Yesterday the Woodland Hills staff went out and had a great time on our monthly Visionary Day – we ended up spending some time in the bowling alley. We had a lot of fun watching each other attempt to bowl, but the most laughs was easily when we played an entire game with our weaker hand.

If you saw our scores, you would know we didn’t do so great. It was very difficult to get the stepping correct, relearning how to bowl all over again. Mandy and Paul seemed to adapt well and was getting better. I by far did the worse at relearning to bowl.

Unfortunately, this is very similar to the church. Whether we like it or now, the world changes. Culture is ever changing, and not that we change our Truth and Gospel message, the way we present that truth and message needs to change with the culture. And it is sad to see that many churches and ministries look like they are bowling left handed when it comes to our culture. We can get so stuck onto doing things the way we always have, that when something changes, we are unable to adapt. We need to constantly look at our ministries and ask ourselves if we are changing with the culture, or are we stuck into what we always used to do.

May we learn to adapt ourselves to our world around us, and may we be able to bowl left-handed.

Thomas Paukovitz is a Youth Minister at Woodland Hills Christian Church. You can track him down here: http://hodbog.posterous.com

Part of the reason I came back to about 1,000 items in my email inbox post-Kenya was because I Twittered about my out of office reply – people wrote me just to see it – ha! If you’re waiting for an answer about something – it’s gonna take me a week to get back up to speed. Sorry! And if you missed the email while I was gone – enjoy:

(a)_____________ is currently away from his desk because he is (b)_______________ in (c)_____________. He will be gone from (d)________________ to (e)_________________ and your email will be (f)_______________________ when he (g)___________. If you need help right away, please contact (h)___________________ at (i)_________________. Thanks and (j)_______________.

Mar 4-18
(a) JG
(b) hanging with 27 amazing students
(c) Kitale, Kenya
(d) March 4
(e) March 18
(f) Replied to immediately
(g) regains consciousness from the travel coma he will be recovering from.
(h) The High School Ministry (HSM) team
(i) (949) 609-8000
(j) always be on the lookout for mosquitoes that carry Yellow Fever. You have been warned.

Feb 22-Mar 1
(a) Joshua Griffin
(b) Hanging out with youth workers at #symc2010
(c) Chicago, IL
(d) February 22
(e) March 1
(f) probably skimmed over
(g) is home for 2 days between trips.
(h) The High School Ministry (HSM) team
(i) (949) 609-8000
(j) have a great day. Seriously, please do.

Feb 9-12
(a) Josh Griffin
(b) Hanging out with Rick Warren backstage at #rad10
(c) Lake Forest, CA
(d) February 9
(e) February 12
(f) completely ignored
(g) (waves hand) “it can wait until March 18th” (you repeat) “it can wait a few weeks”
(h) The High School Ministry (HSM) team
(i) (949) 609-8000
(j) Have a great day.

JG

Last year, I read Mark Oestreichers ‘manifesto’, Youth Ministry 3.0, and I loved the concept of Youth Ministry 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0 as a way to understand the history of youth ministry. It was like this book was an answer to Mark Senter’s book, “The Coming Revolution in Youth Ministry” (that’s for all you old youth ministry guys). And I think the book is timely – it seems like many in youth ministry are unsatisfied with where we are and are looking for a way forward.

Charting the Course

Something that I found very helpful was that in each section of the book, Marko (as he is known throughout the youth ministry world) builds a chart that lists and compares/contrasts various characteristics of the three different youth ministry eras (pages 49, 61, 78) including youth culture fixation, cultural influence on youth ministry, key themes, driver, and theme verse. By the time I got to the end of the book, I found myself wanting to add another characteristic to his chart, namely the ‘relationship of youth ministry to the church’.

A. Youth Ministry Outside the Local Church

Marko does talk about youth ministry’s relationship to the local church in Youth Ministry 1.0 and 2.0. On page 46, Marko says “So those early youth ministry pioneers who knew they had to be true to their calling found – in large measure – that they had to do youth ministry outside the context of the local church.” In other words, the primary context of youth ministry 1.0 was outside of local churches. Although this doesn’t appear in Marko’s chart, I think it’s an important enough observation that it could. As Marko points out, Youth Ministry 1.0 was the birth of groups like YFC, Young Life, FCA, etc. (parachurch youth ministries), but a shift happens in Youth Ministry 2.0.

B. Youth Ministry Inside the Local Church

On page 53, Marko says “Churches [in the late 70’s and 80’s] were finally waking up to the need for youth ministry and moving beyond offering only a ‘young persons’ Sunday School class. Youth groups sprang onto the church scene, and churches started hiring youth pastors left and right.” So the primary context of Youth Ministry 2.0 was inside local churches.

C. Youth Ministry Connecting Local Churches

When he gets to Youth Ministry 3.0, the context continues to be youth ministry inside local churches, but I found myself wondering – couldn’t the primary context of youth ministry (relationship to the local church) also be changing just as it had between YM 1.0 and 2.0? And Marko’s descriptions of Youth Ministry 3.0 actually hint at what I believe could be the next primary context of youth ministry – youth ministry connecting local churches.

On page 93, he says “But what might this look like, to have a youth ministry of the various youth subcultures in your church and community, acknowledging the uniqueness and value of each-including the styles and preferences of each-but moving toward a supra-cultural taste of the kingdom of God?” (emphasis mine).

Could we be heading into a time when youth ministry needs to break out from the four walls of the local church and spill over into the whole community including other local churches? To be more about the Kingdom of God than buildings, denominations or theological distinctives? I believe that this is the case, and I believe that Marko’s description of Youth Ministry 3.0’s characteristics support that.

1) To reach multiple cultures

For example, he says that in Youth Ministry 3.0, there should be multiple youth ministries to multiple subcultures – that could be done in a single church, but what if all the churches in a community recognized this need and different churches were strategically focusing on reaching those different subcultures. What if we had an attitude that we need other youth ministries in our community to reach the entire youth population of our community?

2) To be true to our context

Another characteristic is contextualized youth ministry – the context of the students in your community is important, but doesn’t that context include other churches and youth ministries? What affect do other churches have on each other and what effect should they have. Could some good come of acknowledging that ‘our church is not the only church in this town’?

3) To be free from being overwhelmed

Doing less and getting small is another characteristic of Youth Ministry 3.0 – imagine the freedom in realizing ‘Hey, I’m not the only person trying to reach teenagers in my community. There are others out there doing the same thing. I’m not alone.” I think that realization could take some of the pressure off of youth leaders and we could feel free to not feel bad about being small knowing that there are many groups out there doing the same thing. A whole lot of smalls make for something big!

4) To be communal and missional

The two key words that Marko gives for Youth Ministry 3.0 are communal and missional. I love that – what fresh ways of looking at what we do. But again, wouldn’t communal youth ministry also mean that the youth pastor needs a community of like-minded people? His community needs to be bigger than the students he/she ministers to – he or she needs a community of people who understand their passion, struggles, goals, etc. And nothing is quite as encouraging as knowing that the mission you are passionate about is shared by others.

In the early chapter of Youth Ministry 3.0, Marko describe the tasks of adolescence as identity, autonomy, and affinity. I think that church history has played itself out in this way, especially since the protestant reformation (the church’s rebellious years?). At first, the church struggled with a sense of identity: What is the church? What are we supposed to be about? And then for several centuries, the church has been all about autonomy — How are we unique and different from other churches? I think it’s about time the church started moving more toward affinity – What do we have in common? How can we connect?

In Youth Ministry 3.0, We Need Each Other

Youth Ministry 1.0 took place outside of local churches because churches hadn’t caught on. In Youth Ministry 2.0, churches took hold that responsibility they should’ve had all along and made it core to what they do. In Youth Ministry 3.0, I think that they overwhelming forces of culture, economics, media, technology, globalization, and spiritual decline are going to force churches to see that we need each other to successfully reach future generations for Christ (see Jason Pauli’s recent blog post). In fact, as my friend Nick Arnold recently reminded me, youth workers from parachurch ministries started in the 1.0 era and church youth pastors from the 2.0 era also need each other to reach this generation of young people. I’m excited about Youth Ministry 3.0 and I’m thankful to Mark Oestreicher for helping us see what this exciting new time can look like. My hope is that, more and more, we’ll make this new chapter of Youth Ministry something we do together.

Travis Deans has been 13 years with Teens For Christ, a former Youth Ministry 1.0 organization now networking church youth ministries in two counties in southwestern Pennsylvania, and lives in Uniontown, Pennsylvania with his wife Judy.

1. Present an unbalanced message. Only let them see the heart-warming part of God’s character. Preach God’s love but leave out His holiness and justice. That way they’ll think He’ll let them into Heaven no matter what.
2. Don’t mention repentance until they’re repeating a “sinner’s prayer.” Just get them to say, “I repent of all my sins” while they’re echoing you. They won’t know what they’re saying and they won’t count the cost.
3. Above all else, be dignified. Don’t get heart to heart with the people. They would get something out of what you said.
4. Skim over the gospel and push the prayer. Pretend the lost naturally understand what Christ has done for them.
5. Preach Jesus as a life enhancer not a life rescuer. Tell them how Jesus can improve their life but don’t show them Jesus as the only One who can save them from Hell. People will think if they reject Him they’re only losing out on a spiritual high.
6. Try to please the people instead of convert them. Tell them what they want to hear instead of what they need to hear.
7. Compromise the message to speed up the process. The Christians who have heard it a hundred times before will be pleased with that. The quicker they get out the quicker they can get to the restaurant.
8. Give them the impression that God is so good He won’t send anyone to Hell. Don’t present the whole counsel of God or they might realize He is so good that He’ll see to it that justice is served and that all unrepentant sinners will be punished in the fire that is not quenched.
9. Speak to sinners as though they were saints. They’ll think they’re God’s children instead of the enemies of God they’ve made themselves into because of their sin. You’ll give them false assurance and mislead them.
10. Don’t mention sin or man’s guilt. Resist the urge to explain what Christ came to deliver us from. Don’t show them their need for the Savior. Otherwise it may all make sense.
11. Don’t look to the Bible for the substance of your altar call. Only mimic other preachers with large congregations.
12. Tell the lost not to feel bad about their sins. That way you will work against the Holy Spirit who’s convicting them
13. Whatever you do, never mention Judgment Day. Your audience might take spiritual matters seriously.
14. Tell them Jesus is the only way to Heaven but don’t explain why. They may think it’s nothing more than fear tactics and leave offended instead of enlightened.
15. Confuse the call. This is a great way to botch up an altar call. Don’t let people know you’re asking them to commit their life to Christ. Be vague and general in what you’re saying. Neglect to mention following Christ in your evangelistic altar calls and say things like, “If you don’t feel you’re as close to God as possible raise your hand,” “If you feel lonely come to the front for prayer,” “If you want more of God this is your time,” and, “If you have struggles and need the answer come down.” Just get them to raise a hand. That way no one will be able to count the cost and you’ll even get saints to respond to salvation altar calls, making the results look more successful.
16. Only give them half the story. Tell them Jesus died to forgive everyone but overlook the fact that they must personally receive Him to partake of that forgiveness.
17. Present the truth as though it isn’t. Be so funny when you share Christ that you belittle the seriousness of the matter.
18. Preach forgiveness without repentance. That way no one will know how to be forgiven.
19. Be unbiblical. Present repentance and faith as an offer instead of how God does as a command (Acts 17:30).
20. Let them think next Sunday is the day of salvation. Don’t make them feel it’s urgent to respond today.
21. Never warn of Hell. Dangle Heaven in front of their nose but rarely mention Hell, certainly not as much as Jesus did.
22. Only do altar calls inside the church. Never take the gospel where sinners congregate. The lost might get saved.
23. Use churchy terms. Use words like, “saved,” “repent,” and “born again,” without any explanation. That way your hearers won’t comprehend what you’re saying. If they can’t understand it, it’s probable they won’t be changed by it.
24. Give false assurance of salvation to unsaved Christians. Assure church folk that they are saved even if they bear no fruit. So that you don’t offend the unsaved pew warmers never quote 2 Corinthians 13:5: “Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith.” You could lose some financial supporters and have to depend on God.
25. Never mention the wrath of God. If you mention it, people might be awakened to flee to Jesus who “saves us from the wrath to come.” ( 1 Thess. 1:10)
26. Study how the apostles preached and witnessed and do the opposite. Don’t explain Jesus’ suffering death on the cross. Otherwise they may think of running to Him for forgiveness. Don’t speak of His burial or resurrection or they might realize He is God. Refrain from commenting about the hundreds of eyewitnesses who saw Jesus after He rose from the dead. That way they can go on thinking He’s a fairy tale. Overlook talk of the messianic prophecies Jesus fulfilled or they might realize that the Bible is true. If they see it’s the truth they may see that following Christ is the logical decision. And whatever you do, avoid what the apostles did when it came time to call people to obey the gospel. Don’t tell them to trust Christ and live for Him. That is too accurate. If they know how to get saved your altar call will be a success.
27. Put more emphasis on the “sinner’s prayer” then on repentance and faith. Satan will smile over your departure from Biblical instruction. We are never taught to use a ‘sinner’s prayer’ throughout the entire Bible. If you decide to use it and put more emphasis on the technique than on what we’re commanded to preach: faith and repentance you’ll certainly botch things up. A ‘sinner’s prayer’ doesn’t equal salvation, only faith in Christ and repentance toward God do.
28. Let Christians think you’re the only one who can do it right. Always leave the impression that they should only invite friends to church and never actually witness themselves. It will keep you in business and the lost unsaved.
29. Don’t let the lost know they are. Disregard subjects like Judgment Day, God’s holiness, man’s sinfulness and justice. That way the lost can continue to think they’re “good enough” to get into Heaven.
30. Rely upon psychological techniques to manipulate people into responding to the altar call. Don’t rely upon the Holy Spirit or they may actually get saved.
31. Make sure you’re the main attraction. Remember the goal in botching up an altar call is for people to leave and say, “What a wonderful preacher,” instead of, “What a wonderful Savior.” Draw all possible attention to how great a speaker and person you are. Otherwise people might see Christ in your preaching and get saved.
32. Don’t focus upon Jesus. Finally, the best way to botch up an altar call is not to preach the gospel. Just get people to lift up a hand and pray a prayer with you. Resist the urge to speak of the only One who could save them.

Sometimes the best way to get a point across is to put it in a different light. You now know a few ways to botch up an altar call. Please do not employ them. Do the opposite. You may already do some of them. Don’t let pride keep you from changing and doing things in a Biblical fashion. The bottom line is how true we are to Christ and His word. Effectively reaching the lost is our purpose. Let nothing hold you back from that agenda. May God bless you as you seek to win people to Christ in youth group, Bible clubs, churches, conferences, and in on the street witnessing encounters.

Allen Atzbi is a Youth Pastor at Element Church – he’s botched a ton of altar calls himself.

A funny thing happened to me on Friday. I needed a grey shirt to wear under my sweater. I was running a tad late so I just grabbed the first grey shirt I could find. I was one that had been sitting on the top shelf of my closet for probably a year- in the back corner ignored by me. I spotted it took it and threw it on before hastily putting on my sweater and running out the door. It didn’t take me too long to realize something was terribly arye. Apparently as my grey shirt sat sadly in the top corner of my super sweet 9×9 walk-in closet, it rested atop my Glad Fresh air freshener, Mountain Breeze scent, if I’m not mistaken. Needless to say, my lowly gray shirt had become a conduit of the odorous fragrance. At first it was kind of pleasant. I smelled a little girly, but certainly not horrific. It is better to smell of a female than to smell of a trash heap, that’s what I always say (that’s a lie, I’ve never said that in my life…). But before long my eyes were a bit watery, my nose kinda stuffed, and a litany of sneezes welled up from my very bowels. Within an hour I was drunk with Mountain Breeze, and sickened by it’s essence. All day people around me commented on my aromaiffic nature. Some sentiments were positive. Things like, “ooh you smell like my grandma’s bathroom” or “is that a new perfume?” Others were less than desirable. Like, “Who’s wearing a dryer sheet?” or “Why does it smell like a 98 year old woman in here?” Needless to say, I wasn’t the only one sickened by my smell.

The whole thing got me thinking, though. The wisest man I know, Norb, used to tell me that it was his goal for people to sniff Jesus on him. That everything he did and said would have the scent of our Savior attached to it. I always thought that was a really cool idea, and something I’ve tried to emulate (but miserably fail, truth be told). And then I thought of my overwhelming aroma on Friday. What kind of smell are we giving off to the world around us? What is the scent that we irradiate to our peers and co-workers? Is it sweet? Is it bitter? Is it kind and compassionate? Or, how often is it a smell that even we are sickened by? Certainly or goal shouldn’t be to merely satisfy the noses of the people around us. Just walk through a store- or a high school hall way- and you’ll catch wiffs of every perfume and flavor of Axe body spray ever made. Some are appealing, others are not. To the person wearing them, however, they must be appealing, lest they hopefully would not have shelled out the $49.95 a bottle of fragrance costs. Just because it smells good to the wearer, does not mean it smells good to the smeller.

That’s why our scent is for the scent Maker. Incense was used heavily in the Bible. In fact, God made His own blend and set it apart as holy- Ex 30: 34 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Take fragrant spices—gum resin, onycha and galbanum—and pure frankincense, all in equal amounts, 35 and make a fragrant blend of incense, the work of a perfumer. It is to be salted and pure and sacred. 36 Grind some of it to powder and place it in front of the Testimony in the Tent of Meeting, where I will meet with you. It shall be most holy to you. 37 Do not make any incense with this formula for yourselves; consider it holy to the LORD. 38 Whoever makes any like it to enjoy its fragrance must be cut off from his people.”

After Noah make his post-flood sacrifice, “The LORD smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: “Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done” (Gen 8:21). We, of course, don’t offer up burnt sacrifices anymore, but Romans 12 tells us, ” Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God.” It is our great honor that our lives would be the sweet smell of the Lord- to God and to those around us. 2 Corinthians 2:14-15a, “But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him. For we are to God the aroma of Christ.”

Such a powerful picture! Just as I want my scent to be appealing to the people sitting next to me, how much more do I want the sacrifice that is my life to be appealing to my God? And thanks be to Him that through Jesus I smell sweet! It was through the sacrifice of Christ, the Lamb of God that I have a God-pleasing aroma. And now I have the wonderful task of being sweet incense in a foul-smelling world! May I reek of Jesus in all I think, say, and do.

Kory Henkel is the Director of Youth Ministries in Bloomington-Shakopee, MN. Check out Deep Thoughts blog right here: htttp://deepthoughts-simplemind.blogspot.com/

While at the Simply Youth Ministry Conference I heard a couple people in different situations mention something that I’ve been wrestling with. And I know that this isn’t a typical venue for discussion. Typically this is more of a “here’s some info”, “here’s something to think about”, or “here’s a resource” and then you just do with it whatever you want. But this post isn’t so much a declaration of some kind of truth or some kind of ground breaking idea. It’s more of sharing my heart on an issue and hoping that there are others out there struggling with the same thing and ones that could share in this discussion.

The issue is not feeling like you can do ministry at a church building. I know this train of thought has been around for a while but I’ve encountered it more lately. If you haven’t come across this or don’t know what I’m talking about, the basic idea is that you can’t do effective ministry at a church building because teenagers (and some adults) feel uncomfortable at church. They say that when people who aren’t Christians are at a church they feel uneasy. They feel like they can’t be themselves. They feel like they have to be “good” or “fake”.

In some ways I can understand why a person would worry about this. Many church buildings are old buildings with a lot of ornate fixtures and there are even some “off-limits” rooms. This causes some to feel more like they’re at a library or a museum than at God’s house. (maybe they feel like they’re at their grandma’s house minus the plastic covered furniture)

But is this a true perception? Is this just something that those of us on the “inside” think that non-Christians feel? If this perception is true, do we just accept it and do our best to get away from the building?

Now, let me say that in my ministry, we do have groups that meet in homes on Sunday nights. We do that for a number of reasons but one of the biggest reasons is to create a comfortable, open feeling. So, in that way I understand this idea of feeling more comfortable elsewhere. But what are we saying to people and specifically to our teens when we say that we can’t do effective ministry at the church building. When we feel like we have to go to Starbucks or to the mall or someone’s house…what are we saying about the church building? Are we hurting the effectiveness of our programs that are at our buildings? I mean, more than likely, you have at least one program, and it’s probably your big, crowd program that is at your church building. And if you feel like you can’t effectively minister and connect with teenagers at that place, then your program is going to suffer.

Here’s the bottom line for me: we all don’t have nice, new buildings and we don’t all need them. But we should all recognize the privilege and the blessing that it is to have a place to call home for our ministries. If you feel like you can’t minister effectively there, then either you’ve got issues you need to work on and get past or you need to find a way to better utilize this ministry tool that God has blessed you with.

Joe Thompson is the Youth Minister at Fairmount Christian Church. I know him better as http://bethshusband.wordpress.com.

Do you know that God wants to know you personally?

As someone who has spent a large portion of their adult life serving in full-time ministry, I am surprised by how much I told other people that and how inconsistent I was about applying that to my own life.

I talked the talk without always walking the walk.

Since August I have been looking for what’s next for me in ministry.  It’s been exciting and very refreshing for me.  One of the things I have learned during this transition time is that I have made a lot of rookie mistakes in ministry!

• I began to realize how often I would read the Bible and look to ONLY apply it to the people I was given the opportunity to lead.
• I realized that I spent much more time praying for others and very little praying and talking to God about myself.
• I discovered that when I would read books I would look to find ways to apply the information to others and rarely to myself.
• I found that on Sunday mornings I was much more concerned with processing the service than I was with my own personal development.

If you were to ask me now what’s been the best part of this time away from ministry for myself I could honestly say it’s been getting my relationship with God back on track.

God wants to know me. He wants to have a relationship with me.  Through that relationship, He wants to work through me to encourage and impact the lives of others. I know for the 2-3 people that read my blog that this is something that you already knew. Nothing mind blowing for you hear.

Or is it? Do you spend consistent time talking to God about what’s going on with you? Are you allowing God to work on you before He works through you? If you serve in any position of leadership in a church I would say that before you are given an opportunity to tell THEM anything, let God tell YOU something.

[Update: I am now on staff at LifeChurch East Valley in the Gilbert, Arizona.  My season away from ministry was very refreshing and I am excited to learn from the mistakes I made in my past.  I am a follower first and a leader second.]

Sam Frederick is the Associate Pastor at LifeChurchEV, you can read his blog right here: www.samfrederick.com

I’m thinking about leaving my church.

I’m 22 years old. And I work with students at the church that I grew up in.

Now, when I say “grew up in”…I didn’t know Christ until I was a junior in high school, and this was where I met him. When I graduated high school, I didn’t go to college, and since I was staying at home, I decided to give back to the youth ministry that had given so much to me, and started working with 6^th graders on Sunday mornings, and helping out with our mid-week youth worship service.

I’ve been doing this since for 3 years and I love it. Students are a fantastic bunch of people to work with, and Youth Workers might be the greatest group of people you’ll ever get to do ministry with. So. I love what I get to do at my church. But I don’t feel fed. I don’t feel the sense of community that my soul longs for. I am struggling and praying through whether or not I should leave this church, and start attending one here in town that I know offers those things. I am hurting over whether or not the students that I know and love at my current church are worth not getting what I feel like I need spiritually.

I know that I can work with students wherever I end up, but I’m talking about going from a 200+ student ministry to a ministry of about 30-40 students. Which honestly has some cons for me, as well as pros. But a big part of it is that I love these kids that I work with now. I’ve invested in them for the past four years. They’ve been a big part of my life, and I hope I’ve made an impact on them.

I’ve wondered if it’s just me. If I need a spiritual attitude adjustment. But the more I think and pray about it, I see that the things that God has put on my heart, are not necessarily what He has put on the hearts of church leadership here. And that’s ok. We don’t have to be going after the same things, because as long as we agree that salvation is through Christ on the cross, and only that. The rest is neither here nor there, honestly.

So am I being selfish? I don’t know. I know that I am not growing spiritually like I have in the past, and I know this is part of the reason why.  I don’t know if it’s reason enough to seek out a new community of believers.

Here’s the thing. I want your thoughts. And honestly, I’m sure I’m not the only guy (or girl) out there who is dealing with something like this. So, have you ever had to leave a church or ministry because you were giving a ton, but not getting much out of it for yourself? Is that a valid reason, or that that a line of selfishness to give yourself an out?

Anonymous would love to read your thoughts in the comments section of this post.

No leader enjoys the notion of failure.   In the split categories of good and evil, failure is considered evil, success is considered good.   Just thinking about certain failures in my own life brings back emotions that stir the depths of my being.  Why? Because failure in front of those we live, play, and work with is embarrassing.  It just plain hurts.

But we all fail.  And some of us are persistent failures.  It happens, it is how humans learn, and how we deal with it makes all the difference.

A while back I was not a Youth Director, but rather, I was a Youth Ministry Assistant.  In gradations of youth ministry scales, that is just above an intern, and just below a director.  You’re supposed to know a few things about youth ministry because you’ve already been an intern and now you are set loose to discover freedom with a few oodles of responsibility.

Upon being hired and oriented, I was given the reigns to a very important ministry in the youth group: the Friday night outreach program.  The youth director told me that I had the freedom to brainstorm, propose, and implement the program with hopes that I would be successful in creating a space that community youth would like to come.  The guidelines were that it would involve food, music, fun, and some form of evangelism.

Given freedom, I was terrified.  When someone is in charge of you and gives you orders, you can always blame the orders or the one giving the orders for failure.  Freedom changes that.  I had to take responsibility for what would be implemented and I would be making a culture all by myself.  In charge of the programs destiny, I began to worry.  What if my ideas were not received well?

I tossed and turned during the nights, and wrote up drafts and proposals for the program and presented what I had come up with.  It was very practical.  We had been moving into a new building with a gym,  a game room with pool tables and ping pong, and we had a stage in a gathering area with a nice sound board.  So I decided that each week I would bring in a local band.  We would start the night off with a big game in the gym that would bring everyone together, and those who didn’t want to listen to the band could hang out in the game room.  It seemed simple, and so I presented the whole shebang with schedule from band load in to sound check to a quick devotion and the night would end.  The presentation was well received and I was given the go.

And I was terrified.

As I thought through my simple plan I realized that there were many moving parts.  (1) I had to bring a team of volunteers along to get used to a new building and a new program culture.  (2) I would have to email and call and MySpace about 15 bands in order to fill in every Friday night for a season.  (3) I would need a sound tech to work with several servant oriented people to help get the bands in and ready.  (4) Amidst the hubbub, I would be giving a short devotion, a reflection, or a scripture verse.  And (5) I would have to build relationships as the host to all the students coming through the doors and ensure that they were connected to each other and to leaders in a positive way.  Lastly (6) I would have to get the gym game up and running.  Oh, and I forgot to mention (7) I would be self conscious of my evaluation from my director.

Thinking through all the moving parts made me more nervous than ever, and as the first date got closer I became somewhat paralyzed.  There was a point while I was searching for bands, in which I did not know if I wanted to move forward.  I knew I would, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to.  But I thought about how I felt and the notion of failure continued to weigh on me.

In passing with my director I decided to let him know how I felt.  I told him that there was a lot to get going and I wasn’t sure of the excellence of everything that needed to come together.  Time was going by and not all the t’s were crossed, nor all the i’s dotted.

I’ll always remember how he responded.  He said, “Don’t be afraid to fail.” It was simple.  He told me that I was allowed to try, and if it failed, then it failed.  What was I going to do?  Permission to fail!  I couldn’t believe it.  Suddenly I felt much better.  Being a perfectionist that often falls short of my own expectations, I realized that the possibility of failure should not stop someone from doing something that needs to be done.   So I went ahead and booted up the program.

After four years with spits and spurts of growth pains, and with the perspective and help of a new Youth Pastor to work with midstream, I would say that the program got to where I wanted it to be.  But it took many failures and people still believing in me to get it right.  In the end, students were getting connected, leaders were doing relationship evangelism, student leaders had developed, I scrapped the band every night idea (allowing it to be special when a band did come) and added video games and music from an iPod set list, and the gym games continued to be popular.  The program grew, and new elements added either failed or succeeded.  Even after leaving, that program continues to minister to students.

If only I had listened to Christ’s words on the Mount:

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?  -Matthew 6:25-27

All ministries are a risky venture.  Many of us will fail, but the weight is not squarely on our shoulders.  The spirit of God is looking out for us when we are trying to do good for Him.  Trusting, obeying, and in that, not worrying too much about failure is a part of serving God.  He is greater than us and takes us to places and builds things we cannot imagine.    Fear and trembling at anything other than God will paralyze you and you cannot do the work you are called to do in a state of paralysis.  Just start doing what God is calling you to do.  Persevere, and you will find something valuable at the end of the road.

Daniel Griswold is the Director of Youth at St. Andrew By-The-Sea UMC in Hilton Head Island, SC. Check out his blog at http://danielgriswold.wordpress.com or on Twitter.

As a youth minister, I usually have one or two activities each month. I am usually good at planning great events. I make sure that each event has a purpose (evangelism, equipping, encouraging). I work hard at doing good things for the right reason.

Unfortunately, I sometimes miss the most important aspect – inviting God into the planning, action, and follow up of my event planning. Sure, I’ll pray that events go well, I’ll pray during them (especially lockins! You need prayer during lockins!) And occasionally I pray afterwards, usually when things go wrong and I am mad at God for letting all MY great planning  go to waste.

From talking with youth ministers that I know, this is a common problem. Its nothing malicious or devious, its just that we…forget. We get so caught up in our great plans, our great devices, that we forget to check if this is on God’s agenda. So when things go right, we did a great job. When things go wrong, God messed up. Really? I don’t think so…

Here is how I believe we should approach praying for our events and activities -

1. Preplanning – Event planning often goes back 6 months to a year. Before you even sit down to plan your calendar, you should kneel down and ask God for guidance on what He wants HIS youth ministry to be doing in the next year. As you pray, reflect on the students you have, pray for them and ask that God gives you the wisdom on how to minister to that student. Think about the students in your community, and pray that what you do will reach them this year. As you think through the calendar, pray about each individual event, asking God to bless it and do more than you can even imagine. Finally, when you’re done, pray again over the whole year (or six months or three months) and ask God to work throughout this year in you, your ministry, and your students.

2. Preparation – Sometimes events are quick to get ready for. Sometimes they take hours and hours of time and energy. As we get ready for events, the first action we should do is pray for the event. Pray over the steps of preparation. Gather together with your leaders (students and/or adults) and pray for it. Some events like a trip to Kings Island or Laser Tag won’t require tons of prayer. But don’t neglect the power of the “fun event” because those times of relationship building are often more valuable than a big evangelistic outreach. Ask God that your students will be open to talk with and that your words will reach them in some way.

3. During an event – If you don’t have a prayer team, I encourage you to recruit 3 or 4 adults (or more if you have them!) to pray for your teens. Give them a list of stuff to pray for during an event. BE SPECIFIC! Don’t just say, “Pray for life change”. If you know a student is struggling, say, “Pray that Bobby will give up his drug habit” or “Pray that Suzie will overcome her eating disorder.” I would be careful of giving out names in certain situations, for obvious reasons. After all, God knows who those students are. But we need to be praying for specifics, not just generalities.

4. Following an event – Do you pray after an event? Its sometimes weeks or months later that something might hit a student, so we need to be following up in prayer that what went on will positively affect a teen.

I wish I could say I was faithful in doing all these things all the time. I am striving to do all these, but its hard moving from self-reliance to God-reliance, even in ministry. Yet I know that if you do these things your ministry will be blessed, as will you.

What do you do to invite God into your ministry events?

Bill Nance blogs at http://billnance.org.

Success, I’m always attempting to put the the puzzle together – to find what it means to be successful. What does it look like to be a successful husband, father, friend, ministry partner, employee, follower of Jesus?

There are times where success lines up and I know it. Then there are times where it feels more like “Suck-cess”.

“Suck-cess” is when you’re running hard. You’re working. You’re putting in time and effort. And in the end, you feel more like you’ve failed then you’ve succeeded. I’ve experienced this a lot in the areas above – especially in the areas as a husband, follower of Jesus and parent.

But, I’ve also experienced this a lot in student ministry. In fact, I’m feeling that way right now.

But I also know, that even though I’m feeling this way now, I need to push through – remaining confident in God’s calling. Because, in the arena of student ministry, I may never know which kid will hear something I say, or remember something we do which changes their life. Working with students is tough. If you’re in the “Suck-cess” period of ministry or life, push through. Don’t give up. Stay with it and the puzzle that is success will work itself together.

Just remain faithful.

Todd Ruth blogs are Live a Revolution.

It’s just another day in America.  Another teen, along with many, are trying on a new identity, testing the boundaries and becoming a unique individual.  Shedding their parents faith they go off to make that faith their own…. or not.  It’s the latter reason that breaks my heart.  Sometimes like today, I’m even brought to the point of tears.

A great sadness fills my heart and an oppressive cloud seems to take over my mind.  Why does it matter so much?  It’s just one teen, just one more friend that I’ve made in this gig called teaching that wants to throw his life to the wolves… I’m sorry let me be “PC” He’s “testing the waters”, “exploring this new freedoms”, “expressing his individuality”.  and you know what?  Even the repackaged version wants to make me cry.  wants to tear my clothes and wear some sack cloths in mourning…

Why? It’s because I care.  I care so much for this kid.  For his future and for the future of all the other kids that at this same moment are making these same choices.  And you know what? It’s just not chic to care, it’s probably not even “PC”.

• Caring is Dangerous.
• Caring is Messy.
• Caring can get you hurt.

… But I still do it.  This is for all who dare to care… to care enough to help.  To hurt enough from you own caring to motivate you to do something about it.

So… start to care.  And start to help.

Mark Schreiber is the youth worker behind www.playinwithfire.org. Check it out!

In youth ministry, one of the hardest things I’ve had to experience is leading students into a growing relationship with Jesus, while their parents are doing the opposite.  In a lot of cases, the parent wants the best for his/her teenager.  It’s just that their definition of “best” might not match up with mine.  There are some hard-and-fast rules to engage if you don’t want your teenager to care about God.  The following are just a few.

1. Make sure their extra-curricular activities are priority over church. You should always make sure that their scholarships are intact, and that they don’t get kicked off the team.  That’s definitely more important than their relationship with Christ and eternity, for that matter.

2. When your teenager screws up, ground them from church. Of course! If they don’t care that you take away their TV, cell phone, or friend time, hit them where it hurts.  Take away church.  Yeah – that oughta do it.

3. Don’t call them out when they need guidance. Always let them make their own mistakes.  And if they’re about to do something super-destructive, it’s probably best that they learn on their own.  Because learning it the hard way is always the necessary path, right?

4. Talk negatively about your church staff around your teenager. If your pastor messes up, make sure that you call a family meeting to roast him.  You should definitely let your teenager know that people can’t be trusted, especially incompetent church leaders.  Your teenager needs to know that trusting church leaders isn’t smart!  If they don’t trust church leaders, there’s a small chance they’ll ever accept God’s direction in their life.  And that’s the safer way to live.

5. Don’t model real faith. At the end of the day, the last thing you want to do, if you want your teenager to ignore God’s voice, is to follow it yourself.

Please know my heart on this issue.  We parents need to be leading our families to Jesus every chance we get.  Maybe it’s time to take inventory of who or what we’re actually leading our families to.

After all, actions speak louder than words.

Mark Cox is the Student Pastor at Indian Springs Baptist Church. Stalk him at his blog www.thinknextnow.com or on Twitter @markhcox.

Lately, I have really been wrestling with the reality that most youth ministries in most areas of the country operate almost entirely in silos.  If we are honest, most of us have no idea of the “goings on” of our fellow youth pastors and their churches in our respected neighborhoods.  We all seem to share in the common goal of “loving God and loving others”, but only as it pertains to our individual student ministries.  Now this might sound negative, but trust me when I say that I am pointing the biggest finger at myself.  Over the last five years I have been as guilty as anyone of buying into the silo mentality that student ministry seems to perpetuate. It is easy to buy into the numbers game.  Trust me!

With that said, I believe that God is desperately trying to communicate something to student pastors, leaders, and even students around the world.  WE ARE STRONGER TOGETHER THAN WE ARE APART.  Do you believe this?  This is the question that I have really been wrestling with.  What can student ministries do in partnership that they could never do on their own?  In reality, we are all united in the same cause.  We want to partner with God in making disciples who will make disciples.  Jesus was head and shoulders above anyone else who has ever tried to live out this notion.  Did he go at it alone?  Absolutely not!  He surrounded himself with a team of people who were united for the same cause.

Where does this start?  I believe that this type of movement or whatever you want to call it begins at the leadership level.  What would it look like for area student ministry leaders to “love God and love others” side by side?  How powerful would it be for our students if they could see their leaders on the front lines serving together?  What if student ministry was described as a cooperation instead of a competition?

How does this start?  It starts with you and me.  I believe that this process begins and ends with humility.  Are we willing to humble ourselves and our individual ministries?  Are we willing to stop listening to the lies of the enemy whose goal is to keep student ministries from uniting?  If so, pick up the phone and start calling your student ministry neighbors.  Set up a lunch. Set up a service opportunity. WE ARE STRONGER TOGETHER THAN WE ARE APART.

Kyle Morris is the Pastor of Student Ministries at warehouse 180 in Arvada, Colorado.  www.warehouse180.com

So many people hate what they do and hate going to work each day.  I really don’t feel like I’m working because I love what I do.  I love those who I work with and I love those who I get to serve.  So many times people chase the almighty dollar and then spend their life chasing happiness.  I was fortunate that God saw something in me that I didn’t see in myself and allowed me to experience a joy that is hard to explain everyday.  Trust me there are days that I wonder what it would have been like to chase the dollar but then I remember that what I am experiencing right now is rare.  The most important thing is that you chase what your passionate about everyday and live your dream.

Nothing brings me more satisfaction in ministry than to watch someone walk in lost with questions and hurt and walk out with some answers and hope.  To watch someone grow in their journey with God is a privilege.  To be able to teach God’s word is an honor.  The fact that God would use someone like me to make a difference in someones life and use me to influence the Kingdom is humbling.

Maybe your on the verge of giving in and quitting.  Maybe you have forgotten the calling on your life.  Know this, today as you read this blog God is already laying out the path for you that best serves Him.  Don’t quit because your moment of true happiness may be right around the corner.  Enjoy the journey.

Ryan Geiger is the Student Director at Fellowship Church and blogs at ryangeigerblog.com.

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.

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 life into students.  Write down the students you are currently planting seeds in.  Think through how you are encouraging them in Christ and in leadership.
2. Identify a few other students who you or another leader can start planting leadership seeds into.
3. Encourage your leaders to be planting seeds in the lives of students they are reaching out to.

Tom is the Youth Pastor of Cedar Run Community Church and blogs regularly at www.notamegachurch.com.

My friend and former intern Josh Pease (now heading out in a speaking/writing career) wrote me the other day about some new ideas he’s trying with his rather large small group. I asked him to share a bit more for the blog, and here’s his thoughts. Hope it is helpful!

Being a small group leader – by its very nature – is difficult. And the bigger the group, the harder it is.

My group currently runs anywhere from 11-15 students, and the energy I’ve used trying to get them to focus for 40 minutes of lesson is ridiculous. For the last couple years it seemed I spent more time telling people to be quiet than teaching them.

That is until about a month ago, when I completely revamped how our small group operates. The changes I’ve made have led to us having our best month of small group in the 3 years we’ve been together. And while I’m not saying it makes everything perfect … it’s working really well for me. So if you have a bigger small group — and are feeling frustrated — here’s a quick look at someting that has helped me.

The day of small group – I text my guys with the passage of Scripture we’ll be reading that night, a reminder to bring their Bibles, and a couple questions to think about if they decide to read the verses in advance (only a couple do … but hey).

7-7:15 – My guys trickle in. When I feel like most people are there we start off with “Story Time with Devon” (he always has a crazy event from the last week to share. I only mention this because it sort of helps in getting people quiet). I then recap the passage & questions from the text and tell them to break up into their groups.

7:15-7:45 – Everyone breaks into groups of 3-4 people. These groups – which are the same each week – were divided by me to hopefully be socially comfortable (hey, my friend is in here!) but also a little challenging (hey … I’ve never spoke two sentences to this guy!). Spending time really creating a good relational mix for each group was important. Spiritually mature with immature. Distracted with focused. It takes time to find the right tensions, but is worth it.

Each group is led by a student who I see as one of our spiritual leaders and who I’ve explained the new vision to and asked to help (I invited the guys I wanted to lead to my house on Sat. morning for breakfast). The leader’s job is simple: keep the group on task. Make sure the group reads. Encourage them to ask and answer questions – the ones I gave them but also, hopefully, their own insights.

7:45-8:20 – The groups come back together. Here’s where the payoff for ME kicks in. Because my guys have already read the Scripture AND been thinking about it, they’re more inclined to participate. Rather than me doing a “cold open” where I have to convince them they should listen, they already have questions they want to know the answers to. Or things they’ve thought of and want to share. At the very least they’re more likely to answer questions I ask. And I think there’s something about having been in a smaller group for 30 minutes that makes them a little calmer too.

The key I’ve found in this time is to let them drive the discussion (I simply open up the floor to any questions/insights they had), but slowly leading them to a key idea from the passage that I think is important. So if we’re reading about the woman at the well, and the question I gave them is “what obstacles were in the way of Jesus talking to this woman?” then I will slowly ask follow up questions to their answers. The goal is for them to see how the obstacles between Jesus and the woman aren’t that different from obstacles they face when talking to people about Jesus.

Usually by this point, there’s a cool “ah ha!” moment where a Bible passage they’ve already engaged personally becomes alive to them.

8:20-? – I then send students back into their same groups to pray together. Usually I encourage them to pray about something directly connected to what they just read. Again, the student leader drives this conversation, but in a very laid back way. His job is to make sure everyone is encouraged to share if they want. What I’ve found is that – since my guys largely drive themselves to/from group– they will continue to hang out well past our 8:30 end time, just catching up with each other.

So basically in one small group night: our students spend at least 45 minutes in groups where they know everyone and feel listened to, they engage the Bible on their own, that story is made relevant to their life, they gain some keys on how to read the Bible for themselves hopefully, every person gets a chance to pray/be prayed for, and all I have to do is lead 30 minutes of discussion where most of my job is simply to ask follow up questions.

It’s been pretty nice.

Shared a few learnings about social media in the youth ministry track of Radicalis. Doug asked me to talk a little bit about getting community students into our crowd program, here’s some of what I jotted down in my Moleskin before jumping on stage:

Start to text your students immediately (SMS)
One of the very first moves I made when I became the High School Pastor at Saddleback was to move us quickly to texting. Email is dead to a teen. There are a ton of great texting services out there, we use SimplyTxt but you can check out Tatango, Duffled and more. Move to SMS right now, and please know it won’t be long before Facebook (and whatever’s next – ha!) ruins SMS as we know it, too.

Encourage students to update Facebook about their church experiences/decisions (Facebook)
I love it when a student updates their Facebook status with something about faith or church. We encourage it on a weekly basis – you can grab this promo slide and add it to your rotation this weekend, too. Their friendship circles extend far beyond yours, they have acquaintances that will see what they post and hopefully respond.

Don’t let your best stuff sit on a hard drive (YouTube)
Too often we work hard to create a powerful video or skit, play it for our students, then let it die a sad death in the corner of an old hard drive. Never again! Think about the latest video you created as an opportunity for social media marketing. When someone from your community searches Google or YouTube about your student ministry – what will they find? If you’re serious about taking some good first steps in social media for your student ministry, upload every video you can and let the community stumble on them and get in on the conversation.

JG