So, I backed up to this idea of being spiritually influential. I’m not really sure what that means exactly, but it’s interesting to think about. As I do so, I feel drawn to the question, “What creates a spiritually influential environment for high school teenagers?” Is it a better teaching series? Someone with more charisma? Bigger games? Giving teenagers 30 minutes to discuss a lesson instead of 15 minutes?

According to the evaluation survey I used (and some good common sense), I think a spiritually influential environment depends on three things. Two of them I can somewhat control, one of them I can’t control at all.

1. What is the most spiritually influential aspect of our ministry?

The evaluations showed that shared experiences are the most spiritually influential aspect of our ministry. These shared experiences took place through trips, events, spontaneous hang-outs, and sharing life together. It’s not really too surprising because, if you think about it, experiences are what have shaped most of us into what we are today. When you think back to the life-changing moments in your life, very rarely is it a sermon you heard, or a small group discussion. Granted, those things have their place and they definitely contribute to life-change, but typically we think back to experiences in our lives that have shaped us, and usually it’s the negative ones that have shaped us the most.

I’m not saying I’m going to try to intentionally create a series of negative experiences for teens, but I do believe that youth ministry needs to become more experiential, in which case the question shifts from what we teach to how we teach. I think I need to be more intentional about creating flexible experiences for teens and teaching through those experiences. For example, going into the inner city to feed homeless people and teaching teens on the spot about materialism, servanthood, equality, etc. The downsides are that it would take a lot more time and energy to prepare, it has the potential to be a lot messier than teaching in a sterile classroom, and I really can’t control the experience anyone actually has.

2. Who is the most spiritually influential person in our ministry?

Although I’d like to think I’m the most spiritually influential person in our ministry, we all know that’s not true. According to the survey my high school teens filled out, the students who claimed they grew a lot spiritually last year are the same ones who admitted to having frequent spiritual conversations at home with their parents. They also said their parents are the #1 spiritual influence in their lives.

So what if we combined the most spiritually influential aspect of our ministry (experiences) with the most spiritually influential person (parents)? What if we intentionally created environments where teens and parents had spiritual discussions and experiences together? What could happen if teens and parents went to the inner city together to feed the homeless? And what if I taught briefly to everyone about materialism, servanthood, equality, etc, and then let the parents lead discussions about the experience with their teens?

3. How does spiritual influence happen?

I’d be remiss to neglect the role of the Holy Spirit in the process of life-change. Obviously, I can’t coerce the Holy Spirit to do anything, but I’d like to do the best job I know how in partnering with Him. That mostly means begging Him in prayer to move, work, and change hearts through the experiences and people involved.

How would it work practically?

I’m still thinking this through, but I’ve been talking with our adult ministries pastor about pushing hard to get parents plugged into small groups where they can “grow deep.” The youth ministry pushes teens into small groups, but statistically a lot of parents aren’t connected to one. The idea is that, as parents grow themselves, the more they can become the spiritually influential person their kids desperately need. And the more that happens, the more effective the bi-monthly experiences to serve and “go wide” together in family-oriented missions trips will be.

I know this isn’t necessarily an earth-shattering idea. In fact, I know some ministries who already do something like this. Even our own church has done things that could fall into this strategy, too, but it would definitely be a shift for us to intentionally make this our focused strategy in taking kids and families deep and wide.

I’m still wrestling with a lot of this. Mostly thinking out loud here in this post. What do you all think?

1. It’s very emotional, unlike any other job. You’ll experience the highest of highs, and the lowest of lows.

2. It’s very messy, and always will be as long as you work with people who are just as imperfect and sinful as you are.

3. It’s constantly changing. Youth culture never stays the same from year to year, and neither do the kids, values, nor worldviews. Youth ministry must always morph along with it. As soon as you think you have a handle on it, think again.

4. It requires strong vision casting. Any leadership position does, but leadership in youth ministry does especially. Your leaders, teens, parents, church and community all depend on it.

5. Don’t think you need to do it all. In fact, the ministry is healthier when you enable others to serve instead of taking responsibility for every youth event, trip, fundraiser, small group, idea, and strategy that furthers the vision.

6. No matter what people at your new church say, don’t make deep rooted changes in the ministry until after two years of building trust and respect.

7. Live a life that is above reproach in everything. Eventually even “little things” will come to light and you will be held to a higher level of accountability for it (and rightly so).

8. Kids really don’t care how “cool” you are or how well you know scripture as much as they care about how much you love them as individuals, not as a group.

9. Have a firm grasp on what your values are in ministry and make sure they’re are aligned with a church’s written and unwritten values before accepting a paid youth ministry position there.

10. Don’t be too discouraged if you don’t see results and life-change take place right away. Sometimes it takes years, and even then you won’t always hear about it.

What do you wish someone would’ve told you about youth ministry before you got started? We’d all love to hear it in the comments below.

1. High school kids can leave a huge impact on jr. highers.

Seriously, this is HUGE! Think back to when you were in jr. high. If a high school kid actually talked to you and gave you attention, that meant the world! I still remember a Boy Scout trip back in 8th grade. One of the older guys who just got his driver’s license had a conversation with me while we were filling up water bottles — that made my entire weekend! Almost 20 years later I can still tell you what our conversation was about. I felt valued, appreciated, and totally accepted.

Encourage your high school students to reach out to the underclassmen as much as possible. If the guys on the wrestling team I help coach at our public high school can help train, encourage, and teach the upcoming jr. highers how to wrestle every day in practice, we should certainly be able to expect Christian kids to do the same spiritually.

2. It models what the body of Christ is all about

The body of Christ is not about segregating into groups of a similar age range. In fact, that could even have devastating affects on the body of Christ if we’re not careful. Diversity, working together, genuine community in spite of differences, all for the sake of bringing glory to God — this is what the body is all about.

3. It shapes a healthier view of church for their adult years

We must always be careful about how our ministries are unintentionally (even subconsciously) shaping our teenagers’ view of church, especially as they grow into adulthood and retain that perspective. Are they learning that church is a place where you latch on to peers in the same stage of life? Are they growing up with the expectation that they are at church to be served instead of serving others (consumerism)? Are they learning to embrace the diversity in love?

Question:

If you have jr. high and sr. high ministries split, why? If they’re combined, why? I’d love to process this more with you all in the comments below. I’m not convinced that one way is better than the other, but I do think it’s extremely critical that we think through why we divide or combine them.

Oh, and let’s try to get past all the general reasons like, “They’re at difference places in life,” and, “The jr. highers get on the high school kids’ nerves.” I don’t think they’re valid enough reasons to excuse greater benefit of keeping everyone together. They’re easily worked through given a bit of time to help kids and parents shift their perspective of youth group.

Just for the record, my youth ministry is divided into jr. and sr. high and that will not change anytime soon, although I’d love to explore the possibly some day.

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Recently I have been experiencing a rather large shift in my thinking. For years I have seen the Church as the place to teach, train and equip young people for living out a real and authentic faith. I was even trained in college on how to pull off such a feat. Don’t get me wrong, I certainly believe the Church has a big role to play in that process, I just wonder, is that the primary role of the Church in the life of a young person?

If results are the chief way of evaluating effectiveness, one must ask then, are we seeing the results we had hoped for? Sadly, I have to say, no. Sure, I see many students that have come through my ministry over the years that are actively living their lives for the Lord. The high numbers of those who are not living for the Lord is what concerns me.

We youth pastors sit around for hours discussing why it is we see so many of our students dropping off upon graduation. Why are they abandoning their faith? Why are they walking away from the Church? Is it because we as a Church have failed them? Have we missed something? If we create a more exciting worship experience for them will they stay? If we create better programs that are attractive to their generation, will they stay? I believe the reasons are multi-faceted, and yes we as a Church, play a part. Beyond the Churches role and responsibility, I believe the weight of that responsibility falls on two very important people: mom and dad. The reason so many students give up on church and their faith is not because they don’t like the music in our worship services, or don’t like our programs, rather it’s because they have not seen a real faith lived out in their parents lives. They as a result view faith as hypocritical. They have not seen it lived out at home, so they don’t want any part of it in their lives.

Who ultimately is responsible? Is it the Church, or is the family? There is no question that God has mandated the Church to make disciples (Matthew 28:19-20) and equip people for ministry (Ephesians 4:11-12). The question is, does all of the responsibility fall on the shoulders of the Church? I believe the primary role of the Church is to partner with the family, not take it’s place. Unfortunately, much of that responsibility has been abdicated to the Church.

We have created programs for kids to be dropped off at, in the hope that they will get everything they need for living a God centered life. The average church spends 40 to 50 hours a year with children. Contrast this to the 2,500 hours a parent has, and it’s easy to see, who has the greatest impact. I find it hard to believe that the drop off systems we have created is what God had in mind for the spiritual nurture of His children.

It is the families responsibility, that being mom and dad, to nurture the spiritual lives of children. Researcher George Barna correctly states, “When a church – intentionally or not – assumes a family’s responsibilities in the arena of spiritually nurturing children, it fosters an unhealthy dependence upon the church to relieve the family of its biblical responsibility.”*

So what is the role of parents? In instructing God’s people to “Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength,” (Deuteronomy 6:5). Moses presented them with very practical instruction on how to lead their children in living out that command. He writes, “These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up” (Deuteronomy 6:6-7). That is some pretty specific instruction!

We are to pass our faith on to our children all throughout the day. In the slow time, (when you sit at home) in the go time, (when you walk along the road) in the down time, (when you lie down), and in the up time. (when you get up). This will not be accomplished in the “drop off time.”

Let us remember as a Church, it is our role to partner with parents in this ever important task. In our programming let’s dream of ways we can come alongside parents and families to equip them and resource them in their God given task. Ephesians 4:12 instructs us to prepare God’s people for works of service, so the body of Christ may be built up. Let us as youth workers not merely focus on preparing students, but let us consider how we may also prepare parents for the task of discipling their children so the body of Christ may be built up.

*George Barna, Transforming Children Into Spiritual Champions (Ventura, CA: Regal Books, 2003), p 81.

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Brian Eberly is the Family Pastor at Grace Point Community Church in Tigard, Oregon. He’s been actively ministering to students for 23 years. When not doing ministry he spends most of his time with wife Robin and two kids, daugther, Brittnie and son Benjamin. He blogs at www.brianeberly.com. Feel free to contact him at brian@brianeberly.com.

How am I supposed to deal with a Senior pastor that passionately wants to make (most) decisions about our youth ministry? I understand that I must be humble and submissive to his authority, but little room is left for the leaders and kids to participate in the decision making process.

Observation Period

It’s probably best to try to understand why he is a micromanager. Is it fear of failure? Is it insecurity? Is it a trust issue? Is it something that he learned from a previous ministry? Have you made big mistakes in the past? Is someone else micromanaging him? Is he just very detail-oriented in general? Get to know this man on a personal level and establish as much trust is possible. Let him see that you’re on his team and that you support him 100%. Trust and respect on a ministry team is huge! The thing about trust, though, is that it’s not a right someone will automatically give you just because of the position you hold. You have to earn it. That takes time. It takes years to build trust and only seconds to destroy it, so be patient and be careful.

While earning his trust and respect, try to observe what kinds of situations kick him into full “micromanaging” gear. What do each of those scenarios have in common? Do certain issues make him breathe down your neck more than others? Is it mostly after a board meeting? Is it when his wife just yelled at him on the phone? This will help you understand him and his leadership style and also know how to better respond when you know he’s about to flex his control-muscles.

During this time, also pay attention to your own job performance. Are you meeting the expectations laid out for you? Are you casting a compelling vision for the ministry? Are you doing anything that could possibly give him reason to feel uncomfortable with your leadership? Are you undermining his leadership in any way?

The Confrontation

After you’ve spent time observing these things, confront him about it. All the normal principles for confrontation apply. So do all the rules for fair fighting. Be honest about how it makes you feel. If you’ve noticed your own shortcomings, admit them. This may be one of the hardest conversations you’ll ever have, but, Lord willing, it could also potentially be the most rewarding and freeing conversation you’ll ever have. But even if it isn’t, there’s no other way this issue can be resolved. This kind of thing won’t go away on it’s own. You have everything to gain and probably not much to lose.

Realistic Expectations

If the confrontation goes well, don’t expect things to change right away. People don’t normally change their life-long patterns instantly. This may be a hard journey for him to start letting go and trusting your leadership. So, look for the little victories and thank him profusely when they occur. Let him know that you notice the progress and think he’s the best guy in the world because of it. And, of course, continually go out of your way to support him and his leadership, both publicly and privately to his face.

Give your input

This is a pretty touchy subject and I’m certainly no expert on it. What do the rest of you recommend? Drop a note in the comments below. Thank you!

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Have a youth ministry question you’d like me and other readers to answer? E-mail it to me! Please keep your question brief and to-the-point. Thanks!

Jeremy Zach emailed me and asked, “Have ya’ll ever done a youth Sunday? Basically where the students lead the church service. If you have, what key ingredients are essential to make this Sunday work? Any recommendations?”

I actually think Youth Sundays are a really bad idea. In my opinion, every Sunday should be a “youth Sunday.” I don’t like what youth Sunday unintentionally communicates to kids: “This is your Sunday. The other Sundays are not so much for you.”

We don’t have youth Sundays. Instead, I make sure teens play significant roles in church every Sunday. I want them to feel like they have significant ownership and responsibility in the body here every week. Fortunately, our church is very good about using teens in services every week and integrates them into the life of the body pretty well, but I realize not every church is like that.

Here are some easy ways your teens can get involved every Sunday:

• Leading worship
• Leading a time of prayer
• Ushering
• Passing offering plates
• Sharing testimonies of how God is working in their life
• Leading a “children’s sermon” or even the “adult sermon”
• Running lights and sound
• Engaging visitors before and after service
• Serve communion
• Dramas/skits that illustrate the sermon
• Dance (depending on your denomination!)
• Pray with the pastor(s) before each service

Help teenagers take ownership of the church outside of services, too. Some ideas:

• Maintaining a church website, Facebook page, YouTube channel, and Flickr photo albums
• Participate in the decision-making process in board meetings (seriously!)
• Visiting shut-ins and making hospital visits
• Teach children Sunday school classes
• Lead a workshop for adults on things like Facebook and txt messaging
• Leading small group discussions among their peers in youth group
• Pray for prayer requests that are submitted during services

Other responses

I asked on Twitter for people to give me their ideas for how they integrate teens into both the church body and church services. Here’s some of the feedback I received.

“Communion assistants, Worship leaders, Greeters, Acolytes, Help with Family Service Groups, Allow them the ability to lead Everyday services, Pray with the pastor, ect… lots of ideas!” — via Jeremy Hallquist in Facebook

“worship team, video/computer/sound, children’s ministry, cafe, welcome, greeter, usher, list goes on and on…” via Kevin Twombly in Twitter

“we only do multi-gen missions, teens are on worship team, serve in children’s min, etc…” via Chris Szulwach in Twitter

“For the tech geeks – I’ve plugged them into the sound/video team for church services. I’ve also plugged them into being door greeters for church services. It gets them plugged into the church and if families with teens come for a visit they can introduce themselves and help the visiting teen feel more comfortable. I’ve also done something we called ministry shadow. In short have your students shadow someone for a day that serves in a ministry within your church.” via Brian Ford in an email.

“getting them on committees if the church has them.” via Russ Bowin in Twitter

“We have our youth read scripture and usher on the 3rd sunday of the month.” via Nicole Cox in Twitter

“help in nursery, be a Sunday School teachers aide for younger kids” via June Camizzi in Facebook

Give your input

Do you have “Youth Sundays?” Why or why not? What would you recommend for Jeremy? Drop a note in the comments below.

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Have a youth ministry question you’d like me and other readers to answer? E-mail it to me! Please keep your question brief and to-the-point. Thanks!

Here’s what I’ve brainstormed for the first session on how sr. pastors can support their youth workers. What else should I add?

How sr. pastors can support their youth workers

Always publicly support your youth workers. Always. Even if it makes you look bad. Later, take the youth worker privately in your office and give them the, “What were you thinking?!” talk. There’s nothing that will erode your youth ministry team faster than feeling unsupported by their pastor. And nothing will deter others from serving in the youth ministry more than when they see that taking place.

Make yourself available to the teens. Don’t push youth work off onto a couple volunteers and expect that you’ll understand what they’re dealing with with issues arise. Visit the youth meetings on a regular basis, talk with the kids, show them that you’re real and approachable and that you care about them.

Change your mind about only using “young married couples” as youth workers. Consider the retired generation: they have time, life experience, spiritual maturity, and love for youth like no one else! Kids don’t care about how “hip” their leaders are or if they’re familiar with all the latest bands and movies — they just want to know that someone cares about them unconditionally.

Give your youth workers direction and guidance, but other than that, be hands-off. Let them experiment, explore and try new things. Let them pursue their God-given vision for the ministry (as long as it’s within the vision of the church, of course). Give them the freedom to fail and learn. And when they do fail, support them and encourage them through it. Understand that most sr. pastors are the engineering-type: they pay attention to detail, are very bullet-point linear people, and like to manage things. But youth workers usually the opposite: they are big-picture people, not always linear, and feel comfortable with a bit of controlled chaos. Enable them to serve how God’s created them, not however makes you feel most comfortable.

When recruiting youth workers, listen to their heart, their dreams, passion and giftedness for ministry and plug them in a place where that can vibe. Don’t just use people to fill the ministry’s holes and empty classrooms. Create places where their passion can shine and become contagious to those around them. And if your ministry holes aren’t filled, that’s okay — trust that the Lord wants to go a different direction.

Challenge your youth workers to think about youth ministry as something more than just a social time for kids with a Bible study thrown in. Teens want depth more than fun and games. And they don’t want to be “preached at” as much as they like to discuss and engage the material themselves.

Why teenagers are leaving the church

I thought I could do the second “free reign” session to talk about the teen drop-out from church after high school. What do you think? Is there something else that’s more pressing that sr. pastors need to hear?

Here are some of the talking points I’ve brainstormed so far:

Be intentional about getting teenagers integrated into the church. Avoid “minichurch” approach to youth ministry: youth pastor, youth service, youth band, youth building, youth church. They are part of THE church. Have them give input into church decisions, involved in leading worship, greeters, offering, sharing testimonies, teach a class to adults on how to use the Internet to communicate, offer ideas for how to improve services, etc. Make the teenagers a vital part of the church body.

Many parents are not modeling the daily interaction between faith and real life for their kids at home. Kids don’t see a faith in their parents that intersects and determines every area of life. Their parents attend church, but the home life is void of any spiritual influence. Teens see that disconnect and see no reason to be a part of it when they’re finally on their own.

The best thing you can do for the teenagers in your church and your community is NOT to start a youth program at your church — it’s to ensure that the parents are growing spiritually and actually living out their faith every day in front of their kids. Pastors need to challenge the adults to actually grow, not just be faithful attenders.

With each sermon, include a couple discussion questions that parents can use to further the discussion about the Sunday message at home or in the car. Follow-up and during the week ask people to share in front of church how the conversation went in order to offer accountability so parents and teens alike grow to expect it.

I’d love to hear your feedback. What else do sr. pastors need to hear from youth workers? What do I need to add to these notes? Is there a different route I should go with the second session?

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Join our LIVE Youth Ministry Conversation this Friday at 2:00 PM EST! The topic is, “Evaluating the spiritual depth of our youth ministries.” Of course, we also want to discuss your questions and any advice or ideas you need from other youth workers. Join us using either your telephone or your computer microphone.

Based on my experience, there’s several benefits to organizing your own missions trip.

1. Total flexibility. You’re in charge of the dates, where you go and what you do there, how long you stay, and everything else you can think of.

2. It’s cheaper. Since we’re not paying to support a missions organization, the cost of the trip is whatever we need it to be to cover expenses and not a penny more.

3. Serve according to your gifts. You can tailor the trip to the specific gifts and talents of your teenagers. Got lots of singers and kids who love to share Christ with strangers? Or do none of them sing and talking to strangers is like a Fear Factor mission?

4. Push the teens without breaking them. You can create a missions experience that will challenge them, but not push them over the edge. Since that breaking point is different for every group, so a one-size-fits-all trip may be too much for one group, but not stretching enough for another. Only you, their youth leader, know where that point is.

Again, there’s there’s nothing wrong with using an organization to plan and coordinate your missions trip. But if you’re considering a trip on your own next summer, these might be some reasons to give it a try.

1. Once in a while he visits the youth group for no other reason than to support me and to be available to the kids. Some youth pastors may find this intimidating, but I love it, especially since he does whatever I need just like any other adult leader.

2. Sometimes teenagers will ask pretty deep theological questions, either based on something we discussed in youth group or from what they heard in one of John’s sermons. I love doing my best to answer them, but so does John. He gladly writes responses to the teens’ questions on our youth group website, via email, or in person.

3. Every youth pastor dreams of working with a Sr. Pastor who gives complete freedom and flexibility like John gives me. Everything from the vision and direction of the youth ministry (as it aligns with the church, of course) to programming and big decisions.

4. He understands that my gifts and passions lie in the relational side of youth ministry, so he’s totally cool with me leaving the church office at any time to go be with kids, even if it means I don’t even come in to the office at all! They hired an administrative assistant to help do all the other organizational tasks that I’m not overly-gifted in.

5. Whenever I make mistakes, he always publicly supports me, listens and understands, although later he may pull me into his office privately and say, “What in the world were you thinking?!”

6. Sometimes he makes honest suggestions about changes that he thinks might be best for the youth ministry, but he never tells me I have to do it. If I choose to disregard his advice, there would be no hard feelings or disrespect (although later I might hear a half-joking, “I told you so!”).

7. Whenever I have a question, need advice, input or just need to vent, he is always gladly available, even if I call his cell phone on his day off. If I stop by his office to talk, he immediately stops whatever he’s doing to give me his full attention.

8. When issues arise in the youth ministry, he never blames me or accuses me for any of them. It’s always, “How can we resolve this?” not “You messed up again?!”

9. All throughout Bible college and seminary it was ingrained into me to say “No” often to many of the good opportunities that come as being a leader in a church. John models that and supports my initiative to say “No” to many meetings, ideas and even my attendance at some youth events!

10. The main time I was truly impressed by John was last year when I was sitting in a church board meeting presenting some youth ministry changes I felt were necessary. The board members talked about it long and hard going back and forth between all the different pros and cons. John was very strongly set against my idea, but never did he pull rank or veto the whole plan. In fact, the majority vote from the board was for my proposal and ever since then I’ve not heard a single word from him other than support and a positive attitude for the changes. No bitterness, no resentment, no nothing. (Turns out the changes worked very well for the ministry. Now it’s my turn to say, “I told you so!” lol Just kidding.)

Unfortunately, this mentality often trickles down to the youth ministry. I fequently hear about the competitive nature between local church youth ministries, about how one youth worker is upset because some of his kids went to a different youth group and how they have to compete with the big church to keep their kids. People, this is not how the body of Christ is supposed to function. It’s not about us versus them, it’s about seeing teenagers mature into sold-out passionate worshipers and dedicated students of the Word. Who cares if that happens best at your church or at someone else’s church?

Personally, I’m not offended when one of my youth group kids goes to another church’s youth group because I want that student to be wherever they’re going to grow the most. I’ll be honest enough to tell you that that’s not always in my youth group. Every youth group is different and so is every student. I have kids from other churches in my church’s ministry and other churches in the area have teens from my church. It’s not a big deal. In fact, there have been several occasions when I’ve actually sent my kids to another church’s youth group because they were doing something that I thought could really benefit them spiritually. I’m actually doing it again at the end of this month and purposefully not scheduling anything here that might conflict with it.

Remember, it’s not about being possessive and thinking of the teens as “my teens” because they’re not yours — they belong to the Lord. Your roll is to help nourish them spiritually, whether that takes place at your church’s ministry or someplace else. Don’t let your jealousy or disappointment stand in the way of that.

Besides, what’s the worst that could happen? If all of your kids leave your group and start going someplace else, would that be so bad? Take your efforts and join that other youth ministry’s efforts instead! It’s about building God’s Kingdom, not building your youth group. That’s exactly why I love partnering with many of the youth pastors in my community every Tuesday morning at our Allies meetings. We’re a team working together for the teenagers in our community. We are NOT competitors trying to collect as many teens in our group as we can.

Top 10 things to know a month after being a post-youth pastor.
by Gerrard R. Fess

1. Your investment in teen’s lives wasn’t the number #1 influencer – seems their parents are still influencing them.

2. References from your former church are important! So don’t burn any bridges.

3. Don’t expect to be called on by your former church. After a few weeks they have moved on. It is a little harder for you though since you were there a few years.

4. Learn to spend lots and lots of time in prayer.

5. Remember how important you thought your Bible College and Seminary degree were? Turns out in applying for jobs outside of ministry – it is only worth the paper it is on.

6. Get some counseling. Counseling never hurt anyone. It is good to know where your heart is at. Your relationships with God, family and others are vital. It is best to know one’s self.

7. Network. Network with as many people as possible to get that position. So often it isn’t what you know as to who you know and their contacts. A big source of encouragement as well.

8. Friendships are important. Those volunteers that you invested your life into – let them now invest in you. Your past sponsors can be the best source of encouragement and help you with references, resume help, and just helping with the family.

9. Keep your attitude positive. If God called you to step out on the water, then He’ll help you walk on the water too. Right now I’m stepping – just don’t know about the walking.

10. Just because you are done this chapter of being a “formal” youth worker doesn’t mean youth ministry is totally behind you. God maybe changing your calling but past lessons and helping others goes a long ways. Just like Joseph Wrestled with an Angel. So we too can struggle with our own calling and where God would have us.

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Gerrard Fess recently resigned from his Youth & Family Minister position and is currently searching for where the Lord might be leading him in the mainstream marketplace.

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In the ’70s and ’80s youth workers started telling their church’s leadership, “Hey, we need to get these kids involved in the church, but we have to change church a little in order for them to connect because right now it’s just for adults.” The church leaders considered this and promptly replied, “No, we’ve been doing church a lot longer than you have and we know how it works best.” So, in an attempt to keep the kids in church, youth leaders started having their own little Bible studies instead of sending kids to hear the sermon.

A bit later we said, “Hey, here are some kids who can play instruments and lead worship in church, but it’s not the piano or organ.” Again the leaders said, “No, we like our music exactly the way it is. We’re not going to change it.” So again, youth leaders responded by forming their own worship bands and eventually started having their own worship services, essentially creating a mini-church within the larger church, both of which were grossly disconnected from each other.

Throughout this time teenagers continued to develop relationships with only their youth group peers and adult leaders, and by the time graduation came around they knew no one in the “big church” and had little to no attraction to it because they had spent all their time in the mini youth church.

Fast forward to the end of a student’s first year of college. He returns home, goes back to church, pops in on “youth church” because that’s where he is known and feels comfortable, but quickly realizes he doesn’t belong there anymore. However, he doesn’t feel connected to anything else in the church, so he drops out altogether.

I realize this is a gross over-simplification, but the point is clear: Youth ministry must abandon this “mini youth church” approach and purposefully integrate teenagers into the life of the body as a whole. No more “Youth Sundays” — youth are to be involved every Sunday. No more having youth service during the main church service. No more church leaders who are too stubborn and too comfortable to accept change. No more delegating responsibility and leadership roles only to adults. No more adding 20-something programs that do nothing more than continue to segregate the body.

It won’t solve all our problems, but our fundamental approach to giving students ownership must change nevertheless. Otherwise, we die and pass on a church system that is incredibly broken, disconnected and outdated.

The question should be, “How can we help lead 20-somethings into a growing personal relationship with Christ?” If we do this, church involvement becomes a natural outcome, not a primary goal.

Theologically speaking, there’s nothing we can do draw people into a relationship with Christ — that is solely a work of the Holy Spirit. But practically speaking, it’s not an excuse to hopelessly throw our hands in the air and say, “It’s all the Holy Spirit and there’s nothing we can do about it.” It does help alleviate some of the pressure from us, though. Our job is not to make people grow because that’s impossible for us to do. Rather, our job is to lead them to Christ where they make that decision between themselves and God. We can’t be held responsible if they choose to reject Him. We can do everything we can to see that it doesn’t happen, but we’re not going to get down on ourselves and start ranting about the failure of youth ministry because of it. Let’s just talk about how we lead them to that decision and leave the results up to God.

Honestly, as both a growing believer and as someone who is very active in church, there are some things about the church that would push even me away from it. That has to be part of the discussion, as well.

I still think the real issue lies somewhere in the fact that many parents have adopted Christianity as a ritualistic religion instead of a relationship and their facade is passed on to the kids. Parents are willing to fake it at “social club” church, but kids aren’t… and neither am I.

Oh, and by the way, I’m a 20-something myself.

Links to my other posts on this topic:
What I dream for a church
Why church is often a student’s last priority
Why students are dropping out of church
Why graduates drop out of church
Youth group reflects its church
What parents’ actions often teach kids about God

1. Only listening to the innovators. As I mentioned yesterday, we tend to only listen to the innovators and wonder why everyone else can’t follow and be exactly like them. If we base church ministry on a group that consists of 2.5% of the people, we’ll never make it. It’s imperative that we build relationships with the early adopters and early majority people, not just the innovators.

2. Starting too soon. What youth pastor hasn’t started in a new position and immediately started itching to make changes (and good ones, at that!)? We all have! But just because we’re ready for change doesn’t mean that everyone else is. Spend at least a year getting to know the current church system, earning trust and building relationships before making any changes at all. Being passionate about a vision is great, but don’t run ahead like a crazy man and later turn around to see that no one was genuinely following.

3. Failing to create a strong guiding coalition. When we move the church and the youth group in new directions, we need to do our best to bring along as many people as possible. Sure, there are the laggers who will always disagree, but at least give them the chance to hop on board. If we have to, there’s nothing wrong with taking extra time to implement something huge when it means gaining more support first.

4. Underestimating the power of vision. If we can’t articulate why something is a good idea because we have a vague sense of why it’s going be great, we’re not going to convince anyone.

5. Under-communicating the vision. We need to repeat the vision over and over again. Not in a way that’s redundant — that’s saying the same thing the same way several times. Redundancy is boring. Rather, repeat a simple message in a variety of different ways.

6. Being too optimistic. Just because we’re the cool youth pastor doesn’t mean everyone will blindly follow us. (Deep, I know.) We need to keep our heads out of the clouds and be realistic about the direction we’re taking the ministry and the pace that will get us there.

7. Not working the process. When we’re excited about something and believe in it 110%, it’s easy to run ahead of everyone and leave them behind. We have to remember that climbing the mountain to the pinnacle of our vision is a process of one step after another, not a single giant leap for one man.

8. Taking resistance personally. Most of the time, resistance to an idea is not about us personally. Often it’s about them. How tired are they? How often have they been burned in the past? Once we take the resistance personally, we can’t have a conversation anymore because the relationship changes.

Read the rest of this series:
Navigating the church system (1 of 5): Youth workers need help!
Navigating the church system (2 of 5): Leadership tensions
Navigating the church system (3 of 5): Why churches change slowly
Navigating the church system (4 of 5): Understanding the adoption curve

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The above material is based on Tiger McLuen’s seminar, “Surviving as a youth worker in an imperfect church.” Used and edited with permission. Thanks, Tiger!

Rogers’ Adoption Curve

Innovators 2.5%. These are the brave people who are willing to jump into something head-first and think about it later. As youth workers, we tend to only listen to these people because they’re the ones that will support and agree with almost any idea we present. Although they like new ideas and are eager to follow, they don’t typically lead change. If we listen only to these people, we will be fired pretty quickly.

Early Adopters 13.5%. These are the respectable people with opinions. They like to try out new ideas, but are careful along the way. Even though they like to think through the new idea first, they’ll come on board and try it out even if no one else has tested it yet. Unlike the Innovators, they see the vision, acknowledge the benefits and are willing to work through any challenges it might present.

Early Majority 34%. These people are also careful about change and new ideas, but they’ll only give in after they’ve seen enough other people do it. They appreciate the benefits of the new idea and the change it suggests, but the risk factor makes them a little nervous, so they’re content to sit back a little and see how others fair before they jump on board.

Late Majority 34%. These people are skeptical and reluctant to move ahead. They’ll eventually adopt the new idea, but only after they’ve seen it be successful for a majority of other people. Even so, they still prefer their old ideas and would rather stick with them.

Laggards 16%. These are the traditional people who love their old ideas. They’re critical toward almost anything new and will only accept the new idea if it becomes mainstream or even tradition.

iPhone Example
To put this in current product terms, let’s use the iPhone for example. The Innovators are the ones who waited in line outside the Apple stores for two days just to be one of the first to get their hands on the new product. The Early Adopters wanted an iPhone pretty badly, but weren’t hardcore enough to spend two days sitting in line outside, so they waited a couple days for the lines to die down and then picked up their iPhone. By now, a lot of the Early Adopters have their iPhones, too, because they waited a longer while to read reviews, check reports and see how it worked for the others first. However, the Late Majority don’t feel like learning how to use a new product and will stick with their current phones for a couple more years. As for the Laggards, they are just now coming into the world of color TV, kicking and screaming all the way.

Ministry Application
To implement change, youth workers have to build relationships with the early adopters and early majority people, not just the innovators. These people will ask more questions and will require more from us, but it is critical to work with them if we are to navigate the church system and facilitate the changes necessary for promoting spiritual growth while keeping our jobs intact.

Read the rest of this series:
Navigating the church system (1 of 5): Youth workers need help!
Navigating the church system (2 of 5): Leadership tensions
Navigating the church system (3 of 5): Why churches change slowly
Navigating the church system (5 of 5): Common mistakes by youth pastors

———————————————————————————
The above material is based on Tiger McLuen’s seminar, “Surviving as a youth worker in an imperfect church.” Used and edited with permission. Thanks, Tiger!

Youth ministry, more than any other area of ministry, continually changes. The faces in our youth groups change, the teenagers themselves are in a constant state of physical and emotional change, youth culture changes month to month, and often we spend a considerable amount of time thinking of ways to make this week’s youth meeting different from the last. It’s no wonder that youth ministries are naturally used to change, but we have to remember that youth ministry is unique from the rest of the church in this regard. Change is never neutral for the church. We cannot promote change without expecting some side affects.

Why do churches change so slowly?

• Churches view themselves as guardians of tradition. They see a lot of change around them and most of it is negative. Unfortunately, they become guardians of cultural traditions, not Biblical or doctrinal traditions. Whenever churches have a history that they appreciate, there is an emotional bond to hold on to that.
• We operate like “family” in church. When we’re hired, we sometimes feel like an outsider for a while because there’s a system in place that is unfamiliar to us. It takes some time to learn the system, just like we’d expect if we joined a new family. Families are weird sometimes.
• We have a fuzzy bottom line. Many churches are wrestling with big questions, like, “What does success look like?” The church’s vision is often weak, it’s sense of identity is unclear and it’s direction is stagnant. When they hire a new youth pastor, they do so with a certain set of criteria, but what criteria will they use in two years to say, “We’re really glad our new youth pastor is here.” The same criteria or something different? The bottom line is fuzzy.
• Church members are tired. “Church system people” are tired of change. Most people in their 50s and older are scared and tired of change. They want church, unlike their workplace, to feel stable. Youth pastors often don’t have enough track record to compel these people to invite change. When we say to someone, “I have a new idea,” we have to realize two things. First, change will require work from them and most people are already tired. Secondly, when we suggest change, it will require more work for us. We can only make it through the change if we believe that the short-term pain will be worth it in the end.
• Few pastors consider themselves gifted leaders. Interesting, but true. Pastors see themselves as caregivers, teachers, and relational ministers, not always as leaders. Thus, some pastors lack the courage and desire to implement change in the first place. They feel quite comfortable doing what they love and are best at — loving people.
• We have an intergenerational church. Some youth pastors become so frustrated that we leave the church, call ourselves church planters and start our own church thinking that we can finally build the church of our dreams without the older people who resist our ideas for change. What we fail to realize is that if the church actually lasts, in 20 years it’ll be intergenerational again. The church was meant to be intergenerational! We need to embrace the diversity and learn to work with our brothers and sisters in Christ rather than canning them in order to build an institution of our own ideologies. If we don’t like the diversity here, we’ll hate heaven!

Church people are guardians of tradition. If we inadvertently communicate that their old way is bad and that our new way is good, the resistance will skyrocket. Don’t do that! We need to be careful how we approach change. Both the process and communication are huge. As youth workers, we tend to be driven by the results, not the process. We’re excited and motivated to rush for the end result, but if we ever want to see that end result, we have to be willing to progress slowly down the path that will take us there, always communicating and expressing value and appreciation for the old idea while embracing the new. Remember, we’re not leaders if no one is following, so go slow.

Read the rest of this series:
Navigating the church system (1 of 5): Youth workers need help!
Navigating the church system (2 of 5): Leadership tensions
Navigating the church system (4 of 5): Understanding the adoption curve
Navigating the church system (5 of 5): Common mistakes by youth pastors

———————————————————————————
The above material is based on Tiger McLuen’s seminar, “Surviving as a youth worker in an imperfect church.” Used and edited with permission. Thanks, Tiger!

The tensions of leadership
1. The tension of results. (What?) This tension comes from various sources. Some of it comes from the people in our ministry who want to know what we’re doing and what it’s going to produce. Other times it is self-inflicted, thinking, “I need to produce results so people think I’m worth something in this position.” Unfortunately, attendance growth become the default results we look for, but it could also be a myriad of other things, such as a perceived level of acceptance and approval from church members and other community youth workers. We need to lead with people who push for results, results, and more results.

2. The tension of relationships. (Who?) There’s also time that needs to be invested into people. Of course there’s students, but there’s also parents, our Sr. Pastor, church members, other co-workers, community organizations, businesses that offer donations, school teachers, athletic coaches, not to mention our own families. Spending adequate time building all these relationships could be a full-time job all by itself!

3. The tension of the process. (How?) Results are one thing, but getting those results is a tension of formulating a plan and getting others on board. Building relationships also takes a plan. Nothing just happens by itself. If the ministry is going exist at all, it will require that there’s a process for reaching goals, even if the goals aren’t explicitly stated.

A youth pastor’s relationships
As leaders it’s critical that we have a healthy self-image because others will often be more than happy to challenge it. If it’s dependent on what other people think and say, navigating the church system will be impossible. We’ll always be running around with our tail between our legs, trying to please everyone, saying YES to everything, and burning out faster than a cardboard match. That’s not being a leader — that’s following everyone else.

When our own self-identity is secure, all the other relationships surround it.

• Students. Most of the time when youth workers are released from their jobs it’s because we’re struggling in an area outside of the kids. We aren’t usually fired because we’re bad with students. Actually, this is usually where we excel because the reason we go into youth ministry in the first place is because we love kids so much. Most of our problems in ministry lie elsewhere.
• Parents. We have a unique relationship with parents because they pay our salary, they have a clear perception of what they want from the youth ministry and we try our best to partner with them. When one of those latter two aspects gets a little out of sync, it can be a big mess.
• Sr. Pastor. The greatest variable to a youth pastor’s long-term success is the relationship with the Sr. Pastor. They will either be our biggest ally or our worst enemy. Respect their wisdom and communicate often.
• Other staff. Hopefully our co-workers see us as professionals because we treat them with respect and handle ourselves with maturity. Sometimes we have to wear a different hat with each person, but that goes along with the ministry territory anyway.
• Other adults. There are committee members, parents, leadership team, board members, volunteers, senior citizens, etc. We speak at women’s meetings, board meetings, and annual meetings not because it’s just another “speed bump,” but because that’s where we earn respect and establish credibility in their eyes.
• Peers. Hopefully we all have personal friends whether they’re ministry related or not. If we don’t have those personal friendships, then we need to make some friends outside the church ASAP!
• Family. Perhaps of highest priority is the wife and then the children.
• Community. The impression you leave in the community is the impression they will develop about your church and its ministry.
• Christ. All of these relationships are encompassed by the most vital relationship of all — our personal relationship with Christ.

Navigating the church system requires that we keep the tensions in check and our relationships healthy.

Read the rest of this series:
Navigating the church system (1 of 5): Youth workers need help!
Navigating the church system (3 of 5): Why churches change slowly
Navigating the church system (4 of 5): Understanding the adoption curve
Navigating the church system (5 of 5): Common mistakes by youth pastors

———————————————————————————
The above material is based on Tiger McLuen’s seminar, “Surviving as a youth worker in an imperfect church.” Used and edited with permission. Thanks, Tiger!

Two views of youth ministry
Many youth workers have a speed bump approach to student ministry. We know we are called to youth ministry and we focus so intently on it that anything else along the way feels like a road bump. We hit the road bump and keep going except we’re a little more annoyed on the other side of the bump than we were before we hit it: committee meetings, board meetings, parents, paperwork, reports, etc.

Many churches have a light bulb approach to student ministry. To them, youth ministry is simply buying a light bulb from the youth ministry rack. The rack used to be empty, but now it’s filled with people from Bible colleges and seminaries. Every church wants a flood light youth minister, not a small 100 watt bulb. Eventually the bulb burns out, the church throws it away and buys another bulb until it also starts to flicker.

Youth workers need help:

• Our focus is on students, not church systems.
• We sometimes don’t stay focused on a task from start to finish.
• We often take on too much, making us look even more unorganized because we say YES to way too much.
• We are more people oriented than task oriented.
• We are cool, which is a problem for a lot of established churches. We are the edge. We’re the innovators. We prompt change and challenge the status quo.
• We often don’t follow through on menial tasks, such as cleaning the church van after a trip.
• We feel pressure from a variety of sources. There’s a lot of different expectations placed on us by a lot of different people and too often those expectations conflict! (“Get out of the office and hang with kids.” “Get in your office and return those phone calls.”)
• We often lack a clear vision. We tend to love kids and love Jesus and think that’s enough, but it’s not. Vagueness is killing the church: vague gospel, vague vision, vague direction, and we have no sense of when we get somewhere.)

Read the rest of the series:
Navigating the church system (2 of 5): Leadership tensions
Navigating the church system (3 of 5): Why churches change slowly
Navigating the church system (4 of 5): Understanding the adoption curve
Navigating the church system (5 of 5): Common mistakes by youth pastors

———————————————————————————
The above material is based on Tiger McLuen’s seminar, “Surviving as a youth worker in an imperfect church.” Used and edited with permission. Thanks, Tiger!

I’ve been in dialog over email with Prairie Lakes Church for a couple days now and from what I can tell, they seem like a solid church with a healthy perspective on ministry. Contact Terry directly if you’re interested.

DIRECTOR OF STUDENT MINISTRIES
Nestled in the heart of the Cedar Valley, Prairie Lakes Church is a growing, evangelical church with a mission to Point People to God. We are seeking a catalytic leader to develop and administer all facets of student ministries for grades 6-12, focusing primarily on small groups, Bible studies and discipleship. This position is responsible for planning, coordinating and overseeing activities for teens to promote fun, fellowship, spiritual development and ministry involvement.

Non-negotiables:

• Must be passionate about teenagers and totally sold out to the mission and vision of reaching teenagers for Christ.
• Must be a leader of leaders, willing and able to train and equip other adults.
• Must be convinced this is your life calling and vocation, not a stepping-stone to your real dream job.
• Must be technology-savvy.
• Must have keen insight into the youth culture and issues facing youth today.
• Must be creative and have excellent communication skills.
• Must have large church experience (1500+).
• Must be able to respond to this ad by Dec. 31, 2007.

This is an immediate, full-time position offering competitive salary and benefits. If you have been yearning for a healthy environment where you can play to your strengths, please submit your resume today, with cover letter including salary history.

Terry Kampman, HR Director
Prairie Lakes Church
1907 Viking Road
Cedar Falls, IA 50613

Phone: 319-266-2655
Email: terry.kampman@prairielakeschurch.org
Church site: www.prairielakeschurch.org
Youth group site: www.plcstudents.com

The hardest part is that vision must start with identity (who we are) and move to function (what we do). Usually churches put the cart before the horse and go straight to function (i.e. programs to accomplish such-and-such) without really thinking through who they are and why they do what they do. Identity is hard to grasp, but, in our opinion, it starts with Ephesians and then must move to, “What is our unique identity that makes us different from every other church out there?” Unfortunately, many church’s just find some other big church’s mission, vision, strategy, etc and adopt it for their own, thinking it will grow their numbers or make them like the other church, but nothing could be more crippling! We need to discover our own unique identity as a congregation in our specific town and context and then let our ministry flow out of who we are.

One of our associate pastors led the church staff through a discussion where we brainstormed “who we are” and “what we are becoming” based on key passages in Ephesians. He was gracious enough to provide me with those study notes to share with you all.

A book most of the pastors at my church have read is called, “Simple Church: Returning to God’s process for making disciples” by Thom S. Rainer and Eric Geiger. I haven’t read it yet, but they speak highly of it as we’re going through this process. I have the book here in front of me, I just need to sit down and read it sometime soon.

Bible study notes from Ephesians about our identity and our “becoming”

What advice do you have for this youth worker?

A reader sent me this to me and we dialogged about it over email a couple times, but they would love to have your input, as well. Post your advice in the comments and thanks for your help!
 

His story:
Thought I would say thanks for your ten commandments. I have been sending them to a [church leader] here that has been a real not so pleasant person. He is a great businessman but really has been giving people struggles when it comes to being a leader of faith. He tends to tear people down now so that he can get through what he wants to accomplish. I am not really sure how to read this individual because he an be your biggest pal one minute and then turn on you the next. I am tired of trying to play his game. Do you have any advice?

I’d really like to address this issue with my church’s leadership and I know they’ll be open to it, but their first question will be, “What do we need to do? Where do we start?” and I don’t really have an answer for that yet. It’s definitely has to be more than just inviting students to help lead worship or take the offering — it has to be a total reset of the whole approach and mentality of church. The mentality needs to be all-inclusive. The problem with that, though, is that the “target” becomes a wide range of people and instead of intentionally hitting the bull’s eye for one age group, now it’s a more buck-shot approach. We hit everyone a little, but no one enough to make an impact. However, if we’re really honest, we could probably stand to evaluate even our adult-oriented church services and ask, “Is this really making a spiritual impact on those who attend?” If the answer is anywhere between “no” and “kinda,” then the service needs to be overhauled anyway.

Is it even possible to create church services that are intergenerational and effective for every age group represented? I’m kinda thinking it’s not, at least not with our current approach to church.

I have a self-appraisal evaluation form that I need to fill out beforehand and the very first question makes me stop and think:

Please list, or attach a list of, your significant work accomplishments (in the past twelve months).

Hmm… Kinda goes back to my post about defining success in youth ministry. I have two observations about this question.

1. The way this question is phrased almost assumes a list of tangible programmatic and numeric accomplishments, just like a business model evaluation would reflect. (“How many sales did you make last year?”)

2. How I answer this question reveals a lot about me and my view of ministry.

University of NSW research shows the human brain processes and retains more information if it is digested in either its verbal or written form, but not both at the same time.

Finally! Now there’s scientific research to confirm what I’ve always felt: PowerPoints that present the same text that’s being spoken is actually detrimental to its retention. I’ve always disliked “death-by-bulletpoints” that put into written form exactly the same thing that the speaker is saying. I almost feel like the speaker is insulting my intelligence: “I know, teacher, I heard what you said,” or “Yes, I may be deaf, but it’s a good thing I can read.”

When I use PowerPoint, I do my very best to make it imagery-based and not cluttered with text. I may put my main headline on the slide, but other than that my slides are mostly pictures and images that illustrate what I’m saying in different ways. And most importantly, I don’t make the connection for them!

For example, here’s a PowerPoint slide I used for a lesson on how God changes people:

I concluded my lesson with this image and never once explained or mentioned the cocoon/butterfly illustration:

My lesson was on how God works in our lives to change us. They can make the connection on their own. And when they do, it’s always more powerful and more memorable than if I had explained it to them. Self-discovery is always the most effective form of learning, so I use it as much as possible.

Some may think this approach is distracting, but I beg to differ. The mind can process information over 5 times faster than I can communicate it, so now I’m giving people’s minds two ways to interact with the information. A picture is worth a thousand words. Pictures will always spark imagination. Text doesn’t spark much of anything.

I’m not alone on this theory, either. Most presentation tips say, “Limit text! Use pictures!”

Jodie McNeill makes an interesting observation on this new research:

The main reason is that I feel that PowerPoint creates a gap between preacher/teacher and congregation/class, and that simply talking allows much more scope for relationship. The fact that Gen Y’s crave experience over explanation points further to the fact that a speaker who speaks with emotion and engages the crowd will be more likely to have an impact than those who present the information in a formal teaching style.

Hopefully I’ll be seeing less boring text and more pictures in PowerPoint presentations now. I want an experience, not a lecture.

[tags]PowerPoint, NSW[/tags]

As I prepare for a transition in the next month and a half, do any of you have advice for what I can do to “leave well?”

Here’s my response:

1. Don’t make promises you won’t/can’t/shouldn’t keep. For example, “I’ll come back and visit you guys” or “You can still call me whenever you want.” Students will cling to these statements emotionally and be hurt again in the future when they’re not fulfilled. If you’re planning to visit again next year on vacation or something, that’s fine, but don’t tell them just so they’ll feel better. Do your best to make it a clean break for the sake of the ministry and the next person who takes the position.

2. Decide which of your responsibilities MUST continue and delegate them to volunteers. If you have the time, take a week or two to overlap your involvement in these areas to ensure a smooth transition.

3. Listen to everyone. There will be so many different responses to your departure. What’s important is not that you address every concern (or relief!), but that everyone feels that you’ve heard their voice and feel that its respected and valued.

4. Once you leave, it’s hands off. Don’t contact people to see if you’re missed or entertain those who contact you to continue with some follow-up work or complaints. And when a new person takes over and students contact you about how it’s different (because it will be), always encourage them to be positive and support the new leader.

5. Never bad-talk anyone, especially if you’re leaving with tension. You don’t have to support various decisions and people, but don’t tear the ministry apart even further just so you feel like you’ve had the final say and got your revenge. Leave with grace.

I doubt I’m alone in this. Here’s how you and I will crash and burn-out in ministry:

1. Ignore spending time in the Word and in prayer. Ministry is easy — you can do it all in your own strength. It shouldn’t be based on God anyway. Spend all your time teaching others how to develop their relationship with God instead.

2. Accept responsibility for everything. Say “yes” to whatever is asked of you and your time. It doesn’t matter if it could easily be handled by a volunteer, take it on anyway because you’re the guy they pay to do it. Besides, there may be no one else willing or available to do it besides you, which obviously indicates how important it is to everyone else.

3. Become emotionally attached to every situation. Whenever someone has a need, be the first to jump in, provide all the emotional support they need and rescue them from the problem. After all, everyone needs a savior.

4. Always serve God in ministry. This is so important that you must sacrifice all personal down-time and fill it with good things like meetings, events, Bible studies, evangelism, mission trips, prayer groups, small groups, and knitting groups.

5. Attempt to control everything. Control all the planning, the results, the future, the people, the workplace, the weather and God. You are the sustainer of the ministry on whom it is all built. If you take your eyes off of any of anything it will collapse and fail miserably.

6. Base your self-worth on the “success” of your ministry. You’re investing your life into this ministry thing! How it grows and flourishes indicates how important you are and how pleased God is with your labor. If your ministry is struggling, there must be something wrong with you.

7. Feed spiritual consumerism. So-and-so left the church and is attending the “mega-church” down the street because they have a better youth ministry. Now you need to quickly compete by offering the same programs but better. Otherwise, the entire congregation will migrate and leave you out of a job.

8. Focus your ministry on programs. This may come as a result of #7. Remember that vision and relationships are secondary to programming. Look at Jesus for example: His ministry was all about getting things done, not about growing disciples through relationships or communicating His vision for the world.

9. Dwell on all the problems. So it turns out that your ministry is the only one in the world that isn’t perfect. Let it consume your thoughts, your heart and your emotions. It’s important to focus on internal problems so there’s no time left to reach the lost souls that are dying all around.

10. Avoid transparency at all costs. Vulnerability brings the potential for rejection, criticism, and people losing respect for you. As a church leader, everyone must think you’re perfect, strong and invincible. Otherwise, the perfect people in your church will have no reason to follow you.

11. Focus only on what’s in front of you. Dreaming a huge vision for the future only makes people feel uncomfortable, probably because of item #5. Passion can become contagious and take the ministry in scary and risky directions, so it’s best to avoid these dreams altogether. It’s always safer to wander aimlessly by staring at your feet than it is to walk toward God’s beautiful horizon and risk tripping.

First, most churches do not have a strong sense of where God is leading them. Instead of seeking God’s vision for their congregation and community, they steal God’s vision for Saddleback or Willow Creek, modify it a little and say, “This is our vision.” Most churches carry the generic mission statement of “making fully devoted followers of Christ.” I’ve observed through the interviewing process that Mark Batterson’s observation is true: the more vision a church has the less internal problems it has. He says, “Most church problems are vision problems.” (A post on this is coming sometime next week.)

Second, I like to take risks and experiment with ministry in new ways. In theory, most churches are attracted to new ideas and talk a lot about innovative plans, but few actually feel comfortable implementing them in practice. They feel safe and comfortable with how things have been running for the past 50 years. They’re more concerned with not offending anyone and eliminating controversy than they are about reaching lost souls.

Finally, many churches are content to coast on success they had years ago rather than continuing to pursue it for this current year. I heard lots of stories about big events and ministry ideas that were implemented and left a big impact on the community, but they were never repeated or improved upon. Discussion seems to stop at, “Wow, look what we did! That was so cool!” and they’ll tell their one story for years to come.

1. Spending time in the Word and in prayer. I don’t see how people can make it in ministry by only depending on their own strength, their own “wisdom,” and their own vision. Christ must be our focus.
2. Earn the trust and respect of the congregation. If you’ve invested into building trust through all the little things, when the big issues come up they don’t tend to explode as easily.
3. Develop relationships with church leadership. Know the team in which God has placed you and learn to work together in all areas of ministry, not just in your individual areas of responsibility. When pressure comes, it’s a lot easier when their support and understanding is already in place.
4. Learn to say “no.” Setting boundaries is vital not only for maintaining a healthy personal life, but for maintaining a positive view of ministry. It’s easy to work and work and feel so overwhelmed and stressed by it all because there’s always more to do.
5. Maintain an accurate perspective of ministry. God doesn’t need you to take care of His ministry, He only chooses to use you as a vessel. So don’t feel like the ministry belongs to you or depends on you. The people ultimately belong to God and He can take care of them with or without your involvement.
6. Know your vision and communicate it clearly and often. People naturally rally behind those who have a vision and are developing a strategy to accomplish it. Don’t get so focused on all the little details that you lose sight of the big picture because if you do, those following you will, too, and suddenly no one knows where they’re going.

How do you handle the pressure of church leadership?

P.S. A good healthy dose of video games usually helps relieve pressure, too.

[Suggest a topic, a question or buzz to cover. If I write about it, you'll get credit with a link in the post.]

[youtube]A6rDteQIrKE[/youtube]

Discuss: Which of these issues apply specifically to your youth ministry? What changes can you make to address them in 2007?

What do you see as some of the main issues youth ministry is struggling with today?

• Students are under a tremendous amount of stress and pressure.
• It is vital that we remind them constantly that Jesus needs to have first priority in their lives and that He holds their future in His hands. Students are so busy and God and church is not always the #1 priority.
• We need students to be global Christians.
• The idea of godly sexuality for all people needs to be put back on the agenda.
• Mental health.
• The whole question of “church” is becoming more and more of a struggle for youth ministry.
• Professional youth pastors and senior pastors looking for job security.
• This generation is facing identity issues, sexuality issues, authority issues, and vocation/purpose issues, but in a much more intense, aggressive, combative, pluralistic context.
• Discipleship and teaching students to grow on their own.
• Retention after graduation.
• Engaging parents.
• Cultural relevance. The Church is often reluctant to change sufficiently to genuinely include the young people.
• Defining Success.
• Recruiting and training adult volunteers to be effective.
• Presenting God as the right and better choice over pop culture.
• A lack of understanding of youth culture and no desire to learn it.
• We’re spending so much time trying to keep the ones we have that we are not reaching the lost.
• The church leadership believes there are only a couple of kids caught up in major issues and the rest of the kids are great, god fearing and perfect.
• Employed Christian youth workers are only deployed where there are churches with significant financial resources, meaning deployment is based on money not need.
• The “dumbing down” of programs because of the myth that junior high students cannot go “deep.”
• Connections between people and real community.
• We should be focusing more on is inner-city and “fringe” type of neighborhoods and young people.
• The issue of personal holiness, from youth ministers to parents to students. Our calling should be to BE children of God and pant after Him so that teens can see HIS power in our lives.
• Apathy of the “cradle-Christian” student.
• Not enough long term funding or funding in general.
• The church allows the youth to be isolated, and sometimes they want the youth isolated, which is anything but unifying for the church.
• Viewing youth ministry as a stepping-stone to becoming a Sr. Pastor, as if it’s important to practice ministry on “little people” before being qualified to work with “real people.”

What do you see as some of the main issues youth ministry is responding to effectively?

• Loving teens and connecting with them in their world.
• The call to missions.
• Youth ministry is attempting to address the same issues that the adult church may be after, but the amazing thing is that there is more of a willingness to experiment.
• Provides a safe place for hurting students. We are responding to the deep-seated hurts of teenagers in more effective ways than ever.
• Giving students time and space to be in community with each other.
• A desire to do ministry outside of the church and where kids are.
• Youth ministry allows young people to encounter adults (and young people) who seek to live a 24/7 faith and model a life that’s Christ centered and counter cultural.

In what ways does youth ministry need to change?

• We need to make sure we’re taking our young people deeper into their faith. But not just in Bible studies, but in their experience of mission, church, worship and so on.
• Students need to be IN ministry and not just the recipient of it. If students don’t lead they’ll leave. We need to believe in students and their ability to minister effectively to their peers.
• Relational-driven is more work and less to show…at first.
• Do your deal, follow Jesus, create this environment in the student ministry IF YOU CAN. If you can’t – shut up and leave and find a place where you can if it’s that important to you.
• Less reliance on programs.
• Less “next big thing” thinking.
• Less trendy, fad, youth workers.
• Longevity. Finding a way to keep youth pastors and leader in their positions for the long haul.
• Youth ministers need to adopt more of a “Family Ministry” rather than a “Youth Ministry.” Parents need to be central to the process of our teenagers’ spiritual formation and not disengaged bystanders.
• Emotional health.
• We need to have a plan for when the kids arrive in 6th grade they graduate high school knowing the fundamentals of scripture while at the same time encountering God rather than just being taught facts about Him.
• Plug students into the greater body of Christ.
• Church leaders need to understand what youth pastors are facing and stand with them in a major way.
• Giving opportunity to live faith not just hear about it.
• There is a pretty big void when it comes to Junior High Ministry Curriculum.
• Starting where young people are instead of where we want them to be.
• Student ministry needs to change first in the heart of Lead and Senior pastors across America.

[Read previous authors and posts in this series, "Issues in youth ministry."]

I am a young pastor (26 years old) and have found that my peers in ministry often throw this verse around in order to justify themselves when any type of criticism comes their way. Rather than heeding advice from those older and wiser, they let wise input bounce right off with this verse in mind. They think, “The church elders are just looking down on me because I’m young, but scripture says I shouldn’t let them despise me, so I’m right, they’re wrong.” This attitude is so dangerous and feeds arrogance like nothing else. As a young pastor, the balance to this passage is knowing the difference between legitimate criticism and illegitimate criticism, heeding what’s said with wisdom and respectfully disregarding what’s not.

I think the biggest challenge for youth ministry today is a church that just doesn’t get it. I am not saying the youth leaders do not get it but the leadership of the church has missed where this generation is at or if they get it they are afraid they’ll rock the boat. A while back I sat down with the main youth leaders of a Northern city. About twenty some youth pastors and I had the chance to really talk over lunch. I gave them my insight as to where this generation was at and the issue’s they were struggling with. I was surprised that a few didn’t know what teens where struggling with, but I was even more surprised when I heard this statement over and over again, “I know what kids are facing, but my leadership has said I cannot talk about self-injury, suicide, sex, eating disorders, porn, etc., because I’ll hurt the good kids that are not into this type of thing. If I talk about what is really going on they will fire me.” The leadership believes that there are only a couple of kids caught up in major issues and the rest of the kids are great, god fearing and perfect. As most of you know, most of the kids have major issues in their lives. That doesn’t mean they are not good kids, it means that some how, through the home, school or just the world in general they have been hurt. Until the leaders give our youth workers the tools they need, youth ministry will always be a step behind. If we are a step behind, the church is not relevant and if the church isn’t relevant why would a student continue with church after high school?

In what ways does youth ministry need to change?

I think in the area of discipleship and walking with kids more then once a week. I am finding more and more church kids and college students from Christian Universities that have no clue as to who they are in Christ. They are allowing their sin to dictate who they are and that simply is not correct. When I am able to sit down with them and show them their identity in Christ they are blown away. They are not sure what to say when I show them that they are a saint. I told one kid that they were not a porn addict but a saint who struggled with porn. Once you can remove the sin from their identity they are able to use God’s power to be set free. This takes a lot of time. How does a youth pastor do this? It could even become overwhelming if they had ten kids [in their youth group] wanting this kind of an impact on their life much less [groups that] have 40, 50, 100 or more students. Again, it comes down to the leadership at the top wanting to provide the recourses. In most churches the money can be raised and adults could volunteer to help the youth pastor reach students on a much deeper basis. My prayer is for the leaders of our churches to understand what youth pastors are facing and standing with them in a major way. The only way we can meet the intense needs our kids are facing is for the whole church to war for them. Yes, there needs to be changes in youth ministry but even more so the church has to be willing to fight for their kids, not just the youth department.

Bill Scott is the founder of Zjam Youth Ministries and Teenhopeline.com, a place where hurting teenagers can go to talk with live volunteers about whatever issues they’re going through in life.

[Read previous authors and posts in this series, "Issues in youth ministry."]

[tags]Bill Scott, Zjam, Teenhopeline[/tags]

“Our #1 challenge in this culture [is] the availability of new believers for discipleship, and then involving them in a local church. Kids’ lives revolve around prep for the college entrance exam. Only 2% ‘pass.’ The other 98% feel their future is lost. Some commit suicide over the results. So, there are no sports teams, marching bands, cheer leading squads, or drama clubs. It’s all academics, pure and simple, 7am-5pm, with extra weekend classes. Kids fear spending their time in any other way but studying.”

Wow. I don’t think I can even imagine students who fear doing anything else but studying. That’s crazy! It seems to me that most American teenagers generally seem to be kinda apathetic toward education (as described by one of my youth group students). Most students I know would skip school in a heart-beat if given the chance. I don’t think apathy should be students’ response to education, but neither should fear.

If school, for whatever reasons, seems to generate a sense of apathy toward education, why do we adopt this model in Christian education and call it “Sunday school?” Certainly we don’t want to replicate the same “school attitude” in our churches. Even preaching and teaching can sometimes feel like a classroom lecture in a fancy auditorium. If people mentally check out during classroom time in school, maybe the church should find or develop a more effective model for our weekly programming. I want to see students studying scripture as fervently as Chinese students study academics, but with a holy and reverent fear, not an insecure fear.

Our current approach to Christian education can’t possibly be the best we can do.

[tags]preaching[/tags]

[youtube]l3WO4ITpWlA&eurl[/youtube]

ht to Josh Griffin

Will this change the future of communication from the pulpit? It gives the ability to bring up images, change text and form illustrations on the fly, all with simple hang gestures.

ht to ymexchange.com

• They don’t like attending traditional worship.
• They shy away from labels.
• They identify with no specific religion or, if Christian, call themselves non-denominational.
• They demonstrate overwhelming belief in God.
• They show interest in how spiritual matters relate to their lives and their world.
• Many reject dogma and large institutions, instead preferring personal and convenient ways to find answers.
• They send prayer e-mail, look for love online, join smaller ministry groups.
• They fuel an industry of spiritually inspired books, movies and music.

I can identify with pretty much everything on that list, except I wouldn’t say that I don’t like attending traditional worship because sometimes I do. Rather, I would say I usually prefer modern formats of worship, but still have an appreciation for traditional styles.

He’s been the [tag]pastor[/tag] at Main Street [tag]Baptist Church[/tag] in Doylestown, Pennsylvania for 25 years now and mostly blogs about [tag]pastoral ministry[/tag], [tag]spiritual growth[/tag], [tag]prayer[/tag], and other related topics. His heart is for training and discipling young church leaders and pastors, so if that’s of interest to you, check him out: http://www.mainstreetbaptist.org/blog/

His student group grew backwards and someone said to him, “If you blame yourself for the decline you’ll be tempted to take credit for the incline!”

What an interesting perspective.

Ever since I was little I never really understood the whole church membership thing. When I asked about it, the typical response was, “People who are members are allowed to vote and it helps keep them committed to the church.”

If that’s all it is, then those seem like pretty lame reasons to me. First, what if someone doesn’t really care if they can place an annual vote on the church budget? Second, if membership is the best way a church maintains commitment, then I suggest the church has far greater issues to address.

I see lots of members who don’t regularly attend church and lots of non-members who are actively involved in the life of the body, so is the membership/commitment thing really working? Do people commit to a membership or to a relationship?

I dunno. Maybe I’m a heretic or I’m missing a key component to all this, but sometimes church membership seems kinda silly to me. I think Paul was right when he said, “My generation in particular seems to feel like church membership is a contrived way to get people to commit to something in a backwards way.” Absolutely. Membership probably carries different connotations for people in my generation than it does for previous ones. To be honest, when I think of membership I think of paying my monthly bill to 24-Hour Fitness for access to their club.

Maybe membership was helpful years ago, but does it have the same affect today? And even more importantly, does it have any counter-productive affects on the upcoming generation? It’s obviously not in scripture, so when do we say, “Ya know, this just isn’t really helpful anymore. Let’s get rid of it.”

Mr. Luce responded: “If the 4 percent is true, or even the 5 percent, it’s an indictment of youth ministry. So certainly they’re going to want different data.”

Why do youth ministries take so much blame for this statistic? C’mon, [tag]Run Luce[/tag]! Yes, some youth ministries can stand to be re-evaluated and changed, but it can’t be entirely our fault. There is a lot more to this than just ineffective youth groups.

I think it involves the following:

1. If students aren’t returning to [tag]church[/tag], then maybe the church needs to rethink what they’re doing and how they “do church.” What is it about the church that students don’t want to be a part of?

2. Students need to see genuine godliness lived out by parents at home and in the lives of their youth workers. The truth is, many parents in our churches wouldn’t even meet the standard of spiritual maturity that I require for volunteers who are in this role model position.

3. Students need to have a solid understanding of bibliology and why then can trust [tag]scripture[/tag]. The Bible needs to be a reliable source as the foundation of everything they do and how they live their lives, not just a book of stories. Churches are filled with biblically illiterate people and it shows.

[tags]parenting[/tags]

CREATING SACRED SPACES — LILLY LEWIN
I still have one more thought from Lilly Lewin’s “Creating Sacred Spaces” seminar. She was making the point that not all people are auditory learners and asked for a show of hands of how many people can remember 10 [tag]sermons[/tag] they’ve heard in their lifetime. Out of the hundred or so people in the room, only a couple hands went up! I was shocked! This was a room mostly filled with people who serve in churches as a vocation, not just a group of average church attenders. If anyone should remember sermons they’ve heard, it’s us pastors, especially since a lot of us have been in church for most of our lives. I wonder if the sermon is still the best way of communicating God’s truth? Is it leaving the lasting impression we think it is? In no way do I think that preaching and teaching should be eliminated, but it’s clearly not having the impact that merits it being the focal point of most church services. Something needs to change. This can obviously be done better.

FINAL GENERAL SESSION — MARK OESTREICHER
Marko talked how youth ministry is “soaked in arrogance.” He gave some reasons for why this might be so, such as the underdog status in our churches making us feel like only the top ministries can survive or because we think that numbers in ministry is due to our own brilliance. He pointed out that Jesus regularly touched the untouchables, including us! For Jesus, categories like that didn’t even exist — he reached out to everyone.

He defined humility as “the acknowledgment of our true selves” and gave seven active steps to take for working toward humility.
1. Reverence for God (we are not peers with Him)
2. Doing God’s will
3. Obedience to others (be a part of intentional community)
4. Enduring affliction (where most learning and humility comes from)
5. Confession (name our sins and become broken before God)
6. Contentment (don’t compare our ministry to other ministries)
7. Silence (those who talk a lot think they have something worth saying; those who are quiet are open to hearing God)

Our youth ministries need to be marked by humility.

HOW THE CONVENTION ENDED
It all came to a close with Tic giving us a moment of silence to reflect over the week and all that God has done in our lives. Then he had us group up with people sitting around us to share those things with each other. Dana and I grouped up with a sr. pastor, a youth director and an adult volunteer, who were all very cool and great to talk to. After our time of sharing, Tic read the story of Jesus and His disciples partaking of the Lord’s supper together and gave us an opportunity to expand our group to about 10 people and do the same. We passed around a glass of grape juice and tore bread, each serving the person to our left. After praying together, Jeremy Camp came out and led us in a final song of worship before Marko and Tic sent us off. What an excellent way to end such a fantastic weekend.

[tags]Youth Specialties, National Youth Workers Convention, Jeremy Camp, Sacred Spaces, Lilly Lewin, Mark Oestreicher, Tic Long, preaching[/tags]

She said, “We need to create a personal space for people to worship however they want. People today don’t know how to worship on their own.”

Lilly moved on from there, but I didn’t. That’s such a huge statement! We’ve raised a church of people that need someone up front telling them when to stand, what to sing, when to sit, when to stop singing, when to pray and when to stop praying. It’s more like playing “follow the leader” than anything else. Many of us are more focused on the person telling us what to do than we are on worshipping our Savior. What about the person who really just needs to linger in God’s presence? In church worship we’re all pulled along at the same pace. In a perfect world people would worship privately at home at their own pace and this wouldn’t really be an issue, but it’s obviously not a perfect world. So again, as I asked in a previous blog post, what’s the church’s responsibility in leading the congregation in worship?

Our culture is so loud, so noisy, so intense. We’re so deeply immersed in it that we don’t really notice the screaming volume until we intentionally take time to focus quietly on the Lord. If students aren’t intentionally making this time in their lives, should we create it for them at youth group? Or is there some other kind of transformation that needs to take place in their lives first before a “sacred space” can be worthwhile?

Jeremy Camp just started leading worship in the last general session here, so maybe I’ll continue this later.

[tags]Lilly Lewin, NYWC, National Youth Workers Convention, Youth Specialties[/tags]

Shifting from a youth ministry to a group of youth missionaries, by Dan Kimball
Despite the fact that Dan was functioning on only a couple hours of sleep from the night before, he presented this seminar very well. He addressed a big question many of us have thought before, “Why do teenagers get so passionate and excited about serving God and being evangelistic on Mexico mission trips (and other trips like that), but when they are back home fall into more of a routine and neutral passion about evangelism?”

His answer was basically this: We need to intentionally view our town as a mission field and model a lifestyle that actively seeks to reach others for Christ.

In Matthew 4:17-20 Jesus calls the disciples to follow Him and be fishers of people. Their primary role is the worship God, their secondary roll is to reach people. Acts 1:8 carries this same message. When we start reading the Bible through a missional lens, the whole book is missional, too.

Evangelism in Christian sub-culture becomes events and concerts. My personal observation is that Christians attend Christian outreach events more than non-Christians. What’s supposed to be an event for reaching the lost becomes entertainment for those already saved. Even though outreach events may reach some, I’ve seen relational outreach be much more effective. The success rate of relational evangelism seems to be so much higher than that of big events that I sometimes wonder why we still bother with them. Relational evangelism is just so much easier, too!

Unfortunately, the longer we’re Christians the more we stop socializing and hanging out with non-Christian friends, so by the time we reach a ripe old age and have grown to be mature in our faith, the only people who see it are other believers.

Dan said he thinks the reason teens drop out of church after high school is because they’re bored with the “bunny slope” (short-term missions) and they don’t know that the black diamond slope even exists (our life is on a mission). If they lived like they’re on a mission in a mission field their prayer lives would increase, their spirituality would be strengthened and their knowledge of scripture would abound. Our kids have skis but they need to put them on an go down the hill!

Some ideas and questions in creating guilt-free and non-awkward missionaries
1. Do an experiment of presenting your local town as a mission field. Give demographic stats, the perks, the struggles, what previous missionaries have tried there and what it will cost them (free!), but present it initially as if it were a village somewhere.

2. Personally re-think our role. Are we “youth group leaders” or “leaders of youth missionaries?” Do we see ourselves as youth leaders or just hang out with church kids? We need to intentionally go to the unsaved community and use our teens to reach them.

3. Write missionary letters or missionary journals as an exercise. Send newsletters and mission updates and prayer support letters just like we would for any short-term missions trip.

4. Teach and train youth to better understand how to think about critical key issues in our culture, such as the trustworthiness of scripture and other apologetics.

BOTTOM LINE FOR ME: Relational ministry is the most effective form of evangelism, which obviously indicates it must be an ongoing visible lifestyle, not a calendar event.

General Session #1: Buster Soaries
Normal faith is not what we need — it’s inadequate. We need to pray for astonishing faith if we want to see what God has in store for us.

In Matthew 8:5-10 the Centurion had faith that God could heal his servant from a distance. Whenever God is revealed, something happens!

How did the Centurion know Jesus could heal from a distance It had never been done before. Jesus touched other sick people or was in the presence in some way. The Centurion’s faith was so astonishing. He believed God could do what He’s never done before. God specializes in things that have never happened before, not reruns.

BOTTOM LINE FOR ME: Faith involves risk. When I ask the Lord to interact with my life I then need to trust Him with it. God wants to do things through me that He’s never done before and He needs me to take my hands off!

The importance of theology in youth ministry (or any ministry in a church), by Dan Kimball
Dan’s main roll in this seminar was to raise a lot of questions about why we do what we do in church. Most of it is not based on scripture but rather has just passed down through tradition. Whether we like it or not, the way we do church communicates a lot about our theology and values. A lot of his questions and conclusions are some of the exact same ones I’ve been wrestling with personally and blogging about the past several months. Some people may read my skepticism about the current model for this thing we call church and be immediately label me a heretic, so it was refreshing for me to sit in Dan’s seminar and hear all my same questions being asked by someone who’s more well-known and respected than me.

The modern church has fallen into a subtle trap that has caused some people to re-think what church is supposed to look like. Dan said it goes through several phases.

Phase 1: First we re-think our methodology. How are ministry methods supposed to change as culture changed? Rethinking methods usually begins with changing the worship gathering, as I kinda thought through in a blog post earlier this week. Why do we do what we do?

Phase 2: We then re-think the youth ministry, realizing that it is not in isolation and culture and theology is beyond an age group. Discipleship is not something limited to just certain age groups.

Phase 3: Next we rethink our ecclesiology. What is church? (It’s not a building or a place. It’s not some place we go. WE are the church, I am a part of it.) Our theology about church is indicated in many ways, including how we set up a room. Pews separate the speaker from the audience, raising him to some “more important” status of the church. Pews also make the church service a performance with spectators. It doesn’t teach community as we stare at that backs of people’s heads. Our ecclesiology is also indicated by what we teach about worship. We don’t go to church to worship (as I also blogged about two weeks ago), as if what takes place at church is something different than what should take place at home. We also equate worship with singing and thereby ignore many other forms of worship in services.

This leads to start rethinking spiritual formation, evangelism, community, preaching, church “membership,” and the roll of a “pastor.” What is a pastor? What’s a youth pastor? In scripture “pastor” is a spiritual gift, but we’ve turned it into a title.

Phase 4: No we start rethinking our theology (without losing truth). This means changes are more than just contemporary music and adding some candles. More questions are bound to come up and thus we MUST know what we believe and why. Students need to know the Bible, its origin, inspiration, how to handle difficult passages and how to understand it holistically. They also need a theology of human sexuality, marriage, homosexuality and divorce. Furthermore, they need to understand the church, the roll of women, what “church” is, the roll of the Holy Spirit and more.

Phase 5: We start being the church rather than going to church.

BOTTOM LINE FOR ME: Dan Kimball: “Getting the latest youth ministry fad materials lasts for only minutes, but theology will last students their lifetime.” I also walked away feeling more confident about my critical questions concerning church and that I need to continue exploring scripture’s intent and how that plays out for us today.

General Session #2: Mike Pilavachi
Jesus didn’t try to entertain anyone into the kingdom. He just had them hang out with Him through daily life and He taught them along the way. He had the disciples feed the 5,000 from 5 loaves of bread and 2 fishes. Jesus likes to perform miracles through His disciples. The disciples finally cast out a demon and they were excited. Jesus said, “Rejoice not that demons flee, but that your names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.” Jesus taught them as they went.

BOTTOM LINE FOR ME: It confirms the importance for relational ministry and teaching through real-life situations.

[tags]Evangelism, Dan Kimball, Youth Specialties, National Youth Workers Convention, NYWC, Outreach, Mike Pilavachi, Buster Soaries, church, missions[/tags]

Even so, I’m not willing to dismiss the fact that church services could probably stand to be re-evaluated for effectiveness. The [tag]Purpose Driven[/tag] [tag]ministry philosophy[/tag] is big on evaluating, scrapping and tweaking programs that aren’t effectively accomplishing their purpose. There’s probably a lot we could change in our services to make them more effective. I wonder what a church service would look like if we stripped away everything that’s not in scripture and honored God’s Word more than tradition and people’s opinions.

The Sunday morning format has generally been the same in every church I’ve attended since I was born. It starts with music followed by a quick welcome, more music, announcements, special music, tithing, sermon, closing song, see ya next week. And almost every service is geared around the sermon topic, the focal point of the worship service. The approach to each of these elements has generally been the same, too. Now, at 26 years old, I’m still kinda young, but our world has changed considerably even in my short lifespan. Why is the church still the same?

Seth Godwin, marketing expert and author of the best seller Permission Marketing, said this in his blog last Sunday and I think it has big implications for preaching:

What’s the point of talking to a group?…

I’m serious. We spend a lot of time in presentations, or at the United Nations, or sending our kids to school. We have orientation sessions and keynote speeches and long-winded oratory on the floor the Senate. Why?…

Here’s my point: In our scan and skip world, in a world where technology makes it obvious that we can treat different people differently, how can we possibly justify teaching via a speech?

Speech is both linear and unpaceable. You can’t skip around and you can’t speed it up. When the speaker covers something you know, you are bored. When he quickly covers something you don’t understand, you are lost.

If you teach – teach anything – I think you need to start by acknowledging that there’s a need to sell your ideas emotionally. So you need to use whatever tools are available to you–an evocative powerpoint image, say, or a truly impassioned speech.

If it’s worth teaching, it’s worth teaching well. If it’s worth investing the time of 30 or 230 or 3330 people, then it’s worth investing the effort to actually figure out how to get the message across. School is broken. Legislative politics are broken. Linear is broken. YouTube and Bloglines, on the other hand, are new platforms, platforms that enable the education of millions of people every day, quickly and for free.

I’m not at all thinking that preaching should be done away with, just that it needs to be evaluated and modified for maximum effectiveness in today’s society. Right now an average church sermon at an average church often feels like sitting through a lecture at school except without accountability to report its contents on a pending exam.

Dennis Poulette reminded me of a quote from The Youth Worker’s Guide to Helping Teenagers in Crisis,

Most listeners process information in the range of 300 to 500 words per minute (the rate generally declines with age). But most people speak at a rate of 100 to 200 words per minute, which means there’s serious excess capacity on the listening side of the transaction. And with excess capacity comes the tendency to daydream, fret, plan, doodle, and – if we’re not careful – lose track of what the other person is saying. (page 62)

It seems to me that the [tag]modern church[/tag] (and youth group) needs to find new effective ways of communicating the truth of God’s Word to those attending the services. How can we change our presentations to be less linear, to keep up with the rate that people process information, utilize new platforms and “emotionally sell” our message while, the same time, not lose anyone in the process?

Of course, this does nothing to to force people to seek God during on a personal level during the week, but given the state of our ever-changing culture I’m sure there’s still a lot that can be improved about our church services that might encourage such spiritual development.

PASSION

• What excites you? What do you get excited about?
• What drives you?

PERSONALITY

• What are you good at? What are your strengths?
• What are you bad at? What are your weaknesses?
• What ticks you off? What are your pet peeves?
• Who in the ministry do you look up to and respect?
• What kind of ministry are you attracted to?
• How has the way God wired you prepared you for ministry?

SPIRITUALLY

• What is God doing in your life spiritually?
• What are your spiritual gifts?

VISION

• Where is God leading you spiritually?
• What do you foresee in future ministry?

EXPERIENCES

• Are you plugged into ministry right now?
• What past experiences do you have in ministry?
• What do others say that have seen you work in ministry?

PHILOSOPHY

• What do you see ministry as?
• Define ministry.
• Describe ministry.
• Do you see ministry as a lifestyle or a job? Why?
• All believers are called to ministry, but few are called to full-time ministry. Why you?

CALLING TO MINISTRY BASED ON THE PARABLE OF THE TALENTS

• Faithful — Can you do it every day with passion?
• Fruitful — Are there positive outcomes? (Is God blessing it?)
• Fulfilled — Do you enjoy it?
• If one of these are not present, then you’re in the wrong ministry. Two of the servants were FFF, but one wasn’t and buried his treasure.

So I’m wondering if it’s accurate to say that the state of the youth group sometimes reflects the state of the church. People may complain about what’s wrong with their youth ministry, but a short discussion about what’s happening in the church as a whole usually reveals that the same thing is happening among the adults. Common issues like disconnected students and spiritual apathy may be an issue among the youth, but maybe these themes also run true among the whole church body and are just covered up by more experienced actors. Whether we realize it or not, kids watch what our hearts model and often reflect it in their own attitudes toward God and spirituality. The difference is that students are less apt to “fake it” at church. If teenagers are bored senseless, their actions show it. If adults are bored senseless of church, they still act “polite” and pretend to be connected to the Truth.

When members of the youth group aren’t connecting real life with spiritual matters then maybe the first step is to build a healthy church where parents and adults serve as a model for teenagers to follow. If students see this kind of connection taking place at home, at church and in the lives on their youth leaders then maybe it has a higher chance to take place in their lives. Instead of witnessing the superficial spiritual fluff all around them that leaves little impact on daily living, they should witness first-hand in our lives that scripture is not just theoretical trivia but, as Hebrews 4:12 says, is “living and active, sharper than any double-edged sword.”

We’ve all heard the statistic of high school graduates leaving the church in masses. I can’t help but wonder if the first step in finding the solution is not to figure out what’s wrong with youth ministry, but figure out what’s wrong with the church. Adults and parents need to live a true example of following Christ and applying scripture to daily concerns. If students don’t see this, then why would they want to adopt our impractical “spirituality?” I think the solution to this mass exodus starts with a spiritual revival among church parents and adults to live spiritually contagious lives.

Dana and I will always remember you and the influence you’ve had on our lives, both individually and together as a couple. Thank you for not giving up on us when we had given up on each other, for your continued wisdom and insight and gentle but firm correction. If it wasn’t for you, Dana and I might have separated forever and definitely would not be happily married right now. It’s obvious the Lord brought us together for many reasons, reasons that will have an eternal impact on many people’s lives. The fingerprint you left on us will be passed on to our children and others we reach in ministry.

Personally, I’m indebted to you for everything you’ve taught me about ministry, working with people, values, communication and leadership. The person I was back when I first came to Redeemer and the person I am now are two very different people. I’ve grown and matured a lot from our partnership. The good times we’ve gone through as well as the tough times have all taught me to respect you, trust you, and admire the dependence on God displayed through your leadership, something I hope to model for others as I have learned from you. Thank you for empowering me to be successful at Redeemer, for always sticking by my side and for your continued guidance through all situations.

Both you and Joyce mean a lot to me and Dana. We will always love you, cherish you, and support you as you’ve taught me and Dana to do for each other. We’re very grateful to the Lord for the time He put you on loan to us and, although it’s hard to see you go, we’re excited that the Lord will continue to use you to impact many others in Minnesota.

May the Lord bless you as richly as He’s blessed us through you. We love you, Pastor Rol!

With all our love and prayers,
Tim and Dana Schmoyer

Youth Exodus from Church: What Are We Doing Wrong?
Matt Friedeman, professor at Wesley Biblical Seminary, responds to a new report revealing that 88% of children from evangelical homes are leaving the church shortly after they graduate from high school. Friedeman offers three reasons for why this is the case:

First, we give students what they want, instead of what they need.

Second, when Jesus made disciples of young men… he challenged them to “follow me.” Discipleship in Jesus’ day meant spending time with an adult… There was no cool websites, lock-ins, hip-hop bands or youth organizations pulling out the stops to come up with neat, new (actually, frequently gross) games to capture attention before a quick three-point Bible study and pizza.

Third, I wonder if we don’t significantly cheat our kids when we suggest that vital discipleship can exist without a life of evangelism and compassionate service.

You can read the entire article here.

The author welcomes responses here.

There are a lot of tough changes that need to take place in youth ministry, not only strategically, but philosophically.

Last Sunday night Dana wanted to go hear an old college bible study pastor from where she went to school in Abilene, TX. This guy, Matt Chandler, is now the pastor at a local church called The Village Church so we took the time to go hear him speak. As soon as we walked into the sanctuary I was shocked to see that there were almost no “adults” present. The entire demographic was several hundred college-aged and 20-somethings students! I thought, “Wow, what’s going on here? I’ve never seen a church service comprised almost completely of people my age and younger.” It looked like married couples were in the minority. The service wasn’t anything unusually special either — about 30 minutes of worship, a couple announcements, and a 45 minute sermon. No offering, no drama, no entertaining video clips, none of that stuff. And to top off my surprise, there was no strong Sr. High ministry feeding into this group either. In fact, they announced they were starting something that Wednesday night for the high schoolers. So where did all these college kids come from and what attracted them to this church ministry? I don’t really have an answer for that (haven’t really investigated it either) but perhaps some of Matt Friedeman’s insights point us in the right direction for thought and discussion.

A couple weeks ago I was asked about my personal relationship with Christ and what I did to maintain it. I guess most people except an answer like, “I read my Bible, pray, and have personal worship time and 6:00AM every morning.” Although I participate in these things (rarely at 6:00AM, though!), it’s not a forced disciplined routine for me. My time with God is different all the time. I find new and creative things to do with Him. Otherwise my spiritual walk begins to feel like a rut, not an active and vital relationship.

Although Mark Batterson’s post relates more to ministry philosophy than to personal spiritual growth, I think his concept can be applied both ways.

I’m very tired and will just relax for the rest of the day since I’m leaving to Texarkana after church tomorrow. Dana and I need to get our marriage license on Monday, so I’m enjoying some peace and quiet here at home for now.

All of my Ukraine pictures are posted in my photo album, so feel free to check ‘em out. I’ll leave it to my video blogs of the trip to give details, but to summarize, it was a great time of fellowship, encouragement and ministry with the believers of Rozny Baptist Church in Rozny, Ukraine. I can’t wait to see them all again soon!

Although I’m looking forward to the trip, I am definitely NOT looking forward to 10 hours of sitting still in a plane both directions. What am I supposed to do for that long in one little spot? I tried to justify buying a Creative Zen Vision M that I’ve always wanted (especially with it being my birthday today), but the price tag puts it tantalizingly out of range. Perhaps even worse, though, is being disconnected from Dana so close to our wedding. Without access to phone calls or e-mail, it’ll probably feel pretty isolated. Fortunately, once I return, the wedding is only two weeks away, so at least our reunion will be made permanent shortly after the separation.

I’ll probably record a video blog each day, so look for that here in a about two weeks. Until then, thanks for keeping me and missions the team in your prayers!

Here’s what she said:

…why do we put so much focus on the people playing the instruments and singing up front[?] Why don’t we put them in the back, or something? People seem to focus on the people up there, instead of God. I know that (well, girls at least) talk about what the people are wearing, and the motions that they did, etc. That’s not focusing on God. Why don’t we just put them in the back, or how can we as humans trying to worship train our minds to focus on God and not those things happening around us?

This really happens all the time, doesn’t it? During the singing part of worship on Sunday mornings, it’s easy to focus on so many other things. “Man, the projector is really dim. We need to turn more lights off in here. And why don’t they make the lyrics a larger font?” or “Did those sunglasses really stay on his head through the whole service or did he just put them back on for the closing song?” I’m not sure it’s possible or even our job to remove all distractions from the worship place since worship ultimately takes place in the heart and life of the individual, but maybe there’s a couple easy steps we could take to make the environment more conducive for it.

And then there’s the use of icons in worship, which has been popular for centuries. In protestant churches we tend to lean toward the icon of the cross, but why should this is our main focus? I mean, yeah, Jesus suffered and died on a cross because of our sin and it’s definitely an important event to remember, but maybe His resurrection is equally as important. If there was only a cross and a dead Jesus then Christianity wouldn’t exist anyway. His resurrection proves that He defeated both physical and spiritual death (the penalty for our sin). Otherwise, death would’ve won. Although using the cross to remember his crucifixion is legitimate and important, I wish we had more icons of empty tombs around to remind us to celebrate His resurrection. Lilly’s once a year doesn’t seem to cut it.

To the nine-to-five office worker, I look like a “flake.” Some days I arrive at the office late. Some days I leave at mid-morning and don’t return for four hours. Other days I head home early. What some secretaries, elders, and parents don’t realize is that I arrive later in the morning because I was either out doing ministry the night before or will be out late that night. I leave many days at 11:00 AM and don’t return until 3:00 PM. Why? Because I have a tough time preparing my message at the church office. I’m constantly interrupted. I work best at my other office — Taco Bell — where my phone doesn’t ring and I can have my soda refilled.

The nature of youth ministry requires flexible office hours. Track your hours in case a question arises.
– page 322 –

I have a difficult time giving myself that kind of flexibility to casually drop in and out of the church office because I (unnecessarily) feel a need to let the other church staff know that I’m present and working hard. But why do I feel that? It’s not like the church places any pressure on me in this area. I’m confident they all respect me and my time. I know I’ve earned their trust, so why do I feel like I need them to see me at the church office doing work when I’ve already established that real ministry ultimately takes place in the relationships I build with students? It sounds like Doug Fields would be the kinda guy that could stay up late talking with a student about life issues and then dock the hours out of the next day by going into the church office later. Although I intellectually agree that these boundaries on our time are important, I would feel irresponsible for not showing up in the office at the normal time anyway. I may fall asleep at the keyboard, but at least I’d be there!

Instead of thinking, “Is the pastor satisfied with the hours I put in this week,” I should be more intentional to think, “Is God satisfied with how I’ve spent my time for Him?” He’s the one I’ll stand before and give an account for the time He’s entrusted to me (Romans 14:12).

I’m reminded that ministry is really for God, not just for the church. Although I definitely need to be responsible and accountable to the people in the church, I have to remind myself that I’m not working for them as much as I am for Him.

I am no different. I’m in youth ministry because of a Student Venture staff member named Bob Klein. A couple years ago I had the opportunity to take him out to lunch, just as he did for me in high school, and say, “Bob, thanks for your influence on my life. Here’s where I am today because of it.”

Ministry isn’t about what you do; it’s about who you are.

Through hearing his stories in college and then hearing the same advice frequently repeated in seminary, setting ministry boundaries is something that’s now ingrained in me. I give the time to God that belongs to Him without feeling guilty about allowing time for me and, after July 22nd, my wife.

In order to survive any king of longevity in ministry, time restrictions must be established and kept. There will always be more work to do, meetings to attend, demands to be met, people to reach, and planning to complete, but there will also always be tomorrow to work on those things. And, if tomorrow never comes, then apparently God didn’t think those things important enough for me to complete anyway.

It’s interesting that those in the secular marketplace have made this same discovery and are putting it into practice by switching to four-day work weeks. The author has some excellent input on this matter that is easily applicable to vocational ministry.

(ht to Paul)

Every youth group is different. No matter how hard we try to achieve balance in all areas, there is not one church youth group out there that will reach and connect to every student both within and without its doors. Every youth group has a different emphasis, different personalities, and different strengths.

Ministry is a Kingdom mindset. Area churches reach students together, not independently. If one of our students goes to another church, I trust that church will diligently minister to him or her. After all, students from other churches and the community come here, too. It’s not about competition, having a large group or whose group has what kids — it’s about students being reached for Christ where ever that will happen best for the individual. Rather than feeling competition from First Generic Church down the street, we need to support each other and grow the Kingdom together. They connect with kids we’ll never reach, just as we do the same.

Last November I blogged about the segregation we promote in families at church, but I didn’t have too many solid ideas for how to change it. Four months later I’m still mulling over the same thoughts and questions. It just won’t go away, especially when I read blogs like Dan’s and see that others are wrestling with some of the same issues. There’s got to be a better way to “do church” on Sunday mornings than a theater setup with a lecture and passive participation in a room that demands “sit down and be quiet.” It feels like school. Anyone who’s familiar with learning styles and retention knows that this is an ineffective method of learning for most people. This can’t be the best Sunday morning experience we can think of for promoting life-change, is it?

A couple years ago our local newspaper, the Dallas Morning News, conducted a survey on reasons people go to church. The results:
– For the music 5%
– The sermon 7%
– To learn 8%
– Raised their/habit 10%
– Peace of mind 13%
– To worship God 13%
– Because of the minister/priest/rabbi 20%
– Location 24%
– Fellowship/the people 36%
(Sorry, I do not have a link or documentation. I only recorded the information without a citation, nor did I record the polling method or how the stats add up.)

People primarily attend church for the relationships. Although church-goers may feel comfortable with tradition, they are not primarily there for sermons and music, especially teenagers. Following the early church’s example of community, maybe we should use these relationships as a ministry tool on Sunday mornings and re-think the teaching methods we use. Maybe then we could promote a lot more life-change and active learning than we currently see.

My vision for Sunday mornings worship services is always defining itself. Every time I write it down, it’s different than the last time I tried solidifying it. So, with that in mind, this is my Sunday morning vision for the teaching element as it currently stands:

– The room: Following Dan Kimball’s living room analogy, picture a sanctuary that full of couches. They’re set up in circle groups on oriental rugs, each group with a coffee table in the middle, a couple candles, and low-hanging ceiling lights. The walls are covered with pictures of people attend along with thought-provoking imagery and scripture passages that are changed monthly. The room is inviting and comfortable and compels people to interact with each other.

– The method: Rather than having a lecture, what if we followed something closer to a small group philosophy. The pastor could introduce a topic that is then led by discussion facilitators in various couch groups. Discussions could be modified on-the-fly to address the specific needs and “spiritual levels” of those in the group. For example, discussion sheets would include a “Deep Theology” section that some groups would utilize, while other groups with an unsaved person could take advantage of a “Salvation Implications” section. Other groups with children could skip to a “Kidz Corner” section. When closing time draws near, groups can report to other groups what they found in scripture, what the Lord impressed upon them, and personal applications for the week, effectively compelling people to think through the material in relation to their life rather than listening to a preacher make generic applications for them. The pastor could also share with everyone some concluding thoughts on the issue at hand.

I know this isn’t an entirely new concept that no one is practicing. My idea is more to revise it a little and take it to the Sunday morning experience. With this kind of model, families can now learn and grow together, relationships are strengthened, teaching is personalized, applications are specific, content is more easily retained, and learning styles are utilized. Of course, it’s not without it’s disadvantages, such as a group only pooling their ignorance on matters, but there are clearly disadvantages to probably any model.

I guess my vision really does fall into the emerging church movement. As Leonard Sweet describes the movement, the church needs to be experiential, participatory, based on imagery, and be a place of community. My vision for how to implement these aspects, though, is still blurry and undefined. Give me more time to dream and hopefully something will eventually come into focus.

My obvious application is to start implementing these aspects more in the youth ministry. By validating this environment in youth ministry with students who share a vision of a changing church and ministry philosophy, maybe we can provide a clearer direction for those who follow after us.

Here in America I have been blessed to receive training for ministry from some of the top leaders in the world. It started at home when I was young, transitioned to Bible College in my late teens, fine-tuned at Dallas Seminary in my early twenties, and still continues as I read the volumes of information available in this country and attend various workshops and training conferences. The effectiveness of my ministry is greatly impacted by the wisdom and insights gleaned from those who have devoted their lives to equipping the saints for service to the Lord. This summer I have the opportunity to return the blessing to others.

From June 28 to July 7 of this year I will be in a small village of northern Ukraine using my training to train the ministers and lay-staff of a growing church in that area called God’s Mercy Rozhny Baptist Church. What’s been entrusted to me I now have the opportunity to entrust to others.

My church, Redeemer Covenant Church, has an on-going relationship with this church in the village of Rozhny. We visit them every two years for the sake of encouragement, training, and to meet many special needs. This year we will provide for many of their growing needs, such as chairs, DVD player, theological and training materials, help in orphanages, but most importantly we bring love and support.

My specific duties pertain mostly to training their youth workers on issues relevant to teenagers in any society and cultural context. For example, I will help them identify core values, innate human needs, and connect these areas to effective student ministry. We’ll also talk about building relationships, ministry development, and leadership training. Furthermore, my pastor and I will provide some theological training as well as instruct them about men’s ministry and women’s ministry. We see this as an invaluable time to not just go and do ministry that we later leave behind, but to train and equip those who are already ministering to be more effective in their calling, like the old saying, “Give a man a fish and feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and feed him for a lifetime.”

Such a trip obviously comes with a price. In our case, it’s $1,700 per person, due by April 18. This cost mostly covers transportation. Our church is conducting several fundraisers, but these proceeds go toward purchasing books and materials for the church, training resources to leave with them, and to meet special needs they have voiced. The five of us from Redeemer Covenant Church are relying on people like you to support us individually to make this trip a success.

Please prayerfully consider sending a one-time gift to the following address:

Redeemer Covenant Church
Ukraine Missions Trip
1518 E. Frankford Rd.
Carrollton, TX 75007

Checks are payable to Redeemer Covenant Church. Please write “Tim Schmoyer” in the memo line.

I am committed to sharing an update with you when I return and will make all my pictures available online at www.timschmoyer.com. Thank you for your prayers concerning this trip and for your financial support. God bless!

On May 19, 2006, Da Vinci Code will open in theaters around the world. The book’s popularity has already shaped much of what Americans think about Jesus, religion, and the Bible, but taking the form of a movie with actors such as Tom Hanks will take its message to a whole new level. Teenagers everywhere will see this film and walk away asking the critical questions that are so very necessary for evaluating the validity of Christianity. Where did the Bible really come from? Is it trustworthy? Did Jesus really come back to life? Was he really God? Many churches might see this as a threat and will try to stifle the questions, but I’m excited about it and all the ministry opportunities it will create! I hope we take Dan Kimball’s suggestion and provide forums for discussion in our churches where people can talk about these matters and evaluate what in the movie is true and what in the movie is false.

So, in preparation for May 19, 2006, I plan to challenge my students to think through these issues now so that when the movie comes out, they’ve already thought through the issues critically and are prepared to answer the questions their friends will ask them. There are many good resources for this, including Breaking the Da Vinci Code by Darrell Bock, a DTS prof (go DTS!). As I write my youth group lessons and prepare the material for this series, I’ll try to make my work available here online for those who are interested.

Although there are many good ideas on how to theoretically make this family ministry philosophy work, it is indeed almost a complete paradigm shift for us as spiritual leaders. If we’re having a hard time grasping this, those in our churches will struggle even more. It’s radically different and will require a very flexible congregation to successfully implement. As creatures of habit, we all tend to get stuck in our own ministry grooves and flow with what’s most comfortable for everyone, but this kind of shift in family ministry breaks the mold of what most churches follow and therefore will probably be met with some resistance. This appears to be the largest barrier. How do we convince church members to give this a try? I think it starts with two things.

First and foremost, as leaders we must earn trust and respect. The congregation must feel comfortable following us and trust our judgment with something new and unknown. This does not take place overnight — it requires many years of faithful service. Trust is not a right that’s automatically given or assigned based on position, trust is something that is always earned over time. It takes years to build and seconds to destroy.

Second, it must be implemented slowly and steadily. Our congregations cannot be shocked into something totally new, but must be eased into it. As we gradually make the transition, the progress and strategy must be constantly evaluated and tweaked as we move forward, and always under the influence of much prayer.

It will take a special church with very special people to successfully move to a family-based ministry like this. They will have to be dedicated to the cause and passionate to see it carried out to completion since there will be hic-ups and many wrinkles to iron out along the way. There haven’t been too many churches pioneering the way with this kinda of philosophy, so any church that does is pretty much on their own. Sounds like fun, huh?

During a typical week, the family wakes up in morning, the kids run off to school and the parents go to work. They spend their day separated from each other until the evening comes. The parents sometimes arrive home worn out from work about the same time the kids return exhausted from school and extra-curricular activities. Everyone grabs their own dinner and settles to a different part of the house: the parents in front of the living room TV and the kids in their bedroom to do homework, talk to friends, and watch their own TV. Bedtime comes, everyone goes to sleep, and the next day it’s rinse and repeat. There’s not too many people that would consider this lack of interaction and communication to be a healthy pattern.

However, our churches follow a very similar pattern. As soon as a family walks through the church doors, they’re off to different places. The parents go in one direction to their adult classes (sometimes even separated by genders) and the kids run off in other directions to see their friends in Sunday School. Even during the worship service a typical family will sit at different places — the parents with their friends and the kids with their friends. Programs like Children’s Church split up the family even further, so it’s not until everyone is ready to head home for the afternoon that the family finally meets up at the front doors and sees each other again. If our churches are trying to encourage good family values, communication, and time spent together, we certianly don’t seem to be providing a conducive environment for it.

So, my re-thinking family ministry has revolved around this question: How can we minister to the family as a whole and still effectively meet the needs of each individual? No bright ideas have come to mind so far, but at my church we’ve attemped to explore different possibilities that might lend themselves to a more wholistic family ministry sometime in the future.

Last year we held a family worship service that attempted to incoporate all ages of the family. The music included worship songs that both adults and children appreciate, such as Lord, I lift your name on high and This is the day. Announcements were made by kids and there was also a quick object lesson, which always appeal to any age group. Families were encouraged to sit together and then circle up into small groups for brief discussions at certian points during the sermon. The sermon avoided big words and used illustrations all ages could appreciate. Fathers were encouraged to be the spiritual leaders and take the initiative in leading their family discussion times. Although the Sunday service went relatively smoothly, the general evaluation by the church leadership afterwards was that the congregation felt a little uncomfortable and unsure about the change in format.

I am still not sure how to tackle this whole family ministry thing because there is such a wide range of ages to effectively communicate to, a variety of individual needs to meet, and so many “levels of spirituality” to challenge. It seems easiest to meet everyone on an individual basis, but somehow we must find a way to make the parents successful as spiritual leaders in their families and provide an environment that enhances family relationships. It’s a tough challenge, but there must be a way to reach the entire family through the students by building them up as the core family unit God established them to be. How exactly that takes place seems to be a bit of a challenge for me.

As I continually stare at the unending road ahead of us, I’m thinking back to yesterday’s seminar with Doug Fields. He talked about helping students become involved in ministry, which seems to me to revolve more around creating a youth ministry that is conducive for this to take place rather than just finding a student and trying to plug them into something. His S.H.A.P.E. acronym came up when talking about the role of the adults in the process and, although the context of the discussion addressed student leaders, I think the same is true for implementing adult volunteers in ministry. I briefly discussed my general philosophy about this on an earlier blog post and Doug’s S.H.A.P.E. confirms that I’m on the right track. He suggests following this model for exploring the best area in which to utilize a leader.

S – Spiritual Gifts: How has God gifted you?
H – Heart: What do you love?
A – Abilities: What are you good at?
P – Personality: How are you unique?
E – Experience: Where have you been? (especially in reference to pain)

Discussing these areas with a volunteer prior to initiation will allow the ministry leader to utilize their full potential in a specific area, give them an opportunity to effectively serve with their gifts, and thus maximize their impact on people’s lives. Too often volunteer utilization begins with the youth pastor thinking, “What holes in my ministry that this person can fill” or “What can they do that I don’t feel like doing” Instead, youth pastors should think, “How can our ministry edify this believer by filling the servanthood holes in this individual’s life?” The first question focuses on using the volunteer to meet the needs of the ministry whereas the latter focuses on using the ministry to meet the needs of the individual by providing an environment for them to flex their giftedness and passion.

When someone approaches me and says that God is leading them to work with our youth ministry, I hand them our youth volunteer information/application packet, which includes the process we usually follow for introducing new volunteers to the youth ministry. Maybe it can be a help to others. Here’s what it says.

Express Interest: You may have an interest in serving God by loving students, but are unsure as to where you can help. We will help you with this. Most of the time “unlikely people” make the greatest youth workers, so take the next step as you prayerfully consider this ministry.

Initial Contact with Tim: This is an opportunity for us to briefly connect and hear your desire to be involved in ministry. We will also give you a general overview of the ministry and arrange for you to visit and observe our programs.

Receive Youth Ministry Material: Read over all the pages and information in this staff application. This packet gives you the basic information that you will you make decisions about our ministry. We have tried to give you a good idea of what it’s like, but the clear picture happens when you observe a program.

Surf over to www.redeemercrew.com and take a cruise of the site: Our youth ministry is not limited only to weekly meetings and periodic events. The Internet is changing the way people work and function, especially for this younger generation. Check out a little bit of how we connect with students and parents on the information highway.

Observe Programs: Before you fill out the application, we encourage you to observe a program or event. This is a good opportunity to get a better feel for the ministry without having expectations and responsibilities placed on you. You will have a chance to meet students, other staff, and write down any questions you may have for our future meeting. It WILL be natural for you to feel uncomfortable while observing a program (students don’t typically go out of their way to make you feel welcome until you get to know them), so keep that in mind.

Complete Application Package: This application package was developed to obtain appropriate information for our screening process. This process not only protects us and our students, but it protects YOU. In the unfortunate case that false accusations are made concerning a staff member’s integrity, we have this process to show that you are creditable and have a clean history. We require that all the pages in this packet be filled out and returned to Tim, as well as two references. You can choose a (1) pastor, (2) close friend, and/or (3) an employer within the last year.

Interview with Tim: This is an opportunity for you to share your thoughts from your observations, describe your spiritual journey, and communicate your gifts and desires for working with the CREW. We will also discuss your application and a more specific job description. (This is when I take the perspective volunteer through the SHAPE discussion.)

Prayerfully Consider your Commitment: We want you to take time to pray and think through your commitment. We encourage you to seek the counsel of family and/or friends regarding your commitment.

Commitment Sheet and Criminal Record Check: Sign the Time to Commit sheet and turn it in to Tim along with the Consent for Criminal Record Search. Your application process does not go any further until your criminal record check is received. Don’t worry; when it comes all your information will be kept securely under strict confidence.

Beginning Ministry: After you turn in the Time to Commit sheet and we have received the criminal background check, we will discuss a beginning date. This date may vary depending on your intended involvement.

Evaluation Meeting: At your two month and four month mark, we will meet to evaluate your feelings and perceptions regarding your involvement with the CREW. We will continue to evaluate throughout the year and adjust your role to better fit your style, personality, and strengths.

Since today has obviously been a long day and there’s another one coming tomorrow, I’m just gonna hit some highlights and go to bed.

– Attended Walt Mueller’s workshop on how marketing is shaping youth culture. Pretty interesting. Nothing too new to me since I keep up with the materials his ministry produces anyway, but still worth my time.

– Walked out on Mike King’s workshop on nurturing a presence-centered youth ministry because, from what I could tell, he hardly addressed the issue at all. What he did have to say on the matter could’ve been summarized into one or two sentences. Oh well.

– Enjoyed an insightful debriefing/discussion time with the youth staff over dinner. (I’ll post some points of our discussion at a later time.)

– Tonight we hung out with Bill Scott, a friend of mine who’s house we’re all staying at the for the weekend. We sat in on part of his radio show, ZJam, and then took a brief tour of the new office building.

Two things I observed today:
1. Why is it that almost every seminar speaker feels a need to give us “fill in the blank” notes? It almost feels like it’s an insult against our intelligence or something. Last time I checked, our church’s bulletin included a sermon outline like this for the little kids. I mean, it gives us something to do while we sit there and maybe some feel a sense of accomplishment when it’s complete, but seriously, is this the best idea everyone has for providing “interactive” notes? I’d rather just have a straight-forward outline with lots of white space for my own thoughts rather than a dinky, “Write what I say in the following blanks.”

2. Worship was great again tonight. The David Crowder Band does an excellent job of creating an environment that’s fun and light-hearted in worship. Tonight, however, the other youth workers around me kinda ruined the moment that I was experiencing. David Crowder had finished the set and was leaving the stage. Everyone was cheering and screaming, asking for one more song. That part is fine with me, but why did they start chanting, “David Crowder?” Why weren’t they chanting, “Jesus Christ?” Why was the focus instantly on David and not on what we were singing about just seconds before? I hate to be cynical, but it makes me wonder who everyone was really worshiping. I mean, I know we were all worshiping God and everyone really just wanted David Crowder to continue leading us, but still… That’s the affect it had on me, anyway.

Guy sculpting an image of Jesus during worship.

David Crowder leading worship.

Since Marko is linking to my blog for the duration of the convention, I thought I’d include a picture of his ever-so-stunning handsome self.

This picture of Toby Mac just cracks me up. lol

Toby Mac in concert.

Toby doin’ something that looks like a chicken dance.

Toby Mac, again.

Hangin’ out in the studio with Bill Scott for ZJam’s live broadcast.

The Redeemer CREW volunteers chillin’ in the radio studio.

Myself with Bill Scott.

I’ll start with Dan Kimball’s workshop on Issues we need to address that our emerging culture is asking. His main idea was that people are respectful and open to Jesus, but not to Christians or the church. He then proceeded to takes us through six main misconceptions outsiders have when viewing the church and how youth leaders can respond.

1. The church and Christianity is an “organized religion” with a political agenda.
2. The church has leaders who think they know all the answers and there is no room to question them.
3. The church takes the Bible too literally and the Bible has been corrupted and not of divine origin.
4. The church is male dominated and oppresses females.
5. The church is homophobic and sexually uptight — Jesus didn’t talk about sexual issues.
6. The church is narrow-minded and arrogant for thinking they have the exclusive way to God and everyone else is wrong.

His message really vibed with something I’ve been thinking more seriously about for a couple weeks now based on personal experiences with students: We teach a lot about prayer and reading the Bible in youth group, but we need to start thinking about the questions our students are asking and prepare them for the challenges that lie ahead. Last week I purchased several copies of Reasons for Believing by Frank Harber a book I highly recommend for a quick read on popular apologetical issues. After several recent discussions with students who are asking, “How do we know the Bible is God’s Word?” and “How do we know Christianity is the religion that’s got it right?” or “How do we KNOW Jesus was God?” Too often our youth groups just assume that these concepts will not be challenged and we create an environment where students do not feel the freedom to discuss such matters. However, in my opinion, challenging these issues and coming to grips with them on a personal level should be encouraged because that’s when a teenager’s faith stops being their parent’s faith and becomes their own. So, I purchased copies of Frank’s book with the intention of using his content as a resource for writing Sunday morning lessons. Dan Kimball’s message confirmed a lot of what I was thinking, affirming that all this is much bigger than just my local youth ministry, and giving me a clearer direction of how to address the matters. I intend to teach through his list of misconceptions about the church, explaining all the different viewpoints, the positive and negative aspects of each one, and then presenting our position and why we believe what we believe on the matter. My prayer is that this will prepare them for stages ahead in life, especially as they move on to secular universities.

Secondly, Doug Field’s message tonight in the general session addressed boundaries in youth ministry and the necessity of saying “no.” Fortunately, I tend to know my limits and I stick to it. This was ingrained into me through courses in both Bible college and seminary. However, one of his “warning lights” to someone who needs to slow down was Addiction to Speed. As he elaborated, I realized that this warning light applied to me and that I’m not doing as good as I thought I was with setting boundaries. I realized that I often feel that parents and students expect more “speed” in a youth ministry than what I’m offering. As it is, my part-time position sometimes makes it a struggle to successfully pull off even one youth event each month. I am not satisfied with this level of activity and my perception is that students and parents aren’t either (although none have actually said anything about it). Even though I see all the in-office work that’s done, the behind the scenes responsibilities, all the weekly meetings with church staff and interns, the lesson planning and other tasks to keep week-to-week ministry going, most other people don’t see that, so I’m left feeling like I need to defend my position at the church by creating more public events. Maybe this is all self-inflicted and totally a false perception of what parents and students are really thinking, and maybe I’m too concerned with what other people think. I really WANT to do more, but current limitations force me to say “no” and stick with what we’ve got. I need to worry less about how others perceive my work-load and do only what can be done within my set boundaries.

Here are some pictures I took today from the convention, too. Hopefully they’re all pretty self-explanatory. I’m finally off to bed now for a five hour sleep before waking up again to shower and head over for an 8:00 AM workshop.

Today’s question: What was one of the first experiences you had (or heard about) in ministry that woke you up to the “good side” and “shadow side” of serving in the church?

Good side: The part of ministry that hooked me more than anything else was when I’d share my faith with a stranger, go through the Four Spiritual Laws, and then all of the sudden you see the spiritual light bulb click on. It’s that look of, “Woah, I finally get it!” and they pray to receive Christ for the first time. Now THAT can easily become an addiction!

Shadow side: I wrote out one of my first “shadow side” experiences for a seminary assignment. I’ll copy and paste it here and will revise the ending to meet our purposes (yes, I’m quoting myself):

As the Sr. High Director at a church for three years, my general job description was to strategically fulfill the purpose statement among 130 senior high students. The outreach/evangelistic aspect was always the weakest due to the amount of time required just to keep the discipleship, worship, and community aspects running smoothly. However, after about a year and a half a student and I decided it was time to do something radically different to reach a student culture this rich suburban white-boy community wasn’t reaching at all.

John was a junior in high school and a somewhat “alternative” dresser. He played in a Christian hard-core metal band and despite his edgy appearance, being expelled from a local Christian school, and kicked out of a different youth group, his outgoing personality and enthusiasm allowed him connect with several of our preppy youth group students without too much difficulty. It was by his suggestion and passion that the two of us decided to host a huge show of eight local bands consisting of three genres: hardcore metal, ska, and punk. In hopes of attracting a crowd of mostly unsaved students, we planned for one of those bands to be a popular secular underground band.

We were both excited about the idea and the evangelistic impact it would potentially have on the unreached student culture of our community. After approval from the youth pastor, John and I worked together on the 4-month process of organizing and planning this exciting event.

The big night finally arrived. I showed up at the church several hours early to help set up, answer questions, and arrange the church’s old sanctuary (now serving as one of our youth rooms) where the show would take place. To my surprise, the parking lot was already contained about 100 kids, all of them dressing their multi-colored hair, ripping holes in their clothes, and adorning their body piercings with rings and spikes.

I walked inside to find a couple youth group kids all nervously huddled in a corner talking about the kids in the parking lot, wondering how safe they were and if this whole show tonight was a big mistake. Despite their questions and concerns I was still very much excited and eager to reach this group for Christ that night.

Late in the evening the show was finally underway with high-tech professional lighting and sound. Strobe lights were flashing, bass was vibrating my chest, and 350+ students were thrashing around in front of the stage, most them who said this was their first time ever in a church building. To add to my excitement, I could see many of my volunteers talking and making good connections with the students standing off to the sides. However, the disappointing turnout of 10 youth group kids were off in another room quietly keeping to themselves, admitting their fear of what was going on in the old sanctuary and feeling content to just eat the chips, pretzels, and hot-wings that were donated for this event.

Everything was going well until the band member who was supposed to share his testimony and give an invitation failed to do so. After their set I asked him what happened. His response was a shrug followed by, “I dunno. I didn’t have time because I have to go straight to work” Confused, I struggled to quickly find an alternative to the original plan in order to have a clear gospel presentation for all these students. During this, however, I received a call over the radio by one of my adult volunteers saying I needed to meet him in the back as soon as possible.

When I reached my volunteer, he introduced me to a man who was apparently very angry. I affirmed his question that I was the one in charge to which he responded by identifying himself as an elder of the church. Apparently he was driving by and saw a group of “bad” kids smoking out front and decided to investigate. Clearly expressing his heated emotion, he asked for an explanation of what as going on in his sacred church. During our conversation I saw several other men walk in the door and congregate in another room. The elder I was talking to then proceeded to take me to that room where I met about six other elders and saw the Sr. Pastor looking like he was woken up from bed. I again had to explain what we were doing with these students, half-way through seeing the youth pastor arrive and walk in. (He could not be present for the show because he just got home from a missions trip that afternoon and desperately needed sleep.) After talking for about ten minutes, the elders told me that this event had to be shut down immediately and all the kids sent home.

How should I respond? And if I comply, how do I communicate this to John, who I knew would become angry at the church and “organized Christianity,” let alone communicating this to the hundreds of unsaved kids who would be kicked out of church?

Fun situation, huh? The conclusion is that we reached an agreement that the youth pastor would share his testimony and we’d end the event early. Fortunately, 14 students accepted Christ that night. All the kids were very understanding about having to leave early — they said they were used to it. John was flaming with rage for several weeks afterwards and I left like all desire for ministry was sucked out of me. Furthermore, the youth pastor almost lost his job over it due to the poor communication between him, the Sr. Pastor and church board about the event.

The most humbling part of it was that the 350 unsaved students that attended where absolutely the most respectful and appreciative students I have ever worked with. We had lots of free food, yet there was hardly any cleanup to do! I only found one upside down Oreo in a corner of the room — that’s it. No crushed chips or anything. We hardly had to vacuum! The ash tray outside the church door was so jam packed with hundreds of cigarette butts that the sand that coated the bottom was barely visible. After checking the area for butts left on the ground, I was in awe that I could only find two.

But anyway, this event sucked a lot out of me and made me pretty angry with the elder board. I confess that I felt some bitterness toward them for some time after that.

The funniest youth ministry blooper I’ve seen yet is here. (Thanks to Lexi in my youth group for the link!) This youth pastor at Southeast Christian Church in Parker, Colorado, was describing what happened when the biblical character Lot pitched his tents too close to Sodom and Gomorrah, but then the mother of all sermon blunders fell from a clear blue sky. Very funny.

But anyway, back to the issue at hand. I read today over at Perry Noble’s blog about his message to the church staff where he ministers. Handling our mistakes in ministry can be a difficult and confusing time, but I think he summarized it well:

#1 – If You Are Not Making Mistakes Then You Are Not Trying!
I can say that our mistakes here at NewSpring have came from people who love Jesus, love the church, love people–and are really trying to do what they think is right. In doing that we will drop the ball from time to time. However, that is OK–the church has played it safe for way too long.

#2 – Do Not Try To Hide The Mistake!
If you make a mistake then address it. We don’t do this many times in the church world, we “pray about it” and expect God to handle it. (Does it seem that at times we over spiritualize everything?) But the best thing to do when making a mistake is to address it!

#3 – Do Not Fear The Outcome
When you make [a mistake] you can count on the fact that your approval rating will drop in the public polls. Our job, however, is not to worship people–but to worship Jesus–to do what is right before doing what is easy…and trusting in a Sovereign God to take control.

#4 – The Only Bad Mistakes Are The Ones You Do Not Learn From
Uh, enough said, right?

The whole blog entry is worth reading. Check it out HERE.

The Story
Last night as I was on my way out the door, my cell phone rang. Didn’t recognize the number, but immediately recognized the voice to be that of the sr. pastor from my former youth ministry. I resigned from past position about two years ago for several reasons that are unnecessary to go into now. Regardless, I unfortunately haven’t talked with him much since then. Through word of mouth I heard that the church eventually disbanded and ceased to exist, which was disheartening to hear. Although I’ve been in touch with several students from that ministry and even his son from time to time, I really haven’t kept in touch with him at all.

So when I heard his voice I was pretty surprised and unsure how to react. As I drove to a friend’s house for dinner, we had a good time talking and catching up a little. He told me about his current part-time position at a new church and some of the expectations and pressures he was feeling from the sr. pastor there. As he vented some of his frustration he referred to a moment earlier that day and said, “So I sat there on the pew and started thinking, ‘Is this how Tim Schmoyer felt when he worked under me? Did I do this same thing to him?’”His conclusion was “yes,” that he found himself in a situation very similar to the one I was in at his church. So he felt compelled to contact me and apologize for it. Wow.

The Application
Working at that church was a huge learning experience that has shaped my philosophy of ministry in ways that are still probably unforeseen. One way I do know it has changed, though, is how I work with the volunteer youth leaders God has entrusted to me. Instead of plugging people into my vision and using them to fill my empty holes, I’ve found it works much better to hear their dream for ministry and equip them to pursue it. Instead of saying, “Mr. Adult Volunteer, I need you to teach Sunday School and lead a new small group on Wednesdays,” I now say, “Mr. Adult Volunteer, what is drawing you to youth ministry and what passion is God wanting you to pursue in this area?” Although Mr. Adult Volunteer may do great at teaching Sunday School and although he might make an exceptional small group leader, he will still thrive best when he is equipped and encouraged to pursue the dream God placed in his heart.

When we follow our passion, we somehow pursue it differently than something that’s just assigned to us to fill a “gap.” We end up pursuing it in such a way that’s contagious. Other people want to jump on board and rally behind us because it’s something they can see and feel in a very real way. Somehow it becomes more “tangible” than just an Sunday School teaching assignment.

I’ve decided to trust that God will supply the volunteers needed to run the youth ministry. I trust that the volunteers He brings each contribute a unique vision that they feel called to chase after and accomplish. It is my job to hear their dreams and help them make it a reality, as they do the same for me. As I see it now, that’s what a ministry team is all about.

I consider it a privilege to currently work under a sr. pastor who understands youth ministry and places full confidence in me as the youth pastor. He supports me in both success and failure, listens to the issues and needs of the ministry and gives insightful input on the matters at hand. I especially enjoy the freedom he gives me to run and have fun with the vision and passion the Lord lays on my heart. All of the above are aspects of ministry are things I didn’t always have in previous ministry experiences, so to have them now is very refreshing and encouraging. Thanks, Pastor Rol!

Mp3 Download
PowerPoint (PDF)

Another part of my philosophy of education is that visuals enhance retention. However, if it’s just a bunch of bullet-point text that you’re gonna end up reading back word-for-word anyway, then it’s pointless. There’s no need to insult people’s intelligence by parroting back what’s clearly written on the screen, unless you’re reading a quote or something. Imagery sparks more imagination, is more thought provoaking, and communicates much more effectively than text, which is why many of the best speakers use a lot of imagery in language. Based on this, I wanted to create an image that summarizes my sermon’s lesson aim. After a little bit of thought and some time with Photoshop, I created the following graphic to use for my lesson’s PowerPoint background (click on it for the full-size image):

The black box will come and go depending on each individual slide’s content, but that’s the gist of it. At first glance it seems pretty straight-foward with the sermon title. However, it probably leaves a couple of subliminal questions too, which is good! As I go through my message the graphic will make more and more natural connections including the biggest one at the end, which I won’t divulge here, but I trust it will be inherently clear by the end and won’t require any comment on my part. David and Adrienne will be there (I think Becca, one of Adrienne’s bridesmaids too?), so I guess they can give you an objective report on how it all goes.
I finally finished the youth group video from our missions trip in July. The team gave our report to the congregation this morning, which was fun, and we also showed the video of the trip. It’s posted on our youth group website now. Use the following link to check it out: CREW Missions Trip Video: Breakaway 2005

All things considered, the trip went very well. Rather than explain everything here I’ll let you read the updates using the link above. On a personal note, it’s hard to imaging that 6 months worth of planning is over. I mean, Ryan and I started working on this trip a little after Christmas. It’s almost like I don’t remember what it’s like to not be thinking and planning this trip.

All the CREW students did very well. I had to re-focus their attention a couple times during the week, but as first-time counselors, being thrown to inner-city kids is a tough place to start. They all stood up to the challenege, though, and did very well. Next year we need to make sure we emphasize strict discipline for the first day or two even stronger than we did this year in order to make the days following less stressful, but it all worked out okay. We all learned how to rely on God’s strength to pull us through each tiring day. Being physcially tired isn’t so bad — being drained emotionally is what kills ya.

Several children made first-time decisions to accept Christ, which is always exciting, and even more rededicated their lives to pursing God at home. Our mission for the week was to love on these kids and to both examplify and communicate Christ’s love for them through our actions. I feel we accomplished that mission very well last week.

Right now I’m at the place where I find myself every year after directing this thing: do I do it again next year or decide that it’s too much time and energy? Right now I feel, “Yeah right, all that work, planning, and stress for only 1 week?!” but given some time I know I’ll forget about all that and will remember all the positive aspects that come from this week of camp for the Angel Tree kids. I know I’ll end up doing it again in 2006.