More Than Dodgeball | Youth Ministry Blog by Josh Griffin

Josh GriffinMore Posts Youth Ministry 101: Be a Learner

Spending some time each week creating some Youth Ministry 101 training times for our team. Here’s a little clip from a recent one on the importance of continually learning:

Uncle Sam sent many of his sons to war with absolute minimums of training. Some fighter pilots entered combat in 1942 with less than one hour in their assigned aircraft. The 357th Fighter Group (often known as The Yoxford Boys) went to England in late 1943 having trained on P-39s. The group never saw a Mustang until shortly before its first combat mission. A high-time P-51 pilot had 30 hours in type. Many had fewer than five hours. Some had one hour. With arrival of new aircraft, many combat units transitioned in combat. The attitude was, “They all have a stick and a throttle. Go fly `em.” When the famed 4th Fighter Group converted from P-47s to P-51s in February 1944, there was no time to stand down for an orderly transition. The Group commander, Col. Donald Blakeslee, said, “You can learn to fly `51s on the way to the target.

The best youth workers are learners. Be a learner. When you stop learning you stop leading. We have the opportunity to learn before we get into battle!

Work hard so you can present yourself to God and receive his approval. Be a good worker, one who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly explains the word of truth. (2 Timothy 2:15 NLT)

Blogs – subscribe to a ton of blogs. They’re free, easy to read, and easy to share. Ruthlessly delete ones that don’t look like they apply or are interesting. Unsubscribe if they get lame. Read, read, read.
Books – get a book a month, read it. Marinate it. Mark it up. Put it on your shelf to remember your conquest.
Other youth workers are a great source of learning – Get together with youth workers in your network. Start a network. Lead a network that is failing. Get together with like-minded ministers and learn.
Experience is a great teacher – the lesson is learned after the win/loss, so it isn’t preventative like the other methods. But don’t undervalue the learning that comes from experience.

JG

3 View Comments March 1, 2012

Josh GriffinMore Posts 5 Questions With Darren Sutton, Author of 2 Sides

Darren Sutton is a youth worker and more recently a published author under Simply Youth Ministry’s Everyday Youth Ministry brand. He’ll be at this year’s Simply Youth Ministry Conference and blogs all of the time at http://everyonescalledtoyouthministry.com/

1) tell us about the story behind your new book, Two Sides: Finding What Fits in Your Youth Ministry!
Youth ministry is rarely cut & dried. Don’t get me wrong, there are some definite rights and wrongs in working with students – but most of it isn’t. So I asked some of my veteran youth ministry buddies to weigh in with their takes on those ‘gray areas’. No right or wrong answers – just personal philosophies accompanied with some direction that might help youth workers find their own place to land of some issues that might not have such a clear-cut answer.

2) what was the process like getting published for the first time?
In all honesty, it wasn’t the grueling, heartless prospect I had heard it could be. It took a little longer than expected to get the project off the ground – but the actual process was relatively painless. I submitted a couple of different ideas to the publishing team – they landed on this one pretty quickly and I began to assemble a stellar group of amazing, experienced youth workers to do the heavy lifting of writing down those philosophies we’ve always debated over Starbucks and Sack Chairs.

3) any great stories that didn’t make the cut in the book?
The best stories are in the book! But we did have a few gray areas that will have to remain in the gray, at least for now, because we just didn’t have enough pages to cover them all!

4) prove that you’re human. Give us a classic failure story!
Wow. Where to start? I’ve always been a pretty black and white kind of guy – so if you had told me ten years ago I’d be writing a book an ‘gray areas’ of youth ministry – I probably would have laughed in your face. I’ve always held some pretty serious philosophy on student ministry – but as I read through the segments my friends wrote, I’d be lying if I said it didn’t make me question some of my well-thought-out ministry plans. One of my biggest failures (which I have worked hard to correct) has been thinking I know it all and my way is always right!! There’s so much veteran-wisdom in this book – my friends have honored and humbled me by agreeing to be part of the project!

5) what would you tell other youth workers hoping to get published?
Publishing isn’t about the author – it’s about the message. Never confuse the two.

Get his new book in eFormat or print-on-demand right here!

JG

Add Comment March 1, 2012

Josh GriffinMore Posts Engage: Spring Break Serve Trip Promo Video

Really slick little video the guys made to promote our upcoming Spring Break serve trip!

JG

Add Comment February 29, 2012

Josh GriffinMore Posts Judgementalism, Perception and Hypocrisy

Thought this post from Holy Soup was interesting – written from the perspective of a ministry resource provider, but had an interesting parallel to perception in youth ministry. Here’s a clip, head there for the rest:

As a publisher of Christian resources, I frequently hear from squinty-eyed conspiracy theorists who find evil in innocence everywhere they look. Some examples:

If you depict a rainbow you must be supporting a radical gay agenda.

If you ask people to silently meditate on a biblical truth you must be a Buddhist.

If you refer to science you must be a God-hating humanist.

If you discuss the environment you must be a pagan.

If you ask students to visualize a certain scenario you must be a New Ager.

If you like Easter eggs you must be a Babylonian Mother Goddess worshiper.

If you discuss things in popular culture you must be a “neo-Christian.”

If you set up a prayer walk you must be an Emergent heretic.

If you dance you must work at a strip club.

The Pharisees are alive and well. Today. And, they’re inhibiting the cause of Christ. They’re portraying the church as a judgmental band of paranoid finger-pointers. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not suggesting that Christian folk should wear rose-colored glasses. But I mourn the harm being done by those who look at life through crap-colored glasses.

JG

Add Comment February 29, 2012

Josh GriffinMore Posts 3 Leadership Mistakes I’ve Made Recently

Over the past 15 years (and 3 weeks) that I’ve been in full-time ministry I’ve made more than my fair share of mistakes. I’ve made so many I’m currently pitching a book called Youth Ministry Nightmares where I talk about the stories surrounding my biggest leadership gaffs.

While these aren’t nightmares, they are some mistakes I’ve made in the not-so-recent past:

Neglecting rookie volunteers
There is one group of leaders in your ministry that need you more than anyone else: the newbies. My mistake in the past was to concentrate on launching and not sustaining. The more time you take to make rookie leaders great the more you will retain and the better (and faster) experienced veterans they will become.

Not changing your leadership style to fit your team
When my volunteer team was all my close friends, I could manage relationally and we were overflowing with trust and history. As teams change, and you encourage outsiders to join your team, make sure you adjust to the people God has given you. Make history with them. Design activities to build trust. Make sure they are fully trained and equipped.

Falling in love with youth ministry more than Jesus
From time to time I have found myself in an unhealthy tension—choosing to love youth ministry more than Jesus. Loving what I do instead of who I do it for. It doesn’t take long in a season of discouragement to reveal which way you have erred.

Hope my mistakes help you be a better youth worker! Share your mistakes in the comments, too!

This post was written by Josh Griffin and Kurt Johnston and originally appeared as part of Simply Youth Ministry Today free newsletter. Subscribe to SYM Today right here.

Add Comment February 29, 2012

Josh GriffinMore Posts 3 Leadership Mistakes I’ve Made Recently

Over the past 15 years (and 3 weeks) that I’ve been in full-time ministry I’ve made more than my fair share of mistakes. I’ve made so many I’m currently pitching a book called Youth Ministry Nightmares where I talk about the stories surrounding my biggest leadership gaffs.

While these aren’t nightmares, they are some mistakes I’ve made in the not-so-recent past:

Neglecting rookie volunteers
There is one group of leaders in your ministry that need you more than anyone else: the newbies. My mistake in the past was to concentrate on launching and not sustaining. The more time you take to make rookie leaders great the more you will retain and the better (and faster) experienced veterans they will become.

Not changing your leadership style to fit your team
When my volunteer team was all my close friends, I could manage relationally and we were overflowing with trust and history. As teams change, and you encourage outsiders to join your team, make sure you adjust to the people God has given you. Make history with them. Design activities to build trust. Make sure they are fully trained and equipped.

Falling in love with youth ministry more than Jesus
From time to time I have found myself in an unhealthy tension–choosing to love youth ministry more than Jesus. Loving what I do instead of who I do it for. It doesn’t take long in a season of discouragement to reveal which way you have erred.

Hope my mistakes help you be a better youth worker! Share your mistakes in the comments, too!

This post was written by Josh Griffin and Kurt Johnston and originally appeared as part of Simply Youth Ministry Today free newsletter. Subscribe to SYM Today right here.

Add Comment February 29, 2012

Josh GriffinMore Posts POLL: Parent Ministry

We’ve been doing quite a bit of talk about expanding our parent ministry – so this week’s poll focuses on parents and your ministry. What all do you offer parents? I’ve tried to list a ton of options – and even left you an “other” section to drop in your great ideas, too!

JG

1 View Comments February 29, 2012

Josh GriffinMore Posts Parenting the Spiritually Orphaned

In my first few years as a youth pastor I keenly remember a faithful student named Scott. He was the child of a single parent, and like many students he struggled as a result of not having a father figure at home. I was like a father to Scott, and he looked at me the same. I was a voice of encouragement that took pride in his efforts and successes. He required extra care and time and in many cases grace as they things you would expect that he know were not fair to assume.

So many students are fatherless, motherless, spiritually orphaned or from a home that claims to be rich in their spiritual lives but in actuality is bankrupt. Your encouragement to them, your willingness to pray for them, to value their opinion and to be a good role model to them can make a world of difference. Don’t take lightly the fact that you are the best example of a man or a woman in their lives and that can have lasting implications on who they become and eventually marry.

It is for these students that we need to remind them often that in the midst of a void in the area of an earthly father that there is a heavenly father and He is the father to fatherless. While pointing our students to Him, you need to know that these are the students that need more of your time; they crave it to know that they are acceptable and loved. This is an incredible opportunity to show these students who Jesus is and what He is about and I challenged to seek out these students and make time for them.

4 quick takeaway points to think about today as you youth pastor-parent:

Think like a parent — What are the needs of that student? If they were my son or daughter, what would I say or do. Be that spiritual voice of truth like they were your own kid.
Share your pride of your students — Tell them you are proud of them and why. Notice the little things they say and do. Balance correction and hard truth with lavish and genuine praise.
Remind them that they are loved — By God, by your leaders, by you.
Be a solid role model — You might be the best image of what a man or a woman is to them.

A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling. -Psalm 68:5

JG

1 View Comments February 28, 2012

Josh GriffinMore Posts More Than Dodgeball: The Book

Excited to announce that this week my new book, More Than Dodgeball, was released at Simply Youth Ministry. Excited to have a print version of a bunch of classic blog posts and some new stuff snuck in there, too!

Griffin focuses his attention on four main themes: the heart and calling of the youth worker, the leadership of a student ministry, the volunteer team that serves teenagers, and big-picture ideas about healthy ministry. These aren’t just random thoughts–they’re practical words of wisdom rooted in his 15 years of experience as a youth pastor. More Than Dodgeball will encourage, inspire, and drive you toward the realization that your youth group can be more than a source of entertainment, a glorified babysitting service, or “Church Lite.” It can be a vibrant ministry that intentionally, significantly, and permanently impacts the lives of teenagers.

JG