Dear Wormwood,

As you know, Tim is very susceptible to sin. To attack certain areas would be a waste of time, but other areas have been a struggle in his life for years. Hit him there and hit him hard! After several years of your diligence you can probably let him go and he’ll function on his own in sin. Just check up on him every once in a while and make sure our plan is still operating as planned.

As you might have noticed in your initial observations of Tim, he becomes the weakest under two conditions: First, when his is stressed and usually upset about another area of his life. Take advantage of these opportunities! Create stress in his relationships, his ministry, his family, his finances, and any other area that is close to him. Second, when he is unmotivated to do the tasks he knows he must do. Catch him when he has a lot of work. In fact, keep him distracted by creating many unnecessary tasks that seem really important!

On the outside he appears to many people to be the perfect guy, someone people of all ages admire, respect, and trust. However, sometimes his own hypocrisy defeats him on the inside as he struggles with God working effectively through his gifts but seemingly inactive with the areas in which he desperately needs God’s transformation.

The odd thing with Tim that you should probably be aware of is that he often doesn’t see a payoff in defeating his struggle. He knows sin will destroy him and his relationship with God. He thinks about it often and finds ways to fight it, but somehow he eventually returns to his folly anyway. It’s really quite comical. He’s a perfect example of a fool returning to his vomit.

I’ve tried convincing him that it’s not a big deal — no one is perfect and everyone struggles with sin. Sometimes he buys the excuse, but then the H.S. (you know who I mean) reminds him that Christ is the standard, not other people around him. Watch out for those times and intensify the pressure until he cracks.

I trust that ensuring Tim’s demise will be a fairly easy assignment for you, Wormwood. Check on him once in a while and make sure our plan is successful. Otherwise, don’t worry — he’s a fool.

Have fun!
Screwtape

An interesting shift has taken place in our Sr. High large-group meetings. For a while I’ve felt pressure toward the end of each meeting to quickly wrap up our Bible study in order to end on time, not because we started late but because discussions naturally seemed to progress past our allotted time. I thought our typical hour of games, fun and relationship building followed by 30 minutes of Bible study was working okay — numbers were steady and no one was complaining — but when we started Dare 2 Share’s G.O.S.P.E.L. Journey, the 40 minute DVD sessions caused our meeting format to slowly morph into 15 minutes of games, fun, relationship building and worship with 75 minutes of Bible study. Even then, we still went another 15 minutes overtime before abruptly ending some of the most stimulating theological discussions we’ve ever had.

Throughout the time format shift I was concerned that we’d confuse some of the new believers in our group by going too deep too fast, but actually the Bible became more intriguing for them and they started asking deeper questions. They wanted to see that there’s an element of mystery to the Scriptures, not have all mystery removed by shallow Sunday school answers.

I also anticipated that some of the kids might start to drop out since the Bible study was now three times longer than usual, but actually the opposite happened — some started inviting friends on their own initiative. New students are still coming almost every week! Our Sr. High room is now jam-packed with kids filling every couch, sitting all over the floor and even spilling out into the entry-way.

I’m embarrassed by this realization: kids don’t come to youth group because they need me to organize dodge ball for them; they come because they want to be deeply challenged in their faith. They’re tired of superficial churchy Bible lessons from some one-size-fits-all cookie-cutter curriculum manufacturer — they want to move from spiritual milk to solid food (1 Peter 2:2; Hebrews 5:11-14) and I regret to say that my approach to youth group was not facilitating the process as it should have. No longer am I essentially bribing kids to church with fun stuff and then quickly throwing in some Bible stuff before they run out the door.

After gaining feedback from a couple high school students, we decided to continue with the current format of 10-15 minutes of games and/or worship with 75 minutes of in-depth Bible study. In fact, the two choices between which studies to do next were How To Study The Bible, based on my Bible college and seminary notes, or systematic theology! We decided to start with an in-depth 6-week series on the former (with homework!) and will pick up the latter next. Just last week I spent about 15 hours preparing for How to Study the Bible and I’m pumped! (Sorry, can’t share my notes here because it’s heavily based on copyrighted material from my former Bible college and seminary professors, but the book I’m distributing to the kids is: “Living By The Book,” by Howard Hendricks.)

Dare 2 Share’s Deep and Wide Ministry Thesis ties in exactly with what is happening at our Sr. High large-group meetings: as teens grow deeper in their faith, they become more passionate and reach more people for Christ. Likewise, Mark Batterson is drawing the same conclusions when he blogged last week, “It seems to me that emerging generations don’t want watered-down, dumbed-down, or soft-sell versions of the truth. I think they want to be challenged and confronted.” Willow Creek’s REVEAL study is showing that the exact same thing is also true for adults. In fact, Willow is changing their entire ministry strategy because of it, and I think I am, too.

Over the past couple months I got used to leaving my church office every afternoon to head up to the high school and help coach the wrestling team. I loved it because it got me on campus every day, put me in regular contact with a lot of unchurched students, and gave me good visibility to some of my own youth group kids. It was such a great way to build relationships and meet kids on their turf every day, which is what I love doing more than anything else in youth ministry. But now that wrestling season is over, I find I’m starting to fall back into the old rut of gluing myself to office work all day and neglecting the personal interaction with students outside of church. With a youth group of a couple hundred kids, 60-some adult leaders, 18 small groups, events, programs, writing curriculum, meetings, etc., it’s way too easy to become overwhelmed with work and sit behind my desk doing important and necessary stuff. I just need to force myself to leave the office every day when school lets out and understand that work will always be here, but these students won’t be. They’ll be gone in a couple years, so if I have to push something “important” to a back burner and no one else steps up to take ownership of it, it won’t get done. And that’s just the way it is.

Now to call a couple kids and see who wants to go out to eat after school tomorrow…

Earlier this week I was interviewed by a student who is working on a Boy Scout project. His questions were about how I ended up in ministry. Later I realized I had never shared that here with you guys, so it’s story time!

In 1980 I was born to a newlywed couple living in Pennsylvania. My Dad graduated from seminary a few years before and in 1981 accepted a pastorate position at a church in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, the church he still pastors to this very day. I grew up in that church and watched my Dad in ministry every day. Even at a young age, one thing became clear: I did NOT want to be a pastor. I saw a lot behind the scenes of leading a church and I had absolutely no desire to want to deal with those things myself one day. Regardless, my parents made me and my siblings help lead a lot of ministry-related aspects of the church, such as leading music, sharing testimonies, and teaching Bible studies to adults and peers. They raised us to see the church not as a place that we merely attend, but rather a place where we participate and lead others. It was a place where we had a responsibility to serve.

Being a smaller church, we didn’t have a youth group until my teen years when some other parents in the church decided to pull us together once a week for a “youth group meeting.” Looking back, I can tell that their hearts were in the right place, but the meetings actually did more to push me away from youth group than anything else. I participated because I was a P.K. and it was expected that I show my support.

The first turning point came during high school when my Dad strongly encouraged me to attend a leadership breakfast hosted by Student Venture, the high school ministry of Campus Crusades for Christ. Despite knowing absolutely no one there, Dad dropped me off at the breakfast that cold rainy morning and arranged for some Student Venture leader named Bob Klein (pictured to the right) to drive me home afterwards. It turned out that Bob wanted to get together with me again after that drive home. I don’t remember agreeing to it, but the next thing I know I was attending the weekly Student Venture meetings and spending one-on-one time with Bob. Before long, he was frequently taking me out to lunch, teaching me how to share my faith using the Four Spiritual Laws and letting me tag along with him as he witnessed to complete strangers and hung out with kids after school.

The second turning point came while I was hanging out with Bob one afternoon, watching him share his faith with a group of random students at a pizza shop hang-out. I had seen him do this many times before, so I nonchalantly sipped on my lemonade while he did his thing. About the time he would usually introduce the Four Spiritual Laws, he instead handed me the booklet and said, “Tim is going to show you how you can have a relationship with God and enjoy heaven with Him one day.” I choked on my drink! I reluctantly took the booklet, though, and went through it with them the best I knew how. Afterwards Bob debriefed with me about the experience and shortly thereafter I was helping him plan Bible lessons, outreach events and follow-up discipleship with new believers from the high school. It was through my relationship with Bob that youth ministry became contagious, almost an attitude or a way of life. He pushed me out of my comfort zone many times, challenged my faith and capitalized on the strong ministry legacy my parents had left.

Youth ministry has been part of my blood ever since. After high school, I commuted to Philadelphia College of Bible (now Philadelphia Biblical University), worked with Student Venture my freshman year until Bob was transfered to Ohio. Shortly thereafter I became an intern at a fairly large local church and in October of my sophomore year (1999) I left my Dad’s church and started working there as a small group leader and teacher, later to become the High School Director in 2001.

As many church youth ministries do, the youth group at that church really cut back a lot during the summer, relieving me of most of my responsibilities. So, rather than sit around and work a normal job that would pay for college, I took the opportunity to go away somewhere and serve in youth ministry. In 1998 and 1999 I served as a counselor at a Christian camp I attended every year as a kid. In 2000, a church in Virginia Beach actually took me, a 19-year-old kid, to serve as their interim youth pastor! The final three weeks of that summer I spent in Amsterdam working with Billy Graham’s Amsterdam 2000 evangelism training conference. When summer of 2001 came around, I had made a connection with Bill Scott of ZJam Youth Ministries in Nashville, Tennessee, and moved there to work with the radio show, write daily Bible studies, direct TeenHopeLine.com and a lot more. That’s also the summer God provided just enough money so I could pay for college the next semester and still have $0.81 left over in my bank account after I purchased books! After graduating from college, I spent the summer of 2002 directing a camp for inner-city Angel Tree children before I drove to Texas to attend Dallas Theological Seminary.

While in seminary, I served as a youth pastor at two different churches, one being a church plant that closed a year after I joined (not because of me! lol) and the other at a church where the pastor later moved to Minnesota and connected me with the youth ministry position at his new church, the position I currently hold.

All this because my parents taught me from a young age that church is a place where you serve and because an adult built a relationship with me whose passion for sharing Christ with students became contagious. If you need proof that relationships are more important than programs, here I am!

The Schmoyer Family

1. When leaving a youth ministry position, make it quick. At least for my position, a 6 week notice was too long. Four weeks would’ve probably been about right.

2. When starting in my new youth ministry position, I’m glad I spent more time getting to know people than trying to figure out what to do with the youth group. The better I knew the people, the easier that was anyway.

3. I surrounded myself with a core group of “go to” youth workers that I could confide in about ministry issues, struggles, ideas and concerns. Their advice, support and input is always invaluable.

4. Sufficient time off to rest and relax keeps me excited and energized for ministry. Plus, it’s usually during my down time that I accidentally come up with the best ideas for ministry.

5. Reading other ministry blogs keeps me thinking and critically evaluating my ministry. It prevents me from falling into a rut.

6. Building a solid, passionate and well-trained team of youth workers is critical for an effective ministry.

7. I will never implement change blindly or without the support of key people. I’m not a leader if no one else is following.

8. I can never over-appreciate my youth worker team. Without them nothing else would be possible.

9. Serving alongside other youth pastors from other churches in the community has many more unforeseen blessings than I originally thought.

10. I’m glad I enforce a zero tolerance for youth leaders who gossip, even if it’s done with “pure motives.”

11. Without my wife’s amazing support, nothing I am or do in ministry would be possible.

12. Youth workers who buy their youth pastor Guitar Hero III for Christmas TOTALLY ROCK!!! (Thanks, guys!)

People say that you need to focus on your weaknesses so you can develop them to be stronger. I disagree. Don’t focus on your weaknesses; focus on your strengths! God made you with special abilities — use them. Don’t waste time on the stuff you’re bad at when you could be spending that time doing something you’re great at. That’s not to say you should ignore your weaknesses. On the contrary, you should know what they are so you can surround yourself with people who are strong in those areas. That’s what teamwork and the body of Christ is all about.

Plus, people tend to enjoy what they’re good at and dislike the tasks they’re weak in, so if everyone in a team focuses on their strengths and balance each other out, then that should be one happy and highly successful team!

The first Sunday of every month the youth pastors in our town (collectively called “Allies”) put on an event called Burning Bush. It’s a time for all our youth groups to come together for worship, teaching, equipping and building relationships. Tonight was my night to be the speaker. As the evening started and I was getting ready to take the stage, I realized that not once had I prayed over my lesson. It’s like God struck me upside the head and said, “Dude, who’s message is this? Is this your message or my message?!” After all the time of studying and preparation I had put into the talk, not once did I approach God about it. I couldn’t believe my stupidity. I went off and prayed by myself, begging God to forgive me, and then grabbed one of the other youth pastors and prayed with him, too. The difference between teaching in my own strength and teaching is God’s strength is incredible. When I got up on stage, the whole lesson felt different. It felt like it flowed from me from me rather than being recited from memorized notes. It’s a good thing God works in spite of me, not because of me.

The moral of the story: Communicate God’s Word with God, not your own word without God.

• September was mine and Dana’s first month living on a written budget. We’re following Dave Ramsey’s financial plan to eliminate debt and save for a house. The budget thing was easier than I expected, although my blow money was gone within the first four days!
• Dana and I are registered for the National Youth Workers Convention in St. Louis. Anyone else going?
• We’re looking for new health insurance coverage for Dana. Not fun.
• Since moving to Minnesota, we’re enjoying the benefits of living close to my brothers and their families. We get together about twice a month now.
• Fall in Minnesota is such a beautiful time to go on bike rides.
• I’m only 3 referrals away from getting my FREE Xbox 360 Elite!
• I’m working on my own Facebook application. After a little more testing, it’ll be finished and I’ll release it to you guys.
• Doh! I’m teaching at our monthly city-wide youth meeting this Sunday and I haven’t started preparing yet. Okay, enough updates, gotta work…

I dunno what it is about Sundays, but they leave me totally wiped out on Mondays. Maybe it’s because Sundays keep me running around all day long. Maybe it’s the constant energy and adrenaline I maintain through Jr. High in the morning and Sr. High in the evening. Maybe it’s because I’m around a large number of people. Maybe it’s because I’m responsible for so much of what’s taking place. Maybe it’s because I don’t work out enough and need to get in better shape. Maybe it’s a combination of all those things, but regardless, I’m always plumb-tuckered-out on Mondays and seem to be lacking energy. It’s a great feeling, although I still wish I had more energy on Mondays.

Can I be honest for a second? (Of course I can, it’s my blog.) My church launches all our fall ministry programs this Sunday morning and I still don’t have everything lined up. It’s not because I’ve been lazy or slacking off, but because everything is moving and growing so fast. I started at this church last February with about 20 adult volunteers, but since I wanted to drop our adult/student ratio to about 1/5 in order to start jr. high small groups and be more intentional about building relationships, the existing volunteers and myself started hand-picking new volunteers that we thought might be a good fit. Well, we now have about 50 adult volunteers on our youth team, but due to growth, I still need to confirm 6 additional volunteers by this Sunday just to operate! Fortunately I’m in touch with a couple people who are thinking about making a commitment, so this may just all come together at the last minute, but still… And our church is completely out of space on both Sundays and Wednesdays. I even have some 9th graders meeting in the gym’s basketball closet. By January we definitely need to start meeting at different times, utilize homes more often or start using the hallways.

I guess it’s a good problem to have, but I’m totally confused about how we got to this point over just one summer. My church traditionally slows down their ministry programs during the summer, so I followed suit by having nothing more than two Bible studies at my house each week and a couple big trips. Most of our expansion is with the jr. high and I know several of them got fired up by hanging out at my house. Without any initiative, the jr. highers invited many friends to my house (some of them said it was the highlight of their summer!), but that doesn’t account for all the growth. Our youth ministry also made some pretty significant scheduling and programming changes based on months of dreaming a new vision, several volunteer trainings and solidifying as a team. We communicated well with each other, with parents, students and church staff, so it all seemed to flow pretty naturally as we progressed to this point. I know there also were several teams of incredible volunteers working diligently to overhaul programs, organize new ones, plan events and a secretary who took over many of my administrative tasks just so I can focus more on students. Having a new youth pastor in place naturally adds excitement and everything we do is based on prayer, asking for God’s wisdom and guidance.

So why all the growth? I don’t know. I’m not complaining, just perplexed, but maybe I shouldn’t be. We didn’t plan for this on purpose, we just wanted to be as effective as possible in all that we do in order to bring glory to God throughout all generations. I guess He’s honoring that and deems us as faithful stewards. What a tremendous responsibility; what an overwhelming privilege.