These are a couple of students from the Christian Campus House at Northwest Missouri State University. They are sitting on a toilet outside of the main food court on campus, raising awareness and funds for the 1.1 billion people in the world without access to clean drinking water.

What are they saying with the toilet?
“We pee in water cleaner than 1.1 billion people in the world have had to drink today.”

The sign says, “$1 will give 1 person clean water for 1 year.”

Tell us about your ministry and campus.

Campus Christian Fellowship @ Appalachian State was started in 1992 by several alumni of CSF at nearby East Tennessee State University.  ASU, once a regional teachers’ college in northwest North Carolina, is now a major university of 15,000 students from across the state and surrounding states.  CCF currently has a group of approximately 80 students.  We meet weekly on campus in a concert venue owned by the university and seek to be very creative within our meetings.  An IDEA Team, made up of staff and students, meets each week to seek how best to facilitate the theme of the evening.  We also put a major emphasis on small groups, prayer, and outreach, including both in-country and overseas mission trips.  We train potential leaders through a six-week discipleship group and they have opportunities to lead (or co-lead) a small group or a servant team, based on their giftedness and passions.  Currently, we have nine small groups and six servant teams.

What is your niche on campus, and how have you gone about reaching that niche?

CCF is known on campus as having a very strong sense of community.  A major part of our emphasis in training up leaders is the pouring out of your life into other people, spending 1-1 time with them, loving and caring for them.  As a result, students are feeling accepted and valued.  We also emphasize outreach being accomplished less through events and more through the building of relationships with those who are not followers of Jesus, and encourage students to reach out to others in their dorms, classes, and places of work.  As a result, we see new faces throughout the school year.

What is your dream on a napkin? What do want CCF to look like in five years?

I dream of an increasing number of students on our campus exchanging their religiosity (we minister in the Bible Belt) for an authentic and growing relationship with Jesus.  And then for them to have a transformative impact within their spheres of influence both while in school and after graduation because they themselves have been and are being transformed.

In five years, I hope we are doing much the same thing but even better.  I hope CCF will be known on campus and in the community as a group of students who really love Jesus and are serious about following Him.  And I hope we will have support enough to adequately pay all our staff, instead of everyone having to raise most of their salaries.

Staff of CCF @ Appalachian State University

Jim Musser                        Senior Campus Minister   Contact :: email :: blog

Ed Ponton                        Associate Men’s Campus Minister

Danielle Adkison            Associate Women’s Campus Minister

Marianna Musser            Part-Time Women’s Campus Minister

Today’s post concludes a series on choosing student leaders. Next Monday we pick up the topic of encouraging student leaders and on Wednesday the topic of defining success in campus ministry.

Dr. Al Chase is the founder of White Rhino Partners an Executive Search/Executive Coaching firm in Cambridge, MA

In addition Dr. Chase lends his expertise to the Board of Directors for SojournSollegiateMinistry, organizer and facilitator of a unique gathering of leaders called Intersection 2.0, and online contributer to Business Weekly, Veterans with the Right Stuff.

When Tim Hawkins first asked me to think about the issue of identifying student leaders, and then to offer my thoughts on the topic in written form, one passage of Scripture sprang immediately to mind:

“His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’ (Matthew 25:21, NIV)

Over the years, I have had opportunities to observe many leaders in a wide variety of settings, including student ministry settings, church settings, the business world, military contexts, government and academia.  Some of leaders I have know and observed have been mature leaders, while others have been young and developing leaders.  The 10 thoughts that I offer below reflect some of the common threads I have seen in leaders of all types.

1.  A leader is someone who has grown in faithfulness in carrying out responsibilities.
This is the essence of the Parable of the Talents quoted above.  If you see a potential student leader exhibit a consistent pattern of faithfulness, responsibility, reliability, accountability and creativity in handling relatively minor tasks, then raise the bar and try her/him out with broader responsibilities.

2.  A leader is a person of influence – even without a title or formal job description.
Who do the other students already look to as an informal leader?  Who sets the trends in where to go, what activities to engage in, what ideas to discuss, etc?  Who are people drawn to and want to spend time with?  These individuals may be potential leaders for your group.

3.  A leader is teachable and coachable
The military does a good job of demonstrating that before one can become a good leader, he/she must learn to be a follower.  Being a good follower necessitates being willing to listen to and obey instructions and to internalize constructive criticism and feedback.  Watch carefully how a potential leader responds when challenged or frustrated and you will learn a great deal about their leadership potential.

4.  A leader is a developer of others
The best leaders are involved in a life-long cycle of mentorship – being mentored and reaching out to mentor those following along behind.  Look for evidence that your potential leader is spontaneously investing in the lives of other students.

5.  A leader is committed to the mission and vision of the organization
A potential leader should be someone who understands the vision of where you are trying to lead your organization, and can be part of the process of casting that vision broadly to others who may not yet be part of the organization.

6.  A leader loves people, but need not be an off-the-chart extrovert
Those who are wired as introverts can function as very effective leaders.  The key is for them to manage the flow of energy as they serve in a leadership role.  Generally, extroverts get their batteries re-charged in group settings.  Introverts tend to have energy flow out of them during group encounters, and will need time alone to re-charge their batteries.

7.  A leader is a person whose character you can trust
Look for evidence that the personal faith of the potential leader leads to consistently wise choices in terms of actions, activities, communication and relationships.

8. A leader is a team builder who takes delight and pride in accomplishing goals through influencing the work of others.
A good leader should never be a “one-man-band.”  The best leaders recruit, select, train, equip and encourage their team to accomplish more together than any of them could have done individually.

9.  A leader has the ability to encourage others – even in the face of defeat or danger.
In any organization, things do not always go according to plan.  Observe those who keep a smile on their face and determination in their heart when unexpected difficulties arise, and you may be looking at a potential leader for your group.

10.  A leader knows how to balance hard work and rest.
The best leaders are hardly ever workaholics.  Good leaders model balance – working hard when the situation calls for it, and taking time to reflect and relax and recharge as needed.

Those in campus ministry know the problems that online pornography can cause in the lives of students…or ministers.

This week’s resource is an accountability program that you install on your computer to help foster an environment where open communication and accountability can flourish in a danger cyber-world.

The program is called Covenant Eyes. Covenant Eyes, when installed on your computer, will track every single website you visit. It will then “score” each sight, giving it a point value based on objectionable content. Then, every few days, that report is emailed to your accountability partners. The accountability partners can then see every website you visited, from the super-objectionable to the benign.

I have used Covenant Eyes for a few years. There are several reasons why I like it.

• It’s not free. Yes, I like that I have to pay $8 per month for the service! It keeps me honest and financially invests me the pursuit of maintaining my internet integrity. I think this is a great investment for students to make. When they pay for the service, they have to make sacrifices to pursue holiness. I think that’s good. That, and I have used some of the free accountability programs…you do get what you pay for.
• You cannot circumvent the system. If you want to uninstall the program, you have to get a code. And once you get that code, your accountability partners immediately get an email. There is no just “turning it off.”
• It’s strict. Every once in awhile I will look at one of my own reports. Covenant Eyes will occasionally give high scores to tame websites. But, again, I like this. It forces my accountability people to really look at the reports and to question me when something smells fishy.

I frequently recommend Covenant Eyes to the students in our ministry who are struggling with online purity. For the guys, I will even offer to be their accountability partner; it’s vital for college students to have someone who will walk alongside them as they naviage these stumbling blocks in this season of life.

But this struggle isn’t just for students. And it’s not just for guys. If you are struggling…get a friend and get Covenant Eyes. It’s a good first move in the battle for your online integrity.