LU Shepherd - Office of Spiritual Development

Liberty University • Lynchburg, VA

3d • Onsite

About The Position

An LU Shepherd provides accountability and biblical guidance to Liberty University students through life-skills training, mentoring, discipleship, and visitation. A Shepherd is directly responsible to and assists the Director of LU Shepherd and/or the Office of Spiritual Development in whatever areas deemed necessary. Furthermore, it is the responsibility of the LU Shepherd office to provide direction and support for any crisis/emergency medical and chaplaincy situations. These situations require each staff member to be on call 24 hours a day for one continuous week, typically three weeks per semester. While on-call, LU Shepherd personnel can engage in normal activities outside of working hours, but cannot leave the greater Lynchburg area. The on-call schedule is published at the beginning of each semester. LU Shepherd personnel are also responsible for updating electronic files and keeping complete and accurate record of student situations. A Shepherd is also involved in originating, planning, coordinating, and implementing educational programs and opportunities for holistic spiritual development for the student population.

Requirements

• Four-year college degree, with previous work experience with college-aged students in a church or university setting.
• A working knowledge of student issues and educational trends, as they relate to higher education, is necessary.
• Ability to effectively communicate both verbally and in writing to convey clear, well-articulated information.
• Ability to understand, speak, and write English in order to convey messages and correspond in an articulate and professional manner.
• Possess public communication skills that allow professional representation of Liberty University to a variety of business and community customers and associates.
• Strong organizational skills.
• Excellent computer skills.
• Intuitively able to reason, analyze information and events, and apply judgment in order to solve problems of both a routine and complex nature.
• Proof of a valid Virginia driver’s license, an acceptable DMV record, and liability insurance is required.

Nice To Haves

• Master’s degree in related field.

Responsibilities

• Provide appropriate spiritual counseling, life-skills direction, and mentoring to male students, referring them for professional counseling as necessary.
• Maintain authorized access to male residence halls as needed to ensure effective student care.
• Be direct point of contact for approximately 20-30 male Resident Shepherds and pour into these individuals.
• Oversees a group of approximately 200 male student leaders and provides, mentoring, discipleship and spiritual support to them as they provide peer-to-peer support to students that live in their halls.
• Meets with male students one-on-one, providing pastoral counseling and other spiritual support.
• Engage and Interact with male students on a daily basis, serving as mentor/discipler through events, meetings, activities, or groups.
• Assist in facilitating and planning Memorial Services for students who have passed away, as requested by Director.
• Review and follow-up on Incident Reports and Liberty Emergency Services Reports for matters requiring immediate attention (hospitalization, suicidal language, sickness, family emergency, death, assault, spiritual warfare, etc.).
• Contact and correspond with parents when warranted (physical, social, psychological, spiritual, academic, or discipline related issues), while following FERPA guidelines.
• Provide information and assistance to prospective students and visitors.
• Assist administration with student-related issues/resolutions (Chancellor, President, Student Advocate, International Student Office, etc.).
• Collect, monitor, and review assessment related data report documents.
• Act as liaison to faculty, staff and administration in regard to student related problems.
• Attend all convocations/Campus Community — Fill role of counselors for students who respond to altar calls.
• Hospital visitation for student population.
• Works effectively as a team member, embracing and fostering LU’s mission.
• Assist Executive Director and Director with other various duties and functions as deemed appropriate.
• Serves as pastoral support for weekly university convocations and Bible studies.
• Provides premarital and marital counseling for students and staff.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level