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.

It’s always nice to think through things with someone else – or a team of people. But there’s something different about doing it with the RIGHT person or people! So, I invited a life long friend of mine, and a board member of CollegeLeader up here to Portland to help me think through some things. Jonathan is a great guy, has a ton of business and ministry experience, but he also loves the local church and understands our need to minister to college-age people in that context! We sat outside my favorite coffee shop for about 3 hrs. talking, brainstorming, dreaming, coming up with logistics, etc.

Now, I’m sitting on my couch, with both of our macs on our laps nd taking a break

Specifically we are thinking through how we can more effectively help college-age ministry leaders around the country. We are coming up with a number of avenues that we are very excited about because we think we’re hitting the core needs of people working in this ministry. I will fill you in at a later date, but – and I’ve never asked for this up to this point – but please pray that we can truly develop something that will help!

I don’t think it would surprise any of us to see research that suggests that the opinions of college students seem to stray from those they were raised with. I know we are perplexed as to the reasons why so many Christian’s are detaching from Christian community, but the fact is this is an issue faced by all, despite upbringing in any faith tradition. That’s not to say, however, we cannot do some things differently in the church – which I’ve devoted a huge part of my life to helping the church understand and embrace. But, there are some interesting findings that you may be interested to know about that the UCLA Higher Education Research Institute just published.

Some of the research suggests college students claim to be more conservative than before – but these are in very specific issues. However, in other areas they become far more left as they progress through college. To read the article click here

Ok, want a discussion starter for small group this week!? Here’s one for you! It’s amazing the rationalization that occurs in the human mind sometimes! For the sake of “empowering” herself as a women and “doing something for herself” a student auctions off her virginity to pay for grad school…so she can become a marriage and family counselor. Whoa. Apparently she’s already been offered $250,000. To read the CBS article, click here To see CNN interviews and reports click here

I went to Reed College today for lunch with a friend. A guy that came through my college ministry is a new employee there. We haven’t seen each other in about 6 months or more, so it was good to catch up, see where he’s living, walk around campus and grab a bite in the DC. I always enjoy visiting college campuses because each one is so different. However, Reed is a bit more unique than most. First, it’s an absolutely beautiful campus unparalleled by any other campus I’ve visited. Tree’s, streams, old brick buildings – amazing. And of course true to it’s Oregonian flavor all the new dorms are entirely environmentally friendly. But there are also some other uniques aspects to this school.

Reed has often been called the most liberal college in the US. It’s known for parties, woodstock-like events, “free love,” and deep intellectualism. I’ve even heard, and has been affirmed by others that have gone there, that they have a “topless” day where many people actually get involved – and no, I’m not exaggerating. Of course not everyone gets involved on this day, but apparently there are those that do participate. One thing, to give you an idea of the uniqueness, they have a corporate seal on mugs, shirts, etc. that says, “Atheism, Communism, Free Love.” I’m assuming it’s the idea of tolerance and acceptance that brings this type of phraseology out, but nevertheless it’s unique (and controversial).

I must say the people I met today were genuinely nice and seemed to be pretty down to earth. The school is well known for its academic rigor and high scholasticism and many students attend there for that reason. I learned today that the library is open until 2:30 am and is typically filled with students until closing time. Liberal, maybe – but committed higher education also characterizes this school.

The most interesting thing though, and this might give you a bit of a pit in your stomach (no pun intended – you’ll see what I mean) was becoming aware of the “Scrounge Table” in the dining center – notice the people standing in the distance. This table is situated directly in front of where students drop off their trays when done eating. You’re probably getting the point now, but apparently this is a table in which students who cannot afford to pay for lunch (probably because tuition is apparently $40k a year), or simply don’t want to pay hang out and eat everyone else’s left overs. Yep, they actually stand at the table and wait for people to bring over their half eaten sandwiches, soup bowls, burgers, etc. and then go to town. The number of students at this table continued to grow throughout lunch. One of the people at the table had a boom-box blasting Rush through the dining hall, which is I guess the norm. Now, that is definitely a unique element to this campus! It was truly an amazing thing to watch. Probably the most interesting thing to me, however, was that students didn’t appear to look down on the “scroungers” in any way- which I thought was pretty cool. In most contexts this group of people would probably be made fun of in extreme ways. But, not here, not at Reed.

The great thing about this school is that it’s unique. The saddening parts are obvious, but what a place to be involved with from a ministry perspective! It also gives a decent feel, I think, of the Portland area – known to be one of the most liberal areas in the country. Portland has the most strip clubs per capita and this is among many many many other elements that you may be shocked at…oh, and it’s also the “least churched state” in the country. Maybe that has something to do with it…