hey mike thanks for sharing that post! twitter is very much un-explored right now and i love hearing first hand examples of people trying it for ministry!

agreed and feel your pain on the time thing. time is so precious for staff--especially when you throw in how emotionally draining ministry can be. http://inconversation.org/ it's a blog aggregator of a lot of staff blogs--great time saver. feel free to pass it on!

hey tim wanted to respond publicly as i think sharing w in ccc is such a critical issue. the biggest problem/opportunity from my view is putting everything behind the ccc wall. w out a public url there simply is too much friction to facilitate and encourage sharing resources. i understand the need and value of an internal library/database but building something that encourages sharing is also important. have you seen desiring god's new site? they are doing a great job at this: http://beta.desiringgod.org/

just saved both of those links ross. thanks! the thing i'm working on related to this is how i can double down in terms of time and energy on blogging-it's natural for me to do but in order to grow i need to add a new layer of organization that will keep me focused and provide a rich source of ideas from which to draw. hope you're doing well! still following your tweets.

that's very cool. besides the book you mentioned is there any other content you would recommend?

i'm pretty sure i blogged about that, but if not have definitely considered the same thing. we would retain more students during college and equip them more effectively for their future...

that is very cool. will check into it!

no. just bookmarked their site. do you know if any of their work would translate to within an organization?

sure josh!

hey josh thanks for your comments and sharing your experience. we actually have the same experience--although our upperclassmen studies are coed, there is significantly more single sex breakout times that happens there compared to the freshmen. drilling a little deeper it wasn't just the gender that was the issues, it was the size--by making our groups co-ed we doubled and even tripled the size of them, creating more social energy and momentum. you mentioned the difference in upper classmen vs freshmen--i would disagree when you say "the same students" because frosh and sophs are much different than upperclassmen. had our ministry focused on upperclassmen we probably would have went the same route you did and have found effective. thanks again for commenting!

thanks dude. didn't eat lunch in preparation for tonight!

pretty sure that's how they are defining a movement--a staff/leader and 5 aligned students. i think if we worried less about the five and more about the one we would have a lot more movements.

http://andrewchenblog.com/2009/12/07/minimum-desirable-product/ this applies to guy's questions as well. love andrew chen by the way. if you use rss you should add him to your feeds. "So, the minimum viable product is that product which has just those features (and no more) that allows you to ship a product that resonates with early adopters; some of whom will pay you money or give you feedback."--andrew chen quoting eric ries. ministries are started on the backs of leaders--so the minimum viable product of any ministry start-up is 1 leader besides yourself. i think ccc and our focus on 5 aligned is even too big when thinking about what it actually looks like to start something up on the field. in looking for 5 you might miss or not be able to invest well in the 1 key leader that is going to lead the ministry in the future. i saw that at ucla--i had 3 leaders, but 1 extremely gifted and capable leader--had i spent my efforts trying to get 2 more instead of pour into him and the other two i might have compromised the launch.

hey guy my favorite example for personal experience happened when i was seeking to start a ministry to latino students at ucla. my dream was to start a full blown ministry/movement--a wise ccc staff leader encouraged me to start a bible study. for me it's little shifts in the way we think about new ministry ventures that cause a lot of forward momentum. had i held on to the dream of a ministry i would have failed to start a bible study. i heard the phrase "minimum viable product" in one of my blogs--i like thinking of ministry start-ups that way--sometimes it's a bible study, other times it's a semi-frequent mtg w a certain group of students, etc. from your ministry efforts what is a common "start-up" that you have seen? have you seen more "macro" start-ups (a college ministry) or "micro" (a sub-ministry of an existing one)? thanks for the comment!

thanks for the link dude! and for the great post. i feel piled on when i feel like there are multiple summers--raising money, leading the family, and leading a ministry. i know exactly what this proverb alludes to though--there are clearly times that the Lord provides for intentional effort in a specific area.