This past week has been quite hectic. Welcome Weeks usually
are. Welcome Week is when our Baptist Collegiate Ministry tries to reach out to
the new and returning students who are moving back into our community to
continue or begin their college education. It’s a crazy busy week with events
every night and people moving in all over campus. In our ministry we try to
create a culture of servant leadership. How do you know if you’ve been
successful? Let me describe a few ways that were on display this past week.
When you have leaders who are in the band and it’s band camp
week meaning they are practicing every day from 8 in the morning to 8 at night
and they make an effort to come to events after 8 to meet new students you know
you’ve created the right kind of servant leadership culture. They didn’t have
to come. We weren’t expecting them to show up. They were tired and sweaty but
they wanted to invest in the activities and more importantly in the
relationships that are formed during the critical 21 day period at the start of
the semester. They understand that service requires sacrifice of your time and
energy.
We also had students who volunteered to help move students
into the dorms. On our campus you have to apply in advance to help unless you
know the person moving in. These students took the time to look ahead in their
schedules and plan to be involved in the lives of new students and parents
arriving on campus. They smiled when they were asked to carry heavy loads upstairs
or move things for a couple of times to get it just right. In the down moments
they were able to tell them about our ministry and invite them to the welcome
week events each night. They understand that servant leadership means doing the
tasks that others neglect with a smile on your face.
Our student leadership team took on the task of surveying
during welcome week to gather contact information from new students. They spent
hot days in the Florida heat, passing out flyers and engaging students with a
30 second survey that rarely is only 30 seconds! During the week, they gathered
over 500 interested contacts and they sent an individual text to all of them.
Then they came out each night to the events and brought energy and passion to
interacting with every new student present. They were up early and out late
every night. They understand that service requires you to go the extra mile to
reach others.
Many of our students participated in the outreach even
though that’s not their comfortable places. Some of them are introverts and
naturally shy. But they still got out there and engaged with new friends that
they hadn’t met yet. They were willing to move outside their comfort zones to
see the kingdom of God move forward. They understand that servant leadership
requires you to be uncomfortable at times.
One of our target outreach groups on campus is our
university’s band. The band is made up of students who work very hard in the
hot sun to entertain and engage our student body and all they really get is one
hour of credit and a few perks. We have a few band members in our group so we
wanted to help them reach their peers with the gospel. So during band camp this
year, we asked the director if we could bring frozen popsicles for their break
time. It required someone going to get them and several people coming to serve
them by cutting open the tops and handing them out in the middle of the day.
Our leaders jumped in to help this effort happen not one day but three days in
a row. It is the first step in a plan to offer community to the band and study
of God’s word on a regular basis. Our students understand that servant
leadership often means doing a small job that leads to a greater impact.
How do you know you’ve been successful in creating a culture
of servant leadership? When your president says can we change the title to
chief servant? When your students serve without complaining? When you have
students arriving to campus early to serve others? Then I can truly say Thanks
be to God for we have been successful this year! I’m proud of our leaders
because they truly understand that to lead is to serve others in Jesus’ name!
