join the 16% club

(update: i’ve decided to sweeten the pot. if you sign up for “the 16% club” your name will be automatically entered into a drawing. i’m giving away three $5 amazon.com giftcards to randomly selected club members. if you sign up between now and friday at 5pm central, you’ll be entered. and good news! if you’ve already signed up, you’re automatically entered.)

i have been blogging for almost 9 years. my first post was on july 18, 2003 on a LiveJournal blog (say whaaaaa….?) and i’ve never been more excited about blogging than i am right now.

one of my hopes is to take our merry little tribe deeper into our journey of thinking and writing about ministry in general, campus ministry in particular, and the leadership of both.

enter ”the 16% club.”

“the 16% club” will offer you the chance to go just a little deeper here. i’ll send an email to you a couple of times a month, offering you a combination of any of these things:

• the latest happenings of my book.
• advanced notice about upcoming events and resources.
• exclusive opportunities to help shape the content and look of my book.
• some freebies, goodies, and other tasty tidbits.

i promise i’ll never give away or sell your information. and i won’t inundate your inbox with magic chain letters or pictures of cats. and you can opt-out anytime (although i hope you’ll stick around!)

sound good? i’d love to have you jump in. fill out the form below.

6 ways college students can redeem social media

this infographic portrays the complexity of social media. and you know what this graphic is designed to incite in us? that overwhelming feeling of being smothered.

and it works.

our college students are not engaged with most of these services, but there is little doubt of the role social media plays in their lives. most of the students i work with spend a considerable amount of time on any combination of facebook, twitter, and pinterest.

it’s smothering.

most college students are not using social media in a redemptive manner, and i believe that’s what frustrates me the most. the opportunities for meaningful engagement and ministry are abundant in social media. they are mostly squandered, however, by selfish and meaningless banter.

and so, here are 6 ways you can encourage college students to redeem social media for meaningful ministry, engagement, and Kingdom impact:

1. create.
we are made in the image of a Creator God. we have, i believe, a divine bent towards creativity. we must encourage our students to do as God does…look out into that darkness and create light. this could be in any form for our students: a blog. photography. poetry. a small business. anything that can be shared via social media.

social media, on the surface, can be all about consuming. but creativity moves our students out of the realm of consumption and into contribution. from taking to giving. from selfish to selfless.

2. transparency.
transparency comes from a latin word meaning “to show light through.” college students value transparency in their community. they love raw honesty and openness. these values must be carried over into the realm of social media. students can and should honestly share their feelings, struggles, and questions.

but we, as campus ministers, must lead them one step further. if Jesus is the “light of the world” (john 8:12), and to be transparent means “to show light through,” then our students must allow Christ to shine through their facebook, twitter, and other social media dealings.

3. question.
to ask questions to show a desire to know someone or something better. this is true online as well. we must train our students to ask better questions. asking questions conveys humility. it conveys openness and honesty. it conveys a desire to engage. but most importantly, asking questions conveys you care.

and people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.

(note: the best question i have asked on social media is simple, “how can i pray for you?”)

4. listen.
if we are going to train our students to ask better questions, we must also train our students to be better listeners. the old mantra your mama always said, “God-gave-you-two-ears-and-one-mouth-for-a-reason,” is in effect here. our students must listen on social media twice as much as they speak.

one of the beauties of social media is conversation and the definition of conversation is two-way. it’s not two-way if our students are talking a lot but not listening.

5. love.
according to Jesus, one of the ways we prove to be his disciple is to love each other (john 13:35). this must be true for our students as they navigate social media. there is no room for anger, malice, or character assassination. foolish arguments and debates are pointless. gossip and slander and self-deprecating humor must be banished.

love wins. even in social media.

6. proclaim.
if our students are living as missional followers of Christ, they understand their charge to carry the message of the gospel to where the people are. and the people are on facebook and twitter and other social media. and so our students must engage in that space so as to earn the opportunity to declare and demonstrate (don’t miss that second one) the gospel.

this must not be done obnoxiously or flippantly and our students needs to know that lobbing “holy hand grenades” won’t work any more effectively in cyberspace than it does in the real world.

the only chance our students have for getting this important message to stick will be if they follow numbers 1 through 5.

/     /     /

question: do you, or your students, feel smothered by social media? why do we do this to ourselves? what would you add to the list of ways to redeem social media?

(HT for image: www.businessinsider.com)

a day in the life of a college student

Presented By: BachelorsDegreeOnline.com

(HT: Guy Chmieleski)

7 ways to show your students you don’t care this summer

my office is a mess. campus is freakishly quiet. i’ve been moving slow in the mornings and in bed early in the evenings.

such is the summertime in campus ministry. and that’s a good thing. i believe most of us cram 12 months worth of work into 9 months.

so, breathe easy. rest. it’s OK. you have permission.

but don’t check out on your students completely. in fact, it would be wise to check in on them frequently this summer. say hello. find out what is going on in their world. ask how you can be praying for them. remind them that you are still around, still their campus minister, and still very much a part of their lives.

unless you don’t care.

and if you don’t, i am providing seven quick, simple things you should avoid this summer so that you are completely disengaged from all of your college students.

1. don’t text them.
   today, i got an out of the blue text message from my campus minister. (mind you, i graduated from college twelve years ago.) i felt remembered, encouraged, and loved. it was the worst.
2. don’t post on their facebook page.
   don’t go on their turf. don’t engage their world. leaving a post on someone’s facebook wall is the equivalent of finding a note in your lunchbox from your mom in grade school. don’t do that.
3. don’t tweet them.
   keeping your encouragement or blessing for your students under 140 characters can be tough. don’t deal with the hassle.
4. don’t chat with them on facebook or skype.
   if 140 characters is too much, then there is no way a facebook chat is feasible. too much typing. and you will definitely feel uncomfortable turning your cam on for some actual face time on skype. it would be a shame to there to be eye contact.
5. don’t call them on the phone.
   who uses the phone for talking anymore? it’s all about angry birds.
6. don’t drop by their home or share a meal.
   if students happened to have stayed in town, you should avoid stopping by their houses or taking them out for a meal or coffee. you wouldn’t step into the cage of a wild wildebeest, would you? never mind all that stuff Jesus said about being sent to the world on their playground.
7. don’t mail them a real, live handwritten letter or card.
   nobody enjoys getting a thoughtful, hand-written letter addressed specifically to them containing encouragement that tells them they are being thought of and prayed for. nobody.

back in rhythm

today is a normal monday. it’s been several weeks since i’ve had one of those. there is work to be done. household chores to knock out. a wife to love and children to play with. there is email to check, blogs to write, and a book to be written.

it’s time to get back into rhythm.

here is a glimpse at what you can expect around here in the next few weeks:

• a re-focused blog: for several years, this blog has been about anything and everything. i feel the time has come to narrow the focus. and while i am a husband and father first, i am also a campus minister. campus ministry is who i am…what i do…and what i know. from this point on, this space will focus on campus ministry. that’s still a pretty broad brush, so you never know exactly what you may find here.
• some reflections on my trip to haiti: for the second summer in a row, i have spent a week in haiti with college students. how could that not mess you up? i’ll share some thoughts soon.
• some exciting books news: in case you haven’t heard, i am writing a book. and i need your help in getting that book into the hands of those it needs to find. in a few weeks, i’ll let you know how you can help bring this to life.

i look forward to the conversations!

coffee chats // spiritual growth this summer

**there were some issues with my calendar, but those have been resolved. so…no excuses! let’s do this!**

it’s summertime. and that means, for college students, every rhythm that has been established over the last nine months will be disrupted.

and that’s frustrating. i remember being so discouraged in college, feeling as though i was taking two steps backwards.

even now, in my own life, i feel out of whack. my equilibrium is off and everything suffers because of it.

including my relationship with God.

but, i feel the summertime can be an amazing season of intention spiritual growth and discipleship for all of us.

and, so, i want us to do this together. technology will help.

all you need is some time, an internet connection, and a webcam.

i am making myself available throughout this summer for what i am calling “coffee chats.” i want to meet with you for one hour, each week of the summer, for discipleship, encouragement, and accountability. i want to help you make a plan for your spiritual growth through these summer months. i want to pray with you. i want to hear about what God is doing in your life.

here is how we’ll do it:

find a time.
i have set up some blocks of time over the next week for you to sign-up for. simply go to my calendar and find a time that works for both of us. 

set it up.
on the calendar, click the button and write your name down. in the box that says “where” i would like for you write down which service we will use to meet. i can be found in the following spaces:

• Google Talk.
• Google+.
• Facebook Video Chat.
• Skype.
• Face Time.

show up.
you don’t have to bring a cup of coffee, but i will. we’ll share life-on-life, face-to-face.

so, please. head on over to the calendar and find a time that works for the both of us right now and sign-up. i’ve only listed my available times for the next week…so don’t wait.

i’m pregnant and i need your help

how’s that for an attention grabbing title?

while it’s true i am not pregnant with a human baby inside of my body (although my wife is!), i do have something growing inside of me. it was conceived a few months ago. it has been developing and taking shape and growing legs and hands and a heart.

today i am uncomfortable, as though in the final weeks of pregnancy. soon it will be the time for labor. it will not be a quick and painless delivery. i expect lots of tears and screaming and salty language. i expect to want to quit. i expect to blame someone. i expect it to hurt.

and when it’s all said and done, i expect to hold this little bundle with joy. and share it with you.

on april 1, 2013 i will release my first book. in conjunction with the genius Ben Arment and Dream Year Books, this unnamed baby will make its entrance.

and i need your help. the process of creating, whether its a book or a baby, was never meant to be navigated alone. even God created within the context of community.

i will need your input.
i will need your encouragement.
i will need your financial help.
i will need your influence.
i will need you.

stay on the look out in the next few weeks for an announcement about my kickstarter campaign. i also hope to share some juicy tidbits from the book and insights in the process of bringing it into the world.

looking forward to doing this with you.