Just a silly picture we took this weekend for an upcoming ad in Group Magazine for SackChairs.com. Sorry guys for covering you up with my flying body!

JG

From today’s Fail Blog. Ha!

JG

You can see last year’s promo videos here, here and here. Here’s the first of 2 this year!

JG

How do you primarily communicate with students? For us, I would say #1 – texting, #2 – live and #3 – web. How about you?

JG

For the last couple of years, we’ve been meeting together for the first few weeks of our small groups launch. Here’s a little of the strategy behind it:

We build up our leadership team
Each night starts with food, discussion and training. It is easily one of my favorite parts of the week! Years ago, I used to host “steak-outs” and grill up steak for my team each month, this gives us a chance to meet together and talk, laugh, share and grow together each week. If you try this, just make sure a) the food is good and b) what you’re meeting about is worth it since you’re asking for an extra hour of their week.

The “next step” from the weekend is much easier
I love it that we can say, “just show up on Tuesday or Wednesday here in the same place and we’ll get you in a small group.” Instead of having to get out the GPS, try to find a home and the pain of walking through the door as a stranger for the first time - they can arrive at a place where they are already comfortable, make some friends and take the next step in our discipleship process.

We establish the expectations together
We ask a lot of our volunteers and students in small groups – and by starting the year together we can model and demonstrate higher expectations. For students, being all together means we’re asking them to be quiet because of other groups, and respectful of others. For leaders, we train and expect reporting, promotion of the ‘next step’ and communication.

It gives us a chance to model different types of cirriculum
The first week was “get to know you” type of night – but the next four weeks all model different types of material they can choose to use in the small group year. This week we’re using a NOOMA video and asking them to discuss/teach around video, and we’ve also done topical, expositional and book studies during our time together.

Last year was the first time we even had the space to experiment with something like this (with the opening of the Refinery) and we met together for 10 weeks. This year, we’ve reduced it to 5 and it feels much better, we love homes and you can start to feel the pull a few weeks in. Next year, I’m thinking about somewhere between 3-5 weeks of meeting together before we move into homes, or maybe asking freshman groups to meet a bit longer than the veteran groups.

Either way, we find this time super valuable, and you might, too. Always up for an experiment!

JG

Weekend Teaching Series: Happy: Week 5
Sermon in a Sentence: True happiness results from a heart that is pure.
Service Length: 71 minutes
Bible: Matthew 5:8 (NCV)

Understandable Message: This week I began the home stretch of our 6-week series by focusing on one of the Beatitudes – Happy are the pure in heart. I focused on how the heart is the center of our character and any impurity, even small, ruins it all. I started with handing out a batch of cookies to the audience, but telling them not to eat it until I let them know the final “secret” ingredient. When I revealed what it was, students were able to realize that even a little “yuck” ruins the entire cookie. So that’s where I took the talk – God wants our whole heart, anything less and we miss the point.

Volunteer/Student Involvement: The band was made up of students who doubled as greeters, students also did lights, camera, sound, videos, editing and more. The skit from last week on forgiveness made it to the big leagues, too - we had a student band, choir and drama all in big church this weekend (would it be wrong for me to count them in my totals? Ha!). Awesome! Adult volunteer involvement was high as well, with volunteers running the game and greeting students, too!

Element of Fun/Positive Environment: We had the music video for “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” during the countdown, and enjoyed a couple rounds of Will it Blend? (rubber bouncy balls and glow sticks). We had another PSA video, as well as a PumpkinFest promo video that both landed, too. Very fun service – grab the complete program sheet here!

Music Playlist: Glory to God, You’ll Come, It is Well, You Hold Me Now

Favorite Moment: Music this week was a high point for me – really what I needed for sure. But the highlight of the weekend had to be when a student named Alec shared his story, and his whole small group took the stage behind him. Alec’s small group leader “Doc” introduced him, it was really powerful hearing him share about his life being turned around and life change. After the service Doc and I had the prvilege of baptizing Alec, surrounded by his dudes. Epic moment for sure.

Up Next: Happy – Series Finale (week 6 of 6)

We’re giving away “HSM Hooks” for the next two weeks to help encourage students to keep and hang their bulletins each weekend to reflect, meditate on and be inspired by. Here’s the promo video that we used to announce them. I’ll report back soon if the idea was a good one or not!

JG

Fun little video about happiness from the HAPPY series in HSM. The second to last in the series!

JG

Used this Saddleback classic voice-over video this weekend in HSM for a talk about David. We didn’t focus on him vs. Goliath, but still fun to help set up his character.

JG

I liked Chuck Bomar’s thoughts on getting the most out of a conference – seemed like most of it was transferrable to what you would experience at a youth ministry event, too. Here’s 2 of his 4 suggestions – we’re excited to have Chuck as our discipleship retreat speaker in January, too.

Develop a filter. Every speaker is there for  a reason.  Most have thought a ton about the subject their teaching on and have experience (hopefully) in that particular area.  But, they don’t know your context, the people you work with, or the traditions you live in/with.  Therefore, you have to develop a filter that would sift out the things that wouldn’t apply in your context – no matter how epic the thought might be.  God’s called you to the context you’re in and you’re at the conference to be more effective in that context.  So, the filter is necessary.

Purchase carefully. Sometimes we go to a conference because we just need some time away, but usually we attend conferences because we’re hungry for some direction, training, and resources.  And, oh man, we go into the resource center and everything looks good.  We have the budget, so we just go crazy.  Getting resources, by the way, isn’t a bad thing.  If there are resources you think will be useful in ministry by all means buy them.  But, just be careful to buy those that will actually be used.  Far too many budgets are spent on resources still in the wrapper 12 months later.

JG

You ever get lost going somewhere?  How do you plan a trip somewhere?

Last night, I had a buddy of mine over.  My wife has gone for a few days, and we were having “guys” night.  It ended at 11:00 p.m.  I like to get my ‘beauty’ sleep…or I just like to sleep.

Anyways.. he called to get directions to my house.  We played some Call of Duty 4, and heavily relied on the map in the game, showing us where the enemy was.  When it was time to go (after the Cherry Dr. Pepper and Pringles were gone), he need directions to get back to his place – due to the overwhelmingly large amount of left and right hand turns in the subdivision. He would’ve used his own GPS system; but since it was out of commission, he needed some old fashion drawing.

Reflecting on last night, got me thinking…

In my own personal life, I’m not a big fan of the whole GPS thing.  I prefer Google Earth/Maps and planning out my trip.  I’d rather know what highways to take, where to stop, what restaurant  is available (very important!) – all before I go.  GPS systems are good and all; I just perfer the old school way of maps.

I’ve learned (sometimes the hard way) – that in ministry, it’s good to know where you’re going before you get there.

Chart out the direction of your ministry. Highlight the portions of your journey that you do not want to get lost.  Track your progress and know where you’ve come from, and where you are going.

Prepare for possible detours. However, don’t focus on the detours, don’t dwell on them, don’t live in them…. just be ready for them.  They will come! And when they come – take a breath, and allow God to help you navigate through them.

Plan your rest stops. Rest stops were created for a reason.  Sleep, food, bathroom break, and more food.  Find a “rest stop” in your season of ministry to re-energize, re-focus and just rest!  You need those moments to rest.

Balance your speed.  We all speed on the road.  There is always someone going too slow.  In ministry, there is a time and a place for speeding through it.  The momentum might be going well, and you might be cruising along, enjoying the scenery.  However, know when to turn the cruise control off, slow it down a little bit, and reflect on where you are.

You may have heard/read these points before.  Allow this to be a fresh reminder for you.  Oh.. and my friend.  He made the 6 block trip home safe.

Andy Disher is currently serving in Youth Ministry in Canada’s southernmost town; Kingsville, ON.  He is happily married to his wife, Melissa and also blogs at http://ymrookie.wordpress.com. Guest posts appear every weekend. Contact Josh with your submissions.

Here’s The final part of our training on relational youth ministry this week with our small group leaders – the benefits of relational youth ministry. We started with a simple definition and 3 statements that it makes – and many of them shared some simple but amazing ideas to help deepen relationships and experiences to help outsiders become insiders in a small group. Great thoughts, all leading us to the “why” we focus on building relationships as a high school ministry:

A focus on relational youth ministry gives …

… students an increased ownership of ministry/faith
Students who have a significant relationship with a caring adult - stick – simple as that. Students don’t fall through the cracks when they are known and loved. Sure, things still happen and it is possible even extreme effort wouldn’t save a kid, but as a general rule, when they are invested in there will be more ownership.

… leaders a more holistic picture of student’s life
If you minister to a student for the 2 hours a week of official small group time, that’s good enough. But what if we could add a “+” to those 2 hours. The “+” could be simple – a text, a call, a Twitter update with their name in it, a message through Facebook. The “+” could be huge, too – a visit to a students’ game, a visit to the home, showing up at a school play. Whatever the effort may be, it will give you as the small group leader a better glimpse into the world of your students. You’ll better understand them and how to minister to their needs.

… both more openness to share
When there are relationships in a small group – there is more discussion. And the discussion goes beyond the usual chatter, relationships equal safety, and when students are safe they open up. There are nights when groups clam up – those happen so don’t worry about it. But as a general rule, if you want your group to share, then get invested in their lives.

What are the other beenfits of a relational youth ministry?

JG

This fall we launched HSM’s Prayer Patio – a simple place for students to hang out after the service. Right outside the auditorium you’ll find chairs and people, waiting to counsel or pray with you. And I love it! It has grown to include some strong elements beyond a live person praying for a student – now there’s a cross you can nail your sins/prayers/confessions to, a whiteboard for you to write praises/requests on, and a place for more information and help beyond the moment. Future plans include a serious pastoral care Facebook page and a rack of pamphlets and information to help students dealing with tough stuff.

Here’s a few reasons why I love what having the prayer patio says about HSM:

It allows us to express care
We have an easy, immediate step where a student can find help. No questions, no abiguity – an ultra clear name and literally 5 steps away from where you’re sitting.

It helps you focus on people
I don’t know about you, but I’m just a *little bit* addicted to programs. This flies directly in the face of that people are what’s most important, not programs. Too often that’s where I default, and this helps us stay balanced.

It gives different types of volunteers an outlet to serve
Some volunteers would thrive to have a place like this to care for students. Someone who is wired to love on students, have impactful conversations, this prayer patio is practically made for them.

JG

Enjoyed reading this blog post from Danny Bowers about why he does youth ministry. Here’s a clip, head there for the rest:

Is daily interaction with people:
Youth ministry is more than just being around teenagers. A big part of youth ministry is dealing with parents/families, other adult leaders who want to invest into teens. Yes there is the interaction with the teenagers, but truthfully it is only about %50 of the job. I can’t impact the lives of 50+ teenagers, but i can’ impact 5 other leaders who can help me share the load of impacting 50+ teenagers.

Its messy:
Dealing with real life, in real people gets real messy. You deal with teenagers who struggle with self esteem so they attempt to fix that with anything they can. Drugs, sex, violence, sports, academics & almost anything else under the sun. They live in a pressurized bubble but yet it seems their freedom & joy of being ‘just a teenager’ is stolen from them at times. Part of my role is to encourage them as they navigate life.
It is challenging to help teenagers think for themselves and rethink everything about life. It is messy to show teenagers the truth of Jesus Christ & His message and say “now live your life COMPLETELY opposite how you see majority of your friends & peers living”

JG