The longer I serve in collegiate ministry, the more convinced I become that success is often measured by the wrong metrics. We celebrate attendance, programs, budgets, and events, yet those measures alone tell us very little about whether we are actually fulfilling the Great Commission. A growing ministry is not necessarily a multiplying ministry. A busy ministry is not necessarily a fruitful ministry.
For years, I’ve used the acronym EDM—evangelism, disciple making, and missions mobilization—to describe what I believe are the three essential components of Great Commission ministry. Others have described these priorities as “win, build, and send.” The language may vary, but the assignment remains the same. We are called to reach lost people, develop mature disciples, and mobilize laborers for the nations.
As I’ve traveled to campuses, churches and ministry gatherings around the world, I’ve found myself returning to five questions. These questions reveal whether we are simply maintaining ministries or helping God develop movements.
1. Are we modeling what we ask others to do?
One of the greatest temptations in ministry is to gradually move away from the very activities that first made us effective. Most leaders begin on the front lines. We share the gospel, disciple students, and invest in people personally. Over time, responsibilities increase. We supervise staff, manage budgets, and lead organizations. Before long, we can find ourselves talking about ministry far more than actually doing ministry.
I recently challenged a group of ministry leaders with a simple question: Are we personally practicing the evangelism, disciple making, and mobilization we urge others to pursue?
Leadership in the New Testament is rooted in example. When Paul instructed Timothy to entrust truth to faithful people who would teach others also, he was describing a ministry he had modeled for years. Timothy had watched Paul live the life he was now charged with reproducing.
For collegiate pastors, the implication is clear. No title or responsibility should remove us from direct participation in the Great Commission. Students need more than administrators and vision-casters. They need leaders who are still sharing the gospel, making disciples, and mobilizing workers.
This conviction also shapes ministry strategy. Too many ministries rely primarily on a “come to us” approach. While gatherings are valuable, effective collegiate ministry requires a “go to them” mindset. We must intentionally engage students where they already live and spend their time—in residence halls, student organizations, athletic teams, and social networks. Missionaries go to people, and collegiate ministers must do the same.
2. Are we expanding the kingdom or simply reorganizing Christians?
This question may be uncomfortable, but it is necessary.
Many ministries experience numerical growth without actually expanding the kingdom. Students transfer from one ministry to another. A new speaker, worship leader, or program attracts attention. Attendance increases, but the number of lost students being reached may remain unchanged.
The kingdom advances when lost people become followers of Christ.
On a typical campus, only a small percentage of students are connected to churches or Christian ministries. Yet much of our collective effort is directed toward those same students. We often spend our energy competing for the 5 percent while neglecting the 95 percent.
When most Christians hear the phrase unreached people groups, they immediately think about distant nations. We should care deeply about those nations, but every campus also contains unreached people groups—students who have little meaningful exposure to the gospel.
Every university is made up of subcultures and affinity groups, each with its own relational networks and influencers. Effective collegiate ministry requires understanding those networks and engaging them intentionally. Rather than viewing the campus as a single audience, we should identify key communities and trust God to create what I often call the ricochet effect—when one student comes to Christ and begins influencing an entire network of friends.
Movements are rarely built by accident. They emerge when leaders understand their campus well enough to engage the right people in the right places with the gospel.
3. Do we really care about people’s souls?
At a fraternity reunion, a former fraternity brother I had not seen in decades approached me and said, “You led me to Christ.”
During college he had seemed resistant to everything I believed. Yet God transformed his life. What struck me most was that after all those years, he never forgot the person who cared enough to talk with him about his soul.
That experience reinforced something God has been teaching me. If we genuinely love people, we cannot be indifferent about their eternal destiny. We may appreciate someone’s personality, enjoy their friendship, or admire their accomplishments, but biblical love ultimately cares about what matters most.
The reality is that very few people will ever have someone speak honestly with them about eternity. Many Christians are willing to share a testimony. Fewer explain the gospel clearly. Fewer still invite someone to respond. And almost no one asks for a response and then patiently waits for an answer.
At some point, every collegiate pastor must decide whether preserving personal comfort is more important than pursuing eternal impact. Students deserve more than vague spiritual conversations. They deserve opportunities to hear the gospel clearly and respond to Christ personally.
The longer I live, the more convinced I become that love occasionally requires risk. Sharing the gospel may create uncomfortable moments, but temporary discomfort is a small price to pay when eternity is at stake.
4. Is your disciple making a program or a process?
Most ministries eventually develop systems. There is nothing inherently wrong with that. Systems create clarity, consistency, and organization. Problems arise, however, when we begin to believe the system itself produces disciples.
There was a season when our ministry became highly efficient. We had pathways, programs, and carefully designed structures. Students entered one end of the process and, theoretically, emerged as mature disciples at the other.
But discipleship is not mechanical.
Jesus did not create a discipleship pipeline. He invested deeply in people. Paul did not mass-produce disciples. He walked closely with them. Genuine disciple-making always involves personal investment, spiritual coaching, and life-on-life relationships.
One quality I have come to value deeply in disciple makers is winsomeness. A winsome witness combines Christlike character with the relational ability to genuinely connect with people. Some of the most effective ministry leaders I have known possessed this quality. Their influence did not come primarily from programs or platforms but from authentic relationships rooted in genuine affection.
That raises an important question for those of us serving in collegiate ministry: Do we actually like students?
I am not asking whether we love students in a theological sense. Scripture commands that. I am asking whether students feel liked when they are around us. Do they sense that we enjoy their company, value their perspectives, and genuinely care about their lives?
Students are remarkably perceptive. They know when someone is engaging them out of obligation and when someone truly delights in being with them. More often than not, that difference determines whether a discipling relationship develops deep enough to produce lasting fruit.
5. Could your greatest contribution be mobilizing students for the nations?
The final component of EDM is often the missing piece.
Most collegiate ministries recognize the importance of evangelism and discipleship. Missions mobilization, however, is frequently treated as an optional emphasis for a handful of especially committed students. I believe that approach misses something essential.
The Great Commission is not complete until God’s people are invested in reaching all peoples.
College students remain among the most recruitable, trainable, and sendable people on earth. They are making major life decisions, forming convictions, and determining the direction of their future. Few environments offer greater opportunities to shape kingdom-minded leaders.
For that reason, I believe we should view our campuses as launching pads. Every collegiate ministry should be asking how many students God might raise up and send through its influence. Missions is not an advanced discipleship elective. It belongs near the beginning of a student’s spiritual development.
Helping students understand God’s heart for the nations gives purpose and direction to both evangelism and discipleship. The greatest contribution some of us make to global missions may not be where we personally go, but whom we help mobilize and send.
Living in the In-Between
One of my favorite images in Scripture comes from Revelation. In Revelation 5:9, Christ purchases people from every tribe, language, people, and nation through His sacrificial death. In Revelation 7:9, those redeemed peoples gather before His throne in worship.
The Church lives between those two passages.
The purchase has already been made. The gathering is still underway.
God has uniquely positioned our generation within that story. As collegiate pastors, we stand between Revelation 5:9 and Revelation 7:9. Our responsibility is to help raise up students who will participate in God’s mission until the redeemed from every people group stand before the throne.
That is why these five questions matter. They force us beyond programs, preferences, and comfort. They remind us that collegiate ministry is ultimately about advancing the Great Commission through evangelism, disciple making, and missions mobilization.
May God help us choose what is most strategic rather than what is most comfortable. And may He raise up a generation of collegiate leaders who are willing to do whatever it takes to see the gospel spread from every campus to every nation.
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Adapted from the Collegiate Coaching Network. Learn more about our Collegiate Coaching Network and sign up for the next cohort.
Published August 10, 2026
