Note from Linda

My favorite air to breath is Fall air on a college campus. Fall and the arrival of students, new and returning, is here! Football players, Resident Assistants, Sorority recruitment leaders, and band members are likely on your campus right now. Others will quickly follow! Wooo Hooo!

Most Freshmen arriving on your campus in a few weeks were born in 1992! Other happenings in 1992 were:
• A League of Their Own, Sister Act, and A Few Good Men were popular movies.
• The Pelican Brief by John Grisham, Every Living Thing by James Harriot, and The Way Things Ought to Be by Rush Limbaugh were best selling books.
• Murphy Brown, Home Improvement, and Cheers were weekly television hits.
• Right Said Fred’s I’m Too Sexy and Kris Cross’ Jump were at the top of the musical charts.
• University of Alabama football record was 13-0-0.
• Toronto Blue Jays won the World Series: 4-2 against the Atlanta Braves.
• The first black female astronaut, Dr. Mae C. Jemison, spent more than a week orbiting Earth.
• Johnny Carson left The Tonight Show. I still miss him.
• Quebec voted to remain a part of Canada.
• The LA Riots followed the recorded beating of Rodney King.
• Minnesota’s Mall of America, the largest shopping mall in the US was constructed.

My hope is that this newsletter will give you some practical tools to begin the 2010-2011 school year—from welcoming Freshman and International students to resources which can be used to make collegiate disciples.

Blessings for a new ministry year,

Linda H. Osborne
National Collegiate Ministry Leader

The Call You Don’t Want to Make or Receive

My heart joined hundreds of sad hearts this week as I learned of the death of Palmer Maphet, a sophomore at TN Tech serving as a missionary in Maine through Baptist Collegiate Ministry. Palmer and his team were traveling to minister at Laconia Motorcycle Week in Laconia, New Hampshire when a car accident ended his life on earth.

I met Palmer on February 6 at a Freshman Retreat which he coordinated. His leadership/ organizational skills, quick smile, and the ability to talk and ice-skate simultaneously were impressive. I grieve this loss, only knowing him a short time. My heart hurts for his family, his mission team, his friends, BCM, and track team.

College students like Palmer -- Brian, Sandy, Tom, Brad, John Wesley, Greg—have died young, with lots of dreams and ministry plans and with grieving family and friends left behind. While we each desire to never be the bearer or the recipient of such news, those who have walked this path have wisdom to share.

The God Talk:

· Do more listening and loving than speaking. Save your best devotional thought for later.

· Allow scripture to speak for itself. Writing or speaking a verse of comfort can be very helpful, without your added interpretation specific to the grief situation.

· God’s grace is often best delivered though simple, thoughtful acts. I lost a baby years ago, and my well meaning Christian friends had many flowery words to share. God’s grace was delivered powerfully to me through a bouquet of lovely Spring flowers with only one word printed on the card. The word? Paul. Paul was a college student involved with the ministry I led who knew that less was more. He knew because he, too, had experienced loss, the death of both of his parents. His signature was all that was needed.

· Share a book for later. Getting Through the Night: Finding Your Way after the Loss of a Loved One by Eugenia Price is a great book to keep on your shelf to give to grieving college students and families. It’s hopeful and full of scripture. It’s short. Grief takes work, so long books usually are too much for one in the midst of grief. It’s inexpensive, $5.99 at LifeWay.

The Practical:

· Contact the family in an appropriate way, depending on your role and relationship to the student. Don’t get in the way or be demanding of time, but make contact soon. Ministry of presence early on is hugely helpful!

· Help the family get any and all information possible, as soon as possible. Weaver McCracken, Director of the Collegiate Ministry Department of the Mississippi Baptist Convention Board, encourages ministries to help the family travel to the site of the loss, providing financial support to make this happen. “This helps the family better understand how this happened and where it happened,” McCracken acknowledged.

· Encourage college students and others connected to the loss to gather factual information prior to communication via text, Facebook, etc. Misinformation can easily be spread quickly in a tragedy situation. Joe Graham, Collegiate Ministries Specialist for the Georgia Baptist Convention, notes, “If I’m with a group in the midst of a tragedy, the first thing I’ll ask is for everyone to turn off their electronics. Someone has to assess the situation and contact relatives and other vital contacts.”

· Help the family know you remember and you care, long after the loss. McCracken said, “I have Greg Gomez’s birthday in my permanent calendar, so I will remember. I also have noted how old he will be each year, so I can contact the family with knowledge of things that are doubtless on their minds. He was one of ours. We own the loss and always will.”

· Have a plan that allows the students to process and remember, particularly the first year. Daniel Berry, Baptist Collegiate Ministry Director at the University of Kentucky, planned opportunities which gave students chances to pause and remember their friends, Brad and Tom. A memorial 5K run was one of the meaningful opportunities for students.

Your Personal Grief:

· Find other college ministers who have also experienced the loss of a student in their collegiate ministry who understand and will listen. Berry remarked, “Shock/ responsibility will keep you going for the first week or two. As time goes on and you are grieving, it can be very lonely. You can feel like no one remembers your students and wonder things like, ‘How can this world be functioning like normal?’ Darrell Cook (BCM Director at Virginia Tech) provided immeasurable help in my life.”

· Be patient and gracious towards yourself as well. Grief takes time, even for a college minister.

· Wayne Oates’ Grief, Transition, and Loss; A Pastor’s Practical Guide can be a helpful read for you.

· Go to sleep each evening, and wake up each morning remembering our hope in Heaven, in eternity, in Jesus.

Linda H. Osborne is National Collegiate Ministry Leader for LifeWay. She is thankful today for her friend and former student, Hannah, who lived but witnessed the loss of her summer missions team members over a decade ago.

APRIL UPDATE

I love reading the facebook status’ of my collegiate minister friends this time of year!

“You guys made it! Have a great summer! Be safe traveling home.”

“Looking forward to the Senior Cookout at our house tonight-last BCM event of the year!”

“Just cleared a bunch of pictures of men in kilts off the college ministry camera”

“Spring Fling event today. Hope I don’t get suckered into the dunking booth.”

“Midnight Pancake Breakfast tonight at the BCM!! 11pm to 1am gets you 10 pancakes!! Hope to see you there.”

“Shipping some Inupiaq language New Testaments out to Barrow for a friend”

“Apparently needs to learn a few synonyms for “homey” before playing Catch Phrase again”

“Pumped about the baseball game tonight. Go Tops!”

“Just sent a new option for the Haiti team. If you are on that team, check your email for the new and ever changing plan. This team is getting to practice flexibility before they go!”

“Seniors, I have decided that I really don’t want you to graduate. See what you can do about changing your plans.”

Collegiate ministers are amazing-semi-exhausted at the end of the school-year, yet still nurturing, still sharing the gospel, still cooking, still playing games, still guiding, still organizing, still leading. Be encouraged as you make the transition to summer school, Orientation for new students, and mission trips.

“I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened so you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the glorious riches of His inheritance among the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of His power to us who believe, according to the working of His vast strength. He demonstrated this power in the Messiah by raising Him from the dead and seating Him at His right hand in the heavens-“ Ephesians 1: 19-20 (HSCB)

Hope to see you at Collegiate Week at Glorieta! It’s almost sold out! : )

Linda H. Osborne

National Collegiate Ministry Leader

Church and Network Partnerships, LifeWay

January Update

The National Collegiate Ministry purpose statement is: To LEAD college students and others in the academic community to faith in Jesus Christ, to DEVELOP them as disciples and leaders, and to CONNECT them to the life and mission of the church. It is so encouraging to see collegiate ministries leading, developing, and connecting students. This quarter's newsletter is focused on developing collegians as leaders.

Some quotes from leaders who make me think follow:

"A great leader's courage to fulfill his vision comes from passion, not position." John Maxwell

"A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus." Martin Luther King, Jr.

"The most effective way to do it, is to do it." Amelia Earhart

"Outstanding leaders go out of the way to boost the self-esteem of their personnel. If people believe in themselves, it's amazing what they can accomplish." Sam Walton

"A leader takes people where they want to go. A great leader takes people where they don't necessarily want to go, but ought to be." Rosalyn Carter

"Delegating work works, provided the one delegating works, too." Robert Half

"Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person." Mother Teresa

"A leader is somebody you follow. I have this friend who wants to be a leader but nobody follows her. I don't think you can be a leader if nobody follows you." Julianna Osborne

As you select leadership teams, discover ways to connect your students to the devastation of those in Haiti, call out gifts in Sophomores that Sophomores have yet to see in themselves, mentor students both in formal and informal ways, and strive for continued growth as a leader in your own life, may the words in this newsletter be helpful to you.

Linda Osborne
National Collegiate Ministry Leader

Network Partnerships