If you are like me, you have a ton going on right now. You are still recruiting for the Christmas/Winter conference, thinking about Christmas outreaches and you want to end the semester well. You know you need to think about the Spring semester, Spring Break opportunities and talk to students about asking parents over break about going on a summer project. Oh, and you probably are working on your end of the year ask, doing Christmas cards and some shopping and parties…Gotta do the parties! So, how do you do it all?

My friend, Ben Rivera, Student LINC Consultant, sends out a weekly ministry tip to over 600 student and volunteer leaders around the country. His tips are always very practical and cut right to the meat of what needs to be done. So I went to an archive of his tips to see what he had talked about last year at this time. Your leaders can sign up for Ben’s ministry tips.

Here is a check list of his thoughts from some of those tips.

• Christmas/Winter Conference.
  
  • http://godsquad.com/getinvolved/christmas.htm
  • Begin to finalize and encourage people to attend your regional Christmas conference.
  • Do some fund raising to help people go.
  • Arrange rides before you leave for home.
  • Exchange email and cell phone numbers.
    
• Summer Project Opportunities
  
  • http://gosummerproject.com/explore_projects.php
  • Want to potentially have the best summer of your life? Think about a summer project, but don’t wait too long.
    
• End the semester well
  
  • In your final end of year party on campus, take the time to praise God for what He has done this semester.
  • Begin now to plan with your leadership team for your Spring semester. The time will catch up to you quickly. Here are some things to think about:
    
    • Try to reserve the same room you met in this fall, for next Spring.  This will give you some consistency.
    • Reserve a place and the time (first week of classes) to do a campus wide survey. This is always a great start and helps you to meet new people.
    • Print off posters and flyers to advertise your weekly meetings so everyone on campus knows where you meet.
    • Plan a solid monthly evangelistic event each month.  This helps you to keep the gospel message as  an emphasis each month.
      
  • If you are graduating or transferring after this Spring semester, be sure to reproduce yourself into some one else’s life so the movement with continue when you’ve left.
    
• Finally, be sure to have a regular devotional and prayer time during the break. Don’t let your walk with God run dry.
  

That last one is really important. You will want to prepare your students for the break and their time home. The advent season can be a very worshipful and celebratory time as we focus on the Christ’s coming on our behalf. But it can also be a time of letdown for many students if they go home to the rush rush or less than favorable family situations. For all of us, the time spent in the Word is vital.

I realize many of you reading this are at regional staff conferences.  Why not take this moment to forward this to your student and volunteer leaders?  That is who John Mitchell, Southern New England Campus Crusade, sent this out to last week.

Most likely as you read this, you are eagerly anticipating your upcoming Thanksgiving break! Chances are, that you may think there is plenty of time to consider Christmas outreach after Thanksgiving but even with this celebration just over a week away, most of us only have a few weeks before exams end. That means right now is probably just the right time to plan for some Christmas outreaches.  People are usually much more interested in spiritual things at Christmas time, so I encourage you to be ready to share the hopeful “news of great joy” that we have with your friends and classmates.

“But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; He is Christ the Lord.”" Luke 2:10-11

Some outreach ideas to the campus may include:

• Giving out any remaining evangelistic books and resources and/or give out the Case for Christmas at a table, or bringing them to a weekly meeting or small group and encouraging members to take 2-5 with them to give out to friends.
• Giving out candy canes and/or hot chocolate at a table near the campus bookstore when people are selling books back. (There is an interesting story about the Candymaker using/designing candy canes to tell others about Jesus–not sure if it is true or not but there is some interesting connections in the design.)
• Showing the Charlie Brown Christmas special (there is actually gospel content in it!) or the Nativity movie and having a party where people invite friends. Play some fun games and decorate Christmas cookies (made in advance).
• Get together as a group and bake cookies to give out to non-Christian friends and to the people on campus that you want to thank.
• Use the EveryStudent.com Christmas posters found at http://everystudentpromotion.com/campaigns/20-christmas/index.html to offer students an opportunity to seek Christ this Christmas.
  

One other thing we would like you to consider is taking a few moments to thank those who help to make your ministry possible on campus. (Phil 1:3 “I thank my God every time I remember you.”)
Some of those people may include:

• Faculty Advisor
• The person who approves your posters
• The worker who reserves rooms for you
• The accounting person who you go to with your financial questions and for money
• Etc….
  

There could be many others, but consider how you might show some appreciation to them. A card signed by those in your ministry or leadership team, a small plate of homemade cookies etc. Nothing expensive or elaborate but it shows care, appreciation and the love of Christ.

We pray that these ideas will help you reach out with the love of Jesus in a couple weeks as we enter the Christmas season. If you don’t use one of these ideas I hope it helps spark your imagination to develop other methods of reaching out!

Praying for you,
John

John makes use of a number of coaching strategies.  He visits his campuses once or twice a semester.  He calls his leaders every week or two.  He sends out an email to all of his leaders every Monday with a couple of paragraphs on the topic and a link to his blog where he posts the rest of the content.  These are always very well written and offer great practical coaching for leaders.

You have prayed for open doors.  You have made your plans.  You are going to initiate conversations with students or faculty in a different ethnic community during these next three days.  And you are trusting God to launch a movement.

On last week’s podcast from Sam Osterloh and the Cross 09 team, Anna Pratt offered some suggestions for what to do now that you have found a leader or you have some students who want to start a movement.

• You don’t need to shoulder the responsibility for starting the movement.  Encourage the students to take the lead.
• If you really connect with them, you may want to coach them yourself as they lead.  The Student LINC team in Orlando can offer coaching suggestions.  1-800-678-5462.
• In any case, you will want to connect them to the particular strategy for more resources and upcoming opportunities.  There are “go to” folks for each strategy.
  
  • Bridges International: Linda.Woods@uscm.org
  • Destino: Jim.Sautner@uscm.org
  • Epic Movement: Darrin.Mabuni@uscm.org
  • Impact Movement: Scott.Crocker@uscm.org
  • KCCC: Bobby.Oh@uscm.org
  • Nations: Mike.Kelly@uscm.org
    

When you talk with any of these folks, they can let you know the extent of the coaching the strategy can offer you and/or your leader and you will want to let them know the level of participation you can have in the future.  You can find all this information, the podcasts and more here.

And now for something fun!  Stacie Fletcher and the Cross 09 team have put together some ways of passing on stories.  Basically, you can use whatever form of communication you prefer.

• Leave a voicemail or text (321) 895-425.
• Send an email to Godatwork@uscm.org.
• Post to Facebook.
• Upload to AllCallings.
  

They are offering a thank you gift to the first 5 stories submitted and everyone who submits a story will be entered in a drawing for an iPod touch.  They also have separate photo and video contests.  Categories are evangelism, location, movement launching, cross-cultural ministry and best overall.  Visit this contest page for more info.

You may recall what Sam Osterloh wrote in his Cross 09 email last week:

“Where did God find you? Who took the step of faith to tell you about Christ? They were loving you as Christ had loved them. Ask God to give you the ability to lovingly proclaim the gospel clearly.”

This is a faith venture.  We are anticipating what God will do in our own lives as well as raising up new movements.  Thanks to the Cross 09 team for all they have done to prepare us for these days.

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.

We are in the middle of a series of tips about going through the various stages of development of a movement.

• I started with explaining those stages and the skills necessary at each stage.
  

• Then we looked at filtering a leader.
  

• Last week we focused on building a leadership team.
  

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.

About every two or three years, I poll folks on books that they have been reading and then put together a list of those books.  This year, I asked the Field Strategies Regional Directors for their recommendations.  Though this is not as extensive as previous lists, I received suggestions for books that I never heard of and some that have been classics in the church for many years.  If the person suggesting gave a reason, I included it, but I chose not to include their name.  Why not take a look and pick out something that you can take with you this summer.

Spiritual development

Knowledge of the Holy by A. W. Tozer.
Heaven by Randy Alcorn.
Streams of Living Water by Richard Foster.       “Presents 6 streams of the Christian faith – it opened up a whole new world of understanding in terms of my own spirituality and how to incorporate different ways of communicating with God.”
The Great Work of the Gospel by John Ensor.        “Though I am prone to hyperbole, in complete honesty this is the best, most beautiful treatment of the gospel and its implications on our lives that I’ve ever read (and re-read and re-read).”
Pleasures Evermore by Sam Storms.       “This book isn’t new (2000), but it’s new to me.  Rick Hove suggested that all our new Faculty Commons staff read it.  His premise is that Christians don’t refuse the desires of the flesh until there is a better desire to replace them with, and in Christ there are pleasures evermore – “I count them as dung in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ”. The book, particularly the first seven chapters, is rich in thought and rich in practical application.”
Renovation of the Heart & “Study Guide” by Dallas Willard.
Whiter Than Snow by Paul David Tripp.       “A great devotional on sin, forgiveness & mercy!”

Character development

The Healing Path by Dan Allender.       “Living in a fallen world means that we will encounter pain, disappointment and brokenness and we must learn to walk through it in a gospel centered way. This is the best book on the topic that I have found.”
The Road to Unafraid by Jeff Streucker.       “The Army’s top ranger and “Blackhawk Down” hero recounts in harrowing detail how he has stayed faithful to God, his family, his men, and his mission in the midst of an Army career filled with calamity and chaos.”

Ministry

Leading with a Limp by Dan Allender.
Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey.       “Revolutionized the way I looked at my priorities and helped me put the first things first.”
Axiom by Bill Hybels.
The Deliberate Church by Mark Dever and Paul Alexander.       “An absolutely necessary and biblical corrective to the plethora of church models (The Emerging Church, The Purpose Driven Church, The Market Driven Church, etc.), this book challenges us to have a ministry driven perspective and governed by the gospel.”

Okay, now for a few of my favorites.

Organic Church by Neal Cole.     I think this is a must read by everyone in our ministry.  This is classic win/build/send.
The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell.     We want the Gospel to sweep the campus.  Gladwell talks about the type of people necessary in the spread of social epidemics.
The Celtic Way of Evangelism by George Hunter III.     The way Christianity took root in a pagan world and how that world parallels our own.
UnChristian by David Kinnaman.     The subtitle says it all: “What a New Generation Really Thinks about Christianity… and Why It Matters.”
And now for a work of fiction.  Silas Marner by George Eliot.     After the gold of the outcast, hermit weaver was stolen, an orphan baby crawls into his life.  This redemptive story about learning to love and receiving love and treasure far greater than the one taken from him.

Just in case you are interested, you can check out the list of books that others suggested three years ago.  There isn’t as much repeated as I would have guessed.  Happy reading.

You may have seen the YouTube video, “Penn Says: A Gift of a Bible.”

Penn is one half of the rather colorful comedic duo, Penn and Teller.  Much has been made about Penn’s atheistic beliefs and he is still convinced that God does not exist.  But in this five minute clip, he tells about someone who came up to him after a show and gave him a Bible.  He relates how impressed he was with the fellow’s kind and authentic manner.  But he also shares how he does not respect Christians who do not “proselytize” others (Proselytize is his word).  He wonders how much a person must hate others not to share with them about heaven and hell.  Thought-provoking for us Christians.

Easter is coming up this week and with it the opportunity to share how the hope that we have is rooted in the historical event of the resurrection.  No one is reached if we are attempting to win the argument.  But as Penn says, “One polite person living his life right” can make a difference.  Right for Penn is being authentic and kind as we share our faith.

Last fall, our team read and discussed the book, unChristian, by David Kinnaman.    One of the staff on my team said that Penn’s comments reminded him about many of the themes in that book.  Just like Penn, the “outsider”, is looking for Christians to stand up for their beliefs, but in such a way that is Christ-like.  The power of a kind word will not go unnoticed.

I have been reading the updates from the folks doing Big Break at Panama City Beach. Last week, they said they saw more people put their faith in Christ than any other single week of Big Break history. 975 staff and students attended. They shared the Gospel with 5562 people, with 674 indicating that they placed their faith in Christ. Very exciting to see how God is at work.

I believe that God is honoring how these students go right out and put into action the specific training they receive. Some of the training includes the CoJourners material. Now you don’t have to wait until Keith Davy or Ben Rivera teach them the material. You can equip students yourself. Simply go to http://cojourners.campuscrusadeforchrist.com/ Here you will find training modules, devotions, pdfs of the Equipping Pack and some Bible studies on evangelism.

From the first page you can learn more about CoJourners:

Cultural norms and relational sensitivities have led believers to shrink back from witnessing. Traditional images of evangelism often feel relationally inappropriate or risky at best. Yet the opportunities for spiritual conversations abound when approached with sensitivity.

CoJourners equips believers to conversationally enter the spiritual journey of others, helping them come to Christ in ways that are relationally sensitive, yet biblically grounded. CoJourners is not an evangelism strategy. It is an equipping paradigm, which provides a way of thinking about and teaching conversational evangelism. This equipping paradigm consists of learning the four roles we play in relating evangelistically with non-Christians:

• The Explorer: Initiating spiritual conversations, the believer discovers the spiritual journeys of others through active listening and asking questions. This role sharpens the believer’s ability to engage in spiritual conversations, assessing their openness to the gospel.
• The Guide: The believer guides those open to faith in Christ through their own life-story and the gospel. This role sharpens the believer’s ability to articulate the gospel in conversationally appropriate ways.
• The Builder: There are many issues and obstacles that can hinder those yet to come to Christ that need to be addressed through prayer and gentle persuasion. This role sharpens the believer’s ability to deal with these obstacles.
• The Mentor: Those who come to Christ need encouragement to continue on their journey through relational connections to Christian community and through foundational concepts for Christian living. This role enables the believer to assist those who are new to Christ or those who have already come to Christ but are struggling.

I was in a meeting Friday where Darryl Smith, Student Venture National Director, was sharing from Mark 1:21-39. This was a great reminder of a passage that has meant a lot to me personally in terms of the vision God has given me for ministry. Notice what Jesus did and the reaction of the people. (Quotes from the NIV.)

• :21 Jesus taught in the synagogue
  • :22 “The people were amazed at his teaching.”
• :23 Jesus confronted evil spirits.
• :25 The spirits came out of the man.
  • :27 “The people were all so amazed…”
  • :28 “News about him spread quickly over the whole region of Galilee.”
• :29 Jesus healed Peter’s mother-in-law.
• :32 Jesus healed the sick and demon-possessed in Capernaum.
  • :33 “The whole town gathered at the door…”

Darryl asked the question, “When you are having so much success in ministry, does it make sense logically to step away from those activities that brought about that success?” But, what did Christ do?

First, He focused on His relationship with the Father by going away to a quiet place. That is such a great example for us to keep our walk with the Lord as first importance. Even while “Everyone is looking for you!” (:37b), his relationship with the Father was pre-eminent.

Second, and this is the challenge part for many of us, He said, “Let us go somewhere else to the nearby villages so I can preach there also. That is why I have come.” So he traveled throughout Galilee. Now we are not the Lord, but some other questions come to mind.

• Do we feel the freedom to go “elsewhere”?
• Doesn’t Christ’s going to other places before He established a leadership framework seem counterproductive?
• Do I subtly find myself looking at my own importance in managing the work that He has called me to do?
• Do I seek the Lord to know how to balance helping the ones He has already entrusted to my care and still look for ways go to others who are presently outside of our reach?

I love this passage. It reminds me that I need to keep looking to the Lord to know what He would have me do day by day.

I am copied on an E-connection that Neil Downey sends out.  This goes to about 50 student leaders on their Sioux Empire campuses.  Recently their staff team brainstormed some Christmas outreach ideas.  They thought of some that could be done as a whole movement, in a Target Area or even by individuals.  Here is what they came up with.

Christmas Outreach Ideas

1. Give out candy canes with the link to http://www.everystudent.com/features/christmas.html
2. From GodSquad: Invite classmates and friends to a party and show the Charlie Brown Christmas movie (the gospel is actually referred to in it!). Have one person share his/her testimony afterwards.  Have food, play a few fun games and maybe even make Christmas cookies.
3. Have a Christmas cookie making party with some of the Bible studies and challenge students to take bags of cookies to others in their dorms as an intro to a spiritual conversation.
4. Hand out hot cocoa at a strategic location on campus during finals week along with EveryStudent.com bookmarks.
5. Have a Christmas tea.  Students can invite others to a Christmas tea in their dorm, have cookies, hot cocoa/tea, and some conversation questions.  Have someone prepped to be the host of the party and someone else prepped to share the Christmas story as the culminating event.
6. Do an EveryStudent campaign on Christmas.
7. Idea two.  Connect the EveryStudent campaign to a “Christmas CRU” meeting (which we’re doing at SDSU) to help promote the meeting.
8. Idea three.  Use the EveryStudent campaign to promo a holiday survey table that includes free candy canes … but beware of “candy cane lore”.
9. I was thinking that some students might be able to gather some friends to go to a nursing home to sing carols…perhaps even include a little reading of the Christmas story, or something.  Then have some treats together after and intentionally guide conversations from there.
10. In Sioux Falls, there are lots of Christmas events going on (I’m sure there are in other towns, too).  Students could choose some outside events that are going to have some gospel content.
11. Have a progressive dinner, with a progressive gospel message unfolding at each location.
12. Hold an outdoor event. Perhaps a snowman making contest or maybe invite people to go to the nearest local sledding hill. Invite friends and have a blast.
13. Hand out hot cocoa as students go to or from supper.  Could have a cru table to hand them out.  Maybe give cookies or Christmas candy as well.
14. Have a “Study” night with Christmas music and goodies.  Somewhere to study in a friendly atmosphere.  Or maybe have a place to get away from studying. Play Christmas movies and have some games out for a little escape from finals studies.
15. Stick a “Knowing God Personally” in every mailbox with a candy cane taped to it.
16. Have Cru students act out the manger scene in some very public area.  Could draw a crowd.

Obviously, not every idea will work in every location.  Consider the needs of your ministry situation and the maturity of your students.  There are so many who face the holidays depressed or without the personal means to find a measure of joy that they long for.  But here is a wonderful opportunity for us to share with others the reason for the hope that we have within and the joy that only Christ can bring.