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Showing posts from 2019

Bibs or Aprons

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If you've ever had kids you know about bibs.  They are a lifesaver! Bibs will save you, as a parent, from having to change your kids clothes 4 times a day!  They are a beautiful and useful thing.  And more and more today they are making bibs out of anything - clothe, silicon, plastic.  It's interesting that when you take that same piece of cloth and move it down 2-3 feet is something different. If you've ever been to a restaurant you've experience this.  As you are seated, usually a waiter will approach you, pull something out of his apron and write down you order.  You take that same piece of cloth and change its location and it changes the dynamic of your relationship with someone. A bib communicates that you need someone to do something for you.  An apron asks the question, "What can I do for you?" As followers of Jesus, are calling is to wear the apron.  We serve our neighbors, we serve our ministries and our families.  How often do you come to c

What to do with Interns

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WHO: Full-Time Position for Recent College Graduates We only have recent college grads for interns.  If they are exploring a call to ministry, then this is the job for them! If they are pursuing “secular” careers we just ask them to give back a year.  We operate under the idea that if you pay a student to do ministry than you have a harder time helping other students understand that everyone is suppose to do ministry. We have a core team of student leaders who do the work of the ministry.  To pay one of them to do the work that others may be doing for free would be counterproductive.  We do have student leaders who operate similar to interns who we call “staff” but it is a volunteer position. For a person to be considered a candidate for internship we look at: Are they FAT (Faithful, Available, Teachable)? Do they fit the model of a Disciple Maker? I’m attaching the Discipleship Ladder from Steve Shadrach’s Fuel and the Flame that articulates what we mean by this. Are they w

A Vision for Multiplying Your Ministry

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“What you’ve heard from me in the presence of many witnesses pass on to faithful men who in turn can train others.” Paul of Tarsus “The gospel came to you on its way to someone else.” Rob Gallaty “Your church is the fruit of other people and churches whose names may have been long forgotten.  Has your church started other churches, or did history stop with you?” Steve Addison The gospel is meant to be passed on.  It was meant to saturate every pour of our being and every nook and cranny of society.  It’s what Jesus preached: “Repent the kingdom of heaven is at hand!”  What a picture!  In order to see the kingdom come near and the gospel passed on Jesus had a big vision, a focused plan, and an open hand.  EVERY AND ALL: The Big Vision Jesus had a big vision and started with the end in mind. Here are a few of God’s “vision statements”: Go and make disciples of ALL nations... - Matthew 28:19-20 EVERYONE who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Romans

2 Generations or 4 Generations

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2 Timothy 2:2 - What you heard from me [Paul] in the presence of others pass on to faithful men who in turn can teach others. I love this verse! If someone was to ask me what is my favorite verse I don't know if this is it, but it is close.  I love the idea of 4 generations of believers!  4G discipleship!  Paul who trained Timothy who was charged with training faithful men who would train others.  Paul >Timothy>Faithful>Others. Can I be honest though? Sometimes I find myself pushing for 2 generation discipleship.  2 Clayton 2:2 goes something like this: "Now that you've heard from me in the presence of others go and invite your friends and family and anyone you can to come back next week to hear more."  2G discipleship.  Come, hear me teach, and be fed.  I tend to make discipleship more and more about attendance to something where I can teach them, rather than radical obedience to Jesus' call to make disciples.  I mean, if I am gathering them to l

Finding a Church in College

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Finding a church in college is hard. It's hard transition to a new place and a new church.  For most students this is the first time they've had to find a church on their own. Just because it is hard or may feel awkward at times doesn't mean it's not worthy.  In fact, most things in life that are worth it are hard and have some awkward moments. Many students don't embrace this and end of up not plugging into a church. Look at what Scripture says though. Hebrews 10:23-25 (ESV) 23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. We've been given a great promise - a relationship with God through Jesus Christ and if we are going to continue to grow then it takes up meeting together.  Here are a few t

10 Ways to Develop Your Staff

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Having a staff can be one of the most rewarding and challenging things for a campus minister to deal with.  A good staff can multiply kingdom work in amazing ways, but a dysfunctional staff can kill a ministry quickly.  Often times as ministers we are quick to develop students but once we have staff we forget about developing our staffs. Here are ten things that can help develop your interns and staff. Don’t treat them like Ministry Assistants. Spend their time and energy on campus. Make your own coffee, hire someone else to answer the phone.  Spend their energies on evangelism and discipleship.  Let them be Chief.   Give them something they are in charge of and you answer to them about.  Sure, they may ask you questions in private about how to do it, but in public, in that area, you are the Indian and they are the Chief. Remember as responsibility goes up, personal rights go down.   You may be top dog, but remember the kingdom principles.  The greatest among you goes the lo

Staff Lessons to Live By

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We met as a staff to prep for the year. We've been developing some Staff Lessons to Live By. Here is what I shared with them: HONESTY WINS THE DAY It's better you are honest than a good campus minister. If you're not sure what to do in a situation, ask. If you do something dumb, tell us. If you are stuck in what the next level of your ministry is suppose to be, ask someone. Is someone on staff or a student rubbing you the wrong way and there is conflict? Address it. THE MISSION DRIVES THE TRAIN. Your personal preference is important, but it takes a back seat to the mission. Sometimes your idea or plan isn’t chosen. Sometimes you don’t lead the mission trip, ministry team you want. Use that disappointing energy to build a bridge and get over it. This is a rhapsody of compromises. EVERYONE HAS A VOICE We sit as equals here. different roles but as equals - from the Ministry Assistant to the Director. Interns - you are staff. Directors - you are staff.  To st

Fill The Room or Fill the Field

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John Worcester said, “Fill the field instead of fill the room.”  This is such a powerful statement! It’s so simple but packed with so much insight!  Instead of gathering students to hear you preach how can you send students out.  Instead of packing out the room how can you saturate the harvest field with workers.  Isn’t that what Jesus said to pray for in Luke 10:2?  Ask the Lord of the harvest for workers because the harvest field is plentiful but the workers are few.  Jesus didn’t ask us to beg God for sitters and listeners, but for goers and workers!  How many of college ministries make it their goal to gather Christians? If they can just gather enough Christians and provide a safe place for them to hang out until they pass through the dark ages of college then they’ve done their job. O friends, may it not be!  May we become so captured by God’s vision to see our campus saturated with the gospel that we begin to see the harvest field in need of workers instead of our full wors

Send Em All

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College students are rich. No, not money rich, but they are overflowing with one precious resource: Time. It’s their most significant commodity. They say they’re busy but that is because they have no idea what busy actually is. Students are sendable and trainable. Once this is leveraged, collegiate ministries can be the greatest launching pads for global missions in the world. In order to reach this potential our ministries have to look at the process and the person. We have to consider the big picture of how our ministry does missions and the individual picture of how we engage particular students for missions. Borrowing some language from Matt Chandler’s Explicit Gospel , we will call this Missions from the Air and Missions on the Ground. Let me break those categories down for you and give you some key principles to consider for each. MISSIONS FROM THE AIR We need to start with the big picture first before we engage students to go. This is how we approach missions. W

Go Small or Go Home

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“Jesus had a big enough vision to think small.” Robert Coleman in Master Plan of Evangelism What a crazy statement! Jesus came to earth with the vision of rescuing all of humanity from their mutinous rebellion against the High King of Heaven and what does he do? What is his plan? He takes twelve guys on a three year camping trip!  What a plot twist, right?  In order to go big, he goes small.  His vision is the whole of humanity so he starts with making sure the few have the DNA to carry on the kingdom charge after he is gone.  This is nothing short of brilliant.  You know why it was brilliant? It worked.  How did you hear the gospel?  Chances are, someone told you. And chances are, someone told them and so on and so forth back up through the ages until someone heard it from Peter or John or someone.  You’re living proof his plan worked.  Jesus went small. BIG ISN’T BAD, IT’S JUST INCOMPLETE Does that means that Jesus didn’t do large outreach events or large worship servic