The 6 Different College Minister Types

Being a College Minister, by necessity, is a Jack of all Trades calling.  Yet, I believe partly through our spiritual God given gifts, campus situation, and age we tend to function in one type.  I think it is important for us to identify what our type is to lean into the strengths of it AND to identify the weaknesses.  It is easy to just try to be what you have seen someone else be and you are trying to do that, but that is not really your type.

1.  The Administrator/Facilitator:  This person operates through organization and sees themselves as strictly someone who operates through the student leaders and provides the resources and structure necessary for a strong ministry.

2.  The Counselor:  Lots of students are dealing with issues and this College Minister spends a large amount of time listening to students who are struggling.  Another aspect of the Counselor can be one who is helping students make life decisions for what is next, etc.

3.  The Cool Dude or The Personality:  This person operates out of the force of their personality.  They tend to be very trendy and operates through a wide variety of relationships and connections.

4.  The Pastor:  Often this College Minister is very ministerial in appearance, actions and attitude.  In guys, they often are known as "Brother_________".

5.  The Rainmaker:  This is that one that instantly draws a crowd, by presenting a large vision and really able to quick draw lots of students into that vision.  Large crowds develop almost over night.  In my observation, lots of us would like to think of ourselves as Rainmakers, but we are not.  And, there are very few Rainmakers.....but in talking to lots of ministries looking to hire a College Minister, that's what or who they are looking for.

6.  The Hybrid:  Due to specific gifts, needs, or intentionality, this College Minister is really able to combine a couple of these styes.

Think about WHICH YOU ARE.  Identify the strengths and make sure you are leaning into them.  Get honest with yourself about what the weaknesses or limitations of that style are.  If you are long term, consider whether age leads you to a different style.  That is NOT necessarily a bad thing.  It just may be an adjustment to a new chapter in your ministry.  

Perhaps, wherever you are age and experience wise, you may need to work at bringing another role in which would move you to The Hybrid.

Arliss Dickerson's book, A 3 Part College Ministry Success Formula, is available at Amazon.com/dp/B0BZ6Q7HSV and Tips for College Freshmen is at Amazon.com/dp/B09QFB9DJ9

Four Common Complaints of Campus Based College Ministers?

 Some years ago when I was doing some consulting for the national BCM office, I was in a meeting of Church College Ministers from all over the country.  In their discussions, it was obvious that their number one complaint was often not being able to get to the campus due to meetings at the church.

What is the Number One Complaint of Campus Based College Ministers?  I polled a number of veteran Campus Based College Ministers and got a variety of answers.

1.  Lack of understanding of and appreciation of College Ministry and it being a valued calling.

Many shared how people did not understand college ministry as a lifetime calling and saw it simply as the road to getting a pastorate or a church staff position.  One shared that his mother asked him, "When will you get your own church?"  I had the experience of speaking in churches and someone would come up, be complimentary and tell me they thought I was good enough to have my own church.  Do people tell a Dentist they think he is good enough to be a Doctor?

2.  Pressure to produce numbers to justify existence.

Many outside of college ministry do not understand that to some degree or other a college ministry population turns over EVERY YEAR.  Students graduate; some have to go away for a semester to student teach or do an internship. You have to re-enlist your whole ministry again each fall.  A church that averages 100-200 may have most of the same people over a year or two time.  A college ministry that averages 50-75 may minister to more different people than that church of 100-200 did over a two year period.

The most dreaded question is "How many did you have last night?"  What is the magic number for people to feel you are doing a good job?  On some campuses having 35 is a miracle of God.

3. The competitiveness of ministries

One of the good things happening today is that more churches are being serious about reaching the campus near them.  But, often churches and their denominational ministry on campus bump into each other.  One College Minister said, "My churches want me to direct students to them, which I see as part of my job and do. But, then the church gets them so busy they drop my ministry."  One College Minister told of inviting all the local Church College Ministers to be introduced at his fall kickoff event and say something about their ministry.  One Church College Minister announced and invited the students to an event he had each week at the same time as the campus worship event.  Was that fair? Working together, building our ministry and not being "competitive" takes effort and communication.

4.  Feeling alone and that no one else cares.

This and comparison to other ministries are the top two killers of College Ministers.  Campus Based College Ministers are not faculty, they are not church staff, and many work by themselves.  Someone has said, "we are neither fish nor fowl."

Arliss Dickerson writes some books.  Check one out here Amazon.com/dp/B0MW8NPMN.  7 Red Flags In A Dating Relationship is available at Amazon.com,dp/B0DTTRJH38. 

A Vietnam Memory and Lessons

 I got a message today from a friend who was in my unit in Vietnam.  Those contacts always bring back lots of thoughts.  I was and am blessed to have not experienced debilitating injuries or recurring nightmares as some have.  Out of those memories, a while back I wrote down some of my,

Lessons Learned in Vietnam:

People you do not know and have never even met can have a huge influence or impact on your life.

I went to Vietnam as a Chaplain's Assistant fresh out of training with orders for the 18th Engineer Brigade and then would receive further orders from there.  When I got there I learned that I had been scheduled to go "up north" to one of the Battalions operating in bad news territory.  But, some of the Clerk Typists who worked in the Personnel Section at Brigade Headquarters had looked at my file with my background information.  They saw that I had a background of working in various ministries.  

They thought I might should stay at the office of the Brigade Chaplain (who was over the other Chaplains of the 18th Engineer Brigade spread out over the country) and sent me down to interview with him.  As a result, he said yes, he would like me to stay there.  So, I spent a year there instead of in a much more dangerous situation.  We only were shot at during the night and experienced pretty normal days.

A fascinating fact about some of these "Clerk Typists" is that three of them were graduates of Harvard Law School.  One had been Editor of the Harvard Law Review and another had served as an Assistant Attorney General of New York.  One day on KP Duty in the mess hall, we were peeling potatoes, I learned there is no difference in how a Harvard Law Grad peels potatoes and how an Arkansas State Speech Major peels potatoes.

How would my life have been different had these men I did not know made a decision about me? 

Your Past Influences Your Future!

We can never forget that what we did in the past....good or bad.....can affect the opportunities or lack of opportunities that come our way later.

Live your best NOW to live for the best days, weeks, and even years down the road.  It all counts!

Arliss Dickerson's book, Tips for College Freshmen:  124 Tips for Fun, Faith & Good Grades, is available at Amazon.com/dp/B09QFB9DJ9 and 7 Red Flags In A Dating Relationship is at Amazon.com/dp/B0DTTRJH38.

Two Different Types of Students

 Following a worship event recently, I saw one student standing by himself looking for someone to connect to.  He is awkward, not good at conversation, and sometimes not dressed quite appropriately.  He is a great reminder to me.

I am all about strong student leaders.  I have been blessed to have lots of strong, even charismatic type student leaders.  If you read any of my stuff, you know that I rale on about the necessity of reaching and building up student leaders and how that benefits the ministry.

I have shared previously an experience from the past where at the end of one of our worship events, the person speaking had us join hands to sing and close in prayer.  One one side, I was holding hands with one of the prettiest and most sought after girls on campus.  On the other side, I was holding hands with a girl with physical deformities and a grating personality.  

It was a BIG God Moment for me.  Our college ministries are supposed to be like that.  I hope you are reaching leaders and growing them.  But, I also hope your ministry has some students that no one else on campus cares about.  For sure, it is complicated and sometimes calls for delicate conversations.

Last year I was waiting to visit with a college ministry  a friend asked how he was doing.  He said, "I just had one of those hard conversations where I had to tell a guy if he was going on our Spring Break Mission trip, he had to take a shower every day.  Those are not fun conversations.

But, I think they are God conversations.  A college guy who does not know to take a shower regularly needs to be told and taught to do so.  He also needs friends around him and that will help him feel loved and included.  I was glad he was getting to go on their Spring Break Mission Trip and I was glad the College Minister was tough enough to have that conversation with him.

What about your ministry?  Do you have a few students nobody else wants?  Are you saying things lovingly into their life they need to hear?  No, a college ministry is not supposed to be just a gathering place for those who have no other place, but just as it is building up leader types, it needs to be speaking love and godly counsel into some that are not charismatic leaders.

College ministry is hard, but wonderful!

Arliss Dickerson's book, Reaching MORE College Students, is available at Amazon.com/dp/B0BMW8NPMN and Tips for College Freshmen is at Amazon.com/dp/B09QFB9DJ9.