosses today will tell you that someone who shows up every time they are supposed to is often a prize winning employee.

The more we affirm leadership potential, ability, and service in our college ministries, the more we will see it!

Arliss Dickerson's new book, "Tips for College Freshmen:  124 Tips for Fun, Faith & Good Grades" is available at amazon.com/dp/B09QFB9DJ9