More Than Dodgeball | Youth Ministry Blog by Josh Griffin

Josh GriffinMore Posts Called to Youth Ministry

I remember hearing a pastor once talk about his “calling to ministry” — my first thought was how mystical it all sounded; that God would pick out some normal person and make them super special for ministry. Would God’s calling be accompanied by bright light, an audible voice, smoke and lasers? I always wondered what God’s voice must have sounded like (probably like Morgan Freeman’s), and how it must have felt to be hand-picked by the Creator of the Universe for this special job.

And then I felt called, and it wasn’t anything like I thought it might be. It wasn’t super magical, but it was life-changing. Here’s a little from each of us on our calling to youth ministry:

JOSH: My first inclination that God was calling me to youth ministry was through a significant mentor in my life. I was about to graduate my senior year of college and Jerry Dorman told me he was about to leave his current position and become a pastor. He asked me to consider becoming his youth pastor. I couldn’t believe what he was asking (I was newly married and about to graduate with a business degree) but said I would pray about it. Little did I know that this nudge from a caring adult in my life would lead to a lifelong pursuit and calling from God to minister to students.

KURT:Like Josh, the first time I truly felt “called” to youth ministry was through a significant mentor, and it was a fairly powerful moment. I had taken a semester off from college to go on an extended mission trip to England. My prayer before leaving was, “God, I don’t want to return to school until I know exactly why I’m there.” I hadn’t told anybody about that prayer, but one night on the trip while the team was huddled together under Big Ben praying for those we had ministered to throughout the day, my youth pastor pulled me aside and said that he believed I was gifted for ministry and should consider changing my course of study when I returned to school. No lasers, no Morgan Freeman voice, but pretty epic nonetheless.

Do you remember your calling? Maybe you were raising your hand to ask a question and someone thought that you were volunteering to work with junior highers. Maybe you accidentally made eye-contact with your senior pastor at exactly the wrong time and you ended up running youth group for the next year. Or maybe you had a very provocative Saul-on-the-road-to-Damascus meeting where God shined a blinding spotlight directly at you. Maybe you stumbled into youth ministry and have felt God’s calling over the months of serving and seeing lives changed and hearts being drawn to Him (side note: We have learned over the years that this type of calling is the most common).

At the end of the day, you are called. You are chosen. You are one of the few … the proud … the youth ministry nation. We share in that calling and are honored to encourage you, equip you, and hopefully inspire you to keep on serving students today, and tomorrow….and the next day. In fact, that’s why we are so excited about the opportunity to write this little column a few times a week!

So think about your calling this afternoon. Thank God for it and reflect on what He wants to do with and through you. We’ll be back tomorrow with a few reminders of why that’s so important.

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.

1 View Comments August 8, 2011

Josh GriffinMore Posts Speaking at a Few Youth Worker Events in 2011/2012

A few times a year I get a chance to meet/hang/speak at youth worker conferences or leadership events – thought I would post them here in case you were planning on attending too and maybe we could arrange a meet up. I’m a sucker for late-night Steak and Shake. Here’s what’s on tap this next season:

The D6 Conference - I’ve never been to this event and it has been one I’ve wanted to get to check out the last couple of years. Check out their fantastic official trailer here, if you’re in/around Dallas or in town for it this September- I’ll see you there! I’m speaking on a panel about youth ministry and leading a commissioning prayer during the last session of the event. Pumped.

YS National Youth Ministry Convention: San Diego - honored to be invited to speak at YS-San Diego! I’ll be doing a few workshops there in September focusing on teaching calendars, sermon preparation and training small group leaders. I enjoyed this little promo video of their event from Tic Long, too. I’m also on a panel with some legit dudes on the future of youth ministry. Excited and intimidated.

YSPalooza Orlando – This is the first time I’ll be teaching at YSPalooza, too! We’re still working out the details, but it is going to be fun in Orlando this January.

Simply Youth Ministry Conference 2012 - Without a doubt this is the event I’m most heavily involved in again this year. I’ll be doing the general session programming (with the infamous Jake Rutenbar) and there’s even talk of me maybe speaking a little chunk of a creative new general session idea. Who knows … I just know it is going to be awesome and you really, really need to be there, too – Louisville, KY in March. Be there with Francis Chan and Jon Acuff and more.

JG

Add Comment August 8, 2011

Josh GriffinMore Posts GUEST POST: Dangling Carrots

Tonight a dear friend of mine said that he will be pay me $1,000 if I lose 20 pounds in one year. I need carrots. This is a nice carrot.

I am fascinated by the effective use of incentives (carrots) that parents use to motivate their teenagers. I’ve heard of cash for grades, clothes for good behavior and even a new car for remaining a virgin throughout high school. I asked several of my high school friends about carrots and many of them receive all kinds of perks if they follow through on the activities that their parents value the most. So I asked, “should parents give carrots to teenagers for attending church, reading the bible or serving the less fortunate?” I could tell by looking at their faces that they were uneasy with this one.

I’m willing to bet you that if you took a look around the children’s ministry at your church you will find carrots galore! If you show up on Sunday you get a star on the chart or if you memorize the verse of the week you may get a tootsie roll. These are not trivial tokens! Imagine giving some smarties to a 2nd grade boy but not his four buddies seated near him or the over achieving girl who didn’t get an attendance star because she was out-of-town visiting her grandma. DRAMA!

Starting in middle school and especially in high school ministry you see a transfer from carrot encouragement to the focus on consequences. Where a kid once got candy for coming to church, now he can’t play in the praise band if he doesn’t have adequate attendance. It is this very mindset that propels we youth ministers to focus more on what Dallas Willard calls “sin management” instead of authentic discipleship. I am fully aware that God has consequences for his children, but I don’t see that He uses consequences as His primary motivation. Having said that, I’m not convinced that I see the use of “carrots” as a means for spiritual growth, except for………

The Kingdom Carrot-
Is the promise of a new heaven and new earth or eternal life enough for a 16-year-old? Should we focus more on passages like John 10:10 describing the abundant life as a means to spiritually motivate young people? I may have more questions than I do answers about this post, but doesn’t the Promised Land seem to be a decent carrot to encourage tired, thirsty people to follow God? There is also a good question that some folks on my team brought up about the difference between a salvific carrot and a Christian leadership carrot, but I digress.

Matthew 6:19-24 is a classic Jesus response about the ultimate carrot and how distracting earthly possessions can be. It is no coincidence that Jesus ends by saying we can’t serve two masters in reference to money, which might give us some insight on the dangers of certain types of spiritual carrots. While I confess to you that I needed the $1,000 to lose weight, I pray that for you and I, the Kingdom carrot will be enough.

Nate Stratman is the Director of Student Ministries at First Presbyterian Church in Colorado Springs, CO.

2 View Comments August 6, 2011

Josh GriffinMore Posts HSM Weekend in Review: Volume 149

Weekend Teaching Series: liveSTRONG (week 2 of 4)
Sermon in a Sentence: This first week of the series focused on Paul’s mission to live Christ above everything else.

Understandable Message: I was gone this weekend to Costa Rica on a mission trip – so once again I’m writing this based on what was planned for this past weekend since I didn’t make it to any of the services being a few thousand miles away. Chris Wohlers from the HSM team stepped in to speak this weekend, and taught Philippians 2 expositionally. You can read the arc of the whole series right here if you want, too. The big idea was that Paul knew we would live the best life when we put everyone else’s need above our own.

Element of Fun/Positive Environment: This weekend we introduced our newest staff member Hannah and set her up to host a game with our resident creative geek pastor Parker. Hannah was a cheerleader in High School and Parker was Parker, so it felt like a great juxtaposition for a crowd-level game. Yup, just used the word juxtaposition like it was no big deal.

Favorite Moment: My favorite moment was hearing about how God was using the weekend to change lives. I watched eagerly for Facebook updates and word in Costa Rica that it was great – so excited how great the weekend turned out. For a first time speaker (at this size program), Chris nailed it. What an incredible young pastor God has given HSM, beyond excited for his future here.

Up Next: liveSTRONG (week 3 of 4)

Add Comment August 5, 2011

Josh GriffinMore Posts The Right Contestant Makes All the Difference

From time to time we play a game in youth group that requires a contestant or two on stage. Here’s a quick principle that I’ve seen work over and over again:

The right contestant makes a good game great.

Picking a great contestant on the fly from stage is really difficult – the host feels pressure to pick a contestant right away and the person that typically immediately responds to the call for a contestant doesn’t usually make a good one. Since the right student is so important, here’s what I suggest: pick them ahead of time. During the countdown to your service starting (or whatever you use to kick things off) take a second to scan the crowd and select a solid person to play the game. It will save you from that awkward moment when you don’t have anyone volunteering or the same kid raises their hand eagerly every week. Pick them ahead of time and you’ll get variety. skill and personality like never before. Try it and you might never go back.

Any advice for youth workers picking a student to play a game?

JG

1 View Comments August 5, 2011

Josh GriffinMore Posts The Youth Pastor Heartbreaker

Thought that my good friend Neely McQueen had an insightful post on her blog this week about male youth workers and adoring female students. Some very good stuff over there, worth the click over for the whole thing. Here’s a clip:

Are you single?
Does your wife serve in other areas in the church?
Are you young?
Are you friendly?

If you answered yes to any of these questions than there is a good chance that a girl in your youth ministry has had a slight crush on you. Now, don’t get all crazy and start avoiding the girls in your youth ministry just to make sure that it never happens again. Usually, the girl(s) that are prone to inappropriate crushes are the girls who need the most support and encouragement in their life. So, how do you help them and protect yourself?

Make sure you are empowering the female leaders in your ministry to provide pastoral care to the girls in your ministry. In the sensitive and powerful moments of ministry it is normal for a very real and deep connection to be formed…if that is happening between a guy and a girl it can be misunderstood as something else. Allow your female leaders to care for the girls in your ministry.

If you are married or dating someone…don’t be bashful when talking about your love for them but remember to be appropriate.

Set up guidelines for yourself and other leaders…communicate them so both leaders and students know them well.

JG

Add Comment August 4, 2011

Josh GriffinMore Posts GUEST POST: Twitness or Transparent or Both

Twitter and Facebook have become regular and prominent parts of being involved in youth ministry. I didn’t really get the purpose of Twitter at first, but once someone described it to me as:

“Facebook is for connecting with people you went to highschool with and Twitter is for connecting with the people you wish you went to highschool with.”

I have a hard time disagreeing with this claim, but it doesn’t resolve my wrestle with the role that Facebook and Twitter can and should play in my ministry life. I follow some pretty bright minds on Twitter and some fall into the Twitness category: sharing verses that challenge me and quoting Charles Spurgeon, amongst others, to provoke thought. There are some that share leadership strategies and thoughts, some promoting themselves and others who tweet about their lives, the vacations, family happenings, funny things they see, etc. My tension is that it is still not clear to me what role twitter and facebook should play in ministry. The two paradigms I regularly see people align with are:

Twitness: I find much of what I would consider twitness type content on Twitter to be very encouraging and helpful to me as a Pastor and a Christian. It’s great to read the thoughts and feelings of others and hear about what they are reading or learning. But my dilemma is — who is my audience? My twitter followers are a mixed bag of friends, students, youth pastors, youth workers, Christians, non-Christians and Atheists. We are called to make disciples, but I just don’t know if reciting scripture and tweeting assertions of God’s sovereignty is the way that I can accomplish that. It’s not that I don’t see value in this style, but I wonder if it’s having the desired effect that the writer intends.

Transparent: This is the direction that I tend to lean towards; not because it’s easier, but because the biggest impact on my leadership has been people who I have seen living out their faith in all aspects of their lives. I love the idea of my life being open to my students, leaders and friends. That they can see the way I live, the way I love and honor my wife and family, my love of Christ and the things that I value. My desire has always been to model a Christ like lifestyle that is real and attainable. I want my students, friends, colleagues and congregation to know who I am, what I stand for, and what I care about. Perhaps this is not for everyone, but I don’t always understand why some keep a guard on being transparent.

So if you were looking for a definitive answer, you came to the wrong place, but perhaps you have some thoughts on where you land on this. At this point, I am not ready to be a full on Twitness because I am not sure where I am going to land on the spectrum, trying to strike a balance between investing in my students, friends, and congregation with wisdom and scripture, and allowing my life and ministry to be a true reflection of myself and my walk with Christ.

Geoff Stewart is the Pastor of Jr & Sr High School for Journey Student Ministries at Peace Portal Alliance Church and regularly contributes GUEST POSTS to MTDB. Be sure to check out his Twitter stream for awesome ministry goodness. Want to get in on the fun and write up a guest post yourself? See how right here.

2 View Comments August 4, 2011

Josh GriffinMore Posts New HSM Staff: Hannah Rich

I’m excited to announce a new addition to the HSM Team! Hannah Pratt-Rich has been a small group leader the last few years and she recently accepted an offer to join our team part-time. She’s going to be working to help strengthen our pastoral care ministry to girls and has a huge heart for serve projects and missions. So excited she’s on the team!

JG

Add Comment August 4, 2011

Josh GriffinMore Posts The 4 Responsibilities of a Leader of Leaders

Was thinking this week about the challenge of leading great people – and how we are not only leaders of students as youth workers – we’re the leader of leaders as well. Here are the 4 jobs I think we have as leaders of leaders. Add your thoughts in the comment!

Cheer
Your team is doing a great job, so cheer them on! Many of us in leadership understand the vacuum of gratitude for what we do, largely from first-hand experience of loneliness at the top. Invisible leaders will soon be invisible altogether. Don’t let this be the case for your people!

Care
Simply put, when you care for people, they’ll be better leaders. They will last longer and endure more under your leadership. The opposite is also true – if they aren’t cared for, when hard times come (and they will) they’ll disappear. Care for your people and they’ll care for your people.

Coach
Coaching is the gentle nudge of your leadership to get people back on track. Coaching is the side conversation that helps people see a better way or a different perspective. Coaching is helping people get better every day, rather just when they mess up. Being a leader of leaders means thinking about your people and coaching them every day.

Correct
Leaders are going to lead – and occasionally leaders in your care will need to be corrected. Correction goes beyond the earlier concept of coaching – this is the firm conversation or confrontation to make a change. Correction is part of your job description, too.

I’ll unpack each of these in an upcoming Simply Youth Ministry Today free newsletter. What else do leaders of leaders have to do?

JG

4 View Comments August 4, 2011

Josh GriffinMore Posts Episode 1: The Simply Youth Ministry Show

Proud of my friends Kurt Johnston and Jake Rutenbar for their first Simply Youth Ministry Show! I loved it … great job, dudes. Excited for the potential with some legit guests in the near future, too.

JG