Campus Based

Making the Most of Your Summers

Ben Maddox

When I think of collegiate ministry, I equate the year-long experience to an incredible ride down the rapids of the middle section of the Ocoee River in southeast Tennessee. The fall semester is the immediate launch into Class III rapids called “Grumpy.” It is typical to be launched out of the boat with the only choice of riding the rapids with your body tucked and your feet in front of you until you reach the calm waters a few hundred yards downstream. And this is just the beginning of an exhilarating ride of Class III and IV rapids for several hours. In the fall semester, instead of several hours, we have several months of full days of ministering to a strategic group who desperately needs to hear the Gospel, to mature in their faith, and come to a place where they can reproduce the Gospel into others’ lives on campus and beyond. By the end of the spring semester, you come to the end of an incredible journey where you are completely exhausted. But, like any journey, you need a quiet season to recuperate, which is called summers for us. What do you do to make the most of this slower season of ministry?

Here are a few suggestions I have learned from my years of serving as a campus-based minister:

1. Celebrate the “wins” from the school year. How have you seen God move in the lives of your students and yourself?

Someone came to faith in Christ… a young leader grew in their leadership skills… a student who has a deeper, consistent, and growing walk with Jesus… a disciple-making student who has made a difference in the lives of other students… a student who overcame his/her fear to share the Gospel for the first time… a student who took the plunge to spend his/her summer on mission for Christ… etc. I make sure to share these God stories with our ministry supporters.

2. Rest…Play…Recalibrate.

There is no way you and I can keep a year-round pace like we live in the fall and spring. Soon after students have departed for the summer, take some time to rest your body, mind, and soul. Then play! You need a hobby that recharges you. For me, it is exercising and fishing. Then, I learned this next idea from a fellow campus minister. I take two consecutive weeks off without doing any ministry-related activities. I will take a week to enjoy with my immediate family and a second week just to be at home or visiting extended family. This allows me to recalibrate to a more normal pace.

3. When I am not doing #1 and #2 in May and June, I work on personal development and the BCM facility and grounds.

I want the BCM to be a student-friendly, welcoming, and functional place of ministry. There are some maintenance needs that are best done when students are not around. Additionally, I focus some time on personal development through reading and listening to others who have a pulse on Next Generational ministry and trends.

4. July is my “framing” season.

This is where I take the input from student leaders from the end of the spring semester and my evaluation of the previous year to begin developing a “frame” for what the upcoming school year needs to look like. I am consistently evaluating and making adjustments to improve the quality of the ministry from year to year. Much of my evaluation and framing is built around connecting with new students those first three weeks of the semester, most effective practices of evangelism and strategies of evangelism for students, fine-tuning our discipleship model, making plans to teach and mobilize students to live on mission for Christ through our mission partners, and best practices to partner with local churches in significant ministry opportunities.