The Fuel and the Flame by Steve Shadrach
Whether you need a starting point for college ministry or just a refresher, The Fuel and the Flame is an outstanding resource for college ministry leaders. Shadrach provides Biblical basis, helps for relating and ministering to students as well as creative ideas for outreach. If I had to recommend one basic book for all college ministry leaders this would be it. Read it yourself and then pass it on to other leaders in your ministry. It’s well worth the read.
Review by Ginger Bowman, Collegiate ChurchLife Specialist, BGCT.
Do you know about the Ivy Jungle?
The Ivy Jungle Network is a national network of collegiate ministers in churches, campus ministries, para-church organizations and chaplaincy. For ten years now Ivy Jungle has been providing resources, studies, publications and conferences to help those who do collegiate ministry. More than 60 denominations and organizations participate in this network.
If you have not already connected with the Ivy Jungle Network you may want to check out their website. The State of Campus Ministry, a bi-annual survey report, contains some interesting statistics about collegiate ministry. And you will want to subscribe to their monthly newsletter publication, Campus Ministry Update as well. Each year Ivy Jungle also hosts a conference for college ministry leaders. This year the conference will be held in Orlando November 14-17.
For more info and to subscribe to the newsletter go to www.ivyjungle.org.
God’s Heart for the Nations by Jeff Lewis. “Jesus is not your personal savior,” says Jeff Lewis, as he debunks the common perception that a relationship with Jesus is for personal satisfaction and comfort. In this 8 week study, Lewis journeys through the Bible from Genesis to Revelation to show God’s plan for all nations to worship him. God’s Heart for the Nations offers students a heavy dose of perspective on the purpose of the Christian mission.It is an eye opening, life changing journey. Through in depth Bible study, students will be challenged to see for themselves in scripture God’s heart for the nations. Each session shed’s light on the unfolding of God’s plan for history and helps students understand their purpose as a part of that plan.
This study works great for a weekly discipleship setting and makes great preparation for any mission experience.
Transforming Discipleship by Greg Ogden
Traditionally, discipleship in the context of a church or ministry has been done in small groups or in one on one relationships and typically is accompanied by a 13 week course. Ogden proposes the idea of living in a discipling relationship with 2 (or 3) people for a year. He believes and has seen the dynamic of three people seems to work better than either of the old approaches. He has certain principles that he shares in the context of these relationships but is not merely passing on “discipleship information”. He is modeling the life of a disciple in front of the other two for an entire year. Each person in the triad would commit to lead two others in a triad the following year. As a pastor, he has found this approach to be closer to a biblical view of discipling. Ogden does an excellent job of supporting this idea scripturally and has made the materials and outline he uses available to readers (for a price!). It would be a great book to read together as a group and then begin to implement as team.
Reviewed by Jimmy Daniel.
Intentional Influence: Investing Your Life Through Mentoring by Tim Elmore
Want to help your students learn the art of mentoring?
Tim Elmore’s Intentional Influence is a great
interactive Bible study for student leaders, particularly
those upperclassmen who are ready to invest in
younger students. This study is part of a series that
works great for training student leaders in a church or
campus setting.
You may also be interested in the mentoring package
available through Growing Leaders. It includes the book
Mentoring: Investing Your Life in Others, the
study The Greatest Mentors in the Bible and a
teaching cd on Mentoring from the “Leadership 2 Go”
collection also by Tim Elmore.
Get Intentional Influence at www.growingleaders.com.
Got a resource you’d like to recommend? Email Ginger.Bowman@bgct.org.
