Obtaining Religious Preference Information From Your Campus

Our campus based religious organizations secure names of students to invite to our ministries in a variety of ways. Most are secured at orientation and from our local and state churches. Another way is from the Registrar’s Office, if they secure the religious information of their students. At LSU they do so, and we receive several times as many names in this way as in any other.

The vast majority of the colleges and universities in the United States do not secure the religious preference information of their students due to concerns about their privacy laws. Due to recent actions at two universities there is a window of opportunity to increase the number. You may want to consider attempting to request that your college or university begin doing so.

At Louisiana State University each student that fills out an application for admission can indicate their religious preference. Their contact information is then provided to religious organizations that they indicated as their religious preference or background. Our registrar was concerned that doing so violated the student’s privacy laws and in the fall of 2011 our religious organizations at LSU were informed that LSU would no longer provide this information. I examined our application form and confirmed that there is a statement on it that I felt would meet the legal requirements for us to receive the information. The question #9 on our application reads: 9. Religious Preference – by indicating a religion, I understand that my preference could be shared with campus groups of similar affiliation.

I appealed the decision to the registrar based on the statement. The LSU university lawyer examined the statement and he agreed. We can receive the religious preference information because the statement constitutes the giving of permission by the student for us to receive it.

I sent an explanation of the ruling to the Southeastern Conference BCMs last spring. The University of Florida BCM Director, Eddie Gilley and the religious organizations at the University of Florida used the ruling and requested through their Dean of Students that religious preference be added to their admission form. They were recently informed their request has been granted.

The lawyers ruling by LSU and the granting of the request at the University of Florida opens up a door of opportunity for other religious organizations to request that the religious preference be added to the applications at their college or university.

If you decide to do so here are some suggestions:

1. Meet with the other religious organizations on campus and request the religious preference information be added from the group.

2. Secure the lawyers ruling from LSU and present it with the request.

3. Print off religious preference information from the application of other colleges and universities that secure it. At this time seven of SEC universities secure the information. Present this with your request to show it is being done.

4. If permission is granted ask if your group can help determine the list of religious groups to be listed on the application.

If you want a copy of the LSU lawyers ruling or if I can be of any assistance in this process then email me at lsubcm@eatel.net or call me at 225-343-0408 (Work) or 225-964-0830 (cell).

 Steve Masters, Transitions Contract Worker

Parents & Youth Ministers Partnering with Collegiate Ministers

When reaching out to incoming freshmen our BCM here at LSU invites area and state youth ministers and parents of the incoming students to partner with us to involve their students in our ministry and a local church. We have found this a very effective way to increase our involvement of incoming freshmen.

We mail a letter to the parents of all of the incoming freshmen whose names and contact information we are able to secure. We ask them to partner with us in involving their son or daughter. We ask them to complete a survey about their son or daughter and to mail it back to us. This greatly helps us know more about the student before they arrive on campus. You can view a sample of the Parent Letter and Survey or by clicking the link in the downloads section to the right.

We make contact with each student after we receive their survey. After making contact with the student we either make a telephone call or send an email to the parent about the contact with the student. If the student doesn’t become involved in the BCM that school year we will make contact with them again each year until they graduate. We have included our parents letter and survey at the end of this article. We also include testimonies about BCM involvement from parents, which is included.

If an incoming freshman signs up to participate in one of our BCM Freshmen Family Group Bible Studies or our Freshmen Council Leadership Team then we email his or her Youth Minister and inform them the student has signed up. We ask them to encourage the student to follow through on this commitment. We ask them to partner with us in involving the student in our ministry and the ministry of a local church. You can view a sample of the EMAIL we send to youth ministers or by clicking the link in the downloads section to the right.

A few years ago I was in a meeting of college ministers and youth ministers discussing our transitions ministry efforts. Several of the Youth Ministers shared they provide names of their students to BCM Directors, but they never hear back what type of contact was made with the student or their response. This triggered our emailing of our area and state youth ministers.

We have included the template we use in emailing our youth ministers. I hope these two ideas may be of help to you in reaching out to the incoming freshmen class of 2012. Email me at lsubcm@eatel.net or call me at 225-343-0408 if I can ever help you in any way. I would love to hear ideas and strategies that you are using to reach freshmen.

Steve Masters – BCM Director at LSU & LifeWay Transitions Coordinator

Plugging Freshmen in BEFORE They Arrive

In my opinion reaching, connecting with and having an incoming freshmen sign up for a specific ministry before they arrive on campus for the fall semester is more important than ever! Beginning college is a major culture shock for incoming freshmen. They are dealing with major changes in their lives in so many areas.

The stronger the relationship a BCM and a local collegiate church has with the freshman then the better the chance is that they will become involved in that ministry. I examined the roster of freshmen that become involved in our LSU BCM ministry during the 2011-2012 school year and discovered that over 75% of the freshmen who are active in our ministry had signed up for a Freshmen Family Group or our Freshmen Council by the time they arrived on campus.

Most of the other 25% that become involved in our ministry were friends of the 75%. One of the major goals of our freshmen ministry is that every freshman whose name we have is contacted by our BCM and by one of our local collegiate churches by telephone (cell or home). They will also receive emails and newsletters. During our contact with them we invite them to join a Freshmen Bible Study Group and our BCM Freshmen Council.

If they do they are then assigned to a specific Bible study and contacted again by the leader of that Freshmen Bible Study and or one of the leaders of our Freshmen Council. We secure prayer requests for the student and begin to pray for them. We ask our BCM leaders to stay in regular contact with the student throughout the summer.

We ask the incoming freshman to share the names of other freshmen they would like us to invite to the BCM. We receive many names by doing so and we contact each of them.

Another effective way that we have used to reach freshmen is by sending a letter to the parents of all of the freshmen on our database. We ask the parents to complete a survey about their son or daughter. The survey helps us know the students interests, high school activities and sports involvement and their church background and involvement. Over 70 parents each year mail us in a survey. They also share the names of friends of their students for us to contact.

We invite all of the freshmen on our database to attend Collegiate Week at Glorieta. Many go with us. This has been a great way for them to connect with each other and with our upperclassmen and our church and BCM staff.  If you don’t go to Collegiate Week take them on a beach trip or a retreat or some other type of outing.

During the summer we sign as many freshmen as we can for the Freshmen Council. This is a leadership, fellowship group that meets for 45 minutes each week in the fall before our major weekly worship service. Our major goal for the group is to help them connect with each other through games, small groups, leadership activities, etc. We have found their signing up gives them “ownership” of our ministry before they even arrive on campus. Email me at lsubcm@eatel.net if you would like information of our Freshmen Council.

Connecting our incoming freshmen with a local church is one of our major ministry goals. We kick off the fall semester with an event called Survival.  All of our seminar leaders for this event are local church collegiate ministers/leaders. These leaders are invited to a series of kick-off events which include a picnic, a scavenger hunt and then a road trip to our area churches. Our second worship service of the semester is always “Church Night”. Each local church is invited to have a table set up with information about their church so students can meet and get to know them. 

Each fall we form a Freshmen Praise Band. This group leads praise and worship on Wednesday nights for area youth groups and leads youth D.N. weekends and retreats. Having this group has helped us to reach out to area youth groups. This group has also helped us to replace members of our BCM Worship Band as they graduate.

Most of the upperclassmen leaders of our BCM were involved in our BCM as freshmen. This has helped them realize the importance of our freshmen ministry and fostered a culture of care and concern for freshmen.

Please help our nation’s collegiate ministry as we minister to freshmen by entering the names of the graduating high school seniors from your church into www.sbccampusconnect.net. All names entered will be networked to the collegiate minister of the college or university they will attend.

Please use the summer to reach out to freshmen who will be attending your college this fall. Please email or call me at 225-343-0408 if I can help you in any way.

Steve Masters

Transitions Ministry

SBC Campus Connect

​The transition between high school and college is always one of the most difficult for students to make. Many high school students end up remaining in church youth groups long after they have begun college because of the fear of the unknown. Many enter college and never get plugged into any type of campus ministry because they are unaware that they even exist.
​If you are a youth minister, one way to help bridge the “great gulf fixed” between high school and college is to inform your high school juniors and seniors about Baptist Collegiate Ministries. We are located on hundreds of campuses of colleges and universities throughout the U.S. By simply visiting the SBC Campus Connect website at www.sbccampusconnect.net , you can enter a student’s information regarding what school they plan to attend and the campus minister at that school will receive the information. He or she can then contact the student before they even arrive on campus and they already have an instant connection with a campus ministry.
​Not only can youth ministers help with this but it can also be done at larger events to help get the word out. In Spring 2011, at a Youth Evangelism Conference in Lakeland, we set up laptop computers for high school seniors to come by and enter their own information. Every senior who entered their information on the SBC Campus Connect website was entered into a drawing for a free i-pod. Little promotions like this can help as dozens of students willingly participated for the chance to win the prize. More importantly, these students are already being contacted by campus ministers throughout the state of Florida and beyond so that they have an instant connection when they set foot on their college campus.
​While SBC Campus Connect will certainly not solve the problem of the dechurched students altogether, it is one way to build a bridge. Baptist Collegiate Ministries is an arm of the local church on the college campus to provide leadership, discipleship, missions, and evangelism opportunities for college students on the front lines of ministry. Don’t let your graduating seniors miss out on this chance to stay connected.

Lance T. Beauchamp
Director, Baptist Collegiate Ministries
Florida State University
(904) 588-2104
lancebeauchamp@fsubcm.org

Reaching, Connecting and Strengthening Freshmen

There are a large variety of ways to reach freshmen, to connect them to a local church and to strengthen them in their faith. In this and in future transitions articles for our BCM E-Newsletter various collegiate ministers will share how they do so. Please email me strategies, ministries, materials, etc… that you use to reach freshmen which will be included in future articles. Email me at lsubcm@eatel.net. Thanks to Tony, Nate and Austin for sharing.

University of West Florida BCM

The University of West Florida is a commuter campus. Only 11% of the students live on campus. We involve freshmen in many ways. We involve freshmen in the following ways:

1. They serve on our leadership team

2. We do have freshmen "fish schools" or small group Bible studies.

3. They serve in our Praise Band.

4. Freshmen participate in our mission trips

5. Freshmen participate in all activities, ministries and campus events in which BCM is involved or leads.

6. They lead dorm Bible studies in their dorms.

Our BCM mission statement is "To know God and make Him Known". We want freshmen involved in every aspect of our ministry. We provide a wonderful environment for students to discover and develop their gifts and passions in service for Christ.

Tony Olesky, BCM Director, University of West Florida, (850)473-7474, aolesky@uwf.edu

First Baptist Church, Denton, Texas

Our main goal for freshman is to get them connected to community before anyone else. By anyone else, we don't mean other ministries, we mean Fraternities, Sororities and other organizations on campus. We feel like if we can get them connected to community early on then we can keep them from being among the percentage that bail from the church.

The main way we try to accomplish this is by trying to get them to commit to being in a 4 week, Freshman Community Group at the beginning of the semester. Those Community Groups are led by upperclassmen who, once those 4 week Freshman Community Groups are over, will continue to lead Community Groups that are open to all students. The idea is that after those 4 weeks, the freshmen know each other as well as their leaders and will hopefully continue to stay plugged into their leaders' Community Group.

Austin Wadlow, University Minister, FBC Denton, 940.382.2577, www.overflowdenton.com

University of Alabama BCM

1) We kick it all off with our "10Days of Insanity" (10 events in 10 days at the beginning of the fall). Survival is the Monster within the rest of the madness.

2) Journey Groups (Small Group Bible studies): Survival occurs on Monday night, School starts on Wednesday, and Freshmen Journey Groups begin the very next Monday (first full wk of classes).

3) Over the past few years we've done variations on Monday night. We've used multiple "Threads" studies (Chase the Goose, In Transit, Connect the dots). Most recently we did "Chazown" (lifechurch.tv - Craig Groeschel).

4) Freshmen Journey Groups meet at the BCM (we want them in our building getting comfy and feeling like they can 'belong' there).

5) On Monday nights, the entire group of freshmen meet together for a short time of welcome, ice breakers (first 2wks), announcements, and worship through song. After about 20 minutes, we divide into groups (co-ed) and keep the same groups for the duration of the study.

*note: Most recently we did a dvd driven study (group leaders were not asked to prepare - simply to facilitate conversation and foster relationships with and among their freshmen). The corporate time lasted about 30min - leaving 30min of discussion time.

6) Freshmen Leadership Team: most recently, we've opened participation in this to any freshmen interested (I like this). Formerly, we asked each journey group to select 2 reps (we also appointed some at-large members). Like I said, I like the open to anyone thing better. I see us repeating this next year.

7) FLT in the fall: we spend our wkly meetings pouring into and developing these students. There are no "tasks" assigned. We've mostly used Tim Elmore stuff. This year, we invited key upperclassmen to teach a few times - I see more of this in the future.

8) FLT in spring: toward the end of the fall, we work with them to identify a target group on campus to reach out to. We're 2 years into this. Last year they selected the Theater dept. We identified a cast and crew. We assigned prayer warriors for them. We assembled and delivered goodie bags, pizza after rehearsal, sent encouraging cards, and mobilized other BCM students to attend the show least likely to have good crowd. This year, they've identified the Air Force ROTC Cadets. We're working through the local detachment commander to provide breakfast in a bag after PT, an invitation to our weekly Lunch (Wednesday), and a nice dinner after their drills. In addition, we are working to provide an Airman's Bible to each Cadet. Once we receive Cadet names, students will be assigned to pray for them.

9) With regard to Bible studies in the spring. We offer a variety (Fall: Freshmen do their thing and Upperclassmen do theirs - Spring: everybody is mixed up together). Students sign up for what they want when they want it. *Studies are approved by BCM staff and must have a book/curriculum (none of this "where the spirit leads" stuff).

In February we select our new leadership team. Ideally, we have a strong showing of freshmen on this (maybe 1/2).

Nate Young, BCM Director, University of Alabama, (205)345-3983, nate@bama.ua.edu

Steve Masters, Transitions Contract Worker