Fun countdown we used during the service countdown of the Road Trip series this weekend.

JG

Kurt has a great post about some of the characteristics of influencers in his life. I really dug the 4 abilities he talks about as people who shape him – here’s 2 of them, head there for the rest:

The Ability To “Stop Time”. I have a friend who is extremely busy and everybody knows it. Yet when he stops to talk to you, even in a spontaneous hallway encounter, it’s as if time stops and you become the sole focus of his attention. There aren’t many things that make me feel better than when somebody who is obviously super busy can hit the pause button and make it seem as if they have nothing better to do than talk to me.

The Ability To Prop Up. One of my lifelong friends is the master of encouragement. I honestly can’t remember ever spending time with him, whether it was 5 minutes or 5 hours, without walking away at the end of our time together feeling better about myself.

JG

Took me a couple of weeks, but I’ve been chipping away at The 21 Most Powerful Minutes In A Leader’s Day by John Maxwell on audiobook during my nightly walks. I think that’s one of the better ways to digest the book – there’s a ton to take in in this classic work, so less might be more in this case. In each section you get a leadership law and a character study from the Bible that demonstrates that character quality and leadership learning. Moses, Joshua, Peter, Paul, Saul and so many more are featured – there’s a ton to get out of this book that will help you lead others and a ton in this book that will help you understand Scripture looking for leadership lessons. Chapters that stood out to me were The Law of the Lid, The Law of Process, The Law of Priorities and The Law of Legacy. Great stuff, a must-read for youth workers for sure. A

JG

Tonight was HSM’s Summer Nights of Laughter (SNL) – an event we actually did about 10 years ago that made a strong comeback tonight. In short, it is a collection of timeless skits and videos that are all done by high school students. We had Debbie Downer, the cheerleaders, lifeguard and multiple remakes of Digital Shorts. Such a great night – there’s such power in laughter – fun is so disarming.

JG

I was recommended (and then given – thank you!) a new book this week – Cirque Du Soleil’s The Spark: Igniting the Creative Fire That Lives Within Us All. At only 130 pages or so, it is a quick read, like most of what I like to tackle.

The story is a business fable about a guy named Frank who is burned out in his job and through a chance interaction gets connected to the creative process of the daring acrobatic circus troupe. While it is more story than business principles, there’s enough along the way to pick up and apply. You feel the intensity they feel in creating an epic experience for audiences. You see the power of teamwork and trust for each other that literally scales to life and death levels. You will search your own heart to make sure you are following your calling in life, too. I enjoyed the book -and since I’ve never been, I might need to go catch a show soon, too. B

JG

There used to be a day when people would just complain and disappear. Now, they write a song about it and take a half a million people with them. Awesome.

JG

Here’s a nice shot of our group of students in the Dominican Republic last week. It was a great experience – heard lots of talk about the highlights – seems like the leprosy clinic visit was the most jarring, and the orphanage was powerful, too. Lots of good times, and enormous growth in our students.

Here’s what our team leaders have planned now that we’re home:

Plan a Reunion
Get the group together at someone’s house for a night of food, memories and stories. It has to happen within a few weeks or it won’t work – and don’t be frustrated if not everyone can attend. Do your best to pick the night that seems like it will work for the majority and do it!

Get a Facebook group page
Within minutes of getting home a student had this set up for our trip – share the experience with your community! Upload some pics, tell stories and share what happened online, too. Let it spread to other students and be a marketing tool to draw others in for the next time you go.

Start a Flickr account
Give everyone the login and password and have them upload all of the pictures from the trip. That way, everyone wins. For some that didn’t have a camera, or some that didn’t happen to take “that one group photo that turned out awesome” – now everyone has every picture.

What other tips would you share when a group comes home from a mission trip?

JG

There’s no doubt meetings are an important part of the life of a youth worker. Some are must-attend, some you really can’t or shouldn’t avoid. In most cases, any chance you get time with your pastor is valuable. Any chance you have to spend time with elders or board members is incredibly valuable.

Having said all of that – sometimes I get frustrated spending too much time in meetings. Plain and simple – death by meeting is totally possible. Here’s the first of a quick little blog series on meetings – first up, how to start a meeting:

Have an Agenda
Know what you’re wanting to get out of a meeting before you call for it. A meeting begins long before the time everyone finally gets together. Make sure you’ve processed the topics and agenda items so you run the meeting and it doesn’t end up runnig you. And if  you can email it, email it and skip the meeting!

Start on Time
When you call a meeting, make sure you honor everyone’s time by starting on time. Every time you start late, you train people to come even later, and you send the signal that what you have to say isn’t that important. It might be wise to start with some less-important stuff out of the gate, as you work to build this culture.

Begin with Affirmations
No matter what topic you’re covering, there is a heart attitude to affirm or a history to recognize. Start by bragging on some people if it fits the tenor of the meeting.

Recognize Who Isn’t There
Getting everyone together at the same time probably just isn’t possible, but as a leader you want to make sure that everyone is still in the loop. Make sure you have a plan for people who couldn’t attend – don’t keep them in the dark for longer than a day if possible. Usually a summary email and an option for a quick face-to-face if necessary.

What other advice do you have for youth workers about starting a meeting right?

JG

Loved that Perry Noble addressed a really tough ministry question today on this blog. “What if I Have People on Staff That Don’t Like the Church?”. Here’s an excerpt of his answer that might be helpful to you in your ministry:

#2 – WHAT is going on in this staff members life? Pastors–remember, we are called to lead people–NOT DRIVE THEM!  And quite often hurting people hurt people.  One of the things I’ve discovered is that sometimes people say things they don’t mean when their lives are seemingly hitting rock bottom.  MAYBE it isn’t a church issue…MAYBE it’s a personal issue that is spilling over into this area in their lives.

#3 – WHY is the staff member feeling this way? The only way you can answer this question is through a conversation.  If a person claims they would not attend the church if not on staff then they have GOT to have a reason (or reasons) why.  SO…ask them!  Sometimes leaders will avoid this because they fear controversy…or maybe because they might hear what they don’t want to hear…but…if we truly value the contribution the staff member is making to the team then we should pay attention to their concern.

#4 – Is the staff member being divisive? If the answer is “yes” then the issue must be dealt with as quickly as possible.  I have often told church leaders, “satan is way more passionate about dividing your staff rather than your church!”  Staff unity MUST be protected…ALWAYS!  PLEASE note I did not say, “Staff Uniformity,” people can have different opinions…but Jesus said something about a Kingdom divided against itself will surely fall!!!

JG

Weekend Teaching Series: GROW
Sermon Title: “Why We Don’t Grow”

Sermon in a Sentence: Although spiritual growth is necessary, fear keeps us from taking the “leap” into growth and truly looking like Christ.
Weekend Scale of Difficulty: 3 out of 10
Service Length: 70 minutes

Understandable Message: To continue the conversation of growth with our students, Josh Pease shared a message on why we don’t grow and what so often trips us up. Josh compared our fear of diving into growth to his experience with skydiving, illustrating how real action is much more difficult than simply words and unfulfilled goals. In order to encourage students to grow on their own, we gave out “Know Your Bible” books for every student, a handy booklet that explains every book of the Bible and provides an understandable way to journey through God’s Word.

Volunteer/Student Involvement: Students ran cameras, lights and sound. Volunteers did setup/cleanup. Low attendance this weekend on both volunteer and student side because of the 4th of July weekend.

Element of Fun/Positive Environment: Scotty Pichard, former summer intern, made an appearance this weekend as he protested HSM’s lack of “4^th of July” recognition. Dressed in patriotic attire, Scotty recited a poem he wrote about the freedom Americans have to choose and then sung a few lines of “God Bless the USA.” Brilliant! Also, we had a student do a quick skit promoting our Summer Nights of Laughter event this Friday. On stage, Jake Rutenbar stood behind the student and acted as the student’s arms as he explained the event where many students will put on various hilarious skits and dramas. There was a big push to bring friends to this event… it’s a great outreach!

Music Playlist: Look to You, Tear Down the Walls, Pure and Holy Passion, The Stand, Jesus Paid It All

Favorite Moment: Towards the end of the talk, Josh gave students a serious challenge. He picked a lime from a lime tree he had on stage and explained how the lime has to die to produce seeds and grow into another tree. Repeating the phrase “to live, you have to die,” Pease stressed the importance of losing the parts of ourselves that hold us down and asking God to fill us with Him in order to live the life we were intended. Such a cool, moving moment!

(this report written by Kyle Cleveland, an incredible summer intern you’ll hear more about in the future)

After Party was briefly mentioned in a previous Weekend in Review, and I got several questions about it. Here’s what it is and how we’re promoting it from up front:

After Party is a simple way to connect with new students. We are hoping this is an inbetween step from the weekend to a small group. Lots of info, some music, snacks and gifts for first timers. Total access to the staff. Answers to questions. A way to continually promote friendship evangelism to our regulars, too.

“Every week right after service, we hang out upstairs and would love to meet you. Whether you just wanna play a game or if you have something important you want to talk about, please come and meet us… we’d love to hang out. Look for our nametags which all of our leaders will be wearing. If today is your very 1st time, we have a special room set-up just to celebrate you. We have a gift for you and would love to meet you. If you came with a friend they can totally come with you.”

JG

Saw a couple of Twitters about Chalkbot, a sweet new initiative from Nike/Live Strong. Such a strong concept – send a text message to it, and it will be printed on the streets of the Tour de France. Amazing!

JG

Just thought you should know … a MacGruber movie is in the works according to Variety. One of the few really great skits on SNL in the past couple of years … I tihnk it has lots of potential as a movie. You?

“SNL’s” Kristen Wiig will reprise her Vicki character for the feature. Val Kilmer and Ryan Phillippe are in talks to join the cast.

Forte — who will return to “SNL” in the fall — debuted the parody of the 1980s action-adventure series “MacGyver” in 2007. He’ll co-write with “SNL’s” Jorma Taccone and John Solomon; the logline’s being kept under wraps. Taccone will direct.

Relativity Media topper Ryan Kavanaugh, Lorne Michaels and John Goldwyn are producing the project, which will begin shooting next month. Relativity’s Tucker Tooley will exec produce along with Erin David and “SNL” head writer Seth Meyers.

JG

A video we used a couple weeks ago during our senior weekend. It ended with him playing a song live on stage – he wrote it himself about the experience, combined with Amazing Grace. Yeah, Chris!

JG

It runs just a tad long, but a super video for a sex/love series.

JG

Been reading Lasting Impressions: From Visiting to Belonging by Mark Waltz. Mark is pastor from Granger Community Church who is strategically leading their ministry help people stick. I haven’t followed his blog like I do many others from their ministry, but liked the topic of his book and thought I could glean some insights/ideas from his work. The chapter on having “too full of a menu” is particularly strong – how when we advertise too much people commit to nothing. Another section on small groups being “a way” and not “the way” was interesting as well, and chapter 7 on the discipleship process fits really nicely with principles taught in Purpose Driven Youth Ministry. Good stuff, read this book to begin to help close the backdoor of your youth ministry. B

JG

Dennis has a thoughful post today connecting the bibleical purposes for student ministry and it’s target audience. He uses a mash-up of some Andy Stanley and Doug Fields stuff to come up with some great observations.

He’s got 4 more on his site to mull over, too.

JG

Quick update from the Dominican Republic – we just finished up hosting a Purpose Driven Youth Ministry Conference here for about 300 youth workers. Still processing it, but here’s a few thoughts in the moments we’re wrapping up:

1) It is amazing to praise God with Christians in another country. We’re thousands of miles away from home, but sing, praise and worship the same God. It is fun and powerful to be united in a few songs both groups knew this afternoon.

2) Youth ministry faces many of the same issues whereever you go. Some of the same questions we face in our church are identical to the ones youth workers internationally face. These youth workers are struggling to find volunteers, feeling the frustration of elders and knowing the limitations of budget.

3) The calling of the youth worker binds us together. We’re responding to the crisis together, all around the world. Students need Jesus, and the ones who do know Him need to be connected, grow and serve. We are part of a world-wide army of people serving students.

Powerful day.

JG

Just joined up with our mission trip to the Dominican Republic – this is the first time I’ve been out of the United States during the 4th of July! Kurt Johnston and I (along with the amazing team here) will be teaching a 1-day Purpose Driven Youth Ministry Conference for 300 youth workers in the morning.

Excited to be here, but miss the family and fireworks for sure!

JG

I blogged the other day that Simply Youth Ministry’s LIVE 4-year small group curriculum was about to launch, and now they’ve released a mini-site explaining how it works and doling out free samples. Pretty slick stuff – you can deliver all of your small group leader material online and communicate at a central hub with your leaders, too. We’re starting to move HSM in this direction this coming year, putting it through its tests right now.

JG