Josh GriffinMore PostsMan Candles: Changing the World One Candle at a TimeThis weekend I talked about how the disciples changed the world – I wanted to illustrate how people are trying to change the world every day with their inventions on the show Shark Tank. I used this clip (above) of a guy trying to change the world … one candle at a time.
Then I played the hilarious “Mandles” classic video from Bluefish.tv. Got to have a little fun in your youth talk, right?
JG
Josh GriffinMore PostsThe Domino Effect Illustration in HSMAmazing little video the team put together as an object lesson to wrap up our 2020: The Future is Now series. So much work – they really pulled it off well.
JG
Josh GriffinMore PostsHSM’s Photo Mosaic Revealed
If you’ve followed the blog the last month during our 2020: The Future is Now series, you may remember that HSM was doing a photo mosaic as a takeaway for the series. We took pictures of our students for a couple of weeks and we got the print pieces back this week for students to take home as a reminder of the decisions they made. We used each picture of the students several times in the mosaic – students had a fun time finding themselves in the collage. If you were interested in the technical stuff behind the scenes we made the mosaic using this program click here, I think it turned out great!
JG
Josh GriffinMore PostsGifting an iTunes Song Idea for Your Student MinistryA couple of weekends ago we came up with an idea to help bring the message home and into a student’s life each morning. We gave them a song from iTunes and a challenge. All they had to do was promise to listen to the song each morning for a week – the point I was trying to make was as you get ready in the morning, make sure you’re getting ready spiritually, too.
Students seemed to really dig the idea … hopefully the money was well spent. If you don’t now how to gift a song in iTunes (you can do a whole bunch with one click) you can find out how right here. Maybe this idea will work for you sometime soon, too!
JG
Josh GriffinMore PostseBay Offering: A Modern Day, Student-Friendly Take on “Sell Their Possessions and Giving to Anyone in Need”And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. -Acts 2:42
For two weeks HSM is going to offer a unique way of having students give an offering.
We’re in the middle of a church-wide campaign that includes a significant offering component at the end. Pastor Rick has been talking quite a bit about Acts 2:42, the “sell their possessions and give to those in need” and sharing how in the early days of Saddleback people literally downsized their houses and gave the difference to the church. We’ve taken this verse very literally in the past, and while I love it, the application to the present-day life of teenager doesn’t seem very relevant.
So this weekend we’re going to launch what we hope is a very student-friendly, modern day take on Acts 2:42. While students can still literally tithe and/or give an offering in an envelope, we’re also going to let them bring in items to sell. Here’s the idea:
Want to participate in the offering but don’t have money? Here’s how: donate something of our own to the giving campaign. First get your parent’s permission, then bring in any item worth $50 or more and give it away at the eBay offering table. We’ll take each of the items and put them on eBay and find new owners for your stuff with all of the proceeds going directly to the campaign.
The opportunity to give will run for just 2 weeks, Nov 6/7 and 13/14 and students from the Oh Snaps! photography ministry will take pictures of the items as they come in and another student leader will help write up the product description. The whole process will be done by students and overseen by an adult, with 100% of the proceeds go to the 2020: The Future is Now offering.
When I announce it this weekend, I’m going to give away 2 things myself to the campaign: one that is easy to give away, and one that is more of a sacrifice. I’m going to give away my copy of Avatar: the Video Game for the Xbox 360. Easy, the game is average at best and I’ve already beat it. But I’m also going to give something away as a sacrifice, one that I’ll feel a little more: my brand new copy of Halo: Reach. I want to make sure students hear that we don’t just give out of abundance, but we give out of sacrifice as well. Why am I doing this again? Hahahha …
So we’ll see how it goes! Could be a total flop, but I think even just using this concept as a teaching point could be valuable for our students and might be worth it alone. If it takes off, it could be something really special.
JG
Josh GriffinMore PostsMatt McGill Sport’s Instructional Video: GolfThe one, the only, Matt McGill created a series of amazing videos ages ago. Matt McGill’s Sports Instructional video is now on the interwebs. Enjoy your first lesson: golf!
JG
Josh GriffinMore PostsHSM Weekend in Review: Volume 96
Weekend Teaching Series: The End: what happens when its over? (series premiere, week 1 of 2)
Sermon in a Sentence: Exploring what the Bible says happens after we die.
Service Length: 65 minutes
Understandable Message: This week was a challenging talk to create – I wanted to follow-up the You Own the Weekend series with a plain message series about Heaven, Hell and what happens in the afterlife. Students seemed to show a genuine interest in the topic, I wanted to speak plainly about Hell this first week – focusing at the end on God’s love and the hope we have in Heaven. Lots of good comments afterward and excited to see students digging in to this challenging topic.
Volunteer/Student Involvement: The band doubled this week as greeters, and students controlled the cameras, lights, sound and control room. We were a little light on volunteers this week but those that were there jumped in to encourage and greet students who attended the service.
Element of Fun/Positive Environment: We opened up with a few www.polleverywhere.com questions – 1) specifically asking students if they considered themselves a Christian, and 2) asking them to respond with what they believe happens after you die. Interesting results – somewhere between 60-80% of our audience considers themselves Christian, depending on the service. We had a simple The End series video and also played a round of Total Recall where we played the end of Monsters, Inc then asked a few trivia questions about the clip. Fun, well-themed, clear program.
Music Playlist: Gives You Hell (All-American Rejects cover), Yours Forever, You Never Let Go, Lead Me to the Cross, Hosanna
Favorite Moment: Without a doubt the coolest moment was the object lesson on stage. One of our volunteers created a couple of platforms with a gulf between that symbolized the end of life on earth and Heaven. At the bottom of the chasm was Hell, and at the end of the talk I spoke about God’s love through the cross, carried a cross on stage then used it as a bridge to Heaven. Cool way to illustrate victory over sin, Hell and Satan – ended with the song Lead Me to the Cross. Good stuff!
Up Next: The End (week 2 of 2)
Josh GriffinMore PostsGUEST POST: The 4 Pillars of DiscipleshipI’m often asked, “What is your process for discipleship?” How can my son or daughter grow deeper in their faith?” “What are the essentials that students need to know before they graduate to ensure they do not lose their faith in college?” I love these questions because it reflects the desire that Peter had for all believers to grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ (2 Peter 3:18)
As we have carefully formed the structure of discipleship in our ministry, we have four pillars that are important to a strong discipleship program:
Pillar #1: Discipleship is a PROCESS:
The Greek word for disciple means “learner”. Eugene Peterson, theologian and author of “A Long Obedience in the Same Direction” explains that the biblical image of discipleship is an image of forward motion. It is a journey, a pilgrimage, a long-distance marathon. It is not simply an arrival. For students, this means that discipleship is an ongoing, daily process during their school years and beyond.
Pillar #2: Discipleship is a balance between INFORMATION and TRANSFORMATION:
A disciple is not just an expert of information, but someone who is continually learning about what it means to know and live like Christ. As we disciple students, we want them to have a rich understanding of God’s word. We want students to know the faith stories of our forefathers, and to have a grasp of theological doctrine. However, we don’t want to simply transfer information to students; we want it to transform their life. The end goal of the study of the scriptures is not to master the text, but to let the text master us. Jesus spoke about a confluent faith in the Great Commandment when he said “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength (Mark 12:30). Jesus wanted those who followed Him to not just to know about God, He wanted what they knew to be put into practice.
Pillar #3: Effective Discipleship consists of a variety of METHODS:
Most of Jesus’ formal education of his disciples was done in with a variety of methods. He used overstatements, parables, riddles, irony, and the use of questions and paradox, which caused his listeners to think, process and to ask questions. Jesus was creative in his teaching methods by using story, object lessons, experiences, illustrations, case-studies and real life scenarios to teach his disciples.
Pillar #4: Discipleship is most effective in the context of RELATIONSHIPS:
To know God is to learn about a vibrant relationship with Him. To be in fellowship with other believers means to learn to live together. To grow deeper in faith means to live in Obedience to God’s will. The apostle Paul said, “Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me-put into practice.” (Philippians 4:9) Paul was very relational in his method of discipleship.
Todd Szymczak is a youth worker who blogs at http://livelearnlead.net/ and http://twitter.com/toddszymczak.
Josh GriffinMore PostsFun Reports from Small Group LeadersWe’ve been using ChurchTeams.com the last couple of small group years to get reports from our small group leaders about their groups and to keep a constant flow of communication happening between us. It isn’t the most elegant site/system we’ve ever used, but it simply works! Here’s some of the conversation I’ve been getting back from my coaching group the past few weeks:
JG
Josh GriffinMore PostsThe SinScanner 2000This was a video one of our volunteers (Parker, you’re the man!) made as an object lesson in this week’s back to school talk called You Are Here. In my talk I shared how so many people are intimidated by church – they feel judged and like people are looking down on them with condescending. It is as if they are being “sin scanned” and their sins will be on display for all to see.
I plugged in a little platform with rope lights and this “booted up” on the main screen. I interaction with it a few times, for the voice authentication part and especially the part about denial. It ends abruptly, and the bit ends with me holding the cord that I had just unplugged as it got to some serious sins.
Funny and hopefully effective illustration of how people when they enter the church doors for the first time – and how we want to make HSM a safe, warm, fun and life-changing place.
JG
Josh Griffin has been in youth ministry for 15+ years and serves as the High School Pastor at Saddleback Church. [read more]
Geoff Stewart serves the Jr / Sr High School Pastor at Peace Portal Alliance Church in Surrey B.C.
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