Not surprisingly a new article (AP) just came out about how college tuition has risen and how it will probably continue to do so.  However, and this is something to pay CLOSE attention to, the 2 year community colleges are remaining low.  This particular article doesn’t cover this, but these campuses are also growing extremely fast!  We ought to be focusing just as much on these campuses as others.  Chances are there’s one in the proximity of your church.  You may find an article called Challenges of Commuter Schools on CollegeLeader interesting…

Let me propose a question here…

 In 2003, 75 million people — more than one-fourth of the U.S. population age 3 and older — were in school throughout the country, according to School Enrollment — Social and Economic Characteristics of Students: October 2003. Nine million children, age 3 and older, were enrolled in nursery school and kindergarten, 33 million in elementary school and 17 million in high school. 

Hhhmmmm, 17 million high school students.

Today there are 17,487,475 college students overall in the United States.  

Does anyone else see an issue?

I’ve been getting requests for where I’ll be speaking this coming year. So, I figured I would just articulate the places I’m currently scheduled to speak in 2009 – but only the one’s that are directly related to college-age ministry training. I’m assuming the other camp/conference stuff won’t apply here. Anyway, here’s some places I’ll be in 2009 training on college ministry issues:

February 7 _George Fox Kaleo Conference

• I will be doing a seminar on protecting our investment in kids through the college-age years.

February 27-March 2 _Group National Youth Ministry Conference (Cincinatti)

• I will be doing an affinity group (small group discussion settings) and doing an 8 hour track with Kara Powell on preparing kids for the college-age years

April 28 – May 2 _Orange Conference (Atlanta)

• I will be doing a pre-conference intensive seminar on how churches can engage college-age people, and some other stuff (seminars, panel, etc.)

May ?? _CollegeLeader One-Day Trainings (dates and locations to be set)

• These will be one day intensive training days on issues we deal with in the trenches of college ministry – teaching/discipleship philosophies, helping students think through meaning, pleasure, intimacy, truth, identity, etc.

July 13-19 _Momentum (Pittsburgh)

• I will be doing a main session for the high schoolers, spending time with college students, and training the pastors, volunteers, and parents on college ministry issues

September 24-28 _Youth Specialties (LA)*

• Details TBD

October 15-18 _DRINK Conference

• This is our CollegeLeader conference.  All we do is concentrate on church-based college ministry.  We’ll have leaders from around the country training on this issue only!

October 29-November 2 _Youth Specialties (Cincinnati)

November 19-23 _Youth Specialties (Atlanta)

If you happen to come to any of these, I would love to connect!

*YS events are tentative

The Vocational

The vocational subculture has a very practical perspective on enrollment in school. They are seeking to gain skills and knowledge that directly assist them in what they want to do vocationally. They are searching for a degree that will help them get a better job and possibly make more money. These people will typically work at least part-time, frequently go to school at night and often attend community colleges. Many don’t have time, money, nor much desire for the social aspects of collegiate life. They tend to have a humble approach in learning yet are able to think through concepts for themselves and are highly motivated.

The identity issues requiring focus is in their hope for a prosperous career. This pursuit is where meaning is found. This person will tend to find their identity in their independence and personal pursuits. They won’t have time for much involvement in ministry or Christian community and will require you to really pursue them, often adjusting to their schedule. Like the rebel…more

My wife and I had the opportunity to see some friends that were in town playing a show yesterday. They’re in the band Tenth Avenue North. I met them about 5 years ago at a conference in Myrtle Beach – I was speaking and they were leading worship. It was good to see them, they’re currently on tour with Sanctus Real. They did a great job, and their new album is REALLY good. There are other bands like them as well, but two things, to me, set them apart from a lot of other bands these days:

First, they are all really solid in their faith and genuinely seek to glorify God in what they do. It’s easy in the music industry to lose both – believe it or not. There are unfortunately bands that lose sight of what they’re doing and why they’re doing it and gain, for lack of better terms, a “rock star mentality.” These guys are the real deal.

Second, they are just as concerned about the lyrics as the beats and rhythm. This, to me, is the most important thing. As they explain their songs it’s not shallow, there’s a lot of reasoning and depth to what they write. Anyway, I appreciated our time. Plus, I took Mike (lead singer) to my favorite coffee shop afterwards.  Not only can I get a ton of work done there, but you can’t get a better mocha anywhere in the country! Ava is the place to go, for sure.

I just wrote a new article for YouthMinistry.com on the issue of para-church organizations and the local church.  It discusses my concerns with the role they’re playing in the lives of college students. If you want to check that out and join the conversation, click here to go to that site.

Here’s part three of this article series: The Rebel
Like the Academic the rebel is also engaged in the ideals of professors, but tends to approach this from an arrogant mindset. They naturally compare who they think they are to what they perceive others to be, but do so from a critical perspective rather than a curious one. There are some professors/leaders they respect, but only those who have ideas that challenge them in ways they’ve never been challenged, in subjects they’ve never thought through, or in ways that directly apply to their lives. Unlike the academic this subculture is non-conformists. They are not seeking to please anybody and usually could care less about what professors think about them, or the grade they receive. They will typically do well in classes they enjoy and not well with those in which they have little or no interest. Meaning for them is found in their own rebellion (and unfortunately arrogant thinking). Comparing their thoughts and ideals to others from a bias and inexperienced perspective makes them feel good, and thus gives a sense of fulfillment.

The main identity issue to tackle with this subculture is idolatry. I know that may sound harsh…more

Continuing, as promised, with the short articles on sub-cultures providing a false or temporary sense of meaning and identity – here’s part two.  If you haven’t read part one, see yesterday’s blog for the link to that first.  Here’s the next article…

The Academic
The academic subculture is almost exactly opposite from the collegiate. They identify almost solely with the education side of the college experience. These students engage in the ideals presented by professors and have frequent conversations with them about the concepts presented in class. This type of person enjoys thinking through implications of topics presented and typically completes all work required in classes. Professors typically enjoy these students most and tend to have a relationship with them outside of the classroom. 

This subculture has a sense identity in…more

In an attempt to help those of you working with college students attending school and particularly four year schools – but I will also talk about commuter schools as well –  I am going to take this entire week to walk through different sub-cultures of students.  This is not an attempt to unfairly categorize people, but rather provide a general idea of where people are and where they are finding a temporary sense of identity.  I will be writing a short article every day, and posting at least in part here.  My desire is to not only provide a general guideline, but also give insights into each sub-culture from a discipleship standpoint.

Campus Sub-Cultures, Part: One

Sociologist Burton Clark described four different subcultures of college students that from my experience is accurate and helpful. The people you are working with will most likely fall into one of these categories.  If not, there will at least be aspects that apply, so Clark’s theory will serve as a framework for this series of articles.  The four subcultures I will walk through are: the collegiate, the academic, the rebel, and the vocational.  I will talk through one a day this week, with a summary following.

The Collegiate

The collegiate subculture’s identity is centered in Greek life, parties, major, sporting events, and general campus life.  This subculture will typically do enough school work to get by, but their reasons for being in college are more for the experience of “college life” rather than the education or future vocation.  They are not necessarily interested in subject matters discussed in class and tend to live day to day, minute by minute, lacking goals for education, responsibility and discipline.  They are interested in social aspects of college versus the intellectual ideals presented.  And, in many ways, they will…more

No, it’s not photoshop artwork.  It’s the real deal.  There was a write up about it in an Ohio paper.  To read the article on the newspaper’s site click here.  This could be a small group discussion starter, for sure.