$20,000 Welcome Week and Other Random Thoughts

One of my pet sayings is, "Spend wisely extravagantly the first two weeks of school."

Some years back, I did an article about the amount of money that some large college ministry churches were spending on Welcome Week.  One had spent $20,000 for multiple events.  Another had planned an event that involved renting buses, etc.  When they totaled up the cost, that one event was going to cost $7.000.  As they thought about it, they realized they hard part time employees that were not making that much and they decided to cancel the event.  It was not wise use of the money.

I recently saw that a college ministry church had a big event on campus and had a staggering number of students attend....in the thousands.  I asked how they had made something like that happen.  Part of the answer was, "They have one College Minister with four full time Associates and four or five Interns."  Wow!  That blew me away.  Hooray for that church making that kind of financial commitment to college ministry.

The End Result?

My friend told me they had been disappointed that only about 20% had filled out Info or Contact Cards. Would they have been better off to have a "smaller event" and been able to make more connections?  But, just because a student did not fill out a Contact Card does not mean he or she will not show up next week or some time in the future at one of their regular events.  In Matthew 13 Jesus tells the story of sowing seed widely....but some soil was way more productive.  I have confessed often to liking and being partial to big crowds.  Are big crowd events always the most productive?

A Frustration of Mine

I will admit to being frustrated by college ministries that are "proud" of their small crowds.  I think they believe that shows they are doing "depth ministry" or they are not "huckstering the gospel".  Maybe....and maybe it shows they are not doing some things they need to be doing.  I believe there is a need for "Large Crowd Events" and "Small Crowd Events".  And if a College Minister determines all his/her satisfaction level by the size of the crowd, there will be lots of unhappy days.  By the way, "large" is different in different contexts.

Random Conclusions

1.  Hooray for churches that have the resources to make a major commitment to college ministry.

2.  But, don't compare the size of their ministry against the size of a campus ministry that has one or two staffers and a much smaller budget.

3.  I am still for "Spending wisely extravagantly"......but, let's keep evaluating what is WISE.

4.  ONE BIG FACT:  The size of a ministry staff will be a major factor in determining how many students are reached.

5.  College Ministry strategy must be well thought out.....even a large staff usually will not overcome poor strategy.

Arliss Dickerson's book, A College Ministry Success Formula, is available at Amazon.com/dp/B091F5S1RF.