I realized last night that I haven’t explained what’s been going on in my life here – which gives some reasoning as to why blogs have been brief and scattered lately.  The bottom line is as a husband, father, church planter, writer, and lead of CollegeLeader – well you can say, “life is happening.”  Here’s what I got going on in my life right now…

I planted a church 9 months ago.  We’ve been in 3 different locations in this time and we leased a space back in December.  We’ve had to build out classrooms, bathrooms, and convert a warehouse into our sanctuary.  Long story short, this Sunday is our first week in this space.  Maybe next week I’ll post some pictures.  It’s currently empty, which means we have to move everything in tomorrow and set it up because…

I’m also personally moving.  I recently purchased a home, that was supposed to close the beginning of January.  Well, that didn’t happen.  It closed a little over a week ago and we had to do some work on it before moving in.  Long story short, because of the delay in escrow and my speaking schedule we’re now locked into also moving my family THIS Saturday.  

I’m of course teaching this weekend at church.  We’re in the beginning of our series in Ecclesiastes.  I spend anywhere from 5-10 hrs on my messages and that is not something I’m willing to short-change.

Crunch time has come as well with some CollegeLeader stuff.  Planning the regional events, tax stuff, etc has definitely kept me from being bored.

Thankfully I don’t have writing deadlines right now – those might have to be pushed back if I did.  

Anyway, forgive me for the brevity in blogging lately – I should be back on track , mid next week.  

Every once in a while I check my friend Dan Kimball’s blog.  He’s a genuinely nice guy – if you’ve met him you know this – and is a great thinker.  I usually don’t read other blogs too much, but I just happened to go to it this morning and he wrote an interesting blog about the possibility of blogging/Facebook(ing)/Etc. being addictive and whether or not it takes away from our mission as believers.  I think it’s worth a look.

I also saw this morning that Josh Griffin’s youth ministry blog MoreThanDodgeball made the Top 60 Church Blogs in the world!  Wow, way to go Josh!

I guess The Green Bible has recently become a very popular theme bible.  It’s amazing how many different versions of the Bible we have (whoa!).  This particular version includes the words of Christ in red, but also puts verses that deal with “creation care” in green letter’s – highlighting these specific areas.  It also has over 100 pages of articles and essays written about this topic from some popular authors and well-known people.

I recently moved from Southern California up here to Portland, OR.  I don’t know of a “greener” place on earth – which isn’t necessarily all bad.  Being here I have been exposed to some interesting perspectives when it comes to creation care – some are thought provoking while, quite honestly, some are pretty far fetched.  Regardless, this is a hot topic – politically or religiously.

Because many college-age people are thinking about the world around them (politics, religion, etc.) looking at what Scripture says about “creation care” could be an interesting study in your ministry. 

To be blunt in regards to this topic I think some of this is much more culturally driven than biblically driven.  I do believe God cares about creation (obviously) and I do believe we have a certain amount of responsibility to care for it.  Regardless, hot topics like this can be great ways of talking theology with college-age people.  Here are 3 questions you can ask your small group to try to get them talking/thinking about this…

1. Do you think we have responsibility in taking care of the earth?  Why or why not? (make sure you have them explain their thoughts/answers!) – and then ask them if they know any Scripture that backs that thought or general principle.
2. Does what we do – or not do – really affect the ultimate outcome of the earth?  How, or why not?
3. How might something as simple as recycling be an expression of the Christian faith?

Information on our regional training days is available.  Click here to see seminar topics, schedule, etc. and/or to register. You’ll notice the only date open for registration right now is in California  - at Saddleback.  The other locations will be available as soon as we have all the info necessary.

We at CollegeLeader are setting things in place for a 5 city Regional Training tour this spring/summer.  Keep an eye out for registration info. These days will include two seminars with a lunch break in between.  Lunch is provided and will serve as a natural networking time for everyone involved.  The dates are not completely set yet (except for the first one at Saddleback), but the cities on the radar are:

1. Lake Forest, CA – hosted by Saddleback Church on March 31st.
2. Boulder, CO
3. Blackhawk, WI
4. Pittsburgh, PA
5. Atlanta, GA

Winona Lake, Indiana is also a possibility we’re looking into.  Anyway, just a heads up for those of you close to these cities.  I will surely update you on registration info, seminar topics, dates, exact locations, etc…

I just got done with a phone conversation with Kara Powell.  We’re doing a Deeper Learning Track together at next month’s National Youth Ministry Conference called, “Preparing Your Teenager for Life After Youth Group.”  This track is 8 hrs. long and goes throughout the weekend.  I’m excited to team up with Kara on this.  I have to admit, it does take more time to prep with someone else, but I think it will be more effective.  The 4 hours I’m heading up are called, “Internal Confusion: Five Critical Issues We Must Prepare Kids to Face” and “The Slow Fade: Detachment From Christian Community Is a Process.”  The Slow Fade is the title of a new book I’m writing that will be out next spring and this seminar will discuss some of those topics.

I’ll also be leading an Affinity Group for those working with college-age people.  Hope to see some of you there!

I’m sitting at a coffee shop in the Hawthorne district of Portland with my friend Rich. He has over 31 years of ministry experience. I just asked him if he could say one thing to those working with college-age people, what would it be? He said this, “Don’t type this out, I don’t want this to come across cheesy.”

I replied, “you’re a dork.” Insecure might be a better word.

He then said, “Do you feel better now? Why do you say things like that? This is the reason why nobody likes you!” Of course he was serious.

After talking, he did say something I think is good for us to remember. He talked about how college-age people are at the most care-free, fun stage of their life. But at the same time are seeking meaning and direction. So, if there was one thing he desired for them is that they would learn to know Jesus and hear His voice. Pretty simple, huh? Hopefully by watching our lives and the way we follow His voice they can learn the actual simplicity of it.

If you or any of your students are thinking through the differences between Protestant and Roman Catholic faith (which many college-age people are) there is a VERY interesting article that JUST hit the Associated Press!  It describes how the Vatican is taking significant steps to bring back penance into the daily life of the church.  This could be a great article to bring and discuss with your small group.  There are all kinds of theological discussions you can have with this article: salvation, justification, the role of spiritual authorities, on and on… – could be a good discussion!

Many college ministries will have some type of retreat/trip/event this winter.  These trips can be a great part of our ministries.  They can encourage new and deeper relationships – and they certainly provide fun times as well as memories for a life time.  But, I would suggest, there’s more to these times away – or at least there should be.

There is a lot of value in getting college-age people away, by themselves.  The atmosphere is conducive for hitting core age-stage issues and it can be a freeing time for many.  On the other hand we can really use these times to push connection with the larger church body.  Granted, there are boundaries to watch and lines we don’t want to cross.  But the bottom line is we can really use these trips to help college-age people connect with older mature believers!  This is crucial in college-age ministry and winter trips can be one of the best ways to naturally accomplish this.

Here are some things I’ve done to help this connection happen naturally:

1. Pick 1 couple for every 25 college-age people and ask them to come on your trip.  Their job is NOT to chaperone, it’s to hang out.  This couple has to be hand picked by you!  You definitely can’t afford to bring the wrong couple.  Age doesn’t matter, but there are some basic characteristics you want this couple to have: solid in their faith, honest and willing to speak their mind, fun, relaxed, and willing to hang out late at night playing cards, board games, etc.
2. Have the couple’s host breakfast.  Buy some breakfast food (cereal, fruit, bagels, etc.), give the couple a suite in the hotel, and have them host breakfast each morning for your students.  The couple will simply set out the food each morning and the students will go to their suite to eat and hang out.  Some will come, eat, and then leave.  Others will hang out for a very long time just talking.  The couple has to be relaxed during this time…just hanging out, laughing, eating.
3. Don’t give the couple ANY tasks to do.  Their job is to just hang out.  If they ski or snowboard, let them go all day.  If they don’t, encourage them to go to the lodge and hang out around lunch time.  They’re just there to hang out.
4. Pray for natural connection to happen.  I’ve found that when we expose college-age people to older mature believers in these types of ways natural mentoring relationships form.  We just need to pray for them.

Winter retreats can be fun no matter what, but we can also be very intentional – and more so than we typically are.  On your trip this winter, be intentional with connecting/exposing your college-age people to older mature believers.  If you do, assimilation will be on course…

I recently did a radio interview with K-LOVE/Air1 Radio regarding going away to college and what college students face – specifically during the first year of school.  One of the biggest issues we discuss is the search for identity during this time of life.  They also added in a psychologist into the interview – so she’ll chime in as well.  You can tell it’s recorded interviews, but if you haven’t heard it on the radio, but would like to listen to that click here.  It’s called “Help Them Stay In College.”