Today Simply Youth Ministry officially launched SYM Reward$ – a program that gives you reward points for each purchase of youth ministry resources from their website. The more you buy, the more they add up. Not only that, you can stack coupons and discounts against it as well – so you can still get points toward free stuff while using promo codes (like Tiered100 or tiered200, to get discounts when you purchase over $100 and $200, respectively). Check it out!

JG

Got some new business cards in this week – they’re actually more like “relational youth ministry” tools than business cards I guess. They were designed by Mottsy and come in lots of colors and an a-typical shape, perfect for hanging out. Pretty excited to have our team use these – especially the back of the cards where you can write down when/where to hang out with a student or volunteer. Fun!

JG

UPDATE: Lots of people emailing me about details or how to order. Mottsy printed them, and my buddy Jonathan there did the design. Hit him up for pricing and availability. jonathan@mottsy.com

click here for the full-size cover

Just saw the upcoming cover for Group Magazine, I don’t think I’m supposed to share it, but thought it was really slick so enjoy. If you don’t subscribe, it is one of 6 magazines I read every month, and content from MTDB appears in it every month. Good stuff! JG

So you’re more halfway through the year, and only about half of your guys are still showing up for small group. What’s going on?!

Don’t Panic
Unfortunately, this is completely normal. After the excitement of the school year’s launch – even with momentum through the beginning of a New Year – things start to hit the skids for everyone. Don’t freak out if a few of your students get bogged down in school activities or begin to emphasize other priorities.

Work the Phones
Make texting your friend for this season, remind your students of when and where small group is meeting – maybe even consider planning a fun night out just to rally the troops together again. Start by leaving a few voicemails and asking students to personally remind others in their group they may see at school.

Keep Parents in the Loop
Parents are oftentimes aware of their student’s commitment (or lack thereof) to small group – but either way make sure they’re in the loop on their students’ involvement. They can be a great partner in helping you fight through the dip and alert you to any problems that may be discouraging their child from attending.

Finish Strong
Don’t let a little lighter attendance distract you from giving it your all. Stick to the basics – prepare a great lesson, focus on relationships and end the year strong. Plan a celebration at the end of the school year and use the open door of relationships to keep connecting with your students, even if it has to happen outside of official small group time.

JG

Spent some time writing a skit for the STORIES weekend coming up, and in some study for it got stuck on Ephesians 2. Here’s a paraphrase of it I wrote earlier today:

Let’s just say I’m familiar with the ways of the world. I was just selfish enough to think I knew better than He did. All of us have done this before – no one is exempt from the wickedness of the sinful heart. We’re all born into this system and it is natural to follow them in our desires, thoughts and actions.

But God wasn’t OK with letting us wallow in that mess. His great love for us caused Him to reach out and grab us. It’s almost like this merciful God went to where we were laid to rest and brought us back to life. God’s grace looks masterful against the backdrop of hopelessness.

At Easter, we celebrate the moment when Jesus was raised from the dead. Well, the same God that did that promises that life-giving power to help us conquer our sinful past. There is no one that has ever showed more kindness than God, his grace can’t be measured. We don’t deserve it, the most we can do is accept God’s gift of salvation. Some people try to earn it, but the gift is too valuable to exchange for some good deeds.

God did all of this because from the Creation of the world He has been thinking about you. So do good works because of your devotion to Christ, not trying to earn His favor. You already have that.

If you have been brought back to life, live like it. Always remember where you came from, how it was distant and hopeless. But know, with the greatest of confidence, that through Jesus the far away have been brought to His side. It is as if there was a huge barrier separating us and our Creator, and He tore it down so we could walk right in.

Yes, you used to be steeped in the world’s ways. You were the president of the sinful society. But that is not your story. Your story now is that you are a member of God’s family, you are one of His people and he will never let you go. He’s invited you into his home, and his home is built with grace and mercy. May His Spirit fill you as you continue writing the next chapter.

JG

One of our volunteers posted a little video of our weekend service – here’s the game Face the Cookie from NBC’s Minute to Win It. Fun!

JG

Here are the direct links to the Top 8 guest posts that were posted during my recent trip to Kenya. I realize that some of the ones posted later in the month didn’t have as long to get views, but these were by far the most popular either way:

• I’m Thinking About Leaving My Church
• 5 Ways to Make Your Teenager Indifferent to God
• How to Botch an Altar Call
• How Young Ministers Can Help Themselves
• Youth Ministry is About Showing Up
• 5 Ways to Help Students Deal with Tragedy and Pain
• Hooks and Anchors
• The Sexy Truth

JG

Just got a couple copies of The $5 Youth Ministry to giveaway from the author, Todd Outcalt. I loved the book and reviewed it here – now you can get your hands on a copy, too. Just leave a comment on this post with your best $5 or less idea for youth ministry, and you’re entered to win! I’ll pull the best one out and pull another at random from all the entries.

JG

Loved the post over on Doug Franklin’s blog about common mistakes on a mission trip. Having just come off a great trip, I can totally these warnings spot on, and have experienced many of them in the past. Here’s a couple to get you started:

Three common mistakes I see most often by youth workers.

1.       Prepare for logistics not spiritual outcomes
When were preparing to lead a group of students on a mission trip we can feel like all the details are overwhelming and so we focus on logistics. Do we have the forms, housing, work project and ministry set up? This focus is important but it’s not priority. We aren’t just taking students on a trip; we are preparing an opportunity for them to live out their faith in Christ. They need to understand what God’s word says about living a missional lifestyle and living out the power of Christ by serving the least in this world. If we fail to prepare them for this then the trip loses its potential and becomes an outing, nothing more.

2.       Focus on trip site not heart
I know the pressure of making sure enough students sign-up for a trip and I know the pressure of having to get parents to believe where you’re going is safe. But are your students more excited about going to ________ (your site location of your trip) or serving the God who made them and has redeemed them? Honestly, have you talked more about the site and what they will see or about the heart they will need to serve those that have less than them?

JG

Weekend Teaching Series: Simply Jesus (series finale, week 3 of 3)

Sermon in a Sentence: Jesus is forgiving, and we can experience and share it personally.
Service Length: 79 minutes

Understandable Message: We based this series on Simply Amazing, a series that Doug Fields taught in our adult services a couple of years ago. Each week we teach through an event from the life of Christ, this week was on the woman caught in adultery. Jake and I taught this weekend in two parts – the first half of the talk was about Kenya and how we are Jesus on the earth until He returns, and how a study of the life of Jesus will help show us how to love and live for him. Jake had a great big story up front that really captured everyone, and a great walkthrough of the story.

Volunteer/Student Involvement: Students were highly involved this weekend – greeters, band, control room, cameras, lights, sound and testimony. Several new weekend adult volunteers joined the mix as well, great to have more adults in the room on Saturday night especially.

Element of Fun/Positive Environment: We played a couple of games from NBC’s Minute to Win It. We usually don’t play such physical games in high school services (though we work hard to have some element of fun for sure), but had a total blast with these and the students seemed to be really enjoying it. We played Face the Cookie and Bottoms Up. More details on how this could be used in student ministry here.

Music Playlist: KIDS, You Deserve, Thank You For Loving Me, It Is Well, Came to My Rescue

Favorite Moment: Don’t have a specific moment, just really happy to be back after being gone almost a month between the Simply Youth Ministry Conference and our trip to Kenya. Good to be home!

Up Next: STORIES (1-off)

The latest episode of the Simply Youth Ministry Podcast. Probably not worth watching, but if you’ve got an hour to kill, I suppose there are worse things you could be doing.

JG

I’ve read every one of Patrick Lenconi’s books – this one is the first of his business fables to hit on the topic of the home. I love the book – it challenges you to take a long look at your family and determine what exactly are the values you will build your home around. While not a Christian book, it does give ample space to faith and volunteering, and most of it is easily adaptable to a Christian home. The book asks you to look at your family’s unique makeup, and regularly meet to grade yourself on how you are doing acomplishing your family-specific mission. Some good stuff in there, as a father of 4 in a frantic young family, it was totally a good read.

JG

Just finished up reading a great story of Kim Hamilton, former All-American gymnast and UCLA champion Hall of Famer. She has an amazing story of overcoming an unreal childhood and becoming a world-champion athlete. She’s also a devout Christian, and shares her journey and struggle of faith. A great story that honors her hard work, God’s favor and finding her purpose in life. Inspiring.

JG

Simply Youth Ministry just released HAPPY, a 6-week sermon series we did this fall in HSM. Doug Fields and I taught the series from The Beatitudes in Matthew. I blogged a ton about it during the series, you can read those posts here. Check it out!

JG

“Let’s roll.” “C’mon you guys!” “Hurry up!” “You guys are lagging behind.” “Keep up.” “Stay together.” “We’re going to miss our train!” These are phrases that I often find myself saying and repeating when leading a group – whether it be on a missions trip in another country, in New York City, or even right here in Smithtown.

As a leader, I am always seek to move others forward to fulfill a goal, to achieve an objective, or generally toward a destination. To that end knowledge and wisdom are absolutely essential. If I want to be a good, successful leader, among many other things, I need to know myself, and I need to know the people I am leading.

One thing I know about myself is that I am a fast walker. One thing I know about a lot of people I lead is that they are not. Beyond being a  fast walker, I am also a missional walker – I walk with purpose. When Adriana and I go to the mall or a store I don’t want to lolly-gag and window shop and dream about buying things that we can’t afford or don’t need. I want to get in, get our stuff, and get out. The same is true when I’m leading a team. I want to get us from where we are to where we need to be as fast as we can so we can do what we need to do.

Not many places put one’s leadership abilities to the test as thoroughly as New York City. During a recent trip to NYC with a team from London, I was standing in a sea of people at the corner of 42nd & 7th, looking back at my straggling team, waving my hand in the air, calling the team to where I was when I started to ponder leadership.

As leaders we move at a certain pace, and it’s natural to want others to keep up with us. But the truth of the matter is if everyone moved at the same pace as us, we wouldn’t be leaders. That’s knowledge. So what are we to do? That is the wisdom question. Are we to lower our expectations of others? Maybe so. A good look at our expectations is never a bad idea, but at the end of the day we still need to hold up high standards and challenge people to stretch beyond their comfort zones.

I believe, rather, that the answer lies in the tension that we as leaders are called to live in. The challenge is to be far enough in front that we are leading and calling people forward, but not so far in front that people can’t keep up with us. If we walk so fast that we lose people, we might personally get to our destination, but we’ll get there alone, and that, of course, is not the point of being a leader. As John Maxwell has said, “A leader without followers is not a leader, he’s just a guy out taking a walk.” As Adult Youth Leaders, God has not called us to simply go for a walk, he has entrusted us with the responsibility of taking students with us, leading them on a journey of faith. 

This is the paradox: We must show restraint in order to move. Sometimes we must hold back personally for the sake of moving the group. This can be difficult but it so necessary. In addition to calling others to leave the comfort of their slower pace, sometimes we have to sacrifice the comfort of our quicker pace so that they can follow us. I believe that the best leaders have learned this secret. They have raised the bar of their leadership, embracing a higher leadership that is not always fast but is effective. It’s an agape leadership that is willing to sacrifice for the good of others.

Kevin Mahaffy, Jr. is a poet and blog writer. Check out more of his stuff here: http://revkevjr.blogspot.com

Yesterday the Woodland Hills staff went out and had a great time on our monthly Visionary Day – we ended up spending some time in the bowling alley. We had a lot of fun watching each other attempt to bowl, but the most laughs was easily when we played an entire game with our weaker hand.

If you saw our scores, you would know we didn’t do so great. It was very difficult to get the stepping correct, relearning how to bowl all over again. Mandy and Paul seemed to adapt well and was getting better. I by far did the worse at relearning to bowl.

Unfortunately, this is very similar to the church. Whether we like it or now, the world changes. Culture is ever changing, and not that we change our Truth and Gospel message, the way we present that truth and message needs to change with the culture. And it is sad to see that many churches and ministries look like they are bowling left handed when it comes to our culture. We can get so stuck onto doing things the way we always have, that when something changes, we are unable to adapt. We need to constantly look at our ministries and ask ourselves if we are changing with the culture, or are we stuck into what we always used to do.

May we learn to adapt ourselves to our world around us, and may we be able to bowl left-handed.

Thomas Paukovitz is a Youth Minister at Woodland Hills Christian Church. You can track him down here: http://hodbog.posterous.com

I am back from the Simply Youth Ministry Conference 2010 in Chicago! It took me a few days to recover from a packed weekend. I learned a lot of tips and youth ministry ideas, but the biggest thing I learned was this: Every involved youth worker should go to a conference like this. Here are 3 reasons why.

A time of learning – I learned a lot. There were so many opportunities to take a class on a subject that will help me to stay in ministry for the long haul. SYMC offered classes on marriage, volunteer training, games, counseling, conflict resolution, preaching, & teaching. I chose the Helping Hurting Kids track and I benefited from probably one of the least discussed topics but one of the most influential problems all teens face – teen depression and addiction. I believe we all need to learn more if we are going to help teens through their adolescence.

A time of encouragement – The worship and camaraderie I was able to participate in was very therapeutic. I met many people I have had the honor of speaking to online through the SYM Podcast. Getting to meet Doug, Josh, Matt, and Jana in person was awesome. It felt like seeing old friends for the first time in a long time. I also got to meet Andy B in person after so many emails for products. I also met new people like D.C., Matt K., Rick Lawrence, Tom, and many others. Tim Timmons really encouraged me through his worship leading and a few of his songs are STILL stuck in my head.

A time of rest – Youth Ministry is T. O. U. G. H. with a capital STRESSFUL. Dealing with tough kids, tough parents, boards, elders, pastors & ministers can take a lot out of you. We don’t tend to take time for ourselves because we are so committed to getting it right as often as possible. We overwork ourselves to the point we lose much of our drive and passion. Taking a weekend to listen to others who are doing what you do and understand your faith, love, passion, hurts, and struggles can only benefit. I felt loved on. It had been 7 years since I had been to a large convention like this. I forgot how much I needed it. Now that I am back, I feel stronger. There isn’t a huge list of things to tell people about the conference itself other than the encouragement I received. I did come back with this though: the passion and desire to help hurting kids. I think that was worth the admission alone.

Mike Lewis is the Youth Minister for the Westside Church of Christ in Beaverton, Oregon. He writes a blog that might be worth reading at www.bigmikelewis.blogspot.com and will gladly be your friend on Facebook, too.

Part of the reason I came back to about 1,000 items in my email inbox post-Kenya was because I Twittered about my out of office reply – people wrote me just to see it – ha! If you’re waiting for an answer about something – it’s gonna take me a week to get back up to speed. Sorry! And if you missed the email while I was gone – enjoy:

(a)_____________ is currently away from his desk because he is (b)_______________ in (c)_____________. He will be gone from (d)________________ to (e)_________________ and your email will be (f)_______________________ when he (g)___________. If you need help right away, please contact (h)___________________ at (i)_________________. Thanks and (j)_______________.

Mar 4-18
(a) JG
(b) hanging with 27 amazing students
(c) Kitale, Kenya
(d) March 4
(e) March 18
(f) Replied to immediately
(g) regains consciousness from the travel coma he will be recovering from.
(h) The High School Ministry (HSM) team
(i) (949) 609-8000
(j) always be on the lookout for mosquitoes that carry Yellow Fever. You have been warned.

Feb 22-Mar 1
(a) Joshua Griffin
(b) Hanging out with youth workers at #symc2010
(c) Chicago, IL
(d) February 22
(e) March 1
(f) probably skimmed over
(g) is home for 2 days between trips.
(h) The High School Ministry (HSM) team
(i) (949) 609-8000
(j) have a great day. Seriously, please do.

Feb 9-12
(a) Josh Griffin
(b) Hanging out with Rick Warren backstage at #rad10
(c) Lake Forest, CA
(d) February 9
(e) February 12
(f) completely ignored
(g) (waves hand) “it can wait until March 18th” (you repeat) “it can wait a few weeks”
(h) The High School Ministry (HSM) team
(i) (949) 609-8000
(j) Have a great day.

JG

Cool video from Jeff McGuire. Saw it over on McGill’s Abnormalize and thought I would repost – thought for a while I’ve been thinking I like both not either.

JG

Very excited to read about a new resource on starting/developing a girls’ ministry from Simply Youth Ministry. We actually don’t have a specific girls-ministry in HSM, so I’m pumped to put this into one of our leader’s hands and see what happens. Check it out, too, if you’re interested!

JG