The Spring Tour has officially commenced. The first stop was in State College, PA. CTI partnered with St. Paul’s United Methodist Church, The Wesley Foundation and Centre Alliance for Healthy Relationships of State College. The event was held at the lovely Abba Java Coffee House on College Avenue, right across the street from Penn State University. Thank you all for attending, especially the group from Williamsport, PA, who had to get up early and make the trip through the heavy rain. (Now that’s the spirit of the tour!) And, thank you to Geneva College and Terry Evearitt of College Funding Advisors for being available for parents and students to help them make wise decisions about college. What a day!
• Why am I going to college?
• What kind of person do I want to be?
• How do I want my life to influence others?
• With whom will I surround myself?
• What do I believe?
You want your college years to count. This book shows you how to make that a reality.
(To order copies of Make College Count by itself, click here.)
ConGRADulations! Class of 2012
ConGRADulations! is a Music CD, a Media DVD, a Ministry Resource Website and a 48 Page Graphic Gift Book. Your seniors will be encouraged as the songs and videos prepare them for the biggest transition of their young lives. Includes video and written advice from John Bryson, Josh McCellan, Cody Brumley, CPYU’s own Derek Melleby and more. Brought to you by interlinc.
I can hardly wait. It opens this weekend. Millions of teenagers (and parents) could not be more excited! The blockbuster event of the year… The College Transition Seminar Spring Tour 2012! (Oh, and The Hunger Games opens as well. But there is no schedule conflict. Hollywood made sure that it would be possible to do both.)
Come one, come all. The first week features three events! Be sure to register:
Saturday, March 24 • 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM – Abba Java Coffee House, State College, PA (more info)
Tuesday, March 27 • 7:00 - 9:00 PM - Living Water Community Church, Harrisburg, PA (register)
Saturday, March 31 • 9:30 AM – 12:00 PM - Worship Center, Lancaster, PA (register)
When I started doing College Transition Seminars in 2005, there was one question that was on a lot of Christian parents’ minds: Do you think we should send our son or daughter to a Christian or secular school? I still get this question from time to time, depending on the kind of Christian culture that is present, but I don’t hear it as much. Today, the most pressing concern on most people’s minds is the cost and value of higher education. For many years, the value of higher education was understood as self-evident. Students were told that they needed to go to college to be “successful” and debt was justified on the basis that employment opportunities would be abundant.
The economic times have changed. Today many would-be college students are second guessing the culturally assumed next step after high school. And for good reason. Outstanding college student loans are expected to exceed $1 trillion this year. Time Magazine listed “Questioning the Value of Higher Education” as one of the top-ten trends of 2011. What’s more, a plethora of books have recently been published that strongly critique higher education, with titles such as: The Faculty Lounges: And Other Reasons Why You Won’t Get the College Education You Pay For; Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses; Education’s End: Why Our Colleges and Universities Have Given Up on the Meaning of Life. (The New York Review of Books highlights these titles and more in a very helpful article: “Our Universities: Why Are They Failing?”)
The March 2012 issue of Christianity Today puts the spotlight on higher education, particularly Christian colleges and universities. The featured articles recognize the financial burden that higher education has become, but also make a strong case for the value of attending a Christian institution of higher learning. To their credit, the authors do recognize that a Christian college isn’t “for everyone.” The articles are worth reading, especially if you are trying to make an informed decision about life after high school. I found the following interview very informative: “Sailing into the Storm: Philip Ryken and D. Michael Lindsay on the Challenges in Christian Higher Education.” Two college presidents (Wheaton and Gordon) discuss the relevance of Christian higher education, the theological issues facing Christian universities, and more. Here’s a good exchange:
Imagine a scenario with me: A student’s parent says, “I’m sending my child to your college to stay out of trouble, find a spouse, graduate, get a great job somewhere, settle down, and start a family.” Isn’t that the American dream?
Lindsay: Those are important components of a whole life, surely. If that’s all you’re looking for in a college experience, then I don’t think it’s worth the investment. What we want is to enliven the minds of young people who have a chance to change the world. I did research on senior leaders. Over half of them had a liberal arts degree. Over half the leaders I interviewed cited the vital importance of a mentor during college.
Ryken: Our parents’ deepest desire is for their sons and daughters to become the men and women God is calling them to become. If you look at what enables young people to sustain a consistent faith in Christ into adulthood, two of the factors are living in a like-minded community that really encourages them to follow this Savior, and having mentors who show them how to live the kind of life they’re called to live.
On Saturday I had the privilege of speaking to a group of college-bound students and parents at the beautiful Linck Hill Inn in Morris, PA. The setting was breathtaking: a Victorian mansion in the mountains of north-central Pennsylvania. The Linck Hill Inn is part of Three Springs Ministries which “provides opportunities for people of all ages to retreat away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life, away from the cares and worries of this world, and away from the things that stand between us and God.” Three Springs is located between Williamsport and the New York border. I highly recommend checking it out if you are ever in the area.
Three Springs also features one of my favorite Gap Year programs. If you have been to one of my seminars or visited this website before, you are probably aware that I am a huge advocate for taking a Gap Year before heading off to college. It’s not for everyone, of course, but I do think it should be considered, especially if students are unsure about what they want to do after high school. (Check out my article “God in the Gap Year” to read more about why I think it is a good idea.)
The Truth North Internship at Three Springs is a nine-month experience designed to equip college-aged students for missional living in the 21st century through Biblical training, cross-cultural ministry, and hands-on service. Last year I interviewed program director Phil Dunbar to let others know about True North. Here is how Phil described the basic elements of the program:
“We LEARN… spending time in the classroom for a few hours every day. We SERVE…getting our hands dirty helping in all ways around Three Springs Ministries and the local community. We ENGAGE…traveling all over the world and being transformed by the things we experience.”
Phil is passionate about his work. He has walked with many students as they discern their calling and purpose in life. Most importantly, Phil is dedicated to helping young people better understand God’s world and Word, and seeing their place within it.
We are walking stories. “Story” is one of the major themes of the College Transition Seminar. My hope is that students take time to think more deeply about their own life story before heading to college; where they have been, where they are and where they are going. Socrates famously quipped, “An unexamined life is not worth living.” The seminar creates space to live an examined life.
I also challenge students (and parents) to consider the larger story that gives direction and shape to their lives. Philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre writes, “I can only answer the question: what am I to do? if I answer the prior question: of what story do I find myself a part?” All people live their lives based on a grand, overarching story that gives meaning and shape to life. Students who have grown up in a church or in a Christian family, more than likely, have been shaped by the story of the Bible. Hopefully they have come to realize that the Bible is not just a rule book, telling us what to do or not to do, but is a coherent story that offers a certain perspective on life. The central question college students ask is this: what story will give shape to my life?
This past weekend, I had the privilege of participating in one of my favorite events of the year; the Jubilee Conference in Pittsburgh. Jubilee is committed to helping students better understand the biblical story and the difference it makes for their lives as students. The theme of the conference this year was “Everything Matters.” I love the description in the conference booklet:
“Everything matters. God made it all, and God cares about it all. It all matters. That’s what Jesus reconciled through His blood on the cross. Everything. That’s what God calls us—as followers of Jesus, enlivened by the Holy Spirit—to engage for His Kingdom’s sake. With the world around us shouting at every turn that nothing really matters, it’s time to take a deeper look into the truth of the Gospel and how it absolutely does matter. Because of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the promise that His sacrifice makes possible the redemption and restoration of the whole world—it matters how we treat our roommates, how we view business transactions, how we study, play, work, and interact with everyone we meet. It matters how we will live out our faith in Jesus Christ.”
On Saturday evening of Jubilee, high school students and their parents were invited to join the 2,000+ college students for an event called Experience Jubilee. Before heading to the main session, David Kinnaman and I had an opportunity to speak to the group about why we are passionate about equipping students to live out their faith in college. A big thank you to Geneva College and Baker Publishing Group for sponsoring the event!
The College Transition Seminar is going on a spring tour! Check out the list of locations and venues below. Click here for more information and to register for a seminar near you.
March 24 (Saturday) • 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM – Abba Java Coffee House, State College, PA
March 27 (Tuesday) • 7:00 - 9:00 PM - Living Water Community Church, Harrisburg, PA
March 31 (Saturday) • 9:30 AM – 12:00 PM - Worship Center, Lancaster, PA
April 12 (Thursday) • 7:30 – 9:30 PM - Otterbein Church, Waynesboro, PA
April 22 (Sunday) • 1:30 – 4:00 PM - Calvary Chapel of Central Bucks, Chalfont, PA
April 28 (Saturday) • 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM - Harvest Presbyterian Church, Medina, OH
May 1 (Tuesday) • 7:00 - 9:00 PM - The Presbyterian Church at New Providence, NJ
May 12 (Saturday) • 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM - Hershey Free Church, Hershey, PA
More dates and locations are being added! Check back herefor updates.
If your church or group is interested in hosting a College Transition Seminar, please fill out the seminar request form or call 1-800-807-CPYU for more information.
Who Should Attend?
College-Bound High School Students
Parents
Youth Workers (bring your youth groups!)
College Ministers
Educators
Pastors
Counselors
And Anyone Else Too!
This multi-media seminar is engaging, interactive and challenges teenagers and parents to think more deeply about four crucial questions to ask before entering college: (1) What kind of person do I want to become? (2) Why am I going to college? (3) What do I believe? (4) With whom will I surround myself? Read a complete seminar overview here.
Most of the time I cringe when I hear someone offer this advice: “You have to do what makes you happy.” I’ve seen too many people follow this counsel to its logical conclusion, only to be hurt and lost. Happiness is fleeting. What makes us individually happy is rarely a way to measure a good life. When we offer advice like this, I wonder if we are more concerned that the person needing the advice avoids pain and feels better about him or herself. Are you happy in this relationship? Are you happy in your job? Are you happy in your $50,000 convertible? Is happiness really the issue here?
If we are willing to be sincere, however, taking time to reflect on the meaning of happiness and its connection to a life well lived is often a helpful and healthy exercise. Young Adult is a movie that invites viewers to consider two important, life-shaping questions: What is happiness? What is the essence of a good life? Mavis (Charlize Theron) has been living life based on a script that hasn’t worked. She was the most popular girl in high school, had gone off to college and then moved to the big city to make something of herself. Freedom was Mavis’s dream. Free from the confines of a small town, free from the expectations of her parents, free from the shackles and burden of being married or raising a family. Free to do whatever she wanted. No restrictions. No restraints. Her occupation as a ghost writer for a young adult fiction series gave her the flexibility and presumably enough income to live her dream. But the dream was slowly becoming a nightmare. The story that was supposed to bring liberation began to enslave her.
Mavis learns that her high school sweetheart, Buddy (Patrick Wilson), had gotten married and had recently had a child. Buddy worked for his father’s business, still lived in the town in which he grew up, and now was producing offspring. It was too much for Mavis to take. How could Buddy live such a boring story? How could he lose control of his life in such a tragic way? There was only one thing for Mavis to do. She had to save him. She devised a plan to seduce Buddy away from his wife and child.
“Everyone gets old. Not everyone grows up.” The movie’s subtitle says it all. Critics have described Young Adult as “hilariously awkward,” “darkly funny,” “wryly amusing,” and “a cringefest in the best way possible.” My guess is that screenwriter Diablo Cody (Juno) was hoping for this kind of response.
Young Adult is a movie worth watching, especially for those charged with helping adolescents grow into healthy adulthood. It forces us to think more deeply about the meaning of a good life, the importance of community, and the cultural narratives that shape our desires and imaginations. There is growing concern that young people are taking too long to “grow up.” Social scientists have named it extended adolescence and emerging adulthood. Churches seem to be perplexed about how to “reach” people in their 20s and 30s. Young Adult is a gift to those who wish to better understand our cultural moment and the hopes and fears of our young neighbors. It isn’t an easy movie to watch, to be sure. It is, after all, a cringe-fest. It probably won’t make you happy. But being uncomfortable isn’t always a bad thing. Oftentimes it moves us toward empathy and action.
One of my favorite events of the year is the annual Jubilee Conference in Pittsburgh, PA. It is a conference designed to help college students be “faithful to Christ in every area of life.” For the past five years we have invited high school students, their parents and youth workers to “experience Jubilee.” Our hope is to provide an opportunity for college-bound students to gain a glimpse of what being a Christian college student looks like. This year I am pleased to be partnering with David Kinnaman, author of the recent book, You Lost Me: Why Young Christians Are Leaving Church and Rethinking Faith. David and I will lead a short session with attendees and then head over to the Pittsburgh convention Center for the Saturday evening session of Jubilee. But wait, there’s more! Every student who attends will receive a FREE copy of Make College Count and every parent or youth worker who attends will receive a copy of You Lost Me (while supplies last, of course!). Here are the details:
This event is an opportunity for high school students to experience the Jubilee Conference and gain a vision for living out their faith in college. Hear from authors and speakers, Derek Melleby & David Kinnaman, on the college transition and then join over 2,500 college students for an evening of inspiration and worship, including talks from Saleem Ghubril and Eric Mason.
Experience Jubileeis open to high school students, youth pastors and parents.
Saturday, February 18, 2012 6:30pm-9:30pm David L. Lawrence Convention Center
Cost: $15 per person (Group rate of $10 available for parties of 8 or more.) Registration will be held from 6:15pm-6:30pm outside of DLL Convention Center Room 305
Crazy U: One Dad’s Crash Course in Getting His Kid into College by Andrew Ferguson (Simon & Schuster). Ferguson writes about his experience walking through the college admission’s process with his son. “For Americans who had gone to college in the fifties, sixties, or early seventies, a process that had seemed rather straightforward—find a school, preferably nearby, figure out how to pay for it, leave home, study, flirt, party—now appeared unexpectedly elaborate and crucially important, complicated by a bewildering array of plausible options and eager come-ons. Parents seemed slightly stunned, and then uneasy, and then confused.” As a journalist and parent, Ferguson was compelled to write a book to help eliminate the confusion. He explains, “For every piece of advice or information a parent or child receives while applying to college, there is an equal and opposite piece of advice or information that will contradict it.” What’s most appealing about this book is that Ferguson isn’t afraid to challenge the assumption that everyone should go to college. Or even, that one has to go to college to be successful.
King’s Cross: The Story of the World in the Life of Jesus by Timothy Keller (Dutton). Keller writes, “The whole story of the world—and of how we fit into it—is most clearly understood through a careful, direct look at the story of Jesus.” In this book, Keller uses the Gospel of Mark to give readers a direct look at the story of Jesus. And it is direct. The Gospel of Mark is the shortest and most straight forward of the four Gospels. The first part of the book focuses on Jesus as “King” and the second part focuses on the meaning of the cross. It is Keller doing what he does best: explaining complex theological concepts in a way that connects to everyday life. I’ve always finished a book by Keller and thought, “Oh, so that’s why the Gospel is so important… and true.”
Abraham Kuyper: A Short and Personal Introduction by Richard Mouw (Eerdmans). Since I first heard them, I have been deeply motivated by Kuyper’s famous words: “There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is sovereign over all, does not cry ‘Mine!’” Mouw has been too, and in this engaging book he accomplishes two things. First, he provides a short biography and history of Kuyper’s legacy. Second, he explains the contemporary implications of Kuyper’s theology covering a wide array of topics including education, politics, the church, and the arts. Mouw’s book is a helpful guide for anyone considering the integration of faith and culture.
The Pastor: A Memoir by Eugene Peterson (HarperOne). Peterson is probably best known for his Bible translation The Message, or his countless books on the spiritual life or his many years as a seminary professor. What probably isn’t as well known, is that Peterson was a pastor for 29 years before publishing his contemporary version of scripture, or writing many of his books or teaching at a seminary! The Pastor offers readers a behind-the-scenes look at Peterson’s life as a pastor of a Presbyterian church-plant outside of Baltimore, Maryland. The book explains how he reluctantly and haphazardly became a pastor, growing into his call overtime. Writing honestly about his own struggles as a pastor, he is especially concerned with the state of the pastoral vocation today: “I didn’t want to be a religious professional whose identity was institutionalized. I didn’t want to be a pastor whose sense of worth derived from whether people affirmed or ignored me. In short, I didn’t want to be a pastor in the ways that were most in evidence and more rewarded in the American consumerist and celebrity culture.”
Sticky Faith: Everyday Ideas to Build Lasting Faith in Your Kids by Kara Powell & Chap Clark (Zondervan). This book is the first of many resources to be developed out of Fuller Youth Institute’s College Transition Project. The main goal of the “Sticky Faith” research was to “understand the dynamics of youth group graduates’ transition to college and to identify the relationships and best practices in youth ministries, churches, and families that can help set students on a trajectory of lifelong faith and service.” Powell and Clark offer valuable insights into how parents can help nurture in their kids a faith that lasts. There is also a Youth Worker’s Edition and video curriculum (for parents and students) available.
HONORABLE MENTIONS. Here are a few additional books published in 2011 that I know I would have really enjoyed had I had time to read them!
