Josh Griffin | More Than Dodgeball

Josh GriffinMore Posts GUEST POST: KONY 2012

If you’re currently living under a rock, first off, how the heck did you get down there and what do you eat? Next, you may not have noticed the sweeping link that is currently ravaging nearly every social media page you see: KONY 2012. In a nutshell, it’s an awareness campaign orchestrated by a group called Invisible Children. The stated goal of the campaign is to see the arrest of Joseph Kony, leader of the LRA (Lord’s Resistance Army) in Central Africa. Kony is responsible for atrocious crimes against humanity and more specifically, children. A man of evil action, to be sure.

But what I’d like to point out quickly are the implications for those who care about and lead teenagers and young adults, because that’s what I do.

First off, the teenage population in America (and most of the planet) has ALWAYS been causal. This age group has always been and will likely always be the ones who display the most passion, are first to “sound the alarm” of injustice, and fly the banner of “I’m in!” when it comes to marching toward a better world. (Coincidentally, they’re also the ones with the most time on their hands.) In essence, it’s the teenage/young adult’s experience to be this for the rest of us; not in place of the rest of us but rather to continually remind us what it looks like to live a life of passion. And I’m so glad they do.

Next, it should be pointed out that we’re all looking for something to be passionate about. KONY 2012 would be the perfect example of someone sharing information with someone who shares it with someone who shares it with someone who shares it with someone, but it’s not. Instead (due to technology) its the perfect example of an organization (Invisible Children) sharing information with a massive audience, who then shares it with a massive audience, who in turn shares it with a massive audience. There are literally people who woke up this morning thinking KONY was Ben & Jerry’s latest flavor and by sundown will be completely immersed in and committed to the idea of bringing Joseph Kony to justice. They’ll have signed the pledge, ordered the kit, and have already bought the war paint for their April 20th nighttime canvassing campaign.

Something we can glean from the KONY 2012 (among other things) is the reminder that young people are wired to move. Unscrewing the top of their head and putting information in is futile unless it pours down to their legs and gets them moving. Truth is learned when truth is lived. As a youth pastor, it challenges me to continually put in front of my students the opportunity to act on truth.

But I’m careful and even suspicious when I see links like KONY 2012. I’m not the kind of guy who gets his sense of superiority by NOT liking what everybody else does (I still say TOMS are hideous), but I do realize that while enthusiasm is great, educated enthusiasm is even better. I wonder how many people watched the first 60 seconds of the half hour KONY 2012 video, decided that was enough, and “shared” it with their Facebook world. Or maybe more likely, who didn’t even watch the video and just shared it because it seems to be the hip thing to do…..”Oh, you hate KONY? Well, then me too! I hate KONY! Who’s with me?!?”

Finally, I want to share my conviction about something. This might come off as a given, but I think it bears stating. Social action and justice-driven activity is NOT the Gospel. Those who receive salvation are not always those with the most banners flying. Tons of people will climb aboard the Kony Express and never know the love of Jesus and the power of His forgiveness. Likewise, tons of people will love and follow Jesus, and not participate in the KONY 2012 campaign. I know that seems harsh and I’m not at all saying that social issues don’t matter or that Joseph Kony should be left alone. Of course not. But we need to understand that you can love Jesus, watch the KONY 2012 video and choose to not sign the petition. You can know nothing of Joseph Kony and still be welcomed into the family of God, the forgiveness He offers, and the eternity He has prepared. I’ve seen the enemy use campaigns exactly like this to drive wedges between Christians because some feel passionately about a particular issue while others don’t.

So, go check out KONY 2012. Or don’t. Go sign the petition. Or don’t. Get a nap on April 19th so you’re fired up and ready to vandalize your own community on April 20th. Or don’t.

Quick take-aways for leaders of students:

1. Harness the energy of your students passionate to do something. Just make sure it’s the right something.

2. Keep in front of them opportunities to move. And I’m not just talking about The Interlude.

3. Keep the Gospel central to any social justice activity you’re a part of. Too often, the Gospel message becomes an “oh, by the way” addendum rather than a “this is why we’re here” passionate invitation.

Rich Yauger is a youth pastor who blogs at The Yaug Blog. Be sure to check it out!

3 View Comments March 10, 2012

Josh GriffinMore Posts GUEST POST: Managing Expectations Part 2: Parents

Last week I wrote about the need to manage the expectations of our students so that we can avoid leaving them disappointed or frustrated by unmet needs that they have of our time, teaching and their taste. We get pulled in a lot of directions and its unavoidable that we are not going to appease everyone so its important that we are proactive in our approach, especially to parents.

With parents its important to manage their expectations, especially the ones who think that since their tithe pays for salary, that they can tell you what to do and assume that you are doing very little.

Time: Students covet your time, and parents covet your time for their children. We have all been there, when a parent calls and asks if you would spend some “Pastoral” time with their student who has gone astray. For some its reactive and some its proactive, but the calls are coming and sometimes it can be a lot to deal with and schedule. In a ministry that has small group leaders, its vital that we be open to meeting with students, but help parents understand the importance of the relationship students have with their small group leaders is. I love meeting up with students, but when the culture shifts to one where the small group leader is having those meetings, you are not only able to multiply the ministry, but you have facilitated a much more sustainable relationship.

Teaching: I really do like when parents care about what we are teaching, but I am not sure about you, but I have a few parents have an expectation that we would teach would teach their students the entire Bible in the 3-6 years that we have them in our program. If her daughter has not have a full understanding of the Old Testament genealogies, am I really cut out to be a Pastor? The reality is that this is just not possible. Our aim is to teach God’s word to our students, help them understand how to read it and how the Bible continues to intersect their lives today.

Taste: This is easily the hardest thing for me to reconcile because the fact is that despite each of our best efforts to avoid this, there are students who will just not stick at our program. The hard part is that they might be kids who have been in the church for years and come to youth and never feel that it’s a place that they can go. We do out best to let parents know up front that we will make effort to help their students connect, develop relationship and land in a small group that will cultivate their student’s spiritual growth but our best and most intentional efforts are sometimes not enough.
Parents need to hear that we care deeply about their students and that we are concerned about cultivating a culture where students grow in relationship with Jesus and each other. There are a lot of expectations on us as youth workers, some expressed and others not and the more we can do to be proactive at managing and speaking to them, them more positive and healthy our relationship will be with the whole family.

Geoff Stewart is the Pastor of Jr & Sr High School for Journey Student Ministries at Peace Portal Alliance Church and regularly contributes GUEST POSTS to MTDB. Be sure to check out his Twitter stream for awesome ministry goodness. Want to get in on the fun and write up a guest post yourself? Send it on over.

Add Comment March 10, 2012

Josh GriffinMore Posts GUEST POST: Fat Guy in a Little Coat

Chris Farley in Tommy Boy is the epitome of how I have felt about myself for a long time. I felt down on myself cause I struggled with who I am and where I was going in a while. I didn’t truly value myself like I should. I didn’t see my value in Christ.

Right now I am down 13lbs since I started dieting a short while ago. I realize my weight has nothing to do with my value, but it has a lot to do with how I see myself.

I started dieting about 4.5 weeks ago because I recognized a few things.
1. My weight was getting in the way of seeing Gods value in me.
2. My wife is working hard on being in the best shape of her life.
3. Youth Ministry easily leads you to eating terrible foods (pizza, chocolate bars, chips, pop, fries, burgers…oh I miss these things)
4. I was not looking so hot, unless someone looks at overweight bearded youth pastors and thinks to themselves “Oh YEAH!”

God values me as a creation of His. I am very good! He sent Jesus to die on a cross for me because He loves me exactly how I am. Whether I am my current weight or 100lbs heavier. But at the same time, God didn’t make this body so I can trash it. He made it so I can use it for his purpose, and like any tool you gotta take care of it or it doesn’t work very well.

I will be honest, I also have to take better care of myself because my wife works hard to take care of herself. My body is also partially hers, and I know she doesn’t want her part to be mostly fat. So I am working on myself as a gift to her.

As pastors and leaders in churches, we often forget about our bodies and the physical bodies of the people we call “the body of Christ”. I hope we can correct that. I hope we can start to see the body as a tool to be used for God’s glory and that we try to keep it up.

I know some people will always struggle with weight (myself included). Some of us will not have the time to hit the gym so we can look like Ryan Reynolds or Hugh Jackman, we will look a lot more like Seth Rogen or Billy Crystal. But that’s not the point! The point is we need to take strides to take care of this physical body so we can take care of the body of the church.

Kyle Corbin is a youth pastor/blogger would writes over on the Simple Ministry site. Check him out!

5 View Comments March 10, 2012

Josh GriffinMore Posts 5 Bits of Fatherly Advice to the Youth Pastor

Loved this post over on Tony Morgan’s blog from a father of 4 to the youth pastor. Here’s a clip, definitely worth the trip to get the rest:

1.Don’t have Bible studies on Sunday morning, but encourage my kids to serve. As a parent, I’m constantly battling everything in culture that’s telling my kids, “Life is all about YOU.” I don’t need my church to be compounding that challenge. Please help me parent my kids by encouraging them to serve other people. In the long run, learning to serve will ultimately keep them connected to the church after they graduate. Likely the additional Bible study will not.

2.Provide leadership opportunities for my kids. When we become Christ-followers, we receive spiritual gifts. God doesn’t hold on to those gifts until we become adults. In other words, students can also have the spiritual gift of leadership. If you don’t offer opportunities for my kids, they’ll check out of your student ministry and find another organization where they can use their gifts.

3.Don’t meet on Sunday night if at all possible. It’s true that there are no school activities on Sunday nights, but Sundays are a very busy evening for my kids. Every bit of homework and test preparation that needs to happen before Monday takes place on Sunday nights, because it certainly didn’t happen on Friday night or Saturday. At all three churches where I’ve served, the midweek student gatherings were always better attended than the Sunday evening gatherings. I know. There will be seasons when athletes may not be able to participate…though you can probably still accommodate them. I believe one of the key reasons midweek is stronger is because my kids can invite their friends at school that afternoon.

JG

4 View Comments March 9, 2012

Josh GriffinMore Posts My Leadership Pillars

When Kurt came up with the idea of Leadership Pillars – I honestly hadn’t thought about it much. As I processed some key things that I value or repeat as a leader, these 4 things rose to the top:

Build fun into everything
I love to have fun! I don’t think it is just my personality, I think everyone enjoys a good time. I want people around me to enjoy their interaction and time with me – it doesn’t mean I’ll always be happy or I’ll avoid a tough conversation – what I do hope it means is that in a typical day we’ll laugh and play together as we serve God.

It also means that when we gather as a small group, we’ll spend half of the night killing it, the other half in the Word. It means that when we gather as a large group, we’ll laugh as God’s truth goes down. Let’s have some fun.

Lead with optimism
My leadership style lends itself to seeing a future of what could be, not necessarily the painful road of difficulty to get there. If you’re going to be around me very long, you’ll quickly realize I’m going to think of the end result first. I can still problem solve and understand the challenges of the real-world; I just prefer to see the future without cursing the roadblocks all day long.

The best idea wins
I love brainstorming – and no single person has an embargo on good ideas. Collaboration is my favorite word in the dictionary. Even if someone’s ideas aren’t the best – often a riff off of them or a trigger will bring about the best idea. I love to get people together and come up with ideas – it gives us a huge pile of ideas to choose from instead of one person in a lonely place of leadership hoping what they do is right or relevant. We can do it. Together.

Conflict leads to peace
Difficult conversations need to happen – if they don’t , something small will inevitably grow into something significant and potentially rectifying. I’ve led through this well, andI’ve led through this poorly. But I do know that a little conflict is good for everyone, painful as it is.

What are your leadership pillars?

JG

Add Comment March 8, 2012

Josh GriffinMore Posts Get The Interlude from SYMC

If you were at SYMC this week you know we played a fun little dance number that a bunch of people have asked to get their hands on. The dudes over at Digital Stache have unleashed it on their stellar Gameshow Blog. So pick up The Interlude … and a stack of other great games/graphics right now!

JG

3 View Comments March 8, 2012

Josh GriffinMore Posts THIS is Why I Breathe

Most people don’t understand what I do
When I tell them I’m a YOUTH WORKER they
Put their hand on my should and say with a sigh
“I DON’T KNOW HOW YOU DO IT”

And occasionally I still get asked when I’m going to be a “REAL PASTOR” or “WHEN I WILL BE TOO OLD FOR THIS” but they don’t get it: THIS IS WHY I BREATHE
· I live for the CRAZINESS OF CAMP it is there I most remember God’s call
· I live for the MESS OF MY SMALL GROUP because I know God will make something BEAUTIFUL
· On a shopping run for the overnighter I almost wait with anticipation for the checkout lady to ask WHAT IS ALL OF THIS FOR?
· I live for the LIFE-CHANGING CONVERSATIONS even if they happen between the hours of 2-4AM on a mission trip

The long hours, the challenging work, the highs and lows … the office in the church basement …it all doesn’t matter to me. This is why I am on the earth. This is why God made me.

I was created by HIM. For THEM.

THIS. IS WHY. I BREATHE.

JG

12 View Comments March 7, 2012

Josh GriffinMore Posts Footprints Parody Video from SYMC

Got lots of requests for this video from the closing session at SYMC. We’ll be posting the other videos from the Simply Youth Ministry Conference later this week right here on the blog. Enjoy!

JG

9 View Comments March 6, 2012

Josh GriffinMore Posts GUEST POST: Managing Expectations Part 1: Students

When I was a kid, I remember making my parents pretty frustrated from time to time and they would say many different things as a result, but not one of those words had more impact than the big D and I don’t mean Dallas (country music joke) I mean DISAPPOINTED. That word just seems to cut so deep and I just hate disappointing my wife, my family, and my students. Its unavoidable but being proactive to manage the expectations that students have of you will go a long way to feeling the wrath of the D word.

Here are a few areas that you can help students to develop reasonable expectations of you and the youth group so that we can under-promise and over deliver.

Time: Believe it or not, you do sleep, and you do not sleep at the Church. There is a limit to what you can do and how much time you have to spend with students and leaders. We probably all have what you can bluntly refer to as a “time suck” student who would love to spend every possible moment hanging out. Students in general covet face time with their leaders. The thing we need to help students understand is that they are unique, awesome and fearfully and wonderfully made, but so are the other 50 students in your group. Helping students realize that they are important, but are also 1 of your ___ students is important. Make the most of the time you spend with students but manage their expectations on how often and for how long you will meet.

Teaching: After disappointment, the next scariest D word that I have heard from a youth is “Deeper” — the magical land of greater knowledge, that is completely relative to each person’s own lived experience and previous learning, YIKES! We have our students for about 1/200^th of their waking hours in a week, so its imperative that we help them realize that there is a limit to what we can teach them, and the limit to depth which we can go with such a narrow window of time. Ultimately they need to own the frequency and value of their spiritual disciplines and through that come depth of relationship with Christ. Having reasonable expectations of this will help them see that they own this process more than they are owed this process.

Taste: Try as you might, you are never going to make all students happy with your youth program. One week might be too fun, the next too serious, another might have too many new worship songs, or not enough small group time. I have heard every complaint known to youth pastors but here is the way we are trying to explain it to our students who express a dislike for what ever we served up that night. Imagine you are hosting a dinner party for 100 people, and you have to feed them something. You plan the meal, with foods that you feel most people would like, in fact 80% will probably really enjoy. It’s fresh, well prepared and good for you too! But the truth is that 20% of the people might not like what you are serving and some might not say, and others might flat out tell you. What we are trying to build into our students is that even though you might not like what was served, how great is it that 100 people are eating together and how amazing is it that for some, this is most nutritious meal they have ever had.

Helping your students have reasonable expectations of you and the youth group will go a long way to building a new generation of adults in the Church that are focused what they can do to invest in their relationship with God instead of placing blame on the Church for short comings in their faith.

Geoff Stewart is the Pastor of Jr & Sr High School for Journey Student Ministries at Peace Portal Alliance Church and regularly contributes GUEST POSTS to MTDB. Be sure to check out his Twitter stream for awesome ministry goodness. Want to get in on the fun and write up a guest post yourself? See how right here.

Add Comment March 6, 2012

Josh GriffinMore Posts Show Up, Serve, Stay

Leadership is everywhere. Leadership books, leadership conferences, leadership podcasts. This week, we’ll look at a few ways to get some easy leadership wins and help you develop trust with the people you serve.

Show Up
Being consistent day after day in your church is a huge win. People will quickly learn that you care about them and their church when you give it your all every day. When you’re around, you’re all in. Make your office hours public and stick to them. Communicate when you’re going to be gone and when you’re going to be back.

Serve
It goes beyond showing up; it’s the attitude you bring to the table. You’ll never lose when you lead with humility. Learn to serve and you’ll lead people to Jesus. Be the first to arrive and the last to leave as often as possible. Look for the “grunt” job that others are avoiding, and instead of asking the intern to do it, do it yourself. When you serve in ways you aren’t required to, two things happen: 1) You do what Jesus would do and, 2) you build trust with those you lead.

Stay
Want to be a good leader? Stick around. The “revolving door” of youth ministers in most churches hurts the “office of the youth pastor”. In other words, when you leave after a short stint, you hurt the person who comes behind you. Tough it out and be a leader who sticks around for a while. When you make it through some challenges yourself, it helps others realize you can be trusted with their stuff, too.

So listen to leadership podcasts, read the latest book, or go to the next event. But know that every day when you show up, serve and stay you’re leading people quite well.

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.