If you find yourself wondering whether today’s students have the vision, character and passion to lead change in this generation, don’t miss this amazing story of God’s grace lived out through 7,000+ students from over 100 campuses across Ethiopia. My friend Tariku Fufa says “this is all about giving purpose and mission to younger leaders.” Did I fail to mention that we only have 10 campus staff members in that country?

Howdy from Austin, Texas. This is God’s country. Last night I enjoyed some fantastic enchiladas at Trudy’s Texas Star Cafe with my old friend John Hand. Hard to believe we pledged a fraternity here 28 years ago. So much has changed as this classic college town has grown, no, exploded, from about 300,000 residents in 1980 to nearly 2 million today.

Local t-shirts on sale everywhere capture the emotion of people locked in constant change: Keep Austin Weird.

Each of us is living, loving and leading through constant change today. Here are four great links I came across in the past week that ignited my imagination and courage.

1. Stand up (or sit down) for what’s right. Fifty years ago today four black college students changed their world by sitting down for lunch at an all-white lunch counter. Their action stoked a movement that still lives on today. USA Today story here.

2. Relevant ministry is about meeting people’s real needs. Usually it begins by giving people what they are asking for now, not by continuing to offer them what worked for the last generation. The half-life of today’s student generation is about 9 months. Are we connecting? Read Russ Martin’s excellent blog post Student: I Want Video Clips.

3. Thots on Change, the Sense of Urgency and the Long Haul of Cultural Transformation. Jay Lorenzen’s recent post distills wisdom from John Kotter (Harvard professor) and Michael Hyatt (CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers).

The big idea: Urgency is an essential asset that must be created and re-created in the organization…. More often than not, small companies have a sense of urgency. Why? Because their very survival is at stake. If they don’t move quickly, they get squashed by larger, more established competitors.

On the other hand, it is rare to find large companies that truly have a sense of urgency. Their circumstances rarely demand it. They can continue with business-as-usual and do pretty well. Nothing has to be done today or even this week. Nothing is really at stake—or so they think. Often, by the time they wake up, it’s too late.

4. Are you a Linchpin for your organization? You don’t have to be the president or CEO to initiate, create opportunities for others and solve problems that aren’t necessarily in your job description. Here’ s a great interview with Seth Godin talking about his new book, Linchpin. I highly recommend listening to Part 1 of the interview (about 9 minutes). Big idea: Linchpins are the essential building blocks of great organizations. And in today’s world, they get the best jobs and the most freedom.

Go for it!

Recently I had the opportunity to meet with some people who are totally serious about fulfilling the Great Commission in the next ten years. Yep, vision flowed. This was a gathering of the Lausanne Strategy Working Group who were preparing for Cape Town 2010, the Third Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization. My friend Paul Eshleman chaired the meeting and challenged each of us to write an article for the online journal www.lausanneworldpulse.com.

My article, Are Today’s Students On Your Radar?, just came out in the August edition.  Take a peek.

Who can forget the grainy image of one courageous student staring down a column of tanks? Twenty years ago today the Chinese government chose lethal force to deal with a swelling student-led movement in Tiananmen Square. That fateful decision appears to have triggered one of the greatest spiritual awakenings in church history. The exponential growth of China’s church in the past two decades, particularly among the educated elite, is nothing short of miraculous.

The idea that students can change the world is not a new one. King Nebuchadnezzar understood this when he selected Daniel and his three Israelite friends to receive the best education Babylon had to offer 2,600 years ago. The king sought attractive, skilled, wise and competent youths to be educated for three years. At the end of that time they were to stand before the king. (Daniel 1:1-7) In the same way, today’s governments, corporations and advertisers invest millions of dollars each year attempting to influence students and the choices they will make for the rest of their lives.

Like it or not, today’s students will shape tomorrow’s culture.

Here’s an updated link to the Google Docs slides for m2M Antioch Movement presentations.

What happened at Antioch? What movement-building principles can we apply today?

I’ve received numerous requests for the audio, slides, handout of this presentation and have posted links on Google Video and Docs.

Please use, copy and edit as needed.

ken

“Where’s my screen?” blurted the middle-aged woman next to me while we waited for the Indiana Jones show to begin at Disney World. Her rummaging instantly produced a sleek iPhone. We still had 10 more minutes to blow, why not get a little bit of work done while waiting?

Over-35′s value smartphones as a means to greater effectiveness, efficiency and tech-cool. But many blogs I read, especially in ministry, continue to insist that an email inbox will always be the way to get real work done.

But what does this generation of Screenagers think? Did you know that email was last on the list of 8 preferred methods of communication – after DVDs and books?

“What Are Your Preferred Methods of Communication?”

Dr. Tim Elmore of http://www.growingleaders.com/ asked recent focus group of 16-24 year olds this question. This group’s top eight methods of communication are:

1. Text messaging
2. Internet (i.e. MySpace or Facebook)
3. iPods and Podcasts
4. Instant messaging
5. Cell phone (actually speaking with someone)
6. DVD / CD
7. Books
8. Email

Dr. Elmore continues:* “I want you to notice a few things about this list. First, note that email is last on the list. One student described email as “a way to communicate with older people.” Second, with one exception, this list moves from more personal to less personal in nature. They want something customized not generic if they’re going to pay attention. Third, and most importantly, these students prefer a “screen” for six out of their top eight favorite methods of communication.

The Screen Age
Every generation shares common characteristics. However, each generation is defined by some shared elements in their developmental years. The primary elements that define a generation are:
1. Shared Music
2. Shared Experiences
3. Shared Crises
4. Shared Television Programs
5. Shared Celebrities (people of influence)
6. Shared Age and Era

Today, the delivery of almost every one of these elements share one thing in common–they are driven by a screen. Call me the master of the obvious, but students want to interact with a screen. In fact, we’ve begun to call students “screenagers” because they are more at home in front of a screen than watching a talking head on a stage. They want a personal message, but want to control how intimate and vulnerable they become. They like the option of signing off when they wish.

The fact that text messaging landed at number one on the list tells us a lot about students today. Bear with me as I venture some observations about why text messages are the preferred method of communication:

1. Text messages represent very current communication.
More so than voicemails, a text means I need to interact now about something relevant to you.

2. Text messages are generally sent from someone you know.
Unlike phones, you generally don’t get a “wrong number” or generic call on a text message.

3. Text messages are brief and to the point. [Unlike this lengthy blog post ]
The person texting doesn’t waste words; in fact, they usually abbreviate the message.

4. Text messaging is in your control.
The receiver can stop when they want to.

This kind of control is attractive to students today. They want communication on their terms. Students today are inundated with messages, from every side. I believe they’re most likely to respond to a text message because it allows them fast, current, relevant communication with friends–but at a safe distance. They like intimacy without a lot of vulnerability. It sounds like a paradox and perhaps it is. I believe this is but one of several paradoxes that exist among Generation Y. Consider this. This is the first generation who does not need authorities to access information. Why? They have screens. However, they do need authorities, like you and I, to help them process that information. We can interpret it for them. This is our challenge.”

*Normally I would link to a post of this length, but I received this information by email and can’t locate it on Elmore’s site.

Leadership challenge: What communication methods do I need to develop in order to connect – life-on-life – with this generation?

“Be still, and know that I am God.
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth!” – God, Psalm 46:10

We are currently witnessing a resurgence of spiritually motivated student activism around the world. “God will accomplish His purposes,” our former pastor used to say, “with us if He may, without us if He must.” The longer Ann and I are involved in God’s global harvest, the easier it is to believe we are on the brink of seeing His Great Commission fulfilled.

One of my many lame excuses for few recent blog posts has been extensive travel over the past two months. From Cape Town to Cairo, from LA to Canada, and from Hungary to Thailand, dozens of conversations with field staff and student leaders confirm that God is accomplishing His work at a seemingly accelerated rate.

• Kristoff, a German student who attended the CM2007 missions conference in Korea last July, was convicted by those students sitting in the “no photos” section because they came from countries where they faced persecution. “We’re not risking anything,” he said. He has mobilized a prayer movement, calling fellow students to believe God together for gospel-resistant German campuses.

• I recently attended a gathering in Hungary of about 500 Christians who minister throughout 19 countries in Eastern Europe and Russia. A majority of these teams saw between 5-20 students indicate decisions to follow Jesus Christ just last semester. Several of these locations have been notoriously hard soil.

• In “closed” East Asia, one multinational team comprised of 4 staff members and 5 volunteers has seen God open up student-led ministries on 30 campuses in 4 cities. Please read that again and let it soak in. I asked Andy, the team leader, what his secret was. “Asking students to be in a prayer group or join a Bible study is not a challenge,” he replied. “We show them God’s big heart for the nations from day 1, then invite them to change their world. We’ve discovered that this way the students don’t think ‘Hey wait, I need a staff member to help me,’ or ‘I need permission to….’ They just go for it and start leading.”

Lesson for us: History is moving toward a very clear end which culminates in the God of the Bible being glorified in every nation. Students have always been the lever that moves the world. Let’s get everyone we can think of out of the bleachers and onto the field.

“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations….” These few words, spoken by Jesus to eleven confused men standing on a hillside, have captivated me since I began walking with the Lord. The core imperative—make disciples—increasingly shapes and defines my passion in life. Many friends have been asking me, “so, Ken, what is your new job all about?” It boils down to this: making disciples of all nations. Our prayer is that God would use our rich experience in building followers of Christ in East Asia to help grow student-led movements everywhere, so that one day every student would know someone who truly follows Jesus.

Today there are about 8,000 top tier campuses in the world, of which only 2,000 have Christian movements (CCC or otherwise). This means over 6,000 of the world’s most influential universities are not being significantly influenced by the gospel of Jesus Christ. Students are graduating and becoming doctors, lawyers, professors, and statesmen without ever being changed by the gospel. The vision of CM2007 is to change all that.

CM2007 (www.cm2007.net), Campus Crusade for Christ’s first global student missions conference, will take place June 30 – July 6 in Busan, Korea. Nope, this is no mere blip on the collegiate social radar. It will be a historic event with three primary themes:

• Christ Magnified. PRAY for me and other keynote speakers as
we call students to live a life surrendered to the Lordship of Christ and
to exalt our magnificent God and Savior. Much of the conference will
focus on helping participants see our holy God in a new and clear way.

• Connected Movements. ASK the Lord to connect the hearts
and lives of our students and staff as a global community of campus
movements. There are over 20,000 students and staff from 127 countries registered for this gathering. We will learn from, encourage, and be challenged by others from different walks of life, cultures, languages and experiences.

• Completing the Mission. PRAY that God will unleash a new generation of spiritual movement builders to strengthen existing movements and launch new movements on the unreached campuses of the world.

Lesson for aspiring leaders: The world is waiting for us to change it.

What does one president say to the next president when passing the baton of leadership? Recently I stumbled upon an actual letter from an outgoing president. His advice is worth considering.

“Dear Mr. President-elect! Congratulations on your victory! I am glad that you won. Here are five practices I found helpful to keep in mind while leading.

Being President
I really don’t have to tell you a lot – you saw what I did throughout the year.

• Be a leader
• Take the initiative to make things happen
• Set goals for the year – and connect them to your mission statement.
• Make sure that all of the stuff you and your team do meets with a standard that is acceptable to God and to the administration.
• Use your resources
• Know your people’s talents and make use of them. If you need to bring in people from the outside, do it!
• Never be afraid to talk to Mr. E or Mr. F – I talked to them at least once a week for the entire year, just updating them and asking for advice. This semester I talked to one of them almost every day.
• Delegate to responsible people
• If you (or just the team of officers) try to do everything yourself, you will die – so delegate.
• Get to know who will get things done and get them to help you out – tell them exactly what you want, give them clear (preferably written) directions, and give them a deadline.
• Of course, you should supervise closely those who are not as responsible and give more freedom to those more reliable.
• Be on top of information
• This is one of the MOST IMPORTANT points.
• You should be the one initiating events and you should know everything that needs to be done at any given time – you should always have the most updated information.
• Ask the right questions. In planning, the most important thing is to ask, “What still needs to be done?” Put careful thought into this.
• Having the right information (and maybe some advice and outside opinions) is the key to making good decisions.
• Set an example
• People should look up to you as a leader.
• You should do everything that you ask your team to do.
• If you are lazy and forgetful, others will start to slack off (not that I am worried about that – you’ll do great I’m sure).”

Final Thoughts
“I have found that the best way to get things done is to get a lot of people involved and motivate them to do the work. Do what is right first and foremost. If it is really a decision that has no right or wrong choice, go with the majority opinion – you were, after all, elected by the majority and it is your job to serve them, even if you want it another way. Of course, there is a lot more involved – but that is your job to come up with. You said you want to have better communication with the students – great! I look forward to hearing about how you are an awesome president! Way to be a leader! “

Travis Cochrum
Outgoing Student Council President
International Community School, Singapore
May 2007

Well done, Travis! It’s been a joy to watch you learn, grow and lead well this year. Love, Dad

Lesson for us: 17-year olds can teach us some very practical lessons in solid leadership, if we’ll listen.