Great post Kelly. Campuses in our town are pretty well choked down, but not entirely closed. I got on campus as a "volunteer" only after being interrogated by the principal and vice principal for about 45 minutes after walking on and having lunch with a student of mine. At the end of our conversation they shared that they really wanted me to be on campus but that I could only do so as a volunteer. Three years later I've been blown away by the freedom they've given me and the trust they've shown, not to mention all of the relationships that have been built with students. The vice principal (now the principal) has even come out to speak at one of our youth outreaches.
I like the idea of breaking my day up into segments. I may have to give it a try. I typically schedule things hour-by-hour. I find at times that I get so busy and try to cram so many things in that I end up accomplishing nothing. It would be great if there were a plugin for iCal that allowed you to organize your schedule this way.
Great post. We spent some time talking about reconciliation last night from Colossians 1. God reconciled us to Himself through Jesus so that we can be part of reconciling others to God through Jesus. I think some of the kids were actually getting a bit excited about the idea last night.
From our men's group this morning, 2 Tim. 2:24-26, "And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will."
Gentle in instruction, patient, humble in correction. I don't think this means walking on egg-shells, but prayerfully and gently doing the hard thing of confronting the issue.
This is like Christmas week. Do you need my email address again for shipping? ;-)
I wholeheartedly agree with everything that has been said. Talk to the pastor about it, not everyone else. But do talk to him. Don't skate out of town without saying a word. Years down the road you'll probably regret it if you do. Continue in a heart of compassion for those that are still part of the body there, and allow the Holy Spirit to lead you each step of the way.
w00t! Thought maybe the first shall be last, etc.
What's "Simple Student Ministry"?
Olive Canvas, definitely. The University's have horizontal stripes, which is a fashion faux-pas. They'll make your feet look fat.
I think there are two parts to this. First is communication. If we want to communicate a vision, we need to communicate. Simple enough, yeah? Unfortunately it is most times easier said than done. I meet with my youth leaders weekly before our HS Bible study time, but this time is more of a "how has your week been" and "let's pray for tonight" more than it is a venue for communicating ministry vision. I'm working on this myself and am hoping that meeting for a couple hours on a monthly basis will be a good opportunity to communicate vision and keep the team headed the same direction.
The second part, of course, is the vision itself. If you don't have anything to say, but spend a lot of time talking, people will stop listening. We need to keep it simple (as sethnoble said) and learn to share and communicate the vision effectively. How many of us have really sat down and fine tuned a ministry vision? One thing I do when studying a passage of Scripture that works well for writing down a ministry vision is try to say it in 10 words or less. Though your ministry vision may be much longer, can you summarize it in 10 words? If not, it may be time to go back to the drawing board.
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Invention