Josh GriffinMore PostsTear Down the Walls Secrets Finale VideoAt the end of HSM’s recent Secrets series we played a wrap-up video that turned out pretty solid. I’m hoping this is an idea we can use for each series – that we end each series by emphasizing the whole arc of the teaching and pull it all together in one final message.
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Josh GriffinMore PostsAppreciating Your Ministry VolunteersThought that Lisa over at CollegeMinistry.com had some great thoughts about thanking volunteers as they help serve in your ministry. Made me think about some of our leaders who could use a thank you this week. Here’s a clip of the whole article, head there for the rest:
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Josh GriffinMore PostsFun With Footprints in the SandI Tweeted about filming this parody of the famous Christian poem “Footprints in the Sand” a while back … here it is in all of it’s glory. From a talk about walking with Jesus during our LAUNCH back to school series. Fun.
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Josh GriffinMore PostsThe Top 2 Books That Have Influenced My MinistryWhen Kurt and I came up with the idea of sharing a couple books that influenced us the most in ministry my mind immediately thought of a dozen books that have significantly shaped me as a youth worker. Without a doubt I am a better leader, husband, parent and youth pastor because of the influence of incredible men and women who have shared their hearts, learnings and failures with me over the past 15 years.
As for the Top 2 … well, these are the best of the best. If you haven’t read them, I can’t encourage you enough to pick them up and let the authors pour into you like they did me. Here’s the 2 most influential in my life personally, and a list of runners up you may also want to check out:
The Heart of a Pastor — HB London
I remember reading this book while I was serving in my first church. Ministry then was a series of extremes. It was extremely rewarding and I had a front-row seat to life change for the very first time as a pastor. And was extremely challenging and difficult to figure out how to do youth ministry for the first time. If it wasn’t for a grace-filled pastor and elders I would have (and possibly should have) been long gone. I read this book and one particular phrase continued to stand out to me as a stark reminder of my calling: bloom where you are planted. No excuses, no wandering eyes, no wishing you were somewhere else — God has called you HERE so until you hear from Him, act like it. So I did. Fantastic book.
Purpose Driven Youth Ministry — Doug Fields
This book came at another crucial time in my youth ministry experience. My wife and I had actually resigned our youth ministry position and were finishing up the summer out before leaving “to go to seminary” — translation: we wanted out, and this was the nice way of saying goodbye. During our final months I happened to stumble on Purpose Driven Church by Rick Warren and eventually this, Doug Fields’ student ministry version of the book. As I devoured the pages, it felt like what he was saying was what I had always felt — even intrinsically know — about how church could be. We went back to our church that summer and God blessed us with 4 more incredible years at that same church we had resigned from, and the student ministry became something really special. This book played an eye-opening role in my journey to become a real youth pastor. An absolute must-read.
Runners-Up
First Two Years in Youth Ministry by Doug Fields
Sustainable Youth Ministry by Mark Devries
Every Man’s Battle by Stephen Arterburn
Grace Awakening by Charles Swindoll
Bringing Up Boys — James Dobson
Handbook on Counseling Youth — Josh McDowell
What books have shaped you? I’d like to read them next!
This post was written by Josh Griffin and Kurt Johnston and originally appeared as part of Simply Youth Ministry Today free newsletter. Subscribe to SYM Today right here.
Josh GriffinMore Posts20% Off Simply Youth Ministry … Today Only!
Want to take 20% off your order* from Simply Youth Ministry TODAY only? Use the morethandodgeball.com promo code: AirHorn but be warned it expires at tonight at 11:59pm PST. A few suggestions:
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*excludes LIVE Curriculum and Simply All Access
Josh GriffinMore PostsBook Review: Pray for Kaia – She is Such a GiftI received a copy of Pray for Kaia: She is Such a Gift from the author of the book – Ryan Donovan had asked about sharing his story here on the blog and eventually did in a moving guest post about grief in ministry. I expressed my interest in his book about his precious newborn daughter’s short life and I just finished reading it tonight. The book is a collection of emails written by Ryan and his wife to friends and family members as they walked through the journey from life to death. They are incredibly moving letters and demonstrate great faith in the midst of uncertainty, hopelessness and pain. About 12 pages in was the first time my eyes filled with tears, as they did twice more before I finally caved in at the end, tears streaming down my cheeks. The book is gripping and emotionally charged, but will do great things to your faith and remind you of the Father’s love for His children. Wow.
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Josh GriffinMore PostsLive Curriculum VideoWe’re about to kickoff the Life Group year – training is tonight and tomorrow night!
This year we’re continuing to use the fantastic LIVE curriculum for our high school small group lessons each week. LIVE comes with a powerful web tool to help us communicate with our volunteer team and scales easily to add new groups and leaders. It is what we use every week of the small group year and we love it. Check it out in the video above and read more over on Simply Youth Ministry, too.
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Josh GriffinMore PostsBook Review: Small Groups with a Purpose: How to Create Healthy CommunitiesI’m reading Steve Gladen’s new book, Small Groups with Purpose: How to Create Healthy Communities. He’s one of the pastors on staff here at Saddleback and has been heading up the adult small group ministry pretty much forever. If you’re interested in learning how we do small groups, you’ve come to the right place – Steve does a great job of walking you through the model we use and gives some clear reasons why we’ve chosen it and it works for us. Keep in mind this is primarily for our adult programs (you can read more about our student ministry take on small groups in Doug Fields & Matt McGill’s Small Groups from Start to Finish). If you’re looking for a tool to help challenge you in the area of small groups, look no further than right here. Leader training, infrastructure, host homes, health assessment, evaluation, successes and failures – all in the book.
If you’re looking for a quick look at how small groups work at Saddleback (while you’re waiting for your book to arrive from Amazon), check out Saddleback Small Group FAQs or 8 Reasons to Join a Small Group.
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Josh Griffin has been in youth ministry for 16+ years in a small church and a big church. He currently serves as the High School Pastor at Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, CA. [read more]
Geoff Stewart serves the Jr / Sr High School Pastor at Peace Portal Alliance Church in Surrey B.C.
Chris Wesley serves as the Director of Student Ministry at Church of the Nativity in Timonium, Maryland.
Colton Harker serves with Josh at Saddleback Church. He is currently in his second year in youth ministry.
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