Author: baptistcollege

It’s been said that who leads your college ministry will largely determine who your college ministry will reach. I’ve seen this to be true over and over again. The selection of staff and lead team members matter, and it ripples (or doesn’t) throughout campus. 

When selecting lead teams, select leaders from the parts of campus that you want to reach. If you want to reach all sections of campus, ask God to open doors with leaders who represent all parts of campus. This includes gender, melanin, and campus activities such as sports, clubs and Greek life.  Seek students who spend time in a variety of campus locations as well, including an assortment of residence halls, apartment complexes, and academic buildings. 

Share a clear and honest vision and invite leaders into the vision.  King Solomon’s wisdom in Proverbs 29:18 speaks to this; “Where there is no vision, the people perish.”  Repeat the vision of your ministry often, keeping leaders on track and affirming the part they play in it. 

Enlist people who are NOT like you yet have chemistry with you and are unified with the vision of your ministry. Try to include people who are introverts and extroverts, morning people and night owls, planned and spontaneous, detailed and big picture, grace and truth, risk takers and safe players. Paul encourages believers in I Corinthians 9:20 to “be all things to all people so by all means possible some might be saved.”

Engage people who are already leading, not necessarily in your ministry but on campus. These are the students who people want to be around. If they throw a party, everyone will want to come.  In Henry Blackaby’s Spiritual Leadership, he states that “a spiritual leader leads all people not just church people.”

Some common characteristics of next-level leaders include:

1. Next-level leaders can lead themselves. 

Spiritually and emotionally, they aren’t perfect but they are committed to the journey of growth. John Maxwell has said that “the secret of your future is found in your daily routine.” Eugene Peterson writes, “The spiritual life is long obedience in the same direction.” Next-level leaders are committed to following Jesus, one good habit at a time.

2. Next-level leaders relate well to a wide variety of people. 

Romans 12:10 says, “Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other.” This kind of leader can walk in the middle of campus and be at home with whoever they may find there, showing honor to the sinner and the saint alike.

3. Next-level leaders are humble.  

Philippians 2:3-4 says, “Don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don’t look out only for your own interests but take an interest in others too.” They have the correct perspective about their own weakness, sin, and need for God. This allows them to easily enter into another’s life with grace and humility.

4. They are spiritually aware. 

We read in Galatians 5:25, “Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the spirit’s leading in every part of our lives.”  It truly is a paradox – God has called us to do something that only He can do.  Spiritually aware leaders get this. 

5. Next-level leaders are eager for more. 

Jabez’s mom named him a Hebrew word similar to a word meaning distress or pain because his childbirth was so painful. He prayed the opposite of this for his life, and God granted his request. His prayer is found in I Chronicles 4:10.

“Oh, that you would bless me and expand my territory? Please be with me in all that I do, and keep me from all trouble and pain?” Next-level leaders hope for more, pray for more, and plan for more!

6. They are high-capacity leaders. 

Galatians 6:10 teaches, “Therefore, whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone…” Next-level leaders tend to respond to opportunity with, “YES!” They are committed to excellence, which is different than being a perfectionist, and they don’t get too bent out of shape with lots of moving parts. 

7. Next-level leaders have a bend for both visionary leadership and practical leadership.

They will likely have a natural gift of one or the other, but they see the value of both seeing the big picture of where we would like to go and how we can move from point A to point B. 

Next-level leaders need and appreciate several things from you, including clarity, freedom, and time. Lead with clarity. Let your leaders know what you want from them, what result is desired, and the why behind the tasks. Repeat the why or the vision often. Give your high-capacity leaders freedom to lead with a safety net if needed. Show them how something is done. Do it with them. Watch them do it and give feedback. Finally, let them do it alone. Let them know you are in it with them and have their back. Failing forward is still a win. Give them regular time with you to share life, speak truth, and develop them as leaders and disciples. This can be as little as 45 minutes every two weeks or as much as an hour per week, but the key is for it to be a consistent priority. 

Once these high-capacity leaders say yes to serving on your team, invest in them in a way that makes them want to continue!

Linda Weir is Director of Ministry at Pinelake Church in Starkville, Mississippi. You can follow Pinelake’s Starkville campus on Instagram @pinelakestarkville.

Why do you do college ministry? What is your ministry’s specific mission? How do you accomplish it? How do you know if you’re on target? Can you put these things into concise and compelling statements? 

Getting clarity on your mission and vision is essential for a leader who wants to impact the next generation for Christ. Moreover, putting your mission and vision into clear, concise statements allows you to recruit others to the movement. A good mission statement becomes an anchor that reminds you of “why” and “what” you’re doing. It also allows you to share the mission with others and invite them to join!

Lots of college ministries know WHAT they do. They engage in outreach and promotion, organize Bible studies and worship services, and plan mission trips and social events. Fewer still can clearly and concisely articulate WHY they are doing it and how it connects to Jesus’s Great Commission in Matthew 28. A good mission statement communicates both the “what” and “why” of your ministry. 

Will Mancini differentiates a mission statement from a vision statement. In Church Unique, he describes five facets involved in building out your “Vision Frame” for your ministry.

1. MISSION (mandate) – What are we doing? A clear and concise statement explaining what your ministry is committed to be doing. The mission MUST be connected to Jesus’s Great Commission in Matthew 28:18-20 but applied to your specific context.
2. VALUES (motives) – Why are we doing it? What is important to us? These shared convictions guide actions and reveal the ministry’s strength. 
3. STRATEGY (map) – How are we going to do it? Strategy is the process or picture that demonstrates how your ministry will accomplish its mission on the broadest level. Strategy is a plan. It shouldn’t be overly elaborate. Focus on doing a few simple things like disciple-making, evangelism and leadership development really well.
4. MEASURES (marker) – When are we successful? Measures are attributes that define or reflect the accomplishment of the mission. They are things you track! Measures are milestones that allow you to evaluate progress. Measures could include the number of small groups, the number of students engaged, the number of alumni joining staff or being sent, etc. There are both “lead” measures and “lag” measures. Lead measures are things you have control over, such as the number of new students you contacted and how many gospel shares you made. Lag measures are the results of your activities, like how many people attended an event or how many professed faith in Christ. Which should you track? Both! 
5. VISION PROPER (mountaintop + milestones) – Where is God taking us? Vision Proper describes an anticipated future. These are God-sized but measurable and attainable goals. Ideally, Vision Proper describes success as 2-5 years in the future. This isn’t a pie-in-the-sky wishlist like, “We want to see ten thousand students saved!” It answers the question, “If God blessed all of our current plans, where would we be in 2-5 years?” It’s attainable with God’s help. 

Mission never ends because the work is never done until Jesus returns. Vision keeps us motivated because, by faith, we can see God accomplish it in the intermediate future. Andy Stanley says, “Vision is a clear mental picture of what could be, fueled by the conviction that it should be.” Mission is a not-until-Jesus-returns activity of the church. Vision CAN be accomplished. We can’t just stay motivated by mission because it’s too far off. We need a VISION of where our ministry could be, by God’s grace, in 3-5 years.

In the campus ministry that I led for 21 years, BSM at the University of Texas Arlington, here were ours:

1. MISSION: To lead college students to become lifelong disciples of Jesus.
2. VALUES: Christ as the Center of Everything, God’s Word, Prayer, Accountable Community, and Witness. (You might recognize these from the Navigators Discipleship Wheel, a resource we utilize in our discipleship. Don’t be afraid to borrow stuff that works!)
3. STRATEGY: Evangelism, Discipleship, Missions. We strive to WIN college students to faith in Christ, BUILD them into mature disciples of Jesus, and SEND them as lifelong Gospel workers.
4. MEASURES: We track lots of stuff!
5. VISION PROPER: To increasingly saturate the campus with a gospel witness by pioneering two new niche ministries per year and to pioneer a new campus ministry at an additional local campus every 2 years. To have 10% more students meaningfully engaged in discipleship every year for the next 3 years. To send 25 graduates to campus ministry staff or the mission field in the next 5 years.

If your mission statement is clear and also emphasized repeatedly, then it helps keep your ministry from drifting away from the mission. 

One question that I’ve been asked is, “Should you share your mission statement word-for-word or paraphrase it?” The danger of reciting it word-for-word is students may feel like it’s canned or that you are trying to brainwash them. It can feel inauthentic. When you share it word-for-word, make sure you communicate naturally and from the heart. The danger of paraphrasing is that students might not catch the vision. It’s not clear and sticky enough, so they don’t remember it and can’t repeat it. 

In our campus ministry, we repeated the vision like a broken record. Sometimes paraphrased, sometimes word-for-word. “God put you on the campus to help reach others for Christ.” “God wants to grow our faith so we can reach people Jesus for the rest of our lives.” Repeating the mission and vision is one key to creating a strong culture in your ministry. So, repeat the mission. And repeat the mission.

So what are yours? Do you already have a thoughtful statement of your mission, values, and vision? Does it need improving? If not, take some time to pray, dream, and create a God-sized, Great Commission mission statement!

Gary Stidham is the Director of Training for Texas BSM and Adjunct Professor of Collegiate Ministry at Southwestern Seminary. For more helpful articles and information, check out garystidham.com.

This article was originally published on Via Students.

Whether you feel like you are killing it or barely surviving, it’s easy to lose sight of why we do college ministry. Too often, we lean on large turnouts and ministry “successes” for confidence in our call, or allow facing challenges to make us question it. That is a recipe for burnout. If we’re not careful, the rigors of ministry, the disappointments of unmet expectations, or the challenges inherent in student work will wear us down. There will be times when students are flaky, stats don’t reflect the effort you’ve put in, budgets are slim, friends in ministry are distant or nonexistent, family members wonder when you’ll get a real job, and there’s more work to do at every turn. Remembering why we engage in college ministry and how God called us to do this work is so important for ministry longevity! 

In 2 Timothy, Paul clearly perceived the need for Timothy to be encouraged in ministry and, perhaps, to remember why he was in ministry in the first place. In this letter from mentor to mentee, we find four simple, biblical motivations for ministry to encourage us as we remember why we do this work. 

Remember the Gospel.

Paul reminded Timothy: “He has saved us and called us to a holy life – not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time” (2 Tim. 1:9). We are God’s children by his grace alone, and we serve in ministry by grace alone. I must frequently remember that God could accomplish his purposes in collegiate ministry just fine without me. It’s a gracious gift to get to be a part of his redemptive work in the world! By his grace, you are his child, and by his grace, you are a minister of the gospel! Remember, God doesn’t need us to do ministry but he wants us to be with him! A missionary friend recently shared, “Passion will only get you so far. Obedience will take you a little further. But loving Jesus will sustain you.”

Remember the Call.

Paul encouraged Timothy in the simplicity of his calling: “You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others” (2 Tim. 2:1-2). Timothy was to stay rooted in Christ, pass on what he had learned and experienced, and teach others to do the same. If we overcomplicate our calling, we are in danger of becoming strong in strategy and measurable success but weak in “the grace that is in Christ Jesus.” Steve Smith challenged that while effective methodologies are crucial, “methods are mere mechanics without the Spirit of God.” Admittedly, simple doesn’t mean easy. Whether your “calling” to ministry was a memorable experience or a gradual progression of steps of obedience, remember, God is the one who called you, equips you, and empowers you.

Remember your Mentors.

Paul reminded Timothy that his understanding of the gospel and calling to ministry were not experienced in a bubble. “But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it” (2 Tim. 3:14). As Timothy’s mentor, Paul had vivid memories of Timothy’s call and a unique position to remind him of God’s work in his life. We need true brothers and sisters in Christ who can speak into our lives, encourage us, challenge us, hold us accountable, and remind us why we do this work.

Remember to Persevere.

“But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry” (2 Tim. 4:5). Paul knew there would be times when ministry would be rough, people wouldn’t listen, and some would replace Timothy’s voice with “what their itching ears want to hear” (2 Tim. 4:4). Paul expected Timothy to remain faithful to his calling even when things went poorly. I’m convinced that Paul would reject a myth often believed in our culture: that hard means bad, that if things are not easy or fun, something must be wrong. Ministry challenges can teach us more about God’s character and faithfulness and help us better understand ourselves. Facing challenges as learning opportunities is a far simpler prospect when we are confident in the gospel, remember the substance of our calling, and allow our community to speak into our situation. 

Years ago, I spent an entire summer wrestling with whether I was “still the guy” for our ministry on campus. After much prayer, reflection, and even a little looking at other job opportunities, God made it clear that I’m not the guy; HE is…and that I needed to stay as a participant with God in HIS ministry. I have had to relearn this lesson over the years and have found it helpful to define roles and establish a personal mission statement. When I face a challenging season, need to make a significant decision, or just remember why I’ve given my life to collegiate ministry, it is helpful for me to remember God’s role, my role, and what he’s called me to. 

I’ve written mine from my season as BSM Director at UT Tyler below (I’m working on a new one for a new role in TX BSM). Perhaps developing something similar would be helpful for you as well.

By God’s grace, I am a participant in His ministry and get to work with Him… 
To: Saturate the harvest fields of the world, domestic and foreign, with thoroughly equipped workers.
By: reaching, discipling, and sending UT Tyler students to the nations.

Joe Osteen serves as the East Texas Regional Director for Texas BSM. You can follow him on Instagram @JosephOsteen.