After helping me move in to my dorm room, I hugged my parents goodbye so they could get on the road back home. I watched my parents pull out of the parking lot and I waved goodbye. Excited – yet nervous, confident – yet a little afraid, I was finally here- a student on my own at college.

Do you remember that day? Perhaps it was a little different for you, but I’m sure you remember some of the feelings you felt. For me, it was exciting to be in a new environment. I enjoyed this new-found lifestyle of making my own decisions, discovering and defining myself, and preparing for the future. However, one of the things I really liked about my freshmen year was that I was not the only wide-eyed wanderer freshman. There were at least a couple thousand other students just like me searching out this new college life. There was just something comforting to the fact that I was not alone.

The university made it a point to organize various welcoming and orientation events so that we freshmen could meet each other. One of the really appealing things at this time were student organizations- groups that you could plug into and be a part of. At the time I couldn’t explain it, but something within me wanted to be a part of a group. Something within me wanted to belong. I wanted friends, I wanted a family. Amidst this foreign land and all of the newness of college life, I wanted community.

I also really enjoyed the dorms. I liked the fact that there were a bunch of us college students living close together. I remember several occasions where my roommate and I would join some of my neighbors down the hall and grab some Nerf guns and have an all-out war in the hallways of our dorm! It was also fun when people in the dorm would leave their door open and welcome conversations from those passing by down the hall. There was clearly a social element of college that people craved.

So all of this gets me thinking about the college experience- those 4 or so years of college, chock full of new experiences, new-found freedom, social and personal definition, etc. How does this affect the longing for community that every human has? How does the college experience affect the longing for community that Millenials especially demonstrate as mentioned in the last post?

Also, what is it about the popularity of greek life and other student organizations? What about the appeal of dorms and living on-campus?

Here are some of my thoughts: I think the college experience intensifies the longing for community in students…especially Millenials. I think there is just something about going off to a new environment, away from all things and all people familiar, that intensifies the longing for community, for family, for belonging. I think there is just something about being out on your own, making decisions on your own, and redefining yourself that intensifies the longing. I think there is something about being around many other students just like you that appetizes the longing for community. For Millenials, I think there is just something about the fact that “all of us students are in this together amidst a changing, and uncertain world” that also fuels the longing for community.

So what are your thoughts? I am really just thinking out loud here, so think with me!

One of my classmates made an interesting comment a few days ago. In discussing the millennial generation, he said something to the effect of how there is such a longing for community and yet most Millennials don’t know the first thing about it, let alone how to find it, form it, or keep community healthy. I think my peer makes a great observation. In fact, I would say that every human longs for community, but millennials especially long for it. I also think the college experience greatly intensifies this longing for community, but I will discuss this more in the next post. The unsettling thing is that as a result of this intense longing, the vast majority of Millennials will find community or form it regardless of whether it is healthy- all the while most churches stand by, neglecting the opportunity to open their arms and intentionally invite them in to theirs.

Two TV shows that I have been watching recently are Community (NBC) and Glee (FOX). Viewed through the lens of college ministry, these shows are uber insightful of our culture and especially of the Millennials to which they are aimed. Now both series have a clearly established community of which the main characters are associated with (for Community it is the study group for Spanish class and for Glee it is the glee club). Both series highlight these communities and explore various aspects of them including the members’ need to protect their community, protect each other, and learn lessons on loving each other, etc. Both shows are VERY popular and each have their own unique elements that make them successful. They each warrant discussion and contain vast insight into our culture, but for now, I just wanted to highlight their central theme of community. There are other shows that do this as well, but these two are particularly poignant especially to us college ministers. In fact, both shows have school as their setting (Community is set on a community college campus, and Glee is set on a high school campus) which make them particularly relevant to us.

I think the popularity of these shows are a good indication of the Millennials’ longing for community. I think the popularity of social networking is directly related to this longing as well. And have you ever thought about the popularity of games like Halo and World of Warcraft? There is a vast community found in these games online!

Perhaps your personal experience with students will indicate this longing. For example, upon the development of new “apartment style” student housing, I remember one of the common critiques amongst students was that it did not foster much social interaction as a dorm would. Now regardless of whether this is true or not, the fact is that these students were longing for more community. I think there are some other forces at play here (which we will discuss in the next post), but the very fact that Millennial students are even conscious of this says a lot.

So have you seen this longing for community amongst Millennials in your experience? Could you incorporate this characteristic of Millennials into your ministry in some way? How about in reaching them? In teaching to them? In ministering to them?
What are your thoughts?

So on Tuesday, we began thinking ahead and discussing the vital need and importance of transitioning high school seniors to college. We specifically looked at ideas and ways that church-based ministers could assist in this transition. To check out that post, click here.

Today, I want explore ways that youth ministers and campus-based ministers could do their part in this critical transition process.

Youth Ministers:

The chances are, your church does not have a college ministry, or maybe you are doing both youth and college ministry. Even if your church does have some sort of college ministry, transitioning your high school seniors is a critical issue that you must consider. I would even argue that this should be a part of your ministry. So here are some thoughts/ideas:

1. Simply teach/equip them. As Benson Hines pointed out in his comment on the previous post, perhaps the best thing youth (and college) ministers could be doing to assist in the college transition is simply teaching and equipping students on the matter. Get into the Word and explore the biblical concepts of what they will be experiencing, (for example, do a study on what real “Freedom” is). Also, give them some principles that you found to be helpful when you where in their shoes. Perhaps you could bring in some college students or others who have already attended college and have them share their advice!

2. Incorporate practical ways to transition your students. Again, I want to suggest the research and connect idea I posted on idea 3 in Tuesday’s post. I would also recommend that you consider recruiting some of your leadership and/or parents to help you with this. I know it is a resource consuming idea, but I think it is WELL worth it.

3. If possible, invite campus-based college ministers (or even church-based college ministers…why not!?) to visit. One of the things I did while I was a campus missionary with the Baptist Student Ministry was to join our BSM director and a few other students to go lead worship and speak at various youth groups throughout the spring and summer. We would tell the youth all about the BSM and the importance of finding a church home. We would also give them advice and answer any questions the students had about college life.

4. See if your denomination has any system in place for assisting in the transition. A beautiful example of this is what the BSM through the Baptist General Convention of Texas offers to churches at texasfreshmen.com. Here, parents, students, and youth ministers can submit contact information, indicate where they (the students) will be attending college, and then a BSM director, church leader, or student from that university/town will get in touch with them. Perhaps your denomination has something like this in place already. Go and research it and then take full advantage of it!

So I am definitely not a youth minister, but I strongly believe that transitioning youth to college needs to be considered more by youth ministers. There are surely more ways to assist youth in college transition, so if you have any more, just comment below!

Campus-based college minsters:

1. Go visit youth groups. Really I just want to reiterate the idea mentioned above. Take some students and go out and speak/lead at various youth groups. Bring a message on how to prepare for the transition to come. Tell the students about the BSM. Bring some college students and have them give the youth advice on the transition.

2. Get to know youth ministers and church-based college ministers. Seriously, we all should be working together and collaborating more, and honestly, youth and church-based college ministers may feel more comfortable sending students your direction if you know them.

3. Take advantage of your university’s “preview days.” Most universities have some sort of late spring/summer preview days for the next class of entering freshmen. Typically, they will have a student organization fair that allows student organizations to set up a booth and tell the prospective students about their organization. So GO TO THESE! I know this may be old school or typical, but don’t count this out! Oh, and get some of your extroverted college students to work these tables! Gather contact information and hand out some free stuff!

4. Encourage your students to get involved in giving campus tours! Yep, this is a really sweet way for your to get your college students to connect with and help transition next year’s freshmen. Now clearly there will probably be some guidelines they have to follow in order to be tour guide, but still, this position could create opportunities for your students to offer advice about college life to next year’s freshmen. Who knows, maybe they can even plug your ministry!

So again, these are just a few ideas that came to mind. If you have any more, throw ‘em at me!

Well, I guess this concludes our first glance at thinking ahead on next year’s freshmen. Ultimately, it is my prayer that college and youth ministers would consider the college transition process of our youth a much higher priority than what it has been in the past.

So from time to time I want to post some issues and ideas in a “Thinking Ahead” series. They will just be periodical, but I think something like this would be really sweet.

The first topic that I am already thinking about is next year’s college freshmen (or this year’s graduating high school seniors). Honestly, this transition from youth to college is so underdevelopled and so critical!!! One statistic that is a constant, vivid reminder of this to me is the Barna research that indicated that 61% of young adults that were involved in church during their teen years are now disengaged from the church. You can see this research here. Now granted, this research is a little older (2006), but it is a chilling indictment nonetheless! What this tells us is that transition from youth to college ministry is simply not happening. You may have even experienced this yourself. Now this isn’t about pointing fingers or anything other than to tell the enemy that lack of education and awareness in this area stops here!!!

So these next few posts go out to youth ministers, church-based college ministers, AND campus-based ministers. We NEED to make transitioning our students more of a priority. Here are few ideas of how we could do this:

For church-based college ministers:

1. Start your college ministry with students early. Take the occasional opportunity to get to know the high school Juniors and Seniors early. -Speak on occasion at your youth group’s large group gathering. Maybe you could even speak about college. (You should definitely do this with your graduating seniors towards the end of the semester anyways!) -Simply attend your youth group’s gatherings from time to time and get to know them that way. -Be a Disciple Now leader for the Seniors or Juniors. -Attend youth camp and be a counselor. -Start one-on-one mentoring with some of the seniors..(guy to guy, girl to girl). -Take them to coffee….high school students love Starbucks!

2. Get parental support. I think this one is a HUGE idea (Thanks to Dr. Jay Sedwick on this one!). Organize a meeting with the parents of your graduating seniors where you can rally their support on encouraging their students to find and plug into a church home as soon as they get to college. Perhaps you can give parents ways and resources to assist in transitioning. Really think about this one. We college ministers can encourage youth all day long about the importance of getting plugged into a church at college, but I think the strong encouragement of a parent will go much, much further.

3. Include youth-to-college ministry transitioning into your yearly routine. Towards the end of the Spring semester, a good amount of graduating high school seniors already have a decent idea on where they will be attending. For each student, research and scout out the ministries, churches, and environment, of the city of the college they are attending. Research the campus ministries on the student’s future campus. In regards to churches, look for those that would provide for an easy transition such as those with similar core doctrines, size, and characteristics. (Now this is only for research purposes and suggestions. We want to be sure to allow for God’s direction and the student’s freedom to find the right church home.) Furthermore, get into touch with some of the ministers there! This would be a sweet time to get to know your brothers and sisters serving in the same field as you!!! Also, they could provide you with even more detailed info on the church and ministry scene on campus and around town. You could also research the locations of these churches and ministries. Some churches even provide shuttles or rides between campus and church. Also, consider the environment of the new location. For example, culture is way way different when you get outside of the bible belt! Compile your research and sit down with the seniors over coffee and inform them of your findings. (Maybe you could make them a nice packet or something.) If they already feel confident about getting involved with a campus ministry, then get them in touch with that ministry even before their first semester starts! (Email and Facebook fit nicely with this!)

Now this is all a lot of work….but it is SO WORTH IT! Besides, you will find that some students will go to the same University. Also, over time you will build up a sweet database of info that you can draw from (however you will want to update it from time to time). You will also gain many useful contacts and even make new friends. Furthermore, you can draw on your away students that are already attending there. Finally, you can spread all of this out over the spring and summer.

I am always touched about how receptive high school seniors are of this one. Remember, deep down inside, many of them are at least a little nervous about what lies ahead. It is very comforting to them knowing that you are involved in easing their transition! I can’t express this enough. Also, doing this does not hurt your image with the parents and the rest of your church. Clearly the point of this is not your image, but it definitely helps to have them happily behind you!

4. Get your existing college students involved in the transition. -Arrange a Q&A session between the high school seniors and some of your college students. -Sometimes the advice coming from current college students just connects better! Encourage your college students to mingle with and get to know the high school students at church and/or before Sunday school. -Get your college students to be D-now leaders or camp counselors if appropriate. -Also, connect the graduating seniors with the your away students that are already attending their prospective school.

It appears that I need to break this post up!  So in the next post, we will look at ways and ideas campus-based ministers and youth ministers can assist in the transition.

If you have any more ideas on how church-based college ministers can help in the transition PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE leave a comment and add to the discussion!

Come together..bum bum bum bum….right now, over me. Ya, I’m a sucker for some Beatles. This song is a good one, and it’s definitely playing in my head as I write this!

Ok, so you need to know a little bit about my background before I get started. During college, I became very active in the Baptist Student Ministry. I was actually raised Methodist, but the BSM at my school was pretty awesome and so I got plugged in there. In fact, the BSM is largely to blame for helping me discover the passion for college ministry God placed in my life! Anyways, my first year out of college I served as a campus missionary at a BSM up at Amarillo College. So one of the things I learned throughout my BSM experience was that we BSM’s existed as a “arm of the church.” What I mean is that while we definitely were there to reach students, love on them, do bible studies, etc., we were very much interested in connecting students with churches (albeit Baptist churches). We encouraged our students to find a church home and get plugged in. We would even arrange multiple events where churches could come up and interact with the students (via such things as Tailgate parties where churches could come and give out free stuff and talk about their churches/college ministries and noon lunches where churches could provide the lunch for that week’s noon lunch and then tell about their church). Additionally, we would encourage college ministers to come to the BSM noon lunches and other events to just mingle with and get to know the students- all with the intent of being an “arm” of the church, that is, getting students connected with church homes.

I am now on the flip side of the spectrum. Now I am the one that is the church-based college minister providing noon lunches at the BSM here, at UTD. Now I am the one coming to BSM events to meet students. My relationship with the BSM is really important to me. And I take every advantage of my “arm.” I jump at opportunities to connect with students at BSM events. They happily put out my ministry’s info through fliers or email. They even invite me to sit down with them and compare calendars at the beginning of each semester so that we can avoid scheduling issues! And of course, they are happy to connect me with students who are looking for a church home!

And I try to give back to the BSM. I want to bless them back! I try to get my church to provide the occasional scholarship for one of their students to attend an event, host any of their events at my church, I try to encourage the UTD BSM staff any way I can, etc.  I look for ways that I can give back to them. My relationship with the BSM is uber important to me.

I think there needs to be more of this. I think more church and campus-based ministries need to be working together.

1. If you are a church-based ministry and your denomination has something like this in place already (ie. BSM/BCM, Wesley, etc.), then I strongly encourage you to cultivate a relationship with them. Sit down with the campus ministry’s director and see how you can collaborate with them.

2. If you are a campus-based ministry that exists as a “arm” of your denomination, then approach your local churches and remind them that you are there to work with them. And believe me, we church-based college ministers need reminders!

This could be the beginning of a beautiful relationship! Just think how much more we could accomplish in the Missio Dei if we worked together!

Come together…bum bum bum bum…right now, over me.

Wow. Essentially one year ago today, I began what seemed an exciting, overwhelming, life-changing, walk-challenging, man-making dream job, and it was! One year ago today, I began heading up the college ministry at First Baptist Church Richardson, and it has been an amazing adventure with God.

I have learned much over the past year. I’ve seen a lot of things work, and plenty of things that did not. If I could point to a few of the biggest lessons I learned, I think these (in no particular order) are some that would be at the top:

1. Always be a student. – As this was my first time to lead a ministry, I especially asked many questions and sought much advice from many of my patient and willing friends who have much more experience in college ministry. (Lee, B.J, Ben, Gary, Beth, and Candy- Thank you guys for your insight and willingness to pass it on!) Additionally, I learned much from my students. They too, deserve much thanks for their patience and openness with me as I got on my feet! NEVER give pride a chance to deter you from learning, especially from those wiser and those whom you serve. And be on the lookout to learn from everything else! Culture, commercials, business books, YouTube, and all the sweet blogs out there provide oodles of information that can be applicable to college ministry!

2. Make the most of your less-than-successes. – If you learn from your mistakes, then they are never failures. Pick yourself up, and get back on it! This is how we learn, and we are NEVER alone. The God who brought you to this ministry in the first place has not left your side! Embrace your growing pains and don’t let pride rob you of the painful and yet sweet experience of being reminded to keep God first in your plans!

3. Community, community, community! – We were designed for this and to need this! Being in this world and not of it, we need community for support, for encouragement, for sharpening, for a good slap in the face saying “Hey, what are you doing?!!!, for a shoulder to cry on, for a house to go over to when you just need a break, for some friends to just pull away with and play scrabble and drink coffee…I think you get the idea. Everything works better with community- your brothers and sisters in Christ that need to be included in your life and ministry. Include your community in your planning and your college ministry. They have valuable insight that you may be blind to, they will help you out at your events, they will minister to your students, they will minister to you, the list goes on! We need community. College ministers NEED community. Our field is just too important and to underdeveloped to go it alone. In fact we should NEVER go it alone. Don’t let pride pull you away from community. We need it.

4. Do your best with time-management. – Oh, this one is tough for me! I am a relational sort of guy. I am terrible at time management, but I have to have it. Life is much better with it. I know it may be your least favorite subject, but read up on it. Learn from others who have a better grasp of it. Pray for it. Pray for it. Pray for it. Life will be much more enjoyable with it, you will get more done, be more effective, and pull less all-nighters! Pride can catch you here, too, if you’re not careful.

5. Your own walk with God must be your first priority! -  This can easily be forgotten. There are so many distractions out there!  College ministry and even seminary can divert your focus if you’re not careful. If you aren’t focusing on your own walk, how can you teach your college students to focus on theirs? And of course, pride can seduce you into thinking that your just fine.

SO these are just some of the big lessons I have learned in my first year. There are many other really important lessons learned that each deserve their own post. I will probably do that later on, but these are good for now.

And did you notice a common theme throughout each lesson?- Watch out for pride. It seeks to rob God of glory and leave you lost in your self. Check out Mary’s song in Luke 1:46-55!

So here is to another year of college ministry! May God be glorified in it!

I love you guys.

About 6 years ago as a freshman in college, I went with my college ministry to an orphanage in Mexico. I remember my college minister challenging me in simple ways there, such as praying for the entire group and encouraging me to lead worship one night- I can still remember how nervous I was! The very fact that he encouraged me to even go on the trip had a profound effect on my life. That trip helped open my eyes to missions. It helped open my eyes to the real need that people had just outside my country’s borders,…my city,…my dorm room. I would even go as far as saying that the mission trip helped open my eyes to a lifetime of ministry! And just about every Christmas and several summers since then, this would be reaffirmed.

I also got to know the kids at the orphanage and the people running it- and I know them still. You see, 6 years ago because of a 5 day mission trip to an orphanage in Mexico, ministry/missions/love became personal to me. Her name is Bere, Ameirani, Abbi, Miriam, etc. His name is Charlie, Beto, Enrique, Chuy. They are but a handful of the kids that I have gotten to know, impact, (and be impacted by) over the past 6 years, and all of this because of the missions efforts of my college minister.

This past week I got to return to that orphanage. It was so good to see my dear brothers and sisters again. One of them, Bere, wants to go to college in a couple of years! I love it! SO needless to say, missions is VITAL to a college ministry for at least these reasons:

1. We are all CALLED to take part in missions. There’s an eternal impact here!

2. The internal impact- It could open a college student’s eyes to a life time of missions, ministry, or maybe even just the need that lies just outside the dorm room.

3. The external impact- Just think about the impact made on those whom we get to love on! Some of them may even go to college!

4. All the other awesome benefits for your college ministry such as community building, having fun adventures together, etc.

Now there is some debate on the efficiency of short-term missions and this is beyond the scope of this blog, but I will say this: I believe short-term mission are best done when you pick a location and consistently minister to that location until certain goals are met and/or God leads elsewhere. Second, missions do not all have to be over seas. There are PLENTY of opportunities within town, state, and continent. The orphanage we go to is only an 8 hour drive from my church back in my college town. That is 8 hours of sweet, community building time!

So get out there and serve together! Incorporate well thought, Kingdom-minded, short-term missions into your college ministry! Spring break AND Summer are just around the bend!

Hello loved ones! So I decided to head to Monclova, Mexico on a mission trip with my church back in San Angelo. I will not have internet access until I return on Saturday, so I will resume posting next week! I could totally use your prayers while in Mexico, so be praying for our travels, health, and ministry to our long-time friends at the orphanage there. Have a happy New Year, y’all!

Ok, so I was a week late in posting this… let’s just say that I had a wonderful break from everything…even blogging.
So in the last post, I brought everyone up to speed on my diverse December. I also mentioned the concept of the hybrid student- the student that is raised in the local church and is therefore acquainted with the away students, but goes to a local community college or university and is therefore aquainted with the home students as well. There is probably a better way to define this type of student, and there is probably a better term for it, but this will suffice for now. (If you know of any better definitions or terms, let me know!) Ok, so these hybrid students deserve a little extra attention and let me tell you why.

1. These students experience crazy transition at the beginning and end of every Christmas and summer…just like us church-based college ministers! This can definitely be stressful for some.

2. They may be struggling with various inner battles such as not being able to attend an out-of-town university, living with parents, living in their hometown…still, etc.

3. These students are the “tie that binds” the home and away students so to speak. They link your two ministries and this makes them critical to the unity of your ministry.

4. They get to see you, the college minister, and the college ministry the longest. They have unique perspective and can provide you with constructive criticism.

5. They know the away students and can advise you on the best ways to minister to them. They also may even keep in contact with the away students better, thus providing you with updates on how they are doing.

There are definitely more reasons that hybrid students deserve more focus, but these five are big. Can you think of any others? Leave a comment!

So the month of Decemeber can be an interesting time for church-based college ministries. Here is what my past few weeks have looked like:

For the home students, we had our last Thursday night large-group gathering of the year Dec. 3rd and then had a late-night pancake study break/farewell party during finals a week later. They have now finished up their finals and are back safely at their home towns.

During the past week or so, the away students have returned home and yesterday night, we had a welcome home/worship gathering for them. We called it “Reunite” as we wanted our returning students to reunite with each other and perhaps even “reunite” with God. It was a sweet time indeed, but what made it really nice was that two of the students organized most of it.

The hybrid students (what I would call students that are sort of away students as they were raised in the church with the away students but they go to community college or a university in their hometown so they are sort of home students too) of course, got to do all of this!

Sunday mornings (our church has bible fellowship groups which are essentially Sunday school classes that meet in between the two worship services) are especially interesting during this time of year. We inevitably have some away students trickle in before the majority of our home students trickle out for the break. Both groups are quite different from each other, so this transition time is always interesting especially since our home group is just as large as our away group which can make a few early birds or stragglers a little uncomfortable. (We are still working on getting the two groups more acquainted with each other…which I think is important and do-able!) And of course, there are the hybrid students.

The weekend before last, I was asked to be Joseph in my church’s Christmas play. I jump at opportunities like these so that I can stay as involved and connected with my church as possible. It also doesn’t hurt for the entire church to see the (bearded) face of the college ministry guy up there!

So that was my past few weeks in a nut shell! Add that with my other job and all my seminary papers and finals and it made for a really busy time, but it is SO, SO WORTH IT!

Well, today I just wanted to post a missionary-style/ update blog. I also wanted to introduce the concept of the hybrid student. In tomorrow’s post, I want to explore the concept of the hybrid student more and even highlight the importance and blessing of this type of  student.

What about your past few weeks? How have they looked?

Prayer Requests:
1. That all of the students would have a wonderful and relaxing Christmas break, but would not take a break in their relationship with God!

2. That I would be renewed and refreshed during the break and ready to go at it again for next semester.

3. We would get another couple to become involved in the college ministry.

4. We would continue to get direction for next semester.