Josh GriffinMore PostsGospelJourney.com

Got a note from Greg over at Dare2Share about their new website for Gospel Journey. Loved their new video trailer and website – check it out!
JG

Josh GriffinMore Posts20% Off Simply Youth Ministry … Today Only!

Want to take 20% off your order* from Simply Youth Ministry TODAY only? Use the morethandodgeball.com promo code: AirHorn but be warned it expires at tonight at 11:59pm PST. A few suggestions:

JG

*excludes LIVE Curriculum and Simply All Access

Josh GriffinMore PostsFree Evangelism Training this Tuesday

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Don’t know you’ve heard about Dare 2 Share’s interactive webinar training this Tuesday (May 17th) with Greg Stier. It is designed for youth leaders who are nervous about evangelism and looks super. Check out Evangephobia for more details and to sign up!

Evangelism. For many, this word conjures up images of a street-corner preacher or a madman using a bullhorn and thumping people on the head with a Bible. But are those the only options? Join Greg Stier, President of Dare 2 Share Ministries for a lively, interactive webcast about sharing our faith and its role in youth ministry. You and other youth leaders will explore some of the most common fears surrounding evangelism, learn how it can help accelerate spiritual growth in your teenagers, and discover simple steps you can take to make it fit within your current youth ministry.

JG

Josh GriffinMore PostsGUEST POST: Unleashed by Greg Stier

As you all know, it takes a lot of effort to deliver a stellar outreach meeting, and opinions differ on which of the following are most likely to draw teens in and transform lives:

  • A worthy, engaging service project
  • Great pizza
  • Crazy, fun games
  • Your skill at juggling flaming poodles

While the argument could be made that any and all of the above have played a role in bringing teens to Christ (maybe not the poodles…), I believe the very best outreach meeting looks entirely different.

That’s because your teens themselves are the very best outreach meeting ever. When you train and equip them to share the gospel with their friends, you unleash them to become a walking, talking outreach meeting everywhere they go!

Check out the Apostle Paul’s effectiveness in multiplying his ministry by pouring into the lives of those in his spiritual care:

You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everybody. You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts (2 Corinthians 3:2-3).

Your teens are a letter from Christ, known and read by everybody.

But do you have a strategy for training and equipping your students to become a powerful and compelling letter from Christ? Do they know how to share the gospel? Have you unleashed them to impact their friends for Jesus? If you have an evangelism training strategy that’s working, GREAT! If you don’t, it’s time to get one!

After all, the average teen has 102 friends. And friends have 100 times more influence on their own friends than a stranger does. By training and equipping your teens to be that outreach meeting every day, you leverage their influence and unleash them for relational evangelism. And friends who would never set foot in a youth group meeting will have the chance to hear the Good News.

When you motivate and mobilize your teens to share their faith, everywhere they go they’ll be unleashed to be the best outreach meeting you’ve ever delivered.

If you want some help with evangelism training we have a conference that has helped thousands of teens become more comfortable sharing their faith. In fact, that is what our evangelism training conferences are all about! Click here for more information on Dare 2 Share or to find if the un. Tour conference is coming to an area near you.

Greg Stier is a husband, a father, a preacher, an author, a twitchy revolutionary and a fanatic for Jesus. His life work is Dare2Share, followed closely by his blog about youth ministry.

Josh GriffinMore PostsStudent Leadership Conferences That Might Be Good for Your Core Students

We’ve held a Purpose Driven Youth Ministry (PDYM) Student Leadership Conference here at Saddleback Church the past several years, and right now we’re taking a little break from it in the current season. I imagine it’ll come back again soon, details of it’s return will be here first, but what are other great options for your core students to get some training. Google is sending a lot of searchers to my site looking for the answer – so here are some thoughts on great student leadership events coming soon:

  • Student Leadership University (official website) – I’ve been to a couple of Jay Strack’s Student Leadership events with students and had a total blast. He has a unique and memorable teaching style and each event is set in a unique location. Lots of tracks available, including some advanced international stuff. Not something for a ton of students, if you’ve got some hungry kids looking for workshops, community and challenge, this might be some good stuff.
  • Converge 2011 (official website) – I’ve never been before, but love the lineup for this event in Indiana. I was privileged to record a “digital presentation” for the event. Sounds like a really great program they’ve got planned with some serious names teaching.
  • Dare 2 Share (official website) – I really like Greg Stier – he’s a one message kinda guy, but he’ll challenge your core students to reach out to their non-believing friends with the Gospel. High energy, conference-like event, with a ton of locations all over the US. Not something I would necessarily go to every year, but could be a solid challenge for your students.

What other great student-leadership/core-kid event, training or conference isn’t on my radar? Post it, promo it, plug it in the comments!

JG

Josh GriffinMore PostsBook Review: The Greenhouse Project

This Christmas break I finished up a review copy of the Mike Calhoun book The Greenhouse Project: Cultivating Students of Influence – a good read for anyone looking to overhaul or reemphasize discipleship in their student ministry. The book actually covers more than discipleship, but the theme is very primary and central to his thesis that of all the purposes for student ministry – discipleship is the one that matters the most. Each chapter is guided by a contributing writer like Greg Stier, Mel Walker or Jay Strack, so while the writing feels a bit random, the multiple voices lends credibility and varied perspective. My wife actually graduated from Word of Life Bible Institute and I have enjoyed the camps and speakers in the past – I think the book is good for many settings though if you’re a “Word of Life church” it’ll really hit you where you’re at. Great title, too, our student ministry should be a greenhouse for helping students grow up in Christ.

JG

Josh GriffinMore PostsGoogle Searches That Lead Here: Volume 45

Here’s a few of the more than 700 different words and phrases that people used to find the blog this week. Crazy all of the Jason Castro ones, more than 100 variants with his name alone. Anyhow, here’s a few of the notable ones:

  • jason castro christian
  • a big star wars fan
  • gay robot pancakes
  • more than dodgeball t-shirts
  • american idol shout to the lord
  • greg stier venti jesus please
  • moses stuttered, david committed adultery
  • will this season mark end of ‘idol’?
  • funny bulletin
  • greedo shot first t-shirt
  • miley cyrus idol gives back
  • willow arts conference this is the truth
  • andi no arms no legs
  • bizar text messages
  • buy missile base
  • chipotles in viva pinata
  • christian youth group jesus apprentice
  • church using basecamp
  • crocs palm springs
  • dane cook tucking kid in bed
  • dodgeball and fire
  • ensenada travel advisory
  • fundamental independent baptist american idol
  • gaming dads
  • ikea hate
  • is a person accelerating when he sits on a couch?
  • is ai rigged?
  • life for an american moving to dubai
  • one month to live study guide

JG

Josh GriffinMore PostsBook Review: Venti Jesus Please

Just finished up the quick-read book from Greg Stier titled Venti Jesus Please. I really enjoyed his last book, Ministry Mutiny, a youth ministry fable for youth workers. I’m not really the target of this latest book – it’s designed to be a resource for students who are checking out Jesus. It once again takes the fable approach, basically following a conversation between a seeker, an atheist and a Christian student at Starbucks one night.

If I’m honest, I wasn’t super drawn into the conversation that the teens were having over coffee, but at the same time the book does take the time to hit on the questions our students are asking. Although I felt at times it was a bit cliche, we’re in the middle of our Dear God series and I’m noticing similar themes to what we’re teaching and what Greg has written. We’ve got a few copies of the book we’re going to give away to students who attend our entry-level weekend service for the first time and see how they work out as a possible tool for our ministry. Interested to see if our caffeinated seekers go for it. B-

JG