With the internet being dubbed the 8th continent, Facebook being the gateway into hundreds of relationships and most university classrooms looking like the picture below, it’s a no brainer to start thinking about how to train students in the principles and tactics to make their online time count for eternity. I need your help to design some training for students.

I’m headed to Cru’s Big Break conference in Panama City next month where the conference team is trying something new.  They desire to augment the life on life evangelism students do on the beaches with some digital training to help students use tools intentionally to bring Christ into the conversation online.

I’m the only one who signed to teach this gig, probably because I’m designing the content from scratch (almost). This is where you come in. I need you to glance through what I have planned for tactics so far, tell me what I should do different, what I should trash or add. Keep in mind that we’re trying to be principle based, helping student...

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Train a bunch of students in evangelism principles that will last a lifetime? Mobalize hundreds of students to have quality evangelism experience in a crazy city like Portland? That’s not daunting at all.

Our team was tasked with creating the evangelism training and outreach (Gospel in Action) for the annual Cru Conference this year. All logistics aside it was a dream come true to mobilize 600 people to go share their faith in Portland. That doesn’t happen everyday here. Kicking a dent in the kingdom of darkness. Here’s where we landed…

Pre-conference we asked students and staff to bring socks and stocking caps to benefit the Portland Rescue Mission (who we love) as a way to bless the city. The response to this was really good.

Day 1 training included a good look at the reality of our context (city, portland, individualistic people) that hopefully helped students have compassion that provoked action. It also included a general overview of the explorer role from Cojourners with the tools of asking question...

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I made this a few days ago for the Missional Team Leaders Conference I was just at. I hope you appreciate it. 

Other LTI posts kinda like this one:

1. Cru Conference Video team does good work
2. MTL Conference
3. Cru Conference on Facebook = Engagement

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My last post reminded me of the chapter in Scott Belsky’s book Making Ideas Happen on Prioritization. Scott answers the question, “How can you maintain long-term objectives rather than suffer at the mercy of urgent tasks? It is call prioritization.”

Here’s some tips to consider that are incredibly applicable to college ministry…especially in the operations context that I live in.

Keep two lists: I wrote about this a while back here. Two lists, one for urgent items and another for important ones. Do not let the urgent items compete against the important ones on the same list….the urgent will always win.

Make a daily “focus area.” Somehow designate up to five tasks in your to-do list that correspond to a priority project. Regardless of whatever crops up that day, the focus area must be cleared before bed.

Don’t dwell. Scott says that wen urgent matter arise, they tend to evoke anxiety. Do not dwell on possible negative outcomes. Break urgent items down into action steps and challenge yourself to reallocate y...

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Is the obstacle you’re facing actually an opportunity?

If you’re like me then as a college minister the words “commuter campus” probably suck the life out of you. Major hurdles of student availability and lack of relationship amongst the student body seem like insurmountable barriers to building movements.

Portland State University (our major hub of ministry) has, in the neighborhood of 20,000 students that commute to the downtown campus everyday. Students ride bikes, light rail, drive and bus to get to campus. Students from every corner of the metro area descend on campus to get learned.

Having a highly commuter campus is an obstacle to ministry right? But wait, what if that perceived obstacle is actually critical to seeing the city of Portland transformed?! What if much like a heart pumping life into the far reaches of the body, the lives that are transformed in the hub of activity at PSU are sent all over the city to influence families, churches, neighborhoods for the kingdom! I’m am convinced that seei...

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