ChuckBomar.com

I've always said, "Giftedness can get you places, but character will keep you there," for more on that, click here. I believe that statement. But one of the toughest aspects of leading younger people who want to be in ministry is teaching them that being developed sometimes means limiting the use of "gifts." This can be viewed as hindering them, misunderstanding them, devaluing them...on and on. Now, to be clear, we don't want to (and cannot) unnecessarily hinder God using people. But, in leadership there is a balance. And this can be a relationally tough line to walk sometimes. Here's the consistent bottom line issue I've seen the past decade or so: Millennials (and in many cases anyone who wants to be developed for ministry) can view the Church as an object where their "gifts" are developed rather than a subject they humbly serve. In other words, in the former view, the "gifted" person is at the center of the equation whereas …

We all know college has become an important and, in many cases, a necessary step for people to take in our culture. In 1950 only about 9% of 18-24 year olds were attending degree granting schools (which included those attending high school) whereas today 77% of 18-24 year olds are attending degree granting institutions (not including high school - for source click here). However you look at this and whatever we think might be the cause of such an increase, this is a massive cultural shift. Over the course of this trend there have been waves and cycles that have effected a number of things in both the Church as well as culturally, both too long to discuss in this post (to read more of on this subject, click here). For this post, I would simply like to share one shift in how college is viewed that I see having a tremendous impact on how we can minister to college-age people. Put simply, the shift is that fewer people view a college degree as a right of passage.  What does this mean? We…