In 1988 a group of Baptist Campus Ministers met for 3 days to share ideas, laugh, encourage one another and even play bad golf. That gathering developed after a regional College Ministers Meeting at Southwestern Seminary in Fort Worth. One night after the session was over a group went to a Grandy's Chicken and Cinnamon Rolls and sat around a table sharing ideas. Someone said, "This is even better than the conference, wouldn't it be great if we could do this for 2 or 3 days. So, in 1988 a group met in Jonesboro, Arkansas and did just that.
There was no program, just how do you do this and that. Two of the College Ministers that came were Dave Jobe and George Loutherback from Texas. Jobe shared how the campus where he was in Texas was opening the dorms a week before school started and freshmen would move in, but there was very little for them to do. He came up with the idea of having a 3 Day Event called Freshmen Survival. It included get acquainted games, Family Groups, Breakout sessions on Growing as a Christian, Dating College Style, How to do a Personal Devotional, Getting Along with a Roommate, etc. Freshmen flocked to it and his ministry boomed. George Loutherback served at Baylor and he shared a much larger version of that idea that he was doing at Baylor.
All of us that were there thought it was the best idea we had ever heard and each of us said we were going to do some version of it. Some did a weekend version of it just before classes started and others did a one day or a 6 or 7 hour version. I attribute Freshmen Survival as the number one best thing we did at Arkansas State to reach students. Each year at our End of the Year Cookout, I would ask how many came to Survival their freshman year. The overwhelming majority in the room would hold up their hands. Freshmen Survival multiplied our ministry many times over!
That idea is still being done on many campuses in Baptist College Ministries 36 years later....and I would not be surprised if it is being done in lots of other ministries. I have seen one campus had 400 students at their Freshmen Survival event last week. Lots of others are having 50 to 100 Freshmen attend what now goes by names like FreshLife, Basic, Rookie Razorback Weekend, and still Freshmen Survival.
Four Reasons I share this story:
-Dave Jobe and George Loutherback deserve a ton of credit. Literally thousands of students have been impacted for God's kingdom because of this idea. Thank you Dave and George!
-Second, if you are not having some form of a "Freshmen Survival" event, you should consider it.
-Third, you never know how God will take an idea you are doing and use it in far larger ways than you ever thought.
-Fourth, Keep talking to other College Ministers and sharing ideas. You never know all that will come out of it.
Arliss Dickerson's book, A 3 Part College Ministry Success Formula, is available at Amazon.com/dp/B0BZ6Q7HSV and Reaching MORE College Students is at Amazon.com/dp/B0BMW8NPMN
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