The Hardest Time of the Year

It's mid-February.

For college students (and probably most people) this is one of the hardest times of the year.

The weather is nasty and they've been couped up inside for far too long. The glee of the holidays are behind them. The newness of a new semester has also worn off... and to make things worse... spring break still feels like it's a long way off!

The month of February tends to feel like "the valley" of the academic year... and students really struggle to navigate that valley well.

How do we, as those who do life with college students, walk alongside them during this challenging season?

I think there are a few key things we can be about:

1. Pray. Pray with intention about the challenges of this season on the campus. Pray for needs you are aware of and let your students know that you are praying for them!
2. Educate. Educate your team, your student leaders, as well as the spheres of influence you have on campus in regards to this valley season. Find ways to connect with the counseling center and offer your partnership. The more who are aware of this challenging season, the more who will recognize it for what it is... and join us in intentional prayer.
3. Provide. Provide programming and space for students to experience the love of Jesus in some new, intentional and significant ways that will help them to journey well through this season... and to begin to view seasons like these as opportunities to draw close and experience His provision in the midst of challenging times. This could include things like: new small groups, fun fellowship times, more open office hours, inviting students into your home, etc.

I'm sure that there are other ways in which we can walk alongside students during the doldrums of February... but these, I believe, are some of the most important.

What do you think?

The 'Fred' in Our Midst

This is Fred.

He started to show up around our house several weeks ago... and he wasn't alone.

Back in the fall, my in-laws were passing through town on their way to Florida for the winter. They thought that since we now live in the country our house might be a good place for their "outdoor" cat (Maggie) to spend the winter.

Apparently Maggie knows how to make friends - or at the very least, attract other cats - as we've had no less than 6 other cats that now frequent our front porch or back fence... (I'm starting to fear our new neighbors might think we are 'crazy cat people').

While most of them will come and go, Fred (as I've started to call him - creative, I know) has almost become a permanent fixture on one of the chairs on our front porch. He is there most hours of the day and seems to be a bit on the rugged side. I don't know where Fred lives, or where he goes on the increasingly rare occasion that he's not on our front porch... and to be honest, I don't really care. I don't often give Fred much consideration (not being a cat person and all) unless he looks like he's about to try and enter our home. Then Fred gets a lot more of my attention than he wants!

The past few days Fred has had me wondering about the "Freds" in our worlds.

Are there some who have become so commonplace in our ministry settings that we unknowingly pass them by without much consideration?

Are there students who seem to always be around, yet because they have never engaged us, we don't bother to reach out to?

I find myself today needing to pray for fresh eyes to see the "Freds" in my midst. Those who I have overlooked... those whom God may very well have brought my way for a specific reason.

I think it might be a stewardship issue... and if I... if we, are not proven faithful with a few "Freds" than we will likely not be given the chance to be faithful with many more.

Is it possible that the key to unlocking the flood gates of our ministries might have more to do with reaching the overlooked than it does reaching the well-connected?

I'd love to know what you think!

What Keeps You From Ministry?

I'm at home this morning... Again.

We have had a very strange winter here in TN. Far more snow and ice, without warm days to quickly melt it all away... which has created more "snow days" than I would have ever expected. [No, this picture is not indicative of our snowfall amounts... but the way TN copes with the snow you'd think it was!]

Tennessee only sees 10 inches of snow on an average year... and we have matched, if not surpassed, that amount in just the first 6 weeks of this year... creating issues for a state with limited resources designated to assisting the city when have a winter like this.

Living out in the country as I do, our roads are last on the list when it comes to snow plows or salt/brine trucks... if we're even on the list!?!

So I've chosen to stay off the roads and work from home during a few of these "snow days." But when you work in the ministry, not being at your ministry location can feel limiting - or even as if you're not working at all.

But there are simply times when not being "at work" is exactly where I need to be. Whether it's:

• related to personal safety (like staying off the roads when the locals are out on them),
• family priorities (because work already gets some of my best 40+ hours a week), or
• personal sanity (because God created the Sabbath and there will ALWAYS be more ministry to be done).

While it can be a struggle for some of us to stay away from "the office," it's great to know that God is at work... even when we are not. In fact, it's probably important for us to be reminded regularly that God wants to use us - but DOES NOT need us - in order to accomplish His mission.

So what is it for you? What reason/s do you have that you allow to "keep" you from your place of ministry?

When You Don't Have All of the Tools

Do you ever find yourself lacking in experience or the expertise to really help someone else or some situation that requires more than what you have to offer?

Are matters made more complex for you by the fact that you see yourself as the person "in charge" and therefore, you think, "to ask for help would make it look like I don't know what I'm doing..." and that this might give those you lead reason to just walk away?

If so, you're not alone!

I think we too often make the mistake of thinking that because we've been given the title of "leader" that this somehow means we know everything, are supposed to know everything, or are the best at something, and therefore whatever we think - or do - must be right.

When leaders cease to be learners then these same leaders stunt their ability to lead effectively.

It can happen at the "professional" level - with those of us who are in paid leadership positions - believing that our years of experience and education has to show itself for something... but it can also happen at the student leader level when well-intentioned student leaders believe that if they show any sign/s of weakness that the peers that they lead will laugh at them and question the reason for their position...

Leadership is not easy... and I think the world has shown us some misguided notions of what leadership is supposed to look like. It too often places the "leader" on a pedestal as someone who: knows it all, does it all and has it all together.

The Bible, on the other hand, tends to look at leadership from a different perspective in comparison to the worldly models. I like how the apostle Paul talks about this in the book of Romans - and particularly the way Eugene Peterson captures it in The Message - when he records in chapter 12:

4 In this way we are like the various parts of a human body. Each part gets its meaning from the body as a whole, not the other way around. 5 The body we're talking about is Christ's body of chosen people. Each of us finds our meaning and function as a part of his body. But as a chopped-off finger or cut-off toe we wouldn't amount to much, would we? So since we find ourselves fashioned into all these excellently formed and marvelously functioning parts in Christ's body, 6 let's just go ahead and be what we were made to be, without enviously or pridefully comparing ourselves with each other, or trying to be something we aren't.

God has designed us each uniquely... gifted us with different talents and passions that He wants us to use - TOGETHER - to bring about His Kingdom here on earth! Not that you or I might be elevated... but that He might be elevated in us and through us!

So whether we're a paid leader, or a student volunteer, one of the biggest lessons we can learn in being faithful leaders is how to recognize our short-comings, other's gifts and how best to work as a collective BODY to bring about the greatest good!

What do you think? How have you embraced your weaknesses as a way of inviting others into a shared leadership experience? OR, how have you fought this notion and attempted to be something you are not?

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?