Welcome to College - here's some advice<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"School's in, and for those of you who read this and are in college, I'd like to offer a word of welcome. \u00a0As the pastor of a church with lots of\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/richarddahlstrom\/2010\/09\/27\/welcome-to-college-heres-some-advice\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Welcome to College - here's some advice\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"School's in, and for those of you who read this and are in college, I'd like to offer a word of welcome. \u00a0As the pastor of a church with lots of\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/richarddahlstrom\/2010\/09\/27\/welcome-to-college-heres-some-advice\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Fibonacci Faith: Changing Everything\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-09-27T15:49:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.toothpastefordinner.com\/011705\/college-was-depressing.gif\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Richard Dahlstrom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Richard Dahlstrom\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/richarddahlstrom\/2010\/09\/27\/welcome-to-college-heres-some-advice\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/richarddahlstrom\/2010\/09\/27\/welcome-to-college-heres-some-advice\/\",\"name\":\"Welcome to College - here's some advice\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/richarddahlstrom\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2010-09-27T15:49:51+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2010-09-27T15:49:51+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/richarddahlstrom\/#\/schema\/person\/35cc34ea723fe19cdf6bfe9446fde728\"},\"description\":\"School's in, and for those of you who read this and are in college, I'd like to offer a word of welcome. \u00a0As the pastor of a church with lots of\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/richarddahlstrom\/2010\/09\/27\/welcome-to-college-heres-some-advice\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/richarddahlstrom\/2010\/09\/27\/welcome-to-college-heres-some-advice\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/richarddahlstrom\/2010\/09\/27\/welcome-to-college-heres-some-advice\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/richarddahlstrom\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Welcome to College – here’s some advice\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/richarddahlstrom\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/richarddahlstrom\/\",\"name\":\"Fibonacci Faith: Changing Everything\",\"description\":\"The Blog of Richard Dahlstrom\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/richarddahlstrom\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/richarddahlstrom\/#\/schema\/person\/35cc34ea723fe19cdf6bfe9446fde728\",\"name\":\"Richard Dahlstrom\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/richarddahlstrom\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c70ef6941167d00acda35b40d90cb1e0?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c70ef6941167d00acda35b40d90cb1e0?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Richard Dahlstrom\"},\"description\":\"As Pastor of Bethany Community Church in Seattle, Richard teaches with vision of \\\"making the invisible God visible\\\" by calling people to acts of service and blessing. 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{"id":703,"date":"2010-09-27T09:49:51","date_gmt":"2010-09-27T15:49:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/raincitypastor.wordpress.com\/?p=703"},"modified":"2010-09-27T09:49:51","modified_gmt":"2010-09-27T15:49:51","slug":"welcome-to-college-heres-some-advice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/richarddahlstrom\/2010\/09\/27\/welcome-to-college-heres-some-advice\/","title":{"rendered":"Welcome to College – here’s some advice"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

The NY Times had a great little read recently called, \u201cDitch Your Laptop \u2013 Dump your Boyfriend\u201d<\/a> filled with good, practical advice on how to make the most of your college years. \u00a0If you\u2019re in college, or know someone who is, I\u2019d recommend reading it. \u00a0The article started me thinking about what I\u2019d want to offer students and I came up with a short list.<\/p>\n

Since my list is incomplete, I hope some of you will add your own contributions<\/em><\/strong> by adding comments to this post. Thanks! \u00a0So what you can students do to maximize their college experience:<\/p>\n

1. Be curious. <\/strong> This, I\u2019ve discovered, is of huge value in the \u2018real world\u2019 after college. \u00a0Reading widely and developing your capacity to build bridges between different subjects is one of the things I look for when assessing someone\u2019s leadership potential. \u00a0Sure, you\u2019ll need some specialization; but you\u2019ll need more. \u00a0You\u2019ll need to capacity to think creatively, solve problems, and build bridges \u2013 skills which don\u2019t happen accidentally.<\/p>\n

2. Get intimate with God.<\/strong> That\u2019s a tall order, I realize, but I think I\u2019m simply talking about developing some habits that will help you and God become friends, like David and God were friends, or Moses and God. \u00a0Jeremiah 9:23-27 is a reminder that \u201cknowing God\u201d is the only thing worth boasting about in this life. \u00a0Of course, \u201cknowing\u201d isn\u2019t offered here in some absolute sense because the truth is that we can\u2019t know anyone perfectly and completely \u2013 not even God. \u00a0But we can establish a trajectory of intimacy, whereby God becomes someone to whom we pour out our heart, in both gratitude and complaint, frustration and longing, rejoicing and praise.<\/p>\n

This will require some time apart from others, and maybe a journal. \u00a0If this is one of your greatest areas of weakness, I\u2019d recommend this book<\/a> as great place to start.<\/p>\n

3. Do something to serve others.<\/strong> I just finished writing a new book, the thesis of which is that each person is uniquely gifted by God to paint the colors of hope on the canvass of our world. \u00a0To find your brush, and learn your strokes, you need to say yes to serving in some way. \u00a0You can do this on campus, or in your church. \u00a0This will help you swim upstream against the consumerism that is so prevalent in our culture.<\/p>\n

Some of you love to serve, but have a hard time sitting still long enough to develop intimacy with God. \u00a0For others, you have the opposite problem. \u00a0If you\u2019re in search of balance, I\u2019d recommend my book<\/a>, available through Amazon, or the church<\/a> I lead.<\/p>\n

4. Leave campus<\/strong>. \u00a0Get to know your city and people who don\u2019t attend your school. \u00a0This broadening of your world has great value. \u00a0When I attended college in Seattle, I worked at an I-Hop, and the Seattle Sonics basketball team came in every game day. \u00a0I became a huge fan, started going to games, and felt deeply connected to the city because of it, so much so that, sixteen years after graduation, I moved back to pastor a church there.<\/p>\n

What are some other thoughts you\u2019d add, in order to help students maximize their college experience? <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"