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The Skills to Lead Small Groups November 5, 2009

Posted by Gilbert Kingsley in Coaching, Discipleship, Evangelism, Leadership, Student Ownership, Volunteers.
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I happened to read something last week that was interesting.  No doubt you have seen it.

“Last week, I was invited to a friend’s home for dinner. We hadn’t had a chance to see each other for a while, so I was eager for the companionship, as much as a good meal. Shortly after I arrived, we were alerted that dinner was ready, so we headed into the dining room, When I got there, I was expecting to find some sort of main dish— perhaps a casserole, or maybe some baked chicken. I was also hoping for a steaming dish of vegetables, and maybe some bread, served in a basket. Instead, sitting in the center of the table, with its jagged lid mostly pried back, was a five-pound can of cold green beans. “Dig in!” my friend said.

“Disgruntled may be too strong a word, but I was certainly hoping for more. The beans were fine, and no doubt full of good nutrients. The can itself was sturdy and clearly labeled. But the meal lacked a certain presentation, not to mention flavor…

“Every week, on campuses across the country, our students attend Bible studies that are served right out of the can. This year that “can” may have had the label Cru.Comm emblazoned on it. Cru.Comm is, unapologetically, Bible study in a can.”

This came from the first of seven short, but very helpful, articles on “How to Lead a Bible Study” from the folks who gave us Cru.Comm.

Healthy small groups are the essential building blocks of a growing movement.  That article goes on to explain that quality Biblical content, community, self-discovered learning, progressive life change and outward impact are elements of a healthy small group.  Cru.Comm helps provide that quality biblical content.  But it is the role of a small group leader to bring that biblical content into an environment where community is fostered, life change happens and impact for Christ ripples outward.

These seven articles are mostly one or two pages in length.

  1. How to Use Cru.Comm
  2. Crucial Elements
  3. Preparing the Lesson
  4. Planning Your Group Session
  5. Designing the Right Environment
  6. Ten Suggestions for the First Group Meeting
  7. Guiding a Discussion

They are a must read for our new Bible study leaders.  Even our veteran leaders will be reminded of how God works in the small group.


For the last few weeks, I have been talking about growing movements in their various stages of development.  We talked about filtering a leader, developing a leadership team and seeing evangelism and discipleship become a part of the movement.  If we hope to see our movements to grow from launched to multiplying, we must give our small group leaders the skills to lead quality small groups.

While the entire curriculum of over 100 lessons, complete with posters, studies, articles and leaders’ guides, is available for only $9.00 per disk, there is a semester’s worth of free sample lessons.  This will give your leaders enough experience with Cru.Comm to confidently invest in the rest.

Growing from 10 to 50 November 2, 2009

Posted by Gilbert Kingsley in Coaching, Discipleship, Evangelism, Leadership, Prayer, Sending, Student Ownership.
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We are in the middle of a series of tips about going through the various stages of development of a movement.


Today we consider how to grow a ministry from 10 to 50.  Sometime ago, a team put together and sent me a copy of a strategic plan for growing from 10 to 50.  Here is their plan.

Vision:

  • Exciting/momentum building to give every student an opportunity to say “Yes!” to Christ.
  • It will only take 1% of the student body to influence the whole campus.
  • What is most influential group on campus?  How many from that group are involved?

Situational Analysis:

  • There are examples of growth for 10-50.
  • There are specific challenges/obstacles to overcome.

    • Leaders with limited vision/passion.
    • Leaders who can’t gather/lead.
    • Beware of becoming ingrown.
    • Want to develop authentic community.
    • The weekly meeting becomes the ministry.
    • Leadership not multiplying.
    • Not looking outside for other critical mass resources/volunteers.

Critical Mass:

  • A student leader.
  • A staff/intern coach.
  • Aligned students.

Critical Path Steps:

  • Prayer.

    • Depend on God to reach the campus.
    • Develop real opportunity for worship.
  • Evangelism.

    • Training in evangelism.
    • One on one and large group evangelism opportunities.
    • Exposing the campus with EveryStudent and FSKs.
  • Discipleship.

    • Effective small group strategy.
    • New groups starting.
    • Discipleship happening.
    • Know how to get resources.
    • Bring staff in for training and recruiting.
  • Sending.

    • Attending faith-building events.
    • Expose to vision of others.
    • Cross-pollination.
    • Training.
    • Extended time with staff.
    • Defeats isolation.
  • Leadership Development.

    • Growing from one leader to a team.
    • Instill vision and mission.
    • Asking what the next step is.
    • Invite others to ownership/responsibility.
    • Train volunteers.
    • Keep connected with staff coach.


There is nothing complicated about any of this.  Of course, we know that there are challenges and obstacles to growth.  But we start with the assumption of having the right leaders and then we need to be intentional in coaching those leaders in win/build/send and leadership development.

One coach (wish I could remember who) told me that she gives her leaders a bite of the campus in which they can see success (some target area).  She works to move from one key leader to a leadership team.  She makes a point to know GodSquad and sends students there with links to specific resources.  Finally, she develops a master calendar for herself each year where she puts recruiting, sending, events and outreaches on it.  This is really more about helping her help her leaders lead.

Ministering over the internet August 30, 2009

Posted by Gilbert Kingsley in Coaching, Discipleship.
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Over the course of this year, I want to bring ways to help you minister over a distance, either culturally or geographically.  I want to help you have a greater influence, to build your capacity to reach further and to do it in a way that does not drain you.  Here is one of those ways.

Maybe you have a friend on another campus that is not part of a ministry.  Maybe you have a partner with a child interested in making a difference on their campus.  Maybe you are a friend with someone on Facebook that you wish you could disciple.  Marilyn Adamson, Director of EveryStudent.com, has a suggestion about how you can minister over the internet.

Today’s newsletter: discipling someone over the Internet.

As we disciple students, how do we teach Christian students ministry skills? First, we go over some training content. Then we model it to them. Right? We show them how to do it. In terms of what we have modeled so far, most of us have shown Christian students only one way to do evangelism and discipleship. And that’s in-person, face-to-face.

But have they seen us minister to someone using the Internet? Since we want to build lifetime laborers for Jesus, we want them to know how to share the gospel and disciple someone online! Here is one way.

http://www.StartingwithGod.com contains great messages for discipleship. As a website, everything on it is free and immediately available to the student and to you! You don’t have to pay for, print, or distribute anything.

So, here’s what you do. You tell a Christian student:

“I would like to show you how to use the Internet in ministry. To do that, I would like to send you a short article from the Internet each week, for the next four weeks, and we will discuss it together, online. How would you prefer to discuss it? By Facebook messages, or by email, or by IM chat?” (Let the student choose.)


They will tell you which way they want to interact. Now you’re going to send them an article. In your email or Facebook message to them, you say something like:

“Many Christians are unsure about their relationship with Christ. This article will show you what Jesus said he would do, once we asked him to enter our lives: http://www.startingwithgod.com/new-life/am-i-christian After you read this article, message me back by Tuesday. And tell me why you know that Jesus is in your life. Thanks. I’m looking forward to this!”


If the student wants to discuss the article by Instant Message, then you might end with,

“Looking forward to talking with you on Facebook IM, this Tuesday at 9pm.”


Discuss the article like you would in a Bible study or in a personal followup appointment. Ask a few questions. Email or message back and forth.

The next week, pick another article to send them. It could be from EveryStudent.com, if you’d rather. Some topics you could discuss:


In summary: Send them the article. Add a question or two. Talk about it together by back and forth emails, or Facebook messaging, or IM. Do this at least four times with various articles. From then on, it will feel comfortable to them, and to you. And they will be able to do this easily with other students. You will have equipped them with a way to do ministry while on the Internet!! (Here is how to grab the hyperlink to an article.)


Marilyn has other such tips on how to use the internet in ministry.  You can receive her emails when she sends out such ideas by going to http://www.everystudentpromotion.com/ to sign up.  What I like about this is how it takes the your passion and experience and allows you to broaden your ministry so much easier.

Consciousness and Competence September 29, 2008

Posted by Gilbert Kingsley in Discipleship, Leadership, Student Ownership.
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I recently sent a tip entitled “Give it Away”, about some thoughts from Scott Livermore on handing ownership off to students and volunteers.  Any kind of skill development takes time and goes through this simple progression of stages:

  • Unconscious Incompetence
  • Conscious Incompetence
  • Conscious Competence
  • Unconscious Competence

We begin not knowing what we don’t know.  Then we progress to thinking we can’t do that.  Then as we learn how to do something, we really have to focus on what we are doing the first few times doing it.  Finally, the skill becomes so ingrained that we can do it without thinking about it.

This progression is true for any skill development: playing piano, painting a room, driving a car or sharing our faith.  I often think about how distributing ministry to students and volunteers is like teaching my sons to drive.  There was only so much modeling I could do with them.   But at some point I needed to get out of the driver’s seat and let them take the wheel.  In fact, I noticed that they thought they could do K turns, back out of the driveway and stop smoothly at a stop signs until they tried it themselves.  It turned out to be more difficult than they thought.  But it was giving them experience that was the key to developing those skills.

Back in August Steve Douglass wrote about “Finding the Leader”.  Very insightful.  He wrote:

We are all about spiritual multiplication—which involves passing ownership of ministry on to others.  But that won’t happen if we view most of our disciples as “disqualified” for one reason or another.

If we find it hard to have faith that God is able to use them, we won’t even try to challenge them toward their potential as a leader.  Or, we may embark on a process of discipleship that is so drawn out that people drop out needlessly.

Am I advocating that we should ignore that people have certain barriers to becoming multipliers?  No, not at all.  I am just advocating that we:

1. Have faith that God can make people useful to Him.

2. Look for people whose hearts are right before God (“good soil”).

3. Work with them aggressively to use their strengths and grow in their weak areas.

4. Give them a chance to try to minister, perhaps a little sooner than we might think.

5. Encourage them throughout the process.

Anytime you find yourself reluctant to do these things, think first of one of your own experiences or those of someone you know well.  How “perfect” were you when you got started?  How skilled were you at evangelism and discipleship?  How different are you now than when someone believed in you and let you try?

As you think about potential leaders, where do they fall on the conscious/competence scale?  What are the next appropriate steps to move them to the next stage?  And what stands in the way, on our part or theirs, toward making taking those next steps?

Give it Away September 15, 2008

Posted by Gilbert Kingsley in Coaching, Discipleship, Student Ownership.
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A good friend of mine, Scott Livermore, works with Student Venture in Indianapolis and is a coach with the Coaching Center.  He recently wrote an article for the Coaching Report called “Give it Away.”.  I thought this offered great insight for those of us involved in multiplying student and volunteer ownership.

Give it Away

You make plans for your ministry. Your ideas are great and you have the team and momentum to pull them off.  So many of the things that have to be done are so simple you can do them in your sleep.  I have a question for you: Why would you do them for the umpteenth time instead of taking some extra time and training someone else to step in.

You might argue that there is a cost to taking the time to find someone, get them to agree, explain the process, establish quality control and then check back with them.  I would agree with you.  It does take time to set up and hand off the jobs that are the backbone of campus ministry excellence.  Why would you pass the baton?

  1. Demonstrates belief:  What says more than challenging a faithful young man or woman to help you in an area that will advance the ministry?  Your statement to them is one that will help them see themselves as God sees them.  You will help them begin to develop a God confidence as they see some of their God given talents being used for the Kingdom!
  2. Invites creativity:  A fresh set of eyes on an old design or an annual event may be just what the doctor ordered.  You may be good, but it is possible that your giving someone else a chance to insert their giftedness, on a project or task, may be the best thing you do all year!
  3. Develops Leadership:  Leadership is merely a small step away from handling increasing responsibility.  The student you hand the baton is on their way to becoming a leader in your ministry.  What do you mean by that?  Faithfulness and “full-of-faith-ness” is the stuff that God honors when He calls His servants into leadership.  Now, it may be a long distance between creating a flyer and leading a small group, but the road there begins with the first step!
  4. Fosters Stewardship:  How many great ideas have you designed that created no excitement among your students?  If we do them they might not come, but if they do them they will make sure that students come.  The most powerful invitation to an event that I have ever heard came from a student who said: I am speaking tonight at our meeting about my relationship with Christ. Would you come with me?  That could not have happened without someone being willing to trust, train and empower that student to be a steward of the meeting through their involvement in it.  Are you having trouble getting students excited about the ministry?  Give them an opportunity to be involved!
  5. Dividing the Work Multiplies Your Time:  There is a learning curve but eventually you will notice the tasks that used to take so much of your time are now off your plate and in the hands of faithful men and woman who are growing in their leadership.  Your goal should be to only do the things that you can do and start handing over everything else.

God has called you to lead.  He has given you a whole pasture of potential talent that merely needs to be trusted, trained and turned loose.  You are the spokesperson and vision caster who helps build the top leaders of the ministry.  Others can make flyers, buy refreshments, do games and all the other tasks that seem to require so much of your time.

Enjoy the thrill of seeing God at work in the heart’s of your disciples!

Scott

Scott pointed to several links at the end of his letter.  One was to an article called “Dare to Multiply”.  A good reminder that Jesus poured his life into a few who would pass it on to others.  Also the apostle Paul was intentional about selecting future leaders and imparting vision and skills.

Using Worldviews in Sharing the Gospel April 28, 2008

Posted by Gilbert Kingsley in Discipleship, Evangelism.
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CruPress mailed out their latest resources to local leaders in the US last week. Rick James, CruPress Publisher, says that the first volume of the Critical Concept series, or White Papers, is “targeted toward more advanced discipleship”. One of the papers, “War of the Worlds”, by former staff and author, Bayard Taylor, gives us a peak into the various worldviews that we find on our campuses. He wrote the following article as a back-up to the Critical Concept article and his website. Bayard offers very basic suggestions for moving from a worldview discussion into the gospel.

Using Worldviews in Sharing the Gospel
“Before you dive, get the big picture.”

Fellow Buzzards,

This newsletter is about teaching the biblical worldview more cogently by teaching the worldviews. If you understand how the biblical worldview looks really, really good compared to the alternatives, it ups your confidence.

Once your confidence is upped, you realize that compared to the competition, as a Christian who believes in the biblical worldview and the gospel, you have nothing to be ashamed of. You’re more excited about Jesus. You’ve got something to share!

So how can we use the other worldviews to share the gospel? Here are some really simple ideas you might want to try.

I’ve used this basic approach with all kinds of people in all kinds of situations and have almost always had great success with it.

First: Get into a genuine, back and forth conversation with somebody. No agendas, no manipulation. Just gentle, genuine curiosity. You’re trying to get to know somebody as a valuable human being.

Second: Pay close attention to little hints and saying that indicate or reveal which worldview the person believes is true.

Third: When you get a hunch where the person is coming from, find a piece of paper (or a napkin that’s handy) and draw the box diagram that most closely resembles his or her worldview, as you understand it. (You do remember the the box diagrams for each worldview in Blah, Blah, Blah, don’t you? If not, go back to chapter 3, or to the worldview cheat sheets in chapter 7.)

Fourth: Point to the diagram you just drew and ask, “Does this pretty much describe where you’re coming from?” Then watch and listen closely to the response. It doesn’t matter if you got it exactly right; or if the person corrects your drawing; or even rejects the premise of the diagram in the first place. At least you’re in a genuine back-and-forth conversation. Plus it gives you an opening in which you can say, “Can I show you my worldview?” Or, “Can I show you another way of looking at things?”

Fifth: If the person’s worldview is basically the biblical (he or she believes in God the Creator to whom we are accountable), then much of your work is already done — you can move right into sharing the gospel (how to get right with God, how to have a relationship with him through Christ).

However, if the person has one of the other worldviews, then when you draw the biblical worldview diagram be sure to show how the biblical contrasts with the person’s own worldview. Point out things from chapter 5 by asking questions such as “Can you see why only in the biblical worldview does it make any sense to say that you’re created ‘in God’s image’ and therefore have innate dignity and worth before God?” Or, “Can you see that only in the Biblical worldview does it make any sense to say, ‘God loves you’?”

(This compare and contrast thing is very important; it will help people value what’s different about the biblical worldview, whether they can accept it at that point or not.)

I also draw a cross inside the biblical worldview box diagram and say something like, “This cross represents God loving us so much that he came and lived among us as a human, and even died for us on the cross to bring us back to him.” Including the cross is important because if we merely say “God loves you,” it feels abstract to most people, even though it’s the truth. But when we tell HOW God loved us, self-sacrificially through sending his Son to die for us on the cross (John 3:16), that helps make the message concrete in peoples’ minds.

Sixth: Let the person respond in his or her own way and on his or her own timetable. You’re not there to convince someone to do something so much as to witness to and live the truth. We then try to be very sensitive to what the Holy Spirit wants to do in the other person’s life. There’s no formula; there’s no one-size-fits-all approach.

It might involve offering to pray for a need. It might involve asking the person if they’d like to thank God for his incredible gift in Christ. It might involve going outside and playing some frisbee. It might involve inviting the person to join you in some disaster relief. I don’t know what it will be — that’s why God gives his people the Holy Spirit!

What’s Really Cool About This Approach:

–No formulas — it’s based upon principles, not saying the right thing;

–No huge amounts of memorization — because the six worldviews are so simple and easy to draw;

–No pressure — it lets the Holy Spirit be the ultimate convincer.

Ask your local leader for a look at the “War of the Worlds” article. Otherwise, you will be able to order it from CruPress, though it is not listed yet. The diagrams Bayard refers to above make that transition into the gospel easier. I have read many worldview books over the years, including Bayard’s Blah, Blah, Blah: Making Sense of the World’s Spiritual Chatter. There are fuller treatments and some quote the proponents of the various worldviews more extensively. Some would have us look to do battle with those views. But what I like about Bayard’s approach is the willingness to understand where those we witness to are coming from. Very few come to Christ because we defeated their intellectual argument. They are more likely to respond to the consistency they see between what we believe and our heart for them. Blah, Blah, Blah simplifies the complex issues and is written in a way that appeals to students. Why not pick up a copy and take it with you on your summer assignment.

Transition to new leadership early November 27, 2007

Posted by Gilbert Kingsley in Coaching, Discipleship, Student Ownership.
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My middle son, Will, is a senior at Florida State and has been a part of a fairly active group of leaders in the ministry there. While he was home over the Thanksgiving weekend, we were talking about what will happen to the ministry once these leaders graduate. Obviously, they will need to pass the baton to the next group of leaders, but to whom, when and how?

Selection

Why think about selection now? We still have more than a semester left. I don’t think there is anyone better to cheer on and encourage new leadership as well as to offer help if they stumble than those who just handed off leadership? They have a vested interest in their success. Leadership development and selection must be intentional.

Take time to think through those who demonstrate spiritual leadership. Such leadership does not happen just by showing up or having a great personality. Leaders are developed. That happens as you delegate responsibility and watch how they bring their own vision and faith to the task. One way to make this more concrete is by considering the visibility/risk grid.  Here is a very simple exercise for using the grid.  Leadership naturally involves both high risk and high visibility.

Delegation

One concern Will had about turning responsibility over to new leadership was their readiness. In general, I believe that we wait too long before giving responsibility to others. Yes, there are qualifications necessary for leadership. But often we neglect how much the new leader must trust God. The faith factor is necessary for growth. Nearly everyone feels inadequate when they first step into a leadership position. What better place to be than to really have to trust God for wisdom and direction.

Eric Swanson’s excellent article on Effective Delegation, offers some simple steps in delegating responsibilbity:

  • Decide what needs to be done.
  • Select the best person for the job. Let him/her know you believe he/she can do it. Trust is one of the highest forms of motivation.
  • Clarify and agree upon the desired result and deadline. Major on what, not how–results, not methods.
  • Define guidelines and potential pitfalls. Let him/her learn from your mistakes and the mistakes of others.
  • Establish level of authority, accountability, and method of evaluation.
  • Identify resources–financial, human, technical, and organizational resouces that he/she can draw from.
  • Establish consequences.

Passing the baton

I suggested to Will that their leadership team sit down now before the end of this semester and determine a game plan for passing the baton of leadership early next semester. We typically wait until the end of the year to hand off leadership. Those new leaders wait until next August to begin leading. That can be a rather difficult handicap to overcome given the spiritually challenging summers for many. Why not install them as leaders early in the spring when the example of the present team is still fresh in their minds. The old leadership can be there to encourage and answer questions.

Also August is typically a high risk, high visibility time for the ministry.  It is when you want your ministries to be functioning on all cylinders.  You must hit the ground running in order to take advantage of that once a year opportunity of connecting with as many incoming freshmen as possible.  Why not use the Spring semester to help the new team function together and develop the plans that they will implement in August.

Essentials of Spiritual Growth and Multiplication November 19, 2007

Posted by Gilbert Kingsley in Discipleship, Evangelism, Student Ownership.
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Dr. Steve Douglass met with our Student LINC team last week. We set up this meeting some time ago for him to share with us his thinking behind the Essentials of Spiritual Growth and Multiplication Bible study. He walked through the basic format of each lesson and foundational premises about how people learn.

Both the small group leader’s guide, and the training guide, were revised this past August. The study gets to the heart of the basics of the Christian life and places great emphasis on applying the principles to our lives and telling others. The simple format for each lesson, CHAT, shows the intentionality of application and telling, and is the key to reaching post-moderns.

  • Connect.  Asking how things are going in each other’s lives.
  • Hear God’s Word.  A look at a passage on the topic with highly interactive questions.
  • Apply.  The part that we often neglect to get to in our studies.
  • Tell.  Who will they make a point to tell what they are learning and what God is doing in their lives.

 Steve told us that we need to innovate if we are going to achieve scope. This study is a great help in involving more students in spiritual multiplication, giving them experience building into others and seeing God use them as never before. I know that time is fleeting in this semester. Why not plan to start next semester with these studies? You could use the remaining weeks of this semester to identify and train new leaders.

New students and how to keep them October 8, 2007

Posted by Gilbert Kingsley in Coaching, Discipleship, Evangelism.
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When I was a freshman at Penn State, we used to have LTC (Leadership Training Classes) on Friday nights. Craig was a junior who lived two floors below me. He would usually stop by my room about 7:00 to ask if I was going. “Yes.”, I said, even though I wasn’t really intending to go. “Good, then I will see you downstairs in 30 minutes and we will walk over together.” If Craig had not done that every week, I doubt that I would have gotten involved and wouldn’t be doing what I am today.

Recently, John and Melissa Mitchel, Southern New England/New York Catalytic, sent out an email to their student leaders about connecting freshmen to the ministry.

We hope that by this point of the semester, new students have come to your Bible study and or weekly meeting. We trust that you understand the importance of reaching the Freshmen class and helping these new guests get involved in your ministry.

However – we don’t want new students just to show up once or twice, and just fade away as the semester progresses. It’s important to help KEEP them coming. How will that happen you ask? The key is relationships. Lots of people will check out something once or twice, maybe even 3 times, but after awhile if they aren’t connecting with others, getting to know people and feeling like they are wanted, then they won’t keep coming back.

Here are some ideas that should help:

  • Invite new students to meet you for a meal (guys invite guys, girls – girls, you don’t want this to look like a date!). You don’t have to go alone, you can invite other students to join you. Don’t make it too many people, or someone could be overlooked in the conversation. You have to eat anyways and this is a great opportunity to really get to know someone. Get other returning students involved in this as well.
  • Share the gospel with new students! Don’t assume they are Christians just because they come to your study, or they come from a church background. Go through the Knowing God Personally booklet with them. You can introduce it this way: “Just so you know what we believe….” This familiarizes them with who we are as a ministry, and to one of our tools. Plus if they aren’t a Christian – you get to share Christ with them!
  • Ask new students to help out with an event or activity. Hanging posters, bringing snacks, helping to plan a social activity. This helps them to start thinking of the ministry as “ours” rather than “yours” and they get to know others as they work along side them. (Don’t ask someone that is new to lead a Bible study or some other spiritually significant responsibility without feeling confident that they are walking with God.)  
  • Personal invitation – invite students personally to come to a get together, help out with an outreach or to join a committee or small group. When you ask everyone in the setting of a meeting, usually, “everyone’s ask is no one’s ask”.

We hope these tips help. Building relationships is really foundational for a fruitful ministry – just like this example from the book of Acts.

“They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.” Acts 2:46b-47

Wouldn’t it be great to have our ministries described like this?

Have fun connecting with one another!

John & Melissa Mitchell

The Mitchell’s send out a weekly coaching nugget to their student leaders. They are very well done, practical and relevant for where their students and ministries are at any given stage of the semester. If you are looking for consistent ways to coach students and volunteers from a distance, why not ask them if they will put you on their list.

Growing During the Summer April 30, 2007

Posted by Gilbert Kingsley in Discipleship, Personal Growth.
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I sent out several tips this Spring on finishing the year strong and getting a good start in the fall. As I was thinking about doing something on the summer for our students, Kathryn Taylor, New Orleans Metro, happened to send me something on that very topic. I asked if I could share it with you.

I had a conversation recently with a friend of mine in the “working world”. He was involved with Campus Crusade for Christ when he was in college 10 years ago. He gave me some really good feedback on some things we really don’t do well in CCC (although I know we are trying to improve).

The biggest thing he mentioned was that we don’t help students own their own spiritual growth outside college. For example, we need to help them get involved in a local church. It took him 4 years after graduating from college before he was settled into a church. Now, he did say that it was his responsibility to do that, but he never really learned why that was important. It wasn’t something we emphasized. Like many, he felt that we focused more on those joining CCC staff than the rest of the seniors.

This got me thinking about sending every senior and how I think about my student’s summers. Our team had a discussion about this not long ago. We tend to focus on preparing students for summer projects than those not going. Do we really believe that God has ordained everyone else’s summers and can do great things in their lives? Do we believe that God will use them even if they aren’t on a summer project? How do we help prepare our students for life through their summers?

In light of that, I’ve made a commitment to talk to all of my students about their summers. Here is the conversation I had with one girl last week.

I asked her what she was excited about this summer. She started to tell me about opportunities to love her family, to mend a broken relationship with her father and to serve her church youth. I thought, “Wow, God can really use her and I want to help her succeed!”

Next, I asked her, “What do you want to see God do in your life this summer, both in your personal growth and in your serving the Lord?”

We talked about the difference between being involved in a college ministry.

  • You have lots of Christian friends who are walking beside you in life.
  • You can easily hang out with your Christian friends.
  • Attending conferences and retreats that give you boosts during the semester.
  • Someone is pursuing to help you grow in your walk with God.
  • Everything is relatively convenient, low risk and fun.

We then talked about getting involved in a church.

  • It’s not focused on one life stage.
  • Lots of activities may seem irrelevant to you.
  • You may not feel like you fit in as easily.
  • Serving looks different.
  • There probably won’t be someone pursuing you to spend time with you and help you grow.

We talked about the three types of people you should always try to have in your life, Paul, Barnabas and Timothy, and how that looks different in your church.

  • For your Paul, it probably won’t mean you meet with some one one-on-one every few weeks who focuses on you and asks you good questions. But there may be some women in the church that you admire or respect that you can pursue spending time with. Ask them to go to lunch. Ask to hang out with them as they care for their children. Ask them good questions: How has faith impacted their lives? What are the greatest lessons God has taught them? Where is it hard for them to walk with God? Take the responsibility to learn.
  • For Barnabas, who is a friend in town that you can share life with, who you will commit to be honest and open with? Who can hold you accountable to continue to spend time with the Lord over the summer.
  • For Timothy, who do you want to invest in (youth, younger college students, etc.)? How are you going to do that? Again it may not look like a weekly discipleship appointment, but you have to be intentional to spend time with them.

Finally, I asked her to come up with a plan of action in the next few weeks. I know for me I actually do much worse when I don’t have the structure of the school year. The down times are the hardest if I don’t have a plan of action.

She was so encouraged when she left our appointment that day. She had been feeling a little left out because she wasn’t going on project, but told me that this made her excited to see what God could do. It encouraged me because I thought her summers can be great “trial runs” for when she graduates and goes into the working world. I hope she can learn now to take responsibility for her walk with God and not flounder for 4 years after graduation!

Kathryn

That’s a good word, Kathryn. Thank you. It just so happens that Jeff Bridgforth, GodSquad webmaster, has some things on these topics at the bottom of GodSquad’s front page.