In your opinion, what are the biggest challenges that today’s college students face?

After a quick Twitter & Facebook poll, here are some responses I received:

• complacency, lack of sense of outward mission/purpose attached to Christianity (particularly related to evangelism), and biblical illiteracy
• sense of community/connection, rooting their self-esteem and identity in the right stuff, confusion as to what direction to go in life (what am I supposed to do?)
• balance. Most have a full load of classes and are forced to work (at least) one part-time job. Add in dating, friends, family, student groups, and civic responsibilities, and it’s often overwhelming, especially being away from home for the first time.
• complete and total exhaustion (submitted by a college student)
• the crazy economic environment and short-term uncertainty about future jobs are major challenges, especially in the minds of juniors and seniors.
• There is a ton of stress in students’ lives, (self-inflicted in many cases) by lack of sleep, crappy diet, and relationship flux.

I’m sure we could add to this list. Feel free to do so in the comment section.

The response I synthesized from this feedback and my own experience follows. I suppose I would sort these challenges into 3 categories:
1. Personal–Cultivating a sense of balance seems to be one of the major challenges for students. This is impacted by sleeping habits, diet/nutrition, relationships, and a sense of community/identity just to name a few causes.
2. Academic–Again, balance is difficult with the academic demands and many students struggle with the discipline needed to be academically successful and faithful to their calling as students.
3. Spiritual/Faith–A significant challenge for many students also has to do with their spiritual development. For those college students who are pursuing a biblically nourished journey with Christ…fully integrating their faith with the calling of being a college student provides many challenges which make it critical to plug into Christian community and seek out a spiritual director/mentor such as a campus minister.

To me, one of the encouraging places I landed while thinking through these challenges involved some affirmation of my own calling to work with college students for the next season of my life/ministry. Recently, I was asked to outline my 3 favorite things about working for the CCO as a campus minister. Here’s what I came up with.

College students are the coolest cats in town and I love them! Having a job that gives me the opportunity to be with these potential world changers is absolutely energizing.

Finally, most people like the thought of making a difference and changing the world. I have the opportunity to pour my life into college students for a few years and then watch them take their love for God and others all around the world to transform it?! That is super gratifying.

For those of you who work on campus with college students and from the context of a local church, what are the things you love about working with college students?

At a recent FORMED event on the topic of prayer, Debbie and I spent a few hours with friends at the Speckled Bird in Norwood listening to someone’s prayer journey and then engaging in some prayer practices and disciplines which were really refreshing. One of the exercises which the Father used to encourage me was praying with a picture. Several pictures were spread out on a table and I quickly selected this one w/o glancing around much. As I was contemplating the image and praying, a few different things came to mind:

• I love the outdoors, hiking, trails, etc
• The trail is leading upwards and towards light (further up & further in, eh?)
• I believe that for this season of life and ministry, I’m called to walk a little more slowly and intentionally…with one person at a time. Not sure a crowd would fit on this path.
• God is calling me to deeper and more authentic relationships with students

After 10 or 15 minutes of prayer time with this image, I had a real sense of patience, contentment, direction, and assurance.

Then today I stumble across this great review by a friend in campus ministry, Bill Westfall. He provides a brief synopsis of the book Souls In Transition which has been on my “read immediately” shelf for several months. (Ha!) The first of five points which Bill sifts from his reading of this important book about emerging adults is this:

Students need a spiritual mentor during their college years.  Not only this, but they need a mentor who actually models, lives out, the type of life to which the student is aspiring.  Uh…read that last part again…we have to actually model what we are saying.  Good stuff.

In any kind of ministry, it is very easy to get distracted with lots of good ideas, strategies, methods, programs, etc. But I keep hearing this voice in my head that says, “Don’t get distracted. Keep it simple. Stop trying to DO too much. Just BE with college students as a spiritual mentor, coach, guide, and friend.

After serving on staff at a few churches during my first 15 years of my youth/staff ministry career, I have seen the best and worst of church publicity and marketing. Everything from cut ‘n paste clip art to horrendous church websites caused me to engage Kem’s writing quite enthusiastically. You can find out more about Kem Meyer, the author, here by the way. 

I don’t have a copy of the book in front of me now, but these are the two biggest “take-aways” from the book for me.

1. Website Design–your site ought to be a place for people to gather, not just a vehicle for information transportation.
2. Focused Communication–I’m sure that’s not the actual title of a chapter in the book or anything, but it’s the basic idea that we often try to communicate too many things at once. I don’t know how many churches I’ve been to that, at some point in the service (usually not the appropriate point) someone blathers on and on with so many announcements that I couldn’t remember them if I tried. Another application for this which hits me is when communicating through a newsletter or even a single blog post. Make one main point and weave that single thread through the stories, images, illustrations, etc.

I certainly haven’t done a great service to Kem in this little post, so I encourage you to check out her book and website if communications, clarity, publicity, marketing, etc are things you’re passionate about.

We arrived at the venue early Thursday morning and so the Catalyst expeience began. It was a pretty dense schedule of one keynote speaker after another with occasional doses of high-quality worship/music and some seemingly random entertainment (which actually always supported the main theme of the conference). The conference tag line this year was “The Tension Is Good.”

I am still processing this theme from the perspective of campus ministry, but Andy Stanley did a great job of kicking the conference off Thursday morning with a talk regarding appetites. The things he shared were certainly applicable to anyone in a leadership position, especially when such a role is within the church or a ministry of some kind. Some of the main points I gleaned from Andy’s talks (which book-ended the conference) were:

1. Appetites (for food, sex, power, authority, achievement, growth, respect, etc) are never fully and finally satisfied. They always want more and whisper “now” rather than “later.” Our ability to manage appetites (tension of always wanting more) is crucial to ending well in our personal & public lives.
   
2. 10 years from now, what do I want to see God do in my family, ministry, professional development, etc? Continually reframe your appetites in view of this overarching context of your life story and calling.
3. The role of leadership is to leverage the tension to the benefit of the organization.

As it would be for anyone in a ministry leadership role, one of the main applications of this theme is to keep appetites in check. Andy effectively shared the story of Esau in Genesis 25 and eventually posed the question “What is your bowl of stew?” What is the temporary appetite/pleasure which most tempts you to trade God’s long-term unimaginably good plan for your life?

In regards to a more specific campus ministry issue, a tension I seem to be continually managing and evaluating is the need for programming and my desire to prioritize people and relationships. It is so easy to slip into a mode of planning events, filling the calendar, and saying yes to opportunities which ultimately rob me of time to be with students. I know that I need to engage ministry to college students with both of these issues pressing in on me. I’m not exactly sure how to “leverage the tension” to the benefit of the ministry except to utilize just enough programming in order to optimize a relationally intense approach to transforming college students.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to stay the extra day in Atlanta to debrief with the 30 or so campus ministers who took part in the cohort that third day. The lunch gatherings on Thursday and Friday which Benson Hines organized were a real treat. It was great to meet a few campus ministers from Missouri, Georgia, Indiana, etc and I look forward to hearing more about the debrief via Benson’s blog in the days ahead.

Early in the book Allender discusses the question “Who is a leader?” and makes several great points. We often limit leadership to an elite group of slick, effective, and polished individuals…even in the church. But this author correctly points out that “Anyone who wrestles with an uncertain future on behalf of others–anyone who uses her gifts, talents, and skills to influence the direction of others for the greater good–is a leader.”

Later on he says “You find your greatest effectiveness as a leader when you lead with a distinct limp.” This is perhaps the central point of the book and his philosophy of leaders which he bases on Paul’s own style and claims in the New Testament to be the “chief of sinners.” Paul even prays for a failure/limp/obstacle to be removed but acknowledges that Christ’s strength is made perfect and put on display through our weakness.

In a church culture of success-driven and C.E.O’esque patterns of leadership, this is not necessarily a popular concept. For a leader to admit weakness, failure, sin, anger, pride, narcissism, struggle, etc?!? But consider the whole point of leadership from a Kingdom perspective. It’s not about making the leader look good, effective, or successful. It’s about bringing glory to God and influencing people towards the Kingdom through reconciled relationships.

In a section on exhaustion and disillusionment these words prescribe wisely: “To reduce chaos and complexity in our lives, we must build in margins and set boundaries; we have to limit what we do.” And in the same vein, “Busyness…is moral laziness because it involves refusing to live with courage and intentionality.”

The final chapter I would call attention to has to do with calling. In my own personal experience, wrestling with the notion of calling and identity in ministry has been one of my greatest challenges over the past several years. I’m still steeping in the brew created by this statement: “Our calling, however, i soften shaped as much by our weaknesses as by our strengths.” Allender acknowledges that this style of leadership may not be for everyone and we need to ask some difficult questions of ourselves. Additionally, the context within which we seek to live out our calling (which should be all about character development…spiritual maturity of ourselves and those we lead) is extremely important.

Does anyone remember that game perfection? You set the timer and you try to put all the shapes where they belong before your heart pounds out of your chest from the dreaded inevitable buzzer?!? In my own leadership/ministry journey over the past few years…I felt as though I kept trying to ‘fit’ myself into the right spot. I felt like a square peg with only round holes being offered as my context for leadership and calling. With a lot of grace, guidance, and wise counsel…I learned some of the things this author speaks of regarding calling and context.

I resonate with much of the book and find that it’s particularly helpful in positioning myself to be lead by someone who leads with a distinct limp.

“You know, this first year of being on campus is mainly about learning the culture and context of students here in Cincinnati.”

In some ways, that response is evasive and in other ways it’s completely accurate.

There is a learning curve of some sort involved with any kind of endeavor or career transition. Although there have been many transferable concepts and principles from my first 15 years of ministry, there are also particular lessons and skills to be learned as I position myself on a campus and in the lives of college students.

Today was one of those days that I celebrate and leave campus feeling so affirmed in my calling and my compatibility with this mission to the University of Cincinnati. The particular lesson I learned today was about being lovingly assertive. It really doesn’t take much for a college student to avoid an appointment we’ve made. They suddenly have to prepare for a lab, attend a meeting, study with a friend, take a nap, etc. There is seemingly no limit to the student’s creative capacity when it comes to responsibility evasion. But…there also maybe more room for assertion and compulsion than I had previously thought. My typical response in these situations is something like, “Hey, no problem…let’s try meeting up next week then.” Today I tried something a little different. With two different students today I responded with, “Okay…sounds like you have a lot going on. How ’bout if we just get together for about 10 or 15 minutes? I’d really like to spend a little time with you today and just see how you’re doing.”

Both students agreed and I was able to spend a couple of minutes just checking in, encouraging, and even praying for one student. I certainly believe you could cross the line from being assertive to pushy if you aren’t careful. But I have enough relational equity with these students to know where the line is and have a little cushion. And instead of completely missing the chance to connect I was able to spend at least a few minutes investing a little more life and gospel with both of them. (1 Thessalonians 2:8)