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!