The WHY and WHAT of Freshmen Ministry

THE WHY:

    1.  If your ministry is about helping those students in need, Freshmen are at the top of that list.

    2.  Freshmen are the most reachable and available of all students.

THE WHAT:

    Issues and Freshmen Concerns and Questions:

    1.  They are looking for friends.

   

    2.  They are looking for fun.

    3.  Survival Issues are paramount in their concerns.

    4.  They want and need healthy community.

    5.  Many are looking for healthy role models or mentors.

    6.  Many Christian students are dealing with questions and doubts about faith for the first time.

THE URGENCY:

    Many, if not most, have set their relationships, patterns, and habits by the end of the first two or three weeks.

 Freshmen Family Groups

    A Freshmen Family Group is built around community and some basic survival information with scripture as the basis.   It allows for students of a variety of faith levels to be part of it.  An upperclass leader who is committed to the Lord and relational is a must.

Arliss Dickerson's book, Tips for College Freshmen:  124 Tips for Fun, Faith & Good Grades, is at Amazon.com/dp/B09QFB9DJ9 and A 3 Part College Ministry Success Formula is at Amazon.com/dp/B0BZ6Q7HSV.

As a College Minister do You Have IT?

I heard a football coach describe his quarterback and he said, "He has IT."  

In college ministry, some assume that IT is charisma.  They are a great speaker and have that personality everyone wants to follow.  But, I am convinced that is not the IT Factor in college ministry.  The IT Factor in college ministry is Respect.

What makes college students follow someone over the long haul....work hard at their direction as a volunteer and even take constructive criticism from them? They respect them as much or even more than they like them.  There is a tragic trap it is easy to fall into and that is the trap of wanting students to "like us".  Of course, we do not want to be disliked.  But, if your goal is to be liked, you may forfeit the IT Factor of Respect.

Respect is earned.....Here are some ways:

1.  Time - Students have to see you live out who you are.  There is a eason that almost all of the large college ministries have a long time leader in place.  That person has been there long enough to earn respect....from students, supporters, the campus, etc.

2.  Don't just be one of the gang. Students have lots of buddies.  You are not called or paid to be one of their buddies.  You are to be a friend who has a different life perspective.  A buddy will not tell another buddy something they need to hear, but do not want to hear.  It might stop them from being buddies.  As God's person, you must sometimes say things to students they do not want to hear.

3.  Understand some will leave.  A person of respect stands on principle and sometimes it will cause students to leave your ministry.  That never stops being painful.  There are certain things you and your ministry are committed to, whether it is popular or not.  But, being principled and hard headed are not the same thing.  Make sure your recognize the difference.

4.  Stop trying to impress students.  Be you!  They know you are not 21....don't try to act like it.  College Ministers who try to hide their age or act younger do not fool anyone.

Things College Ministers with the IT Factor do:

1.  Encourage.

2.  Affirm gifts, abilities, and potential.

3.  Give feedback.

4.  Develop and train.

5.  Express God’s forgiveness to those who need it.

Never settle for just being liked!

Arliss Dickerson's book, A 3 Part College Ministry Success Formula, is available at Amazon.com/dp/B0BZ6Q7HSV and Almost Everything About College Ministry is at Amazon.com/dp/B08CMD9CXX.

Being Intentional About Developing Student Leaders

 Recently, I have read different College Ministers listing their core practices in their ministry.  I have not disagreed with anything I have seen listed.  What I have disagreed with is.....some have not mentioned developing student leaders as part of their core practices. I believe that has to be central in our ministry

5 Keys in Developing Student Leaders in College Ministry:

1.  Intentionality - We must continually be looking for students with potential to lead and be very intentional in developing and building them up.  It does not happen by accident on a regular basis.

2.  Training - Two common reasons student leaders fail are:

        -They had no real clear clue as to what they were to do.

        -They had to idea how to do it.

    When we recruit or enlist a student leader for a formal leadership role, we have to tell them clearly what that job involves and what it will take to do it. 

3.  Giving Responsibility - There is such a fine line between a leader feeling they have been deserted and too much input from someone else.  We must give responsibility, but let them serve in it...but....not feel alone or left to hang out to dry.

4.  Continual Coaching -  Part of the learning and growing process as a leader is positive evaluation of what is happening.  There is a difference in criticism and helping someone learn from their experiences.  Why did something work?  Why did something not work?

5.  Affirmation - Possibly the most important part of continual coaching is AFFIRMATION.  First, affirmation is key in someone being willing to attempt a leadership role.  We let them know we believe they have the ability to do it. And, we continually express appreciation for their efforts.  We express to them what we see in them and challenge them to be their best and how God can use them not just now, but in the future.

"For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."  Ephesians 2:10

Arliss Dickerson's book, A 3 Part College Ministry Success Formula, is available at Amazon.com/dp/B0BZ6Q7HSV and Almost Everything About College Ministry is at Amazon.com/dp/B08CMD9CXX.

When People Badmouth YOU and Your Ministry.....REMEMBER....

 When people badmouth you and your ministry, remember what they said about the Apostle Paul.

"in person he is unimpressive and his speaking amounts to nothing."  II Corinthians 10:10

His ministry turned out pretty well.....hang in there!

Arliss Dickerson's book, A 3 Part College Ministry Success Formula, is at Amazon.com/dp/B0BZ6Q7HSV and Almost Everything About College Ministry is at Amazon.com/dp/B08CMD9CXX.

Biblical Basis for College Ministry??

Someone said to me once, "I don't see college ministry in the Bible."  I think his point was that the Bible talks about the church.  I don't see church vans in the Bible either.

I see lots of things in the Bible that college ministry is all about.

-Jesus preached to and taught large crowds made up of both true followers and the merely curious.

-Jesus invested deeply in a few for leadership.

-Jesus went to and connected to a wide variety of people.

-Paul engaged people of the intellectual community in open discussion.

-Some whom Jesus helped turned away.

-Jesus said, "go and make disciples of all nations."  College ministries are reaching out to the 848,000 International students in the U.S. and sending student missionaries all over the world.

-Jesus fed the 5,000.  This was obviously the first college ministry Lunch/Supper program.  Notice that only a few cleaned up after it was over....that has continued to be true through the years.

I will leave it up to you to find church vans in the Bible.

Arliss Dickerson's book, A 3 Part College Ministry Success Formula, is available at amazon.com/dp/B0BZ6Q7HSV and Almost Everything About College Ministry is at amazon.com/dp/B08CMD9CXX.

 

Never Forget "The 4 Laws of Announcements"

 1.  Make no more than 4 announcements.  The more you announce, the less people hear.

2.  The person making the announcements should understand the announcements.

3.  A first time attendee should be able to understand the announcements (they are not inside lingo).

4.  The announcements should not take too much time and become the main event or take away from the main purpose.

Arliss Dickerson's book, Tips for College Freshmen:  124 Tips for Fun, Faith & Good Grades is at Amazon.com/dp/B09QFB9DJ9 and A 3 Part College Ministry Success Formula is at Amazon.com/dp/B0BZ6Q7HSV.

When do you CANCEL a college ministry event?

 Where I live, we are having ugly weather with single digit temps and snow on the ground.  School is starting or has already started at different colleges.

So, when do you cancel and when do you have your college ministry event when there is bad weather?

What if classes are canceled?  I have had the experience of classes being canceled and by evening time, the sun had been out and the roads were totally clear.  So, we had our event.  It was not even close to being a tough call. Other times, it was a close call.  Plus, we know that usually when it is snowing and classes are canceled, students are out sledding, having snowball fights and just enjoying life.

What if classes are canceled and a student is injured or even killed in an accident coming to your event? Would you feel any sense of responsibility?  Would there be grounds for a lawsuit by a family saying that your ministry ignored the conditions because the campus had canceled classes? I don't know the answer to that.

During my tenure as a Church University Minister, our church had the policy that if the local public schools canceled classes for that day and it was a Wednesday that our church activities were automatically canceled.  Even though, there were days it was fine by that evening, I was not told, but  later decided, that I should go with the overall church policy for a variety of reasons. If you are a Church College Minister, does your church have a policy?  Can you do otherwise, if you choose?  Should you?

Is there a difference in telling "on campus students" to come and "off campus students" to come to a campus event? On campus students are out going to the cafeteria, even if classes are canceled and many campuses do an excellent job of clearing sidewalks.  While, that might not be true of the road conditions. 

So, do I have a magic answer?  NO!  My point is to give some thought to your decision and perhaps how to issue the invitation, if you are having something in bad weather.  Should it be, "IF you are living on campus, we will have.....?" Or, “If you live in town where the roads are clearing….”

One other word:  For your protection and help, I would make sure my supervisor was clued into my decision and on board with it. 

Arliss Dickerson's book Tips for College Freshmen:124 Tips for Fun, Faith & Good Grades is at Amazon.com/dp/B09QFB9DJ9.  A 3 Part College Ministry Success Formula Amazon.com/dp/B0BZ6Q7HSV

5 Ideas to Reach More College Students

 1.  Every Ministry Team adopt one campus group.  If your ministry has five teams or leaders, ask each one to adopt one campus group of their choosing.  It could be the band, a dorm, a Greek group, the Spanish Club, etc.  They are just to relate to them, pray for them, etc.

2.  Pick one campus group each week that your ministry will do something for them.  Take Brownies to a sorority before their weekly meeting.  Take the leftovers from your weekly Lunch Program to a fraternity.  Pick an under supported team on your campus and go to one of their events with signs and yell for them. What if every team took a cake to one campus group each week?

3.  Add a team or leader that has no other purpose but to be relating to different groups on campus.  They could do any or all of the above.

4.  Every week in your team leader meeting (either group or one to one) pray for a different group on campus.  Let them know that you prayed for them.

5.  As the leader of the ministry, walk across the campus and through the Student Center every day and try to meet someone new or stick your head into an office an introduce yourself to someone.

From Reaching MORE Amazon.com/dp/B0BMW8NPMN.

Arliss Dickerson's book, Tips for College Freshmen:  124 Tips for Fun, Faith & Good Grades is at Amazon.com/dp/B09QFB9DJ9 and A 3 Part College Ministry Success Formula is at Amazon.com/dp/B0BZ6Q7HSV.

3 Toughest Jobs for College Ministers #3

A veteran College Minister said his three toughest jobs were supervision, networking, and administration.

Most College Ministers would say their toughest job is administration, I think.  Most tend to be people extrovert types and "paperwork" is not their thing.  But, I think one of the keys it to realize that good administration reaches more students.

All of us want to lead a ministry that is larger than our personal ministry.  Every College Minister can only meet with so many students, plan so many events, and speak at a certain number of events.  It is administration that multiplies that.  Part of doing administration well is realizing that it is a multiplier of your ministry.

The Simplest Key to doing administration well is to have set times to do it.  My set times were Tuesday morning and Friday afternoon.  For some reason, Tuesday morning was slower on my campus and Friday afternoon students were leaning hard into the weekend and wanted nothing to do with me unless we had an event or they had an emergency.  Friday afternoon was "clear my desk day" which made Mondays better.

When we do not have a set time to do reports, respond to letters, etc, we tend to do it in much more of a slap dash kind of way.  Having time set aside tends to help us think and focus more.

A high priority for me has always been meeting with students one to one....especially our student leaders.  I learned if I grouped those individual meetings as much as possible, that freed up some time that worked well for administering and I did better in those one to one times.

So, what do you do during administration times?  Required reports and budget planning is always a part of these times.  Another part is writing thank you notes and letters.  One rule was, "a check from an individual cannot be deposited until the thank you letter has been written."  Planning and thinking are other key components of this time.  What is going to happen next month?  Why is our attendance up or down?  Thinking time is often in short supply.

Thinking about reports rather than just dashing them off usually produces a better report. Remember, a good report not only goes to your supervisor, but gives your supervisor more ammunition to represent or even defend you well, if and when that is needed.

Don't forget:  Good administration multiplies your ministry!  And, remembering that can change your mindset about it.

Arliss Dickerson's book, Tips for College Freshmen:  124 Tips for Fun, Faith & Good Grades, is available at Amazon.com/dp/B09QFB9DJ9 and A 3 Part College Ministry Success Formula is at Amazon.com/dp/B0BZ6Q7HSV.

3 Toughest Jobs for College Ministers #2

 A college ministry veteran said to me that his three toughest jobs were supervision, networking and administration.

Networking:

We must network for 2 reasons:

    1.  Our own personal health - One of the greatest killers of College Ministers if feeling alone and that no one else cares.  And, dumping all our frustrations on our spouse is harmful to them and the relationship as a whole.  It is hugely important that we connect with others who have the same calling and know what it is to put your heart and soul into something and see not much response.  Or, that you and your ministry are not even treated with respect.  I would not have survived my tenth year in college ministry if it were not for a friend/mentor in another state who would call me and just listen.  He helped save me, my ministry and my marriage.

    2.  Growing our ministry and our personal skills - We need two types of relationships.  We need peers, those who are at a similar stage as we are and we need mentors, those that are ahead of us in understanding and knowledge.  Several years ago, we had a seminar at a college event that invited any College Minister who would like a mentor to show up.  The room was packed!  We don't have to learn everything about college ministry the hard way.  Take advantage of those who are going down the same roads as you or have already been down those roads.....and survived!

How to Network:

One of my personal favorites is the National Collegiate Ministries Summit which is meeting in Memphis in May this year.  This is not a plug...just telling you the truth.  One reason it is a favorite is I believe that it is big time important that we connect with people from other states or regions.  In my getting to travel around the country and seeing different ministries, I have learned that different states and areas have a little different take on some methods and approaches.  When we connect to them, it broadens our own view.  Also, I don't think we will usually be best buddies with those we see things differently than, BUT, I think where possible we need to have some connection to those folks because they will challenge our thinking and presuppositions.  

I have a college ministry friend who is much more intellectual than me.  He tells me about books he is reading.  Out of those, I pick one or two that I would not have known about.  I have a crazy hyper college ministry friend who does more things in a month than I have ever done.  He challenges me to think on that side of college ministry.

Things to remember in networking:

-Someone does not have to be famous to know something you do not know.

-You need friends in college ministry who are older and younger than you are.  Different age categories see and understand things differently.

-You need to be intentional in networking to share what you know and particularly looking for those younger or newer in college ministry you might encourage.

Next is #3 Administration.

Arliss Dickerson's book, Tips for College Freshmen:  124 Tips for Fun, Faith & Good Grades, is available at Amazon.com/dp/B09QFB9DJ9 and Almost Everything About College Ministry is at Amazon.com/dp/B08CMD9CXX.

3 Toughest Jobs for College Ministers #1

 A college ministry veteran said to me a while back, "My 3 toughest jobs are Supervision, Networking, and Administration.  

Here is my quick response to Supervision:

I agree this is often a weak spot I see in college ministry situations with more than one staffer, particularly when there are young, inexperienced interns or others brand new to full time ministry.  One College Minister who had just gotten a new Assistant said, "I am going to treat them like a professional and tell them to just go do what needs doing."  Here is the problem with that approach, they often do not know what most needs doing and they often have no clue how to do it.

Supervising someone is not a put down.  It should be our attempt to help them be the best version of themselves and the most effective they can be. Mentoring young College Ministers is one of the most important things we can do.

1.  Spell out clear expectations and job responsibilities.  What is priority and what is not?  Working hard and caring is usually not the problem for those just starting in ministry.  The problem is investing the time and energy in the ways that are most productive and necessary.

2.  Give immediate and clear feed back in the beginning.  What are they doing right?  What are they doing wrong?  Always, always give credit for effort.  Share little pointers you learned the hard way.  Not only is the first 2-3 weeks of the fall the most important in shaping the ministry for the year, it is also the most important in their learning to be a successful and fulfilled College Minister.

3.  Make sure they know it is never wrong to come and ask questions.  It is important they see you as a friend....with authority....not someone who is hoping to catch them messing up.

4.  Warn them of some of the obvious pitfalls in ministry.  Help them know the importance of how they do opposite sex meetings, how a few students will monopolize their time, students who might want to date them, choosing to be just a buddy, etc, etc.

4.  Have weekly meetings.  Discuss the ministry, what is going well, etc.  But, give them opportunity to express their feelings, concerns, etc.  For young fresh out of college Assistants, I have learned it is usually helpful, at least in the beginning, to give them some specific tasks that need to be done that week

Next:  Toughest Issue #2:  Networking

Arliss Dickerson's book, Almost Everything About College Ministry is at Amazon.com/dp/B08CMD9CXX and is marked down to $9.85 this week