This is the final of the three parts of my presentation to the Unite Collegiate Ministers Conference in Alabama.
1. Don't become just an Administrator.....administrate, do your reports, budget, etc...but when the going gets tough, do not succumb to the temptation to hide in your office.
2. Listen to college students, hang out with college students, eat with college students.
-People are more themselves and transparent when they are eating.
-When we hang out with students, we meet other students.
3. Walk across the campus and through the Student Center EVERY day.
-Be on campus. You will know more the atmosphere.
-You will see students who will say, "I've been needing to talk to you.".
-You will see students who will say, "Have you met my roommate?"
-In my role as an Interim Church College Minister, I eat on campus two days a week.
4. Be the age you are. Don't pretend to be something you are not.
-Every age has strengths and weaknesses.
-Acknowledge and be honest about yours.
-Allow and empower others to fill the spots where you are weak.
-Play to your strengths...utilize them to the max.
-Don't buy into the myth that "College Ministry is for the young." Some get out just when they know enough to start doing it really well.
5. Learn from trends....but don't let trends determine how you do it on your campus or in your church.
6. Don't compare yourself and your ministry to the "It Ministry" or the "Poster College Minister".
-One of the two greatest killers of College Ministers is comparison.
-If your ministry does not get $50,000 checks (and some do), don't compare your ministry to those who do.
7. Develop a solid PERSONAL support base outside of students...have friends your own age.
-The second greatest killer of College Ministers is feeling alone...feeling no one else cares.
8. Go to church....not just as a professional, but worship, learn, be what you are challenging your students to be.
-Take off your professional persona where you worry about the announcements and the drag time between happenings. Just worship and hear from the Lord.
-Be on whatever dumb committee they ask you to serve. That's the way churches work and
that is one way your voice gains credibility and currency to speak.
9. Never be unfair to your spouse or children to do your ministry.
-If you do, you will leave your ministry before you should.
-Or, when your children are grown and gone, you will regret it.
10. Be a friend to and relate to the college administration.
-If they don't know you, how can they help you?
-If they don't know you, it is easy to be against you.
-You are the best free thing they have got going...you help students be happy, feel connected and stay in school. Retention is a key word to college administrators these days.
11. Never forget that College Ministry is a high calling....it is not any lower than pastor or professor. Be proud of what God has called you to be.
12. What's the easiest way to stay in the game? Obviously, it's buy more of my 99 cent books on Amazon!
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