Today I had breakfast with a guy in the Portland area who has a heart for college age people. He goes to a church near where I live and wants to do something for all the students here in the Portland area. Man, this guy is thinking HUGE. He is even willing to put a ton of money toward making this happen. I sat across from this man for over two hours today, listened to his heart, and a few things really stood out to me – so I would share them here hopefully as an encouragement:
- This guy has to be in his 60′s and yet is extremely passionate about those in the college age stage of life. I think there is a ton more out there like him…even in your church!
- The key for him was he saw firsthand the benefit of ministering to college age people. He caught a glimpse of the passion of college age people, he saw them take leaps of faith, and he saw life’s changed. I think if we were more intentional about exposing more older adults to college age people more would catch on.
- Sometimes older believers get a sense of urgency that is so cool. Some get to a point where they realize they’re not getting younger and really want their last years to be meaningful. It’s when we actually sit down with them and listen that we see this.
- College age people aren’t the only zealous ones out there…this guy’s zeal could ignite a passion in any college student!
- I love how some older men and women can dream so big – and yet couple that with wisdom. Only life experience can bring that about.
- There are some older people, even in our churches, that really “get it” – I mean really understand what it means to be a follower of Christ, understand there’s a bigger purpose in life than living for ourselves, and don’t get hung up on things that ultimately don’t matter.
- Wisdom doesn’t allow personal preference determine what we’re a part of – this was obvious with this guy today. Wow.
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Chuck Bomar is pastor of Colossae Church in Portland, Oregon and founder of CollegeLeader (
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Just came across your blog and saw this post. I had emailed with Benson Hines at Exploringcollegeministry.com about a similar topic. So I will pose to you the question I posed to him: How can a person of that age (or any adult and/or parent), beyond the financial aspect, help those in college ministries?
Rick, do you mean help the leader of the ministry or the college age people themselves?
Either/both. I see college ministries as vital (much like Tim Keller sees the “city”), yet underappreciated. Some feedback I have gotten from others has stressed the need to help make sure college ministries are promoted and affirmed. Other feedback has mentioned getting involved directly with students.
So let me slightly rephrase the question in hopes it will clarify: from you front line view, other than financial needs, what (if any) support/encouragement do such ministries need from older generations (including laity).
Okay. Well, in my opinion they are the key to both. Sorry, I thought you had read my book. In College Ministry 101, I talk about the importance of college ministry being an assimilation ministry and how to go about that. I have a book coming out May 1, called “The Slow Fade: Why You Matter In The Story Of Twentysomethings” that is written directly to older adults and helps them understand the need for them to be involved in the lives of college age people as well as helps them understand their role, how to go about things, etc. In addition, I have another book coming out September 1 called, “College Ministry From Scratch” that lays out an entire philosophy of ministry, with older adults at the center of it. I talk about how to go about that, how to measure our effectiveness in that, etc. and then describe how that approach plays out in every aspect of daily ministry – small groups, retreats, mission trips, gatherings, etc. I also dedicated two chapters to “recruiting older adults” for the ministry, how to overcome obstacles with them, etc. That to say again….they are the key to the ministry. There are clearly balances to watch, which I of course walk through – and do so in College Ministry 101 as well. Here are Amazon links for those books:
College Ministry 101: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/031028547X/ref=s9_simh_gw_p14_i1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=1ZHFJWRRBK77X5SWCQX9&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=470938631&pf_rd_i=507846
The Slow Fade: http://www.amazon.com/Slow-Fade-Matter-Twentysomethings-Orange/dp/1434764796/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1269963675&sr=1-1
College Ministry From Scratch (this is not available yet, and actually doesn’t have the final cover, but you get the idea): http://www.amazon.com/College-Ministry-Scratch-Practical-Successful/dp/0310671051/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1269963706&sr=1-1
Sound like great resources for what I am asking about. Thanks!