Skip to main content

Game Plan



Game Plan; Practical Wisdom for the College Experience is by Nic Gibson and Syler Thomas. I was offered a review copy by my friends at YouthWorker. I'm glad I accepted.

This book is very practical and would be good for college freshmen to read through together, that is, if they really love Jesus. I jest, sort of, because this book would be a good tool for helping college students transition from the relatively safe abode of home and high school to the new and potentially dangerous waters of college life.

Right from the start the authors talk about what makes college dangerous to our faith. Those dangers would include the new freedom, the lack of accountability and community and the obvious fact that you will now run into more people who disagree with you than ever before. Who knew the world was not full of people here to coddle you?

Nic and Syler take turns, tackling all the common challenges that will come the way of college students, from defending their faith to intentionally growing in their faith. Though it is written for college students, the farther in the book I get, the more I wonder if this book would be better for graduating high school students. This would give them a summer to look forward and plan how they will purposely continue their faith in college.

Either way, with real life stories, this is a helpful tool, one I would encourage you to get in the hands of a college student. It was put in my hands by my good friends over at YouthWorker Journal. They give me book and ask me to say stuff.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Accountable

I recently officiated a wedding. The ceremony was simple, lovely, and ended with another couple professing to keep the covenant of marriage. But it all started with a clarification...from me. At our first premarital counseling session, as I have done with every couple I have agreed to marry, I clarified a couple of matters. First, I officiate Christian weddings, where both spouses-to-be are professing Christians. I firmly believe that marriage is difficult enough, without adding disagreements about God into the mix. Second, as a minister of Jesus Christ, I believe the pastor’s role in a wedding is to represent the blessing of God on that union. So we have several sessions of premarital counseling where we discuss married life. It’s not that I have this imaginary card in my head, with a picture of me on the front and my stats on the back. (You know, like a baseball card.) Ok, I do picture cards. Pastor cards! And being a competitive guy, I want my stats to look good. The number of coupl...

The Facebook Maybe

Granted, I'm a pastor. I have Type-A tendencies. Ok, my tendencies border on freakish OCD behavior patterns, but... Few things bother me more than the Facebook 'maybe'. I suppose I could go on and on about the grey areas of our society and the refusal of people to accept absolute standards. I could discuss the great need of people to accept that what is wrong for one person is likely wrong for everyone. I should certainly be concerned about mentioning that someone might have sin in their life. But I don't believe the Facebook 'maybe' is quite sin. Perhaps if I were coming up with new sins, I would add this to the list. But alas... Some might think the Facebook 'maybe' did not exist prior to the Internet, but they would be wrong. When I was in high school and asked a girl out on a date, I would normally be told that if they had no other plans, if nobody else called them, if there was nothing good on television and their hair did not need washing, then per...

But I Wanted It

As I've said before , I'm looking for a new place to do youth ministry. Job searching in itself can be a full time task. Unfortunately, no one is paying me to look for a job. And when you haven't had to find a job in 15 years, the whole experience can feel brand new. And nerve-wracking. And quiet. So very, very quiet. I may spend a few hours here and there sending out my resumes and writing cover letters. But the churches I'm sending my information to have their own timeline. And sometimes that timeline does not involve acknowledging my presence. Which is fine, especially if one of the churches I've applied to is reading this right now. I understand those looking for youth pastors will have their own agenda and their own timeline. But it leaves me sitting here with a deafening quiet around me. I am choosing to walk by faith through these days, picturing God working behind the scenes (always behind the scenes) and holding His voice very still, until He is re...