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Summer is rounding out and in a few short weeks the college students will be making their way back to campus. Classes will resume, excited freshman will flood the hall, textbooks will be rented, dining halls will put out their best food, and everything will be buzzing with the hopeful optimism that comes with the start of every new year.
For a campus minister, this part of the year might be better than Christmas (might is the key word). I know I personally can not wait until my students return!! It was as I was thinking about them and the excitement that comes with the beginning of a new school year, I started to reflect on my past year as a campus minister.
Here are five things that I have learned this year.
1. Time is valuable
This year I learned the importance of time management. And to be honest, I’m still working on it. When juggling coffee dates, leadership prayer, and planning meetings it’s easy to fill up your schedule and feel like you are constantly running. Having a schedule and planning ahead ensures that you don’t burn out and can be truly present when you give people your time.
2. Students are the best
You wouldn’t be in campus ministry if you didn’t have a heart for young adults. I always loved college students but never knew how much I would fall in love with my students. The absolute best part of my job is having the opportunity to serve them, know them, and encourage them. It has blessed me exceedingly and abundantly more than I could have ever imagined.
3. No one actually knows what they are doing
This was one of my favorite lessons this year, though it was probably the hardest to learn. Striving was something I really struggled with. As a new minister I was convinced that if I just read the right books, got the best discipleship material, and talked to enough seasoned ministers that I would finally have a handle on what I was supposed to be doing. The reality is, everything I read, researched, and heard all said the same thing. None of us know what we are doing in this life. Our only hope is to trust that God knows. We can trust that we are exactly the right people at exactly the right time on exactly the right campus. Very early on in my walk with the Lord a friend told me the familiar saying, “God doesn’t call the qualified, He qualifies the called.
4. Prayer works
When you realize you don’t really know what you are doing and no one else really does either, it can be a little uncomfortable. It is a human desire to be in control and to want to know what to do and what comes next. However, the Lord is infinitely wise and made it so we had to depend on Him, completely. I learned this year that the only difference between a successful meeting and one that was a little rough was when I took the time to pray about it. Prayer works every time.
5. Just Jesus
Your walk with the Lord is always the most important thing about your ministry. I found when I let weeks go by without spending real quality time with Jesus, feelings of worry, doubt and fear started creeping into my spirit. Jesus is what gives our ministry life and we just get to partner with Him. Any good that I could ever do is a direct result of Jesus’ work in me.
Maybe this isn’t your first year as a minister or leader on your campus but you learned a lot this past year. Maybe you even identify with some of my points and can add a few of your own. I encourage you to think through some for yourself. What did God teach you this past year? What are you excited about for this year? What can you improve upon? Reflecting always helps us process and become better leaders and ministers!
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