What do your graduates’ lives say about you and your ministry?

May 16, 2012 — 3 Comments

Letter of Recommendation Time:

It is that most dreaded time of the year for me–letter of reference time. It seems like everyone under the sun needs one: schools, colleges, jobs, camps, even the Boy Scouts. One by one I have the dreaded pleasure of writing a one page letter about how great this student is and what an asset they are going to be to whatever endeavor they are applying. I actually really enjoy the process of pausing and reflecting on the best version of that particular student.

Letters of recommendations are vital to the application process. It is a document that vouches for the validity and competency of that individual. As someone writing the letter, we have the responsibility of using our credibility to either stand behind someone, or throw them under the bus. In this season with our students, we have the upper hand as we are the ones writing these letters. But what I think is amazing is that the reverse is actually true. While we think we are simply writing letters for our students, in fact, our students themselves are our letters of recommendation.

In Discerning your students 2 corinthians 3:2, graduates, graduation, letter of recommendation, letter of reference, youth ministry

Who is Apollos? A youthworker’s reflection on graduation

May 14, 2012 — 2 Comments

Guess What? It’s Not About You!

A call to student ministry is a special and unique thing. We have been called by God to participate in the spiritual development of students. For a very specific and often chaotic season, we get the privilege and honor of being adults who coach, mentor, disciple and journey with adolescents who are exploring their faith and making it their own. What could be greater? As we attempt to live this out in the real world with real students in a real context, this simple and yet profound calling gets blurry.

The students we work with have joys and concerns, victories and losses, growth and set backs. We attempt to be there for every student for every part of the roller coaster ride; and while we work our guts out, pouring our lives into these students, our vision becomes impaired. Because very slowly, without us knowing, the joy that comes from getting to be there for students and walk with them turns and starts to become about us. Instead of being an adult who journeys with students for a season of their lives, we see ourselves as the adult who journeys with them, who advocates for them, who loves them, who will get them through adolescence, who will solve their problems, etc…

In Discerning your issues 1 corinthians 3, apollos, graduation, youth ministry

Is the gay marriage debate really a smoke screen for younger Christians?

May 11, 2012 — 10 Comments

There was a lot of excitement yesterday around the internet regarding President Obama’s endorsement of Gay Marriage. The endorsement isn’t really a shock to anyone who has been paying attention, but what I found incredibly interesting was the almost uniformed response by the Christian community, specifically the Christian community under 30.

On the most progressive side, younger Christians affirm that Gay Marriage is a justice issue and that this is the time for marriage equality.

On the more traditional side, younger Christians took the announcement as an opportunity to bash the church for its poor handling of this topic over the past 20 years or so.

This all got me thinking . . .

In Discerning your students

Living Young, Wild and Free: The core sin issue of our students and why we probably can’t help them.

May 8, 2012 — 5 Comments

One of the big songs that is quickly becoming the theme song for this summer is Snoop Dogg and Wiz Khalifa’s Young, Wild and Free. It is a classic, feel good anthem for kids, complete with a catchy hook. In fact the hook is so good, I can’t even get it out of my head. If you have never heard the song or seen the music video, you might want to take a peek to the song that is defining a generation! (If you are easily offended by cussing, poor grammar and recreational drug use don’t click the play button and skip to the next section.)

It is so easy to watch this video and begin the list of offenses towards our Holy and Righteous God. I am counting on the fact that you as a trained youth ministry professional will of course affirm the sin and waywardness of ditching school, degrading lyrics, objectification of women, unsafe driving and of course, smoking weed.

But there is something else that is going on that is even a larger sin issue and one that will have disastrous implications for our students spiritual lives. It is one that I am afraid we can offer little help with because it is the exact issue that many of us struggle with. It is the celebrated sin of short sighted individualism and selfishness.

In Discerning your students culture, yolo, youth ministry

Going deeper with “Zombies Are Among Us.”

May 7, 2012 — 2 Comments

It is a great article. I was invited to write a follow up post for their online journal. Here is the “going deeper” post featured on immersejournal.com.

Last year the play Wicked rolled through our town. It is an amazing and clever musical about all the unseen parts of the Wizard of Oz. Growing up, the Wizard of Oz was one of our family’s staple movies, and because of that, I am well versed in the story, the characters and the songs of this old movie, so I was able to fully enjoy the clever inferences and humor Wicked uses.

I found it interesting that, while many of our students went to see the musical and enjoyed it as a play, they had almost zero understanding of the backstory of the Wizard of Oz. Because the musical was produced so well, anyone would enjoy it. But only those with a firm understanding of the original story would enjoy the depth and complexity and wit of the musical.

When I think of trying to communicate the gospel to our students, I often reflect on some conversations I had with my students about the play Wicked. The more I try to be clever, artistic and rely on inference to communicate the spiritual realities found in Scripture, the more I find that my students are lost.

Our students have fewer and fewer touch points with biblical stories and Judeo-Christian ethics and morals and therefore need fresh stories that point clearly to Scripture in order to make the gospel more understandable to this increasingly post-Christian generation.

In Discerning your context

What youth workers and Algebra 1 teachers have in common:

May 4, 2012 — 1 Comment

This post was originally featured at youthministry360.com

As a youth pastor, one of my favorite times of the year is graduation. I love the pomp and circumstance as friends, family, and fellow youth pastors gather in the stands at the local high school celebrating this amazing milestone of our students.

Over the past few years I’ve been contemplating my job as youth pastor and the role that I play in the lives of my students, these soon to be graduates. And in my thinking, I saw the way these teachers went about their work as so different from the way I work as a youth pastor. These teachers would teach history, chemistry, or algebra and then simply pass-on their students to the next class. I looked at the way I went about my work as youth pastor in a completely different manner.

I had been tasked with the God given role of being spiritual mentor to these students for their high school careers, and maybe even for their entire lives! But the more I’ve reflected on the role of the teacher and the role of the youth pastor, I’ve come to realize that my desire to be the number one spiritual mentor for my students for high school and beyond is well intentioned, but not very realistic! Here’s what I’ve come to realize . . .

Those teachers who sit in the first few rows at the graduation ceremonies? The way they teach teenagers is actually pretty close to the way we teach teenagers.

Take the average Algebra I teacher. Algebra I gets a bad rap. It can be pretty boring and it at least seems irrelevant to the normal world. It’s pretty easy for most students to check out of Algebra. Maybe they squeak by with a C. The problem, however, is that in reality Algebra is the lynch pin for future academic success! It’s the foundation on which future math classes are based. And since math is a key subject to graduate high school and college, Algebra I is pretty important.

A good Algebra teacher teaches the subject with clarity and passion. He or she understands the role, and knows that if students never get Algebra, they won’t be as successful in their education. And for the few students who will fall in love with math and want to pursue it in college and maybe as a career, it will have been the Algebra I teacher that set the stage for that to happen.

Unfortunately for the average Algebra I teachers, they don’t seem to receive much credit. They teach the basic class to all freshmen in high school. When they do their job well, it’s the Calculus teacher (years later) who sees the fruit. But here’s what I think. I think Algebra I teachers understand this. I think they find joy in it.

They love that they set a firm foundation and someone else builds on it. And that the result is a student who thrives academically.

Which leads me back to me. And to you, for that matter. If we faithfully fill our roles, we should be launching students into college with a firm foundation of faith, ready to thrive spiritually, and connect with new Christian leaders. When students come back for Christmas or Summer break, and speak of the brilliance of their college pastor, or how a certain author is rocking their world, we can’t be jealous or insecure. Rather we should be like the Algebra I teacher, finding joy that the foundation that we laid has been built upon by another.

And that an amazing “house” is coming together for the glory of God.

“What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.” 1 Corinthians 3:5

In Discerning your issues algebra 1, brandon, youth ministry

Back off the helicopter in your parenting, the results may surprise you.

May 2, 2012 — 4 Comments

As a parent, I want my kids to be loved, cared and protected. In fact, just about everything I do as a parent is to build esteem in them and protect them from this big bad world. But as a youth worker, I know that building esteem as an end causes all sorts of problem. The true goal of parenting is to build character in our children. And as they build character, they will build esteem.

In this endeavor to build character, there is one ingredient that is sorely missing in my students, and am worried is missing in my own kids. The core value of protection, and in practicality, protection at all costs, takes away the one thing that builds character the most, suffering.

Before you freak out, I am not saying that we neglect our kids or intentionally put them in harmful situations. But what I am suggesting is that we back the helicopter off a bit and allow them to suffer the consequences of their actions.

Continue Reading…

In Discerning your issues helicopter parenting, hope, romans 5, suffering

4 Comments

Want people to read your blog? Write shorter posts!

April 30, 2012 — 15 Comments

Over the last month, I seemed to have a number of conversations with people who really know what they are talking about when it comes to blogging. And their advice is all the same. So, I thought I would share their insights with you. Here are the top three reason people will read your blog and keep coming back, and for your reading pleasure my grade in each category:

1) Write shorter blog posts. This doesn’t make sense to me, but it is for sure the number one tip on how to improve traffic to your site. Grade F! Great blogs are 250-500 words. Mine 1200 +. Oops.

2) Have good graphics and an engaging theme. Grade F! Could a theme be more boring than mine? Could my images be any less compelling? the answer is NO!

3) Have good content. Grade B. I would say A, but I don’t want to come off as cocky But it doesn’t matter how good my content is because no one reads it. And it turns out no one reads it because my posts are too long and my theme sucks.

With that being said, I wanted to thank my mom and my circle of friends who do read this blog and have continued to encourage me to think and write better. I would say more, but I am trying to keep it under 250 words!

Peace!

In Discerning your issues blogging tips

Do you have a scope and cycle to your curriculum?

April 27, 2012 — 4 Comments

One of the breakout sessions I went to yesterday was on Orange’s XP3 Student ministry curriculum. It is hard even writing the word curriculum because it is so much more than that. It is an entire scope and cycle of material that takes the children’s Orange material to an entirely new level.

It is often confusing cruising through a website and trying to figure out what is going on, why they do what they do, and how it all fits together. I get that 90% of that confusion is because I don’t pay attention and skim read. So, I really enjoyed sitting down and having the creators of this material, Jeremy Zach and Jared Herd, explain it to me.

These two guys and their team put together some really great material. But what is even more compelling is the values they begin with as they write their curriculum.

Here are a few values that form the foundation of how this curriculum is put together.

They understand that student ministry is truly cross cultural missionaries to this unique context. They get that our kids are more familiar with Karma then they are of Sin. Because of this they are going to approach biblical ideas and concepts full of truth, but in a way that can be translated to this culture.
No matter how great the script is or the teacher is, they genuinely believe that “the best teaching happens in a circle, not rows.” This approach means that leader training and small group questions are critical for the success and spiritual growth of our students. Because of this understanding, Orange makes sure they do both well.
XP stands for experience. Jared reminded us that all of us don’t remember one youth talk, but can all recall the ways God showed up on mission trips, service projects, camps, etc. And it is the XP that makes this curriculum so much more. Instead of simply passing on information, the core of this curriculum is providing opportunities and space for students to actually put it into practice, experience it, and be changed by it.
The picture at the top of the post shows how this annual scope and cycle work. “XP3 is designed as a comprehensive student curriculum that helps students experience their faith in three areas: Wonder, Discovery, and Passion. Every series falls under one of these areas, but because these are big concepts, we have identified core insights within each to help explain the focus of the series.”

This is an annual scope and cycle that is biblical, comprehensive, culturally astute, and takes the gospel and the transforming power of Christ seriously.

With that summary, I would like to offer a few thoughts . . .

1) You are not supposed to use everything that is in a curriculum. Youth pastors love being angsty and contrarian. For whatever reason we love looking down our nose at curriculum and scrutinize it throw out all the things that don’t work. What is so great about curriculum, is that chucking what doesn’t work is what you are supposed to do. You are paid to contextualize the material so it is applicable to your group.

2) Don’t be a lone-ranger. There is a large community of XP3 users who are sharing how they are contextualized material in their context. Be a learner, see what others are doing ask questions. This is put together by great people. We often think that curriculum comes down from “the man,” some faceless group of people just trying to take our money. But the truth is that every page is written by godly women and men who want nothing more than for your students to experience and be transformed by the love of Christ. The most amazing thing is that Jeremy is one of the smartest and most accessible people I have met in the Orange system. Any problem or issue, you simply need to call him and he will actually pick up and walk with you through whatever the problem is.

3) If you don’t use XP3 to help shape your scope and cycle to have a balanced and intentional ministry, how do you come up with your scope and cycle? Most curriculum does a good job of this. But if you don’t use any curriculum, how do you make sure you have a balanced curriculum? If you are not planned a year out, then please consider buying a curriculum that works for you and your context, or do the hard work of developing a complete scope and cycle, but it must cover at least 1 year, 2 is better, and 3 is best.

4) When you have a curriculum plan for the entire year you get the privilege of showing that off to parents. This plan builds trust and respect for you and your ministry. And that allows you more and more access to the parents and their children.
There has to be a plan! Use curriculum that does, or come up with it yourself, but must have a plan!,

I am so thankful for XP3 and their amazing staff for continually providing such excellent content that is intentional, thoughtful, and truly helpful. Your hard work raises the bar for us youth workers, and then equips us to get there! I would strongly encourage you to check it out!

If you don’t use XP3 what do you use? If you write your own, would you be willing to share your scope and cycle?

In Featured friends culture, curriculum, orange, xp3, youth ministry, youth ministry model

4 Comments

the-orange-conference-iphone-app-180x1801

Experiencing Orange through fresh eyes

April 26, 2012 — 1 Comment

Tonight I received the most amazing gift from God.

Like most good gifts, it is one that is unexpected and undeserved. It was the gift of experiencing the first Main Stage at Orange with fresh eyes.

The sad truth is that I have reached a place in my life where my eyes are often weary and critical. My once optimism and idealism has taken a hit. And the result is that my posture towards events and institutions is often one of hostility. Now because I am a professional Christian I do a good job of hiding this reality with thoughtful insights and constructive criticisms, but the truth is that I often first see everything wrong, and only occasionally get to what might be right.

Like many of my friends here at Orange, I have really been looking forward to coming to Atlanta and enjoying a good conference. Who doesn’t? Without even realizing it, I think I have become inoculated to the power of an event like Orange. Of course there will be quality worship, clever skits and videos, impressive lights and smoke machine, and well known speakers. So an amazing job is really a C in my book. Any mistake causes the grade to go down, and the only way to get above a C would by inviting me to speak at main stage.

But this year is different.

Instead of traveling alone to this event and spending all my time with my bitter youth pastor friends, I came with my children’s ministry team. This group of women are some of the hardest working and most faithful team members I have ever had the privilege to serve with. They are all part time and have served our church faithfully for years and some for more than a decade.

This year we found a way for them to come to Orange and experience a conference where I knew they would be encouraged, equipped, and blessed. It turns out that there presence allowed me to share in their experience.

If you have ever taken a child to Disneyland, that is what today felt like at the Orange conference. As adults it is easy to dismiss all that goes into making Disneyland the happiest place on earth. But when children go there, they are overjoyed with every surprise that awaits them around every corner.

Instead of viewing the conference in my normal, ho-hum sort of way, I viewed every detail, every booth, every give-a-way, every taco truck through the fresh eyes of my staff. And by the time main stage started I was primed to encounter the entire evening a fresh. The result was “Game Changing!”

In case you have grown comfortable with the conference setting, I wanted to highlight some of the things that Orange did on main stage that was so impacting to me and to my team.

The opening skit of celebrating famous people singing parody songs for the different areas of ministry was not only clever, but was exactly what the doctor ordered to be encouraging to a group of people who work their butts off for their church with little to no recognition. Youth and children’s workers don’t do what they do for the glory or the money. They do it because they are called by God and faithful servants.

But what we all need is to be seen and to have what we do and the range of emotions that we experience as we do it be validated. And the Orange team delivered big time. By seeing us, validating us, speaking our love language, we are able to let our guard down and truly dig in to the rich meal that was served up.

If you have never been to a conference like this, it is overwhelming to have your call validated. I remember the first time I ever went to a large youth conference, I was blown away that the job that is the bottom run in status and influence in my church was lifted high and celebrated. This is what my children’s staff got to experience tonight. Their hours and hours of preparation and implementation that often goes unseen was lifted up, celebrated, and their calling affirmed.

As we made our way through the liturgy of the evening, the Orange team and Reggie hit it out of the park in highlighting the need for diversity as we cling to the unity of the gospel. This gospel we cling to, that we have the privilege to experience ourselves and to share with others was made brand new by the Spirit of God this evening.

Because I was actually open and expectant for God to show up, he did. Amazing!

The question was posed in the middle of the service, “What game needs to change, and am I willing to do what it takes to be a game changer?” Tonight I was struck that the game that needs to change is to get back to my first love, my love of God and my love for students. The game of trying to find the next best thing is actually that I need to reintroduce love back into the equation.

For me, in my little context, the game changing thing God is calling me into is actually simple, but difficult for me. The call is to allow my heart to grow and to continue to give it away with out abandon. It is so easy to protect it from pain, but this new adventure is to give up control and protection of my heart and allow myself to be hurt and crushed by our students, so that I can also experience the joy and celebration if and when Christ grabs a hold of their hearts.

My action plan is simply: I will pour my guts into the students that God has entrusted to me and to our church, and I will seek out and find those students who are lost so that I can pour my guts into them.

We can not do what we are called to do without getting messy. Giving our hearts away to our students and walking through this season of life with them is messy. But it is in this mess where we can encounter the presence of God and be transformed by his Spirit. And until our student figure it out for themselves, I am going to re-commit myself to carrying their mat to Jesus until by faith they get up and walk!

I am thankful for my children’s ministry team and for their commitment to Christ and his church. And I am thankful that God used their fresh eyes to give me fresh eyes, so that I could be expectant for God to show up, and celebrate that fact that he did!

And that was just day 1. Look out!

May I never get jaded with the gospel or the privilege to share it

In Discerning your issues expectant, main stage, orange

1 Comment

Top 10 ways to get the most out of Orange 2012

April 24, 2012 — 2 Comments

Can you believe it? It is finally here. That most amazing gift a church can ever give to their youth worker, a youth ministry conference!! Your bags are packed, your room is booked, and it is time to go and get some freebies. For one weekend we get to take off our mantle of responsibility and leadership, and become participants, students, and receivers. Whether it is Youth Specialties, Orange, Simply Youth Ministry, or I Still Do, a youth ministry conference is the one time a year that us youth workers get to actually go to camp, and not just put it on.

And like camp, there are some things that we need to do to prepare ourselves so that we can have an amazing time and get the most out of our time away. Every year before we take students to camp or on mission trips we give them a little pep talk, so here is yours These are the top 10 ways to get the most out of your conference experience.

10: This is Our Camp: Our students love camp, they wait for it all year. Their parents fork over all this money and they get to go along for a wild ride. Everything is set up for them to have a great time. All that is left is for the camper to show up and enjoy all that God has for them. But instead of us doing all the work, we get to be participants. There will be great music, amazing speakers, and plenty to learn There will be tons of opportunities to grow in our faith, our competencies, and our connections. We are not in charge. So for once, let us soak up all the hard work that someone else has done and actually receive it all as a gift.

9: Take a Seminar You Don’t Agree With: We all have our hobby horses. In fact my favorite thing is to hang out with people who agree with me and reinforce my amazing theology and model of ministry. And when I get bored with thinking that I am so great, I then think of opposing views and set them up as straw men, just to destroy them. But most of these other positions in theology and practice aren’t straw men, they are points of view by passionate believers who are committed to their pursuits. Being challenged in your theology and practice will actually sharpen you and cause genuine growth. Because we are all at the same conference, chances are you already agree on the big stuff, so let the small stuff sharpen and refine you.

8: Stay Up Too Late: We have to be responsible in every area of our lives, especially in our jobs as youth worker. When we take students to camp we are the ones who monitor the rooms to make sure our students go to bed. Have you ever realized how much fun our students have after bed time. They stay up late, laughing, telling stories, and sharing their deepest darkest. The best stuff always happens after bed time. The same is true at a conference. Don’t go to bed at 10:00. When everyone gets a second wind and heads out to a pub, grab your ID and get going. If a beer will get. you fired, just buy a Shirley Temple. Just don’t go to bed. This is when it starts to get good.

7: Don’t Go to Everything: Ever conference I have ever been to has way to many options. There are main stages, break out seminars, network meetings, discussion groups, etc. Our brains can only take so much input. Find the ones that are most interesting and helpful, go to those and ditch the rest. This conference is our one time a year to get recharged. If we cram our brains with too much information, we will get worn out before we even get home. Hit the beach, catch a game, take a nap, read a book, meet up with friends. Think of it as extended free time.

6: Find 3 Practical Take-A-Ways: There is so much to learn at a conference. Everyone has a good idea that will revolutionize your ministry. Remember, all of these people are trying to sell you something. You have a very specific context in which you do ministry. You know your students the best. Instead of getting swept up with some latest and greatest. Find 3 practical things you can add to your current ministry to tweak it and improve it. Once you have your three, stop. Quit going to seminars, take a break and relax. It is a total disservice if you leave conference ready to chuck what you have been doing for a brand new ministry model. Trust what God has called you to do, and strive to improve it with something practical.

5: Wrestle With One New Concept: You will be challenged to adopt all sorts of new ministry models, curriculum, and causes. While I think it is silly to chuck what you have been doing because of some great marketing, It is important to be open to new things that God has for you and your ministry. There is no way to do everything that is presented. Instead of giving it all equal weight, use some patience and discernment. Use the conference experience for God to begin or confirm a new work in you and in your ministry. Don’t think that a half week conference is enough time for a new conviction, model, or cause to be planted, germinate, grow, and produce fruit. Usually just one of these growing metaphors can happen. So wrestle with one new concept and simply take it to just the next level.

4: Connect, Connect, Connect: We continually tell our students to choose friends who will spur them on to know Christ more fully. We too need to choose our friends and colleagues who will spur us on to deeper and better ministry. We need fellow sojourners to commiserate with, celebrate with, and to speak truth into our lives. Our pastor won’t do it, parents, won’t, our spouse won’t, and for sure students won’t. Fellow youth workers, who get students, the church, this crazy job are some of the greatest resources available to us. Use every opportunity available to connect. Denominational gatherings, women in ministry gatherings, urban gatherings, rural gatherings, whatever. If they offer free food even better. Make new friends, nurture old ones, just connect and allow the Holy Spirit to speak to you through this unique community in this unique setting.

3: Meet Up With a Conference Pastor: It totally sucks that in order to be a ministry leader means that our entire lives have to be put together. We have to have victory over all our sin, have a plan for our ministry, we know how to handle every crazy situation, and we can not worry about silly, worldly things like finances. None of this is true. We need priests who we can bear our soul to and confess our sin to and, for at least a moment, be the broken people we really are, and not get fired for it. Conference pastors get to be our priests who will listen to us, pray for us, and offer grace and wisdom. It is so old trying to be the spiritual hero all the time. For one hour, give it up and share what is really going on in your life and in. your heart. Confess your sin and be healed.

2: Get Over Yourself: When you look at the roster of who is speaking and presenting, it is easy to be a little bit bitter and prideful. You are a gifted ministry leader and you have a ton to share and teach. What do these guys and gals know that you don’t. You run a successful ministry and you are the one who is just as qualified to teach that seminar. The only problem is that you aren’t. Instead of being bitter or prideful, try to learn something. If you want to teach so bad, then put a proposal together and get rejected a few times. Maybe one day you will get chosen to present only to be judged by your peers. The truth is there is always something to learn, so let’s learn. When your turn comes to teach, then teach. But this year, let’s be open to new ideas and fresh perspectives from gifted leaders in our field and average youth workers like you and me.

1: Be Expectant: At the end of the day, our attitude 100% shapes what we take a way from any conference experience Most of what makes camp so great is that students expect to meet God in fresh and bold ways. And sure enough, God shows up. The same is true for us. God has all sorts of work to do on our souls and in our ministries. When we actually open our eyes and get in a posture of receiving, the flood gates will open up. God wants nothing more than to encourage us in our faith and in our calling. Let us cut away the parts of our hearts that are hard, cold, judgmental, self-righteous, and rude, and ask God to give us his eyes, his ears, his heart as we lean into all that God has for us.

May God use every single thing while we are away to restore our weary souls. Every session, every speaker, every conversation to fill up our cups to overflowing so that we can go back to our ministry context and live fully into the woman or man that God called us to be. Let us soak up this mountain top experience so we can enter back into the valley with clear vision and purpose. And may all of it be to the glory of God. Blessings!

In Discerning your context orange, simply youth ministry, youth specialties

Connection: How youth workers thrive!

April 23, 2012 — 1 Comment

dodgeball I am continually amazed at the wide verity of opportunities there are for youth workers to connect. In every venue there is some gathering that is hosted by some group of youth workers and you are invited. It can be a local network or a denominational one. Whenever we go to camps, the directors seem to always offer a sit-down coffee to connect with youth workers. And at every conference there are always bulletin boards inviting you to some special lunch or dinner to connect.

What is amazing to me is that these events are alway poorly attended. When I think of all the youth workers in our local network, or at our denominational cluster, those of us who gather are the remnant. The special invites at camps and conferences seem to go unnoticed by the masses. My question for you is simply, “Why do you not connect?”

Every youth worker I know is so angsty about putting on an event and then bummed when students choose video games at home than this amazing event. We know the importance of gathering, building community, and building friendships. Friendships don’t just happen, they take time and effort and we work hard to provide space in our ministries. But when it comes to us, we are just as fickle and busy as our students.

So, here is a simple encouragement: Model this connectivity to your students.

I know you already know that you are an amazing youth worker and working incredibly hard for the Kingdom of God. I know you have the most creative teaching series and outreach events in the entire world. I understand that a couple of hours once a month unplugged could send your entire ministry into a tailspin. I understand the the crisis that you manage on a daily basis are overwhelming and thankfully you are fully available for every one of them.

But what would happen if you could live into the reality that we need your amazingness in our lives. Your colleagues in your area and denominational clusters need your insights, ideas, spiritual depth, wisdom, and prayer. And who knows, there may be seasons you could use some of that as well. Friendships take time and effort. And the difficult thing is that you don’t really know you need them until you are in desperate need of them.

For as great as things are now, there will be a time, and that time will be sooner than you think where you will need other people’s insights, friendship, ideas, resources, and prayers. So instead of being a statistic, why not jump in and give of yourself. Be a part of community. Make some time in that schedule of yours and be an encouragement to your colleagues.

There is not time like the present

This next week, I will be joining my 5000 closest friends and colleagues in Atlanta for the Orange Conference. And like every conference there will be bulletin boards inviting you to connect. If you are planning on coming to this event, if you are a youth worker, would you consider making some space in your schedule to be a part of community.

Jeremy Zach and his peeps have put together one of the best networking events I have ever seen. Instead of standing around in a conference room eating pizza (which is great) he is throwing a Dodgeball Tournament! If you are competitive and need to blow off some steam, then bring your A game! If you hate dodgeball and this idea could not be any less appealing, come anyway. You will actually have more time to hang out with people and connect as we enjoy the entertainment of youth workers playing dodgeball.

I am really looking forward to this conference and this event. And if by any chance you are coming to this conference and are in need of a friend, coach, prayer partner, dodgeball partner, message me through twitter @averageym. My biggest joy is connecting with my colleagues and walking through this amazing calling to students together.

Blessings!

In Discerning your issues dodgeball, friendship, longevity

I am heading off to the Orange Conference

April 20, 2012 — 4 Comments

In less then a week, I am heading to the A.T.L. to spend time at one of the greatest ministry conferences out there. I am going to the annual Orange Conference. In case you have never heard of it, you should spend some time on their webiste.

Our church has gone Orange a little over a year ago and we are already seeing some amazing fruit. First and foremost from the philosophy, and then through their engaging, relevant, biblical, and fun curriculum. I am excited to take my children’s ministry team with me and be encouraged, inspired, and equipped for another year of ministry!

There is great line up of speakers and seminars. And like everything done with Orange it will be an excellent conference. But what I am looking forward to the most is spending time with my team dreaming about ministry, connecting with my colleagues in ministry, and staying out late dominating the youth ministry dodgeball tournament.

I have the honor and privilege of not just attending, but of being on the blogging / social media team for the conference. Thankfully I have learned a little bit about both so I can actually contribute this year What that means is that myself and a handful of other great bloggers will be sharing their experiences, their notes, their impressions, and whatever else comes to mind with their friends who may not have the opportunity to attend this year.

Here is the list of my fellow orange bloggers. Reading their posts will help you feel like you are actually there in the arena with 5000 of your closest friends, in the dirty south, eating Chick Filet, hanging out with Andy Standly and Kara Powel. Ok, it probably won’t do any of those things. But you will be encouraged and get the most important nuggets handed to you on a silver platter with all the fixin’s. (That is like 3 southern references in one paragraph, not bad!)

Time to get my Crunk on! (in a hip/hop sort of way)

In Discerning your call andy stanley, dirty south, orange

4 Comments

Blogging Tips: a series at youthmin.org

April 18, 2012 — 2 Comments

Over at youthmin.org there is a really interesting series of posts all about blogging. The contributor team have all written a post sharing the blogs that inspire and sharpen them. Just like the team, there is a wide variety of opinions and influences. I would encourage you to check them out and expand your reading diet. As far as my contribution, here is who made my list. Who is on yours?

There is so much I don’t know!

It is so easy to think that you are the master of the universe. But what I have found is that whenever I get to this point, I realize that I am simply the master of my own universe. This is the reason I love to read.

Blogs are the great equalizer. They are posts by people just like you and me, people who love Jesus and love kids. They approach the gospel and ministry from so many different perspectives that I am always challenged to reexamine my own ministry and strive to continually improve it. If you are new to reading blogs, there are a ton of great ones on this site, get to reading. But even more, if you are aren’t writing on one of your own, go to wordpress.com and get going!

Here are my top 5 favorite blogs:

These are not all specifically youth ministry blogs, but ones that challenge me to be a better pastor, parent, and person.

1) http://fulleryouthinstitute.org/blog/ This is Fuller Youth Institute blog and is jam packed with thoughtful posts backed up with legit research.

2) http://sethgodin.com/sg/ Seth Godin is a brilliant writer and blogger. Everyone says that if you want to know what a great blog is like, look at Seth’s. Unfortunately, mine is nothing like his, but oh how he challenges me to get off my butt!

3) http://youthleaderstash.com/ is a helpful and practical resource. Not only will you find clever games and images, but great curriculum, funny videos, and an encouragement to do youth ministry well.

4) http://restlessfaith.blogspot.com/ is a blog written by a friend of mine, Chad McDaniel. He is one of the most thoughtful and godly youth pastors I know. I am always spurred on to know Jesus and love him more because of his blog.

5) http://www.youthministrymedia.ca/ As an old guy who is increasingly out of step with all this technology, Kolby Milton is my guide through these complicated waters. His blog is captivating, interesting, and incredibly helpful.

What I look for in a blog

Everyone seems to have some rule about what works and what doesn’t on blogs. Keep your posts under 500 words, write to a specific audience, use a theme that is original and clean. Unfortunately I break all these rules and so should you.

ARE YOU REMARKABLE? Is what you are writing worthy of remark? The blogs that I like are ones that stir me to consider things differently, push me to something new, and even change my current position. If you make your audience think and compel them to remark, then you are hitting a home run!

ARE YOU A POSER? It seems that online you can say whatever you want, be as controversial as you want, and blow up people and the church with little repercussion. I work with students and doing things that are shocking is every day in this job. Blogs that go for shock and awe flame out and lose my interest very quickly.

WILL YOUR POST SHARPEN ME? I am desperate need of refinement. I am a total wretch who has been saved by grace and am still confused why God would use me in pastoral ministry. Because of my state, I need to be spurred on to know Christ more deeply, love students unconditionally, and do ministry that is worthy of the calling that God has put on my life. If I find a blog that does that, then I am all in!

Don’t just be a consumer of information, be a contributor. The body of Christ needs your unique perspective, so get after it!

In Discerning your call blog, smurfs, youthmin.org

The 7 Best Practices for Teaching Teenagers the Bible

April 17, 2012 — 2 Comments

I just finished reading a really great book by my friend, Andy Blanks. Andy is the co-founder of a the website youthministry360 which is chalked full of great resources for anyone connected to student ministry. I found his book, The 7 Practices for Teaching Teenagers the Bible, to be one of the most helpful tools I have come across that equips, inspires, and challenges youth workers and volunteers to teach scripture in a way that is impactful and transformative.

As someone who has developed my own curriculum as well as used just about every curriculum under the sun, I found this book to be the right tool that walks through the difficult process of having curriculum in your hand to actually presenting it.

Keep the main thing, the main thing!

One of the best parts of this book his Andy’s first chapter on engaging with God. He immediately dispels many of our reasons we think we want to teach scripture, like information transfer or behavior modification. ”You teach the Bible so students will know God and grow in their imitation of Him.” And then he hits you between the eyes with a true gut check. ”You can’t lead students to desire that which you don’t desire.” Our walk with Jesus is foundational to our teaching students to know and love Jesus.

In a very pastoral way, Andy shepherds the reader through a little bit of self-evaluation. And I have to admit, this was pretty convicting as a youth worker who is struggling with senioritis! Because these were words that were difficult to hear, I found Andy’s tone and heart warm and inviting. There is no shame, just grace and a kick in the pants.

Every chapter is full of practical nuggets you can implement NOW.

Andy could have milked this book and made it a couple hundred pages, but instead he made it totally accessible and easy to read. Each chapter is formatted in a way that you can skim to what you need, but written in a way you won’t want to. What I appreciated most is that in every single chapter there were things I could use this week in youth group to do a better job in my teaching. Here were some of the highlights for me:

Practical step by step plan to take curriculum and translate it into an actual lesson
A renewed call for biblical context to make sure students know how particular stories, themes, people, and points fit into the larger biblical narrative.
People have different learning styles. No kidding, but I don’t teach that way. Andy gives a huge list for ways to connect with different learners.
A tutorial on how to ask good questions.
A list of different types of application questions and activities you can use so that students can lean into life change.

Two thumbs up!

I have to admit I was feeling a little patronizing about reading this book. I have been teaching teenagers the Bible forever. What could this small book have to teach someone as wise and good looking as me? It turns out quite a bit. This book only took me an evening to read. And every other page is marked up and underlined with things I want to remember and implement in my ministry. In fact how I am doing my talk this week is completely changed, and changed for the better simply by using a different application tool outlined in this book.

I highly recommend this book. Anyone, including you who is responsible for the teaching in any form within the context of student ministry, this book will be a blessing and dramatically improve your ability and effectiveness. Good curriculum is great. But someone who is working out their own thriving walk with Jesus equipped with the right tools to take that curriculum and make it personal for their context is golden!

I hope you find this book as encouraging and equipping as I have. And if you are struggling with a little senioritis, this book is a good kick in the pants from a true pastor and shepherd of students and youth workers. Thanks Andy for your heart and for this great tool!

In Discerning your call andy blanks, bible study, curriculum

Why do kids really leave the church? SEX!

April 16, 2012 — 14 Comments

After I read David Kinnaman’s newest book, You Lost Me: Why Young Christians Are Leaving the Church and Rethinking Faith. I have been wrestling with some of the implications from his findings. His chapter on sex is the one that has got my wheels spinning the most.

In that chapter, Kinnaman highlights how the church’s views of purity and abstinence are directly in conflict with the lengthening of time people, including Christians, are taking to settle down and married. Individualism is becoming the core value, and when marriage, sex, and sexuality are seen through that lens there is bound to be conflict and tension with the traditional church. These aren’t really revolutionary thoughts. That is, until you place the changing sexual ethic and overlay it with the renewed passion in which professional church people are trying to understand why so many church kids are leaving the church and not coming back.

My hypothesis: SEX IS THE NUMBER ONE REASON THAT PEOPLE ARE LEAVING THE CHURCH!

In every survey, in every conversation, in every seminar, and in every book we are given a host of reasons for why kids are leaving. The fault almost always lays at the feet of the church and the poor expression of faith they portray, or the faulty model of a one eared mickey mouse student ministry, or the fact that there are not enough adults in the lives of students.

But as I thought about Kinnaman’s book and my years of anecdotal evidence, it seems that those reasons are simply smoke screens to the deeper issue: Kids and young adults want to have sex. They want to have a lot of it, and they don’t want to wait until they are 30 and get married to start. But this reason seems so carnal, so self-indulgent, so simple. So these students develop amazing smoke screens to throw us all the scent.

What about the dinosaurs? Can’t explain it? Than this faith is a joke so let’s have sex! My youth pastor is uncomfortable with me because I have slept with three girls in the youth group. This church is so judgmental! My parents don’t want me to live with my girlfriend. I know they did before they got married! What hypocrites!

These are not straw men:

Think about all the students that have gone through your youth group. Think of all the students that have made strong professions of faith and then bailed. When you unpack their protests and smoke screens, isn’t the root cause some sexual encounter or lifestyle that makes them and us uncomfortable to the point where they back away?

When I ask my colleagues and as we pry back the layers, sex is always the root. Drinking: For whatever reason, the students who drink still manage to participate in Christian community (until they have sex). Doubt: The apologetics to address doubts of most 12-20 year olds have been written about for decades. Sex: But once sex happens, the lines of communication get strained and ultimately cut off.

There was a time only a generation ago, where sex only was the cause for students to drop out of community. But because many of them would get married in their early 20′s, it wasn’t a hard leap to jump back in to Christian community now that their sex was legitimized. This was the case with many of my first generation youth group kids and my own peers.

Have you noticed how tentative people who are living together feel at church. They come but they don’t get too close because they know they will be judged for living together. Many times this is too uncomfortable so they quit coming all together. For those couples who love Jesus and long for Christian community this jump is easy to do once they have tied the knot.

“I couldn’t abstain until I was married, but these young people should.”

What is even more wild is how everyone seems to forget this history with their own kids or others at church. The vast majority of couples at church have slept others and each other before they were married and many also lived together. Once they are married, they all seem to have forgotten their past infractions and plan to put this burden of purity and abstinence on their children. This burden was one that they couldn’t carry and one that they seem to have little or no grace for people who are in the middle of this struggle.

This struggle is really for those Christians who marry in their early 20′s. But now that people are getting married much later, often into their 30′s their distance from the church and Christian community has now been put on the back burner for over half their life and returning to it is like returning to a foreign land. With so much water under the bridge, many never make it into the church or Christian community again.

We want to blame ourselves, but the sexual ethics of students and young adults is the core reason for the departure. Is this statement too bold? Does your experience differ from mine? If you didn’t settle for the smoke screen, would you too find sex to be the root cause?

If my hypothesis is correct, here are some questions I have moving forward:

Can we not let smoke screens work?
Can we allow students and young adults to carry the consequences of their choices and not blame ourselves?
Do we need to encourage students to get married earlier?
Why do people who failed in this area put such a high burden on our students regarding sex and sexuality?
Is it unrealistic to expect purity and abstinence from our students?
Does the church’s teaching on sex and sexuality actually cause more harm then good in the discipleship of our students?
What do we loose if we treat sex and sexuality like we do with gluttony and materialism? Give it a head non but don’t hammer at it too much as to make people uncomfortable.
Is it the right call to lose so many young people as long as we teach TRUTH?
Can we, or should we make space in our ministries for students and young adults who are sexual active? (and not make them hide)

What questions does this hypothesis raise for you? What answers do you have? May God be gracious with us all as we wrestle through this increasingly challenging issue.

In Discerning your students dan kinnaman, sex, sticky faith

14 Comments

When-Helping-Hurts-Alleviating-Poverty-Without-Hurting-the-Poor-and-Ourselves-0802457053-L

The hidden dangers of short term missions

April 13, 2012 — 2 Comments

This article was published at youthworkerjournal.com

It is once again time to start gearing up our annual mission trips. There are so many great options out there. Some are as close as an urban setting, some are in rural and isolated contexts, and some are international ranging in proximity to Mexico all the way to Thailand or Africa. One of the key considerations when planning a mission trip with students has to be assessing the potential dangers of the context we will be traveling to.

Our church has changed our context for short term missions several times depending on concerns for danger. We have taken into consideration the violence in an urban setting or an outbreak of hepatitis within the street community. We have wrestled with the potential danger of crossing a drug warfare zone in the boarder towns of Mexico. Add to the danger of the location transportation and housing, and we start to realize that a mission trip for students is a costly and dangerous endeavor.

As someone who thinks that short term mission trips is the bread and butter of student ministry, I have come to the conclusion that these potential dangers are part of the process of helping students (and parents) to live outside their comfort zone. And taking our students and putting them in a totally foreign and partially dangerous context softens their hearts and opens their eyes to see the working of God in new and fresh ways.

But after leading dozens of trips over the years, I am starting to realize that while the surface dangers are real and must be taken seriously, there is actually a bigger danger that is hidden lurking just below the surface. This danger is cementing in our students a false view of missions and of themselves.

Every year we ask students to fill out an application. One of the questions has something to do with why they want to participate in this trip. And with almost 100% unanimity the answer is “we want to help those less fortunate than ourselves.” Don’t get me wrong, this is an awesome value, it is a value that is at the heart of the Christian faith. Those of us with power and resources are to care for the orphan and the widow, for the poor and oppressed.

However, when we unintentionally frame missions as us, wealthy suburbanites, helping those poor people, we continue to instill in our students that they have their acts together and are “above” others. I am not saying that the suburban church is the problem, or that we need to beat down our own context or culture and make students feel awful for the blessings and resources they have. The suburban culture is just that, a culture. But when we engage in missions we must consider and celebrate the culture in which we are going to. We have to help students see that we are guests in another culture, not superior to those we visiting.

Our students are naturally self-absorbed and limited in their worldview. And when we set up our trips as us coming to save the day, their foundational worldview doesn’t have the chance to be challenged. And this is the true danger of student ministry short term missions. We take one of the most significant spiritual experiences of their high school carriers and actually solidify some of the worst of suburban thinking. Missions is not suburban kids with their wealth and privilege helping the poor. This is the danger in compassion ministries.

One of the best books I have read on mission for those of us leading trips from a suburban context is When Helping Hurts: Alleviating Poverty Without Hurting the Poor . . . and Yourself by Brian Fikkert. This book is a must read for anyone leading a trip. My biggest take a way from my read of the book is that we must change our view of wealth and poverty. All of us are wealthy in some ways and poor in others. The challenge is to identify the ways in which we are wealthy and the ways in which we are poor. Once we have done this, then we can come into any context, specifically impoverished ones, and easily become partners who share resources. We then have a real chance for cultural exchange, instead of seeing ourselves as superiors above the poor people we help.

As the fundraising, logistics and training for our annual short term trips are gearing up. There are many practical dangers we must take into account. But it takes intentional work and training to breakthrough and breakdown the traditional mindset of many suburban students, and leaders. Here are four values to consider as you plan your short term missions trip this year:

1) Short term missions is about recognizing that God is already at work wherever it is we are going. The God we serve, so loves the entire world. And the place that we will be heading off to for our short term missions trip is already loved by God and God already has people in place doing great ministry there. This immediately takes the focus off of us and what we bring, and opens our eyes to the spiritual reality that God is alive and at work long before we showed up.

2) Short term missions is about partnering not helping. We now have the privilege of coming alongside the people who God has called to love that community for the long haul. And when we see our role as partners there becomes an exchange of blessings that occurs, we become givers and receivers, rather then saviors. For this to be successful we must find organizations that are not only established and committed to that particular community, but organizations that we can trust. The more you trust an organization, the more you can truly partner and celebrate all that God has done before you got there, is doing while you are there, and will continue to do when you leave.

3) Short term missions is about student development. There is little long term benefit our students can bring to mission field. We are only there for a week and often have little knowledge of the culture and language. At best we are a blessing to the organization / missionaries we partner with. Because that is the case, we get to use this experience to shape and transform the students we are called to be missionaries to. And that means that we must help shape this trip in a way that broadens their view of ministry, not affirm their privileged world view. Their spiritual health and development is our chief concern.

If we are taking students on short term mission trip we must clarify what we are doing. It is true that many of us come from churches with significant resources and we want to partner with the heart of God in doing ministries of compassion. But we cannot solidify the thinking that financial resources are the definition of God’s blessings. Wealth does not put us a superiors. We can not let our students live into this false and dangerous reality.

Our task in short term missions is to help our students understand how big God’s heart is for the world, to partner with those who are already there, and to be a blessing for the short time our paths cross. We all have wealth and we all have poverty. By helping our students identify and articulate where they are wealthy and where they are poor allows them to truly be partners in ministry and cultural exchange.

In Discerning your context short term missions

Is it time to leave your ministry context? Or to simply take a nap?

April 11, 2012 — 6 Comments

This graduating class of seniors marks the end of my 7th school year here at Marin Covenant Church. It has been an amazing ride, and I have been honored to be blessed by being on such a dynamic staff team and doing ministry in such a complex setting. As I wind up this school year I have started to do some reflecting on some possible next steps for me and for this ministry.

The truth is; I am tired.

15 years of student ministry has taken its toll. The way in which I can do ministry in my late 30′s with two little kids is significantly different then the good ‘ol days when my wife and I were partners in all things, idealistic, and ready to take anything on for the glory of God. While I am still ready to take anything on for the glory of God, my wife is a full time mom and part time employee, and my idealism has taken a little bit of a hit.

So what in the world is next? Here is what I have concluded so far:

I do not want to be a lead pastor, solo pastor, or church planter.
I do enjoy teaching and writing.
I do not want to go back to school and get my Ph.D.
I love student ministry with all my heart. ( I am just tired)
I love Marin Covenant as both my church community and place of employment.
I don’t want to just take up space.

As I have talked with friends and wrestled with God I have realized that the recurring theme is simply that I am tired. I don’t know if you can resonate with this, but student ministry is demanding and taxing on the body and soul. And being tired physically and spiritually is overwhelming. In my first context I misread being tired with God calling me out of student ministry, and even out of a church context. Reflecting back, I was just tired and in need of refreshment.

Being tired is not a good reason to leave a ministry context

It is crazy how we think because we are tired and dry that a new context with new students will bring us new life. The thought of starting all over with student and their parents is just awful. Instead of giving up the 7 years of street cred and trying to build a new program and make hundreds of new relationships, maybe there is a better way.

Instead of trying to start new somewhere else with all the fresh, extroverted, and engaging parts of my personality firing on all cylinders, what if i simply do what I would do in my first 6 months in a new context and do them in my current one. Except with starting from scratch rationally, I can now leverage these relationships.

Instead of starting over in a new context, start over here!

I admit it is a little bit of some mental trickery, but I am pretty sure that the results will be similar. You know when you show up brand new to a church, you take their atrophied program and infuse it with fun and life and grow the group. But after a few years the momentum slips and you end up simply maintaining. I know that if a brand new person showed up they would instantly grow my group by 20%. I could instantly grow my group by 20% is I showed up fresh. So why not simply show up fresh?

This fall I am pretending I am brand new and am going to approach my current 7 year old ministry as if it was year 1 and I have something to prove, am idealistic, and will do all things for the glory of God. I look forward to seeing what God has for me in this next season and thankful that he is not quite done with me in student ministry or at Marin Covenant Church.

Man, I love student ministry!

How can you tell when you are done in a context? What do you do to stay refreshed? How do you not let cynicism take over idealism?

In Discerning your issues

6 Comments

Helping students who are dealing with those college rejection letters?

April 9, 2012 — 2 Comments

For many of our students, their choices for what is next is starting to become increasingly clear. All of their hopes and dreams for life after high school are starting to mesh with the realities of G.P.A.’s, scholarships, and personal finances. It is one of the few times in their lives where they are objectively judged on their performance and work ethic, and are ranked, rejected, and accepted based on merit. And we as youth workers have an amazing opportunity to walk with students as they deal with this reality.

Or do we?

As youth workers do we have the right or responsibility to use the weight of our position to:

Affirm that they had no chance of going to that school?
Tell them that this is not a financially wise move?
Tell them that what schools will be devastating for their spiritual development?
Use their rejections as a teachable moment for their false self-perception?
Recommend a gap year to serve in ministry or the church?
Be directive in carrer planning?
Push a Christian School option on them?
Urge them to consider other college choices outside their families desires?
To simply walk alongside them oozing grace and mercy as they and their parents figure it out?

This month is a crucial month in the lives of our seniors. Our students now have all the choices of what next could look like in front of them. These are real life options and by May 1 they will have to decide for reals what they are going to do. It is a total pleasure, honor, and responsibility to be in these conversations. How we use our influence, wisdom, and experience matters. The real question is, “How much influence are we truly allowed to use?”

As I look at my calendar and have 5 meetings with students this week alone who want to talk about college, I am need of some real wisdom. I can feel the anxiety, fear, depression, and joy in my seniors and their parents exponentially rise as May 1 gets closer. I want to find that balance of being a wise counselor and discerning the work of the Holy Spirit, and letting students and parents set the depth of these conversations.

How do you balance these sometimes competing values?

How much “guidance” do you give to students?

How directive are you in these conversations?

In Discerning your students college, rejection

Easter, what difference does it make in the lives of students?

April 5, 2012 — Leave a comment

This post was also featured on youthworker.com.

Painting the Picture:
It is easy for the students in our ministries to get the wrong idea about Christianity. And to be fair, it isn’t their fault. Most of our students are connected to our ministries because their parents want them to be. At some point in their parents’ life they made a profession of faith and have given their hearts to Jesus. The parents have intentionally chosen to be a part of a church community for their own spiritual growth and development, and part of that decision iis finding a place for their children to develop spiritually as well. Which leads us back to our students.

Most of our students are part of our ministries due to the faith of their parents rather than their own. This is probably some of the reason that the faith of many of our church family students seems so dry and weak. At best they are choosing the religion of their parents. But this religion of their parents is a far cry from the Easter faith that is offered to us by the risen Christ.

If we want our students to move from religious faith to and Easter faith we must paint the picture of what that sort of faith looks like. We have to affirm them where they have been and where they are, and encourage them to take the next steps into a deeper and more alive faith. By examining some of the purposes of the Easter story we can help students identify where they are in their personal faith and what it might look like to move closer to a faith that is alive and full of power.

Substitutional Atonement:
This is a big and fancy word for church people, but it is vital to our understanding of Christianity. This purpose of the atonement can be summed up in 2 Corinthians 5:21. “For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.”

This purpose of the resurrection is the beginning steps in our Christian faith. We are sinful people separated from God and it is Christ who takes our sin upon himself and bears our punishment in our place. And in exchange we become righteous, not because of our works, but because of our faith.

It is this understanding that most of our church kids understand and even accept. This is an intellectual understanding of faith and the transaction that happens because of the cross. But if our faith understanding ends here, we are left with a boring and selfish version of Christianity.

The Gift of the Holy Spirit:
The second purpose of the resurrection is that the Jesus we love and follow is not just a sacrificed savior, but is actually alive. In John 16 5-15, Jesus tells his disciples that he must go so that the Holy Spirit can come. And it is the Holy Spirit that leads us into truth, convicts us of sin, comforts us in our sorrow and grief.

The Holy Spirit is the key ingredient to transform a generational faith into a personal one. Without the Holy Spirit, our students are destined to be simple religious people who will be good church folk. But when our students actually recognize that the Holy Spirit is alive and active, who wants to lead and direct their lives, they have an opportunity to actually develop a relationship with a God who is alive.

Conversing with the Holy Spirit is dramatically different than the religious duty of confessing sins, thanking God for our blessings, and offering prayer requests. We must help our students realize that the Holy Spirit is what separates our faith from simple religion. And access to the Holy Spirit cannot be transferred generation to generation. We can only have access by our own confession of faith.

Power over Sin and Death:
“Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So you see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey God’s law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin.” Romans 7:24-45 about sums it up!

Death and sin are the signatures of this world. We experience grief and heartbreak because of this broken world. Peoples horrible choices impact us and crush us. Our choices impact others and crush others. This world is broken!!!

For our church kids and for most of their peers, the world is broken and good works, charity and recycling is the answer. The resurrection is our answer. Death and sin no longer have the final word. We do not have to be good people trying to make the world better. Rather in Christ we are new creations. We are being transformed into the image of Christ, we are being healed and made whole.

This process of transformation is not by works but by the work of a Savior who is active and alive. Jesus’ resurrection proves that he has true power over the grave and over sin. And 2000 years of church history prove that this power is real. Telling your story and the story of people in your own community is vital to help shape the reality of this transformation.

Students aren’t old enough to have the perspective to see the gradual healing that the Holy Spirit has done in our lives. But this is the testimony we must proclaim. Gutter to Glory stories aren’t helpful for their faith development. Jesus is alive and is at work in our lives in big and small ways and we must be faster to point that out and celebrate together.

Ushering in a New Kingdom:
This last purpose of the resurrection is the most exciting and least selfish. So far the beneficiaries of the first three purposes are ours. We are the ones who are forgiven and made right. We are the ones who get direction and comfort from the Holy Spirit. And we are the ones who are being transformed and freed from a life dominated by death and sin.

But the last purpose, and I think the main purpose of the resurrection is to usher in a brand new kingdom. Colossians 1:13 says, “For he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son” We pray, “Your Kingdom come, Your will be done.” The resurrection is about the suffering servant regaining his proper place in creation at the right hand of the Father.

The resurrected Lord is now king of a kingdom that is nothing like the kingdom of this world with all its death and destruction. It is an upside down kingdom where the poor, the meek, and the pure in heart are blessed and the pride are taken down. It is a kingdom that is rueld by faith, hope and love.

What is mind boggling is that the risen Lord invites us to be part of the ushering in. We are the body of Christ and it is our job as people with a genuine faith in Christ and access to the Holy Spirit to roll up our sleeves and get to work. The mission trips we do, the acts of compassion and mercy we do, the justice work we do are all part of bringing in this new kingdom.

Helping Our Students Get It:
This Easter faith can not be transferred down from their parents. Our students need us to help them understand where they are genuinely at with their faith. Do they simply have intellectual assent to the work of the cross? Do they have a one way relationship with the Holy Spirit? Did they know that they can be transformed by the work of the Holy Spirit, not by them trying harder? Did they know that they are part of God’s solution for healing and life on this planet?

Adolescence is the appropriate season for them to separate from their parents’ identity and faith and to figure out their own. We must not be blind to good church kids saying having good theology doing good things and miss a faith that is connected to the power of Easter. Let’s ask them the hard questions and be praying our guts out for them as they figure this out.

May this Easter faith be just as alive in me too. He has risen.

Some Questions For Reflection:
1) Which purpose of the resurrection do you most identify with and why?
2) How do these purposes manifest itself in your life?
3) What is the purpose after the one you picked and how can. you lean into that more this week?
4) What is your biggest hang up with really living like we believe in an alive God and not a dead religion?
5) What is one thing you can do this week to live into the reality of the resurrection?

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