Comments on: “Reality is our Friend” (Cowtown to Urban Hipster #1)

By: “Family” (Cowtown to Urban Hipster #3) | Leadership, Technology, Innovation

Tue, 19 Jan 2010 20:03:00 +0000

[...] 1 here. Part 2 here. Don’t miss the [...]

By: weekly review, the dell returns edition « Exploring College Ministry blog (daily notes about our field)

Sat, 16 Jan 2010 10:13:00 +0000

[...] from a “cowtown” resident to an “urban hipster” (in his words). The posts (first and second) are asking some great questions and drawing some great comments – definitely [...]

By: “That Great City” (Cowtown to Urban Hipster #2) | Leadership, Technology, Innovation

Tue, 12 Jan 2010 04:56:21 +0000

[...] town campus ministry to large metro area with multiple campuses and 100k students. You can read #1 here. (Don’t miss the great discussion in the [...]

By: mattmccomas

mattmccomas — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 02:16:06 +0000

Thanks Hannah! What city are you moving to?

I appreciate your thoughts about getting the 'right' students to lead and recognizing that not everyone is going to be a part of your ministry. There is still the question of partnerships (particularly partnerships)…how do you structure them? When do you say yes to a partnership and when do you say no. I need to hear from someone who has more experience than me in partnering with other ministries.

Stay tuned…you can learn from our mistakes!

By: Hannah

Hannah — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 01:51:14 +0000

I would love to know the thoughts and conclusions that you guys come up with. I work with CCC in Canada and I'd love to not have to deal with problems that I can avoid. I'm going to be dealing with something similar. I'm moving from cowtown to vast metropolis where the campuses are separated by 2 hours commute and one with a ferry ride.
I really like Benson and Darren's comments. Benson because there IS a need to know and to feel out where God wants you to be on the 15+ campuses. The reality is you can't be everywhere you want to be. Which is why Darren's comment is so golden, you want the right students to be leading the movement in the future so you need to start off in the right direction. The role that you are probably going to play if you want to be spread out on all these campuses is an encouragement role. So you need someone that wants to go your direction and encourage them in that. It's way better (and more loving) to let the people who don't align with the CCC vision to thrive in the ministry that God has prepared them for, rather than trying to change them. It would be frustrating for all parties involved.

By: Darren

Darren — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 07:32:45 +0000

I think the scope of the city and multiple campuses can be overwhelming, but I think anytime the scope gets bigger than one other person it can be overwhelming, at least to me. The main thing you need, and I'm thinking about this a lot with my transition, is people that will come on board with you and buy in to the vision because you clearly can't do it all yourself. This will be your staff team, it will be volunteers, but it will also be students. Who are the students on the various campuses that are just waiting to have a vision for win, build, send breathed in to them? It doesn't take very many and you could start seeing some serious movement take place on a campus.

I know you guys are thinking this way, but the way I'd start is to throw out the nets to find students that want to multiply their lives and bring the gospel to their friends, classmates, and campus. Lead with the vision. And model what you want to see develop: people boldly but sensitively sharing Christ in the power of the Spirit.

As mentioned above, perhaps it will happen on a campus or part of the city that you weren't expecting. But…it does seem that there is a biblical model for being strategic and going first to those that are most likely to respond and branching outward from there.

By: Benson Hines

Benson Hines — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 06:25:58 +0000

I would think that one way to help here would be making an effort to integrate with the schools well. I believe RUF calls this "seeking the shalom of the campus." I know that in some places Crusade is known for being more on the "independent" side of the spectrum, and there can be good reasons to work that way. But if you have opportunity to make an explicit effort to be good members of the campus community, it may help – especially up there.

By: Benson Hines

Benson Hines — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 06:15:04 +0000

No problem! That's the tribe at Reed College.

By: mattmccomas

mattmccomas — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 05:16:29 +0000

I love your passion Andrea. Great thoughts about authenticity.

By: mattmccomas

mattmccomas — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 05:15:10 +0000

I love the thought about "I'd want the baby to look like both those parents." Great insight. I don't know the Griffins, can you expand?