Discipleship Committe Report

The Discipleship BCNet Committee is finishing up work on a new Survey/360 Feedback instrument that will be used to train 15 new one-on-one discipleship mentors around the country during 2012. Following that training, the instrument can be used by Collegiate Ministers (both church-based and campus-based) to evaluate themselves and their local discipleship ministry. All the above will be provided to collegiate ministers at no cost. We hope the relationship with a discipleship mentor will be priceless.

Joe Graham

“In Just Ten Minutes…”

“Are you serious?” “You want to do what!?”….was my immediate reaction!

I was literally blown away! This was an amazing idea! The concept of a ‘micro-Bible Study’…are you kidding me… this definitely had my attention….and I wanted to hear more. I mean c’mon, after all, Bible Studies…Small Groups had to be at least an hour or more, right?! Wow, what a wake up call!

I’ll never forget that initial conversation with Scott Bryant, BSU beast at Ozark Technical Community College in Springfield, MO as he shared his vision for his campus. The mere thought of a ten minute Bible Study was brilliant. So refreshing! It was so different than anything else I had ever heard of in the area of discipleship. Yet all along, I seemed to keep asking myself, “could this really work?”

Scott was ready to implement that coming fall semester. I needed more time to process. More time to see how this could work on our campus. I needed some massive time in prayer! Was God really in this, or was this going to be just ‘the next big thing’? I needed to find out.

I spent the rest of that summer and all of the fall semester letting God put the pieces of the puzzle together. And that, He did. There was no doubt. Ten Minute Takeaways were about to be launched on our campus in the spring. TMT, here we go!

So what really is TMT? “In 10 minutes…that’s right, just 10 minutes…we’ll take a look at Scripture, a topic…break it down and how we can apply it in everyday life! If you want to hang out longer, GREAT! But if you got to go, no problem! See what just 10 minutes can do for you!”

TMT is one of the most innovative additions to our Small Group Family Ministry! Here at Tiffin University, we offer TMT two days a week, on Monday’s and Wednesday’s at 6:30pm. I grab a table in our Student Center, close to the entrance of our cafeteria. Students gather around the table…some sitting, some standing…many looking to see what’s going on. We start at 6:30 and are guaranteed finished at 6:40. For real. Ten minutes. If students want to hang around longer and discuss the material longer, GREAT! But if a student needs to leave for night class or other appointments, not a problem! Here’s the way I look at: For 10 minutes, I’ve got the hottest thing going in the Student Center, where at that specific place and time, we have a large majority of our on-campus students just hanging around. I’ve been extremely surprised by the number of ‘walk-ups’ that I have, just from students who are not a part of our ministry, but wanting to ‘check things out’.

For teaching material, Scott and I both felt that Michael Kelley’s ‘Holy Vocabulary’ from Threads, was perfect for our ten minute setting. In ‘Holy Vocabulary’ we break each session down and use one ‘word’ for each TMT. Yes we move rapidly with the material. It’s fast, it’s intense, it’s in-your-face…but that’s what this generation wants. And we’re giving it to them…all in ten minutes!

I would have to say that Scott and I have both had great success this past year with our TMT’s. At both of Scott’s campuses and on our campus, we are averaging almost 10 students at each TMT, and then seeing most of them want to hang out longer and discuss the topic! It’s really incredible to see the look on their faces when I wrap things up and say ‘…and that’s 10 minutes!’

I would strongly encourage you to prayerfully consider adapting this concept to your campus. Sure, you’re going to have to tweak it some to meet the needs of your specific campus, but I can guarantee it WILL work on your campus!

As an added encouragement to you, at TU, our campus started back classes today for the Fall Semester. We had our first TMT tonight at 6:30pm. I had 16 students attend…5 of which I had never met before! Yep, it’s going to be a great year!

If you have any questions about our TMT Small Group Ministry, please feel free to contact us! We would be glad to help you get things started on your campus! Ask yourself this, “How can 10 minutes impact my campus?”

Jim Whaley

Pastor

H2O Collegiate Ministry & Campus Church

Tiffin University ~ Tiffin, OH

www.LifeAtH2o.org

jwhaley@iocc.com

@jimwhaley

Scott Bryant

BSU Campus Minister

Ozark Technical Community College ~ Springfield, MO

otcbsu@gmail.com