Greetings! My name is Ryan Alsheimer, and I work for BASIC as a college minister in Oneonta, NY. I love my job, and I’m really excited about sharing the reasons why through this awesome blog. Chris Ziegler has asked me to be a regular contributor to the blog, and it’s an honor to be able to share with you!
For many of us working or volunteering our time in college ministry, summer break is an amazing time. Obviously the greatest times as college ministers come from time that we spend with college students (super profound concept, I know), but everybody needs a good ol’ fashioned break. My wife and I go extremely hard during the semesters. For us, summer break gives us the freedom to catch up on everything that we neglect during the school year. I want to share with you my ultimate summer catch-up goal, which I will refer to as “The Funnel Effect.”
What do a funnel and a college minister have in common? (Side note: 100 points to whoever makes the best joke out of what I just said). The primary function of a funnel is to concentrate and filter ingredients to be poured into a separate source. You and I are funnels. We need to be actively looking for Godly ingredients that we can funnel into our college students’ lives. The nature of ministry is creative. It is an art form. If we aren’t actively seeking God and his creative energy, we’ll run dry.
We need inspiration in order to inspire.
This summer, replace the time that you spend on college ministry with ways to catch inspiration. Try something new. Pick up something that you haven’t been able to do for a while. Here are a few ingredients to throw into your funnel:
Get In Shape: For me personally, one of the first things I neglect when I get busy is my physical health. Getting back in shape leads to feeling better and more effective in most other areas of life. I love riding my bicycle for fitness, which usually brings me to new places to get inspired by.
Read Books: Reading books is a universal inspiration source for any creative. Stories and ideas found in books have inspired every other art form. I have a summer reading list that I hope to get through.
Use Your Hands: For many of us in full-time ministry, the nature of our work is mental work. And because we deal with people, and people won’t be ‘complete’ until Christ comes back for us, we’re often left with a sense of unfinished business. There’s an amazing feeling to be had when you use your hands to do labor that you can look back at and feel accomplished. Plant a garden, build a deck on your house, repair your car, bake a magnificent cake. I’m excited to be learning woodworking techniques from one of my pastors this summer. I’ll build you something cool, if you make me that cake.
Travel: If finances and circumstances allow, remove yourself from your usual routine for a few days. You’ll be inspired in tons of different ways. My wife and I went to the beach for a few days, and it fired me up in a couple different ways.
Make New Friends: People tend to be the greatest inspiration of all. Step out of your comfort zone and make some new friends. In turn, you’ll be inspired in beautiful new ways.
Write Stuff: Writing is awesome. It is an outlet for inspiration, which can cause us to become inspired (ever look back at something you wrote?). Start a blog, keep a journal, write a letter, write a sermon, write a book, write a poem. As a songwriter I hope to write an album’s worth of music and lyrics to record at the end of the summer.
Learn Something: When we experience new things, we’re inspired in new ways. Learn a new hobby, or learn how to better perfect your hobby. I recently taught myself how to play the ukelele, and it’s inspired new music!
What new sources of inspiration are you looking forward to this Summer?