Pumped to continue losing weight for the remaining 10 weeks until the Simply Youth Ministry Conference. For my birthday (yesterday) my parents got me a new pair of shoes and Nike+. If you’ve never seen it before, Wired did a killer article on it a couple of months ago. I’m super excited to use it – started tonight with 3/4 mile of calibrations, and a quick first brisk walk. This thing makes it fun – excited to see how it goes!

JG

It might have been the most amazing finish I’ve ever seen to a professional basketball game. The Celtics’ Rondo misses 2 free throws with 1.5 seconds left, and LA Clipper Baron Davis dropped in a stunning basket to end the game as the game clock expired. Unreal night – so pumped to be there with my dad, continuing our tradition that if he visits, we find some game/sporting event to see together. Awesome!

JG

Saddleback Church is streaming their Christmas services online this holiday – click here to watch. Pastor Rick Warren is speaking during the daytime services and Doug Fields will be teaching the two evening services:

Catch it today (Christmas Eve) at 1PM, 3PM, 5PM, 7PM, 9PM, 11PM (Pacific Time)

Also, my friend Tony and LifeChurch.tv are hosting a Christmas Eve experience as well at Church Online that would be a great one to check out, too. Merry (online) Christmas!

JG

I want our student ministry to be safe … but totally unpredictable. Let me explain what I mean.

Safe
Our goal is that our student services are outsider-aware – that we are friendly to people there for the first time. That when anyone walks in, they realize we’ve been planning this for a while and have something important to say. I also want our regular students to trust us – that if you take that bold step and invite a friend we’re not going to embarrass you or them with the program or the people. That the weekend service, on any given Saturday/Sunday, will be a safe place to bring someone to hear about Jesus or be challenged in the faith they already have. I want our students to feel so safe/welcomed/proud that they would want to introduce their friends to me.  Practical: add a “welcome to first-timers” even if they’re aren’t any attending your service/event. Cast the vision for it on a weekly basis. Work with a core group of students to find out what a “safe environment” means to them in regards to them trusting you enough to invite a friend to church. Avoid insider language, illustrations that exclude certain people groups.

Unpredictable
At the same time, I want us to be unpredictable – you never totally know what’s going to happen when you walk into church. Yes, it will always be safe, challenging and outsider-friendly, but we’ve probably got something special planned that you didn’t expect. Too often the order of service and tradition trumps the desire to present the Word in a creative and “sticky” way. Too often we rest in the “safety” of the way we’ve always done it at the expense of people’s attention. We don’t have services for the purpose of creating buzz and I even like traditions, but people truly being fully engaged and then applying truth is most important. Practical: change up the order of service every month or every other series. Change the seating arrangement, bring in a special speaker, add in a new teaching style, don’t have music/double the music, etc.

I hope this New Year we’re always safe … and never predictable.

JG

Just finished up writing a little article for Outreach Magazine’s next newsletter. Its not too often I get a chance to speak to senior pastors, so I had some fun with it. Here’s a clip of what I just sent them, I’ll post the rest/link to it when it makes it online January 4th:

A few years back at one of Saddleback’s youth worker conferences we offered a workshop called Senior Pastor: Friend or Foe.

Unfortunately, it was a really popular seminar.

It seems that youth pastors deal in extremes in many ways – not just in the lives of students at a critical and often misunderstood age, but extremes in their relationships with their supervisor. No matter how good or bad your relationship is with the lead youth worker in your church, I applaud you for reading the title of this article and at least being mildly interested in the perspective of a guy who’s played number two his whole career.

I’ve sat in my church office (which was located in the basement, though I’m sure that had no reflection of my value), completely frustrated with my leader. I’ve wrongly done youth ministry all alone, frustrated by the lack of camaraderie with my boss. I’ve dug myself into some pretty terrific pits in my time as a youth pastor, too many without the confidence of a trusted partner in ministry. Someone on your team might be thinking or feeling this way right now … in their basement office.

The relationship between the church staff team has to be effortless. But it takes a ton of effort. When people look at a great marriage, they may not realize the arduous amount of hard work that it takes – and now you’ve got a second spouse. I’m just being figurative here, in case you felt like I was endorsing concubines. You’ve carefully invested day after day in your marriage and build up trust, the same has to be true with that guy sitting in the basement.

JG

The finale of GRELF, the Christmas dwarf-elf.

JG

The latest episode of the Simply Youth Ministry Podcast … Jana and I were both out, but Matt and Doug easily carried the show. Enjoy!

JG

Haley and some students holding ornaments with their prayer/commitments inside

Weekend Teaching Series: Christmas Extravaganza (1-off, combined HSM/Wildside service)

Sermon in a Sentence: A Christmas program-type of weekend – lots of singing, skits and videos all centering on the reason for the season: Jesus Christ.
Service Length: 66 minutes
Bible: Luke 23; Acts 20:35

Understandable Message: This weekend was all about Jesus and all about fun. The 3-point message was on the real reason for Christmas – that the Savior was born, a challenge to give to others and to invitation to receive God’s love. Fun to team teach with a couple of upperclassmen students in our high school ministry, too. Good people!

Volunteer/Student Involvement: Tons of students serving this weekend – students manning the lights, cameras, sound and control room, as well as a junior high/high school choir, band and a skit, written and produced by students (I’ll do my best to get that posted soon as well). Volunteers jumped in to greet students, distribute bulletins and make everyone feel welcome.

Element of Fun/Positive Environment: This week we had a new Christmas music video that was super, the conclusion of the Grelf video series and some fun music! We did the announcements to the poem of “Twas the Night Before Christmas” – lots of excitement bringing everyone (normally our ministries have separate services each weekend) together for the big finale to the year.

Music Playlist: Carol of the Bells, The 12 Days of Christmas, Savior King/O Come Let Us Adore Him, Do You Hear What I Hear, Mary Did You Know, O Holy Night, Joy to the World

Favorite Moment: Lots of fun moments this weekend - for me one of the most heartfelt moments was when Cory and Dakota got up on stage and talked about the gift everyone was getting this weekend. Every students could use the tear-off of the bulletin to write a prayer, decision or commitment to God on it, then roll it up and put it inside an ornament they got as they left. The idea was that it would be a reminder of their commitment, as well as a trigger every year about that decision whenever the family decorated the Christmas tree. Dakota talked about how her prayer this year, and ever since she was a little girl, was for her dad to accept Christ, and that was what she was putting inside her ornament. Really awesome heart moment!

Up Next: A weekend off for Christmas break – booya!

Amazing new Christmas music video from our HSM students for our Christmas celebration weekend. Featuring Jake Rutenbar, too! 

JG

Question of the week – how often do you present the Gospel to your students?

JG

I’ve been talking with a few youth pastors lately about ministry being “tough.” You know how tough ministry can be- the idea that parents are disappointed with you, elders are disappointed with you, students are disappointed with you, your pastor is disappointed with you, and maybe even your spouse is disappointed with you because of the time (or lack thereof) you are spending with her (him). You may even begin to wonder if God is disappointed in you. Ministry is a tough and dark world.

I have noticed that we are quick to admit that our world is tough, but I noticed that I am not as quick to note that our students’ world is just as tough. Yesterday, one of my students told me that she has been bummed lately and doesn’t know why. She proceeded to tell me that a guy she is interested in is completely blowing her off, and that her friends are ignoring her and her parents are disappointed in her school grades. This sounds like typical student problems, right? We may deal with these students every day, but in this conversation, the phrase “High School is Tough” came out.

High school is tough. It was some of the toughest years of my life. I never want to go back to the days of dating, the days of test taking, and the constant wonder of, “Am I loved?” In the ministry world, I seek encouragement from others. I always wonder if I am “good enough” “equipped enough” “smart enough” or even “godly enough.” Basically, I need to know that I am LOVED. I need to hear this. I need to hear this from God, my wife, my friends, and my church. However, I am not the only one who needs to hear this. Our students need to hear it as well. They are going through a very tough world like we are as well, and they constantly need that reminder that they ARE LOVED, and I think we need to be one of those voices that remind them of that.

Who in your ministry needs to be reminded that they are LOVED? Go on and send them a text message reminding them of that. I believe it will speak very loud volumes to them.

Tyler Volkers is a youth worker at Silver Creek Reformed Church in German Valley, IL. Follow him on Twitter!

Yes! Just landed on the perfect gift for our volunteers at our mid-year bash this January called Super Sweet Leader Night. Each of them is getting a subscription to Group Magazine. It’ll be a great gift on their seats when they come in, and then the big surprise that they’ll get a full year’s subscription, too.

JG

A friend of mine asked me what are the best practices in evangelism to students right now – and I thought I would pose the question to the blog readers and see: What is working in your setting in reaching new students for Christ? Post your answers in the comments!

For us it would be a strong entry-level service that is safe for outsiders, with friendship evangelism running at the core. Occasional supplemental events help students at least cross the threshold, too. You?

JG

I liked these 7 questions over on Perry Noble’s blog today. He goes into lots more detail there, but here’s the list before you make the jump. Been thinking some about these in regards to our church, more specifically HSM:

• #1 – What do we need to stop doing?
• #2 – What bothers us about our church?
• #3 – What bothers us about our community?
• #4 – What bothers us about the world?
• #5 – How can we do things better?
• #6 – Who do we need to be talking to?
• #7 – What’s next?

JG

Episode 2 of GRELF … the saga continues (episode 1 here if you missed it).

JG

This week is the time of the year when I take the HSM team away for a morning and give the State of HSM address. It isn’t as epic as it might sound, but we do sneak up to have hot chocolate at Disneyland’s Grand Californian Hotel and sit in front of the fire while I diesel on our youth ministry for a while. It is now an annual event, and each year we mark the occasion by taking a group picture in front of the giant tree. Here’s what I hope to accomplish in our time together:

Reflection
This is a time of just thinking back through the year and telling stories that happened through the course of the ministry. Usually there are some funny stories in his part, and some tears when a particular memory strikes a chord. Pausing to reflect is a huge key here – if we continue to go, go, go – and even grow, grow, grow – we lose the heart behind what God is doing and can become gears in a machine churning out a product. Reflection brings us all back to the heart of why we do what we do.

Affirmation
This is a time to talk about specific people – we think about each other, strengths and successes of the past year. Usually some funny stories come out of this time as well, as well as life-giving words of kindness as we build each other up.

Correction
We haven’t had to do this too often, but from time to time a team-wide dysfunction creeps to the surface. I would always lean toward individual discipline as needed continually, but when something affects everyone or everyone is participating, a time to bring it out into the light is wise. This is usually brief and direct if it is indeed necessary.

Changes
As the ministry changes, shifts in focus or adapting to growth – we may have to move some players around. I try to save any significant team changes for this meeting, though it isn’t always possible. Team changes seen out of context are often a cause of team conflict and strife, changes made in the backdrop of this annual vision usually accepted far more quickly because one can easily see the big picture.

Vision
This is where it all comes together – we’ve celebrated where we’ve been and built each other up. We’ve gone after any team-wide course corrections and set up the infrastructure to build on where we think God is taking us in the coming year. And then we put it all out there – where are we headed for the year – what are our goals – what is success for our ministry until we sit around the fireplace in the Grand Californian next year? Then we pray about it, eat, and get back to work.

JG

Our Christmas video series for HSM called GRELF. Silly fun … one of Snow White’s 8 Dwarfs isn’t a dwarf at all – he’s an elf. This is an epic 3-part story of his journey to the North Pole.

JG

I’m excited to go to Africa for the very first time early next year. For too long I’ve seen pictures, watched videos, been to benefit concerts – even given money all in the name of helping the struggling continent of Africa.

I’ve seen so much that I’m actually not moved by much anymore.

If someone mentions Africa – sure I listen, but not intently. Sure, I am moved, but in reality not that much. My prayer to God is that all of that is about to change. I’m praying that I will be completely ROCKED by visiting Kenya in person. No longer will it be images of some distant place that I can shuffle further down my mental deck on command. That Africa will come alive with the sights, smells, sounds and feelings of real people. I’ll get to help real people and know real names. For a few days this March I will become part of Africa’s real story. And I’m asking God to break me, mold me, and challenge me like no other time in my life. I’m praying for that for our students that come along with, too.

God, what are you going to do?

JG

Poll question of the week – have you ever taught on these subjects in your youth ministry? (check all that apply)

JG

I asked our worship pastor Taffy if he would share the list of apps used for this weekend’s iPhone band opener. Here they are, along with some tips and tricks if you want to pull it off:

• Electric Guitar and Bass Player – Pocketguitar (.99)
• Piano 1 – Virtuso Piano – (free)
• Piano 2 – Pianist – (3.99) This piano did all the scales because you need more keys.
• Digidrummer – (Free)

1) We played “Carol of the Bells” in the key of E.

2) If your students are using an iPhone have them put it on Airplane mode, so they can still get to apps without having to receive phone calls. Except the one person getting the phone call as a bit.

3) Also turn off all notifications in the settings app on itouches.

4) If you do the bit, the person calling has to be in another room because the sound system will echo through the phone and the main house.

5) One thing we wanted to add were sleigh bells from an app which you might want to add for fun. However, we couldn’t find one we really liked.

JG