This is a process you can use when pioneering to get a sense of the school and to learn information you might not otherwise discover until it's too late.

CAMPUS:

Location:

Public transportation:

Brief history of school:

Demographics

• Student Population:
• Undergrad:
• Grad:
• Commuter:
• International Students:
• Countries Represented:
• Dorm Dwellers:
• Commuters:

Campus Information

• Quarters / Semesters?
• Where do students live?
• Where do students hang out?
• Student Organizations Office:
• Director of Student Life:
• Chaplain:
• Dean of Students:
• International Student Advisor:
• Residence Life Director:
• Athletic Director:
• Greek System Director:
• How To Reserve Meeting Space:
• How To Schedule An Information Table:
• How to Schedule Open Air Presentation/Drama

Making Noise

If you're ministering at a public university, you and your students have rights you might not be aware of. Read the following (provided courtesy of the Alliance Defense Fund). They've won an astounding number of Supreme Court cases, and really know what they're talking about.

If you have any questions or are facing unconstitutional policies on your campus, please call Sumi Thomas at 1-800-TELL-ADF (835-5233) or email her from the http://www.telladf.org/ website - they will give you free advice and possibly even take on your case pro bono.

This is a synthesis of an interview Glen Davis conducted with Steve Shadrach, founder of Student Mobilization along with highlights from Steve's packet titled "Heart of the Campus."

Launching Transformative Campus Ministry

1. Your students will do to others what you did with them. If all you do to start up is find all the loose Christians on campus and get them in a room, don't expect an evangelistic powerhouse to result. Win them to Christ, don’t just invite Christians.
2. You will attract students like those in your core: focus on mainstream influencers (as opposed to interested or isolated students).
3. Don’t start a large group meeting until you have 15-20 mainstream students who have primarily been won to Christ who are all sharing Christ with their friends. It takes a year and a half to two years to reach that point.
4. The three key components of a campus ministry are momentum, multiplication, and management.
5. Do discipleship in the context of evangelism, and not vice-versa. Frequently we teach people to do evangelism as one component of our discipleship strategy and then get back to 'real discipleship'. What we need to do instead is help students share their faith and in the context of ministry do on-the-spot discipleship.
6. Spend all your time on campus, hold all your meetings on campus—don’t even have an office! Grab your suitcase/backpack in the morning, get on campus, and don't leave until the day is done.
7. The beginning is hard, exhausting work. You have to take the initiative in everything, meet people like crazy, and follow up on those meetings.

Reaching The Heart Of The Campus

• "All people are equally important, but not all people are equally strategic." Dr. Bill Bright
• The most strategic people on campus are the key leaders of the key groups.
• They comprise only about 5% of the campus, but their influence is huge.
• Win the chief, win the tribe--this is a basic missiological principle.
• The heart of the campus is the most unreached segment.
• Focus on influencers and you will indirectly effect more interested and isolated students.
• If you want influential staff down the road you must focus on influential students now.

Do We Want FAT Or FAITH?

We often say we're looking for FAT student-faithful, available, and teachable, but for an interested or isolated student, FAT may mean this:

Effectiveness Questions

1. What percentage of my group converted under my ministry?
2. Do I have more freshmen than upperclassmen?

Leadership Questions

1. Are more than 1/3 of your student leaders new this year? If not, you are not prepared for sustainable growth.
2. Does joining your leadership team make a student's life better or worse? If better, then why don't you have more applications? If worse, then why?
3. Do you hear frequent laughter in leadership meetings?
4. Do people reguarly disagree with one another in your leadership meetings? If not, then you have a problem. Either people don't feel safe or all your leaders are too stupid to form opinions.