I’ve been gone a lot from our high school ministry recently. All good things – but mission trips, conferences, vacation and events all take their toll on the decision-making ability of me as the leader. As I’ve gotten back up to speed, I’ve tried to be keenly aware of these potential drawbacks of the disconnected leader:

Poorly informed decision-making
Being absent or disconnected results in making decisions in haste or in ignorance without all of the information. If you feel you’re being pressured into a major decision, you might need to table it. Too many rushed decisions have become regrets. Be decisive, don’t let indecision paralyze you, but make sure you’ve taken the time to gather the details so you are making the right call.

Lack of clarity / purposeless
In your absence, people make decisions without you – and they should! And while I love leadership at all levels and the decentralization of authority, a disconnected leader runs the risk of personal agendas appearing and potentially the purposes becoming less clear. Make sure you’re not the bottleneck and design your student ministry so you can be gone once in a while, just make sure there’s enough clarity to hang on until you get back.

Team morale dips
You’re the team leader, and many look for you for the optimism that fuels them toward goals. Being gone too much sends a signal to your team that you’re not “in it with them.” There are responsibilities (and privileges, honestly) that do carry me away from my team, but there’s a lot to be said for a leader who gets their hands dirty.

Here’s the zinger: you may be present but still be disconnected. Being present isn’t enough! Too many disconnected leaders are physically around, they just aren’t invested in their team’s lives. I want to be a leader that is present, connected and empowering all of us to accomplish our goals.

JG

We read Bible stories to our kids about every night as part of our bedtime routine. Chores, PJs, teeth, stories, Bible stories, prayer, zzzzzz. Even though our kids aren’t that old, we’ve gone through quite a few different children’s Bibles in the process – and we’ve recently fell in love with our most recent acquisition, The Jesus Storybook Bible.

Zondervan gave everyone who attended the Radicalis Conference a a free copy – I happened to be backstage with Mark Driscoll and he mentioned it was his family’s favorite book. So, we took it home and started reading that night – and I have to tell you, it is super. I put on my “narrator” voice and don’t want to stop it is so fun, clear and inspiring. Really good stuff – if you’ve got little kids, you’ll wear this Bible out.

JG

Taffy promotes the HSM Bowl in his trademark style. Filmed on a Flip.

JG

And just like that – the Griffin family Xbox360 jumps past 34,000 in gamerscore. Hit my up on XBL (Gamertag: theforcenet) if you want to play/connect in that space. The boost in Gamerscore came from Madagascar Karts (C), Red Faction: Guerrilla (B+), Monsters vs Aliens (B), 3D Ultra Mini Golf (D), and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (B-).

JG

Weekend Teaching Series: You Own the Weekend: Trabuco Hills HS (series premiere: week 1 of 5)

Sermon in a Sentence: Christ calls us to a live a life unified together for His glory.
Service Length: 71 minutes

Understandable Message: This weekend we kicked off the completely-student-run series You Own the Weekend. We debuted the series last year after a student threw out the idea to me after a weekend service – it turned into the largest series of 2009. It is back this year, and Trabuco HS student leaders set the bar high as the series kicked off. The message this week focused on unity, and the power of people banded together for one cause. The clear challenge was for Christians to be unified, and it gave a clear invitation for non-believers to become a part of God’s family. A student taught the message broken up in a few parts with 3 testimonies sprinkled throughout.

Volunteer/Student Involvement: The weekend was completely run by students – from the early planning stages through execution. Aside from one adult adviser to the group, all of the adults were there in a purely relational capacity. Really incredible to see – students have been involved in lots of “day of” opportunities to serve – greeters, camera, band, etc but the real work of You Own the Weekend happens in the weeks before – as students invite their friends to attend the service. The goal was that every student would get an invitation to the weekend service.

Element of Fun/Positive Environment: Students chose to play Party in the USA and Fireflies during the countdown video, and opened with a Trabuco Hills Rap – it was really creatively done – I don’t remember us ever opening with a live rap before. So fun, so much school pride, they even made a slideshow to run behind the music, lots of picture of their school and students. They also brought in the school mascots to dance around, and used www.polleverywhere.com to put up a few interactive cell phone polls.

Music Playlist: THHS Alma Mater Rap, Tear Down the Walls, another song I forgot

Favorite Moment: This weekend was filled with great moments – the biggest of them all is the continued reminder of the connection between student involvement and evangelism. And that students are capable of SO much when given a chance.

Up Next: YOTW: El Toro HS (week 2 of 5)

One of the best videos we’ve ever played in HSM, from this weekend’s kickoff of You Own the Weekend (Trabuco Hills HS) … made/shot/written by students and narrated by one of our newer volunteers (who does acting/voice work up in LA). They did an amazing job on this one. Wow!

JG

Wrapping up a new book that was sent to me to review here on the blog – Sinema7: A Movie Watcher’s Guide to the Seven Deadly Sins by Maureen Herring. The book is packed full of movie scene descriptions that illustrate the seven deadly sins (lust, greed, etc) – the examples range from the classics to movies that have come out as recently as a few months ago. Along with these powerful stories from our cinema, Herring also challenges us to live a life for Christ, to reject the message of the movie and follow the God’s ways.

Now this isn’t an editorial or condemnation on enjoying a movie, it is using a familiar context to point people to honor Christ with their decisions. Now, I have to admit that reading about movie clips instead of movies themselves isn’t quite as great as watching the clips then reading the commentary, but it still works well and makes you think back to the scenes of movies you love or hate. Just an aside, seems like there’s a great opportunity here for a genre-bending “video-book” for the iPad to emerge here with great success. Anyhow, a great self-published effort for movie fans and Christ-followers. You can also read Maureen’s blog, continuing the discussion on the 7 deadly sins in modern movies.

JG

Here’s the Easter at Angel Stadium recap video that was just posted on the Saddleback website. Almost 50,000 people attended the services, celebrating Jesus’ resurrection and Saddleback’s 30th anniversary.

JG

I will read everything a select group of writers put out there.

Usually that works for me, because the people on there deserve it after crafting several life-changing, personal and impactful books. Malcom Gladwell tops that list (which also includes Doug Fields and Seth Godin), so I’ve read every single book of his so far. He’s the mastermind/author behind Blink, Outliers and The Tipping Point. His latest book, What the Dog Saw, is simply a collection of his columns in the New Yorker. My expectation bar was set super high – and while it isn’t as epic as his typical book, I loved reading some of his older stuff in smaller doses. Highly recommend, it’ll make you think.

JG

Just took some time today to update my recommended youth ministry resources page here on MTDB, if you’re looking for some good stuff for your students or church here are some of the best that I’ve used or plan on using soon. Check it out!

JG

Here’s the video we used during the Stories (all student testimony) weekend first mentioned here in the weekend in review. We projected it on a students’ shirt so it looked more like labels on him rather than words on a screen.

JG

When the news came out last week that George Lucas was making an animated comedy in the Star Wars universe with Seth Green, I thought it was an April Fool’s joke. Nope, it is real. SW Robot Chicken was funny, but I sure wish they were just making another trilogy of Star Wars movies instead. Here’s a clip of the news from StarWars.com:

“There are so many stories taking place in the Star Wars universe, and they don’t all have to focus on the fate of the galaxy,” said Grimes. “We’re looking at Star Wars from a new perspective; this will be a glimpse at how the rest of the galaxy is affected by the events of the Saga. There’s a lot of humor to be mined from that.”

“The Star Wars universe is so dense and rich; it’s crazy to think that there aren’t normal, mundane everyday problems in a world so well-defined,” said Green. “And it’s even crazier to think of what those problems might be, since it’s all set in a galaxy far, far away. What do these characters do when they’re not overthrowing Empires?”

Said Senreich, “We’re going to pull back the curtain of some of those behind-the-scenes shenanigans. It’s going to appeal to all ages, the way Star Wars should — but there’ll be plenty buried under the surface, as well. As Obi-Wan might say, ‘it all depends on your point of view’.”

JG

Alanna is working on some new baptism certificates for HSM this week – here’s her first draft of one for girls we’ll be using in the near future. Our Oh Snaps! ministry, students who take the pictures, will assemble these digitally and send them out to students who get baptized on the first weekend of every month. I think it looks stunning!

JG

Don’t know if I should be surprised/honored/disappointed with how many people pointed me to Stuff Christians Like for a post this week on youth pastors. A great list for sure:

Below you will find more than 100 statements about youth ministers. I encourage you to score your youth minister. More than that, I encourage you to email this or tweet this or facebook this to your youth minister. Together, we’ll give the fascinating creature known as the “youth minister” the attention they deserve.

The Youth Minister Scorecard

1. Has at any point made one of the students cry because they are so competitive in the sports. = +2 points

2. Always stacks the team they are on in any games they play. = +1 point

3. Drives a car a church member sold them for $1. = +1 point

4. They think burping is gross. = – 2 points

5. They can burp the entire five points of Calvinism. = +10 points

6. They are awesome at Frisbee golf = +1 point

7. They are awesome at Ultimate Frisbee. = +2 points

8. Their toddler can throw a Frisbee farther than you can. = +3 points

9. They know how to fix the youth group van when it breaks down on the side of the road. = +2 points

10. They’ve had a “talking to” from the elders. = +2 points per each talking to

11. They have a goatee. = +1 point

12. They are professionals at pulling off epic pranks. = +1 point

13. There are still three counties your youth group is not allowed back into after one of those epic pranks. = +2 points

14. They work at another job because they love the youth but can’t afford to live on the salary the church pays. = +100 points

More than a 100 more if you follow the link!

JG

Thought it might be interesting to show you the actual texts we sent parents during our recent mission trip to New Mexico. I didn’t come up with a fancy 3-point strategy beforehand, my heart is to simply help parents know that 1) their kid is OK, 2) a little bit of what we’re up to each day, and 3) invite them to share in this experience from a thousand miles away. Hmm … that looks an awful lot like a 3-point strategy. Genius!

• (3 days out) Hey New Mexico parents – here’s the first txt from HSM! Weather will be in the 60′s in the day, in the 20′s at night. Pack accordingly!
• (2 days out) Hey NM parents! Check in starts at 11pm this Sunday night, we leave at midnight. If you have any questions, hit up philc@saddleback.com
• (1 day out) Hey NM parents – you can get trip updates, starting this Monday, on the HSM blog: http://hsm.saddleback.com Have a great Easter wkd!
• (1 day out) Hey NM parents – Yes! HSM will get replies you send to these text messages. There is a delay, but we get them – now back to packing!
• (day 1) Good morning, parents! In Williams, AZ grabbing breakfast after a great night’s sleep on the buses to New Mexico. Lots of hungry kids!
• (day 1) We made it safe and sound! The NM team has arrived – thanks for your prayers and replies. Pizza time!
• (day 1) Hello from NM! Chapel time is over and everyone is heading to bed. Work projects start in the morning – everyone is doing great! ZZZzzz
• (day 2) Everyone is about to head back from all-day service projects here in NM – we’ve got a great chapel planned – dinner at Denny’s soon!
• (day 3) Back to serve projects today here in Shiprock – lots of paint on houses (and each other). 28 degrees this morning, but all is well!
• (day 3) Hey NM Parents – amazing day! Please take a second and reply with a funny message from you to be read in chapel to your child tonight!
• (day 3) NM Parents, you are AMAZING! I can’t wait to read these in chapel – HILARIOUS! Printing now, your kids are coming back from dinner …
• (day 4) NM work projects are wrapping up – so its time to ramp up for the carnival. This will hopefully be one of the highlights of the trip!
• (day 4) The carnival was a HUGE success! The weather was perfect, great crowds, amazing students pulling it all off. You’ll be so proud!
• (day 5) Everyone is packing up the bus right now, one last village share time and we’re headed home! Still tracking on late tonight-stay tuned!
• (day 5) We’re shooting for 11pm, and will text updates as we figure out the ETA. You bet!
• (day 5) WE ARE OUTTA HERE – buses are leaving Farmington, NM right now. We’re headed through Shiprock toward home! See you tonight!
• (day 5) We emailed everyone a summary of the week and discussion questions. If you didn’t get it read it here: http://hsm.saddleback.com
• (day 5) The buses crossed the state line. We’re in California!! We should be in before 11. Here we come!
• (day 5) Hey NM Parents! If all goes well, our ETA is 10:45pm. Meet in the UPPER parking lot (by the pedestrian bridge elevators.)
• (day 5) Tracking on 10:45pm at the church – see you there!
• (1 day after trip) Enjoying having your teen back from New Mexico? Yes! Encourage them to attend HSM this wkd – it’ll help cement the decisions/experience

JG

Here are my two favorite pictures from Easter at Angel Stadium. 1) Pastor Rick from the pitcher’s mound, and 2) one of our church elders wearing an amazing shirt. Great day!

JG

Here’s the letter I emailed parents the day we were coming home from our mission trip. Don’t know what you do, but it seemed to work really well for us. If you have a similar letter you would share, put it in the comments or on your blog/site and leave a link!

Hi parents!

Your kids are exhausted this morning!

What an amazing and packed week of Spring Break, filled with new friendships, spiritual challenges, games, music, kids, work projects and the always delicious all-you-can-eat-pancakes from Denny’s. Yesterday was the big finale with our free community carnival in Shiprock and the conclusion of our serve projects scattered all over the city. We gathered together for village share time, had a powerful baptism (in the hotel jacuzzi!) of a student who committed his life to Christ and a surprise dance party – topping off a truly great week!

I wanted to share some highlights with you as the buses roll out of town this morning. We’ve been in New Mexico all week – we had music, testimonies and a speaker each night. We also had “village time” where students shared what they had been learning and talk about their experiences. It was one of the highlights each evening, tons of friendships were built or forged during that hour.I’ve encouraged your student to spend time with you Saturday before they jump back into their world. We’re getting in late tonight (probably around 11pm, stay tuned to the texts for updates) so quality time with them might be best over breakfast/lunch on Saturday after their first good sleep in a week. I can’t wait for them to share their experiences and decisions with you. Here are a few questions to get you started:

• What struck you about the evening messages?
• Did you take a “memory vial” and fill it with anything? Why was that important to you?
• Who was your village leader? What did you learn from him/her?
• How was the work project? What part did you play in that? What obstacles did you face?
• Did you make any spiritual decisions this week?
• What did you do during the free time?
• On a scale of 1 to 10, how good was the food?
• Did you miss me?

Every student received a free “New Mexico 2010″ T-shirt and a personal card from their village leader. They probably got a bunch of sand or some tumbleweed in their suitcase because that’s just what happens in New Mexico.Well, the buses will pull out soon and we’re just about on our way home. I”m sure the hotel we stayed in with be back to normal once they recarpet and repaint it after us. Thank you for your investment in this trip and your support of Saddleback’s High School Ministry. We’re trusting God the decisions made here will last for a lifetime. Thanks for sending your student to New Mexico and trusting us with them for the week – we believe this type of experience is such a worthy investment – you’ll see it in their exhausted eyes when they get off the bus. See you tonight!

JG

Joshua Griffin
High School Pastor
Saddleback Church
joshg@saddleback.com

Weekend Teaching Series: Jason Petty’s Goodbye Weekend

Sermon in a Sentence: 3 thoughts from Jason as he leaves HSM
Service Length: 82 minutes

Understandable Message: Last weekend we were all at Angel Stadium for Easter services, and then immediately out the door to our New Mexico mission trip, so the past few weeks in HSM have been a whirlwind. And coming off of all that, this weekend we said goodbye to Jason Petty, a 4-year staff member of HSM. He’s been through several leadership transitions, the opening of The Refinery and much more, so he’s been a solid player through those times. He’s not sure what he’s doing next – but is feeling like God wants him to finish school, and probably work with young adults and make the move out of student ministry.

Volunteer/Student Involvement: The band was all student led, we had a good student choir as well, and volunteers greeted students and worked the room.

Element of Fun/Positive Environment: We didn’t have a ton of programmed fun – we had some fun trivia in the scrolling announcement slides, and we had a few elements within the message that were fun, too.

Music Playlist: Bye Bye Bye, We Shine, Inside Out, With Everything, Dancing Generation

Up Next: You Own the Weekend (1 0f 5, Trabuco Hills HS is up first)

Fun little recap video from our mission trip, made very simply with Animoto (this is killer/cheap tool for your youth ministry). So easy – and I love how it turned out!

JG

This year we’re changing up when we do camp – we’ve been “end of summer” for several years now, and this year we’re going with early summer. What do you think works best in your setting?

JG