Many of your college-age students have been away since Christmas break and more than likely, you’ve lost contact with them. (By contact, I mean more than just knowing their Facebook or Twitter updates.) So, what’s the best way to capitalize on these upcoming summer months for reconnection? Here are three ideas:

• Move toward them, not the other way around. If you wait around for your college-agers to contact you, it may not happen, or it’ll happen in August when they’re heading off again. Initiate a conversation before they come home—like now. Reach out to say you’d love to connect at some point when they get home.

• Buy them something to eat or drink. Free food never gets old. And hopefully, the latte, or burger, lends itself to meaningful conversation that will lay the groundwork for more connections throughout the summer.

• Invite them to your house/apartment/domicile/abode. Face it, conversations tend to go deeper and more vulnerable in your living room, than they will in, say Dairy Queen. Inviting someone into your space is also a way of communicating that you trust and enjoy them. Free food is also appreciated in this setting as well.

With each of these ideas, remember that you’re there for them, not the other way around. So, be a good listener, letting them process what’s happened this year without adding a bunch of personal commentary. (Sometimes commentary is necessary. As a general rule, however, listen more than you talk.)

Come August, the goal is to leave them heading back to school knowing that you genuinely care about who they are and how God is working in their story.

Abbie Smith is the co-author of The Slow Fade, and a writer and partner support for XP3 College. Abbie’s latest book, Celibate Sex: Musings on Being Loved, Single, Twisted, and Holy, is now available at most online retailers.

It’s rare to meet someone in leadership who wouldn’t appreciate a few (or 50) more volunteers. And when it comes to a model like XP3 College, which essentially runs on the willingness of adult volunteers, this topic is crucial. Some of you may’ve recruited all the volunteers you need, while others may need help with recruitment (we’ll write a future Ezine article on this; or email us and we can brainstorm with you), regardless, recruiting is just the start; training is the key.

In The Slow Fade, Reggie, Chuck and I (Abbie) talk about “protecting your investment,” which in the book’s context, means the Church’s investment in our youth from nursery through high school. Today, I’m tweaking this a bit to mean protecting your investment in volunteers, not just for your sake, but for theirs.

Most of us can recall a time we got burnt out (and possibly bitter) by way of a volunteer position. So, as one now stewarding those positions, how do you assure that that will not be the case for your volunteers? Well, you may not be able to assure it, but here are three training tips we’ve seen be fruitful when it comes to investing well in your XP3 College volunteers:

1. Emphasize the user-friendliness of XP3 College. The last thing a volunteer wants is something complicated. You should probably assume that your volunteers are already “running on fumes” and are serving not because they have heaps of energy and margin in their lives, but because they have a heart for the college-age crowd. We’ve intentionally designed the Conversations to be just that, a conversation, and not a complicated program that requires complex amounts of preparation, or knowledge. Reading through of the two-ish page “Mentor’s Guide” should equip your volunteers well and with everything they need. With this said, emphasize that the greatest gift they can offer is themselves, not a perfected program or script, which leads to the next point.
2. Reiterate the idea of a conversation “guide,” not a “script.” It’s tempting as a mentor to feel like you need to control the conversation and lead its every turn. “Control” and “guide” are very different verbs, though. Remind your mentors that the goal of XP3 College is to stimulate discussion, not to agree, or land, on an exact belief. Although this goes against the grain of many assumptions about mentoring, we believe guiding, or facilitating, a conversation with this age-stage is the most fruitful and transformative approach (versus indoctrinating, or pushing conclusive endpoints). Easier said than done, however, as this entails that mentors listen more than they talk and offer advice in drops, not bucket-loads. In the end, we believe this not only enables transformation, but frees up mentors to be “present” and not “perfected,” cooperative “learners” and not “experts.”
3. Initiate dialog about how God is using their role as a mentor, or how a particular Conversation is effecting their life. A high value of XP3 College is something we call “mutual transformation.” In essence, it means that by God’s grace, the one being mentored will be transformed, as will the one mentoring. Most models in the area of mentoring reflect a teacher/pupil set-up, which isn’t always wrong, but it also isn’t always the most effective means of growth. By asking your mentors how God is teaching them through their role, or growing them through a given Conversation, you’re investing in them, while you affirm God’s promise that in all things, He’s at work for the good, teaching, counseling and transforming.

Abbie is the author of Can You Keep Your Faith in College, The Slow Fade, with Reggie Joiner and Chuck Bomar and Celibate Sex. She holds degrees from Emory University and Talbot Seminary’s Institute of Spiritual Formation and resides in Savannah, Georgia, with her husband Micah. Abbie is also a writer for XP3 College, part of the Orange Strategy to reach 18- to 25-year-olds.

As a leader, we want to get people connected into what we are doing. The question is, how do we define connected?

Well, practically speaking, this is often defined by physical involvement. If there are large numbers of people coming to what we are doing, we assume people are connecting. However, just having people show up in the same room at the same time doesn’t mean they are connecting with one another—especially across generations. And that’s important to differentiate.

It’s one thing to get people to something and even have them serve in some capacity. But it’s an entirely different thing to help people connect inter-personally with others and bridge the generation gap. This is more difficult to do than just having people show up. It takes more time and an entirely different strategy.

Here are THREE practical ways you can work to become a connected church across generations and do so in sustainable ways. I will categorize these into Long-Term, Mid-Term and Immediate ideas to keep in mind and implement.

Long-Term. To build a culture that is connected inter-generationally, the people involved must be motivated by the gospel. I’m not trying to sound over simplistic or super spiritual. I really mean this. The reality is, people who have only accepted the benefits of the gospel and have somehow missed the call of the gospel will only serve as a hindrance to becoming a truly connected church.

The gospel, at its most basic level, calls us to be selfless (Mark 8:34), with a unique focus on Jesus and others knowing Him. The gospel motivated Paul to use his personal liberties for the sake of others (1 Corinthians 8:13) and it led him to give up his personal preferences so that others might come to a saving faith in Jesus (1Corinthians 9:22).

This is the mentality that feeds relational connectivity. True and sustainable connectedness will be robbed unless the most basic principles of the gospel are serving as the motivators for the people involved. Our gospel presentations, then, must include both the benefits and the call of the gospel.

Mid-Term. Be very intentional with the terminology you use. Whether it’s in a one-on-one conversation or from a massive stage in front of thousands of people, we must talk about the unifying aspects of everyone involved.

For instance, when we use the word “family” in church contexts, we are most often referring to individual family structures. Our motivations are good, but if we are not extremely careful we can alienate college-age people, anyone else that is single and possibly someone that comes from a broken family.

To be a connected church we ought to redefine words like family, as the “family of God,” which allows everyone to have common ground. It’s in little nuances like this that change a culture and lead to being a connected church.

Another facet is to stay away from terminology like, “Big Church” because it inherently carries an “us and them” tone.

Immediately. Actually connect two people on some sort of common ground. This can be any facet of life, really. Take vocation, for example.

Consider connecting two people from two different generations for one cup of coffee and do so over the common interest in a particular industry. Maybe an older woman in your church is an engineer and you know a college student who is interested in engineering.

Ask the older individual if she would mind sitting down with a younger woman who is interested in this field of work just to “talk shop” and be available to answer any questions about it. This type of inter-generational exposure to people is what cultivates a connected church. Not every one of these connections will become an intimate relationship, but many of them will. And if connecting people like this is a pattern in your life it will, in fact, lead to your church being a connected one.

Chuck Bomar is the pastor of Colossae Church in Portland, Ore., co-creator of XP3 College, and author of numerous books including his latest, Better Off Without Jesus.

By now, you have probably heard via emails, Twitter and maybe even a few pieces of mail about The Orange Conference 2013. So, you may be wondering, “Why should someone who works in college ministry come to Orange?” After all, most people think of family ministry—preschool, children’s and student ministries—when they think Orange.

For many student ministries, the “end in mind” is graduation. However, the reality is that the “end” is not graduation. That’s not the finish line. The finish line is having a college-age person (18-25) who feels connected and integrated into a church body. That’s the heart behind our XP3 College Conversation Guides, which are intended to connect generations through dialogs that bring generations together to learn from one another and build relationship.

It’s also the reason we are offering some key breakouts at The Orange Conference 2013 that are important discussions for anyone involved with ministries for college-age people. We would love for you to be there and be a part of the conversation. Here are the topics we’ll discuss:

• Generational Tensions This breakout, led by XP3 College’s Chuck Bomar, takes a candid approach to the reality that there is tension between generations. Some of this is unspoken, but much is felt by both ends of the spectrum. It’s one thing to talk about differences, it’s another to pinpoint them—and it’s another to keep these differences in mind as we approach relationship with one another. This breakout will explore the different tensions between generations and how it applies to ministering to each one, especially the group most often skipped—college students.

• Protecting Your Investment: Transitioning Students from High School to College Led by Jared Herd and Chuck Bomar, this breakout explores the developmental needs of high-schoolers and how to teach and transition them into their next phase of life. Most students graduate from high school and lose their sense of belonging in the church. Student pastors have invested in them for years, but haven’t established a game plan for extending that investment beyond 12th grade. In this breakout, we’ll help you with that game plan.

In addition to these college-specific breakouts, there are also some great opportunities for you to be encouraged personally with breakouts like Chuck Bomar’s breakout based on his latest book, “Better Off Without Jesus” and other breakouts to help you navigate leadership and life.

We would love to see you at OC13, April 24-26! The XP3 College team will be there at the conference, working in the curriculum booth and leading breakouts. We would love the opportunity to learn, to connect and to dialog with you.

For more information about The Orange Conference, including a listing of all the incredible breakouts and speakers, visit www.TheOrangeConference.com.

Little if any energy is needed to becoming disconnected . . . or even divisive. That, unfortunately, seems to come all too easily. And this is precisely why the Scriptures tell us to be diligent to preserve the unity we do have (Ephesians 1:3). The reality is, it requires a great deal of energy and intentionality for us to maintain connection and the unity God has given us with others.

This is probably why we have a hard time doing it. We experience this in our churches. We want to get people connected, so we seek to connect them with other people just like them. And while it does create some sense of connection for people, it also naturally creates points of disconnection as well.

Just think about it.
A teen feels connected to the youth group and their small group leader, but may be disconnected to the church body.
Husbands may feel connected to a men’s group, but disconnected to their wives spiritually.
We could go on and on.

1. Celebrate unified diversity. Any time there are two people who are different from one another serving together or walking through a facet of life with one another, celebrate it! Tell the story to your ministry or church. As you sit with others in the church, tell of the situation and the beauty of how two totally different people are living in unity.

1. Focus on the unifying aspects of faith. Too often leaders talk about generational differences rather than helping different generations focus on the similarities they have with one another. If you allow two people from different generations to spend enough time together, they will find more common ground than they ever imagined. In your teaching, focus on the aspects of your faith that all believers have in common. Talk about the needs we all have. Make known the realities of sin that we all struggle with.

1. Cultivate relationships between generations. Personally get to know people who are older than you. Get to know younger people as well. And, whenever you find common ground between two people in different stages of life, connect them on that common ground! You might just introduce them in the lobby on a Sunday morning. You might have both of them over for dinner one night. The means of connecting people can be any variety of things, but the point is to connect them relationally.

But this doesn’t have to be an either-or issue. We believe leaders can and should provide connection points with peers as well as people of different generations, different stages of life. Here are three practical ways you can take steps toward becoming a truly connected church:

By doing some simple things like this consistently and frequently in your church or ministry you can become a “Connected Church.” We think it’s worth the energy.

How many times do you think the average parent tells his or her child, “You need to eat your vegetables, little Johnny, or Jane?” A lot.

And how many times do you think it would take to tell an adult this same thing before you’d end up with a plate of smashed food in your face? Probably not a lot.

Children need instruction, and adults do, too, but in a different flavor. And no one likes to be repeatedly told what to do all the time.

College students often feel like they’re being treated childishly. It may not be advice about their vegetables, but between parents and teachers, media and bosses, they’re constantly bombarded with advice about doing this, or not doing that.

It’s a tricky balance when we talk about lending them advice, then. While we don’t want to baby them or preach to them, we do want to guide them toward their God-imaged identity (Genesis 1:27) as an adult (Titus 2).

Drawing from a posture of humility and connecting, versus answers and instructing, college students are craving your affirmation and observations more than you know.

Here are three things—not a script, or life-changing formula, but simply words (that you can put into your own words)—we believe any college student will benefit to hear.

1) Less is more.
“There are SO many decisions and options and opportunities at your fingertips right now. Don’t be afraid to say ‘no’ to some things, in order to focus more fully on others. For instance, when you consider church and campus ministries, instead of visiting a new one every week, how about considering a commitment to one for this whole year? Or in friendships, I’ve found that a handful where I know and am known leaves me far healthier than a hundred acquaintances.”

2) I’m here for you.
“College can be overwhelming. Whether it’s the amount of decisions, or the complexity of relationships, it can seem as if you’re treading water and moving fast in no good direction. But I’ve found this tendency in myself and am slowly learning that where we are right now is a ‘season,’ and will soon shift into another season. And it’s gonna be all right. In the meantime, I want you to know that I’m here for you—to listen, talk, pray, play, whatever you think you need.”

3) God is here for you.
“A lot of times in the midst of stress, or hard times, I forget that God is dedicated to my good. But His Word promises that He never lets anything happen that isn’t ultimately for my good (Romans 8:28). In other words, even though at the time it doesn’t always seem like it, God’s goodness, and the goodness we long for, are one and the same. In light of whatever situation you find yourself in today, remember that God is for you, not against you. He is at work and is out for your best.”

XP3 College offers Conversation Guides for mentors and small group leaders to connect older adults with 18-25 year olds. XP3 College also offers a transition piece, called XP3 Next, for High School seniors and an ongoing connection piece for the first semester away. For more information, visit www.xp3college.org.

In most student ministries, there is a group of people who begin to disappear this time of the year—your seniors. For high school seniors, the countdown is on. And in between school projects, college/scholarship applications, jobs and everything else, your seniors are beginning to feel like they are on a fast track to whatever is next.

The pressures they are facing—as well as the options that are beginning to open up for them—put them in a much different point of life than a high school freshman, sophomore or even junior.

So, as they prepare for the “next” in each of their lives—whether that’s college, the military, work—what can you do to help them make that transition?

We’ve launched a resource to help with that transition. It’s called XP3 Next, and it’s a series of four conversation guides to open up a dialog. It’s led by their existing Small Group Leader, and it’s intended to prompt them to think through what they believe, where God is leading them and what life might look like six months from now.

It’s different than your typical Small Group dialogs. In fact, it’s more about the Small Group Leader journeying together with a group of seniors, than solely imparting wisdom. The conversation guides also are designed to connect students with your church, and not just your student ministry.

XP3 Next isn’t a curriculum, it’s simply a way to describe a new resource that we feel will help prepare your high school seniors for the next. The guides hit on topics and tips that will lay a foundation for the next—both in content and in relationship.

Keep in mind, this is different from a normal XP3 Student series. There isn’t a Parent CUE. There isn’t an XP. There are no art files or environment ideas. There isn’t even a teaching script. These are Conversation Guides, designed to open up a dialog and build relationship that will transcend your student ministry.

The XP3 Next Conversation Guides have been created by our XP3 College team of Chuck Bomar and Abbie Smith, co-authors of The Slow Fade. Here is a brief description of the four available Conversation Guides (shown in suggested order):

• Guide #1: The One About Transitions: Changes are rampant in the life of a high school senior. God designed us in a world that continually goes through changes, growth spurts, transitions. And therefore, it’s only consistent with His character that any of these transitions are opportunities for us to grow closer to Him.

• Guide #2: The One About God’s Will: Imagine if you’d understood that God viewed you and your life and decisions through the eyes of Christ—not your success, failure or status in society. Imagine having grasped that God’s will was more about your sanctification than an exact answer or success. How would that change the way you face life’s uncertainty that comes with the next? These dialogs are intended to shift seniors’ definition of God’s will from something that happens to them to something that happens in them.

• Guide #3: The One About Faithfulness vs. Perfection: When we think about being faithful, most Christians actually think about being perfect. These dialogs will distinguish faithfulness from perfection, and help seniors begin to develop a healthy perspective as to what it means to be a faithful follower of Jesus.

• Guide #4: The One About Travel Advice: If you’re traveling somewhere new, it’s always great to get insider tips from those who have been there before. This series of dialogs is very practical in nature, offering helpful tips on relationships, life and even basic life skills to prep seniors for the next in their lives.

These guides can be utilized in your existing senior Small Groups—or be led by trusted other adults or even people who are involved in the college ministry at your church.

The guides are available to purchase with your existing credits both through XP3 Students and XP3 College accounts.

Help your seniors prepare for the next, and give them the resources and relationships to take this next big step in their lives.

XP3 College offers Conversation Guides for mentors and small group leaders to connect older adults with 18-25 year olds. XP3 College also offers a transition piece, called XP3 Next, for High School seniors and an ongoing connection piece for the first semester away. For more information, visit www.xp3college.org.

Too often, our goal is to transition our kids into a church service, rather than the life and body of the Church (with a capital C). High school grads’ biggest need is remaining connected to the body of Christ, not necessarily our local congregation or ministry (although that would be great, as well).

Whether or not your students leave for school, intentionally fostering a connection in your ministry (and/or a church near their campus) beyond just you and their parents is vital. Far too often we fail to recognize that truly loving our students requires us to help them connect beyond us individually. Here are some practical ways you might do this:

1. Have a dinner/barbeque for your graduates, but invite a couple or two from the church as well. This couple is there just to hang out and talk. Nothing more. Age doesn’t matter, but this couple needs to be relational, down to earth, and mature in faith. This can provide an opportunity for your students to connect with people they never would’ve otherwise. Simply introduce them as your friends and let your students know they wanted to be there because they were going to be praying for them as they transition into the next phase of life. (I’d recommend telling your students individually, keeping it authentic and relational; if articulated in a group setting it could create awkwardness, with the perception of being forced.) Emails and phone numbers may be exchanged, but this should happen naturally rather than institutionally.

2. Host a weekend retreat for your graduates where you invite some older, more mature adults. Again, age doesn’t matter but they should have the same qualities as the folks you invite to the barbeque. Have a lot of down time just to hang out, but have these people share their testimonies at some point. It’s important that they articulate their personal story and are careful not to give the typical “I want to tell you all the things you should not do,” teacher-to-pupil type of testimony. They are real people with real stories. Graduates can apply their stories to themselves. They need to see these peoples’ hearts (besides, they already know what not to do).

3. Meeting with our students one-on-one is vital, but sometimes it’s better if we’re not the ones they meet with. There are times when another leader in the church can help them just as much as we can, possibly even more. As much as possible, connect your students to these other people. When an issue comes up in a conversation with a student, talk to her about it—but at some point let her know there’s someone you want them to talk to who’s dealt with the same thing. If your student trusts you, she’ll meet with this person.

In all of these situations, constantly pray that mentoring relationships are being formed with young people beyond just you.

As mentors, how much should we share about ourselves?

The Bible is not short on leaders who struggled with cheating, anger, sex addiction, alcoholism, anxiety, gossip, insecurity and doubt, which honestly should be an encouragement to us. We know God doesn’t call us to lead because we’re perfect. But how are we to lead well, while knowing full well that we’re imperfect?

We’re not professional counselors (who intentionally and essentially divulge nothing about their lives) and we’re not intimate peers (who intentionally and essentially divulge most about their lives), so when it comes to mentoring, what should we tell? And what are some helpful thoughts on telling too much, or not telling enough?

Here are some that we came up with:

Be quick to hear and slow to speak (James 1:19). In other words, listen more than you talk, and when you listen, don’t just do so deriving answers and personal stories in response, but listen in order to actually hear, and then discern if and what you’re to say.

Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep (Romans 12:15). If someone close to you died last week, by all means, don’t hide such news. Leading well involves vulnerability. But also prioritize serving the other person by speaking into or listening to where your mentee is—whether that’s rejoicing, weeping or somewhere in between.

Confess to a point of acknowledging your humanness, and need for a Savior. Resist confessing to a point of unnecessary dumping, or to the other extreme of avoiding confession, in order to seem mature, or beyond sin.

Forgive as God in Christ forgave you (Ephesians 4:32). At times, the one you’re mentoring will seem self-absorbed and stuck in his/her own story. This is the tendency of being an 18-25 year old. Forgive them. At times you’ll realize you’re being self-absorbed and stuck in your own story. This is the tendency of being human. Forgive yourself as God in Christ forgave you.

Don’t substitute your mentoring relationship for peer interaction, or let it suffice for your own relational intimacy. This robs both you and the one you’re mentoring of true intimacy. It’s fair to expect that those you’re mentoring are coming to dump. It’s not fair to do the same to them. You shouldn’t be leaning into your mentee to counsel you. That’s for your intimate peers and mentors. Reflecting back on your time with someone, if you realize your tendency of talking more than you desired, or unintentionally “leaking” more about your issues and opinions than you’d planned, those are great signs that maybe intimate relationships are lacking in your life. And in this scenario, you may be tempted to curse your weakness and conclude that you’re an awful mentor. Take note: “There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,” (Romans 8:1). But also take note that this may be God’s kindness, revealing that you’d do well to seek your own intimate friendships, or a mentor for yourself. It’s implicit in our great commission to “go and make disciples of all men” (Matthew 28:19), that we’ve first “stayed, and been made” by caring men and women in our lives.

When we consider Jesus’ relationships, we can conclude a range of things that help us conduct and carry out our own relationships. Consider the different ways in which Jesus communicated with others, from His closest disciples, to children, or to a woman caught in ghastly sin.

Consider Gethsemane, where we see Him sharing far more vulnerably about His sorrow and weakness than when teaching affront a crowd of followers, or sharing a parable. Or what about in Matthew 12:46-50, where Jesus withholds what might seem compassionate, or respectful, words toward His immediate family, apparently knowing the need for words directed at His Kingdom family?

Sometimes Jesus says a lot and sometimes very little; sometimes He ministers with words and sometimes with actions, or tears.

What can we learn from Jesus about how to mentor well, with both vulnerability and limit?

Based on your experiences as a mentor, would you add anything to this list?

An interview by Abbie Smith

Recently, the XP3 College team received an encouraging email from Jenna Hale, college coordinator at World Outreach Church in Murfeesboro, Tennessee. Curious as to what inspired her to write us, we dug a little deeper into her experience with XP3 College and how it’s changing the lives of students.

In your words, Jenna, “XP3 College has been extremely effective and a phenomenal tool for our college age ministry.” What makes you say so?
This curriculum has been a great blessing to us. The topics are relevant to the age-group, and the Guides are not so crammed with points of discussion that it becomes a race to complete the study rather than an opportunity to discuss and apply truth to the lives of those involved. (That is probably one of my favorite things about this curriculum—it allows room to breath, time to let the Holy Spirit move in the hearts of those involved and also gives everyone the opportunity to share.) The content is clear and concise. The leaders have found the dialogs [in each Conversation Guide] easy to follow and great direction for their groups.

What is the context for your ministry and how you’re implementing this resource?
We use the studies in a small group setting (guys with guys and girls with girls), averaging eight group members and a leader. We meet once a week and spend at least an hour in groups together. All of the groups do the same study at the same time. And I make sure the leaders receive each study a minimum of two weeks in advance so they have plenty of time to prepare and feel comfortable with the material.

I have purchased multiple studies at a time to allow time to plan our calendar in advance. I also like to have more than I need or will currently use so that I have a strong grasp on the topics available to us through these studies. I try to plan the studies based on where I feel the group is at that time, what they may be most receptive to or ready to walk through, and what is happening on the calendar (are we near graduation, are we near Easter, are we near the new school year, etc.) and how the studies may support that season in the lives of the young adults we’re ministering to. I also work our studies around other events that we plan for the college group (summer Barn Parties, worship/teaching nights, nights off due to holidays, Christmas Party, service projects, etc.), so we are not always working through a study when we meet.

On a practical note, how do you select your leaders and determine who goes in what group?
Each year, we have a season of intentional recruiting that begins in the month of April and continues through the month of May. We make the opportunity known to the congregation through a variety of ways and ask them to prayerfully consider serving in one of the Next Generation areas (birth through college ages). Many of our leaders come from this season of recruitment. Also, we are intentional throughout the year to prayerfully seek out those within our sphere of influence and invite them to serve with the college-age group. We are constantly on the lookout for people we would like to invite to help minister to the young adults here at WOC.

We strongly desire to make The Gathering a welcoming place and strongly encourage our leaders to seek out new faces and help visitors get connected immediately. Many times that is how visitors are placed in groups—they get connected with a leader or a current Gathering young adult and are invited to participate in that small group. A staff member will help those who do need assistance in finding a group by asking some basic “get to know you” questions and pairing that person with a group whose members may share similar interests.

Do you do any training for your leaders to help them understand this age group? If so, what do you do, or utilize?
At the beginning of each new volunteer year (our volunteers commit from August to August, a one-year commitment), we hold late-night trainings for current and new volunteers. Our college group meets on Monday nights so we schedule the late-night trainings on those evenings so our volunteers don’t have to come to campus multiple times in a week. During those two weeks of late-night training, the volunteers have the opportunity to sit in on a group and see how things work first hand. Then, after we dismiss, all the volunteers meet together for late-night training. We review our philosophy on small groups, our mission and goals as a church and how they influence the college group ministry, as well as how to be an effective small group leader to this age group. We also answer any questions the volunteers may have. After the two weeks of late-night training, new volunteers are placed permanently with a current leader.

XP3 College is a very different way to connect with college-age people. Did you have any hesitation about using this resource initially?
I didn’t have any initial hesitation in using this curriculum. In reviewing XP3 College, I knew it would be a great fit for how we minister to our young adults.

What did you have to do to make it work in your environment?
The XP3 College curriculum fits really well with how our college group is set up so we don’t have to do much to make it work. We basically choose the studies and then implement them as they are suggested. We follow a dialog a week, providing the Conclude to Continue information to each young adult to work on throughout that week. If the Catalyst suggests a video clip we will watch that as a large group before we dismiss to small groups. If it suggests reading through an article we make sure to provide copies of the article for our leaders.

Which Conversation Guides have created the most buzz with your groups?
All of the Conversation Guides we’ve used have gone over really well, but the three that stand out the most are The One About the Holy Spirit, The One About Rest and The One About Shame. Those three studies were really well received by our group.

One of the things we believe at XP3 College is that mutual fascination leads to mutual transformation. That means that college-age people and older adults are learning from one another, and the Holy Spirit is transforming them both. Have you seen that play out with your groups? How?
Absolutely. I have seen this curriculum not only impact the young adults but the leaders as well. A few weeks ago one of our female leaders came to me after groups and said that she needed that more than her girls! XP3 College definitely offers the opportunity for anyone involved in the study to be transformed.

Why would you recommend XP3 College versus another resource?
XP3 College is both biblically based and relevant to the young adult community. It’s also well written (easy to understand and follow) and effective. Because of the amount of content in each dialog, the small group leader/mentor really has the opportunity to encourage his/her group members to reach a place of honesty and depth that I think is vital if freedom and transformation are to take place. XP3 College is a great resource!

XP3 College offers Conversation Guides for mentors and small group leaders to connect older adults with 18-25 year olds. XP3 College also offers a transition piece, called XP3 Next, for High School seniors and an ongoing connection piece for the first semester away. For more information, visit www.xp3college.org.