Every church and organization has a mission statement.  And, for the most part, every ministry leader has a mission statement for their specific ministry – especially in the church.  Mission statements are important because they articulate (hopefully) what we’re about, what we stand for and what we’re seeking to accomplish.  These are good.

But there is something I want to point out that causes confusion.  Or, at least, can.  And that is church-based ministries that have a different mission statement than the church they are a part of.  I see this all the time.  The junior high ministry has a mission.  The high school ministry will have a different one.  And the church yet another one.  Now, the truth is when you boil mission statements down, most churches are basically saying the same thing…just worded differently.  But different mission statements in the same church?

Really?

Are we really seeking an entirely different mission?  Or, are we simply seeking to move people in an age-stage toward embracing the same mission?  If we’re a part of a church, I hope it’s the latter.  Sure, the vision of implementing and applying that mission should be unique for age stage ministries, but it’s not a different mission!  Well, at least it shouldn’t be.

Here are 3 encouragements:

1. Make sure you agree with the mission statement of the organization you serve under.  If you feel like you need to change the mission statement, you probably shouldn’t be there anyway.
2. Understand that college age people long to belong in the church as a whole, not just a ministry.  Having the same mission statement  as the church (and helping the students we work with embrace that mission) is a very simply way we can help them feel a part of the bigger picture.
3. College ministry is an assimilation ministry where we bridge people from relational connection in the student life of our churches into relational connections in the adult life of our churches.  We need all the continuity we can get in order to be effective in this.  And this continuity begins with the mission statement.

Jeff Atherstone is a friend of mine from seminary.  We also worked together for a few years at Cornerstone – he was the pastor of student ministries in one of our church plants.  Cool and very sharp guy.

A few years ago he left the ministry at Cornerstone and went out to Uganda to be a part of training leaders there.  Church leaders.  Pastors.  There is a video here that has some very interesting statistics that honestly kind of surprised me.  But in this video Jeff articulated a vision for what they are doing.  He sees the big picture and is trying to get people behind it.  He has been challenged by some questions by pastors of churches in Uganda:

Do I feed the orphans in the church or my own children?
Do I pay for the widow’s hospital bills or do I take my own wife to the hospital?
How can I find something to teach when I have never been taught?

Deep and penetrating questions.  I wanted to post this video for three main reasons:

1. There are so many ministries world-wide that nobody has a clue about.  Are you exposing your college students to new ones?  If not, please consider doing so.  They can and will get behind these types of things.
2. I believe in what Jeff is doing.  He’s meeting a need that is not being met.  He became aware of the need, and is seeking to meet it.  Are you finding unique needs and helping those in your ministry meet unmet needs?  Maybe even use this video as an illustration of seeking needs where you are…or, just watch it and be exposed to someone doing something for the furthering of the gospel.
3. I appreciate Jeff’s heart for protecting the gospel message.  Sometimes we focus more on protecting or building a program.  The truth is we ought to only be concerned about protecting and furthering the gospel message.

Anyway, watch and enjoy this short 2 minute video….it’s very well done.

I’ve known Francis Chan for over 11 years now and worked with him for 9 of those.  I have a tremendous amount of respect for him as a believer, friend, leader, husband, and father.  And there’s something coming out that you ought to be aware of!

Flannel, the company that produced the NOOMA videos (with Rob Bell), are working with Francis on a series of video’s.  These are a part of a series called, “Basic.”  They are of the highest quality – in content, creativity, and film.  There is currently a 7 part series coming out – over a period of time – and these will be available with small group curriculum/questions beginning this summer.  The curriculum piece is written by another friend of mine, Mark Beuving.  You’ve probably never heard of him, but he’s a great guy and incredibly gifted.  I hired him to work with me at Cornerstone in our college ministry and now he’s on staff with Eternity Bible College.  Anyway, you should check out these videos!  You can watch a promo by clicking here.  Enjoy…

I’m sitting here in a coffee shop overhearing two seminary students debate theology, talk about Aristotle theory, discussing papers they’ve written and theological ideas they’ve had.  Stimulating to the mind, for sure.  I’ve been there myself.  But I don’t think this is what we need more of today in college ministry or in the Church in general.

Sure, we ought to engage the minds of college age people.  But before you teach next, think about how to do that best.  Is it really by giving new information and ideas?  I ask you to rethink this, if so.  People aren’t bored because they don’t have more information. They’re bored because they’re not living out what they already know.

I’d encourage you push people toward deeper commitment to what they already know.  Before you teach again, rather than seeking to engage people by causing intellectual gymnastics over information, consider how you might stimulate and challenge people’s mind with deep commitment to what they already know.

Everyone has doubts.  We all have areas that we are not 100% certain in.  This could be life circumstances and even faith.  Regardless of where we are in our faith maturity, we still have areas or questioning.  The issue is not whether or not we have doubts and uncertainty, it’s whether or not we allow space to work through them openly and honestly.

College age people are reevaluating what they believe and why.  Some of course do this more intensely than others, but all do.  This reevaluation naturally brings uncertainty and doubt to the surface.  Others might have a mentor that “falls” and all of the sudden things become uncertain.  Still others grew up with an idea of who God is and how He works and yet find circumstances not lining quite up to that ideal.  When these types of things occur, doubt crashes in.

But do people in your ministry feel freedom to admit these areas and thoughts?

I think this idea of processing questions and doubt is a good and necessary aspect of faith development.  True faith must have questions and doubt in it’s past to some degree.  And, I’d suggest that consistently working through questions, being a learner, and humbly admitting our questions is critical for continual growth.  But setting a culture that allows for these types of things is crucial in college ministry.  You see, college age people too often mistake doubt for faith abandonment.  They can wrongly assume they are the only ones thinking these things, that others will look down on them if they’re honest about it (which is unfortunately true at times), and confuse having questions about God with questioning God altogether.

This is a much bigger issue than we might realize in college ministry.  And how we handle this issue will greatly impact our success in ministry to college age people.  Let college age people see your unwavering faith in the midst of areas of uncertainty.

Leading something, anything, is not easy.  There are so many decisions to make, thoughts to guide, and directions to head.  Over the last 15 years I’ve learned a lot about what it means to be a leader, ways to lead that are effective for me and those that aren’t.  I’ve also learned the difference between what it means to be a leader versus a manager.

A manager, well, manages.  They maintain what’s there.  They iron any creases in the “fabric” of the ministry, make sure people are doing what they are supposed to do, but don’t necessarily see areas that need changing.  They make decisions, but not necessarily ones that influence the long-term direction.

A leader is different.  Leaders don’t like to maintain, they’re not afraid of change and even crave it.  They put out fires and even cause some.  They make decisions that guide people toward and through change…even when it hurts or people don’t understand.  They don’t settle for what’s good, but constantly seek what’s best.  And when they find something better, they’re not afraid of leaving “good” to head in that direction.

I also have learned one more little, but important, distinction between leaders and managers.  They handle immediate pressures and needs differently.  When we face immediate pressures or needs we have to make a decision.  Manager’s revert back to past experience to see what they’ve done to relieve those pressures or meet those needs before.  They then implement that same methodology…but often hang onto hope for a different result.  And that never works.

On the other hand when leaders face immediate pressure or needs they don’t negate their experience, but they also don’t automatically revert back to what they’ve seen done or implemented themselves.  They think bigger and in fact sometimes intentionally don’t look backwards.  They ask what’s gained and what’s lost in this decision?  Leaders protect the bigger vision by making sure they don’t do something that undermines what’s valued.  And if necessary they try something they’ve never heard of…and are excited about it.

Do you have managers in leadership positions?  If so, be careful.  You might be expecting something that’s not going to come.

I’ve gotten a few emails lately regarding internships.  Essentially they have been asking me what I focus on with my interns.  Well, there is a whole slew of things that can happen in internships and if I’m honest every one is different.  Every person is different.  Every calling is unique.  And every ministry is specific.

Having said that here are 5 general things I think internships ought to be about:

1. Helping people understand the heart of a spiritual leader.  So many time we jump into assigning tasks, fulfilling details…and sometimes just ought right giving away the stuff we don’t want to do.  When this is the case, we may miss the most important aspect of interning: getting a glimpse of the heart of a pastor.
2. Internships are about discovery.  This is NOT limited to what they are good at and what they are not.  For me the important thing is they discover how God uniquely uses them in the lives of other people.  This is vital.
3. Internships are about exposure.  They are about gaining exposure to different facets of the ministry and the church.  In other words, making sure they get the bigger picture of the ministry and church.  Way too often interns get stuck in a particular area of ministry, become a specialist in that area, but end up losing out on the bigger picture.
4. Internships are about formulating a philosophy.  It’s about helping someone know understand what we do, why we do it, and how we go about it.  But even more than that it’s helping someone develop their own philosophy of ministry…even if it disagrees with ours.
5. Internships are about development.  It’s about developing the whole person, in every aspect of life.  Internships also need to have measurements in all areas, where the intern is assessed.  For some this might be formal, for others not at all.  But the measurement of development is important.

Today I did a live chat with Reggie Joiner and we discussed ministry to college-age people. We discussed our upcoming book, The Slow Fade: Why You Matter In The Story Of Disappearing Twentysomethings and I answered some questions Reggie and others had. Anyway, here it is if you’re interested…

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about stopping Twitter and Facebook.  I’ve been wondering about a few different things, and facing some internal tensions.  So, I thought I’d process some of those things here…honestly and openly.

For starters, I always feel weird tweeting about things I’m doing ministry wise.  If I’m doing a radio show, a book releases, I post a new blog, I’m traveling and speaking somewhere….whatever, sometimes I just feel weird telling the world about it. The bottom line is I don’t know how it’s perceived and I’m not even sure everyone needs to know.  Maybe it’s insecurity, maybe it’s authentic humility, maybe it’s a people pleasing aspect in me, maybe it’s a twisting of arrogance, or maybe I just over think it, but I often wonder: Do people think I’m just trying to promote myself?  That thought haunts me.  I know most people follow others SO THAT they know what’s going on, what’s out there, etc.  But that doesn’t mean I don’t have tension in it.

The tension is very real.  On one hand I think it’s good to let people know what’s available resource wise.  I even get emails and DM’s from people thanking me for letting them know something is available.  Sometimes people just comment about how it’s kind of cool keeping up on what’s going on in my life even though we hardly see each other.  I know that’s the case for me with some people I follow.  Nevertheless the tension exists.

Another tension I have is with people in my church reading about the things I do around the country.  I want them to be aware of some of the things I’m doing – so they can be a part of it with me – but the truth is if they knew everything I do they might think I’m disconnected from what’s happening in our church.  And that couldn’t be further from the truth!  My ministry at Colossae and leading the people here is number one priority for me, without a doubt.  That’s not a question in my or our elder’s minds…but sometimes I wonder what the people in my church think.  I wonder too if they think I’m too busy for them.

That’s a haunting thought too.

I try to balance between 4 things in tweets: things about my family, random or funny stuff (at least things I think are funny), things happening in my church, and then those things with my ministry outside our church.  But I wonder if it’s worth facing the tensions.

I’m going to continue for now, but I’m processing.  Now I’m going to tweet this so people read it…

This week I will be doing 2 LIVE chats on the web that you might want to tune into to.

Today, Tuesday the 16th at 11 am PST / 2 pm EST I’ll be doing a radio interview with Remedy.fm.  They tell me this can be downloaded Wednesday AM, the 17th by clicking here.

Thursday the 18th at 11 am PST / 2pm EST I will be doing a live chat with Reggie Joiner about our influence with college age people at www.MakingOfOrange.com.  To join in simply go to the website!  It’s that easy.  Reggie and I recently finished a book together called, The Slow Fade: why you matter in the story of disappearing twentysomethings,  so we’ll discuss that a bit as well as other aspects of ministry to college age people.

Should be fun…tune in if you can….