Archives For Discerning your issues

We are not as cutting edge as we think

June 18, 2013 — 1 Comment

20130618-144020.jpg
Our church leaders, my colleagues in ministry, and my circle of friends take ministry pretty seriously. We are always studying up, praying, and discerning in an continued effort to do the most effective, contextualized ministry that is aligned with the heart of God.

For the past few years those buzz words, I mean models, have been things like, missional, contextual, social justice, authenticity, and community. There is so much to be discussed, said, written on, and implemented surrounding these topics and values. I for one often think of myself as well read and on the early adopter side of ministry trends. So it is both refreshing and humbling to come to the hills of Guatemala and work alongside a church that is already doing all of this!

Here in Santa Apolonia we are partnered with Englesia del Belen (or something close to that) and this church, specifically the church leadership, embody many of the values and strategies that big wig church leaders and speakers are peddling as revolutionary at conferences like Thrive, Catalyst, Youth Workers, etc.

The head elder, a man named Julio, embodies who I want to be as a pastor, leader, and ministry leader in my context.

Hospitality:
Every day our entire team gets to eat at his home. He moved out beds and furniture from two of his rooms even, so we would all fit. He makes time to connect with our students and warmly embraces them. It his Julio’s hospitality that has inspired our students to work hard and practice hospitality themselves.

Outreach:
Julio is attractional in his ministry style by providing big and fun events for the community and for our students to engage one another. We played a huge soccer game with our students against some of the students from the church and their friends. It was a great night and at the end, Julio gathered us all together to bless us and pray for us. We are also opening up the church to have a celebratory dinner with the church and our team on Friday. This all by itself is great, but the students and kids that we have connected with throughout the week are welcomed as well.

Authentic and Deep:
The ministry at the church is also built around home groups. Just like you and I have small groups, they have those as well. It is these small groups that carry out ministry and care for each other and for the community. Tonight our kids get to go to 7 or 8 of these small groups and join the study, worship, and prayer.

Missional:
What this church, through the leadership of Julio, does that is the most impressive to me is that they are fully involved in their community. They are members who are involved in politics, even the mayor, who see their role as ambassadors for Jesus and to attempt to model their lives and government around the values of Jesus. They are also being a blessing to their community by caring for the least of these in their town.

The little village up the hill is one of the poorest in Guatemala, and this church has taken it upon themselves to plant a church their, to upgrade the houses, bathrooms, and kitchens of those homes, and care for the elderly. They use their own recourses to do this, and when we came rolling in with our big, American dollars to spend, they funneled it to work projects in this little community.

Always Learning:
I am pretty sure that Julio hasn’t been to seminar, been to a major conference, or even aware of some really inspiring podcasts. He is simply a man who knows and loves Jesus, who has decided to follow him for his entire life, to use his influence for the expansion of the kingdom and is modeling ministry that beats closely to the heart of Jesus.

Not bad for a grandpa!

I am glad that I get another picture of how church is done, of what godly women and men look like, and how we can continue to serve Jesus long after our early 20′s. Julio is an amazing man, and it is an honor to partner with him and his church. His example is significant for me and for our students!

Please keep praying for us:
Please continue to pray our students and for me as we finish up another great day of ministry. And please pray for Englasia del Belen, Julio, and the ministry they are doing in Santa Apolonia and the little village on the hill.

In Discerning your issues , , ,
permalink

How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity!

June 17, 2013 — 3 Comments

20130617-152940.jpg
Psalm 133

1 How good and pleasant it is
when God’s people live together in unity!
2 It is like precious oil poured on the head,
running down on the beard,
running down on Aaron’s beard,
down on the collar of his robe.
3 It is as if the dew of Hermon
were falling on Mount Zion.
For there the Lord bestows his blessing,
even life forevermore.

With most of the first day under our belt, I found myself reflecting on Psalm 133. This is one of my favorite verses of all time, and truly the prayer of my heart.

The truth be told, I am actually pretty impressed that I have managed to be reflecting on a verse at all today. The first day of every trip, specifically a mission trip, is a complete 3 ring circus. There is such an incredibly steep learning curve that happens when 50 people have to learn to work and live together and the missions team that is facilitating our trip as to figure us out and what we are capable of. And do all this with cultural and language barriers.

Our students are barely running on 5 hours of sleep and are doing incredibly well considering every 5 minutes someone is telling them something different to be doing. With the lack of sleep combined with some fits and starts to our day, we are doing quite well!!

Even for someone who is OCD about efficiency, I have found enormous success with what our students have accomplished and their attitudes in it. Our students dug a foundation, moved thousands of pounds of construction supplies, and even crafted some rebar for foundations.

Now every team is off to connect with students and kids in the community. Our college students are teaching english today in three different schools, and our high school students will be pulling off 2 different VBS’ to cap off our afternoon.

But our day will not be over. After a little down time and a chance to change, we will be competing against the people of the church we are staying with in a somewhat friendly game of soccer. After being full from a full portion of humble pie, it will be time for a little team time and then off to bed!

Like I said at the beginning of this post, in all of it I have Psalm 133 running on repeat in my mind and my heart!

There is something truly amazing when God’s peeps live together in unity.
I could not have brought a more diverse team to a context that is more “other” then the hills of Guatemala. And in all of it we are living in unity. This unity is extended among our team, between our team and our Merge team, and between our team and the people of the church.

As we live in unity there is a stirring in my soul that that forces me to pray a prayer of thanksgiving and gratitude. Imagine how great it is when you and your closest friends are doing something deep and significant together. You are united as one, you are partnering in the movement of God, you are modeling the unity of the Trinity. When this happens among our closest friends it is amazing! When it happens with a group like this and a context like this it is pretty close to a miracle.

Even though I have absolutely no cultural touch points of how rad it would be to pour oil all over my head and have it drip down through my beard, I imagine that it is supposed to be pretty amazing and quite a celebration!

That is how I feel, overwhelmed with God’s goodness and grace. I am sitting back watching our students work so hard to bless everyone they come in contact with, and soaking up the oil through my beard. And my prayer of thanksgiving is that of David’s;

1 How good and pleasant it is
when God’s people live together in unity!
2 It is like precious oil poured on the head,
running down on the beard,
running down on Aaron’s beard,
down on the collar of his robe.
3 It is as if the dew of Hermon
were falling on Mount Zion.
For there the Lord bestows his blessing,

Amen!

In Discerning your issues , ,
permalink

From leader to facilitator

June 16, 2013 — 1 Comment

20130616-155038.jpg
With all the hiccups that happen when traveling with 50 people, and most of them minors, we are finally all together getting dialed in for our arrival into Guatemala.

What hiccups you might ask?
Good question. In just the few short hours we have been traveling together, we have managed to get stopped in security for a student who “forgot” about a knife he had in his possession, a lost boarding pass, and two separate incidents of bags left behind. (You know, when you go to the food court, bathroom, or currency exchange and leave your bag behind.) Thankfully, God’s grace has been overwhelming and so far these little hiccups just make us adults smile. :)

But with these opportunities for grace behind us, we are now trying to make best use of this time so we are honing our craft skills, doing some team bonding, and praying together. And as our students meet up in their teams, I have come to the realization that my role is already transitioning from team leader to facilitating team.

What I mean by this, is that for the past few months I have been herding cats, wrangling paperwork, lessons, crafts, songs, games, and more paperwork from my students. I have been the person in the front with a clipboard moving students from point A to point B. Now that we are quickly approaching point B, I am handing the reigns over to my student leaders. This is now their car to drive!

I could not be more proud of my three sets of student leaders. They are keeping tabs on their people, managing the group dynamic, and leading their team into deeper dependance on God. It is so fun watching these students get after it.

As a facilitator, my job is now to meet regularly with these student leaders, communicate well, clarify expectations, and ooze non-stop, specific affirmation. It is incredibly intimidating leading high school students, it is exponentially more intimidating leading high school students when they are your peers. And this is the role that these leaders are living into!

I am so aware and thankful of all the prayers and support of our church and my friends and family. Now that we are one more plane flight to actually being in Guatemala, putting into practice what we have been learning over these past few months, I would ask that you pray specifically for my student leaders.

These students, Tommy, Samantha, Bix, Sarah, Jessica, and Tristan are amazing and carrying a huge burden this trip. Pray for God’s grace, wisdom, discernment, and guts. Pray that God would empower them and that they would live into the people that God so clearly has made them to be! And pray that they would love their team well, love them selflessly, with a servants heart, and find joy in empowering their peers for ministry!

It is an honor to be a part of this team, and a joy to fade into the background as our student leaders step up and step out!

Next stop Santa Apolonia.

PS: Please pray that God multiplies our rest as well. We arrive around 11:30 pm, and our day begins at 7:00 am on Monday! YES PLEASE!! #sleepwhenwearedead Thank you again for your support and prayers for this trip.

In Discerning your issues , ,
permalink

What can Graduation teach us about our calling?

June 5, 2013 — 1 Comment

graduation2

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…

Continue Reading…

In Discerning your issues , , ,
permalink

For what purpose do you want to expand your influence?

May 29, 2013 — 1 Comment

tattoo_i__m_getting___he_is_greater_than_i__by_lovely735-d5nxhq1Who doesn’t want to be great? In fact it seems to be at the very core of our human experience. Ever since Adam and Eve wanted to to know more, to be more, humans have been plagued by this pursuit. It seems that when I am on line and in meetings among my peers, the conversation always comes back to this topic. While there are a million ways to couch it in spiritual terms, the bottom line is that all of us desire to be more than we are. We want to be great, we want to increase our platform, we desire recognition. And thankfully, Jesus already knows this to be our core desire and even has some generous words for his disciples, and for us. Check it out:

35 Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him. “Teacher,” they said, “we want you to do for us whatever we ask.”

36 “What do you want me to do for you?” he asked.

37 They replied, “Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory.”

38 “You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said. “Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?”

39 “We can,” they answered.

Jesus said to them, “You will drink the cup I drink and be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with, 40 but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared.”

41 When the ten heard about this, they became indignant with James and John.42 Jesus called them together and said, “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. 43 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. 45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” – Mark 10: 35-45

As we strive to do excellent ministry, to reach the lost, to care for the broken hearted, to contextualize the gospel for the next generation, may we not lose sight of our true standing. For if we truly want to be great, then we must become a slave of all. Jesus who was great and deserved the largest platform, gave it up and took the form of a servant. Maybe there is something to be learned there.

May we continue to check our desire for greatness with modeling the attitude and actions our savior by placing that energy into serving our students and parents, pouring out our lives so that some may come to know Him.

Blessings!

In Discerning your issues , ,
permalink

Water the grass that is growing

May 27, 2013 — 2 Comments

This last week I met with a parent who is having a hard time watching her son choose to build friendships with the hoodlum posse in our student ministry. As we talked, I tried to point out that this small circle of students who are consistently getting into trouble, ignoring all the rules, and disrespecting every adult around is not the core of our ministry. There is, in fact, a significant group of students who are pretty serious about their faith and their desire to grow into it.

As I began to list name after name of other students who would be great influences on her child, she began to list reason after reason why her child wouldn’t be able to connect as well with these students. She struggled with the ability to see the 90% of our ministry due to the 10% who are the “too cool for school” crowd who monopolize her child’s circle of friendships.

It was easy to point out how silly it is to be so consumed by the minority of students who are ruining her sons experience at youth group. The solution was quite clear, to simply see the larger group and maybe even build some new, healthy friendships. As soon as these words were coming out of my mouth, the Holy Spirit reminding me of this exact conversation I had with my wife regarding the health of our student ministry.

Continue Reading…

In Discerning your issues , , , ,
permalink

What youth workers and Algebra 1 teachers have in common:

May 23, 2013 — 1 Comment

This post was originally featured at youthministry360.com

shutterstock_76826134As 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 . . .

Continue Reading…

In Discerning your issues , ,
permalink

The importance of appropriately differentiating your faith from your student’s

May 20, 2013 — 2 Comments

Most youth workers, including me, have been doing student ministry since they were students themselves.  Because of this reality, there is often an unchecked issue brewing just below the surface.  This is that we often fail to differentiate our spiritual development and needs from those of our students.

Individuality

Remember being a high school student?

There was a time, and maybe you are still in that time, when you remember being a high schooler and you remember the spiritual journey of that time.   This memory is one of the things that makes you such a great youth worker.  I remember how great it was when I first started out in student ministry.  Whatever I was learning, however I was growing, only added fuel to my growing passion for students and for them to encounter the living God who was rocking my world!  In fact, I have found that it is always best to teach from a place of authenticity and personal growth.

But as the years wore on, I began to realize that I was outpacing the spiritual development of my students.  I found myself trying on new ways of connecting with Jesus.  Lectio Devina, candles, solitude.  I found that the more I was growing spiritually, the more I wanted to share my new spiritual growth with my students.  But now realized, the more I shared with my students, the more I was losing them.

We have different spiritual needs than our students do:

Continue Reading…

In Discerning your issues ,
permalink

Providing an easy onramp back to the church

May 13, 2013 — 2 Comments

Oh, How Nice It Would Feel To Drop the Hammer of Truth!

I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve had high schoolers lay into me about how youth group doesn’t do it for them anymore, or about how they need something with more depth. Sometimes I lie awake at night, imagining all the ways I would love to give it right back to them; to actually be a straight shooter and tell them how it really is. But just when I’m about to explode and completely blow away some unsuspecting, verbally processing mid-adolescent, God gives me a gracious reminder of my unique role and purpose in the body of Christ.

I recently had lunch with a former student who was the thorn in my side during her time in my student ministry.  Everything I did wasn’t good enough, every lesson wasn’t deep enough, and every other adult in her life was smarter and wiser then I ever could be.  Now, while most of my students probably already believe this, this young woman decided to make it very clear to me how dissatisfied she was with my leadership of our group.

I distinctly remember a conversation we had at the end of her sophomore year, when she tried to let me down easy that she would no longer be joining us for sunday school because it was baby food, and she would be going to big church instead.  She then proceeded to invite any other students who wanted real spiritual food to join her.

Their Self-Righteous and Rebellion is Right and Normal:

Continue Reading…

In Discerning your issues , , ,
permalink

Volunteers: God´s strange plan for increased ministry:

May 9, 2013 — 2 Comments

Being The Hub of Ministry For most of my ministry career I have worked in smaller contexts where it was totally possible to connect with all the students in my ministry.  I was the logistical and relational hub for my ministry.  I don´t even think this was necessarily a bad thing.  I was my job, my vocation to love on students and help them connect to Jesus.  And with a youth group that was able to fit into my living room, it wasn´t that hard to walk with students in a very intimate way.

During this season, I did have volunteer leaders to help.  And for the most part, they did a great job of whatever I asked them to do. I read all the books about how we need volunteers and about proper ratios, and I did just that.  In fact, I had some of the best chaperones and drivers on the planet.  They even did  good job helping with crowd control and keeping things safe and in order.

When I reflect back on what I expected my leaders to do, I am saddened that I held the reigns of my ministry so tightly.  I allowed very little space for my leaders to truly connect with our students.  They were adults in the room, and that was about it.  And because I only had a handful of students, this didn´t seem to be a problem.

But as my ministry  has grown and I’ve moved to larger contexts, I’ve found that my old ways are deeply ingrained in me.  I’m still trying to be the logistical and relational hub of my ministry.  And while I’m hitting the logistics out of the park (and should be because that is my job) I have noticed that I am struggling relationally.  There is no human way for me to be intimately connected to every student in my ministry.

Continue Reading…

In Discerning your issues
permalink

5 ways to thrive in a church bureaucracy:

May 6, 2013 — 7 Comments

It was finally here! It was the day I had been looking forward to ever since I started looking to be on a church staff as a paid youth worker. It was my first day on the job, and to make the day even better, we were going to have a staff meeting that day! If you have ever participated in a church staff meeting, you know how disappointed and disillusioned I was in just 90 minutes.

After just a month on the job I started to come to the realization that being a paid youth worker for a church is much more complicated than I first thought. What I envisioned as a job where I was going to be paid to love students and help them love Jesus was actually a job with expectations, politics, meetings, evaluations, and tasks to be assigned by pastor.

With 15 years of vocational youth ministry under my belt, I have come to realize that the great bureaucracy of the church is not the awful boogieman that is thwarting the advancement of the Kingdom. I have watched many of my colleagues get swallowed up by this bureaucracy and become disillusioned. I have seen others attempt to just survive in spite of the bureaucracy. But I am convinced that a youth worker doesn’t have to just survive the inner workings of the Church and attempt to have an impact on students despite all the red tape. Rather if you understand it, the bureaucracy of the church can actually be fertile ground to thrive in.

1) The Church is a Corporation and You Are an Employee:

Continue Reading…

In Discerning your issues , , , , ,
permalink

Should you take that job?

May 1, 2013 — 6 Comments

That is a question I regularly get asked by my friends in ministry.  And one I ask myself every time Doug (Fields that is) calls me and tries to talk me into working for him to help train his up and coming  youth workers. :)

The truth is, I am a paid youth worker and I love my job.  And even if I didn’t love my job, considering a move and all the dynamics involved in that decision seem to get exponentially more complicated.  Because of the secrecy of the process there seems to be little candid and open conversation about what sort of issues should be brought to the table when considering a job change.

The knee-jerk response is, “God is leading me.” While, I would concede that this is of utmost importance when considering a job change, this is almost always used as a spiritual smoke screen which conceals other factors that are vital to address in this process.

Thumbs-Up-Thumbs-Down

Can we be honest for a minute and put our puffed up spiritual egos on the shelf for a minute and talk.

The truth is I am tempted to take every offer.  I love feeling wanted and valuable, who doesn’t.  When a church pursues you they make you feel like a million bucks.  (Even though they want to only pay you $25,000)  You know how great it is when a committee calls you up and wants to hear your story, your heart for ministry and are so impressed with your revolutionary model of ministry!

It is especially easy to have the exact opposite feeling when you have been in your context for a while.  Because, once you are hired you are in the machine, doing the down and dirty ministry that you love and are called to do.  But no one is asking for your sage advice, no one is impressed with your model of ministry, and students are as fickle as all get out.  Depending on how dry you are feeling, anything sparkly gets attention.  And the dryer you are, the greener the grass will appear.  The trick is doing the spiritual discernment to figure out if this of God or of your ego, of both, or of something in between.

Continue Reading…

In Discerning your issues , ,
permalink

I know you love to mentor, but who is mentoring you?

April 1, 2013 — 3 Comments

We love to mentor, we love to pour our lives into others! This all sounds so great and noble. But I am afraid that this is really just a smokescreen for our egocentric world view. We are so wise and are so gifted and have so much to offer students, the church, and really the world.

20091120alexander4226

If you think this is too bold, let me ask you a simple question. Who is mentoring you? Not what books do you read, or what podcasts do you listen to, but what human being do you actually submit to and learn from? Although you are probably the exception, in my experience, most youth workers I know see little to no need for their own mentorship. They are the masters of their own universe!

Continue Reading…

In Discerning your issues , ,
permalink

Longevity beats personality every time

March 28, 2013 — 14 Comments

I was recently asked why the youth program at our church was so amazing.  Between you and me, our youth ministry really isn’t amazing.  Numerically we are right there in the 10%-13% of big church attendance.  Our program is fully mid-1990′s, and the guy in charge is me.  I may be a lot of things, but I am for sure not a pied piper when it comes to student ministry.  I love students and love walking through this season of life and faith with them, but I feel awkward when I show up on campus, and struggle with one on one contact time.

As this parent and I talked, I began to reflect on his impression of our youth ministry and realized that our success in student ministry actually has little to do with me, and comes from the leadership of the church and lead pastor long before it comes from me.

The Fallacy of Big Personality

Continue Reading…

In Discerning your issues , , ,
permalink

Justin Timberlake and Jimmy Fallon = You and Me!

March 25, 2013 — 2 Comments

I know by the way I said this, my might think I am implying that I am Justin and you are Jimmy. While I wish that was the case, I will concede that you could be Justin. I think both options are great :) But you are probably wondering, both options for what?!?!

jimmy-fallon-justin-timberlake-gq-1

A couple of weeks ago, Justin Timberlake joined Jimmy Fallon for Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. And it was easily the best week of late night ever! Jimmy Fallon does an incredible job on his show on a normal week, but by bringing in his friend Justin Timberlake (who is probably the most talented man alive) the show was over the top.

Whether you like Jimmy Fallon or not, or whether or not you think Justin Timberlake is the greatest talent of his generation, the undeniable fact is that when two talented friends work together toward a common goal, for mutual blessing, the outcome is better than either could have done alone.

Be honest, you want to be famous:

Continue Reading…

In Discerning your issues , ,
permalink

I am a chauvinist!

March 18, 2013 — 3 Comments

As hard as I try to be egalitarian, the truth is, I am a chauvinist!  My entire world view is shaped by the fact that I am a man.  Men are my heroes, the movies I watch are about men, the books I read are written by men, and manly activities are the ones I enjoy.  When I am not intentionally thinking about it, I have a totally male dominated worldview.

mm5-studio-gallery-roger-don-pete-560

But me in neutral is not a good place to be.  Women populate a little over half the earth, I am married to a woman, and I am raising a young woman.  They deserve to have larger representation when it comes to their perspectives, their stories, and the celebration of their heroines in our culture.

My chauvinism was brought into light by a TED talk of all things.

Continue Reading…

In Discerning your issues , ,
permalink

Why camp highs are VITAL for student ministry

February 26, 2013 — 3 Comments

Now that winter camp season is coming to a close, most of us have completed our annual journey to some sort of winter camp, conference, retreat. We pounded the pavement, got students to commit, took care of the logistics, lost $1000, got our kids fired up and inspired, and upon re-entry we get to see (or not see) any lasting impact. Like all events in a youth worker’s calendar we have to do a cost / benefit analysis for each of our events, and the winter camp evaluation is always tricky. Because the cost is so high, and the benefit is a little sketchy, we must answer the nagging question, “Was it worth it?” YES IT IS, and here is why:

winter-camp-boxsled-perfect

Continue Reading…

In Discerning your issues , ,
permalink

Why 5 years is the ceiling for youth workers to be effective at one church

February 25, 2013 — 14 Comments

Everyone says that the longer the better for youth workers to stay in one church context.  And yes, there are all sorts of upsides to sticking around, but lately I have been thinking that 5 years might be ceiling for maximum effectiveness in your local context.

This is the pattern that I notice:

  • Youth worker shows up in a church context.
  • Spends the first year or so figuring out the context, dealing with the angst of the upperclassmen, and working overtime building relationships with students.
  • Youth workers kill it relationally!  They are masters at building relationships and winning students.
  • After 2 years there is a strong relational core in your ministry.  The new upperclassmen respect you and the incoming freshmen idolize you.  (in a good way)
  • Over the next few years this group of young kids become amazing upperclassmen.  They “get it,” they respect and love you, and you love them with all your heart.
  • Youth workers then soak up, and rightly so, the fruit of their labor!
  • Then around year 4 or 5, this group of students who you have known since pre-puberty graduates and you weep bitterly.
  • When you look up you see that you have replaced a solid group of leaders and young adults for an immature and rowdy group of freshmen.  This is more then our weak hearts can often take.
  • The thought of having to re-build an entire youth ministry with these young and immature kids sends us packing.

It is at this point that we have three options.  We can realize that our time in student ministry is done and start dreaming of church planting, realize that your gifts and abilities are too much for this context and start looking for a bigger and badder context, or to settle in and settle for a below average ministry with minimal students and minimal excitement.

Ok, I get that those are total straw men and mostly unfair.  The truth is that I have seen this pattern dozens of times among my peers and colleagues.  I have even noticed this pattern happen within my ministry and within me.  The more I reflect on this pattern the more I realize that there are actually two real options to avoid flame out by year 5.

Continue Reading…

In Discerning your issues , ,
permalink

Quit Procrastinating: It’s time for that mid-year check up!

January 24, 2013 — 3 Comments

Every six months I get the dreaded call.  It is the one from my dentist reminding me of my upcoming check up.  I HATE THE DENTIST! I have awful teeth and crazy tartar buildup. It is embarrassing and is never convenient.  But the truth is, because it is a regular part of my life, I get to keep my teeth and my wife :)  If I let my embarrassment over what might be seen or the fake business and importance of my life prevent me from getting a check up, minor problems become major problems and the little annoyances can actually wreck my mouth, ministry, and life.  (see how I just transitioned from my mouth to student ministry :)  )

dental-checkup

Now that you are fully into the swing of your second semester, it is the perfect time to take some time for your bi-annual ministry check up.  The reason we do this is the exact same reason we go to the dentist.  We want a healthy ministry that is experiencing growth and fix any problems that are festering before they explode.  But few of us are willing to do the hard work to actually evaluate our ministries, so we don’t even know what to fix or where to even begin.  Here is why it is of utmost important to evaluate our ministry as well as our own lives, and some questions for evaluation.

Continue Reading…

In Discerning your issues , ,
permalink

I am the best youth pastor ever!

January 6, 2013 — 8 Comments

I am the BEST

Ok, maybe I should have said, I think I am the best youth pastor ever.  Actually, now that I think about it, what I really want to say is that I want to be the best youth pastor ever.  But now that I have said it out loud and have revealed what a prideful and pompous jerk I am, I am left with the uncomfortable realization that I am not and will not ever be the best youth pastor.

This line of thinking has plagued me ever since I first started vocational youth ministry back in the late 90′s.  (You know when DC TALK was still king!)  I knew I did a good job and so did my church and so did my students.  And after about a year on the job I was pretty impressed with myself.  Then I went to my first YS conference and saw 5000 other people just like me.  All of us were wearing cargo shorts, polo shirts and had goatees.  (Except for the ladies, they didn’t have goatees) Most people would be encouraged by the vast numbers of youth workers, but for me I saw a giant ladder with 5000 rungs on it, and ever since I have been trying to move up those rungs so that some day I would be at the top.

Even though I know this pursuit to be totally dumb and impossible (Because Erik Anderson is already at the top, and you are there above me as well) it still seems to shapes my life.

My Sabbatical Epiphany: 

As of this post I have been on sabbatical for two months and have one more month to go.  In this time my leaders and fellow pastors at our church have picked up the slack and have been leading the ministry I used to lead and caring for the students I used to care for.  And the worst part is that they are doing an awesome job!  They didn’t get the memo that I am the best youth pastor ever and that their lives and faith would be in huge peril without my wisdom, direction, or care.

And in this same time I have been away from my student ministry I have had the opportunity to visit some other churches and other youth groups.  What I noticed was the exact same feeling that stirred in me over 15 years ago, that there are so many churches and so many youth workers.  So many people just like me caring for their own little posse of students and leaders.  But instead of ranking myself and my ministry against theirs, I found myself actually encouraged by the great job they were doing.  In this time away, trusting my own leaders and hanging with my colleagues, God has used my time away to remind me of some really important truths about youth ministry, about me, and about my calling.

Continue Reading…

In Discerning your issues
permalink