The Single Greatest Determining Factor in a College Ministry??

The single greatest determining factor in a college ministry (apart from God's Spirit) is the College Minister.  The leader's gifts, personality, and knowledge affect everything.  The longer that person is there, the more the ministry likely will demonstrate the leader's strengths or weaknesses.    

Two years ago I did a little book entitled The College Ministry Success Formula that was all about what I call the 5 Building Blocks which make for a strong college ministry.  The more I thought about it, the more I realized the formula was incomplete.  While I still strongly believe in the 5 Building Blocks, I felt my formula was missing some necessary parts. So, I removed that book from Amazon..

With that in mind, I have done a revised and enlarged version entitled, A 3 Part College Ministry Success Formula, which I believe is a more complete formula.  There are three sections.  In addition to the 5 Building Blocks, the other two sections are,  "Avoiding Dumb Mistakes" and "Growing in Competency".  It is all about the College Minister being intentional in avoiding those mistakes that are common, yet harmful to ministries and being very conscious of doing those things that really build and strengthen a ministry.

I more strongly than ever believe that the most important characteristic of a College Minister is not Charisma, but rather is Respect that is earned through competency and demonstration of character. "Formula" is a simple attempt to help every College Minister, rookie or old pro, to be very intentional in being aware of common mistakes that derail or weaken a ministry and to utilize those principles or building blocks that run through strong ministries.  

The third section is to help each College Minister be reminded of the need to continue to grow in competency and to give a few suggestions and tips. It is not a coincidence that most of the larger or stronger college ministries in the United States are led by old pro's. Continuing to grow is part of staying for the long term and seeing the fruit of hard work.  Competency builds respect and respect of the College Minister continues to help build the ministry.

Would you do me a Favor?

 Go to Amazon now and check it out. If you think it might be something of value would you pass it on to a friend or say a good word about it on social media, I would really appreciate it. Here it is: Amazon.com/dp/B0BZ6Q7HSV

Arliss, 

4 Questions College Ministers Should Ask

1.  Can I write my ministry strategy in 2 or 3 sentences?

2.  Am I learning from somebody that knows more than I do about college ministry?

3.  Am I making the most of the solid gold window of the first two weeks of the fall term and what do I need to do to get ready now?

4.  Do I continually show appreciation to our student leaders and ministry supporters?

What is your ministry giving to high school seniors or incoming freshmen?  Check out Tips for College Freshmen:  124 Tips for Fun, Faith & Good Grades at Amazon.com/dp/B09QFB9DJ9.

Which One of These Should Your Ministry Do OR Improve for Next Fall?

 Following Spring Break until the end of the semester is prime time for preparation for the fall.  If the first two weeks of the Fall Semester determine our whole school year, we have to do the best job possible in preparation.  Part of that prep is involving our student leaders in planning for the fall and in training, preparing them for their role in it. Apart from the movement of God's Spirit, the thing that affects our ministry the most is our freshmen outreach.  

Four Specialized Freshmen Ministry Approaches to Consider:

FRESHMEN SURVIVAL - This is an event that several Baptist Collegiate Ministries began to adopt and utilize in the early 80's.  It began as a weekend on-campus event at the start of school.  It now goes under different names such as Basic Training, Freshlife, etc.  Many ministries have consolidated it down from a weekend event to one lasting four to six hours.  Regardless of the length, it is a high energy event involving fun get acquainted activities, small groups, and breakouts from the spiritual to the basics of how to do college.  The ministries that do it well recruit to it all summer and use it as the launching pad for the fall. It is often held the weekend prior to school starting, the afternoon/evening of the first day of class or the weekend following the first week.

FRESHMEN FOCUS - Focus is an event done the first two or three weeks of school either prior to or following the regular weekly large group worship event.  It is highly relational with tips for college life such as "Growing Spiritually"; "Dumbest Mistakes Freshmen Make"; "How to Make A's and Have Fun". It helps connect them to your regular weekly event, but also is specific to freshmen.

FRESHMEN NIGHT - This is a weekly event held the full fall semester or the for the first nine weeks or so.  Depending on size and the plan, it can be a weekly version of Survival or Focus.  In some versions, it is multiple Freshmen Bible study groups led by upperclassmen simultaneously in one location with a large group mix/mingle time or even a worship time to start.  This can be developed further by recruiting freshmen to be the worship band for Freshmen Night. Many students who are musicians are looking for an opportunity to be part of a band. So, a freshman band is another recruiting tool.

FRESHMEN LEADERSHIP TEAM (FLT) - Students can be enlisted throughout the summer who would like to grow as a leader and connect with other freshmen with the same interest. Another approach is to promote it during the first couple of large group events of the fall and invite any who want to participate. An FLT group meets weekly for fun, get acquainted things, a tip on leadership each week, and a testimony from an upperclass leader.  Many who use this format end it toward the end of the semester with these students taking the leadership role of all the ministry activities for "Freshmen Week". This approach helps attract student leaders, grow them, and serve as a beginning of their taking an active leadership role in the ministry in the coming years.

So, what is YOUR plan for fall?  Are you doing any of these?  Do you have a different idea?  Does what you are doing need to be tweaked?

You NEVER get a DO-OVER on the first two weeks!

What is your ministry giving to high school seniors or incoming freshmen?  Check out "Tips for College Freshmen:  124 Tips for Fun, Faith & Good Grades" at amazon.com/dp/B09QFB9DJ9.

Topics and Titles College Students NEED to Hear

 Two things I am all about in college ministry.  First, we must be speaking to specific issues related to their point in life that will likely not be part of a Sunday church sermon or regular Sunday School lesson.  Second, titles matter and help students decide to attend an event AND will help your core students invite AND be more likely to invite others. A title gives them a handle.

HERE ARE SOME TOPICS AND TITLES YOU MIGHT CONSIDER USING:

Five Things Christians Don't Believe (You can address bad theology, etc.)

How to Have a Marriage Better than Your Parents 

Understanding and Dealing with Doubt

I Love Jesus but the Party Life is Calling 

Recognizing the Gifts or Strengths in Your Life (Spiritual Gifts)

How to FEEL Forgiven and Clean

The Dumbest Things Students Say About Sex

How to Be Angry and Sin Not

Answers to the TOUGHEST Questions Non-Christians Ask

When Dating Turns Serious and the M Word is Mentioned

How to Like Yourself at Least MORE than You Like the Cafeteria (Self esteem, etc)

How to Make BIG Decisions

Titles should never be "Bait and Switch" but they should be ones that would appeal to those students who are not automatically going to show up for a college worship event or Bible study. If we want our core students to invite other students to our weekly event, let's give them some help in inviting. But, let's also be talking about the questions they and non-Christian friends are talking about in the cafeteria.  So, what is the most appealing title you have used lately?  And, what is the "least appealing" title you have heard lately for a Christian college student worship event? 

The most popular talk I have ever done is called, "7 Red Flags in a Dating Relationship".  And, there can be a whole lot of Gospel in talks like that.

  Have a brain storming session with a group of your students about topics that students are talking about.  Are you speaking to those in any way?

What is your best title?  Titles can create interest in the un-interested.

What is your ministry giving to high school seniors or incoming freshmen?  Check out "Tips for College Freshmen:  124 Tips for Fun, Faith & Good Grades" at amazon.com/dp/B09QFB9DJ9.

What Do You Do When Your College Ministry is in the Weeds?

 Every ministry has a down year.  It is not because you are not working hard or not doing what God has used in the past.  You go to meetings or read articles and everyone is talking about their success.  For one thing, none of us tend to brag about the "bad year" we are having.  If someone has been in college ministry for many years tells you they have never had a down year.....don't buy a used car from them.  We all have and we will again in the future.

"Trust the Process" is a term used by college coaches that have gone into a rebuilding situation, but have not arrived yet.  I would tweak that to say, "Trust the Lord and Keep Working the Process."

8 Ways to Keep Working the Process:

1.  Make sure you are continually and consistently articulating a strong vision for the ministry.  One time in frustration I said to our Leadership Team, "I have said this a thousand times before."  Then it dawned on me.  I had not said it to THEM a thousand times.  Have your current students and particularly student leaders heard often and clearly enough the vision?

2.  Communicate your brand.  That is advertising lingo for communicating to the campus who you are and what you are offering.  This is particularly key where there are multiple ministries.  Are you communicating what makes your ministry unique and worthy of their time?

3.  Make sure you are MAXIMIZING the strengths of your ministry AND your personal strengths and gifts.  The busier we get the easier it is to take for granted and lose focus on those things we normally have done well.  The thicker the weeds get, the more we must maximize our strengths.  Consider whether you may need to drop some things that are taking time and effort away from those strengths.  It is easy to keep adding to the point nothing is being done well.

4.  Continue to look for, to develop, and to empower strong student leaders.  You as the college ministry leader and your student leaders are the two most important assets of the ministry.  You probably cannot multiply you or your staff, but you can build up stronger and even more student leaders.

5.  Be consistent in WHO and WHAT you and your ministry are.  Unless it is wrong, not working, or outlived it usefulness, don't kick it to the side.  When a ministry is consistent, students know what to expect and supporters know what they are supporting.

6.  Evaluate and Tweak your large group meeting.  Has it gone stale?  Are you trying to copy someone else's large group meeting and do not have the resources to do it?  Are you speaking to students' current needs?  Are you utilizing the students in the large group event that need to be there?  What about day, time, and place?

7.  Maximize quality freshmen outreach.  Believe it or not, right after Spring Break is the time to think about and plan your fall outreach to max those first two weeks.  How do some of your best Jesus loving students need to be trained for freshmen outreach and ministry for the fall?

8.  Keep doing discipleship whether in one to one, small groups, or both.  Lives that God has changed will be used by God to change lives.  Meet individually on a regular basis with some key students to keep nudging their growth and potential.

You get out of the weeds by trusting the Lord and keeping on!

You might find my book, Fixing a Broken College Ministry, is helpful at Amazon.com/dp/152187666..

Volleyball and Jesus

 Darrell Cook at Virginia Tech recently had this headline in his newsletter, "Volleyball and Jesus".  It went on to share the testimony of a former student.

" As a freshman in 1985, I might not have had an awakening in my spiritual life had it not been for volleyball.  I thought I knew what BSU was and I thought I was not very interested.  But Red family invited me to join their team, I then got comfortable jumping into Bible study with them, God started moving in my life and the rest is history."

I am all about "Non-Spiritual Stuff" like volleyball, intramural football, etc.  They can be tools God uses.

At Arkansas State a tradition developed at our Back-2-School Retreat of the Challenge of the Classes, which was a volleyball tournament where each class, Freshmen, soph, etc would have a team and play for the championship.  It happened quite accidentally many years ago when at a break students were playing volleyball with too many on each side.  I said, "Let's have a tournament" and went inside and ripped a plague off of an old trophy and said the winning class would receive it.  The Challenge of the Classes was born.

Students were recruited to the Retreat to be on a class team.  Students would stay for the whole Retreat because it was the final event.  Previously, students would often have to leave early to get back to campus to meet parents, get ready for the football game, etc.  Now, nobody left early.  The competition became quite intense.  In our leadership meeting one year, we discussed whether we should continue with it due to the intensity.

One upperclass leader said, "I think it is too competitive and people get too angry and I think we ought to keep doing it."  What?  She went on to say, "The guys love it and come for it." It is a reminder to me that we need to do volleyball and all kinds of other things that are not "Spiritual" in nature in themselves.  But, God can use them.  There will be freshmen guys who played football in high school looking for an Intramural team they could play on this fall.  They might meet Jesus on your team.

What is your ministry doing that is "Not Spiritual" to reach into the lives of some students that are NOT looking for you or Jesus as a priority?

I will confess to being called to the Intramural Gym to help break up a fight between one of our girls basketball teams and another team.  Some of our key girls had enlisted some "non-spiritual" girls to play and none of the BCM girls could come that particular day.  So, sometimes it is messy.  

What is your ministry or church giving to high school seniors or incoming Freshmen?  Check out "Tips for College Freshmen:  124 Tips for Fun, Faith & Good Grades" at Amazon.com/dp/B09QFB9DJ9.

My ANNUAL Post on This Topic

 Some colleges and universities are on Spring Break this week and the rest will go next week or the week after.  I love the time from Spring Break until school is out for a variety of reasons.

One reason I love this time is the weather is good, students' attitudes are better and the flu season is over.  Students are out and about more and the population seems to double. But, one of the things I love is, It is time to try it!  What is IT?  It is that thing you have always wanted to do, but just did not feel you could.

The most likely is experimenting with your large group worship event:

-You can try a different time.

-You can try a different night.

-You can try a different place.

-You can try a whole different format.

I am not saying to necessarily try all of those.  Just the one or two that you Want or Need to try.

Each year I tell the story of our having outgrown the small space where we were having our Lunch Program adjacent to the kitchen because of the necessity of serving there, etc.  The only larger option was up two different sets of steps.  Students would have to be served and then carry their food up those two different sets of steps to the larger meeting area.  I knew it would not work!  But, we tried it one time shortly before school was out, just to prove it would not work.  It worked beautifully.  We made the change the following fall and our Lunch Program began to grow again.

I do not guarantee that your experiment will meet with success or bring growth.  It might fail miserably, but that tells you something.  Or, it might give you an even better idea.

It does not have to be about your large group worship event.  What is one experiment you need to try?  After Spring Break is the perfect time to try it.  Maybe your students have always wanted to do it and you in your infinite College Minister wisdom have said NO!!  So, now is your chance to show them how right you were......What if they are right??

Trying it now allows you to make adjustments for the fall, if the experiment so warrants a change in something.

THINK HARD, what is something you ought to try?

"Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?  I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert."  Isaiah 43:19 (ESV)

What is your ministry or church giving to high school seniors incoming freshmen?  Check out "Tips for College Freshmen:  124 Tips for Fun, Faith & Good Grades" at Amazon.com/dp/B09QFB9DJ9.

The Value of Tenure in College Ministry

 When Rick Warren was in Seminary and studied under Dr. Roy Fish, he did a study of the 100 largest Southern Baptist Churches.  One of the commonalities that stood out to Warren was tenure.  A large number of these churches had long serving pastors.  Warren determined to make that part of his ministry.  He and his wife went to California and founded Saddleback Church which became one of the largest in the country.  That is the only church he has served.  

Church College Ministers seem to serve shorter periods than campus based.  In many instances, that quick term over is detrimental to the college ministry.  Yet, because of the stability of the on-going church ministry, it can be less harmful than continual turnover in a campus based ministry.

Some Examples in Campus Based Ministries:

Steve Masters, 32 years at LSU.

Lloyd Lunceford, 25 years at Southern Mississippi and his Associate who succeeded him has been there since 1995. 

Joel Bratcher, 20 years at Texas A&M

These programs are large and would generally be seen as “THE” ministry on campus.

How does tenure of the College Minister benefit a campus based ministry?

1.   They know the campus.  As every campus is different, they have learned the quirks of that campus.  They have identified the things that work for the ministry and learned to deal with the factors that are negative for the ministry.

2.  They know the administration and the administration knows them.  Usually some sort of personal and or trust relationship has been built with key administrators that opens door for them.  They often function as peers with campus officials.

3.  They have developed a system that students proceed through from year to year.  It may vary campus to campus but they have their thing they are doing with student leaders and in developing student leaders.  That process continues year to year.  They have a plan and they continue to be intentional about working it.

4.  Church Leaders/Pastors know and trust them.  They are a known quantity to the pastors and others in area churches.  They provide financial support and the youth programs send students to the ministry.

5.  Alums give money and send students.  Former students in the ministry become adults and send their own children to the ministry and/or give money to the ministry.  With the fluctuation of giving in churches in recent years, alumni giving is more crucial than ever.

6.  Long serving College Ministers have network of other College Ministers for emotional support and continuing growth in methods and trends.

7.  When they need help, they know who to call in the community.

8.  They have earned the respect of students and their life experience allows them to be valued mentors in to the lives of young adults.

If we want large and strong college ministries, we must make it possible for College Ministers to serve long term.

1.  Salaries and Benefits - As young College Ministers families mature, they get more expensive with braces, cars, insurance and then college.  We must make it possible for them to stay long term.

2.  Calm the waters - With the cuts in college ministry many different places in recent years and rumblings in other states, some of the best and brightest are wondering, if they should move another direction.  There is unease in many of the college ministry family.  Baptist leaders must make clear their long term commitment to college ministry.

3.  Stop giving them other duties outside college ministry.  College ministry is a 24/7 job.  When other duties are added, it hurts the ministry and/or helps kill the College Minister.  This is true in both churches and campus based ministries.

The Danger in Tenure:  The long term College Minister has to beware of the creeping temptation to just go into autopilot and do the same old same old all the time.  It is Week 4, I do this.  Each campus makes subtle changes each year and there must be tweaks made in the ministry.  We must keep growing and learning and not go onto autopilot.

What is your ministry or church giving to high school seniors or incoming freshmen?  Check out "Tips for College Freshmen:  124 Tips for Fun, Faith & Good Grades" at Amazon.com/dp/B09QFB9DJ9.