I've been thinking a lot about my ongoing professional development the past few weeks. It's also important for me to mention that a part of this post was inspired by the simple question posed last Friday on the Heart of Campus Ministry blog: Leaders are Readers - What's the best book you've read that applies to campus ministry? There have been some good books recommended there.
I'm the kind of guy who's always looking for ways to better myself, to sharpen my mind and better prepare my heart for the life and work that God has called me to... I love to learn and believe that ALL leaders should be life-long learners.
It's been almost 4.5 years since I graduated from George Fox Evangelical Seminary with a DMin in Leadership and Spiritual Formation - an incredible program for what we do in college ministry! While the years I was pursuing this degree - and working on my dissertation - were incredibly full - challenging - years, they were also very rich and fruitful years.
I found during these years that everything I was reading about, researching, discussing - LEARNING - I could take immediately into my ministry context and attempt to implement the new ideas and best practices. It was very easy to see which of the authors and professors had 'tested' their theories in the field of ministry - and those who had not.
But over the past few years, since I've finished work on my dissertation, I've struggled to be as equally challenged in my ongoing learning. I have enjoyed thinking and writing on this blog, and others like it, as a way to engage - with others - about the work of college ministry and I hope to find more conversation partners as the months go on.
But I'm finding myself wondering:
what are some of the NON-college ministry-specific blogs, websites, magazine, books - conversations - that I [we] as college ministers SHOULD BE engaging in?
While it's good, and important, to be fully aware of the conversations happening within our field, I believe it's JUST AS IMPORTANT to be reading and thinking about conversations happening outside of our field that can better inform and shape our work within our field.
I also recognize that there are only so many hours in the day.
SO,
What are the resources you recommend?
Who are some of the thinkers that you encounter that - although not working in the field of college ministry - have great potential to shape the work that we do?
Are there conferences - or other professional development opportunities - that you would recommend for those of us involved in college ministry that we might not initially think of?
I'd love to hear from! Thanks for sharing what you know.
