Traveling

So I am off to Russia to help build some playgrounds and connect with kids.  It will be an awesome time with 13 of our teenagers as we get to see them serve God.  I will be off line for about ten days and will let you know about the trip when I get back.

New Research On Teen Preferences…3 of 5

New Research On Teen Preferences…2 of 5

New Research About Teen Preferences…1 of 5

Leadership…Join

When leaders join your ministry team make sure to be clear and choosy before making anyone official.  It’s always easier to acquire someone than it is to fire someone.  Once again you never want to come off desperate and in need.  When you go through this process make sure there is a clear involvement procedure.

• Make your process known
• Think through the message this process sends
• Express interest in someone
• Have initial contact from someone on youth staff
• Give the the youth ministry packet (you should have a packet)
• Have them observe your program
• Have them complete the application
• Have them interview with you or somebody else that you trust on youth staff
• Have them pray about their commitment
• Have them sign the commitment sheet (this will keep them committed for a year)
• Have them begin ministry
• You should follow up with a thirty-day checkup or evaluation (this allows an escape route for both of you)

Leadership Cont. 2

One of the hardest things to do when it comes to volunteers is sparking the interest or opening the door.   You need to identify your leadership attitude.  Do you need adults to survive or ministers to thrive?  So many people have this stereotype of what it takes to volunteers with students.  Most of those stereotypes scare people away.

• You have to be prepared to address obstacles of the scared.
• You must show off your non-stereotypical youth worker.  The guy with the tattoos or the silent girl who doesn’t have much to say except for when she gets to pour into teens.
• You must look for people who are unlikely candidates.  You’ll find that they are usually the best candidates.
• In some cases you may need to simply your serving opportunities.
• And in some cases you need to raise the bar so you don’t come across as needy.

One key thing that is important to getting people to join your team is this, how you ask is as important as who you ask.

Leadership Continued

In Exodus 18:17-23 We hear about Jethro’s leadership advice.  Here are the main points of it all.

• What you are doing is not good.
• You will only wear yourselves out.
• The work is too heavy for you; you cannot handle it alone.
• Select capable men/women from all the people-men/women who fear God.
• Appoint them.
• By doing that it will make your load lighter, because they will share it with you.
• You will be able to stand the strain.
• People will go home satisfied.

God has leaders; you just have to find them. That is exactly what Jesus said in Matthew 9:36-39.  When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.  Then he said to his disciples, the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.  Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.

Students deserve ministers, not chaperone’s. 1 Peter 5:2-3 says, Care for the flock of God entrusted to you.  Watch over it willingly, not grudgingly-not for what you will get out of it, but because you are eager to serve God.  Don’t lord it over the people assigned to your care, but lead them by your good example. This has become and will continue to be the verse that I look to for training leaders to serve.

Bad News:  Finding volunteers and training leaders never ends. The leadership cycle in ministry is: find them, train them, empower them, challenge them, and find more.

Good News: Developing ministers gets easier and better. Create and honor a clear leadership process.  Eventually you will find that the leaders will come to you.  Leaders want to be around other leaders.  It takes time to develop a quality leadership team.  As anybody new into ministry needs to learn it should be the first thing you do.

Our youth ministry is what it is because of the phenomenal leadership team that I have.  I am the upfront person who gets the credit, but it is my youth staff in the background that makes what we have successful.

Things Kids Say

Tonight at dinner as we had all been dismissed except for the one who was still having to finish what was given to him I heard one of the funniest things.  Jess was reading a book to Tyler, called Mr. Grumpy which may or may not have been about me tonight.  Matthew is sitting at the table when he was informed that he had one minute to finish he says “our food doesn’t taste good, when need to just give it to the kids in China.”  Interesting how we are willing to give what we don’t want to those in need instead of giving them what we do want.  Couldn’t help but laugh as he continues to say some very interesting things that I can only assume he is learning from Nogin or Disney channel.

On another note as the boys pulled into the house with Jess and mum mum, pastor John was out in the parking lot.  After banging on the car window to get his attention, they looked over to mum mum and said, “he goes to our church.”  So cool how John on Sunday “introduced” himself to all the kids.

A First

This week is a bit overwhelming for me. We had Gail Oxley’s life celebration last night and I was totally amazed by a couple of things. 1. How Joanne stayed so strong during the night…by far one of the most impressive woman I have ever had a chance to meet. 2. How John could take a situation like that and make it fun. His comedic timing was perfect and truly made it a celebration of Gail’s life. I don’t know how he does that but it was amazing. I can honestly say that when I grow I up want to be more like John because he is more like Jesus than I have ever been.

Tonight I do the rehearsal for my first wedding ever. Bryan who was my intern last year here at Fellowship as well as one of my previous students and Sarah who was a former student who worked on youth staff with me at my previous church. I love these two so much and am a better person for knowing them. Also my boys think they are the greatest. Bryan will one day make an incredible pastor. I have never seen somebody be so strong relationally with teenagers than him. The good thing is, he is marrying Sarah and she will bring wisdom to that relationship. As a husband and a pastor I so appreciate my wife bringing that balance to our life. I have to admit I am unbelievably nervous…even though nobody will care I am even there. In my head I am FREAKING out. Good news, I have a pair of Depends close by just in case.

Saturday Night is our SNL for our teens that starts at 6 and ends at 10:30pm. There is a BBQ to follow SNL and we are doing a movie on the lawn…National Treasure 2. It should be nice for us all to lay out there and sweat to death, its supposed to be sunny and 96 degrees…are you kidding me?

I’ll try and post later this weekend but it is busy.

Spiritually Apathetic

I’m in student ministry because I want to see teens move from being spiritually apathetic to being spiritually passionate, but when time passes and I see no signs of growth, it gets frustrating. Often I feel like I’m wasting my time, that my investment is pointless or that I should move my focus to a student that might produce more favorable results. It’s important to understand why I become frustrated because maybe then I won’t give up as easily on that “hard to reach” kid.  Does that statement resonate in you as a parent as well?  Do you become concerned because your student(s) don’t seem to get it?  Have you tried everything and your just ready to give up? If you answered yes to any of those questions then let me assure you, YOU ARE NOT ALONE.  There are hundreds of thousands of parents and youth pastors across this country that feel that way.  To be honest sometimes I feel that way about myself and my own walk with Christ.

Why do we feel like we may give up with the tough students?

1. Unrealistic Expectations
What is it exactly that you expect to see in the teenager who’s supposedly not growing? Apparently you feel the student is not where you think they should be, but where is that place where you think they should be right now?  And on another note…are you there yourself?  Teenagers will model what they see.

2. Remember: growth is a process
The process is longer for some than for others. It also takes a different path for everyone.  We need to make sure that we step back and allow the holy spirit to lead them.  That growth will always take root more so than our pressure.

3. We’re watching close-up
Staring at a pot of dirt to watch a seed grow is frustrating. You could stand there for a week and not see any evidence of growth. However, if you come back maybe three weeks after it’s been nurtured, watered and cared for, what was happening all that time beneath the surface is now displayed as a visual sign of growth.

God never gives up on you. Don’t you give up on spiritually apathetic teens!

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