GUEST POST: How Young Ministers Can Help Themselves

Josh on March 4th, 2010

I thought it was appropriate after the quick thoughts on how you can help young ministers grow into their ministry that I turn the tables– Here’s a handful of quick thoughts on how young ministers can help themselves grow in their ministry.

  1. Don’t Starve Your Faith. Giving more means you need to take in more. Don’t forsake the faith that you’re working for.
  2. Ask for Correction. Invite pastors overseeing you for advice, help, and prayer. Being teachable will help you keep the right attitude. It will also show your pastor that you value their input and leadership.
  3. Honor Your Leadership. “A house divided cannot stand” a really good guy once said. Don’t be ignorant (re: others) or arrogant (re: yourself). Honor, protect, and obey your leadership.
  4. Find a Mentor. Find someone that you respect and admire and allow them to mentor you. This will take effort and time, but the experience is invaluable. This might be the most difficult tip of all– something I still need to do.
  5. Invest in Yourself. Stay in school, even if it’s one class at a time. Go to conferences. Spend $15 on a book and read it. Ask smarter pastors and good men and women out to coffee. Do anything you can to stay sharp and invest on the one thing that will give you a good return– you.

Josh blogs at http://joshherndon.com and twitters at joshua_herndon.

GUEST POST: Planting Seeds in Youth Ministry

Josh on March 4th, 2010

A few weeks ago one of my volunteer leaders called me up and started the conversation saying, “I hope you don’t mind, but I went ahead and…”. Now, I don’t know about you but anytime that phrase or something like “I hope you are not mad at me, but” start a conversation, my mind always ventures to the worst case scenario. Like, “I hope you are not mad at me, but…”

  • I was hanging out with kids and we drank beer together.
  • I got arrested for dealing pot.
  • My girlfriend is pregnant or I am pregnant.
  • I let a kid drive my car and he totaled it. What do I do now?

Even though I have had comments close to these said to me before, I am thankful that I have never had these exact comments reiterated to me. Regardless, my mind, as weird as it is, always ventures to the worst case scenarios when someone begins a statement like the one above.

So, as I’m bracing for a terrible scenario to unfold, my leader floors me as he continues. He said that he went ahead and asked 2 sophomore high school students to start thinking about being leaders down the road! Now that is a conversation starter that I have rarely experienced with another volunteer leader but welcome with open arms. This is a volunteer leader who decided to take it upon himself to plant a few seeds with some youth he has been building relationships with. Don’t we all wish we had leaders who did this all the time?

This conversation encouraged me for a few reasons:

  1. The leader took initiative. Not only was he actively involved with these students, but when he saw something in them, he encouraged them and planted a seed. How do you think those students felt that this leader believed in them so much that he asked them to be a leader?
  2. If you were to ask me for some future leaders amongst our current students, I do not know that they would be students I would have picked out first and foremost. This is not to say these are bad students, I just do not know them! Had this leader not done this and planted the seeds, I do not know if these students would have ever been asked to think about being a leader down the road.  Our leadership potential pool just got bigger because of this volunteer leader.

Seed planting is a big part of what we do in youth ministry.  As you know, we spend countless hours with students in hopes that God impacts their lives and they become fully devoted followers of Christ. It is called seed planting because unfortunately for most of us we can pour our lives into students all throughout their adolescent lives and often see little or no fruit for our work. Do not get me wrong, there are definitely times when we see fruit from our efforts, but with the many hours we invest in the lives of students, the fruit seeing is very little compared to the seeding.  Hopefully, one day we will see the fruit of your work by getting a thank you note in the mail or a facebook message saying how much of an impact we made in their lives. So, although we may not see the fruit while we spend time with them, we plant seeds in hopes that God uses our time with them to bring them to Him one day.

Planting seeds is not just limited to instilling Christlike principles into the lives of students.  Planting seeds also means to give students the vision for a ministry to others.  Students at this stage in their lives are looking for direction and a path to follow.  They will either choose a right direction or a wrong one.  By identifying and affirming leadership traits in students, you are encouraging them to make an eternal impact in the lives of others. But, as with building into students, we may never see some students in leadership roles. Keep the end in mind and allow God’s timing to take place. Whether God chooses to use them now or down the road, continue to build into them and pray that God uses them in a mighty way.  At the very least you are increasing your potential leader pool for future use.

Just because God may choose to use these students in leadership later does not mean you cannot help them develop and fine tune those qualities while they are still in your youth program.  As I have stated before, working at small to medium size churches, volunteer leaders are not necessarily easy to find. Because of that, you have to get creative in who can help you lead.  So, by encouraging students in their leadership ability, you are not only planting the seeds for future leadership but you can give them an opportunity to demonstrate and test their budding leadership potential in some way while they are still in your youth program. For instance, they could:

  • Give a message to the youth or share a testimony
  • Be apart of a ministry team like a welcome or program team
  • Help out with a younger age group like the middle school or children’s ministry

Seed planting is vital in our ministry as it gives students a path to take and affirms qualities in their own lives that can have an eternal impact.  So the question is, are you currently planting seeds? Not just building into students and sharing Christ with them but giving them a vision for an eternal impact they can help make in the lives of others?

TAKE A MINUTE and…

  1. Continue to invest your [...]

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GUEST POST: Don’t Be Afraid to Love

Josh on March 4th, 2010

You ask any Christian who is in their right mind, and they’ll tell you that God’s Word teaches that we should love. Christ taught love. All of God’s commands hinge on loving Him and loving other people. If a Christian doesn’t believe that, they’re either not saved or have somehow misinterpreted scripture……badly.

We know that we’re supposed to show love. We know that we should never be filled with hate. However, debates abound in Christian circles over things that some Christians will say is not hate and other Christians will pinpoint as hate. Plain and simple, when a so-called Christian holds up a sign on the street corner that says, “God hates fags”, I think its clear that is a hateful act, not one of love.

I don’t post this to point out acts of hate and compare them to acts of love done in the Christian world. I think for those of us with common sense, we know the extremes when it comes to hate and love.

I post this for my fellow Christians who desire to fulfill what Christ called the Greatest Commandment (Matthew 22:37-40). I post this for those that call themselves true Christians of any denomination. I’m not talking to lunatics who bomb abortion clinics and endorse violence against homosexuals or people with a different color of skin. You people can go hang out with violence endorsing Muslims. After all, you have a lot in common.

I’m talking to the true bible-believing, followers of Jesus Christ. Even though, we know and understand that we should be about the love of Christ, we are still failing miserably. And I’m not saying that we are failing miserably because there are still people in need that desparately need help and love, because that will always be the case as long as we live in a fallen world. I’m not saying that we are failing miserably because the church isn’t giving enough. Sure, that does happen, but that is not the point I want to draw out.

We are failing miserably because we have a warped view of what love is. We have allowed our world and postmodernism to shape our view of love, and we’ve done it almost unconsciously. Let me tell you, that’s a scary statement that I just made. Because if you know scripture, you’ll know that it says in 1 John 4:8, “Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love”.

Christians, we are allowing ourselves to be deceived in that we are showing love to a world through the viewfinder of the world and not Christ. We are displaying love to the world, like the world loves, not as Christ loves.

Let me use a common debate and misunderstanding to illustrate my point. There is a movement among Christians that is very scary. Its almost as scary as the abortion clinic bombers. Its the movement that claims we should preach love, not hell. For many reading this, I lost you right there. You’re gonna click away from this post now, thinking that you totally disagree with me and that you already have a basic idea of what I am going to say next. I ask you to stick with me. In no way do I believe we should focus on hellfire and brimstone preaching every time the door opens. Our preaching should come directly, expositorily from God’s Word. Whatever God’s Word calls for, we preach it. I believe in taking the scripture, preaching it, and running straight towards the cross. The gospel message is central in all of scripture. Hell is not. However, I believe that you cannot completely preach love without mentioning Hell at some point. Hell is a part of the story. Its a truth, not to be ignored. In fact, Christ spent more time discussing it, than He spent talking about Heaven. Why? Because I believe Jesus knew the pain, destruction, and agony that Hell would bring, in more ways than we can probably ever really know. Christ loves us so much, that He endured a brutal, agonizing, Hell of a death so that we would have the opportunity to not endure it. Show me a greater act of love. You will never find it.

Christians, we have been lied to. The enemy has surrounded us and polluted the truth. In a demented way, I believe the enemy is perfectly fine with the way we show love, because we leave out the hard parts.

We are masters of “easy love”. We have it down to a science. When the destruction occurred in Haiti, we jumped at the opportunity to come to their aid. And that’s a good thing! We should have done that! I believe Christ would want us to do that. As a church, we are doing things to reach people groups all over the world. We send shoeboxes full goods to 3rd world countries. We adopt Christmas angels and give during the Holidays. We reach out to our homeless, feed them, and give them places to sleep off the streets. We do community projects in an attempt to fulfill a community need. We serve. We give of our time. We give of our resources. We give of our talents. These are all good things that we should be doing, and probably can be doing better. However, we do them. We believe we should do them, and we do them with conviction. However, I believe we are only tapping into the “easy” side of love, not the “harder” side of love, which I believe God has called us to as well. I’m not saying that the things listed above are “simple” to do. Giving takes sacrifice, effort, and time. The things above can be draining. However, I believe the type of love displayed is a love that our world matches.

For every dollar and resource Christians give to Haiti, the Red Cross is easily matching that. Not saying that we should be in competition with secular organizations, but how does showing love, by giving to Haiti make [...]

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HSM Kenya Prayer Guide 2010

Josh on March 3rd, 2010

Day ONE & TWO: (3/4/10 & 3/5/10) Travel to Nairobi then on to Kitale
Pray for safe travel to Kenya. Pray for rest and the preparation of our hearts for ministry. Pray that all goes smoothly with the logistics.

Day THREE: (3/6/10) Travel to Kitale and ministry at the PRISON
Pray for our team as we minister to the prisoners of the Kitale prison. Pray that these prisoners would hear and accept the message of Jesus Christ.

Day FOUR: (3/7/10) Church and Orphanage
Please pray for our team as we experience “Kenyan Church.” Pray that we are an encouragement to those ministering each week to the people of Kenya. Pray that we find new ways to partner with these churches. Pray for our team as we minister to the prisoners of the Kitale prison. Pray that these prisoners would hear and accept the message of Jesus Christ. Also, pray for our ministry to the boys in the orphanage.

Day FIVE: (3/8/10) First Day of Camp
Please pray for our team as we prepare camp for kids and teenagers. Pray for good connections, good conversation, and for camp to go according to God’s plan. Pray for our partnership with Oasis of Hope. Pray for the kids at camp to have open hearts to the message of Jesus Christ. Pray for the students on our team who are teaching, singing, leading and counseling the kids. Pray that we would be open to ministering outside of our comfort zone. Pray for another student on the team today.

Day SIX: (3/9/10) Camp
Pray that God would give opportunities to our students to share their personal faith with a camper. Pray that we wouldn’t miss any opportunities to share Jesus. Pray that God would make an impact on lives through our team. Pray for your student today.

Day SEVEN: (3/10/10) Camp
Pray for protection from exhaustion and the enemy as we wrap up our last day of camp. Pray that our team would have courage and be bold in sharing their faith with the kids of Oasis of Hope. Pray for the team leaders today. Pray for the teachers of Oasis of Hope that they would continue the mission of bringing kids to Jesus Christ.

Day EIGHT: (3/11/10) Ministry at Discover to Recover
Pray for the strength and the spirit of our team. Pray that God would help us to be bold in our conversations with the kids affected or infected with HIV Aids.

Day NINE: (3/12/10) Work Projects at Oasis of Hope
Pray for our last day of ministry. Pray that we would stay focused as team and that fatigue would not set in. Pray that we would make the most of our last day at Oasis of Hope.

Day TEN & ELEVEN: (3/13/10 & 3/14/10)
Pray for safe travel back to Nairobi and then back to the US. Pray that we adjust well spiritually emotionally, and physically. Pray that God would continue to work in our hearts after we return. Pray that we would continue to remember and reflect our journey in Kenya. Pray for protection from sickness and fatigue.

POLL: Have you read the Bible all of the way through?

Josh on March 3rd, 2010


Loved the honesty of the Skit Guys talking this weekend (at SYMC) about not having read the Bible from cover to cover before. Got me thinking about this poll question for youth workers – have you read the Bible all of the way through? Not meant to induce a ton of guilt, just curious.

JG

Top 10 Bad Student Ministry Ideas

Josh on March 3rd, 2010

The Skit Guys did a fantastic Letterman-style Top 10 list for Student Ministry bad ideas at the Simply Youth Ministry Conference this year. So fun!

JG

Compassion Teenager Video

Josh on March 3rd, 2010

Here’s the Compassion video from SYMC. Powerful stuff to encourage youth workers and their students to sponsor a child at the event.

JG

Surprising Legacy – Simply Youth Ministry Conference 2010

Josh on March 3rd, 2010

Loved this image, equation and talk from Doug’s closing general session at SYMC 2010. Good stuff to think about as you apply it to your setting! Oh, and if you want to get any of the sessions or workshops from the conference on CD/DVD, head over to this site and pick them up!

JG

Last Call for GUEST POSTS on MoreThanDodgeball.com

Josh on March 3rd, 2010

Thanks to you, I’ve got at least one guest post a day for each of the days I’ll be gone on a mission trip to Kenya this coming week. I would love to get a few more ready to post automatically while I’m away. Want in? Last chance – email it in quick before we leave!

JG

More SYMC 2010 iTunes Playlists

Josh on March 3rd, 2010

Nate from MediaShout hooked me up with the final 2 playlists (here’s the first 1) that people have been asking for from the Simply Youth Minstry Conference 2010 (BTW, are you coming in 2011? Heard over 500 are already registered!). Here you go:

MORNING SESSION

  • Lord, Save Me from Myself – Jon Foreman
  • Dry Bones – Gungor
  • Porcelain – Sleeping At Last
  • Be Healed – Paper Route
  • You Have Me – Gungor
  • Shine Your Light On Us – Robbie Seay Band
  • Looking for Love – Clemency
  • Hard Times – Matthew Perryman Jones
  • Disciple (The Last Time) – Gatlin Elms
  • Needle & Thread – Sleeping At Last
  • IO – Helen Stellar
  • New Day – Robbie Seay Band
  • Your Love Is Strong – Jon Foreman
  • Baptize My Mind – Jon Foreman
  • He Never Said a Mumblin’ Word – The Welcome Wagon
  • Better Than Wine – Derek Webb
  • Gospel Song – Black Rebel Motorcycle Club

EVENING SESSION

  • Hope, Peace & Love – Foy Vance
  • Choose The One Who Loves You More – Copeland
  • Failed Medication – Disappointed By Candy
  • Ain’t No Easy Way – Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
  • 1901 (L’Aiglon Rmx) (Remix Version) – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
  • Cave In – Owl City
  • 15 – Surrogate
  • The Spirit Vs. The Kick Drum – Derek Webb
  • White Lights – Deas Vail
  • Fireflies – Owl City
  • Cars Go – Arcade Fire
  • Resurrect Me – Jon Foreman
  • Be Healed – Paper Route
  • Home On Your Heart – Aaron Strumpel
  • The Nerve – MuteMath
  • Young Folks – Peter Bjorn And John
  • Enemy Among Us – Paper Route
  • Beautiful Things – Gungor
  • Shed a Little Light – Foy Vance
  • Call Me Out – Gungor
  • Refuge – Matthew Perryman Jones
  • Here Comes the King – Clemency
  • Pins And Needles – MuteMath
  • I Am A Pilgrim – Johnny Cash
  • Tennis Shoes – The Khrusty Brothers
  • Clipping – MuteMath
  • Teen Angst – M83

JG

LEGO: The Force Unleashed

Josh on March 3rd, 2010

I’m a sucker for some killer stop-motion LEGO Star Wars. May the Force be with you!

JG

80/80 Sale at SYM

Josh on March 3rd, 2010

Simply Youth Ministry is running a nice sale on a bunch of resources that might help you in your youth ministry setting – hit the link to see over 80 items that are 20% off for the next couple of days. Oh, and don’t watch the promo video on the sale page … I did and it still haunts me when I close my eyes. Seriously.

JG

Resource of the Week: CLASS 101-401 Student Edition

Josh on March 3rd, 2010

Every week I highlight a resource from Simply Youth Ministry in the right hand column of the blog’s main page – this week is the student edition of CLASS 101-401 – spiritual development classes that are designed to take students from church membership to maturity and missions. Here’s some of the description, if you wanted to know a few more details:

Saddleback Church’s Membership, Maturity, Ministry, and Mission classes are now available for students. Each of these long-term core Saddleback classes has been adapted for students and are ready for you to teach. Each of the four classes runs about two hours. They can also be expanded into a two-day class.

JG

iTunes Playlist from SYMC

Josh on March 1st, 2010

The iTunes playlist from the first couple of nights at SYMC in case you were interested:

  • 1901 – Phoenix
  • Your Name High – Hillsong United
  • We Will Worship You – Carlos Whittaker
  • Undo – Rush of Fools
  • Tear Down the Walls – Hillsong United
  • Show Me What I’m Looking for – Carolina Liar
  • The Saving One – Starfield
  • Safe – Phil Wickham
  • Rise and Sing – Fee
  • Rain It Down – Carlos Whittaker
  • No Reason to Hide – Hillsong United
  • Mess of Me – Switchfoot
  • Love is Here – Tenth Avenue North
  • Jesus Saves – Carlos Whittaker
  • Glory to God Forever – Fee
  • Freedom is Here – Hillsong United
  • City On Our Knees – Phil Wickham
  • Always -Switchfoot
  • All the Right Moves – Onerepublic

JG

Fake Products from Simply Youth Ministry

Josh on March 1st, 2010

A couple of the fake Simply Youth Ministry products used to introduce Andy Brazelton, the man behind the magic of Group/SYM youth ministry stuff. You should have seen the list that didn’t make the cut – ha!

JG

SYMC Youth Group Montage Video

Josh on February 28th, 2010

During the closing night session of the Simply Youth Ministry Conference we played this video made up of about 100 images that the attendees sent of them and their youth group. I used a new website called Animoto – super easy to use, just upload photos, pick music, and presto it makes magic. SO slick!

JG

Fight the Youth Ministry Stereotype

Josh on February 28th, 2010

Jake’s amazing new rap video about youth workers, premiered last night at the Simply Youth Ministry Conference. Enjoy!

JG

Saturday Night Announcements at SYMC

Josh on February 28th, 2010

Tonight’s announcement video from SYMC. We have a little less hair now, thanks to this one.

JG

GUEST POST: Doug Fields’ “Your First Two Years in Youth Ministry”

Matt on February 27th, 2010

I walked into Fields’ pre conference session right as he was teaching about the purposes: evangelism, worship, fellowship, discipleship, ministry. It was great and it never gets old. I’ve heard it a million times, and I still love it.

I first heard this teaching when I was a sophomore in college. I came down to hang out with Doug and a conference was happening at saddleback. Rick said something definitive like, “this is what the church must do.” I remember thinking in response, “Is that ALL that the church is supposed to do? There’s got to be something else.” I spent a year thinking a lot about the church. It was on my mind every time I read scripture or heard something in class or at church. At the end, I came to the conclusion that I liked his five words, I felt like they were a great way to explain God’s will for the church.

I like the words, but it’s not about the words themselves. Ministry is about doing God’s will, in the way that he’s called me to lead. I think every ministry needs two things

Every ministry ought to have a biblical foundation. (duh) It’s too easy to get caught up in results or flash or feelings or opinions or, worst of all, tradition and history. (ouch) A ministry doesn’t need to be “purpose driven” but it does need to reflect God’s will, and we need to be able to articulate that clearly. (oh yea)

Every ministry ought to have leaders to act out of their spiritual convictions. It’s not enough to have great programs and happy people. Ministry is personal, at least it ought to be. God work through people because he needs us, he’s not limited to our efforts. He’s working through us to transform us to become more like him. Transformation comes when we act from the convictions God has given us.

There’s nothing extra special about the words: evangelism, worship, fellowship, discipleship, ministry.

There’s something extraordinary about the leader who loves God and others enough to do ministry God’s way according to personal conviction.

+mattmcgill
www.abnormalize.net

Evangelism Linebacker at SYMC

Josh on February 27th, 2010

Derwin Gray is teaching right now at SYMC … he’s really good! You may know him from a few years back as the “Evangelism Linebacker.” Be sure to check out the video (embedded above) if you haven’t ever seen it or could use a laugh – good stuff. Derwin is a former NFL player, now a junior high volunteer and communicator.

JG