Our friends at youthministry360 and I wanted to do something special for all of the More Than Dodgeball Community. So, ym360 has created these awesome Christmas Devotions For Youth Workers, and wanted to release them here first!

The best part? They’re totally FREE! These devotions feature 7 days worth of daily content. Each day focuses on one of the main characters from the Christmas Story. Each character has a key attribute or characteristic that comes from the text. And each day, you’ll be challenged to consider how you might apply this characteristic in you life, and in the lives of your students as you lead them closer to Christ.

It’s just a simple way for youthministry360 and us to say, “Thanks”! We’re in awe of the amazing work you do in teenagers’ lives.

To download your FREE Christmas Devotions, click on this link.

(If you have any trouble at all with your download, the folks over at youthministry360 are available to help, anytime. Simply email them at info@youthministry360.com and they’ll be more than happy to help out.)

JG

Looking for some great youth ministry deals? How about some great resource freebies?

Today kicks off Simply Youth Ministry’s 10 Days of Freebies - I’m most excited that a best-selling resource (from Matt McGill and I’s little in-the-trenches experiment Download Youth Ministry) is available for FREE right now at SYM! Go get it -there’s free shipping, too – use promo code FRUITCAKE now!

JG

From time to time I post a question that comes into the blog for YOU to answer. What advice would you give this youth pastor who is asking about starting over again in a much smaller context than his previous experience. I’ll post some of my thoughts next week on how I answered him over email, but was hoping you could weigh in with your thoughts, too. Weigh in!

I’m a 20+ year youth ministry veteran of large church ministry but I find myself at a different place of ministry right now.  My family and are a part of a faith community that consists of maybe 125 people and most of those are college students from the local university. I was recently approached by the pastor about developing something for students (junior high and high school).  Before I was approached I felt like I needed to offer my time, so I welcomed the conversation.

To this point there has been nothing for students and we’ve lost some families because of it. I was, and am, energized by the possibility but to be honest, there’s a part of me that is at a loss of what to do. I realized I’ve always been a part of building onto something that has already existed.  This is starting from complete scratch! I realize not having anything is not necessarily a bad thing, because what ever we do, and how we do things, will have to be about relationships.

I guess my reason for contacting you is to simply ask: what would you do?  How would you go about starting a ministry? If you could start from scratch how would you do it? What would you not do?

JG

A lot of what I read about sexual sin in the Christian realm sounds strikingly similar to what I hear in the secular world. I’ve heard youth pastors say again and again things like:

• “Don’t have pre-marital sex, because you might get a disease.”
• “Don’t masturbate, because you’ll have erectile dysfunction when you’re married.”
• “Don’t look at porn, because it will make your wife seem ugly.”

As fine as these reasons are, the reason they sound just like the world’s advice is simply this: they have nothing to do with the gospel. So, I’d like to offer 12 gospel-centered things you should tell a guy who is struggling with lust:

1.) You Have a New Master. How many times have we justified using our bodies however we want with this line: It’s mine? News flash, Homie: if you are bought by the blood of Christ, your body does NOT belong to you. It belongs to Him. When you were saved, you didn’t buy Jesus. Jesus bought you. That means he dictates how your body should and shouldn’t be used.

You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.” -1 Corinthians 6:19b-20

2.) You Have a New Label. When we form a habit, we begin to identify ourselves by that habit. If we golf, we’re a golfer. If we lust, we’re a luster. So many times when temptation comes our way, Satan says: “Remember? You’re a luster. This is what you do. You’re a pervert.” If you have put your trust in Jesus Christ, that’s not true. Yes, you were a “luster” and a pervert. But when you accepted Christ, he gave you a new nature. You are no longer a luster or a pervert, but a son of God who has power to overcome Satan.

 You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. Colossians 3:7-10

4.) You Have a New Spirit Within You. So many guys I’ve talked to have just given up on their ability to overcome sexual temptation. “I don’t know what to do anymore. It’s just impossible to overcome lust!” Really? That’s not what God says. If you’ve been trapped in the lie that you can’t overcome sexual temptation, it’s time to begin believing more from God. If you’ve trusted Jesus for salvation, God has implanted the power of his own Spirit inside of you. To say “I can’t” is to say, “He can’t”. To say “I can” is to believe Him.

“…God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.”-1 Corinthians 10:13

4.) You Have a New Race to Run. So many times, guys return to their lust because they’re not replacing it with anything. If a guy lays down the sin that so easily entangles, but doesn’t run the race set before him, guess what? He’s going to get bored and pick his sin up again. Singleness isn’t about sitting around and playing Cheeto-stained video games until we get married. It’s not about having extra free time to pursue our own desires and hobbies and aims. Singleness is about ministry. It’s about pursuing God and others with a greater intensity than will ever be possible in your life again after marriage. So, maybe the reason you’re falling back into temptation again and again isn’t because you aren’t trying hard enough. Maybe it’s because you’re not replacing you’re bad habits with the exciting, life altering race God has for you as a single person.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. -Hebrews 12:1

5.) You Have a New Reason to Love your Wife. (Yes, I know high-school guys do not have wives. But in all likelihood, they will.) Did you know that there is a way for you to practice spiritual leadership of your wife right now? Did you know that there is a very practical, daily activity you can do to assist your future wife in her day-to-day life today? Did you know that you can begin growing in your love for her right now? You guessed it: pray for her. You may not know who she is, what color hair she’ll have, or how the heck you’re finally going to meet her. But when you do, you won’t regret one minute you spent on your knees for her. And guess what? As you grow in your love for her, you will also grow in your hate for the perversion of your relationship. Lust just seems dumb when you’re in love.

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. -Ephesians 5:25-27

6.) You Have a New Appetite. Part of the reason you fall into lust is this: you are thirsty. You are hungry. You are looking for beauty. Let me tell you something: you’re not going to find what you’re looking for under a girl’s clothes. You can look over and over again, but you’re still going to want more and more, because no woman can satisfy the longing you have to see God in his Holy Temple. That is the beauty you are looking for. Here’s the good news: you can experience this beauty in part, now, by dwelling on God’s word. God’s word is how he communicates all of his beautiful characteristics to you day after day. Are you leaving yourself spiritually hungry? Have you hidden God’s word in your heart that you might not sin against him? If not, you’ll try to itch that scratch with lust again and again.

Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” Matthew 4:4

7.) You Have a New Story. At the very root of lust is an attitude of ingratitude. If you spent your time [...]

Continue Reading “GUEST POST: 12 Things You Should Say to a Guy Who Struggles with Porn”

View More: 1 Corinthians 10, 1 John 2, colossians 3, ephesians 5, genesis 3, guest posts, hebrews 12, matthew 4, matthew 6, nick mcdonald, porn, pornography, purity, sexual sin

This weekend, we don’t have youth services. In fact, we don’t have any services at all! How awesome/bold/crazy is this idea: no services, but use that time to serve in the community, in your neighborhood or to your actual neighbor! You can read more about it on Kurt’s blog, and here’s some of the language that Saddleback is using to help people BE the church this coming weekend!

Did you know that serving those in need is an act of worship to God? Join us on the weekend of December 10th and 11th for “Good Neighbor Weekend” where, in place of our church services, Saddleback Church will be going out to show compassion to our neighbors as our act of worship. Since your small group is currently completing Bill Hybels’ “Just Walk Across the Room” curriculum, this will be a great opportunity to put it into action!

Here is how you can be a part of Good Neighbor Weekend:

Serve YOUR Neighbor – you and your family or small group can follow these 3 easy steps:

Step 1: See a Need – Talk together about how you could serve your direct neighbor, a co-worker, or someone else in need. You can discuss how you can serve them by meeting their physical, spiritual, or relational needs.

Step 2: “Step Across the Room/Street/Office” – Connect with the neighbor you have identified to let them know you would like to serve them in this way and schedule a time on the weekend of December 10-11.

Step 3: Serve – Gather with your family, small group, or some friends and go serve your neighbor.

Serving OUR Neighbors – We have also created several opportunities for you to help serve the neighbors of Saddleback Church. Do you have a heart for kids, seniors, the homeless, or the military? Join us at one of our “Good Neighbor Project” on December 10th or 11th.

JG

Got a solid response from this post yesterday so I asked the volunteer behind the student-led project to give me some insight into how the video was made and the process of making the video for the past few months. Here’s some of what he sent along:

The Landing video was made entirely by students for students. It started with an idea to get rid of the static image that advertises the landing in the Refinery common displays with something that was a little more catchy. We also wanted to try and redirect the thoughts some students have about the landing which is that its for “those” students and so we were aiming for the concept that on the outside we appear all put together but on the inside we can still hurt and have alternate feelings that we are dealing with. We wanted to emphasize the idea that you are not alone and you shouldn’t go through it alone and so the initial thought is groups that go deep and have a safe place to share at the landing but they can also discover that Jesus Christ is right there with them and they are not alone.

The project from concept to finish took us 3 months. We work on a volunteer schedule of schools and all their extra-curricular programs. These guys are definitely committed. They all have tons of after school programs and academically we have been making sure their grades have not been taking a back seat as a result of being a part of the ministry and they are all B average and higher students. So they work extremely hard. This is a learning ministry. None of these students knew anything about animation before we started and most had never been a part of a real film production, let alone organized one so it was a great learning experience for all of them. They had to organize the dates to shoot, allocate equipment and resources from other teams (we are a ministry with $0 budget so everything was borrowed). They had to find actors and rehearse choreography for the film, they then had to design the content which was shown in the hands, motion track both hands individually, frame by frame (there are nearly 2,000 frames which you have to do twice). Then again add the slide content  and then animate the signs in such a way that they have weight and appears that they actually live in reality and are not just digital. Finally they had to mask (cutout) the slides frame by frame to give it the effect of being held. They re-did this process about three times to get it to look right as they learned new and more advanced techniques along the way.

Finally we had Troy write and compose an entire original soundtrack for the piece. We spent several skype sessions together getting it just right before we went into the studio to record. We then had it mastered to make it sound really great.

As this project expanded we began to realize it could be used for more then just a simple ad in the Refinery Commons and had the potential to be used in a service (hopefully) and by other churches as they advertise their Landing program (super hopeful).

From time to time I ask you to weigh in on a question I receive over email that I don’t know the answer to or am interested in your response, too. Here’s one you could have fun answering in the comments!

My spouse is a youth pastor and reads your site constantly.  My question for you is what as a youth pastor would you like as a present for Christmas.  I have the present covered for the relationship-side but wanted to also get him/her something that was a good gift for a youth pastor. Help me out! I know meaningful gifts are far better than monetary gifts and would love some ideas.

So here you go youth pastors … what would be an awesome Christmas gift from your spouse/significant other for ministry? Weigh in!

JG

Speechless. Perfection.

Thanks to D. Scott for thinking of me and sending it my way!

JG

This weekend we played a new promo video for The Landing that was made entirely by students. It was incredible! Probably one of the best videos to come out of our whole church in a while honestly, I was blown away by how it was made. I’ve asked the volunteer who led the student project to share more about the making of the video which hopefully I’ll be able to post later this week, too. If you’re interested in learning more about The Landing program for your church, click right on over here.

Designed for junior high and high school students, The Landing give you everything you need to lead young people in making Jesus the foundation of their lives, avoiding or breaking cycles of dysfunction, and experiencing God’s incredible forgiveness and healing.

JG

Our adult services have started to do weekend announcements via video this weekend – this week’s featured HSM students packing shoeboxes! Wanted to give you an idea of how our big church is doing announcements these days, too!

JG