I am a bit of an oddball in college ministry circles. College ministries are similar to churches in that they have a large emphasis on the amount of people that will come to a gathering. Although, I enjoy being a part of large gatherings of students and leaders, I see those times as rare. Some of my peers look at me like I am crazy when I tell them that the largest amount of students I have at one place at one time is during an outreach event.

I see the benefits of having hundreds students come to a weekly worship times, but that just hasn’t been my area of strength. At my local church we have a monthly worship gathering and it is small in comparison to the much larger outreach times. We have several hundred students that attend our church, which is good. But, the students that attend the more intimate connections are mobilizing to reach their campuses. That is what I care most about!

Too many students and Christians for that matter look at the wrong metrics. If I have people coming to hear my great messages and very few of them move to action I see that as failure. The ministry shouldn’t be mostly sitting and listening, it should be engaging with the culture for Christ sake. The sitting and learning should be motivation for impact.

I am not trying to devalue mega-churches (I am a college pastor at a local mega-church). I am not saying that people who focus on large numbers are bad leaders. I’m not even saying that I won’t have a regular large offering for students. I am saying that we should be more known for the students that are making a difference than for the amount we can have sitting for a message. If our students are great listeners and bad missionaries then that is a reason to lament. If we have few students but most of them are missional than success. The goal should be to send them all!

So, if you’re looking at my leadership consider this. My staff that have embraced this perspective and they are strategically in place at Golden Key, Kennesaw State University, Spelman College, Clark Atlanta University, and Emory University. Or that I have students who are kingdom leaders at Spelman College, Kennesaw State, University of Georgia, Georgia Tech, University of Michigan, and Elon University just to name a few. Those are better metrics.