mariners church | More Than Dodgeball

Josh GriffinMore Posts Mariner’s HSM Camp Rules Video

I’m a huge Matt McGill fan (tell me you subscribe to his youth ministry blog) – and today I discovered another timeless video of him giving the camp rules that you have to see. There’s simply nothing like this guy. Genius.

JG

Add Comment August 14, 2012

Josh GriffinMore Posts Tithing Video from Mariner’s Church

Thought this video about tithing from Mariner’s Church was exceptional. Good stuff.

JG

5 View Comments July 7, 2011

Josh GriffinMore Posts Do These 3 Things Well in Ministry And You’ll Do Great

If you do these 3 things well in youth ministry, you’ll do alright:

Learn well
Always be a learner – read everything you can get your hands on in whatever field you can. Push your thinking. Create an idea file. Open an Evernote account and when something strikes you – write it down. Learn from your mistakes. Make the same mistakes as few times as possible (hey it happens). Learn the easy way. Try new things. Always experiment with ideas that could be the breakthrough to make you more effective in your calling. Spend time with God and let Him lead you more than any other voice.

Lead well
Be a lover of people. Only take the best volunteers. Believe in people. Surround yourself with good people – people who will lead you well and people you can lead well. Together you will work together to keep your ministry healthy and balanced on the eternal purposes of God. Have the hard conversations. Push for the best idea, not the easiest. Don’t be afraid of speaking your mind, but remember that the best leaders listen first.

Leave well
This is a tough one – so many youth ministry departures are in less than ideal conditions. But transition is a test of your character and if you leave poorly you’ll probably repeat many of the mistakes. Dialogue what you think God may be asking you to do next. Have mentors at the ready when you feel God’s nudging. Working hard until the last day, making sure the transition plan is in place and fighting for a good handoff is the only way to go.

I’m timing this post to tonight at 7:45pm, when I’ll be sharing these words about Ryanne Witt at her going away party this evening. Ryanne is leaving our high school staff (after a total of 7 years at Saddleback in various roles) to work with my good friend Matt McGill over at Mariner’s Church. Ryanne, thanks for doing these 3 things so well and more. Proud of you and where God takes you from here.

JG

3 View Comments April 10, 2011

Josh GriffinMore Posts Simply Youth Ministry Podcast: Episode 148

The gang gathers round the table full of Christmas cheer. The team has big changes to talk about. They also talk about facebook and students owning their faith.

JG

1 View Comments December 8, 2010

Josh GriffinMore Posts Married to a Youth Pastor

I’m so glad Amanda is back to blogging! After too long away from it this summer, her blog Married to a Youth Pastor is back and better than ever. In addition to a funny new contest giving away a spouse registration to the Simply Youth Ministry Conference, she is back with some insight and raw learnings about youth ministry from a wife’s perspective. Honestly, turn your spouse on to her blog, it is so good – if I find one as awesome for husbands, I’ll be sure to post a link. Here’s a clip of a post called Swept Away where she talks about dialing in the youth ministry calendar with their family one:

We (Jeff and I) HAVE to take control of our schedules and family again. No more excuses of “seasons”. Something “important”, and “urgent” is always going to come up. We have to exercise our “NO”. I have to take responsibility of this as well. I let myself get lost in the shuffle. In no way is this only Jeff’s issue. I have a voice as well. And a smart brain that listens to God’s voice and can hear what’s good and bad or unhealthy for myself, my marriage, and my kids. I really got swept away (and right under the carpet).

I say this a lot… “After 14 years in full time ministry, you’d think I would have this down!”

JG

Add Comment October 22, 2010

Josh GriffinMore Posts Teaching Using the Hero Archetype

Jeff McGuire from Mariner’s Church came over to the Saddleback intern meeting today to teach some principles of sermon preparation. He used Joseph Campbell‘s classic mythology and hero archetype as a possible model to follow. It was brilliant stuff – and not just because I’m a Star Wars geek, too. Here’s a quick overview of the content applied to a student ministry:

Start in the ordinary world – what are the questions/thoughts students share?
Make a call to adventure – what if there was another way to live?
Refusal – give students a way out
Threshold – a guide to walk down the path
Belly of the whale – better to continue the journey, harder to turn back
Road of trials – the ideal pathway to escape danger
Boon – benefits of making a change, sermon in a sentence
The Return – return students to the ordinary world changed.

JG

8 View Comments February 6, 2008

Josh GriffinMore Posts Explosive Growth at Mariner’s

Mariner’s Church is just down the road from Saddleback and reading in Outreach Magazine I was excited to learn about their growth. There’s a great feature on them in this month’s issue – here’s three of the five big things they’re going after this year:

First, as a pastor, I believe in teaching God’s Word. We want our congregation to love God and love the truth. We want them to have a meaningful experience with Jesus that they connect with God. In studying God’s Word, I take a historical grammatical method so that our church can learn and understand what was said in the Bible, take those principles and translate them across cultural boundaries.

Second, we strongly believe that each person can make a difference at our church, so we give our members a great deal of ministerial responsibility. This all starts with members sharing their personal testimonies. We believe we overcome the evil one through the blood of the Lamb and Word of our testimony. So, we as a church place a huge value on story time. Every Tuesday morning, we have people telling stories of how God is changing people in our church. We also value small groups and believe they are a “wondering place” where we can have discussions of God’s Word with one another as a community.

Third, we create a sense of family at our church by treating it like a large community church. Our building is a big box with dramatic staging so that when you walk in, it feels like an auditorium with amphitheater seating. All of the social activities for the church, however, happen around an outdoor seating area that looks a lot like a patio. By creating a church that’s a family, we can help our members through the pain and sadness in their lives. A family home is a place where people love you for who you are, but also love you enough to help you get better. So our church family challenges one another to be all that we can be; it’s a safe enough place to make life’s most dangerous choices. A church functioning as a healthy family creates a fun, family atmosphere that challenges growth–that’s the kind of family we are trying to create at Mariners.

JG