evangelism | More Than Dodgeball

Josh GriffinMore Posts GUEST POSTS: Reaching, Not Keeping

In the past month two students have left our youth ministry.

One moved with his family to Texas. The other was a foreign exchange student who went back home to South Africa. We’ve known both were leaving for quite a while, but that didn’t make it any easier. In the final weeks for both guys we paid special attention to them. We wanted to make sure they knew they were loved and that we had communicated the most important truths about Jesus to them. We went out of our way to make them feel special, which was great and really made an impact with them.

But the thing is, was it really that unique that they were not coming back to youth group? The truth is, every student is leaving the group. Whether its after their first visit or when they graduate, no one stays in youth group forever. Those that try to end up getting kicked out! The goal for us as leaders should be to make every student feel just as loved as the guys we knew were leaving. There’s no way to know if a student will ever return, so why not try to make every encounter with them special?

A very wise man once taught me that the goal of a youth pastor is “reaching, not keeping.” We have to make sure that every student that we encounter feels loved, knows they’re special and is exposed to the Gospel. We have to focus on reaching them, not making sure they come back next week. Of course we would love for them return and we have a plan in place if they do, but we can’t control that. All we can control is how we interact with them while they’re there.

If you’re a pastor, leader, or just attend a church, please remember to make every encounter a special one. Communicate love and genuine care for the person. You don’t know if they’re coming back, so be sure you know you shared Jesus with them when they were there.

Stuart Owens is the youth director at his childhood church, Tallahassee Heights UMC. He is married to the love of his life, Taylor. He is also an unashamed Seminole fanatic.

Add Comment December 28, 2010

Josh GriffinMore Posts GUEST POST: If You Cast Your Net, Be Prepared

I am still somewhat new at this whole being a Youth Pastor thing and because of that I am still learning as I go about some of the ‘nuts and bolts’ of what its all about. One thing that has been on my heart is providing places and spaces for students to invite their pre-Christian friends to. But I found on at least a few occasions, I was ill prepared to reap the harvest and likely missed a great opportunity. A great example would be our Flashmob event that we held last spring, the students hyped it, we planned for everything, they brought their friends, in fact we saw a nearly 50% increase in students at the event, but I was not prepared to handle that. In light of this, here are a few things I am wrestling with:

Make it manageable: We only get one chance to make a first impression, and if someone is an invited guest in the Church, I would like to make that experience the best I can. If we host an outreach event with many new students, there is a chance they could not be personally welcomed, they might feel awkward and this could be the last time they set foot in the door. Our Flashmob event taught me a great lesson that I need to take an active role in greeting those new students so that they do feel welcomed. If you plan and event so that students can bring 10 friends each to, and they do, you might be doing more harm than good.

Unleash your leaders: If you don’t have a welcome and greeting team, you need one! This is the best way to meet students when you cannot do it themselves. This is one of the most important front line ministries; they are the friendly face of the Youth Group. Our greeting team has a ’20 questions’ form they hand out with questions ranging from contact info, to Bieber or Timberlake to Pancakes or Waffles. These questions are quite strategic in quickly finding if they are from a Christian home, if they are skater kid or a “Lightsaber kid” with apologies to Josh, these are the pseudo dorky 8-10^th grade boys that grab the coat rack and pretend it’s a Lightsaber. The purpose is to find a small group that they will thrive and make meaningful connections with students with similar interests. On the first night they are there, they will meet at least 3 core students, their new small group leader and myself.

Learn their name: There is nothing more valuable that learning a student’s name, it says to them that they belong and that they are memorable. All that contact information we get from outreach events is entered into our database; they are added on Facebook that night, invited into our student ministry FB group and added to our SMS blasts each week. Once they accept a friend request, we print a copy of their Facebook profile pic, put in on the wall in my office and the next time I see that student, at their school or at Youth, you better believe I will do everything I can to remember their name.

Planning an event is easy, engaging, welcoming and retaining the student influx of students is the difficult part, it takes teamwork, intentionality, hard work and diligence. Otherwise, these events will be attendance spikes that will have little long-term value. If your objective is for big numbers at one off events that is one thing, but if your goal is creating more disciples, be prepared that when you cast your net, it might come back full.

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. You can, too! See how right here.

2 View Comments December 3, 2010

Josh GriffinMore Posts POLL: Paying for Evangelism

An interesting discussion came up on last week’s Simply Youth Ministry Podcast (episode 144, click here to watch it). The discussion was about giving your students an incentive (money, discounts, prizes, etc) for bringing their friends to church. The team seemed pretty much opposed to it, but I didn’t see it as a big deal. Curious as to what you think? Vote today!

JG

15 View Comments November 3, 2010

Josh GriffinMore Posts 10 Steps to Reach Non-Christian Students

Thought this post over on Youth Ministry 360 was interesting as you begin to plan how to reach non-Christian students in your community. Here are a few of their first points, head there for the complete article:

Put your own ideas and plans aside
You may have an awesome, amazing, brilliantly innovative idea. But if it isn’t the right idea for the community it makes little difference. Shelve any ideas until you do your homework.

Survey your community
What does your community really need? Or at least what do people in your community feel they need? To answer this, consider surveying three groups outside your congregation: Young people, parents/guardians of young people, & community leaders.

Meet with anyone who will make time for you
It’s essential to get the information from those who have it. Find out who else works on youth issues, what is being done, what has been done in the past, and what they would like to see in the future.

Interact with the students on the streets
What you want is raw info from the demographic of people you’re hoping to reach (not your own youth group kids). Try bus stops, skateparks, and malls. Trade them a can of soda for a completed survey.

JG

1 View Comments September 16, 2010

Josh GriffinMore Posts Book Reviews: Jesus Manifesto and Humanitarian Jesus

In the process of finishing two books on the topic of Jesus. Here are a few thoughts:

The first, Jesus Manifesto:Restoring the Supremacy and Sovereignty of Jesus Christ by Leonard Sweet and Frank Viola, is a challenging read simply exalting Jesus above everything else. They contend that a complete emphasis on Jesus would completely change the world – if we can introduce people to the real, life-changing Jesus, everything else will follow. Lifestyle will follow. Church growth will happen. Discipleship will happen. Simply teach Jesus. Not sure how much of it I’m ready to go after, but preaching and teaching Jesus has to be what the church is all about. Definitely lives up to its subtitle elevating Jesus to the highest place. Pretty academic read, you’ll want to break it into chunks and not speed read for sure.

The second book I’m tackling is Humanitarian Jesus: Social Justice and the Cross by Ryan Dobson and Christian Buckley, and it is a much more accessible read. It attempts to tackle the social Gospel and evangelism question, giving a brief history of the concept and conflict of the ideas of sharing Jesus. The first half of the book is written by the authors, the second is interviews with people in key churches and organizations that are attempting to be the hands and feet of Jesus. Good stuff, drives me to my current thinking – the Social Gospel must be both social (helping people) and Gospel (spreading the Good News of Jesus Christ)! There are many books on this subject, this one probably isn’t the most academic or comprehensive, but by far the most current.

JG

Add Comment September 8, 2010

Josh GriffinMore Posts 4 Questions for Your Youth Ministry Fall Kickoff and Suggested Resources to Help Answer Them

August is here – summer programs are winding down and school is about to begin. Scratch that – for more than half the country, kids are already in classes this week! You’re heading toward the Fall kickoff of your youth ministry, and thinking about what’s next. I posted When to Buy Youth Ministry Resources last August, but thought something tangible with solid suggestions for the fall might be a good idea as well. Here are the questions I’m asking with a couple weeks to go before our official kickoff:

1. Is your youth ministry service ready to go?
Take the time to lay out the fall teaching calenda r. Create or purchase a teaching series that is compelling and make it easy for your students to bring their non-believing friends. The start of the school year is one of the most opportune times for Friendship Evangelism. Then think about the atmosphere that first-time student will walk into – are a few crowd games or a cell phone poll the way to go? Is the room setup ideally for what you’re trying to accomplish? Do you have a way to contact students during the week? How can you give your youth group a jolt of fresh energy this Fall? Suggestions: 2nd Greatest Story Every Told, Heart of a Champion, Awaken Your Creativity

2. Are your small group leaders and volunteers trained?
Capitalize on the fall to get some good reading into the hands of your leaders or good material into your hands for training meetings. Suggestions: Youth Worker Training on the Go, Emergency Response Handbook for Youth Ministry, Connect

3. What are you reading for your personal development?
You meant to read a few good books over the summer – and honestly, they’re still in the bottom of your backpack. Take them out and get cracking! If you’re looking for a good book Terrace had a good list for young influencers and Kurt’s new book The 9 Best Practices of Youth Ministry looks challenging. My favorite book this summer was Linchpin. Pick up a book for your own development. Suggestions: Tribes, Switch, Steering Through Chaos, Crazy Love, The Next Generation Leader

4. What is it time to launch?
For us we’re talking about helping hurting students, so we’re concentrating on our pastoral care program for teenagers who are at risk. You’ve got the pulse of your student ministry – what is it time to launch? Or maybe what is it time to re-launch? Maybe it is time to stop something, so this January you can breath new life into it? Suggestions: The Landing, Help! I’m a Student Leader, LeaderTreks

JG

tp://terracecrawford.blogspot.com/2010/08/top-20-books-every-young-influencer.html

Josh GriffinMore Posts HSM Weekend in Review: Volume 91

Weekend Teaching Series: You Own the Weekend: Trabuco Hills HS (series premiere: week 1 of 5)

Sermon in a Sentence: Christ calls us to a live a life unified together for His glory.
Service Length: 71 minutes

Understandable Message: This weekend we kicked off the completely-student-run series You Own the Weekend. We debuted the series last year after a student threw out the idea to me after a weekend service – it turned into the largest series of 2009. It is back this year, and Trabuco HS student leaders set the bar high as the series kicked off. The message this week focused on unity, and the power of people banded together for one cause. The clear challenge was for Christians to be unified, and it gave a clear invitation for non-believers to become a part of God’s family. A student taught the message broken up in a few parts with 3 testimonies sprinkled throughout.

Volunteer/Student Involvement: The weekend was completely run by students – from the early planning stages through execution. Aside from one adult adviser to the group, all of the adults were there in a purely relational capacity. Really incredible to see – students have been involved in lots of “day of” opportunities to serve – greeters, camera, band, etc but the real work of You Own the Weekend happens in the weeks before – as students invite their friends to attend the service. The goal was that every student would get an invitation to the weekend service.

Element of Fun/Positive Environment: Students chose to play Party in the USA and Fireflies during the countdown video, and opened with a Trabuco Hills Rap – it was really creatively done – I don’t remember us ever opening with a live rap before. So fun, so much school pride, they even made a slideshow to run behind the music, lots of picture of their school and students. They also brought in the school mascots to dance around, and used www.polleverywhere.com to put up a few interactive cell phone polls.

Music Playlist: THHS Alma Mater Rap, Tear Down the Walls, another song I forgot

Favorite Moment: This weekend was filled with great moments – the biggest of them all is the continued reminder of the connection between student involvement and evangelism. And that students are capable of SO much when given a chance.

Up Next: YOTW: El Toro HS (week 2 of 5)