Do These First: 3 Things Every Recent Should Prioritize After College

Posted on May 31, 2019May 31, 2019 by Erica Reitz

Life after college often feels overwhelming for recent graduates. It’s hard to know where to start. A few years ago, I reached out to a number of alums and asked them to share their advice on what to do first.

Here’s an article (from the archives) on 3 things every recent gradate should prioritize. It’s written for recent graduates, so feel free to pass it to your alums!

More than the ideas in the article, I hope this post is an encouragement to send a text, make a call, or say a prayer for your recent graduates.

We need each other to stay faithful, and our former students need heaps of encouragement in this transition.

Will you take a quick action today to reach out to one or more of your alums? Let me know!

PS I’m curious what you would add to this article. What do you encourage your recent graduates to do first? Leave a comment on the blog here (below) – I’d love to hear from you!

What’s the most outrageous thing you’ve ever done? A podcast interview on life, start-ups and “after college.”

Posted on May 22, 2019May 22, 2019 by Erica Reitz

I recently had the opportunity to interview with Colleen Batchelder, the founder of LOUD Summit, a movement that exists to engage, empower and equip Millennials and Gen Z to change the world and be a light of hope.

In in the interview, I discuss themes of the book, but we also talked about business start-ups…and life — how we keeping putting one foot in front of the other to pursue faithfulness.

Check it out here.

If you listen until the end, you’ll get to hear my answers to the LOUD questions, which are the most fun!

What do you love most about life?
What’s the most outrageous thing you’ve ever done?
When have you felt like an underdog?
When have you had to depend on God most?

Don’t forget to leave a comment below about what stands out to you most about the interview. Or, share your answer to one more of these questions above. Thanks for adding to the conversation!

It’s Okay to Cry: Helping Seniors Leave Well

Posted on May 8, 2019May 8, 2019 by Erica Reitz

Here’s an article (from the archives) that helps us encourage our students to leave well. It’s easy for students (and even for us) to stuff our emotions. But this isn’t healthy.

It’s okay to call it [the ending of college] what it is. It’s okay for our students to cry. And for us to do the same if we need to!

Check out the article, and then share one thing that you do to help students leave well. Leave a comment below, I’d love to hear from you!

It’s Okay to Cry: Helping Seniors Leave Well

P.S. Something you don’t need to cry about, but might if you don’t act soon: 🙂

The LAST day to register for the Live Training Course on Equipping Students for Life After College is Monday, 5/13.

This 5 week course is for practitioners (college ministers, church leaders, and student affairs professionals) who are looking to start new initiatives or take their current efforts to the next level.

I have a some seats left in the Wednesday Class (12-1pm ET), which begins next week, May 15th. All teaching is live, but participants log-in from the comforts of their office or home.

Here’s the direct link to register. Hope to see you there!

The Best Graduation Gift You Can Give Your Seniors

Posted on May 1, 2019May 1, 2019 by Erica Reitz

Last week, I had the joy of teaching a group of students who are about to graduate from an intensive, 9 month discipleship experience called OneLife. The program director invited me to help these students transition, and one of his hopes was that the students leave with confidence about their next steps (even in the unknown).

We covered a lot of ground in my few days with them, but the most important thing I offered went beyond tips for transitions or practical advice on money management (crucial as these are).

If we want to help our students thrive in the transition, they need deep and timely reminders of God’s character and goodness. Dwelling on who God is (the same God yesterday, today and forever) and who we are because of him is what grounds us in life’s transitions.

This is the most important gift we can give.

At OneLife, we took time to reflect on the attributes of God as well as on our identity in Christ. I led the students through an activity that invited them to consider how they image God. Without even realizing it, our picture of God may be far from who he describes himself to be and who he reveals himself as in the person of Jesus.

For many years, I pictured God as a lightning-bold-throwing God, ready to reprimand me if I stepped out of line. I’ve also imaged him as a “carrot-dangling” God — a deity who tantalizes me with good gifts, but then quickly takes them away. I needed a new image.

I invited the students to select actual images (printed on card stock) that connected with them. I also asked them to reflect, journal and free write, using these two downloadable documents (below) as prompts.

Feel free to give these “gifts” to your students.

We cannot remove the chaos of transitional times, but we can offer our students a firm place to plant their feet.

We can remind them of a constant God for every dynamic time.

Be encouraged today!
Erica

PS I’m no longer praying to my faulty abstracts of God. Thanks to all of the beautiful I AM statements in John’s gospel, I have new, rich, and right images of him.

PPS How do you help students grow in their understanding of God’s character and their identity in him? What practical resources do you use?

navtool-names-of-god Download

Identity In Jesus Download