Georgia Baptist Collegiate Ministry's 3 Areas of Competency

 Beverly Parrish Skinner, who leads the Baptist Collegiate Ministry in Georgia, shared with me a 360 Assessment for Campus Ministers that she worked with an organization called Corpus (Corpusvitae.org) to develop.  Their main focus is church revitalization and pastoral leadership.  But, they worked with Beverly to develop this tool that shows 3 areas of core competencies and skillsets within each of these for Campus Ministers.

Here are the 3 Core Skill Sets with 3 areas of Competency under each:

Cultural Awareness

    -Adaptive to Change

    -Cultural Sensitivity

    -Multi-Directional Relationships

Spiritual Competence

    -High Self Awareness

    -Models Spiritual Vibrancy

    -Teaches the Bible

Leadership Capacity

    -Leads with Vision and Strategy

    -Administrative Capabilities

    -Disciple Multiplier

Here are the 5 Areas that College Ministry Alums said made the difference in their lives.

Highly Relational

Role Model

Mentor/Discipler

Developed Leaders

Taught the Bible and made it Relevant to the College Experience.

My purpose in sharing these is for your personal evaluation as a veteran College Minister and to help newer College Ministers not to have to learn the things that make a difference the hard way.

"Let the wise listen and increase their learning, and let the discerning get good counsel."  Proverbs 1:5

Arliss Dickerson is a college ministry advocate and author.  Check out "A College Ministry Formula" at Amazon.com/dp/B0FFTHL6HP.

College Ministers Quick Tip #6

You NEVER know all the ways God is using what you are doing.

It takes years and even eternity to see the good you have done.  Long time Campus Ministers report getting letters from former students they do not even remember saying, "You made the difference in my life."  Work your hardest and smartest and trust God is using it way beyond your knowledge.

Arliss Dickerson is a college ministry advocate and writer.  Check out "A College Ministry Formula" here:Amazon.com/dp/B0FFTHL6HP

Everything I Know About College Ministry in ONE SENTENCE!

 I was asked to say everything I knew about college ministry in one sentence at one point.  I wrote a Blog Article on it that has been trending lately.  So, here it is in a little more condensed form of that trending article.

Everything I know about College Ministry in ONE SENTENCE:  Be you on the campus where you are.

1.  Be you.  First, God wants to use who you are.  His will for us is written into our gifts, abilities, and interests.  Some are speakers; some are organizers, and some are leader types.  The strength of our ministry is usually tied to who we are.  It will always reflect us.  Our priorities will shine through.  We must identify what we do well and do everything possible to use that for the benefit of the ministry.  Also, we have to recognize that our strengths may change and adapt through the years....so, we must adapt.  We also have to recognize our weaknesses and mitigate those thru enlisting and allowing others to fill that void.

2.  Where you are.  Every campus is different. You cannot do exactly what you or someone else has done somewhere else.  We must be students of our campus.  It means understanding the general type student and seeing what the administration does that affects the ministry or CAN affect the ministry.  What is going on with other ministries?  How does that affect our ministry?  What are the resources available or that need to come?  Plus, every campus changes a little bit every year.  Your student leaders' strengths and abilities vary a little every year.  You much adjust to that in what and how you do.

Arliss Dickerson is a college ministry advocate and author.  Check out his college ministry books here:  Amazon.com/dp/B0BZ6Q7HSV.

5 Things College Ministry Alums Say Made the Difference

I posted on Facebook the question, "Who was the best College Minister you have known and what was the characteristic or practice that made them that way?" 

I was flooded with responses.  Many naming who their Campus Minister had been and writing a paragraph about them or listing all the great things they had done.  As I read through all of them, there were 5 Characteristics or practices that summed up what made them matter in those former students' lives.  They are not in any particular order.

Here are the 5 Practices and Characteristics of these much loved College Ministers:

Highly Relational

Role Model

Mentor/Discipler

Developed Leaders

Taught the Bible and Made it Relevant to the College Experience. 

I am always studying and trying to learn how College Ministers can best focus and spend their time and energy that affects college students' lives for Christ.  These five areas may be one of the best lists of what it means to be an effective College Minister.

How are you doing in these 5 areas?  Give some thought to how you can best be intentional in each AND is there an area you need to invest a bit more time and effort?

Arliss Dickerson is a college ministry advocate and author whose college ministry books may be found at Amazon.com/dp/B0BMW8NPMN.

College Ministers Quick Tip #5

What your meeting space FEELS like affects everything.

-Is it clean?

-Is it obviously prepared and set up?

-Have enough chairs....but not TOO many.....lots and lots of empty chairs is discouraging.

-When someone walks into a room, they register a conscious or unconscious feeling or reaction to the room.

-Their FEELING affects their response to the event.

-Is your event space as inviting as you can make it?

Check out A College Ministry Success Formula Amazon.com/dp/B0BZ6Q7HSV and Reaching MORE Students Amazon.com/dp/B0BMW8NPMN.

Where are the Crossroads on Your Campus?

 Where are the Crossroads on your campus?  Do you utilize the Crossroads on your campus?

A Crossroad is defined as, "A road that crosses a main road or joins two main roads.

On a college campus it is where a large number of students pass by each day or congregate.  Some obvious examples would be Cafeterias and Food Courts.  When I was at ASU, I required each of our staff to eat in the cafeteria each week and we paid for it.  One of our one year Assistants one time told me I was wasting my money paying for her to eat there because she did not like the food and did not eat much.  I told her I didn't care if she ate anything or not that as far as I was concerned, the food was free and the charge was a ticket to get in and talk to people.  She was great at that.

Are there spots on your campus that a large number of students walk by every day?  Should you arrange your schedule to be standing there at certain times on particular days?  Should you place some sort of A-frame sign there on your event days?  

But a caution!  If you have signs that you put out that say, "Today" or "Tonight".  Take them in when that day is done.  When signs like that stay out all the time, students no longer "see" them.  They just become a part of the landscape.  If they are out, that means they are current and it is happening!

If you have 3 or 4 of these signs, what about moving them around at different times of the day? Oh I know, you are too busy and important to do that, right?  Wonder what students you might see and talk to when you are doing it?

What are the times of the day that most students are out on campus?  Do you have it in your calendar to be out on campus during that time?

Identify and utilize the crossroads of your campus to affect the lives of students who are at a crossroad in their life!

Walk across the campus and through the Student Center EVERY day!

Check out A 3 Part College Ministry Success Formula Amazon.com/dp/B0BZ6Q7HSV  and Reaching MORE College Students Amazon.com/dp/B0BMW8NPMN.

College Ministers Quick Tip #4

 A Ministry reflects both the STRENGTHS and WEAKNESSES of its leader.

The longer we lead a ministry, the more it will look like us in its strengths and weaknesses.

First, we must realize and admit what our weaknesses are.

Second, we must make sure that we are maximizing our strengths and not just getting by in that area because it is easy for us. But, make sure your strengths are benefitting the ministry....not just being enjoyable and easy for you.

Third, acknowledge those weak points and do two things.  Commit to growth in those areas and even more importantly, recruit people who are strong and gifted in the areas that are not your strong point.  This can be either students or volunteers.  Then, do everything possible to set them up for success in those areas.

You will likely need someone on the outside to help you see and evaluate clearly in these two areas.

Check out Fixing a Broken College Ministry at Amazon.com/dp/B0CXTCTNB1 and Reaching MORE College Students Amazon.com/dp/B0BMW8NPMN.

Charisma is WAY Overrated!

 The most important and valuable tool of a college ministry apart from student leaders is the College Minister.  So, how does a College Minister be the best possible tool that God can use to reach a campus and bless individual students?  Some would think it is personal charisma....that magnetic personality that just wows people with their presence.  There are few people like that and faking it sure doesn't work.  But, here are some things that all of us can do that will build who we are.

11 Actions that Build the Long Term Value and Effectiveness of a College Minister:

1.  Consistency - Be the same person in all situations.  People look at and see your life even when you don't realize they are looking.

2.  Demonstrate or model what you are asking of students.  The College Minister cannot and should not do everything in the ministry.  But, they must be willing to do it and doing at least their share of the dirty little jobs it just takes for an organization to work.

3.  Be willing to speak and stand for what is right even when it is not popular.  But, be known for what you are for...not what you are against.  

4. Don't try to impress students or pretend to be younger than you are.  Students have lots of buddies.  They crave and want mentors and others who can speak into their lives out of experience.  They have lots of people they can hang out with and shoot baskets.  But, you need to hang out some to get the opportunities to speak into their lives.

5.  Speak AFFIRMATION in students lives.  What do you see as gifts in their lives?  How do you see God using them?  Lots of students have never had anyone speak to the value and potential that someone sees in their life.

6.  Develop and Train them.  Teach them how to do things.  Help them evaluate their experience when they serve and what they can learn from them.

7.  Pray with them and teach them how to pray.  When you meet with them, don't you do all the praying!  Encourage them and help them learn to pray.  Someone has said, "Those who have never prayed out loud have never prayed."  I don't believe that is true, but I do believe learning to praying out loud with others is a step forward in praying.

8.  Always express appreciation for the time and effort that students give to the ministry.  Never forget that volunteers are just that...volunteers.

9.  Give second chances.  While holding students to a high standard in behavior and service, be ready to give students a second chance.  We all mess up.

10.  Model family life or healthy singleness.  Lots of students come out of broken or messed up families.  For your own sake as well as for your students, work on a healthy work/family balance.

11.  Keep learning and growing in college ministry.  No matter how long or how well you have done it, stay fresh by continually looking at and learning from others.

"One day Jesus was praying in a certain place.  When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, 'Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.' Luke 11:1

Check out A College Ministry Formula, Amzon.com/dp/B0FFTHL6HP and  Reaching MORE College Students Amazon.com/dp/B0BMW8NPMN

College Ministers Quick Tip #3

 You have to ADMINISTRATE to multiply.

College Ministers tend to be people centered and often let the administration slide.  Good administration organizes, equips, and funds others to minister.

If you want to lead a ministry larger than your personal ministry, you must administrate well.  Good administration does not take away from ministry.....it MULTIPLIES it.

Check out The College Minister's Library Amazon.com/dp/B08CMD9CXX