Encouraging Stuff Around the Country

I have been encouraged lately. There are some significant organizations that are moving forward to meet the needs of college age leaders out there. I am getting asked more and more to be a part of some of these, but I wanted to tell you about one of them.

A few months ago a guy named Bob Hetzler (that's him on the side) randomly called me and was doing some "research" on college age ministries. He wanted to meet with me for lunch, so we did. He came out and we went to Fridays (I love the Spicy Cajun Chicken sandwich - I think I get that every time I go there). We had about a two-hour lunch. He seemed like a great guy and I was telling him how excited I was that someone else was interested in providing resources for college age ministries.

Well, maybe a month and a half later I get a call from Bob again and he was saying that Ed Lewis (on left), the Executive Director of CE National, was in So. California and he would like me to join them for lunch down in Seal Beach. Well, I had no idea what/who CE National was, and I really didn't want to drive an hour for a lunch with people I didn't really know. BUT, it was for college ministry, and someone else wanted to do something about it - plus Bob was a very cool guy...so I said I would go. I checked out their website and was pleasantly surprised with the amount of things they do, mostly for youth ministry, but now trying to put some focus on college age ministry...perfect.

So, I drove down and met them in Seal Beach (great city) for lunch. Ed was a great guy, and has a ton of energy. We had a great lunch. Anyway, since then they have invited me to be a part of a conference called Momentum and its sister conference called Fusion. I guess there's about 2500 students and leaders there. I will be speaking at the Fusion conference (college-age) each morning and doing round table discussions for both conferences with leaders and parents. Ed also has me coming to the CE National office (on left) to lead a national round table discussion with college age ministry leaders in October. I'm excited about it because its intimate with it being invite only, and it will be good to hear from other leaders who are trying to engage college age people.


It is so encouraging to know you're not alone. I am doing whatever I can for college age ministry, but it sure is nice to know that there are others out there!