In this video I discuss three movements I’ve seen that are needed in student ministry – this is a Youth Specialties podcast I did for those serving in student ministry and desire to prepare their kids for life after youth group (i.e. college-age years). However, I think these are certainly movements we need to be focusing on in college ministry, for sure. So, hopefully these will give you some insights that stretch your philosophy of ministry…

It shouldn’t shock you to know that community college’s across the US are growing rapidly. There are, in my mind, two major reasons why the number of students attending these schools is increasing:

1. The economy. They are less expensive per credit, plus most students can remain living at home decreasing living costs.
2. Lack of clarity. Most graduating high school do not have a clear picture of what they want to do for a career. Community college allows them more time before they have to declare a major. They get essentially the same education, but less expensive and with little commitment. Plus, they can transfer as a junior more easily than get in as a freshman to many schools.

The interesting thing is most college ministries haven’t figured out how to reach commuter campuses. Even most para church campus ministries don’t focus on them. That to say, this is a mission field that is essentially untapped. Also, I’d say that the majority of churches work in this context – most are not close to major university campuses. I did include an Appendix in College Ministry 101 on this that may be of assistance to you. You can also read an article here about the challenges of commuter schools like this.

Although it’s yet to be seen how accurate it actually is, it’s fun to know there is a new show on NBC coming up called, “Community.” It’s all about community college life – supposedly. However “theatrical” they need to make it to be successful, I’m sure there will be a lot of accuracy in regards to culture. I think we’ll be able to relate it to “The Office” and shows like this that have moments of insight that create the humor. Of course The Office has some interesting characters that also add to the humor (of course).

If you want to check out some of the trailers for this new show, click here. But, I thought I’d include one for you below (actually there’s two). I will also be issuing reviews of the show from time to time (if not week to week). I’ve worked mostly with community colleges, attended one myself for two years, and have worked with hundreds and hundreds of students attending them. So, I’m excited to see what the show is like and potentially has to offer in regards to insights (if any) into the life and mindset of those attending community colleges. Higher Ed has an article about some concerns, you can read that here.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve never seen anything like this. The amount of hours poured into this…whew!

Neurosonics Audiomedical Labs Inc. from Chris Cairns on Vimeo.

Being a leader isn’t always easy. Sometimes you feel like there’s nobody you can talk to that really “gets it.”

Often times it’s extremely lonely. People can think you’re too busy to join in on something they’re doing so they never ask. Other times when they do it gets weird because you turn into the “answer man” – or even worse nobody talks about everyday life because they feel like they need to have some deep spiritual conversation because you’re there. Regardless, you feel on the outside of things.

Leadership is busy. Very true, however we can often feed this perception because we like “being busy.” There’s something inside us that likes a ton of phone calls, a lot of emails and voice mails. We feel wanted – or needed. But then this eventually wears off and you dread the emails and phone calls. You start to shut off your phone more, you may even put on an automatic email reply just so you don’t have to reply immediately. In other words, once you actually are really busy you wish you weren’t so much.

Leadership has some real dangers. There are many, but I’ve been thinking about one danger that I wanted to address here. As a leader our mind and mouth are used a lot. We think and pray through things and then communicate the vision of where we feel like God is taking us. The danger in this? When our mouth’s are used to such a capacity our ears can often shut down, or at least tune other voices out. This is very dangerous for a leader (or anyone). We think we always have something to say when in fact the truth is we should probably be listening more than speaking.

May we be humble, having ears to hear what God is saying – directly to us personally and through the mouth’s of others…

The CollegeLeader Conference is coming up…quickly. I wanted to let you know about a new addition for this year. The weekend has all kinds of roundtable discussions, workshops, and of course larger group gathering times. But, we’ve gotten some requests from people that live closer to the area that are not able to stay for the full weekend. So, we’ve added a Friday Day Pass! You can come all day Friday, be involved in all the options of the conference and get 3 meals for just $79. So, if the weekend is too much, you may want to consider this option. Click here for more details…

Belief.net just posted a blog titled, “Missional Campus Ministry” and it’s focused on my book College Ministry 101. The writer, who goes by “RJS” read it and offered some thoughts on it. I’d recommend you read it and possibly join the conversation over there. Check that out, here. Always good to hear other people’s thoughts on it…

Interested in more training for college ministry? Click here

As part of our ministry at CollegeLeader we’re going to begin doing a few video blog/podcast/tip thing-a-majiggers (not sure how to write that out). With the school year coming up, I thought I’d issue a few thoughts for getting onto campus – especially for those of you who serve in a church-based ministry. Here are 3 tips for getting on campus – in somewhat back door type ways…

Getting Involved On Campus from Kristen Giesenschlag on Vimeo.

Saturday night my wife and I had a little time away from the kids. One of the things we enjoy doing is exploring college campuses. I know, kind of a weird thing to do on a date night. But we love it and the truth is both of us get very excited about college ministry every time we’re on a new campus.

Again, I know, might be kind of weird too, but that’s us. So, we walked around Willamette University for about an hour, checking out the student union, library, law school, etc. It’s the oldest university in the West, started in 1842. Over 150 years this university has been there. Crazy to think of it that way.

Plus, we get to sit in places like this, sat on these really cool white lawn chairs (with this view), and talked about all the potential that was moving onto this campus this coming week. We also talked about our lives, direction for the coming year, things on the calendar. One of the things we’re most excited about this fall (besides things in our church) is that I’ll be speaking at a variety of campuses this year. Should be fun. Anyway, a fun little date night for us…

*Check out the CollegeLeader Conference for a weekend of training.

There is a movie out that I think hits some of the core issues college grads are faced with today: Search for work, search for love, and search for self. Those are the words the trailer of “Post Grad” uses to describe the journey. I’d say that’s pretty much dead on. I plan on watching this movie – from a student perspective. I doubt it’s a great movie (well, at least not my kind of movie), but I do think it hits some of the core issues the people we’re working with will soon face. Mainly, crushed dreams. I recently wrote an article about this called, “Bachelor Degree: Passport to Privilege?” You can find that here.

Here’s a brief highlight about it with some interviews (notice what Alexis Bledel says in her commentary). Below that is the official trailer. Again, I mention this movie because I think Hollywood is seeing the pressures of college-age life and even though it’s in theatrical form, they have made a movie that hits some core issues faced today. Unfortunately, they’re seeing and addressing it before the Church is. That bums me out.