I thought I’d give you plenty of interesting reading. I did a google search and found several popular college ministry blogs. I haven’t read through all of them thoroughly, but I thought I’d post them anyway.

College Ministry Thoughts: here
Exploring College Ministry: here
222 Mission: here
uambcm: here
Blogged.com: here
College Ministry Blog: here

Happy reading…

Every week there are 3 small groups that meet at Blue River Community College to regularly discuss the gospel of John. Our groups started the week discussing John chapter 15 (feel free to give it a quick look).

I’m going to recap Monday’s discussion in hope that you will be able to continue the discussion & the implications of the passage for our day to day lives. How could we actually live this out on our campus & in our community?

There are many things that could be said about the passage, but I’m just going to recap the “big idea” of the passage. As a group, we discovered that in the passage Jesus teaches his disciples using the illustration of a vine and its branches. He very simply refers to Himself as the vine & His followers as the branches. Using that picture, Jesus teaches them (and us) to “remain” or “abide” in Him because apart from Him they (we) can do nothing of eternal significance.

We saw that Jesus speaks of this approximately 10 times in the first 13 verses. Jesus also talks a lot about “fruit”–6 times in the first 13 verses. Seeing that these ideas must be really important, we asked the questions, “What does it mean to abide in Jesus?” and “What is the fruit that Jesus keeps talking about?”

John 15:9-10 says, “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.”

So, we concluded that to abide or remain in Jesus is to keep His commandments. But, what commandments? Does Jesus have something specific in mind? The passage says in v.12,

“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.”

So then, to abide in Jesus in John 15 is to keep Jesus’ command to love others as Jesus has loved them.

Concerning the “fruit”, Jesus says in v.8,

“By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.”

So, whatever the fruit is, it glorifies God & is the proof of discipleship. We then discovered that just a few chapters before, in John 13:34-34, Jesus says,

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

If all people will know Jesus’ disciples by their love for each other & if the effect of bearing fruit in 15:8 is to give proof of discipleship, then it makes a lot of sense to say that the fruit Jesus speaks of is love–To love one another as they have been loved by Jesus. And we know that ultimately, Jesus gave His very life on the cross for others.

Having said all of that, what specific ideas do you have for living this out on campus? How can we as a group tangibly serve & give ourselves for the good of others at Blue River? Is there anyone in your life and in your classes that come to mind? How do we love & serve others in such a way that we direct their attention to Jesus?

I’m potentially the most inconsistent blogger on the planet. I really don’t have a great deal to say that hasn’t already been said in a much more insightful or helpful way.

Having said that, I am still going to attempt to give this blogging thing one more shot by using this site to better connect with college students, promote college ministry, as well as discussion, in general, about God & life.

More to come…

LOVE NOT THE WORLD

“Lord,
by your Apostle John you have told us,
love not the world,
nor the things that are in the world,
for it is the heart that you require.

Enable me to fix my affections not on sensual pleasures,
riches, or honours,
for if I allow my heart–my affections–
to centre on anything but you,
I actually make that thing my god,
and in so doing forfeit my title and pretensions
to eternal happiness.”

–Susanna Wesley

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Here are some more links on developing an assimilation plan for your guests:

#1 Problem of Churches

Assimilation Plan?

Hey…More On Assimilation

CLASS Plan

You Pick the Title of This One

This One Has Pictures

Buy This Book

More From Warren

I’m sitting here in class and the prof. is gone, so we’re watching a video. You know what that means…I’m playing on the internet and reading blogs. So, here’s another link for your viewing pleasure–an opportunity this summer for service in NYC.

Check it suckaz.

The Rev. Allen sent me some links that might help one in thinking through an assimilation plan for their local church. LifeConnection wants to see guests become fully engaged members of the church who are pursuing Jesus. So, if you find yourself with the same kind of goal you might want to check these out.

Post 1

Post 2

Post 3

Feedback? Thoughts?

Here is some free reading from Resurgence that you may want to check out.

1 Samuel 12:23-25

“Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by ceasing to pray for you, and I will instruct you in the good and right way. Only fear the Lord and serve him faithfully with all your heart. For consider what great things he has done for you. But if you still do wickedly, you shall be swept away, both you and your king.”

–That whole sinning by not praying kind of got my attention…

I’ve really been lazy on posting my notes from Catalyst. I know some are way ahead of me in getting theirs up, check it.

My memory on this one isn’t quite as sharp as Andy Stanley’s first session, so I hope this makes some sort of sense:

“Not all time in life is equal.” If only great companies are developed, we’ll simply be a prosperous nation, not a great nation. “Good is the enemy of the great.” What separates the good and the great? Greatness is not a function of circumstance, but of conscious choice. It’s the wrong direction for a church or non-profit to simply seek to become like a business in its efforts to become greater because most businesses are average. The real issue, of moving from a good organization to great one, concerns discipline. We should work to form a culture of discipline within our organization.

Flywheel: There are very few overnight success stories. Most start by pushing the flywheel which slowly gains momentum as it is continually pushed. It took Sam Walton 7 years to open his second store. “Beware of going too fast.” How does something great fall? The undisciplined pursuit of more is how the great fall, jumping from 100 to 10,000 turns on the flywheel is the fall, which is true hubris. So how does an organization determine if they are reaching too far?

1. The sign is when the organization is growing beyond its ability to fill its key positions with the right people. We should be concerned with Who and then What. The right “who” will bring about the right “what.” The ultimate preparation for what cannot be predicted? It is who one places himself with. In Collins’ research he found that there are several levels of leaders, 5 being the most effective. He found that the component shared by all level 5 leaders who led great companies was…Humility. It is seen in the passion for the well-being of the company (rather than themselves) combined with the will to do what it takes for the company to succeed.

2. The rest of my notes are kind of choppy, my apologies: We need a TO DO list but also a STOP DOING list. Sometimes the critical question to see an organization become great is what should we NOT do anymore?

Here was Jim’s TO DO list:

• take diagnostic tool.
• Determine how many key leadership “seats” do I have and how many filled with key people?
• Get the right young people in my face (who will I allow to be my mentors?).
• Build a council. Key leaders ask the right questions.
• Build pockets of quiet. The best leaders always take time in quiet to think.
• Commit myself to something I’m passionate about.
• Develop unchanging core values but let practices change as necessary.