Bob's Blog

This is a short series on practical helps for students and parents who are looking at colleges. Most of these materials can be found on the web or through Christian college magazines.


Last month I had the opportunity to represent my alma mater, Grace College, at some college fairs in Southern California. I've done this for the past two years, and I enjoy helping parents and students find the right fit for their college experience.

For some parents and students, choosing a college isn't hard. The student might have had a college in mind since childhood, so for them the choice is easy. But for many other families, choosing the right school can be a very difficult task. Many families who came to our table at the fair were looking for materials that would help them make a good choice for a school. Families today are looking for help to narrow down schools or tips on picking a good school. So, what are some helpful tips on choosing that right school? Here a re a few thoughts taken from an article in Campus Life's Christian College Guide.

• Know Thyself - When I was on staff at Grace College as a Resident Director (a person who oversees dorms), I was amazed at how many students had no clue how Grace would fit into their lives. Students that transitioned well into Grace understood their needs because they understood themselves. This enabled them to ask key questions, like "Do I need to be in a small town or big city? Would I feel comfortable with a large student body? How big of a class size would I prefer?" Understanding yourself and what your needs are will help you to focus on the right institution for you.
• Research Well - I was very impressed by how many students did their homework about college. They might have not known too much about Grace but they knew what questions to ask and valued the materials that we had to offer to further their research. Check out Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (cccu.org), North American Coalition for Christian Admissions Professional (naccp.org), and Campus Life Magazine for Christian schools. For state and public universities look at College Bound (collegebound.net) for resource help.

We'll finish up this post after Thanksgiving. If you have other resources you would like to share on this topic, please feel free to write me and I'll mentioned them as well.

Last weekend, I attended an Organic Church Seminar at my church in Long Beach. There were two tracks offered during the weekend. Neil Cole, who is the co-founder of the Organic Church Movement, taught the advanced track and Phil Helfer oversaw the track for the beginners. That's the track I went to. I did attend an advanced track in Los Angeles a few years ago but only for one day, so I thought I hear what an Organic Church is from the beginning.

I really enjoyed what was shared that day and thought the presenters of the seminars did a great job in explaining the movement. There was a lot of opportunities for questions, and there were definitely a lot of questions. The one question that continued to come up was, "what is the Church?" That seems to be the hot topic for today. Elmer Towns and Ed Stetzer, both experts on church growth, wrote a book on the different models of churches that are being used today. At the end of the book, Stetzer asks the question, "do you know why there are so many models of the church?" which he proceeds to answer his own question," because we don't have any idea what the Church is?"

I think that was the biggest lesson I came away with from the seminar. It seemed to me that most of the questions that attenders were asking had something to do with the purpose of the Church. As a younger generation continues to come of age, I wonder how much longer we'll have to answer this question. I'm seeing the "fruits" of this question here in California and it doesn't encourage me. Hopefully, we'll come to a conclusion before we start to ask,"whatever happened to Church?"