Prime Time For College Men
By Tierce Green
THE COLLEGE YEARS are PRIME TIME for a young man to spread his wings and begin to discover who he is, who he wants to be, who he will follow, and how he will lead. What could happen if we intentionally created an environment where college men could experience manhood as God intended it to be?
That was the question Danny Allen began to ask. He had been leading men in his church for years with great success, but God began to prepare him for a new mission—a mission that would take him upstream to capture the attention of college men—a proactive strategy to redirect young men away from the less-than experience of conventional manhood toward the life of truth, passion and purpose they were created to live.
Danny initiated conversations with The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor in Belton, TX and mapped out the strategy. He began with some test groups of college men during the Summer of 2018, and then opened up opportunities in the Fall to the entire campus for men to discover and process the principles of biblical manhood in community groups using the content of 33 The Series. About 60 men participated, and as they began to tell their story to friends, the movement gained momentum. Dr. Brandon Skaggs, Vice President for Student Life and many of the UMHB Faculty and Staff have noticed and are giving their full support.
I spoke for a UMHB33 event last semester with most of these men, then made a return visit to speak to the entire student body. As the 2019 Fall Semester begins, over 100 college men will be engaged in the journey toward authentic manhood on this campus! I have witnessed the impact of a movement that is only just beginning but already producing a measurable difference.
WHY CAN'T THIS BE REPLICATED ON ANY CAMPUS? The nuances of the culture and context will of course be different, but the strategy can be easily adapted to impact men at any college. Do YOU have connections and relationships that YOU can cultivate? Let's invest eternally in the lives of these young men. IT'S PRIME TIME!
