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« Book Review: Notes from the Tilt-A-Whirl by N.D. Wilson | Main | The Grease of the Missionary Rails »

08/26/2009

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last year we focused primarily on exposure via passing out flyers. we saw a low turnout at our weekly meeting and adjusted to incorporate more surveys.

we didn't see a dramatic increase in our numbers at our weekly meeting, but i believe we engaged and filtered more quality contacts.

i'm hoping that our larger leadership group can follow up and pursue more of these contacts, which should lead to a better year down the road.

We went for a goal similar to the one you described - 50 evangelistic conversations prior to Fall Retreat. We set that goal just prior to getting smacked in the face with a new campus policy that makes it significantly harder to get into the dorms, forcing us to set up appointments with freshmen. Students are a lot less willing to talk when you're not face to face with them - any thoughts on getting around sticky dorm policies?

Dan,
Ah, sticky dorm policies! You might need to make sure you have someone in each dorm who can escort you and your staff every time you are in there.
At UCLA, only freshmen lived in the dorms, so at one of our first meetings we asked everyone to fill out a survey and one of the questions was, "Would you be willing to host a Bible study in your dorm room?" It allowed us to at least have a place to meet very quickly. We asked the freshman to host for 4 weeks and then we could decide from there if they wanted to continue. That way they were not necessarily locked in to a 15 week commitment.
What kind of restrictions are there?

Dan,
Another thought: You have to think of a way for it to be hard to say no to meeting with you. Can you say, "I'll buy you lunch." You could even invite more than one to meet with you at the same time so you increase your chances of at least one showing up.

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