The Changing Face of College Ministry

Baptist Collegiate Ministers in Alaska and Indiana have recently learned that their jobs as now funded will end at the end of this year. This is due to the change in funding thru the North American Mission Board and different states sorting out their priorities with changes in funding. These are some of the most effective college ministers in America. What does this mean for all of us?

First, pray for and encourage these folks as they decide what is next for them. Some feel their call from the Lord has not changed and that raising their own salaries and staying put seems the next option. Others are considering going bi-vocational because the need on their campus has not gone away. Some places the emphasis now will be more college church plants. In some campus settings churches are starting their own church plant where there is already a strong on campus BCM Ministry. Let's commit to pray for and encourage these who are in the midst of deciding what is next for them and how to honor God's call on their life.

Second, in your own ministry, do not assume everyone knows the need and sees the effectiveness of what you are doing. Look for better ways to tell your story and to show the need on your campus. Don't take your funding for granted.

As summer approaches here are some different things you might considering doing which helps churches and individuals see the need for and the blessing of your ministry. Also, here are some thoughts that just might help you continue to grow your ministry.

-Take a week and visit pastors/church staff in your area with no agenda or requests...just continue and develop communication.

-Write a personal note to every church or individual that supports your ministry financially.

-Visit the 5 largest youth ministries in your area for connection to future students on your campus.

-Invite some freshmen to be on a Freshmen Leadership Team to grow in Christ and contact/enlist fellow freshmen.

-Consider taking a mission team to one of these campuses whose ministry is being affected.

-Consider making part of next year's mission goal some money for the ministry of one of the campuses experiencing major changes.

-See if there is a way to partner with a church to take a group to Glorieta to gain a greater vision of what might happen on your campus or in your church.

Arliss Dickerson
Leadership Contract Worker, Arkansas State University, adickerson@absc.org

Learning from Others or Being an Expert

One of the things that we can model as leaders is that we continue to learn. I have always been impressed with college ministers' continual desire to grow and learn how to do it better. I am indebted to many from whom I have learned along the way. When I first started out, I remember chasing "a famous BSU Director" around a table at the morning break at Glorieta firing questions at him. He was gracious and took time for me.

Who are the "famous college ministers" that we can learn from? I believe that is YOU! All of us have something we know or do that would benefit others. Recently someone sent me an article about college ministry with some ideas I felt just did not hold up at least in my experience. I had never heard of the person who had written it. I asked why it was being widely circulated and the answer was, "it's on a blog." By the way, when I sent a message to the author with my own thoughts, he was gracious and responded that he had never thought about the points I raised.

As I began to think about that experience and talking with some folks in college ministry who are "experts" to encourage them to begin blogging. If all the good stuff is on blogs, we got to get more good folks blogging. In order to not be too hypocrytical, I took a dose of my own medicine and began blogging. If you are interested, I post some different thoughts and articles on college ministry at my blog which is www.arlissdickerson.blogspot.com.

What about you? What could you post on a blog that would benefit someone else? There is an area in which you are an expert....maybe it might be "Top 10 Ideas that Don't Work".....just kidding! Let's get out there...let's put our thoughts out there...let's help others! Let's be part of the conversation. I look forward to reading your thoughts.

Arliss Dickerson
Leadership Contract Worker

Building a Healthy Leadership Team: 3 Kinds of Students

by Weaver McCracken,

Every campus minister has struggled, at one time or another, with finding and keeping good student leadership. This is so important to those of us who work with student-led organizations. Because of the nature of our organizations, we are welcoming to all students, which is both a good and bad thing. It’s good in that we affirm the value of everyone before God. It can be a challenge if we allow students to fill leadership roles, who are not ready or capable of filling them.

While I would never contend that there is only one way of evaluating student potential, the three categories below have helped me through the years to better understand the students who have journeyed through ministries of which I have been a part. It has also helped remind me of the inherent qualities required of those leading our programs. As you read, I hope you smile a little and maybe even grimace a little as you are minded of particular experiences from your past. Good luck in your search and your efforts to continually develop and nurture good leadership. It’s one of the most important things we do.

Refugees
There are always those students who come our way who are needier than others. Their neediness may come from their circumstances or family background. They may not have been as fortunate as many, who come from loving and supportive homes. Because they have more needs, they are usually characterized as more “takers” than “givers.” And because they are inherently needy, they really are not capable of leading others. They can consume more than their fair share of our time, and if allowed to constantly “hang out” in our BCM centers, can create a negative environment.

Tourists
These students can generally be characterized as “floaters” who never join. They don’t easily invest themselves and are always shopping for their best options. They love a cafeteria environment, where they have maximum choice and are always searching for their best options. They may be sharp and talented, making a great first impression, but they don’t easily invest themselves or give themselves to a cause, since their main cause is themselves. This makes them very frustrating to connect with in a meaningful way, especially as one who will be committed as a leader in your BCM. Their seeming self-absorption blinds them to the needs of others and to what it takes to lead others.

Pilgrims
Pilgrims are a rare find. These are those students who know more about who they are, where they fit, what they can do, and what they want to do both while in college and in the future. They understand that they both can and should make a contribution to those causes they believe in. They more easily make commitments to give and to serve. They invest themselves with a goal of wanting to make a difference and want to be a part of a movement of like-minded persons who believe in a cause, and then they act to support that cause.

These are the kinds of students who are magnetic with their fellow students. Students who are less sure of their direction are drawn to Pilgrims who seem to be natural leaders, have ideas, and seem to know where they want to go. They are often charismatic because of their clear sense of direction. These are the kinds of students we are always looking for in our BCM because they make great leaders. The leader among the Pilgrims is often the person we see as the natural choice for a president.

Pilgrims also make great summer missionaries. Where we often get in trouble with summer missions appointments is when we accidentally get a Refugee or Tourist on the field, and they have not fully understood that their experience will fully challenge their worldview. It is doubtful whether Refugees or Tourists can serve either in primary leadership or summer missions positions in our BCM programs without a great deal of mentoring and guidance.

Weaver McCracken, Ph.D.

Director, Collegiate Ministry

Mississippi Baptist Convention

How’s Your Rhythm?

by Robert Turner

No doubt many of you reading this are anticipating being in the thick of a seemingly endless lineup of activities and events designed to help you meet as many new students as you can as the new year begins.

I won’t debate the merits of such a work ethic. Just as is true for an accountant in April or Santa in December, the first few weeks of the new school year for a campus minister is a time of intense focus, as so much of the year depends on how those first few weeks go. It’s a foundational assumption in our ministry that if you miss out here you will be paying the price for the next nine months, for sure.

But if the 24/7 rush of the first few weeks becomes fixed as your pattern of ministry, problems are sure to arise. At the least, you can find yourself in a permanent ADD state, less “present” for your students, and at worst, flame out like a Roman candle, neither one a desirable state for effective ministry.

Last fall our campus ministry team here in Pennsylvania/South Jersey met for a 24-hour training retreat. During the retreat, I asked them to make a graph of their year, beginning with August and listing the other months through July from left to right. Then on the left they made a vertical line with 10 at the top, indicating the highest intensity, and 1 at the bottom, for the lowest intensity. A horizontal line was drawn across the year indicating the mid-point, or a “normal” pattern of work, representing equilibrium between intensity and rest. I then asked them to indicate on the graph the major events, choke points, and accompanying times of rest, vacation, and planned family experiences. They then were to connect the dots and look at what emerged.

The result, for some, was revelatory. Some saw that they had far more dots above the midpoint than below, while others saw a fairly continuous line from intensity to intensity, with few times below the line in between. For almost all, it was the first time they had taken a 40,000-foot view of their entire year in such fashion.

I would encourage you to take a few minutes and do this yourself. It doesn’t need to take a lot of time and certainly doesn’t require scientific accuracy to be of value. Just be honest with yourself in graphing your workload for the year. You might find some similar revelations.

Life is based on natural rhythms that are built into the way nature works. Day is followed by night, summer is followed by fall and winter, and work is followed by rest. God himself established this in the creation account in Genesis.

Sometimes we feel that the nature of our mission requires an exception to this rule of life. There’s just so many people who need Jesus, we tell ourselves, that we just cannot slow down until everyone is reached. Because there are always those who are not reached, we never find rest. And thus we violate the pattern that God has established in creation.

I am not arguing against working hard! Most campus ministers I know work very hard, myself included. We feel passionately called to our ministry and deeply committed to the salvation and spiritual development of our students. What I am arguing is that keeping a proper balance of work and recovery actually aids in the living out of our calling. Let me explain.

A few years ago I ran in the Philadelphia Marathon, an ambitious goal requiring intense preparation over several months. The keys to success included regular runs throughout the week, paired with a weekly long run of increasing length on the weekend. These had to be accomplished in order to keep moving forward. But a third key, and one of equal importance, was that I had to have planned days of rest interspersed in the midst of the training. Otherwise I would have certainly experienced injury due to overuse and breakdown of my body, as I was asking it to do far more than I ever had.

But in addition to avoiding injury, there was another principle at work, that of regeneration. It turns out that when we lift weights or perform intense cardiovascular exercise, we in essence tear our muscle fibers, and break our bodies down. Not so good. But it is in the times of rest and downtime that those muscle fibers rebuild themselves and do so in a stronger fashion. Every weightlifter knows that you never exercise the same muscle two days in a row, because that day of rest is absolutely necessary. The principle is that in the downtimes, we grow stronger!

For one of my campus ministers in particular, this was the “Ah-ha!” moment of our retreat. Finding the balance of downtime was not laziness or lack of commitment; it actually could make him more fit for the work God had called him to do.

When I was on the campus, I went through that same several weeks of craziness that you will go through. And guess what–now that we had gathered all of these students into our ministry, we needed to do things with them! Our work had only begun! But even with that, I knew that if I didn’t find a way to pull back for a period, I would be no good for them. That’s why Brenda and I almost always found a time in mid-October, right in the middle of the school year, when we left the kids with grandparents and got away for an extended weekend. We needed it, and my students had a refreshed and renewed campus minister as a result.

Downtime doesn’t have to mean doing nothing. You can be totally intentional in how you approach it. It certainly should involve time to listen to God’s voice and deepen your relationship with him. But it can also involve recreation, or re-creation, as I like to view it. It can take on the form of a hobby, or reading. Or loving on your spouse, or hugging your kids. Or getting away and going on a retreat. Whatever works for you. Just as long as it allows for regeneration to take place.

So I encourage you to take a moment and do that graph. And as you see the high points and intense times, be sure that you intentionally insert some times of recovery and regeneration in between. You’ll have to learn to say “no,” so get brutal and dig your heels in if you must. I guarantee you it will be worth the effort. E-mail me at robert@robertturner.net and let me know how it’s working for you.


Robert Turner is the Director of Collegiate Ministries for the Baptist Convention of Pennsylvania/South Jersey, and also serves in a contract role as the national Emerging Regions Consultant for National Collegiate Ministries at LifeWay.

SCHOLARSHIPS FOR President's Retreat due May 1

The Leadership Cmte of the BCNet is making available 10 scholarships for local, newly-elected BCM/BSM/BSU PRESIDENTS to attend the Presidents Retreat, May 14-16, in Newport (upper east Tennessee), sponsored annually by Tennessee Baptist Collegiate Ministry. This may be an event a local director would like to encourage their president to attend.

Note that the deadline for registration for the Retreat is May 1.

Here are the offer details:

1) Scholarship is for $90, the full registration fee/cost of the weekend.
2) First come, first serve, up the two (2) scholarships per state until April 20.
3) After April 20, we will award the remaining scholarships to any campus making a request, regardless of state.
4) Each student is responsible for their own travel to and from the event.

The deadline for registration with the Tennessee BCM is May 1. We have attached the promotional flyer for the event with this email, which should provide you with all necessary details. In addition to making the scholarship request, registration must be submitted by the deadline. PLEASE CLICK THIS LINK FOR THE FLYER AND APPLICATION FORM.

Would you mind forwarding this to your local directors for their consideration? Thanks for helping us get the word out about a quality experience.


To local directors requesting funding for their newly-elected president, please email reply with the following information:

Local director name:
New president name:
Campus name, city, state:
Has a president from your campus attended before:

We will email confirm allocation directly to each director/president. Funds will be sent by us directly to the TN BCM on behalf of the attending president. All we ask is that each director please help us ensure that any president requesting the scholarship, actually attends, so the funds are not wasted.

The Leadership Cmte and BCNet, which meets annually to help plan and assist local Baptist Collegiate Ministry, is glad to provide this help!

We look forward to hearing from you!

Regards,
Weaver

Are you building for the future or just living in the present?

As you begin your thinking for new student leadership, one thought to consider is:
"Are you building for the future or just living in the present?"

Here are some ways to think about that.
-Are you putting students in positions they are not ready for? When this happens, they may not function well or worse it gives them a sour taste about ministry and leading. They may quit or serve out the year and then not be willing to serve the next year when they are mature enough and can be of even more benefit to the ministry.

-Are there students that should be used in some "minor role" to help prepare them for the NEXT year. They could be an assistant Bible study group leader or a team vice chairman.

-If your leadership selection for the fall of 2010 does not come till the end of this semester, should you invite some students that you think have real leadership potential to serve on some sort of short term committee (like planning a retreat or working on your missions promotion for this semester) that would allow you to develop them a bit more and give them a positive taste in serving.

-Are there students you should ask to meet with you weekly or occasionally to talk about what is going on in their life to encourage them and help them grow. You may not mention leadership for the future, but that is part of what you might have in mind in selecting them.

Your Future as a Leader:
-Many ministries today are short of money and campus based ministries are feeling more squeezed than ever. One solution is the involvement of alumni and other interested individuals. But, many say, "We have no alumni list."
Now is the time to start one. It may not benefit you or you may stay long enough to inherit the benefit. But, wouldn't it have been great if someone had started thinking for the future before you came.

-What are you doing today that will benefit your ministry tomorrow, next year, in 5 years?

Arliss Dickerson
Leadership Contract Worker
Arkansas State University

Developing a Leadership Culture

One thing that is often said by those in leadership development is, “Develop a leadership culture.” But, it seems they never explain how to do that. How do you point your students to leadership and help them want to serve as leaders and even not see “leadership” as a dirty word today, as some do.

I believe you develop a leadership culture by holding leadership up, showing it is important and expressing appreciation to those who serve in leadership roles. Here are some ways to do that:
-Hang pictures of each year’s leadership team on a prominent wall in your meeting area, if you have such an area.
-Give an award each year to the outstanding leader as selected by the leadership team in a secret vote.
-Give a variety of awards—“Best Servant spirit”, “The Outreach Award” to the one who most reaches out to others and makes them feel a part of your ministry.
-Give or make available to each member of your leadership team a tee shirt that is unique to them.
-If you have an awards or recognition event/worship service at the end of their term of service, give each one a special tee shirt as an expression of gratitude.
-Give each one a tee shirt when school starts that advertises your main event or worship. It is a thank you and great advertising.
-If you have Ministry or leadership teams in different areas, make a snap shot of each and put them on a bulletin board with each person’s name under it.
-If you print a flyer or brochure advertising your ministry, put a picture of your leadership team on it.
-We give a key to each of our new ministry team members at the beginning of their service. The key is uncut (just like it comes from the store). We explain that each key will be different; each will open different doors; each will not look just alike. We ask them to carry the key all year as a reminder.

What are different things you can do that set your leaders apart? What are things that help those that serve know that you appreciate them? What will cause others to think about their possible service in the future? That is a leadership culture!

Arliss Dickerson
Leadership Development Contract Worker
Arkansas State University