By
Jamie Adams
In Partial Fulfillment
Of the Requirements for
Campus Ministry
Youth 350
A Paper
Presented to Dr. Brown of
Liberty University
Lynchburg, VA
CAMPUS STRATEGY PAPER
RESEARCH
School Research
At the church I am currently serving at there is only one High School within the
10-mile radius of the church. The Gladys/Brookneal/Naruna areas are all very small
towns in which all of them feed students into William Campbell combined middle/ high
school. Since there is only this one combined school I have decided to research on both
the middle and high school. I also have a few students who attend LCA, which is almost
25 miles away, but I decided to include that as well.
1. Identify Each School
William Campbell Combined Middle/High School
Liberty Christian Academy
2. Size of each school
William Campbell Combined Middle/High School- 5881
Liberty Christian Academy- 800 (CITE)2
3.Demographics of each school: Economic, Social, and Ethnic
1 "William Campbell High School." Public School Review. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Dec. 2013.
<http://www.publicschoolreview.com/school_ov/school_id/84216>.
2 "Liberty Christian Academy." Find The Best. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Dec. 2013.
<http://private-schools.findthebest.com/l/146302/Liberty-Christian-Academy>.
3 "Community Facts." American FactFinder. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Dec. 2013.
<http://factfinder2.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?
pid=ACS_11_5YR_DP03>.
4 "William Campbell High School." Education.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Dec. 2013.
<http://www.education.com/schoolfinder/us/virginia/naruna/william-campbell-high/>.
5 "Liberty Christian Academy." LCA Bulldogs. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Dec. 2013.
<http://www.lcabulldogs.com/media/9910/a_january/2013LCASchoolProfile.pdf>.
William Campbell Combined Middle/ High School-
Economic: The average household income is 32,625.3 The health of the area has
definitely been declining over the past decade or so. One could simply tell this by the
amount of abandoned businesses throughout the downtown area. As far as the school
goes in 2010 it was recorded that “In 2010, the Campbell County Public Schools School
District spent $9,087 per student. In 2010 the district spent 60% on instruction, 35% on
support services, and 4% on other services.” 4
Social: Even though the School may be small there is still a huge social
atmosphere. The whole community seems to light up for Friday Night Football.
Ethnic: Hispanic (1%), Black (31%), White (66%), Unknown (2%). (CITE)5
Liberty Christian Academy
Economic: Since LCA is a private school people come from all different
economic backgrounds, and since most student’s families do have to pay tuition to come
to this I would say most of the people who put their children in LCA are either Middle or
Upper class.
Social: The Social atmosphere is definitely Christian based. With Liberty
University on its doorstep and most students attending LU after graduation it would be
hard not to be. LCA also has had a huge focus on sports lately.
Ethnic: Hispanic (3%), African American (29%), White (63%), Native American
(.2%), Asian (3%), and other races (1.8%).
4. What Christian youth organizations are involved in the particular school?
William Campbell Combined Middle/High School- According to their website WC
currently only has FCA. I’m not sure how strong the FCA program is, but I know a few
of my students involved in my ministry have mentioned a few things about it. It is just
hard for me to get involved with it because I have school myself.
Liberty Christian Academy- Since Liberty is a Christian private school there are many
smaller “Christian Club” type things that students may get involved in. However, I could
find no mention of any larger Christian Organizations within the school.
5.What is the current amount of the students within your own ministry? Then
provide a campus breakdown of how many students per school.
Currently there is roughly 10 students or so involved in the Student ministry I am
leading at Ebenezer Baptist Church. When I started over 6 months ago there had been a
huge gap of students attending the church due to several hurt feelings from constant
switches of Youth Pastors. Currently almost all of my students come from William
Campbell High School, but I do have one girl who goes to LCA, and sometimes she will
invite her friends from LCA.
Student Research
In order to dive into the students minds on how they feel about the ministry based
on what school they attend I asked 3 students from 3 different types of schools (Public,
Private, homeschooled), and this is what I found:
I think the biggest insight I got over these few interviews is that how hard it is for
a homeschooler or even someone who goes to private school to connect to a student
ministry mainly full of public school students. I can definitely sympathize with this
because in 7th grade I switched to a different county, but remained in the same church. It
was hard for me to really get connected with the youth there because I only saw them on
Sunday/ Wednesday.
As a youth leader I think it is very important to understand each educational
environment a student is in. I think that the leader should not treat anyone different, but
have everyone in mind when it comes to the ministry on how to do things. For the reason
of feeling disconnected I think it would be great if the leader had more events where
relationships would be easy to form.
Some more insights I received are how students view their student ministry as a
student ministry or youth group. I find it interesting how the term "youth group" now
seems to have some sort of negative connotation. When before it was just the normal
term. I am glad that students do recognize the difference in a growing student ministry
rather than a stagnate youth group.
I also really learned the importance of someone from the church, whether it is the
pastor, director, or small group leaders, need to attend a student's extracurricular
activities. It really shows that the leader does care about the student past them just
attending church. I think going this extra step can really help students feel a part of the
student ministry. It develops a higher since of relationship that then allows the student to
delve even deeper into the ministry.
Overall, this was a really cool project. I enjoyed interviewing the students I did,
and it definitely helped me open my eye to several different issues in student ministry. As
well as some things that I need to work on to cater to the different needs of students from
different education backgrounds.
Para church Research:
I think that as I develop a strategy to campus ministry I would really want to be
involved in an already established ministry. Whether it was FCA, Young Life, YFC, or
even possibly another church. I definitely do not ever want to compete for students with
any other ministry. I think especially at campuses it is extremely crucial for churches and
Para church to partner up to truly make a difference for the Gospel in student's lives. I
believe partnering up with an already established ministry would really benefit me as a
Youth Pastor. First, they are already there and involved in student's lives, but secondly if
it were something that is already organized it would be less on my plate to do. However,
if they were not willing to partner it could possibly hinder my ministry to the local
campus. It would be harder to get something started, and then might even become a
competition. If there were no local ministries taking place in the school starting one
would definitely be the best option, but if there is already something going on I would
much rather join in and take part instead of forming something new.
Currently I am serving as a Youth Pastor at a church about 30 minutes south of
Lynchburg. I have found it hard due to the small community to get really involved at the
school. I believe that there is a FCA program at the school, but currently with myself also
in school there is no way I can be any part of that, so it is really difficult as a part time
youth pastor and a full time student to find time to do any sort of campus ministry.
However, FCA's mission is definitely a great and needed one, but I feel like
sometimes it leaves quite a big group of students out. I would definitely love to take part
of FCA, but I think that there should also be another campus ministry that all students
would and could feel a part of.
However, in the future I would want to partner with not only the local Para church
ministries on the campus, but with the staff too. I know there is only so much a teacher
can do when it comes to sharing the Gospel, but to know and have relations with
someone that is in the school daily I feel like could be very beneficial. So in the future
when I am able to spend more time focusing on campus ministry, I would love to become
partnered with the campus ministries and serve them however they could use me.
Philosophy Strategy
Big Picture:
I really hope to see the students within my ministry to become stronger in their
relationship with Christ. I envision them to be the same person they are at church at
school. I hope that they begin to lead a revolution of Christianity within their schools. I
hope that they form strong relationships within the school with both peers and faculty. I
would also hope that they begin to lead different campus ministries. I want the students in
my ministry to feel comfortable with sharing the gospel and their testimony with any
other students they come in contact with.
As far as what God does within the lives of student, I hope that the relationship
they form with Christ is long lasting. I hope that they seek Christ with all of their hearts,
and I also pray that they love the word of God and pray to Him daily because of the love
they have for him. Overall, I hope that the student’s lives are truly affected by the Gospel.
Actions Steps:
1. What are some areas that you desire to see God work in the lives of students in your
area?
I desire that the students in the area all find a local church that they can feel a part
of. I know that this is a huge unreachable goal, but I would love to see each student feel
wanted and accepted by a local church. With this connection to church I hope to see these
students develop a stronger relationship with Christ. I also desire that the students in my
area become missional minded. I hope that they go from a selfish thinking to an outward
and Christian worldview way of thinking.
2. How will you utilize the principles of contact ministry (include seen, known,
understood)?
I would love to become known throughout the campus in both the student’s eyes
as well as the faculty. I hope to do this by attending a lot of the sports activities, as well as
serving the school in any way possible. I think a great way to do this would be to become
involved with any on campus club. I would also love to substitute teach at some point. I
think this would be a great way to become immersed in the student culture. I would hope
to improve on my name remembering abilities to have a better contact relationship.
3. What is your plan to get students to reach other students?
My plan to get students to reach other students is to develop the current students I
have in my ministry to have a missional mindset, and to see their campus as their current
mission field. I hope to help them strengthen their own relationship with Christ, so that
they understand the importance of spreading the Gospel to their peers. This is something I
try to stress so much in my ministry. I feel like this may be one of my biggest regrets
from High School, the fact that I didn’t witness to all of my closest friends, and now its
too late.
4. Are you going to partner with other student ministries (both church and parachurch)
and if so how?
I would love to partner with other student ministries within the community. I think
the best way to do this is to approach the youth leader of the church and ask how we
could effectively do events together to reach the students in the community. I am a firm
believer that we are all on the same team, and I feel like nothing about it is a competition.
I would also hope to pair with the parachurch ministries in the school. I would approach
this by contacting whoever is in charge to see if there was any way I could serve, even if
it was just crowd control.
5. How do you plan to partner with school officials or community organizations?
I would start with attempting to get myself known by the school officials by
simply being immersed in the students’ culture. Once I became known by the school, I
would approach the official to let them know I am open to help with anything because I
care about the students, and I hope to give them a safe and loving community for them to
grow and develop.
6. What will be your prayer strategy?
I would start with praying for the students currently involved in my ministry, so
that they would form a strong relationship with Christ that would lead them to serve and
witness to other students in their campus. Next I would want to pray for the students
within the school. I would pray for them to be open to receiving the Gospel, and for God
to lead them to my church so that they may be saved. Last I would pray for the School
officials that they would be accepting of the Church serving the school. I would then
pray that I would be able to effectively minister to all aspects of the Campus and that the
Campus would be open and receptive of me.
7. What will be the locations used within your strategy? Will it include homes, schools,
churches, other locations?
Currently the only location I really use for the student ministry is the Church
itself. In the future if I were to move-off campus my apartment may be used for a small
group bible study for guys. Also, My church is possibly about to start a Coffee House
ministry, which would also give a great venue to do ministry in a neutral building that is
not the church.
Timeline
First six months:
During the first 6 months I would want to get the word out as much as possible. I
would be attending all of the local school events. I would work excessively hard to
remember as many names as possible. I would try to step out of my comfort zone and be
more sociable at these events to get my name known. I don’t want to be known for my
sake, but it is necessary to be known to be an effective student minister. I would also
completely cover every step of the first 6 months in prayer. I would pray for God to guide
me in which way to seek out becoming known across campus.
Six to twelve months:
In the next 6-12 months I would want to continue being seen throughout the
community. I think it would be very important to have my students currently see their
school as their mission field, and constantly be encouraging finding way to serve their
school. At this point I would hope to be involved on campus in some matter big or small.
I think if I spent the first 6 months getting my name out, so the school officials would
begin to trust me this would definitely be possible. In the second 6 months I would really
want to have poured my life into the core group of kids in my student ministry, so that
they truly understand how student ministry works. I know this is a bit of a stretch in the
second 6-month period, but I think the sooner they find themselves a part of the student
ministry the better.
One to three years:
In the one to three year period I would definitely want to have the core group
formed. I would want an established relationship with several students who feel like they
can trust me. At this time I would really hope the school would begin to trust me. I
would want to be heavily involved in some sort of on campus ministry, whether one I
started or one that is already established. I also think by this time I would want to have
the first mission trip planned for the students to go on. I think this is also a vital time for
growth in the ministry. By this point most students would trust the Student pastor, so I
would also want to have a lot of outreach event at the church to reach the lost students in
the campus.
Three to five years:
At this point I would want to be completely established at the school. I would
want the faculty to know be my name. (Especially if it was a smaller school system) I
would also want my student ministry to be fully developed and fully functional. I would
want to have several adult leaders and student leaders whom I trust with any task. I think
at this point the goal would be to continue working on ways to minister to the campus.
With a solid volunteer staff and several student leaders this could easily be accomplished.
I would love to have all of this done within the first three to five years.
Works Cited
"Community Facts." American FactFinder. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Dec. 2013.
<http://factfinder2.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?
pid=ACS_11_5YR_DP03>.
"Liberty Christian Academy." Find The Best. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Dec. 2013.
<http://private-schools.findthebest.com/l/146302/Liberty-Christian-Academy>.
"Liberty Christian Academy." LCA Bulldogs. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Dec. 2013.
<http://www.lcabulldogs.com/media/9910/a_january/2013LCASchoolProfile.pdf
>.
"William Campbell High School." Education.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Dec. 2013.
<http://www.education.com/schoolfinder/us/virginia/naruna/william-campbell-
high/>.
"William Campbell High School." Public School Review. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Dec. 2013.
<http://www.publicschoolreview.com/school_ov/school_id/84216>.
