prayers | More Than Dodgeball

Josh GriffinMore Posts GUEST POST: We Pray Just to Make it Today

I just got back from the a youth ministry conference and as always I had an amazing time. I was encouraged, convicted, inspired, met new people and reconnected to old friends. One of the things I have learned at most events is that if I don’t quickly narrow down my trip to be about a few things I will become overwhelmed and not really gain anything from it. I have described it to others like drinking from a fire hose.

This year I decided to gravitate towards two things. One was student leadership. Too much of my ministry is about myself, my efforts, and my personality. The second, and truthfully how I am going to get to the first, is on prayer. If there is ever a subject that most believers can resonate with is that their prayer life is going poorly. Or at the very least it could get better.

With that conviction, I attended a seminar on both student leadership and implementing prayer within your ministry. Timothy Eldred, the seminar speaker and author of Pray21 pushed his audience to hand off ministry but do it by starting with a 21-day challenge. Partner up every willing student with a willing (and screened) adult. Then have them pray together for 21 days through a simple (his words, not mine) daily, devotional.

Call it coincidence or God’s timing, but we were already teaching on prayer the next three weeks. So we decided to toss it out there as an offer. At the end of the first week we asked if any one would be willing to take the challenge to join us in prayer for 21 days with a partner. We got thirty students and thirty adults to jump into this together. We challenged them to pray for a few reasons:

Prayer works
It is a time to realign our heart to God’s
Through prayer, God will reveal things about ourselves that we would have never seen without that time and sacrifice.

We made it as simple as possible for a few reasons. I don’t need one more thing to micromanage, and if you make it too complicated people won’t do it. So we said that if you sign up you are:

Agreeing to pray for 21 days with an assigned partner. You are praying WITH that person, not for them.
You will contact your partner through phone calls, email, Facebook, text, face-to-face interaction.
If you miss a few days keep praying. You are better off doing Pray17 than Pray0.

We email out daily reminders that have been written by an intern and myself . It has been so fun to hear the stories and we are only one week in! I can’t believe it took a book to partner up every willing student with every willing adult.

I encourage you to check out Timothy Eldred’s web site and get some details. (www.pray21.com) He is a wise man, good teacher, and generous with resources and suggestions. For us and our ministry, I am optimistically hopeful for what God is doing in the lives of 60 people individually and collectively.

Jeff Bachman is the High School Pastor at Rock Harbor Church just up the road in Irvine, CA. Feel free to leave comments or email him at jbachman@rockharbor.org and of course subscribe to his blog The Until Matters.

Add Comment November 5, 2012

Josh GriffinMore Posts GUEST POST: Manufacturing Ministry

Several years ago, as my wife and I were stepping into a new season of Ministry, one of my mentors asked me an incredible question. He said, “What are you consistently and deliberately praying for in your ministry?” At the time, I prayed for our ministry regularly, as I am sure you do as well, but I had never considered a consistent and deliberate prayer request.

In that season, I began to ask God to give me a clear prayer focus for the Student Ministry I led. In the first few years my requests were fairly normal… God help our ministry to do this… Help our kids to be that… I would wake up, and begin each day with prayer, making sure to include that request. In time, I watched God multiply the incredible things He was doing in our ministry (or at least increase my ability to see them).

As I sought this consistent and deliberate prayer focus at the beginning of last year God very clearly turned the attention of my prayer to my own heart. John Calvin once said, “The human heart is a factory of idols.” Powerfully true. You and I have the ability to turn basically anything into an idol. Now, we all know that some idols are easier to identify then others. I wasn’t bowing down in front of a golden calf, or anything, but God quickly revealed that I was beginning to make an idol out of my “ministry.”

Here’s the deal… I am a good Youth Pastor. I am not bragging, it’s just true. I am a good Youth Pastor, and I am sure you are too. In fact, you are probably much better at it then I am… But my concern is this: Some of us are probably better “Pastors” then we are followers of Jesus. As my friend Lance Witt accurately explains it; Jesus is the gift and ministry is simply the box by which we deliver the gift, yet some of us have switched the two.

It seems to me that some of us unintentionally slip into viewing what we get to do as our occupation rather than our calling. If I view my role as an occupation than I can do it, I can make it happen, I can figure it out on my own… If it is a calling, however, than I am in desperate need of the Holy Spirit to help me do what God has asked me to do. We forget that.

I had begun to try and “manufacture” ministry from my own spirit, in my own strength, and in my own direction. I was doing what I thought was best for our kids and our ministry… Some of us subtly believe that we can teach, preach, meet with families, recruit Ministry Partners, hang with kids, and host huge killer events with little to no reliance on the Holy Spirit. At least I did.
So my prayer became simply this: God, help me not try and manufacture ministry, but to be deliberately dependent on You. Praying this everyday of the year (sometimes several times a day) gave me life in ministry like I had never experienced before. It took the pressure off, because I was forced to remember that I am not the Holy Spirit (we all need that reminder sometimes). It restored my energy, and renewed my excitement to see what God was going to do next. It is teaching me to be more thankful. It is helping me to remain open and teachable. Most importantly, it is teaching me to stay out of the way of what God wants to do in and through our ministry.
This question has helped me, and maybe God will use it to help you: Am I trying to “manufacture” ministry, or am I being deliberately dependent on the Spirit of God for every step I take?

The reality is that God’s plans for our respective ministries are far greater than we could ever think or accomplish. The more we try to do in our own power the more we rob ourselves and our students of experiencing all that God has in store. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to miss out on anything God wants to do.

Consider seeking a consistent and deliberate prayer request for your ministry this year. You never know what God might want to teach you…

Ryan McDermott is the RP Director of Student Ministries at Christ Fellowship – Royal Palm, FL. Follow him @ryanmcdermott.

3 View Comments October 21, 2012

Josh GriffinMore Posts HSM Costa Rica Prayer Guide 2011

I’m excited to be travelling with our youth group on a mission trip to Costa Rica. The team put together this little prayer guide for the trip – thought it might be a good example of something you may want to do for an upcoming mission trip of your own. Would appreciate your prayers of course, too!

HSM Costa Rica Prayer Guide

Students: Please pray that the Lord will work in their hearts and minds as they learn how to do ministry on the Mission Field. Pray that they will grow in their faith as they minister to others in Costa Rica; that they will have open hearts and open minds to however the Lord might want to use them there. Please pray for good attitudes, energy, peace, and a gentle spirit. Pray for relationships with their peers and leaders. Pray that the students will rely on the Lord to help them know what to say and how to act when they may feel uncomfortable.

Leaders: Please pray that the Lord will guide us as we lead our students. Pray for energy and enthusiasm, wisdom, discernment, strength, peace, and patience. Pray that we would have open hearts and minds to all the ways the Lord will want to use us in the lives of our students and those we’ll be ministering to in Costa Rica. Please pray for our relationships with the students and people of Costa Rica.

The People of Costa Rica: We will be working with a number of people in Costa Rica (Pastors, teenagers, children, etc.). Pray that the Lord will give them open and hearts and minds to the message of Jesus we are bringing to them. Please pray that we would be able to help and love on them in whatever way possible.

Churches: Please pray for the churches we will be partnering with in Costa Rica. Pray that the help we give would be sustainable so that they can continue to grow in health and outreach even after we leave.

Events: Please pray that all will go according to plan, and when it doesn’t, that we would be flexible and ready for anything. Pray that the people of these events would see Jesus working through them and understand His love.

JG