Introducing Something Brand New

 Through the years I have attended lots of church Senior Sundays and graduation banquets.  In some of these, the students have been given a book.  Most of the time, it was one I felt there was slim chance they would read it.  It seemed to me there needed to be something specific to Christian college freshmen.  I researched it and found to my surprise, there were college freshmen help books. But they were sometimes almost academic and contained little or no spiritual helps.  A continuing concern for me is that 7 out of of 10 high school seniors active in church make no spiritual connections in college.

So, I have just published "Tips for College Freshmen:  124 Tips for Fun, Faith & Good Grades" at Amazon Books.  My goal has been for it to be a quick, inexpensive, easy read and to have every day college survival tips as well as faith tips that will help them flourish during that transformative first semester of college.  There are 78 brief paragraph tips from me that range from "The Easiest Way to Pass a Class" to "What if Your Professor is Not a Christian?"  There are 38 one or two sentence tips from what I call "Former Freshmen who Survived".  Then, there are 8 scripture tips for encouragement and/or memorization.  It is 49 pages in length.  It could be read cover to cover in one sitting or a student could simply pick and read the tips that most spoke to their questions or concerns of the moment.

My hope is that those churches that give a book will see this one as one that really can be a gift.  And, I hope it might be one that parents, grandparents, and friends would use as a graduation gift that they can stick in with that check, shirt, or car. Also, it could be used for a Senior Prep class in a Youth Ministry setting. Or, when parents unload that last box in their dorm room, they would leave it laying on the desk.

If you think it might be of value, would you consider passing the word to a friend or posting something on social media?  

I already have thoughts about a revised and updated version for next year.  So, I would be interested in your thoughts or ideas. 

Some of the Tips Are:

Should I Join a Sorority or Fraternity?

The $10,000 Suggestion

Dirty Laundry Happens

Dropping or Adding a Class

7 Red Flags in a Dating Relationship

A Recipe for College Success

The 5 Dumbest Mistakes Freshmen Make

Doubts About Your Faith are Normal

Being a Contagious Christian

Arliss Dickerson's new book, Tips for College Freshmen:  124 Tips for Fun, Faith & Good Grades, is available at amazon.com/dp/B09QFB9DJ9.

"Level Up Your Large Group: 7 Tips to Consider" by Ryan Scantling

 If  it's true that the big attracts and the small keeps, our ministries must be good at doing it big and making it feel small.  I won't spend time in this short article arguing why large group meetings for your college ministry are so important.  Instead, I want to jump right into some practical things to consider in order to pull off your large group gathering.

1.  Welcome Wildly

What happens before your large group meeting sets the stage for what people will experience at your large group meeting.  If the first person a student interacts with is the speaker on stage or the worship leader singing in front of a crowd, then you missed a significant opportunity for ministry.  Put priority on training a Welcome Team that will greet folks outside the venue and make people feel welcome from the street to their seat.  Many ministry spaces are tucked well within a church campus.  Don't expect visitors to find it without help from a Welcome Team.

2.  Plan for Visitors

Always plan for an overwhelming number of visitors, both in how you invite and in how you prep.  Greet visitors at the door, from the stage, and after the service. Consider offering a small gift to every visitor in the room (link this with follow-up by making the gift a free coffee on you).Coach whoever is speaking on not using Christian jargon (walk the aisle, accept Jesus in my heart, etc).  Don't use insider language or call back to events or experiences that not everyone in the room attended.  Develop a culture where everyone wears a nametag.  It helps you interact with visitors and it helps visitors jump into relationships faster.

3.  Make it Fun

In what ways can you add fun to the service?  Consider doing a pre-service game or video.  Use technology to get feedback from the crowd and interact with it.  It can and should be every bit as exciting and engaging as any other event these students go to.

4.  Develop a Strategy for Personal Follow-Up

Your follow-up begins before the large group ever starts.  Plan on how you will get information to follow up with new people.  I'm a big fan of everyone checking in every week.  In our ministry, we use a service called Breeze.  Someone needs to know everyone in the room and have a strategy to follow-up with them.  Do you know which student came to your kickoff event and have not been back?  Do you know which students haven't missed a single large group gathering?  You should, because if you don't no one else does.  Call or text every new person who comes within 20 hours of them coming.

5.  Put the Right People on Stage

There are only two people in the room who everyone feels like they know:  the person leading worship and the person speaking.  Those two people need to be some of the most engaging in the room. Don't let a student think your whole ministry is stand-offish because the speaker or worship leader is not willing to hang out and interact with the crowd before and afterwards.

6.  Help People Linger Longer

First, don't let your gathering go on forever.  If your large group is unnecessarily long, people will hesitate to come, if they don't know when they can leave.  Second, help people linger.  Offer snacks or yard games or something that will help people spend time together and form relationships after your large group ends.  People who don't stay long, don't stick long.  Have your large group end in a timely way so that people can choose to stay rather than feel rushed to leave.

7.  Let Students Respond

Do not let students leave without having a clear opportunity to respond to what God is doing in their lives.  This can happen in a host of ways:  a response card, during an invitation, in small groups or through your personally texting every student afterwards asking what God is doing in their lives.

A Few Bonus Tidbits:

-I personally think many college ministry leaders spend too much time planning sermons that last too long.  Some spend 15 plus hour planning a message.  Instead, spend 5 hours planning a talk that will be half as long and spend 10 hours inviting more people to be there.

-The best next generation ministry leaders text a lot of people every week inviting and doing follow-up

-Your space is a huge part of your large group.  If you have 50 students, don't meet in a space with 500 seats.  It looks lame and new students will assume that a lot of people didn't show up because what you are doing is not worth showing up for.

Ryan Scantling is the Baptist Campus Minister at the University of Arkansas.

Arliss Dickerson's college ministry books are available at amazon.com/dp/B08CMD9CXX.

"Encouragement That Sticks" by Darrell Cook

 Over the last few years I increasingly appreciate "old person phrases."  Okay, I'm in my sixth decade., so maybe that shouldn't be surprising.  Here's an applied use of one of those phrases that I appreciate:' "I like a good bowl of oatmeal.  It really sticks to my ribs."  (Wow.  That example does show that I am getting pretty old.)  You get the image though. "Sticks to my ribs" communicates staying power.  Something that lasts.  Something that sustains.

For those of us that invest in young adults, encouragement is an incredibly vital tool to have in your tool belt.  Are you an encourager?  Do you want to be more of an encourager?  If the answer is "yes" to either of those, my guess is that you would prefer for your encouragement to have a long shelf life.  You likely want your words to "stick to the ribs" of the hearer and fill their encouragement tank for more than the few seconds after you speak them.  What does encouragement with staying power look like?

Encouragement that "sticks to the ribs" of the hearer is specific.  Craig is a friend I got to know in my seminary days .One day when he was asking questions about my background and my story he commented,  "You're a miracle."  That alone is a very kind and encouraging comment, but he continued to talk more specifically about my perseverance through my childhood and ways he saw me stretching my faith and using my gifts at that time.  When I think of encouragement that has "stuck" in my life, I am drawn to conversations with Craig where he leaned in with inquisitive and listening care while he also showed that he was observant about what God was doing in and through me.

Encouragement that "sticks to the ribs" of the hearer is preemptive .  Unless we cultivate the habit of encouragement, we can find ourselves using it only when someone is deflated.  That certainly can be an extremely powerful time to encourage, but we don't always get "notifications" when someone is discouraged.  Speaking authentic kind of truth into the lives of young adults can be a "time-release capsule" that comes back to them when they are in need of a courage infusion.

Encouragement that "sticks to the ribs" of the hearer is prophetic.  Does this mean that in your encouragement you need to predict the future?  Well, sort of.  I've  worked with a lot of freshmen.  Some freshmen can make a lot of messes.  I can focus solely on the messes, or I can see gifting in them (though perhaps clumsily applied) that is growing and needs to be expressed.  I am thankful for the patient mentors in my life who didn't immediately point to my mess (I knew I had made it anyway) and prophetically helped me with the encouragement to see a future in which maturity would allow a more complete and fruitful application of those gifts.

Speaking encouragement that is specific, preemptive, and prophetic can be just what the hearer needs for today.  Perhaps even better, it can be just what they need tomorrow.

Darrell Cook is the Baptist Campus Minister at Virginia Tech and is a gifted encourager.

Arliss Dickerson's college ministry books are available at amazon.com/dp/B08CMD9CXX.

DEVELOPING Student Leaders And APPRECIATING Them

 It is hard to have much ministry without some money.  The larger college ministries I am aware of have money.  Alums, friends and churches are generous to them.  But, I do not believe that money is our biggest and most important college ministry resource.

Student leaders are our biggest and most important resource!  It is our responsibility to encourage them, build them up, and let them know they are appreciated.

The 5 Steps in Developing Student Leaders:

1.  Intentionality - We have to always be about looking for potential leaders and be intentional in building them up.  Recognize them and show they are valued in your ministry.

2.  Training - Leaders often fail because they did not know what to do or how to do it.  It is our job to make sure they know what to do and how to do it.  That happens in training and training never ends. But, it is easy in the beginning to not be clear about exactly what they are to do and some ways to accomplish it.  Yet, we have to allow room for their individual strengths and gifts to help shape their role.

3.  Giving Responsibility - There is a fine line between a leader feeling they have been deserted and too much input from someone else.  Let them do what they have been asked to do, but never feel they have been left alone or hung out to dry.

4.  Healthy Evaluation - Part of growing as a leader is learning to evaluate and to learn from the evaluation.  Nothing is ever done or happens perfectly  Work through evaluating with leaders in their responsibilities to help them continue to learn and grow.  My boss told me one time our  students would make the most comments and suggestions on the evaluation sheets. 

5.  Affirmation - The greatest thing we can do for someone is give them genuine affirmation.  Tell them what we see in them that God has put there and some of the ways He can use it. We can affirm their hard work.  Even in something that did not go well, we can affirm their effort.  Many college students have no idea all they are capable of doing and being. No one has ever told them.  We get to do that!

Do Your Student Leaders Feel Appreciated?

Hare Are Some Possibilities:

1.  Say thanks and recognize them in public settings.

2.  Surprise them with cake, pizza, or whatever at your next meeting.

3.  Draw for a Starbucks Gift card at your meeting...or every week.

4.  Put up a picture of your leadership team somewhere prominent.

5.  Invest in them by talking and praying with them about their personal life, dreams, and decisions.

We reach more students with good student leaders.  We build up churches for the future by training student leaders.  We reach a wider variety of students with strong student leaders.  We are able to stay in college ministry for the long haul because we are not responsible for everything.  Make sure they feel appreciated and not used!

Help your student leaders succeed and feel successful and your ministry will be better for it.

Arliss Dickerson's college ministry books are available at amazon.com/dp/B08CMD9CXX.