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.

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