doug fields | More Than Dodgeball

Josh GriffinMore Posts MoreThanDodgeball’s Year in Review: Top 5 Blogs of 2011

I read about a jillion (with a “j”) blog posts every week. There are a ton of different blogs I subscribe to, but here are my favorites from 2011:

DougFields.com – I’m so glad my friend Doug Fields got into the blogging game. He is the best blogger in youth ministry and I read his stuff, every word of every post, because it is brilliant. OK, I skip some of it just like you do on my blog – but it is filled with incredible youth ministry, marriage and leadership insights and is not to be missed. Best new blog of the year!

DougFranklin.com – solid blog from LeaderTreks’ Doug Franklin doesn’t stray much from the student leadership drumbeat. Solid, consistent posts that are easy to rip off and share with your volunteers like you wrote it yourself!

Learning My Lines – Walk Mueller is in youth ministry culture, and cares about it more deeply than I ever will. I love that I can get up to speed on issues and influences of teenagers in seconds.

Glass House Spouse – Another GREAT new blog – this one focuses on the spouse of someone in ministry. Honest, funny, candid – I love it, my only hope would be that it becomes daily in 2012.

More Than Gossip - My friend Neely McQueen is doing some great work on her blog More Than Gossip. She’s always got an insight or observation from her focused ministry to girls. I learn a lot from her and appreciate the heart she puts into the site. Check it out!

What was your favorite blog in 2011?

JG

Add Comment December 31, 2011

Josh GriffinMore Posts 4 Ways to Unify a Team

A couple weeks back at our State of HSM annual meeting I shared a few things that I believe that make a good team great. Thought I would share them with you as well!

Vision
We all share a common, unifying vision in our high school ministry – seeing students on the outside of faith meet Him face to face (evangelism) and their lives be changed forever. And for those that have trusted Christ to be connected (fellowship), grow (discipleship), serve (ministry) and honor (worship) Christ deeper now and into adulthood. The clear vision helps bring a team of like-minded and passionate people together. If someone is out of line, the vision brings them back into the unity of the common vision.

Learning
This year our team is going to unify by learning together. We’re going to go to a conference together – the Simply Youth Ministry Conference this March – come hang with us! We’re going to go back to the basics and read Doug Fields’ 1st 2 Years in Youth Ministry together and have some discussions about our experiences and how we can grow together as youth workers. Youth pastors must keep learning and moving forward.

Laughter
It is so important to laugh together. I want us to play together. Have inside jokes. To dig a deep well of relationship that bond us together and make us quick to forgive and trust when hit with the unexpected.

Dependent on God/Prayer
Your walk with Jesus is critically important. This season we’re all reading the New Testament together. We’re trying to make sure our walk with Jesus is more visible and something we talk about as easily as we would Sherlock Holmes or the new Coldplay album (both of which are excellent by the way). Your walk with Jesus is person, but it is also communal. As a team we need to strive to e

JG

Add Comment December 29, 2011

Josh GriffinMore Posts One Minute Bibles By the Case

A great way to help students get the New Year started right! Consider picking up a case of One Minute Bibles by Doug Fields, a great discipleship/spiritual discipline resource for students … might be good for you and/or your volunteers to do it alongside them, too!

JG

Add Comment December 28, 2011

Josh GriffinMore Posts HSM Weekend in Review: Volume 158

Weekend Teaching Series: Facebook Official (week 4 of 5)
Sermon in a Sentence: God’s plan for your sex life.
Service Length: 62 minutes

Understandable Message: This weekend Doug Fields took the HSM stage and brought it! In his usual just-about-over-the-line style he taught students about God’s plan for purity and sex. It was incredible – my favorite part of the talk was when he was talking about “the drift” and how there are forces pushing us toward the world’s way and how we have to admit and correct that before we can really get on God’s path for our sexuality. He used a ton of humor, stories and Scripture to present a biblical challenge to purity, abstinence and forgiveness.

Element of Fun/Positive Environment: This weekend was lean but awesome – we opened up with a fun acapella cover song using a choir and a fun dance by a fake boy band. The program was lean this week to make room for Fields’ talk, but lots of student involvement in lights, sound, band, control room, greeting etc.

Music Playlist: Hello! [opening cover song], Facebook Official [dance lip-sync], Grace

Favorite Moment: Great weekend! No doubt the highlight was having Doug teach this weekend. There’s no one like him – really really great services.

Up next: Facebook Official (series finale, week 5 of 5)

Add Comment November 4, 2011

Josh GriffinMore Posts Youth Worker Training on the Go

I was just recommending this book to another youth worker last week – and noticed the $30 is on sale this week for $7.99. Great deal, great resource!

Youth Leader Training on the Go is an easy way to train leaders and multiply your ministry’s effectiveness. Best of all, teenagers will grow deeper in their faith because you’ve invested in your volunteers.

Encourage your volunteers to:

Connect with God and build faith in every area of teenagers’ lives

Understand teenage culture for effective outreach

Discover practical, helpful ideas for ministering to teenagers

Work with parents to help their teenagers grow in faith

Find balance between ministry and personal life

This resource contains 52 training sessions for youth leaders. Encourage busy volunteers with these practical leadership tips. Everything you need for at least a full year’s worth of leadership training!

JG

Add Comment November 2, 2011

Josh GriffinMore Posts The Price of Moral Failure

DougFields.com blog is coming up on a year old and it is easily the best blog in youth ministry – this guest post from Marv Penner on it in my mind is up for post of the year. Marv goes into detail about a document that has helped him stay faithful to his calling and his spouse for his neara-countless years in youth ministry. Amazing stuff, you need to read and process the full post over there. Here’s a clip:

I was a young man in ministry when I wrote a document that I have read hundreds of times over the last three decades. It was born on a personal spiritual retreat when I asked God to protect my marriage from the damage that would occur if I would cross my moral boundaries (See Monday’s post & Tuesday’s post). I try to read this document every time I get on a plane or check into a hotel. I regularly make it a part of my personal quiet time and review it often. It started on paper and is now conveniently synched on my iPad and laptop. It has been edited an amended often to reflect changes in my circumstances, but the essential message has remained the same.

I have never shared this highly personal document this way and after you read it I’ll tell you why I have second thoughts even as I Doug to post it today.

IF I BLOW IT!

When I feel vulnerable to sexual temptation I must take the time to count the cost that even one bad choice could have…

JG

2 View Comments November 1, 2011

Josh GriffinMore Posts HSM Weekend in Review: Volume 157

Weekend Teaching Series: Facebook Official (week 3 of 5)
Sermon in a Sentence: 7 questions to ask about your dating relationship.
Service Length: 76 minutes

Understandable Message: This weekend I wanted to focus on a biblical perspective to dating – although dating isn’t implicitly mentioned in the Bible and is a much more modern cultural invention of ours. For sure the Bible does talk plenty in principle about WHO to date and HOW to date so that’s the perspective of the talk. I shared a bunch of personal stories from my dating life including heartbreak, and eventually how I met my wife. The talk was designed to build on Doug’s narrow vs wide way challenge from last week and included 7 questions to ask about their current/future dating relationships.

Element of Fun/Positive Environment: This is the last weekend before our Pumpkinfest event, so we spent a little chink of the program with a funny skit that included an awkward robot and our stage emcee. Really funny stuff, as always trying to make annoucements both memorable and engaging. We also played a funny video from RhettandLink about Facebook profile pictures and dating.

Music Playlist: Enchanted [Taylor Swift cover], Oh Lord, Your Love is Enough, Grace, Cannons

Favorite Moment: The conversations after the service were the best. Nothing like a series like this to get students thinking … and talking. Several students were convinced it was alright for them to date someone of a different religion – by far the most popular discussion this weekend after the talk.

Up next: Facebook Official (week 4 of 5) [Doug Fields teaching about sex]

3 View Comments October 26, 2011

Josh GriffinMore Posts 15,000 Comments Giveaway: Mission Trips from Start to Finish

Congrats to Shawn Shoup on winning FLIPPED in Day 1′s giveaway and congrats to Tony B on wining a copy of LABELS from Simply Youth Ministry on Day 2. Want to get in on the winner? Leave a comment on this post and you could win Mission Trips from Start to Finish. Thanks for helping MTDB have over 15,000 comments!

JG

PS: There’s still time to get 15% off most all of Simply Youth Ministry resources using promo code: THEBIG15