I recently came across this list and thought it could help your leaders think through poor leadership techniques and good leadership techniques through movies.  Keep in mind that the ratings of these movies are shown with the title so please use discretion and watch the movie prior to showing it to your group to ensure that your group won't leave because of a movie choice (i.e., I would think that Braveheart should not be shown to any college ministry leadership team) but I thought that this was a good list to get the creative juices flowing in minister's minds. Please remember that I am not suggesting you use every movie on this list, use your better judgment to decide which movies are suitable for ministry leadership development.

This list was posted by Tim Elmore on Growing Leaders and originally appeared on February 24, 2011.

1. 1. The Last Castle (R)                                  19. Miracle (PG-13)
2. 2. Crimson Tide (R)                                      20. Bridge Over the River Kwai (PG)
3. 3. Courage Under Fire (R)                           21. Saving Private Ryan (R)
4. 4. A Few Good Men (R)                                22. Twelve Angry Men (PG)
5. 5. The King’s Speech (R)                            23. Hoosiers (PG)
6. 6. The Queen (PG-13)                                 24. Invictus (PG-13)
7. 7. Glory (R)                                                     25. Apollo 13 (PG)
8. 8. Freedom Writers (PG-13)                       26. Amazing Grace (PG-13)
9. 9. The Great Debaters (PG-13)                  27. Chariots of Fire (PG)
10. 10.The Iron Lady (PG-13)                            28. Taps (PG)
11. 11.Pay It Forward (PG-13)                           29. Schindler’s List (R)
12. 12.The Hunt for Red October (PG)            30. The Glory Road (PG)
13. 13.Braveheart (R)                                          31. Black Hawk Down (R)
14. 14.Dave (PG-13)                                            32. Band of Brothers (Series)
15. 15.Remember the Titans (PG-13)             33. Men of Honor (R)
16. 16.Dead Poets Society (PG)                       34. The Last Samurai (R)
17. 17.Finding Forrester (PG-13)                     35. The Patriot (R)
18. 18.We Were Soldiers (R)                            36. The Devil Wears Prada (PG-13)

The following exert is from Pew Social & Demographic Trends Research Center and originally appeared on their blog on February 15.  The full article can be accessed here.  It provides some insight into what young adults and collegiates are thinking as they enter the work force.  Hopefully the data presented below can help you minister to your students better and help you understand what they are thinking about.

This report is based on findings from a Pew Research Center survey conducted Dec. 6-19, 2011, among 2,048 adults nationwide, including 808 young adults (ages 18 to 34). The report also draws on data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Here is a summary of the key findings:

Young adults hit hard by the recession. A plurality of the public (41%) believes young adults, rather than middle-aged or older adults, are having the toughest time in today’s economy. An analysis of government economic data suggests that this perception is correct. The recent indicators on the nation’s labor market show a decline in the unemployment rate. Nonetheless, since 2010, the share of young adults ages 18 to 24 currently employed (54%) has been its lowest since the government began collecting these data in 1948. And the gap in employment between the young and all working-age adults—roughly 15 percentage points—is the widest in recorded history.¹ In addition, young adults employed full time have experienced a greater drop in weekly earnings (down 6%) than any other age group over the past four years.

Public says today’s young adults have it harder than their parents did. Large majorities of the public say it’s harder for young adults to reach many of the basic financial goals their parents may have taken for granted. More than eight-in-ten (82%) say finding a job is harder for young adults today than it was for their parents’ generation. And at least seven-in-ten say it’s harder now to save for the future (75%), pay for college (71%) or buy a home (69%).

Tough economic times altering young adults’ daily lives, long-term plans. While negative trends in the labor market have been felt most acutely by the youngest workers, many adults in their late 20s and early 30s have also felt the impact of the weak economy. Among all 18- to 34-year-olds, fully half (49%) say they have taken a job they didn’t want just to pay the bills, with 24% saying they have taken an unpaid job to gain work experience. And more than one-third (35%) say that, as a result of the poor economy, they have gone back to school. Their personal lives have also been affected: 31% have postponed either getting married or having a baby (22% say they have postponed having a baby and 20% have put off getting married). One-in-four (24%) say they have moved back in with their parents after living on their own.

Adulthood begins later than it used to. In a 1993 Newsweek poll, 80% of parents with young children said children should be financially independent from their parents by the age of 22. Today, only 67% of parents hold that view. Three-in-ten (31%) of today’s parents say children shouldn’t have to be on their own financially until age 25 or later.

For young adults, bad times don’t trump optimism. Among those ages 18 to 34, nearly nine-in-ten (88%) say they either have or earn enough money now or expect they will in the future. Only 9% say they don’t think they will ever have enough to live the life they want. Adults ages 35 and older are much less optimistic—28% say they don’t anticipate making enough money in the future.² While young people are less likely now than they were before the recession to say they currently have enough income, their level of optimism is undiminished from where it was in 2004.

Older adults have maintained their standard of living. If any age group has weathered the economic storm better than others, it has been adults ages 65 and older. In a 2004 Pew Research survey, similar shares of young adults (50%), middle-aged adults (52%) and older adults (50%) rated their personal financial situation “excellent” or “good.” By 2011, a large gap had opened up between older adults and everyone else: 54% of older adults gave their personal financial situation a high rating, compared with roughly one-third of younger and middle-aged adults.

Among the employed, job satisfaction has remained steady… For those young adults who are employed, most are relatively satisfied with their job. Job satisfaction among young workers is roughly the same as it was before the recession and remains somewhat lower than the satisfaction rate among workers ages 35 and older.

…But young workers feel more vulnerable than they used to. In a 1998 survey, 65% of 18- to 34-year-olds working full time or part time said they were extremely or very confident that they could find another job if they lost or left their current job.³ The share highly confident fell dramatically to 25% in 2009. It has rebounded somewhat since then (to 43% in the current survey) but is still nowhere near the 1998 level.

Few young workers see their current job as a “career.” Among all 18- to 34-year-olds, only 30% consider their current job a career. This compares with 52% among workers ages 35 and older. However, the survey suggests that young adults quickly begin to transition from job to career. Among the youngest workers, those ages 18 to 24, only 11% say their job is a career. Among workers ages 25 to 29, the share is three times that (34%). And among those ages 30 to 34, fully half (49%) say they view their job as a career.

Most young workers say they don’t have the education and training to get ahead. Among 18- to 34-year-olds who are employed, less than half (46%) say they have the education and training necessary to get ahead in their job or career. Among those who are not working, only 27% say they are adequately prepared for the kind of job they want. Having a college degree makes a big difference on this question: 69% of young college graduates who are working say they have the education and training they need to get ahead. This compares with only 39% of those who do not have a degree and are not enrolled in college.

College enrollment rates are tied to employment declines among the young. A greater share of young adults are enrolled in high school or college today than at any time in recorded history. This increase in enrollment is one reason that fewer young adults are on the job today, but it doesn’t account for all the job losses experienced by this age group in recent years. The Great Recession broadly reduced the employment rate of young adults regardless of whether they were in school. Among those enrolled in school, the employment rate fell from 47.6% in 2007 to 40.7% in 2011. And among those not enrolled in school, it fell from 73.2% to 65.0% over that same period.

Hey guys, it's that time of the year again when we at the SBTC host the SENT conference, which this year happens on April 27-28 and will take place at First Euless.  This year SENT conference will help you

Discover how to engage your community, state, nation and the world in missions

Connect with missionaries, church planters and mission partners

Develop to live sent & Live your life on mission, and

Hear from leading missional thinkers and mobilizers.

ALL COLLEGE STUDENTS WHO REGISTER CAN ATTEND FOR FREE

The first 100 college students who register also will receive free lodging!!

Our heart is to see college students embrace this missional living and realize that the world is on their campus and in their dorms and they don't have to only live missionally on mission trips but living missionally is a life style.

Sign Up Today as spots are filling up quickly!!!

To register for the event or for more information click here or on the ad card below.

The following blog article was posted by Benson Hines on March 9, 2011 and specifically address the importance of networking with other college ministers.  It is very important to have someone you can bounce ideas off of that has already tried out or thought through some of the ideas you may have.  You can follow Benson's blogs at his blog site exploringcollegeministry.com, and start networking today!!

What should I do when I need to confront a student?

How have you gotten your students to serve more?

I’ve got a problem with one of my supporters – what would you do?

Like any field of ministry, college ministers have a variety of sticky, tricky issues that come up. And like any field of ministry, our set of issues is somewhat unique to what we do.

Clearly, I’m a big fan of broad collaboration, in-depth training, and other efforts to learn from other college ministers in a large-scale way. But there’s a “lite” form of that collaboration that is probably worth taking very seriously, too: Having college ministers in your life you can simply “hang with” and discuss ministry with on a regular basis.

For some of you, this is a Duh suggestion, for sure. But I think a surprising number of us might not have taken the step to forge friendly, mutually beneficial relationships with other college ministers. We may not have somebody we could ask those three questions (above) while chowing down on a Moe’s burrito or an In-and-Out Burger. Nor do we have friendships in which we can share ideas and wisdom with other college ministers. Bummer!

I think it’s worth finding yourself a buddy. Or a few of them. Yes, get after the more formal methods – conferences and roundtables and blog-reading. But just having a college ministry “buddy” will be a powerful blessing, too.

The following blog post comes from Benson Hines and I found it to be a helpful reminder to college ministers as they continue to plan out their spring break itinerary.  I had posted near the end of last year an idea of bringing your ministry to beach reach and if you need other ideas feel free to contact our office.  Benson's blog site is exploringcollegeministry.com.  

I was thinking about Spring Break last night, and I figure I’ll post a few times about that this week. (While some of you may have some big plans already in the bag, I figure it’s still a good week to think about that BIG WEEK coming soon on the college ministry calendar.)

Today, an easy question that might require a hard answer:

Are you letting tradition decide what you do this Spring Break, or prayerful strategy?

There are college ministries out there that have “standard fare” for Spring Break activity – it’s a ski trip every year, it’s a mission trip to the same place every year, it’s a mini-Sabbatical for staff every year, it’s a rotation of two or three things every two or three years.

And traditions can be a great thing – if they’re the best way to accomplish your present purposes. But what may very well have fit this ideal two years ago may not, in fact, be best for hitting this year’s targets. So can you honestly say you pondered this year’s Spring Break like you should have, or did you just go with the norm because it’s the norm?

As college ministers, we daily face the temptation to “run cool plays” rather than score points. Spring Break is only one of many moments when good traditions can sometimes be replaced by traditionalism.