Jesus gets a 7.5 (read more to find out what that means)

What a week it has been!!! We've had an initial conversation about Jesus with somewhere between 400 and 500 freshmen! It has been exhausting but exhilarating as well. The preliminary stats are in. After reviewing about 25% of the surveys, this years freshmen give Jesus a 7.6 out of 10. Not bad, considering very few of them would consider themselves Christians. That being said, people are interested in Jesus and this generation is no exception. Now it's up to us to share with them!

Why are 18 Million College Students in the Desert?

18,000,000 college students are lost in a desert of loneliness, depression and sin! They are searching for a way out. Unfortunately, they are being lied to - but you have the answers! As this new semester begins and the next generation of leaders are stepping on to campus today, remember they are desperately thirsty for the spiritual water flowing out of you (Jn.7:37-39). In fact, 7 million of them are waiting for you to say something! I believe this will be the greatest semester ever as we take the initiative to share with these students. If you want to be a part of the miracle God will do on college campuses across this nation this semester, follow these 6 steps to successfully reaching your campus for Jesus: 

1. Don't believe these 10 bad lies.
2. Pray.
3. Take the initiative in the power of the Holy Spirit.
4. Evaluate if their spiritually thirsty (click here to see).
5. Get prepared and all trained up!!!
6. Go for it! Check out more tools and ideas here.

Well, it will be a great semester! I can't wait to see all God will do!

The Top 12 Lies You'll Hear in College!

Classes are about to begin and the onslaught on your faith is being strategized by professors right now! Don't go into this blind. Here are 12 of the biggest lies you're about to hear in college, followed by the answers! Share this with your friends or anyone you know that's headed to college!

Lie #1 - Your professor knows everything.

Lie #2 - There is no absolute Truth.

Lie #3 - All religions are the same.

Lie #4 - Christianity is intolerant.

Lie #5 - The party scene is fulfilling.

Lie #6 - Porn, hooking up and sex outside of marriage are satisfying (get some specific answers to that lie here).

Lie #7 - I can get my life right with God later.

Lie #8 - I donʼt need fellowship.

Lie #9 - Science and Christianity donʼt mix.

Lie #10 - You canʼt trust the Bible.

Lie #11 - College students arenʼt interested in Jesus.

Lie #12 - Jesus was just a good teacher or a nice guy.

So, enough of the lies. Get the truth and answers to these lies by listening to the MP3 below (you can get the notes here).

Also, check out this revealing video about truth on campus!

Sharing the Good News Couldn't Possibly Get Easier Than This!

Here's the simplest idea for sharing your faith you will probably ever hear. Share an evangelistic website with a friend and post it to your social networks. Several ministries focus completely on reaching people through the web. These typically reach thousands daily with the gospel (more on that below). Check out Godrev.com's vision here. So here is the idea: think through any friends you have that don't yet know Jesus and send them a message encouraging them to check out one of the following sites. If the person is a college student send them to http://www.everystudent.com/ and send anyone else to http://www.lookingforgod.com/. You should also post these links to your facebook, twitter or other social media with a short message like, "want to know more about Jeus, click here." If you think these sites are irrelevant, think again; yesterday 1,978 put their trust in Christ on the lookingforgod.com site and as I write, early this morning, over 11,000 people have already put their trust in Christ on everystudent.com and other Global Media Outreach sites. You can see some of those live decisions on the interactive map below or by clicking here (this site will blow your mind). You never know, one of those live decisions for Christ might end up being one of your friends! And, in case you were wondering, these decisions aren't just random numbers out in internet land - they are real people and real believers really follow up with them. You could even help with that by clicking here. Finally, don't forget to pray for these people as you watch these live decisions for Christ and don't forget to share these sites with friends and on your networksCould evangelism get any simpler? Have a great day sharing your faith!

"The Top 12 Lies You'll Hear in College"

This is a message from our Connect weekly meeting last night titled "The Top 12 Lies You'll Hear in College." It was a great way to start out the semester and a good message for college students, student leaders and parents of students. It has a very clear presentation of the gospel. Check it out and share it with any college students, student leaders or parents of students that you know!

Get the notes here!

7,000,000 college students want you to tell them about Jesus!

This is a picture of Erin and I with our team of students committed to reaching FLC! In the past 4 days we've met over 200 students and had some level of spiritual conversation with all of them. 96.7% of those students have at least some interest in spiritual issues and the average spiritual interest level is 6.3 out of 10. Roughly 1/3 of these 200 students want to get together to talk more about Jesus Christ. There are over 18 million college student here in the US. If you extrapolated our stats you'd come up with the following numbers: 17,406,000 would have some level of spiritual interest and on average that spiritual interest would be quite high (6.3 out of 10). Of those students, nearly 7 million would be interested in talking one-on-one about Jesus!!! Talk about the harvest being ripe!!! Unfortunately, over years of college ministry, we have found that although almost all of them are interested in talking about Jesus, over 90% of college students are clueless about how to have a relationship with Christ and very few people are sharing the Gospel with them because they believe the lie that students aren't interested! It is time we start sharing the Good News with them! On that note, check out this post for the gospel straight from Jesus' mouth.

For all of you college students, check out this MP3 on taking a stand in college!

Everything is rolling here. Our 1st big event - the kick-off BBQ went GREAT!!! There were around 100 college students. Many of these were new students. We asked you to pray it wouldn't rain. When we e-mailed everyone it was dark and cloudy. About an hour before the BBQ the skies turned blue and they stayed that way until an hour after at which point it began pouring. Thank you for praying!!! Pray for good weather for our outdoor meeting on campus tomorrow (we'll be sharing the Good News over a sound system in the middle of the campus - pray it won't rain and pray tons of students will hear us). This will be a HUGE week. We'll be on campus every day this week. Please keep praying for us. Pray we'll share the Good News boldly and fearlessly as we should. Finally, please tell us what God has been doing in your life and please check out the short video below for an idea on some of what we do to connect with students!

Freshmen College Students Need Jesus

Freshmen students will be arriving on campus today. Most of them feeling more lonely, insecure and scared than they ever have before. They are desperately searching for acceptance and security and that will lead many of them down a very dangerous road. They will be vulnerable to peer pressure as they experience freedoms they haven’t before and they will be encouraged by nearly everyone on campus to live a very self-destructive lifestyle. Over 80% of incoming Christian students will walk away from God this year. The American College Health Association reports almost 50% of college students will be so depressed during college they will be unable to function and suicide is the 2nd leading cause of death among these students. In a recent survey done by MTV, 80% of college students said they felt stressed out and 42% felt lonely (time and time again loneliness is listed as the biggest student issue). Alcohol, drug and sexual experimentation are further symptoms of a generation that needs Jesus!

We believe a lie when we believe these students are happy just the way they are - the truth is that they are desperately hungry for our Savior and He is their (and our) only hope. That is why we do what we do.

Steve Shadrach calls students the powerful percent. He tells us, in his book "The fuel and the flame," that college students have long led the charge in world evangelization. Ludwig Von Zinzendorf, who lived in the 1700s, began "The Moravians," one of the most effective mission agencies of that era. The Moravians are the ones who reached John Wesley for Christ. John Wesley and the Moravians impacted William Carey, the "Father of the modern missionary movement." Carey's book and example inspired the "haystack five" and the "Society of the Brethren" mission agency. They set the foundation for Hudson Taylor and the China Inland Mission, C.T. Studd and the "Cambridge Seven" and numerous other worldwide ministries and revivals begun on college campuses. Shadrach ties all these stories together, reminding us of all college ministries and students have spearheaded in the last few decades and the impact they're having for Jesus today. If we can reach this powerful percent for Christ we can reach the world.

Today is a HUGE day. Today is our 1st chance to meet all these new students. So much is on the line today, tomorrow and the next 3 weeks. We always say we have a 3 week window. Pray for us over the coming days and weeks, that God would use us to meet and connect with these students and to share Jesus with them. If you live in a college town do anything you can to reach them. We'll keep you posted on all that happens as the week unfolds!

Check out some of what's been happening here.