When we’re doing budgets, there’s always the question of what we spend where.  So, I thought I would give some thoughts on allocating money from my years of preparing them.  Because we all have different dollar amounts, different line itemizations, etc. (if any at all), here’s a very basic breakdown by percentages that could serve as a general guideline:

35% toward Discipleship/Equipping - this included money for couple’s who host students on a weekly basis, anything that helped assimilation into adult-life of the church, one-on-one times of discipleship (coffee, meals, etc.), resources, etc.

35% toward Events - this is not high because we did a lot, it’s high to subsidize costs.  In fact, most of this would go into one winter retreat and mission trips.  This included student scholarships, money toward the expenses of older mature believers coming along to build relationships, etc.

5% toward Campus Ministry – this is a small percentage because the best campus ministry is equipping the students individually to reach the campus versus doing major campaigns, etc.  Those can be effective, but not necessarily on commuter campuses.  Generally, I never spent this full amount.

10% toward Weekly Gatherings/Programming - this includes anything that goes into the service you have or gathering point you put on, whatever the format (aka technology, atmosphere stuff, coffee, anything that goes into that time…)

15% allocated as miscellaneous - this is a cushion put in the budget.  Vision tends to change and evolve over a year’s time – at least it should – so this amount was allocated to allow room for those changes and additions to what God was doing in our ministry.

Ok, I have to let you in on this – and no, they’re not paying me to say this, nor do they even know I’m writing this.  Future of Forestry has come out with a new Christmas EP that is really, really, good.  Eric (lead singer) is a long time friend of mine.  Despite my friendship with him, he is truly one of the most creative song writers/musicians/producers we have in the Christian world today…for sure!  If you haven’t gotten their album “Twilight” I would highly recommend that as well – I listen to it frequently.  However, this Christmas EP is amazing.  They did a concert for my college ministry last year with these songs and quite honestly, blew everyone away.  Traditional songs, totally new perspective.  Here’s a clip of them recording the album:

Future of Forestry Christmas (part 1) from future of forestry on Vimeo.

If you’re interested in purchasing this (which I would highly recommend), click here.  Although they’re signed with EMI, this is currently ONLY available on their site – at a discounted price.  If you would like to listen before you purchase, click here.

Well, I’m extremely excited to announce this first, here!  If you could benefit from some training in the area of college ministry, more connection with others in similar contexts you’re in that you can share learning experiences with, access to more practical resources, etc…it’s on the way!  At CollegeLeader we’ve developed a Learning Network just for these purposes!  We’re set to launch in March 2009.  Here are some of the things you’ll be a part of in the learning network:

1. Monthly 90 Minute interactive web-based seminars, covering topics specifically for church-based college-age ministry.  This is web-based where there will be a seminar given (you’ll have powerpoint, notes, etc. as you watch the seminar) and a time for Q&A – you can ask live questions – anything, anytime you want and we can discuss it.
2. Q&A sessions with prominent leaders in the American church today. You and I will sit down with these people and ask them their thoughts on the church today, college ministry, books they’ve written, etc.
3. You’ll be a part of the learning networks cohort system - a smaller network of approximately 10 people in similar ministry contexts that meet together monthly with a CollegeLeader mentor for Q&A and deeper discussion through the Monthly Seminars (and any other unique needs you might have in your ministry at that particular time).  This provides you with a network of people you can learn from as well as teach through your personal failures and successes.  It also provides you with ongoing connection with a college ministry veteran that can give you advice and perspective from their years of experience.
4. As a part of the Learning Network you will of course get a bunch of free resources, as well as ongoing discounts on pretty much anything we do through CollegeLeader.
5. You’ll also get exclusive articles that are not published anywhere else, written by college ministry veterans from around the country.

This has not much, if anything, to do with college-age ministry.  But I saw two pictures today and various thoughts ran through my mind with each one.  This first one is a bit more serious, while the other is not so much.

The first thought that ran through my mind with this was, “I wonder what Christendom in general would be like if we had to have guards while we gathered for prayer?”  The second thought was, “I wonder how our service’s and ministry philosophies would change if we were actually persecuted here in the US?”

On a lighter note…

This picture, well, I had a number of thoughts race through my mind.  The first was, “Oh my gosh, that guy has huge ears!”  Second, “I wonder if he had to get that hearing aid specially made?”  The third thought was, “I’m pretty sure they all have to be made uniquely for the person.”  Fourth, “That really stinks I’m laughing at this guy in the picture.”  But I left the picture with, “Well not knowing anything about the picture or guy, it is a pretty funny looking picture.”

I’m sure if you looked at some pictures taken of me you would be able to laugh as well.

Twitter has been around for a while and people have been trying to get me to do it.  But I’ve firmly resisted. But I had a long day today at DMV and thought that I could’ve used twitter to humor me and a few others while sitting there, waiting FOREVER only to find out I couldn’t do what I needed to do.  Anyway, I thought, “Man, if I had twitter right now I could at least make fun of DMV and people could at least laugh from my experiences.”  So, I’m now twittering.  Signed up.  Done.  username: chuckbomar 

oh man, didn’t think I would get to the point of doing that…but it could’ve given me something else to do rather than return some emails and play “brick-breaker” on my blackberry!  I’ve gotten to level 29.  Ok, so that lets you know how much I play – but truthfully, I (usually) only play it on planes.  If my ADD-like brain isn’t motivated it can help time go by a little faster – and certainly could’ve helped me today at the DMV.

I’m sitting here in a great little coffee shop in Portland.  I come here often – it’s about 1 mile from my house.  I come here on colder days because there’s a fireplace with leather chairs around it and I love sitting in front of the fire writing, reading, working on messages, etc.  Of course today there’s someone sitting in my seat – so I’m eavesdropping on his emails…you know what they say about paybacks. 

All that aside, this morning was a painful time for me.  My immediate family is doing great, but I can’t say the same for the rest.  My mom just left her 3rd husband and is trying to justify it as being God’s plan for her.  There’s nothing more frustrating for me than hearing her justify her actions this way.

My sister has been having marital issues for a while, but I just found out that she is separating from her husband, leaving her 4 year old daughter distraught as to which clothes she’s going to leave at daddy’s house and which will she bring to mommy’s.  This little girl is completely confused and even though her parents think they’re protecting her heart, the fact is they aren’t.  They’re seeking the selfishness and arrogance of their own.

I’ve told them this in as loving way as I know how.  I no longer know what to say.

Many college-age people have this type of life experience and suffer from a tweaked view of marriage.  They were that little girl (or boy) at one point.  They’re now gun-shy, afraid, and in fear of making the wrong choice in a spouse.  But, although these feelings and emotions are real, they’re not from God.  They are rooted in the sinful decisions of sinful people – not in confidence in God’s original design and intent for marriage.

If you work with college-age people, you MUST help them prepare their hearts and minds in the area of relationships, but more importantly God’s design for them.  It starts with changing their thinking, giving them models to follow, and walking alongside them as they prepare themselves to be “the right person.”  It’s much more effective than trying to “find the right person.”

If you need a resource on this, I have a 3 part sermon series I taught to those in my college ministry called, “Relationships by Design” and one on the book of Song of Songs that you may want to check out.  But, whether or not you use these resources, we do have the responsibility of helping our college-age people in this area.  Effectiveness in college ministry always includes helping people think through relationships from a biblical perspective.

There is an interview on podcast I did with Kara Powell and the Fuller Youth Institute called, “Transition to College and Identity Development” that is now available.  It’s about preparing high schoolers and kids for their college-age years.  I also discuss identity formulation during the college-age years (and prior), the role of relationships, etc.  There are also some bigger philosophical issues of teaching and discipleship we talk about.  Anyway, to listen to that click here

I thought I would remind you that today is the last day for early-bird registration for the National Youth Ministry Conference.  I will be leading an college ministry affinity group (multiple small group discussions) as well as an 8 hr. Deeper Learning Track on preparing students for the college-age years – which I think applies to you working in college ministry.  It will both help articulate what students are facing during the college-age years, but also help you nail down where exactly most are coming from, what they’re thinking and how they’re processing through it.

Also, just as a little tip, I’ve been told that if you use the promo code “sympodcast” you can receive:

- $40.00 off registration (early bird)

- $75.00 SYM bookstore gift card

- A chance to win a steak dinner with the podcast crew.

Anyway, hope to see you there…would love to chat college ministry stuff face to face.  I will also have Geoff Leatherman with me from our CollegeLeader team!

Chuck

Wow, well, not sure what you may think about the title, graphics, or whatever, but this is a very interesting thing you should definitely check out.  It’s called, “Porn-Again Christian” and it’s a free e-book.  It’s written by Mark Driscoll and walks “frankly” through the issues of masturbation and pornography by explaining certain passages in Scripture.  He speaks of this as a paralyzing issue he’s seen in the men in his church and wants to discuss this issue with brutal honesty – which college-age people need!!!!!!!  Again, it’s free, so no need to go buy a book on the issue to walk guys through this…it’s right here

Apparently a man in the Netherlands built an exact replica of Noah’s Ark.  The ark is 150 cubits long, 30 cubits high and 20 cubits wide.  It’s two-thirds the length of a football field and as high as a 3 story house.  This guy is a contractor by trade and built it mostly by himself with the occasional help from his son.

There is life-size models of giraffes, elephants, lions, zebras, bison, etc. so people can get a feel of the size and nature of the thing.  I think it’s interesting.

He started the project in 2005.  There are plans to have a petting zoo for kids and have it as a tourist attraction to “generate interest in Christianity” in the Netherlands.

I think things like this can be great things to discuss in smaller groups of people – possibly even larger ones – and especially for the skeptics.  With everything college-age people are thinking through and the fact they (no matter what faith upbringing they have) are reevaluating every assumption they grew up having this could be interesting to bring up.  I think college-age people would have some VERY interesting things to say about this, things that may make us think a bit differently.  Even discussing whether or not they believe in the actual historicity of Genesis would be fun.