Tim Casteel

Thoughts on Leadership and College Ministry

College Students

Planning for Year 2023 — Part 1

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Part 1 in a series on Planning for Year 2023. Click to read parts 2 & 3

“More happens in five years than you and I would ever dream.  Less happens in one year than we would ever hope. In building a movement, time is our friend.”

Jim Sylvester

Having a 12 year plan has transformed our ministry.

The tendency in the fall is to plan the urgent.

There are fliers that need to be printed, rooms that need to be reserved, retreats that need to be planned.

But how does this fall fit into your long term plan?

A long term strategy keeps us from bouncing around to a different strategy every year.

We actually plan in 5 year chunks- in 2005 we set some goals for 2010. And this year we set goals for 2015. But it all fits into a longer-term, 12 year plan (more in a couple days, on “Why 12 years?”).

Every fall our strategy is the same:

  • Reach a progressively bigger freshman class
  • In order to build a bigger movement
  • In order to eventually reach the campus

We’re serious about reaching the entire campus with the gospel.

And we’re serious about doing it in a relational way (students hearing the gospel from a friend).

In other words, we’re serious about this vision:

“That everyone would know someone who passionately follows Jesus”

 

Of course everyone in college ministry is aiming to reach freshmen. But not all succeed to the same degree.

So “reach a bigger freshmen class” is not real helpful.

 

But for some reason, when you put a number on it, a goal, things start to change.

“We want to involve 40 freshmen this year in Bible studies”

And even more important is the overall context in which that numerical goal fits:

“We want to involve a freshman class of 40 this year, and next year we want to reach 80, and a couple years later 100, and eventually we hope to have a movement of the size and maturity to be able to TRULY reach every student on this campus.”

 

Why does something as small as a numerical goal for freshmen change things?

1) It forces you to plan differently

2) It gives your staff and students hope/vision

 

More thoughts on each of those tomorrow.

 

How would you sum up your long term strategy to reach the campus?

What have you found to be helpful in keeping a long term plan?

 

photo courtesy of Leo Reynolds

Young People will Change the World

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Two thirds of Egypt’s population is under the age of 30.

Tim Elmore, a leading Christian thinker on Leadership among emerging generations, wrote a blog post this past summer (based on his book Generation iY) with two stunning facts. At the time I read them I was a bit skeptical, but the recent events in Tunisia and Egypt have proved him right:

FACT: In the next fifteen years, half of the world’s population will be 21-years-old or younger.

FACT: When there is a bulge in the youth population, there is always violence.

Gunnar Heinsohn, a social scientist at the University of Bremen (Germany) writes that when 15—29-year-olds make up more than 30% of the population – violence occurs.

Today, there are 67 countries where a “youth bulge” exists. (That is, populations where more than 30% are young adults or kids.) 60 of those countries are presently in civil war or are experiencing mass killings.

Of the 27 biggest “youth bulge” nations, 13 are Muslim. Those kids will find expression, even if they take it out on the rest of the world.

The New York Times reports the recent Egyptian protests have been driven primarily by the Youth of Eqypt.

In our own country, this generation of Millenials (age 10-30) is the largest American generation (larger than the Baby Boomer generation).

This generation, whether here in the U.S. or around the globe, will change the world.

It underscores, now more than ever, the need to reach this generation with the Gospel – here in the U.S. and on college campuses around the world.



photo courtesy of Sarah Carr