Josh Griffin | More Than Dodgeball

Josh GriffinMore Posts SYMC 2012 Digital Conference Brochure

Super excited to play a part in the Simply Youth Ministry Conference 2012. Hope you’ll join us – here’s a digital version of the new SYMC2012 brochure that just was mailed out. So excited – see you in March!

JG

1 View Comments September 12, 2011

Josh GriffinMore Posts GUEST POST: Taking Humor More Seriously

We’ve gotta start taking humor more seriously!

Psalm 126:2 and Job 8:21 directly link laughter as a result of God’s blessing. Even so, humor sometimes gets a bad rap in church and ministry circles because we’ve seen it used so many times in ways that don’t glorify God. When utilized within God’s boundaries though (see Ephesians 5:4 to read how much God doesn’t laugh at bathroom humor), laughter is simply too great of a gift and too powerful a communication weapon to not harness for God’s glory.

Laughter is one of God’s greatest creations. Used creatively and effectively, it can attract people from all walks of life to His truth and ultimately, the Gospel. I’ve seen God at work through humor firsthand. It’s one of the reasons nearly 20,000 young people from 84 countries have prayed to receive Christ on TheDougAndJonShow.com. Yes, we share the Gospel — but we win a young person’s trust first by sharing some laughs.

Laughs break the ice. When communicating, in some cases you’ve got maybe 30 seconds before a person, especially a young person, decides whether they relate to you and will listen to what you have to say. When you start a conversation with a shared laugh, you can break down invisible walls in an instant.

Laughs change negative perceptions. We live in a world full of people that believe Christians are all Mr. and Mrs. Judge-ingtons. Their perception is we want to yell at them because they have sin in their lives. One shared laugh at our own shortcomings can communicate we’re not all the sticks in the mud they perceive us to be.

Laughs can help effectively communicate hard truths. Recently I taught at a church from Proverbs 4:23 on guarding your heart. I used a funny illustration about how there’s a stretch on Interstate 40 in Texas that assaults your nasal cavity because of all the cow farms in the community. Somehow though, the folks that live there don’t smell it because they’re used to it. From there I turned the corner into Christians not being able to “smell” the kind of entertainment that is offensive to God because we’re so accustomed to it. I call communicating hard truths this way as “putting velvet on a brick.” You don’t water down the hard truth — but you get people thinking about it on a deeper level because you delivered it in an entertaining and unexpected way. Not every truth in God’s Word is appropriate to illustrate with humor, but it’s wise to consider utilizing humor in ones where it works.

So laugh a little, and invite others to crack up with you! It’ll bring a bright spot into their day, and it might even give them a glimpse into the joy that comes from following such a great Savior.

This guest post was written by Doug Hutchcraft, co-founder of “The Doug and Jon Show.” If you want to know more about their ministry check out their website right here: http://www.thedougandjonshow.com/

Add Comment September 12, 2011

Josh GriffinMore Posts Group Magazine Live This Monday: Youth Leaders at Risk

Group Magazine Live
Topic: Youth Leaders at Rick
Hosts: Rick Lawrence & Toby Rowe
Guests: Andy Brazelton, Leneita Fix, Darren Sutton, PLUS tons of special surprise guests
When: Monday September 12th @12:30pm MST
Where: http://www.simplyyouthministry.tv/

GML’s second episode will discuss “Youth Leaders at Risk”. We will dive into the what, when, where, why, how a youth worker is to care for students, family, oh yeah and themselves! Guests will include cross-fit expert and 100 mile marathon veteran Andy Brazelton, Leneita Fix (founder of http://www.blueskygreensky.com/), and Darren Sutton (an in the trenches Youth Worker & Biggest Loser Applicant). Rick Lawrence (Editor of Group Magazine) will host, & Toby Rowe (of Group WorkCamps) will co-host. Together they’ll expand on the topic of “Youth Leaders at Risk”, and how to combat the struggles of ministry, life, and health in order to personally draw nearer to Jesus.

JG

1 View Comments September 11, 2011

Josh GriffinMore Posts GUEST POST: Launching Into Fall

Last week was our student ministry’s fall launch week. Every ministry has seasons, especially student ministry. For us, there are 3: Fall (starting in August), Winter/Spring (starting in January), & Summer (starting in June). The rhythm of these ministry seasons calls for realignment behind your God-given vision and communicating that vision to your people. This means two things: 1) who you are & 2) where you’re going. The fall season is even more crucial in this respect because it tends to be the biggest surge of the year in youth ministry. Students are returning to school and getting back into the swing of things for the year. They tend to be a little more on task and more apt to attend service if invited. So communicating vision within the context of your fall launch is a great way to start off the ministry year. I did this in both our middle school/high-school & college/20-something services.

For YouthQuake, I reemphasized our Live Extraordinarily, Lead Creatively, & Love Extravagantly vision that I spent alot of time developing and communicating last year. Putting this discipleship process out in front from the very beginning of our fall season gives us a starting point for where we are going. In other words, it’s our identity…the “who we are.” Check out Geiger & Borton’s Simple Student Ministry and Rainer & Geiger’s Simple Church for details on developing a central vision and discipleship process. From there, I was able to preach a sermon around the “who we are” and the “where we are going.” Breaking down the Matthew 10 passage of Jesus gathering and sending his disciples gave us the foundation for two new initiatives in YouthQuake. First, the “gathering” part of the sermon served as a launching pad for our conversation and announcement of our LIVE groups, small groups and discipleship ministry. We’ve been moving in this direction and are finally pulling the trigger on the “next step” in YouthQuake using Doug Fields’ LIVE Curriculum. Jesus spoke to the multitudes and the thousands, but made his greatest impact in his small group of disciples. Rather than making a trite announcement saying, “Hey, you should signup for this new program,” we were able to communicate the biblical foundation for small groups, the whys behind it, AND the big picture of our vision in a matter of a half-hour. In turn, the response has been through the roof and LIVE groups are already getting full. When you communicate the vision behind the program, the program makes more sense.

Secondly, we emphasized the sending aspect of Matthew 10 when Jesus commissions his disciples to go out the the “lost sheep of Israel.” Go to YOUR immediate context, the people you’re with everyday. Preach the gospel. The kingdom is near. Do extraordinary things. Heal the sick. Raise the dead. In other words, LIVE. LEAD. LOVE. From here, we announced our Lifebook initiative which I posted back in April HERE. Again, rather than announce the saturation week as another event on the calendar, we were able to cast the vision for the Lifebook initiative within the context of the sending portion of Matthew 10. I already have students begging for books to take to their school.

We communicated two major initiatives for the fall and the central vision behind who we are on one of the biggest nights of our ministry year. When you have a larger, captive audience, take your opportunity to cast vision. When you cast vision, people catch it and run with it. It gets your core students recharged, your sporadic students plugged in, and your new students more interested. And it doesn’t have to be a boring, informational meeting. Tie it into the gospel and central message of Jesus. We are gathered to be sent and to declare the good news of Jesus. When you do that, people get why you’re really there. Visioncasting can be very spiritually impacting if you take it seriously. Best part of the night: we had a girl who came for her second time this week give her life to Jesus for the first time AND signup for small-groups AND the Lifebook initiative. Why? Because she felt the presence of God AND our desire to follow Jesus AND our heart to make an impact in our schools and she wanted in. Vision communicates hope and a future. And I’m excited for what God has in store.

Bradley K. Chandler is a graduate of Southeastern University and is the Student Ministries Pastor at Trinity Worship Center in Burlington, NC. Be sure to subscribe to his blog here — good stuff for sure.

Add Comment September 11, 2011

Josh GriffinMore Posts GUEST POST: Being a Leader During a Season of Grieving

This past Friday, I received the unfortunate news that my grandmother, one of my biggest heroes and Christian role models, passed away. I can truly say she was one of my best friends for all 26 years of my life and I will miss her intensely for many years to come. The pain of her death is real and the grief I feel is overwhelming.

The other realization that came about in the last few days is that I have to lead a volunteer training the youth ministry I serve with this weekend. How could I be a leader to these people, putting on a face when my soul was weeping, and getting through the training? If I do that I am being fake to myself and to God, but not addressing the training fully is a disservice to my volunteers and the students they are called to serve. Through this time of sorrow and leading, I have come to three points that are important to keep in mind.

Accept Grief For What It Is
People who minister to others tend to not allow others to serve them. I do not know if it is pride, trying to be strong for others, or just the inability to let others into our lives when we hurt, but we bottle it up until we can deal with it at a later time when it is “more convenient.” But to accept this as truth can eat away at our souls. Even Jesus needed time to mourn for Lazarus after he passed away, why do we think we should be the exception? If we do not allow ourselves to fully grieve, we can start to hide away parts of ourselves from loved ones and eventually try to hide it from God. That wound can then fester and turn into something bigger and more destructive than what it first started out as.

Actions Speak Louder Than Words
The youth ministry world is constantly talking about how they want to have authentic community with their leaders, to draw closer together with those that they serve along side. One beautifully painful way of doing so is to be upfront and honest with them. Open your heart to them, ask for them to pray for you, shed some tears together, and allow them to carry some of your burden. This allows you to be vulnerable to your volunteers and at the same time, gives them the permission to bring their heart to the group no matter how wounded it might be.

Respect Their Time, Do Not Dwell In The Pain
I had come to train my volunteers and that is what needed to happen, eventually. Some of these people might be paying babysitters, others skipping out of family plans so that they can get the training to fulfill a calling to serve the youth at your church. Honor them and their time by not dwelling on the situation longer than is necessary. Be real, open your heart, and then get to business. This moment of mourning does not have to be the only time to be real with your volunteers about your heart and so you can reconnect with them over the following months individually at Starbucks or breakfast at McDonalds. In so honoring their time, you can strengthen the relationships that have already been established.

Jeremy Smith is a 26-year old youth pastor at the Air Force Academy chapel, working for Club Beyond, and attending Denver Seminary for his Master”s of Arts in Counseling Ministries. He has been involved in Youth for Christ for eight years — check out his blog at Seventy8Productions.

Add Comment September 10, 2011

Josh GriffinMore Posts Youth Ministry at Age 40

I was asked to answer a few questions for a friend’s upcoming book on veteran youth ministry. While I’m not quite 40 yet (give me a few years and I’ll get there), I thought the questions were great and a fun chance to reflect on youth ministry from a little further down the road:

Name some things you can do at 40 that you could never have done at 20. Being 36 … I take a little offense to this question. But I do have a growing “black list” of things I’ll never do in youth ministry again. And I definitely do things differently 15 years in. The most exciting thing I can do with this age and experience is assure students that “I’ve seen it all” – they can share whatever is going on in there life and I won’t be shocked. I think I’ve heard of, dealt directly with, and am prepared for whatever mess students can make with their lives. I don’t think I could have said that in my earlier years.

What are some things you know at 40 that you wish you has known at 20. I think I can see now how rich and rewarding long-term youth ministry is – I think as a young youth pastor I saw the day-to-day pain of senior pastor relationships, poor time management and students screwing up their lives to appreciate the perspective of the wise old Yoda that I am now. Ha. Look like Yoda, I do, wise I am not.

What are some things you no longer do at 40 that you used to do at 20. The obvious answer is overnighters … but we still do those on occassion and honestly I look down on youth workers who refuse to do them. Just kidding. I think I used to worry more about keeping my job when I was 20, I used to worry more about how God would provide for my family. I used to worry about making everyone happy. I used to worry about … well, everything. I wonder sometimes if I should worry MORE now than I do, because I don’t anymore.

What are the benefits of growing older and remaining in youth ministry? I think there’s a certain credibility that comes of age. I think you don’t strive to be cool, you just want to care. I think there’s a rewarding aspect to mentoring other youth leaders that is really exciting. Most of all, it is seeing the teenage lives that God changed now grown up and doing His work. Some you thought would be incredible are … others flamed out. Some you prayed for but gave up on came back to Him and He did some amazing things with them. Who knew? Fun to see it from a few years down the road.

JG

9 View Comments September 9, 2011

Josh GriffinMore Posts Book Review: Practicing the Way of Jesus

This summer I read-most-of-and-skimmed-the-rest of Practicing the Way of Jesus: Life Together in the Kingdom of Love by Mark Scandrette. It was a book that when I got it I thought this was going to be another book challenging safe, complacent Christians to sell-everything-and-live-the-simple-life. And it somewhat is, but a little different from the ones that Shane Claiborne and others made famous. Mark challenges everyone to take part in experiments of faith that challenge us to get outside our comfortable and safe Christian box. He wanders through experiments in community that push us to be more like Christ and more effective for Christ. While this isn’t in my wheelhouse of topics/books I normally read, I liked someone messing with the normal suburban life and pushing us to be more like Jesus and out to the fringe.

JG

Add Comment September 8, 2011

Josh GriffinMore Posts HSM Kenya Mission Trip Promo Video

Here’s a video we used to promote an upcoming mission trip to Kenya with HSM. I’m so excited to go back again this year.

JG

1 View Comments September 8, 2011

Josh GriffinMore Posts How to Greet Students at Your Entry-Level Program

You’ve got some leaders showing up to youth group – but after a few weeks they fall into the dreaded trap of standing in the back of the room as chaperones instead of shepherds. They need modeling on how to talk to teenagers and some training! Saw this on the YS Blog and am going to steal it for our ministry, too. Here’s a clip from 10 Tips to a 1st Encounter:

1. Say hello!
Don’t be shy! Take the initiative to introduce yourself. Although their body language may be showing otherwise, students want a warm welcome!

2. Understand the context
Let your surroundings and circumstances dictate how to begin the conversation. For instance, if you’re meeting at a food place, talk about what’s good to eat, at a movie theater, what movie to see, etc.

3. Pay attention
You’ll learn a lot about people from their body language and the words and phrases they use. Listen and watch carefully

4. Pay attention, part 2
Your own body language will determine how willing and interested you are to actually have a conversation. Be authentic. Students know whether you are genuinely interested or not.

5. Let’em shine!
Encourage students to talk about themselves by asking about their interests, tattoos, jewelry, bad breath, etc.

JG

Add Comment September 7, 2011

Josh GriffinMore Posts Text Devotions for Students to Start the New School Year

As part of our LAUNCH series we gave students the option of opting-in on some SMS devotions that some students wrote for them. If you want to get them yourself over a couple weeks, text “HSM Bible” to 39970 and I’ve listed them out here if you want to edit/use them for something in your ministry, too:

Yes! You just subscribed to the HSM LAUNCH devotions. I’m excited you want to walk with Jesus as we start the school year. The devotions will start arriving tomorrow – I’m praying that you’ll have an incredible year serving Him! Josh

HSM LAUNCH DEVOTIONS: START TODAY WITH PRAYER Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he’s done. Then you will experience Gods peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. Phil 4

HSM LAUNCH DEVOTIONS: PARENTS My son, obey your fathers commands, and dont neglect your mothers instruction. Keep their words always in your heart. Proverbs 6

HSM LAUNCH DEVOTIONS: GOD’S PATH This is what the LORD says your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: I am the LORD your God, who teaches you what is best for you, who directs you in the way you should go. Isaiah 48:17 NIV

HSM DEVOTIONS: GOD’S POWER OVER SIN AND TEMPTATION I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize. 1 Corinthians 9:26-27

HSM DEVOTIONS:RUN THE RACE You were running a good race. Who cut in on you and kept you from obeying the truth? -Galatians 5:7 Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Hebrews 12:1 What race are you running?

HSM DEVOTIONS: DEVELOP A NEW SPIRITUAL HABIT No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have trained by it. Hebrews 12:11

HSM DEVOTIONS: FRIENDS BUILD UP OR TEAR DOWN As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another. Proverbs 27:17 Accountability partners are a great way to stay on Gods path. Who is speaking truth into your life this week?

HSM DEVOTIONS: GOD’S PLAN FOR YOU You provide a broad path for my feet, so that my ankles do not give way. 2 Samuel 22:37 God made the best way to live our life, are you following it? Pray over changes you may need to make.

HSM DEVOTIONS: THE RECKLESS LIFE The angel of the LORD asked him, Why have you beaten your donkey these three times? I have come here to oppose you because your path is a reckless one before me. Numbers 22:32 Are you on the right path? Stay faithful to God in your actions today!

HSM DEVOTIONS: LISTEN TO GOD’S VOICE I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my loving eye on you. Psalm 32:8 Where are you hearing from God? Is he using a peer or an adult to speak to you? If so, follow their wise instruction.

HSM DEVOTIONS: LOVE GOD WITH EVERYTHING And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in obedience to him, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul…” Deuteronomy 10:12

HSM DEVOTIONS: SHINE BRIGHT TODAY …to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the path of peace. Luke 1:79

HSM LAUNCH DEVOTIONS: GOD LOVES YOU God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him. John 3:16,17 Pray for a friend at your school to trust Christ!

That is the end of the HSM LAUNCH Back to School devotional texts. Want to keep going? HSM students and leaers will be writing them all year long! We’ll send out 2-3 a week to help you walk with Jesus. Reply to this text with “hsm devotions” to get them sent your way starting next week!