Responsibility and Opportunity

I attended a press conference today announcing our university's new basketball coach.  As I went in a former student and alum of our college ministry spoke to me and I asked about latest developments in his life.

He told me he was getting married and obviously how excited he was about it.  I asked if it were anyone I might know.  He said no and then told me, as a freshman at our Back-2-School Retreat, he had gone to my seminar, "5 Questions to Ask Before You Marry".  He said, "I went back and reviewed those notes."

Wow!  About ten years ago a freshman attended our Back-2-School Retreat, went to a seminar I led, kept those notes, and looked back at them in preparation for getting married these years later.  That is a startling statement...for many reasons.  Who knew freshmen took notes at Retreat seminars?  Who knew they would still have them and refer back to them in a life decision situation years later?

I was stunned, complimented, and reminded of the awesome opportunity and responsibility of college ministry!

I also wanted to look at his notes and see if I felt good about everything I had said.  But, even more it was a testimony to the opportunity we get to speak into young people's lives at a key time.  AND, we never know when or how those words we speak may be used later in life.

College Ministry matters and it continues to matter in people's  lives long after college.  We cannot overstate the value of ministry at the development point of college in young people's lives.  We cannot overstate the value of intentionally and continually working to impact the lives of freshmen.

A friend of mine gets large gifts to his ministry.  One of the people who gives to his ministry came to their events when she was a freshman.  She told him she did not continue to be involved after her freshman year due to some choices on her part.  But, she gives because she realized what he was trying to do in the lives of first year students who need help.  She did not respond positively, but gives now to help others make different freshmen choices.

The bottom line:

1.  You never know how God will use what you say in the lives of current and former students....and for how long.

2.  Pray and prepare the best you can every time you have opportunity to speak to students. God uses it way more than you know.

3.  Keep speaking to freshmen....even when you figure they are not listening!

4.  College ministry literally affects our world every day and much of the time we will not know about it, but individuals will and God knows.  Keep on!!

Coming in May:  FIXING A BROKEN COLLEGE MINISTRY...an Amazon eBook.

Giving Helpful Feedback and Doing Evaluation in College Ministry

I like feedback.  I like to give feedback and I like to receive it.  Now, please understand there is a difference between being chewed out and getting helpful feedback.  Do you have Interns, Assistants, Administrative Assistants, or Associates that work for you?  Do you give feedback or do any sort of annual or semi-annual review or evaluation?  A pastor friend once expressed frustration to me about some actions of one of his staffers.  I said, "What do you say about it in their annual review?".  He shrugged and went on to another topic.  I later learned that he did not do annual reviews of any sort. I wondered if the staffer even knew he was not functioning the way his supervisor needed him to.

Giving helpful feedback is part of our job, if we have people who work under our direction.  It is particularly important if we have young intern types working with us.  It helps them learn how to do their work better and will benefit them for years to come.

Here are some questions to ask or consider in giving helpful feedback and or evaluation:

1.  Do they work hard?
If someone is trying and working real hard, that goes a long way with me.  Two different friends who supervise staff have commented to me recently about staffers who do not work hard....or do not even put in what most would consider a normal forty hour week.

2.  Are they a team player?
It is possible for someone to have superstar ability, but they do their own thing and do not benefit or work for the value and ministry of the whole team.  Are they aware that is an expectation?

3.  Do they have a plan?
All good College Ministers have a plan for what they are trying to do.  Sometimes we need to teach people about developing a plan.

4.  Are they raising up and training leaders?
A college ministry will not be much stronger than its student leaders.  Also, our churches need us to be raising up leaders for the future.

5.  Do they work at reaching and connecting with a variety of students?
All of us have students we instantly like an connect to.....but a college campus is made up of a wide variety of students.  Does this person work at connecting to more than the obvious or easy?

6.  Is the key thing or things they are responsible for discussed in the feedback?
Assumptions are a tricky thing.  We must make clear what our most important and central expectations are.
Does this person or persons know what the make or break item on their job description is?

7.  Is their ministry balanced or is it all about one thing....likely the one thing they do best?
Some of us do evangelism better and others of us do discipleship best.  Are they working at having a healthy balance in what they do?

In working with College Ministry Assistants, I found it helpful to ask them each semester to give me one page that listed things they were going to do that semester such as weekly plans (like eat in the cafeteria twice a week or start three Bible study groups).  After they made their list, I would look at it and then sometimes add one or two things and then we would both agree to it.  This is particularly helpful with young Intern types who are just learning how to do their job.

Always, always start with something positive in giving feedback in any sort of formal review or discussion about job performance.  If there is nothing positive to say, it is time to have a different discussion.

The Value of Longevity in College Ministry

I am fortunate to receive and enjoy seeing email and paper newsletters from lots of different college ministers.  Today, one was particularly enjoyable.  I will not identify specifically the person or campus but will quote some parts of it.

The College Minister shared that they were taking a group to Beach Reach in Panama City for Spring Break and wrote the following:

"We petitioned the ______________ University student cabinet for special allocation of additional funds for Beach Reach.......With a short presentation, we were unanimously granted $2500!! This is monumental!
I wish I could send a message back to me 5 years ago to tell me about this when I stood before this same governing body and heard they would not grant my request for (the name of their ministry) to be recognized as a club (they did a year later).  Then again when our first year of requesting a budget they gave us $250.  This year's budgeted money allocation is $1500, just to give some perspective.  This victory falls into the immeasurably more category.  Our public university gave us $2500 to help us fund our mission trip!!  Praise God!!"

There is a key phrase there to pick up on and learn from......did you see it......."5 years ago".  In addition to God's work on this campus, they are experiencing the benefit of this College Minister planting their life on this campus for a number of years.  Apart from a special movement of God, I believe there is nothing that benefits a college ministry any more than a long term investment by the College Minister.

Through the years I have enjoyed quoting my friend, Johnny Pons, who said he was "going to Penn State to die there".  I don't know that Johnny will stay there till his death, but he communicated and meant it that he was going there not till the going got tough or till a better job offer came along.  He was going there to be there!

Tim Casteel, the Cru Director at the University of Arkansas, has recently written about "The Alexander Syndrome:  Why 60 is the New 30" by Doug Paul.  Casteel (@timcasteel) tweeted this, "Big idea=you need to be 50+ to lead movements that change the world.  And 50-70 are most productive years."

Being in that age category obviously makes me smile.  But, I have long believed in two things.  Lots of people get out of college ministry because of age just about the time they know enough and have developed enough to do it right and really well.

Second, I believe that being on one campus for many years pays dividends.  As the newsletter shared, "5 years ago".  This College Minister is beginning to reap the investment of five years.  Why?  The longer we are there, the more we understand our campus.  The longer we are there, the more they learn to trust us.  The longer we are there,the more our faith and maturity have developed.  The longer we are there, we have been able to build one year on top of another year.

My personal experience was in forty one years on two campuses ( 9 on one and 32 on another) that some of the best and most productive years were the later ones.

Keep on.  Don't quit.  Don't assume you are too old.  Some people are too old at twenty five.  Others are just right at sixty!  It may take several years in one place for them to see you really mean it.  The doors may begin to open then.

Sixty is the new thirty!

Use Other Door

Recently I attended a city wide civic event that is held at a local church.  The church has been gracious to let a civic group used their fellowship hall and kitchen for their big annual fund raiser each year. It is attended by several hundred people. The double doors into the building where the event was being held had a sign on one of the doors.  A hand lettered sign said, "Use Other Door".  One of the doors was broken.  I was struck by the sign and what it seemed to say.  Now, I do know it could have been broken earlier that day or the day before and there had not been time to repair it.

However, in previous years when I attended this event, I saw an old broken pew leaned up in one corner.  This year and previous years I noticed the need for paint and the thread bare carpet. This is a "First ___________ Church" on one of the most traveled streets in our city.  I know nothing else about the church.
I just know if I were looking for a church I would not go back on Sunday.  I get too many negative messages when I am there.

So, what does this have to do with college ministry?  If you have a campus center or a regular meeting area in a church, what does it look like?  Is there an old broken pew or a rusty folding chair leaned up in the corner?  Are there silk plants that are burdened down with dust?  Does the front door need paint.....OR, is it broken?  I will confess a pet peeve of mine is double doors at an entrance where one of the doors is always locked.  Why have double doors if one is always locked?

Why does it happen that we have rusty chairs or broken pews leaned up in the corner?  We get used to seeing them.  We don't even see the first thing that first time attenders see!  So, what do you do?

-Invite someone who does not attend your events or perhaps has never been into your meeting space to come and make notes of what they notice.  They can tell you things that need to be moved, removed, cleaned, straightened, or hauled off.

-Most college ministries are short on money.  So, it may be that painting the whole interior is not an option.  What about painting an accent wall?  Get someone known for their good taste to make a suggestion about painting one wall....what color to paint it, etc.

-A few bright and new pillows put on some old furniture might give them a whole new look.

-Lighting is huge.  Is the room too dim or is it too glaring?  Changing the light in the area can give it a whole different feel.  A few lamps here and there can be a plus rather than just glaring overall lighting.

-Re-arrange the furniture.  Rotate some pieces in and out occasionally.

I am totally convinced that when a first timer walks into a meeting space they consciously or sub-consciously register an opinion that affects their whole feeling about being there.

What does your space say to first timers?