Each week the sermon bumper video for this series grows by 20-30 seconds – here’s part 2 (of 6) for our student-version of the 40 Days in the Word campaign, The Book.

JG

Weekend Teaching Series: The Book (church-wide 40 Days in the Word campaign kickoff)
Sermon in a Sentence: The Bible is the only rule of faith and practice and has been preserved and inspired.

Service Length: 77 minutes

Understandable Message: This weekend we kicked off our church-wide campaign called 40 Days in the Word. In HSM we get to take on the same subjects and theme as the rest of the church but put our own student-friendly spin on it. This weekend I made comparisons of books sales of Hunger Games and Harry Potter vs. the Bible. I also talked about preservation (using the Declaration of Independence as a modern-day example) and the Dead Sea scrolls. It was by far a more historical and classroom-oriented lesson than we would typically have on the weekend, but it was incredibly fun to research and students seemed genuinely interested in this series. Going to be fun to see where this one goes.

Element of Fun/Positive Environment: This weekend we played a quick game of Who Wants to Be a Fraction of a Millionaire featuring Bible trivia questions. We also had too many announcements and a hilarious video called iBible which we ripped from YouTube.

Music Playlist: Brighter Days, Lift Him Up, Words That You Say

Up next: The Book: 40 Days in the Word (week 2 of 6)

Sweet new series video for The Book, HSM’s student version of the 40 Days in the Word church-wide. Parker is doing some awesome stuff with the videos, it’ll get new addition/expansion each week of the series, too!

JG

THE BOOK
Student 40 Days in the Word Campaign

Week 1: The Authority of the Bible
Where did the Bible come from? How did we end up with the Bible we have today even though it is several thousand years old? How is the Bible different than other holy books like the Koran or the book or Mormon? Didn’t men just write it? The Bible is our only rule for faith and practice and was written by the inspiration of God and preserved for us without error today. But here’s the dirty little secret of Christians: no one reads it.

Week 2: Love, God
Why was the Bible written? The Bible is God’s love letter to us. The Bible tells Jesus story. The Bible reveals so much about life, God and eternity. We’ll cover the whole Bible themes as a whole and end with the idea that the Bible essentially ends with “Love, God” and then gives us ultimate challenge to love God.

Week 3: Bible Words You Need to Know
There are some huge words and concepts in the Bible that need to be explained and reveal huge truths about God and our relationship with Him. What does “sanctification” mean? How are we “born again”? Does “Ask Jesus into my heart” appear anywhere in the Bible? These questions and more in this message about Christian language you might here at church.

Week 4: OT Survey
An overview of the entire Old Testament in 30 minutes. We’ll cover each of the major divisions of the first half of the Bible and hit on themes and observations from a look at 35,000ft. A clothesline on stage will be hung with pictures of various important events covered in the Scripture.

Week 5: NT Survey
An overview of the entire New Testament in 30 minutes. We’ll cover each of the major divisions of the first half of the Bible and hit on themes and observations from a look at 35,000ft. A clothesline on stage will be hung with pictures of various important events covered in the Scripture.

Week 6: How to Study the Bible
This weekend we’ll cover the basics on how to study the Bible. We’ll do our best to explain and make practical the Bible study techniques of observation, illumination, meditation, interpretation and application. The message will end with a recap of the series as well as a challenge to spend time with God every day.

JG

Here are the announcements from Saddleback Church for our Christmas services. So fun to get to do this …

JG

This weekend, we don’t have youth services. In fact, we don’t have any services at all! How awesome/bold/crazy is this idea: no services, but use that time to serve in the community, in your neighborhood or to your actual neighbor! You can read more about it on Kurt’s blog, and here’s some of the language that Saddleback is using to help people BE the church this coming weekend!

Did you know that serving those in need is an act of worship to God? Join us on the weekend of December 10th and 11th for “Good Neighbor Weekend” where, in place of our church services, Saddleback Church will be going out to show compassion to our neighbors as our act of worship. Since your small group is currently completing Bill Hybels’ “Just Walk Across the Room” curriculum, this will be a great opportunity to put it into action!

Here is how you can be a part of Good Neighbor Weekend:

Serve YOUR Neighbor – you and your family or small group can follow these 3 easy steps:

Step 1: See a Need – Talk together about how you could serve your direct neighbor, a co-worker, or someone else in need. You can discuss how you can serve them by meeting their physical, spiritual, or relational needs.

Step 2: “Step Across the Room/Street/Office” – Connect with the neighbor you have identified to let them know you would like to serve them in this way and schedule a time on the weekend of December 10-11.

Step 3: Serve – Gather with your family, small group, or some friends and go serve your neighbor.

Serving OUR Neighbors – We have also created several opportunities for you to help serve the neighbors of Saddleback Church. Do you have a heart for kids, seniors, the homeless, or the military? Join us at one of our “Good Neighbor Project” on December 10th or 11th.

JG

I get asked a lot why we have youth group on the weekend – and honestly it is a good question since even context I’ve experiences both as a teenager and as a youth pastor before Saddleback was that we did youth group in the middle of the week. So why don’t we, and what are some things you should consider about moving to the weekend? I was answering just that question to a youth pastor over email this week and thought I should expand on those thoughts here on the blog.

Here’s the top 4 reasons that HSM has chosen a weekend service over services another night of the week:

… to make space for adults services
From what I understand historically (I wasn’t at Saddleback when this happened) Pastor Rick asked HSM to free up seats in the worship center for adults and to have youth group meeting simultaneously to the adult services. The main reason we shifted was basically to help the church accommodate significant growth and give it room to keep moving forward.

… Sunday is when visitors attend anyhow
If you don’t have youth services or a presence of some sort on the weekend – you are missing out on a potential audience. We’ve found that if a family is going to visit it is during Sunday services, so having youth group then gives us the chance to meet/connect them right from their first time through the doors.

… to offer youth group at a convenient time for parents
Without a doubt the best time for students to attend youth group is while their parents are already doing something at the church, too. I talked to a youth worker this week who was struggling with youth group meeting on Wednesday nights for this very reason. As students get older and can drive this becomes less of a big deal, but it at least is a factor in our decision when to have services, too.

… to not take out students out another night of the week
This one is similar to the one above, but tweaked a little. Everyone is super busy – me included! Having youth group as part of our church services help consolodate the ask that is made for time during the week.

I’ve done youth group on Wednesday nights, Saturday nights, Sunday mornings, Sunday night – they all work! But hoope these few reasons why we landed on the weekend helps your processing and vision, too!

JG

Pastor Rick used this video in his message in our adults services this weekend. Looks like an organization called Get Out The Box made it, good message!

JG

When Kurt and I came up with the idea of sharing a couple books that influenced us the most in ministry my mind immediately thought of a dozen books that have significantly shaped me as a youth worker. Without a doubt I am a better leader, husband, parent and youth pastor because of the influence of incredible men and women who have shared their hearts, learnings and failures with me over the past 15 years.

As for the Top 2 … well, these are the best of the best. If you haven’t read them, I can’t encourage you enough to pick them up and let the authors pour into you like they did me. Here’s the 2 most influential in my life personally, and a list of runners up you may also want to check out:

The Heart of a Pastor – HB London
I remember reading this book while I was serving in my first church. Ministry then was a series of extremes. It was extremely rewarding and I had a front-row seat to life change for the very first time as a pastor. And was extremely challenging and difficult to figure out how to do youth ministry for the first time. If it wasn’t for a grace-filled pastor and elders I would have (and possibly should have) been long gone. I read this book and one particular phrase continued to stand out to me as a stark reminder of my calling: bloom where you are planted. No excuses, no wandering eyes, no wishing you were somewhere else – God has called you HERE so until you hear from Him, act like it. So I did. Fantastic book.

Purpose Driven Youth Ministry – Doug Fields
This book came at another crucial time in my youth ministry experience. My wife and I had actually resigned our youth ministry position and were finishing up the summer out before leaving “to go to seminary” – translation: we wanted out, and this was the nice way of saying goodbye. During our final months I happened to stumble on Purpose Driven Church by Rick Warren and eventually this, Doug Fields’ student ministry version of the book. As I devoured the pages, it felt like what he was saying was what I had always felt – even intrinsically know – about how church could be. We went back to our church that summer and God blessed us with 4 more incredible years at that same church we had resigned from, and the student ministry became something really special. This book played an eye-opening role in my journey to become a real youth pastor. An absolute must-read.

Runners-Up
First Two Years in Youth Ministry by Doug Fields
Sustainable Youth Ministry by Mark Devries
Every Man’s Battle by Stephen Arterburn
Grace Awakening by Charles Swindoll
Bringing Up Boys – James Dobson
Handbook on Counseling Youth – Josh McDowell

What books have shaped you? I’d like to read them next!

This post was written by Josh Griffin and Kurt Johnston and originally appeared as part of Simply Youth Ministry Today free newsletter. Subscribe to SYM Today right here.

This summer we’ve been hosting a midweek Bible study in the Refinery on Wednesday nights called Midweek. It’s been incredible! We lucked out with having Pastor Rick speak on the opening night, which was great, and the last few weeks we’ve had very different voices from a bunch of different places. The picture above is of Debbie Eaton, the director of Women’s Ministry at Saddleback. It was a huge change up for us, but I heard from both students and leaders how great it was!

Here’s why I think it is important – students (us, too, for that matter) get used to the same voice and it starts to lose impact. Familiar speakers get in ruts, and even the best communicators get better with a little margin. Change it up this week and give someone with a new voice a chance, it has been incredible for us this summer!

JG