When Your Ministry Doesn't Grow Fast Enough

In an age of instant this, and instant that, waiting has become a serious discipline... especially when it's your only option!

There are many things in life that we can "speed up" if we're willing to cut corners, side-step certain scenarios, or even make do with a sub-standard finished product.

When it comes to spiritual growth, the growth of your ministry, or anything else that can only be grown through the working of God... then patience becomes more than just a virtue... it becomes an absolute necessity.. to your sanity and longevity as a minister.

I like the way Paul talks about this when writing to the church in Corinth about the source of true growth:

"I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow" (1 Cor. 3:6).

We're in a season of watering right now in a lot of our ministry efforts here...

The students who helped us plant the seeds of a number of ministry efforts have graduated and moved on... and while we think we might some some sprouts starting to poke through the dirt of our campus, there's no clear sign of much happening.

We are waiting, in faith, and believing that God is at work beneath the surface of our prayerful efforts!

It's the watering season...

And while that's hard enough for the staff - that has a long-term vision and buy-in to our ministry efforts on campus - it's much harder, I believe, on student leaders who want so badly to see God move in mighty ways right now - especially on the heals of big prayers, creative efforts, new ideas and a strong belief that something "more" should be happening.

In an instant society, waiting can often feel more like death or dying...

But learning to listen for the leading of God - above all of the noise, distraction and promptings from those who struggle to be patient to try something new - must become a well-practiced spiritual discipline.

That and waiting!

How do you deal with the "watering seasons?" How do you help students through times like this?

How SEXy is your College Ministry?

I'm not sure what exactly you were expecting to find here... but I'm glad you made it!

Statistics tell us that college students are inundated with sexually explicit images, media items, thoughts, experiences and addictions.

I'm convinced that sexually related vices are one of the biggest stumbling blocks to college students experiencing a dynamic and fully engaged relationship with Jesus. The guilt, shame and lack of grace towards themselves becomes too deep a pit for them to believe they can ever escape.

And the worst thing...

We don't know how to help them.

At least that's what the vast majority of our ministries, conversations and programs tell them.

We have not done a good job, as The Church and/or as Jesus-filled ministries and leaders, of creating safe spaces for our students to express what they're thinking, feeling, experiencing, etc. And if we have, we've not done a good job of communicating that to students.

For the first time in my 12+ years of ministry with college students, I helped to put on a week of spiritual emphasis designed to help students explore the links between sex, sexuality and faith.

We brought in some great folks, with powerful stories, that God used to help begin some important conversations on our campus. We talked about things that most Christians feel like they cannot talk to anyone about (and most ministries choose to ignore)... like: pornography, masturbation, premarital sex, what do healthy relationships even look like, how far is too far, arranged marriages, shame, guilt, grace, healing, etc., etc., etc....

And in my almost 5 years at this university, this week of emphasis was the most widely and consistently attended of anything our office has put on... and I would dare say it would rival just about any other series of programs that have ever been provided on our campus.

We're still trying figure out the level/s of impact this week had (and continues to have) on our students... but if there's one thing I learned over the course of this powerful week it's this...

If you're not talking with your students about sex with your college students... YOU NEED TO BE!

And the great folks who helped us through sharing their stories and asking some important questions were:

• Anne Jackson
• Mike Foster
• Michael Johnson
• Micah Weedman

I am forever grateful for these folks and the conversations they started...

I'm grateful for the work God is doing in our students lives and the healing and freedom that students are beginning to experience...

And I'm excited about how God will use the ministries of these individuals, and the ministries of folks just like them, in the future to help sick people get well and enslaved people become free!

When Men Invest In Men

Had my first meeting with a new group of guys tonight...

Groups like this have been some of the best things I have ever been a part of in the past! Men coming together to connect with other men and talk about life and faith and such.

My first experience came when I was a freshmen in college. I was a new Christian, young in my faith, and for whatever reason I was given the chance to be a part of a group of guys that was meeting regularly with the campus pastor.

This time and space became the place where I learned what it meant to be a man who sought hard after God. I learned what it looked like to be open, honest, vulnerable and accountable. I learned how to pray for others and to be prayed for. I learned that God's power truly is made perfect in weakness!

Too many men walk through life alone! We need more who are willing to step up and invest in other men. We need men who are willing to walk alongside each other - willing to hold each other accountable, prayer for one another and encourage one another. We need men who will follow hard after God and invited others to come along with them!

Can you image how different things might look in our relationships, marriages, homes, campuses, workplaces, the marketplace... our world... if men will start putting their relationship with Christ above all else?

It won't just happen... and it can't happen without coming together under the leadership of Christ.

I'm excited about what God might do in us and through us as this group continues to meet!

Tonight was, after all, just the first meeting! ;)

The Challenge of Hitting Your Target

How do you "hit" a target that's moving, from a starting point that is also moving, especially when you aren't sure that you have anything to do with the "hitting" part of the equation???

How do you assess something that's always changing (the student body), from a position that's also oft changing (the University), when the work you do (spiritual formation) is not so much quantifiable but qualitative???

That will be the task of our team this afternoon (and likely, long there after).

Our student body seems to be changing - not every 4 years, as it once did - but almost yearly! What seems to work one year can really struggle the next...

And I ask myself, to what degree should we, as campus ministers, buy into the compulsion to do "whatever it takes" to get students attention or interest? Or, to what degree do we instead stay consistent and faithful to the kind of programming we have felt called to provide and simply insist that students change their line of thinking and pursue depth over and above grandeur?

Unfortunately, I don't think it's as easy as choosing one way or the other...

Instead, I think our way forward will include a Spirit-led dance in which we are able to provide some of the "big and shiny" (that too often is characterized by a lack of depth and commitment) with the hope and intent of building more relationships with stronger bonds that will lend themselves to challenging more students to move from the "big and shiny" to the "less exciting" depths of faithfulness, fullness and transformation found in intentional and consistent worship, discipleship and service.

How do we do this? What does it need to look like?

Again, questions we hope to explore and experience some level of revelation about as we sit and listen for God this afternoon and beyond...

I'd love to hear about your ideas... what has worked on not worked given your unique context for ministry!

We pray for you today and ask that you join us in prayer as well!

Grace and Peace!!

A Campus Ministry Final Exam

It's exam time on campus...

And I guess it only makes sense that at the end of the semester we would put ourselves through a "final exam" of sorts... right?

With all that has happened and hasn't happened, with all of the feelings of relief, release, regret, re-ady to be done-ness... it is important for us to consider how we might make these final couple of weeks before the Christmas holiday most fruitful?

It may very well be that REST is what's most necessary... especially if we're not feeling like there are major issues that need to be addressed over the break regarding changes that need to be implemented for the spring semester of ministry...

If you've had a semester like mine, however, the next couple of weeks might be critical to turning the tide of your ministry.

But where to begin???

As of right now, our team has dedicated 4 half days this week to prayerfully engaging in the following tasks:

1. Assessing our current ministries and ministry context - what do we really know about this place and do the ministry opportunities we offer really meet the needs of our students? How do we know this?
2. Re-visit our mission, vision and purpose - given the insights and revelations from our time of assessment, do our mission, vision and purposes for ministry on this campus still make sense? If not, what changes need to be made?
3. Examining our current model of ministry - if changes to our approach to ministry are deemed necessary, it might mean that a new model - or framework - for ministry might also be necessary. What has worked in the past, or on other campuses, may no longer work in our current ministry environment.
4. Identifying promising strategies - what are some of the key relationships and partnerships (on and off campus) that need to be invested in, how do we need to reconsider our marketing, branding, etc. What events do we need to re/consider?

While I might rather find myself looking at the front end of a peaceful, holiday season hibernation, I am excited about the chance to prayerfully come before the Lord with the team He has assembled here and consider where we are and where we need to go.

If you have found yourself in this place before I'd love to hear from you about what you have found to be helpful and fruitful in this kind of process.

Grace and peace to you this Christmas season!