Don’t you hate it when you can’t sleep!  I’ve been up for three hours already (its 8am eastern time, but I’m still on West coast time – so, I’ve been up since 2am).  Why is it whenever I wake up just to move my brain kicks in…immediately!  Some say it’s stress.  Some say, “You have too much on your mind; you need to take on less things.”

Well, first I’m not stressed.  I’m more at peace than I’ve ever been.

Secondly, I never really sleep.  Some might refer back to the first paragraphs statements to which I refer back to my first point above.

Thirdly, when you really believe in what God wants you to be doing, you just do it.  When He has given you a heart for something, well, you can’t get it off your mind.

I rolled over at 4:54am (eastern) and all I could think about was college-age ministry.  No, I’m not kidding.  Getting people to understand this ministry, how it functions, and embracing college-age people consumes me.  Nobody else seems to care – except for maybe you!

So, the mission continues.  Today I have a seminar…and I will CONVERT THEM ALL!  Maybe I’ll do an altar call for those that want to “accept college-age ministry into their heart!”

So, last blog I forgot to mention a couple things…

I had b-fast with a couple friends.  christian on left, and terry on right.  great friends – they are on staff at Cornerstone.  notice the tv on the wall!?  yeah, at our table…in a Holiday Inn hotel!  amazing world we live in!

This is my friend Alex.  He plays guitar in a number of worship bands and for a number of worship leaders, but this weekend he’s playing at the conference and we’ve had a chance to hang out a little.  he’s  fun guy and has a cool sense of humor (i tend to like sarcastic people – not the annoying ones though!)  This leads me to an exciting next pic!

so, yeah, last night i went to the Hawks game…and they beat Boston!  it was an amazing game to go to – the place was “blowin-up!”  i couldn’t hear myself scream.  i left bewildered at the fact that in one night i became a hawks fan!  i guess i’m a ban-wagon kind of guy – well, all 5 of us who went were.  

well, i’m heading to bed to finish writing…deadlines!!!!  

Well, here’s my day so far…

I went over to the main session.  This is a picture from back stage.  Francis Chan spoke and hit a HOME RUN.  Amazing message on living an authentic Christian life of community and walking by the Spirit.

I spent a little time with my friend David (this picture is backstage).  He was doing an interview with Reggie Joiner on stage.  Great guy, and I miss him a lot.  You know those friends you have that you just seem to click with…no matter how long it’s been since you last sat down together?  Yeah, he’s one of those.  He has a new book that just came out that I would highly recommend called, “Un-Christian.”  It’s a great read and compilation of research and practical advice.  David also serves as a college pastor at a church (part time) and is President of Barna Research.

I had lunch with my friend Brad Horton.  No pic, sorry.  Brad is college pastor at NorthPoint, here in Atlanta.  We went for a little Italian food…always good.

Now, I’m off to a seminar…I fill you in later…

I’m here just outside of Atlanta, at The Orange Conference.  A company called Re-Think puts on this conference and I really appreciate what they’re doing.  There are over 4500 leaders here, and this is only the 2nd year they’ve done this!  Amazing.

In a sense, they are challenging all the philosophies of education we embrace in the church – but without “bashing” everyone.  It seems like a humble approach to “re-thinking” how we teach and educate people.  They have curriculum as well covering from children’s through students.

I am here doing a seminar titled, “College Prep: protecting our investment in kids.”  I’m excited to be a part of this thought process here because I believe certain philosophies of teaching we typically embrace in the church are contributing to the drop out /or detachment of high school graduates.  I just finished writing a chapter on this issue and what I think those flawed philosophies are.  It should be interesting to see how people react to my thoughts on this.

I might have to take this chapter out after I see their responses…

Many of you know about CollegeLeader, but many DON’T know CollegeLeader has a conference coming up this fall.  Finally there is going to be a conference for church-based college-age ministry!  I’ll let you know more soon, but if you have any desire to be around others in college ministry and learning from guys and gals around the country who have been in the trenches, you probably want to check this out.  Plus, the price is RIGHT!  For details go to  DRINK

As students grow up in churches it seems like the main thing doesn’t seem to be the main thing.

I can’t tell you how many college-age people I talk with that seem to miss the point of Christianity.  Religious routine they have (most are sick of it though), they have a conscience (b/c they have some information), but they seem to be missing the “in/with/by’s” of our faith.

College-age people are hyper relational, but helping them bring that desire and skill into their walk with God is an entirely different jump to make.  Walking in, with and by the Spirit (i.e. prepositional living) is really what the main point is.  Right?

I guess my question is, how do we help them get this?

My conclusion is we must live prepositionally ourselves.  If we’re not they won’t.  Maybe our frustration with those who aren’t making the main point the main point should be more focused on ourselves.

There’s a chapter in the book I’m writing where I mention five stages of identity formulation for the college-age years – and then how to help people through these.  There are reasons why I can’t just tell all of them here (like the publisher wants you to buy the book vs. me give you all the info through a blog), but I wanted to allude to one of them today.

It’s that group of people who just seem to be floating along the road to nowhere.  There are many factors that bring college-age people to end up in this stage of identity, but the reality is there are many college-age people who don’t do much of anything at all.  They have a minimal job (if any), don’t really have any sense of goals in life, aren’t moving forward in education…really aren’t pursuing any direction.  They tend to be very lazy, only engaging in the things they immediately desire.

How do you help people in this place of life?  Spiritually I mean.

Kick them in the rear?

Be patient, just walking alongside of them?

All of the above?

Is there anything you can tell them that will kick them into gear?  What role does circumstances play in moving someone out of this stage?

Working with college-age people is a blast.

I’m sitting here in Portland with typical winter weather – cold, overcast, and expecting rain.  The only problem is it’s SPRING TIME!  People here say this is very abnormal for this time of year.  Good.  I like the rain, and especially like seasons…but I’m excited for the spring season.

It’s somewhat like the college-age years.  Much of this time is gloomy winter like weather (especially in the first couple years), the only thing is they are expecting these years to be hot summer weather.  Blindsided by this college-age people often end with weeks or months of depressed-like feelings.  

Maybe today we can all encourage a college-age friend who has recently been blindsided by a different “season” that spring is coming!

Our churches are filled with programs to try to connect people into authentic relationships.  Do you see a problem with this?

I hear it all the time from college-age people, “We should do more, I like meeting new people.”

Or, after a successful gathering time someone will say, “We should do this more often!  I met some really cool people and I want to get to know them better!”

My responses to these types of things are, “Are you asking me to plan your relationships for you?  Don’t you think that’s kind of weird?  Do you always have others plan the times you are meeting with your friends?  Maybe you could connect with them on your own sometime…?”

I respond out of love and not always sarcastically – but it’s hard not to.  

Maybe our program mentality of church has created an unhealthy dependence on others to plan our relationships.  Can relationships really be programmed?  Maybe the church has messed this one up…

I was doing some dishes today when my cell phone rang.  My hands were wet so i “ignored” the call.  I always feel bad when I do that.

The call was from a college-age person who, “on a whim” has decided to move 1,000 miles to join our church plant.  First, it’s amazing to see people get up and go like that.  There’s a guy coming out from Pennsylvania this weekend because he thinks the Lord might want him here…and I’ve NEVER even met the guy!  Talked to him a few times on the phone though.  Crazy.

Anyway, back to the phone call.  The words that were used were, “There’s no better time for me to do something like this.  I think I can learn a lot and I talked to [blank] and he thinks it’s a great idea too.”

The reality is there isn’t a better time for him to do something like this.  

I wonder what things your college-age students would do if you used the words, “There’s no better time.”  Maybe you should try it, they just might do something totally crazy…