Every fall several video games come out that have huge implications in youth ministry; this fall is no exception! The question is: are you aware of the power of video games? Here are a few stats you might not be aware of…

• 65% of all US households play video games
• 2 out of 5 gamers are female
• 18 hours is the average time spent per week by gamers playing video games

So, if the majority of households in the US have video games, and 2 out of 5 gamers are female, and the kids who are playing games are on average spending 18 hours a week playing them, shouldn’t the church be a little more vested in them and tap their redemptive potential? Can video games teach us anything? Everyone does sermon series on movies, what if you did a series on video games?

Here are 4 titles that your kids will be playing and what you need to know about them:

Modern Warfare 3

·     Rating: M (Blood and Gore, Drug Reference, Intense Violence, Strong Language)

·     Premise: This is a first-person shooter in which players assume the role of military operatives tasked with thwarting the plans of a terrorist leader. Players complete mission objectives and engage in battles that take place in modern-day locations across the globe (e.g., United States, Great Britain, Germany).

·     Teaching potential: Brotherhood (Proverbs 17:17), Honor (Ps. 1:1-6, 1 Sam. 2:30), Teamwork (Ecc. 4:9-12, Pr. 27:17), Combat (James 4:17, 1 John 4:1), what it means to fight behind enemy lines (2 Cor. 4).

Gears of War 3

·     Rating: M (Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Strong Language)

·     Premise: This is a third-person shooter in which players assume the role of Marcus Fenix, a soldier on a mission to save his father and battle an alien threat. Players use machine guns, shotguns, sniper rifles, and grenades to kill aliens and human soldiers in frenetic combat. Battles are highlighted by realistic gunfire, screams of pain, explosions, and large splashes of blood; some attacks result in dismemberment or decapitations that leave body parts and bloodstains on the ground.

·     Teaching Potential: What would you do for family (John 15:12-17, Joshua 24:15), Spiritual Warfare (Eph. 6:12, 2 Cor. 10:3-5). 

Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary

·     Rating: M (Blood and Gore, Violence)

·     Premise: This is an enhanced remake of the 2001 first-person shooter Halo: Combat Evolved. Players assume the role of Master Chief, a super-soldier who engages in futuristic battles against a powerful alien alliance. Players use plasma pistols, sniper rifles, machine guns, and rocket launchers to kill enemy creatures in frenetic combat.

·     Teaching Potential: Brotherhood (Proverbs 17:17), Honor (Ps. 1:1-6, 1 Sam. 2:30), Teamwork (Ecc. 4:9-12, Pr. 27:17), Combat (James 4:17, 1 John 4:1), what it means to fight behind enemy lines (2 Cor. 4) 

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

·     Rating: M (Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Sexual Themes)

·     Premise: This is a fantasy role-playing game in which players assume the role of Dovakin, a prophesied figure with the power to combat dragons in the fictional world of Skyrim. As players traverse through mountainous ‘open-world’ environments, they complete missions and quests that impact the eventual fate of their character. Players use swords, bows and arrows, axes, and magic attacks (e.g., fireballs, ice shards) to kill various enemies (e.g., wolves, dragons, human bandits and soldiers).

·     Teaching Potential: Choices (Romans 8:7, Duet. 30:15, Luke 14:28) Mission (Matthew 28:16-20), Fate (Jeremiah 29:11, Ephesians 1:4-5)

Kyle Reynolds is an avid gamer and the student ministries pastor of The Rift at Harvest Church in Billings, MT. Hit up his Twitter here for his Gamertag or thank him for the article.

I recently contributed to the SLANT33 blog when they asked the question – How do you decide what to teach? I gave a wide variety of answers from where I find my inspiration, here is a selection of them, head there for the complete article on the subject:

Create a focus group and run your ideas by them. Every Tuesday during the school year at 4pm, you’ll find me in my office surrounded by a select group of high school student leaders who are my focus group. I run everything by them: rough drafts of sermons, object lessons, ideas, icebreakers, series ideas. They give invaluable insight into what they and their fellow students need to hear and how the message can best be shaped to meet them where they are living. And yes, they have veto power. It kills me when they use it, but I know it is for the greater good.

Be inspired by others. I love nothing more than devouring sermon and series ideas from other people! Youth pastors are creative, so if your idea well is running dry, find some people out there who are killing it. Stolen ideas I’ve had recently: a series on Facebook and a question/answer message where students text in questions to be answered live in the service.

Hit the majors. There are certain topics we are going to cover every year in our youth group. The majors for us would be things like friendship and purity. We make sure that specific perennial topics are being covered, though we might change the number of weeks or the voice speaking so it always feels fresh.

Excited to unpack these and much more at my NYWC seminars this weekend, too!

JG

There’s a great new app I just downloaded that was created by a youth pastor for youth pastors. RJ is a middle school youth pastor who has come up with a great way to use his iPhone for ministry. He’s the creator of YS’ MyGuitar app and just released Clips, an app with you in mind. I got a chance to talk with him about this project and future stuff he’s got cooking for us next:

Can you give everyone a 15-second description of Clips?
My new app (check it out right here on iTunes) is all about helping people engage with the Bible by using scenes from great films. It’s an app for pastors, small group leaders, youth workers, and parents. Clips tells you what scenes to use, what topics you could teach, the verses you could use, and even some potential discussion questions.

Where did you get the idea for CLIPS?
I always love when I can use movie scenes in my message. The Videos that Teach books have been one of my most used and most given away resource. I use it; our small group leaders use it. With the iPhone, I thought that an app like this could actually be even more helpful because leaders could have it with them wherever they go.

You’re a youth pastor. Tell us how someone might use the app in the trenches of their youth work?
This fall our middle school ministry is doing a series called “Now Showing:” where we take movies and teach through big ideas from the scripture using movie scenes. I often use the app when I’m writing a message and feel like it needs something else to help illustrate a point. In the next school year, many of our small group leaders will have the resource as an option for curriculum leading their small groups. I’ve even had one student leader use it in his school-led bible study groups to help with the discussion. Pastors, volunteers, and students can all find use from the app. I’m also hoping to see parents begin using the app as a tool for discussions with their families while they watch movies.

You can’t actually watch the videos from the device with a simple touch which is the only part I didn’t love about it. Is that a feature that is coming by chance? What other kind of updates are you working on in the future?
Unfortunately due to licensing, I can’t actually have the videos on the device. I’m working on figuring out some creative solutions to that problem, but at this point it’s still trial and error.

The updates that I’m working on right now … for sure the movie library needs to grow so I’m working on building that app as much as possible and we’ll be adding a “suggest a clip” feature so users can help me generate ideas. In one of the next versions Scripture readings will be built into the app, too.

As for updates that are further down the road I for sure want to find a solution for watching the movie scenes right on the device and also making Clips a universal app for iPhone and iPad.

That’d be awesome – I’m iPad2 all the way so universal is a must. So it costs a couple bucks to get Clips – any chance you’ll give me a few free codes to giveaway on iTunes to whoever reads this first?

Yes. It’d be cool if youth pastors gave the codes away to their volunteers. First come first serve on these: FMF9N9JP7KK3 and T99RT3MHJ7RH

*codes expire after 28 days or as soon as Clips gets updated

Thanks for that, man! I’ll save one for Twitter randomly this afternoon, too. So Clips is incredible, what’s next for you? Got another cool one cooking?
I’ve been trying to focus on ministry-related apps since its a niche that my code skills intersect with my passion for youth ministry. At this moment, I’m focusing on some of the bigger updates that I’d like to see happen in Clips so that it can become one of the go-to resources on the iPhone. There are also some cool apps that may be coming for potential clients, but I’ve been asked to not share those. I try to primarily do my iPhone stuff on days off from church-work so between updating Clips and client work, I haven’t worried much about turning my other ideas into apps.

Shameless plug: I also blog (www.rjgrune.com).

Dude, I’ll subscribe to you right now. Thanks for your time!

JG

Here’s the #1 reason that people attend a particular church – based on a survey of over 8,000 people upon the completion of Saddleback’s new members class.

#1 – Preaching and Teaching
THIS is the biggest reason people choose one church over another – the preaching and teaching of God’s Word. I’m sure it has some to do with content and some to do with style – but regardless it is the most important distinctive between churches. The conversations “how was the pastor’s message” isn’t just dining room table talk – its real and it matters. It certainly isn’t fair … but this list is just a presentation of reality and nothing more. So according to this research – the teaching at church is the central strength or weakness.

Youth ministry application: You don’t have to be the world’s best communicator, but you need to be good and getting better every week. Use volunteers who are solid communicators. Don’t be afraid to use video curriculum or try a style way outside of what is normal. The preaching and teaching of God’s Word is central in the health and growth of the church. Sermon preparation and your personal time with God are critically important to success.

JG

Doug Fields, Josh Griffin, Katie Edwards and Matt McGill return for episode 160. The gang quickly jump into your questions about: Doug’s blog, a volunteer dating students, teaching help, picking volunteers for events, student leadership conference, depression and suicide, and feeling bad about leaving a ministry.

JG

I have no idea what your normal weekly ministry routine looks like, if it is at all possible to have a ‘normal weekly routine’.  Of course there are some things that only happen a few times a year, then there are those that you need to do every week.  For me, preparing a message is on my do-very-week list.  That is not a complaint at all, I love writing and preparing messages.  But just like anything you do over and over and over (and over) again, it can get mundane, routine, even stuck in a rut.  Once it finds its way onto the mundane list, it comes out in your delivery.  I have noticed for me, mundane affects my delivery worse than not prepared.  If I am not prepared, I can wing it a week and get by.  If I am bored with my own message, so is everyone else in the room.

The past few months, I have tried a few things to shake up the messages a bit, both for me and my audience.  Here are a few ideas that have worked for me:

Change up your Prep Routine
If you do the same thing week in and week out you get set on a routine for getting everything accomplished on time.  My typical routine is 100% on my computer.  Sometimes the place it happens changes, the exact day it happens changes, but my laptop is always involved, from beginning to end, no matter what.  Last week, instead of starting my message staring at a blank document on the screen, I sat down with a yellow pad, a pen, and my thoughts.  It definitely took a little longer to get the end result of a printed outline and finished PowerPoint, but the change in routine was refreshing.

Use Different Types of Illustrations
At some point, you will run out of humorous personal experiences to share.  When that happens, there are always video clips!  I realized that video clips had become a crutch for me.  Whether itwas skit guys or bluefish TV or youtube, I can always find one that would fit somewhere.  But when there is at least one every week, they start to lose their impact.  I don’t know which type of illustration is your crutch; funny pictures, live drama, video clips, personal stories, public embarrassment, 3^rd party interviews, Readers Theater, farm animal jokes…  Whatever it is, you need to change it up, mix it up; so when you do use it they actually notice it.

Surprise the Audience
This is similar to mixing up the illustrations, but different.  Once people (students and adults) have been attending church for a while, it seems that when someone steps on stage to speak, they check out.  They go into the ‘I have heard it all before’ trance and don’t hear anything you say.  Your message, no matter how good or creative it is, will have no impact if they don’t hear it.  If you do things that they aren’t expecting, they will listen.  A few weeks ago, part way through the message I walked off the stage and walked around in the audience.  I just kept talking like normal but just walked around.  Then I finished the rest of the message from the back of the room.  It definitely got their attention.  Last week the message was about reverence for God and for the church.  I arranged for 3 students from a different church to walk in and disrupt the message, argue with me, and then I kicked them out in front of the entire group.  Everyone listened, and quite intently after that!

Present Less Content
When I started to realize my messages were getting mundane and boring for me, which came through in my delivery, and therefore didn’t make much impact on the students, my first reaction was they weren’t deep enough or challenging enough.  So of course, I just put in more content. This move actually made the message less impactful, not more.  If you have ever attended a conference you know what I mean: you get so much information in so little time, you get overwhelmed with it and actually apply nothing.  Cramming a month worth of content into one message is not the answer.  Repetition is what makes things stick, so stretch out the content into a longer series, which allows time for the surprises and different types of illustrations to reinforce your content and actually bring growth.

Use Others as a Resource
Ask people’s opinions about your messages.  Students, adult youth staff, anyone who has heard you speak.  Sure, sometimes it is hard to hear we stunk it up, but most of the time we already know we did.  Don’t seek the token “good jobs’, seek honest constructive criticism and be open to their ideas of how it can be better.  I have found their ideas for surprises and illustrations are better than mine.

Speaking about God has always been one of my favorite things to do, but I recently started to resent it, and the routine of preparing for it.  God showed me the rut I had made for myself, and how to get out of it.  I hope you don’t find yourself in a speaking rut, but if so, work to get out of it.  The story of God, His power, and His interaction with His creation is not boring.  The messages we give to teach people about Him shouldn’t be either, for us or our audience!

Brian Seidel is the Lead Youth Pastor of the Cloverdale Church of God in Boise, ID. Check out his new blog at http://www.myendofthedeal.com/

During staff meeting today Pastor Rick asked us to make some changes to our student ministry teaching calendar – namely to drop in a 3-week series about parents. He is going to do a series in the adult services called “How to Raise Your Kids” and asked us to do a “How to Raise Your Parents” series at the same time. Should be fun!

Here’s how the rest of our High School Ministry (HSM) teaching calendar shaped up for this Spring:

March
You Own the Weekend: El Toro
You Own the Weekend: Capo

April
You Own the Weekend Celebration
Jesus: His Life
Jesus: His Last Days
EASTER – NO SERVICES

May
Camp Weekend
How to Raise Your Parents (all-church series)
How to Raise Your Parents
How to Raise Your Parents
STAND

June
STAND
STAND
Senior Weekend
Promotion Weekend

JG

“It’s not how smart you are, but how you are smart.”

I am from a totally unchurched background (not that unusual in England).  Growing up, I can’t ever remember reading a book and was classed as dyslexic with learning difficulties.  Yet, at 18 when I started to explore the Christian faith, one of the first things to happen was to be given the gospel of Matthew (possibly the most difficult Gospel to read) and many other books followed (most I didn’t read).  Have you noticed how print focused the Christian faith is, how often do you recommend or get recommended a book?  How many magazines or newspapers do you read a month and of course we are a ‘people of the book’.  I must confess, I have never read the whole bible all the way through, yet I have listened to it all the way through several times.  Audio is much more in-tune with my learning style or ‘intelligence’.  Yet, the Western Church is very much focused on verbal/linguistic style teaching.

Understanding multiple intelligences (MI) has really helped me think through and challenge my style of teaching with young people.  If you are a book worm, then my guess is that your teaching style is more verbal / linguistic.  I am a very visual person so I learn from visual /spatial and I find I produce great presentations, maps, charts etc.  But what about the young people who don’t naturally learn in a visual /spatial?  What I am now doing is to try and incorporate as many MI learning styles as possible into my teaching.  So I will try story, problem-solving, visualizations, drama and so on.  I find that inevitably some young people will engage more with one style, but most people can learn bits from each MI, we are not 100% one or another.  And that’s the great thing about incorporating MI into our teaching, it engages the whole person, maybe that’s why the greatest commandment, the Shema (Deut 6:4) states to love God with all our heart, soul and might.

This is a summary of the eight intelligences with my added examples of Jesus incorporating a particular MI:

Paul Tilley is the Associate Pastor, Youth & Children’s Ministry at Malmesbury Abbey, UK and blogs at www.paultilley.com.

UPDATE: Click here for the episode. For some reason the show played automatically every time you visited this page.

Episode 150: The Ultimate Administrator
Our 150th show, and the last of 2010. Doug, Matt, Katie, and Josh are all back this week. We find out that admin stuff has Matt in a funk, but he pulls out of it to help answer your questions about: letting teachers decide what to teach, labor force mentality in churches, background checks, Doug is the ultimate administrator, materials to help students grow spiritually, keeping students engaged in youth group, salaries, and dealing with problems with your senior pastor.

JG

You may be good, but you are not that good.

Profound words spoken to me the other day, by our Pastor of Adult Education when were talking about laying out the Youth preaching schedule. He followed it up by saying “I don’t care if you were the Apostle Paul, you should not be preaching every week”. As youth pastors, it’s really easy to get into the ‘just do it myself mode’, we know your students, they know us, we are paid to work with them, why find someone else or pay someone else to do our job?. Here are a few things that I am considering.

Students learn differently: If you have been around students long enough you know that there are no two that are the same; the same goes for how they learn. Some might engage with your stories, some with the Word itself, some with your practical application of the Bible. Bringing in someone else to teach will give your students a new perspective. I have experienced first hand seeing that ‘Eureka!’ moment when a guest speaker explains something I have been trying to get across in a new way and it clicks! It is powerful to sit and watch your student engage, to see them hearing, see them processing and see them get it!

Preaching takes a lot of time: If you write your own messages, it takes significant time to outline, research, and, in many cases, rewrite. It is time consuming when you give the process the time it is due. Prepping to speak to 15 students, or 1500, requires the same level of preparation, and to do that week in and week out takes a lot of time and can become exhausting. Take a week off, bring in someone, take that week to refocus, spend time with your students and enjoy the break, it’s a great time to evaluate things.

Students might like them more: This is the single biggest hesitation I have seen, the insecurity that your students will compare you to the person you bring in. Please hear my encouragement that being the guy people bring in is in many ways easier. Recently we had a guest preacher in our Sunday services, he was talented, hilarious, his stories were new, likely true (we didn’t know him) and he didn’t use any notes! It was a home run, but likely a sermon he shared 20+ times, refining the jokes like a stand up comedian. It’s easy to think that the congregation liked him better, but the reality is that he did a great job, but he doesn’t have to speak every week and come up with new ways to communicate to the same people. You love your students; you know their names, their story and that means a lot more to them than a one off great message.

I am working at preaching no more than 75% of the time, bringing in talented speakers, Youth Pastors, volunteer leaders, para-Church organizations who bring the Gospel in a way that I can’t. New voices bring a fresh outlook, a unique perspective and give the students and you a break. In High School you likely don’t have the same teacher for 6 years, then why should you in Youth? What does your preaching schedule look like?

Geoff Stewart is the Pastor of Jr & Sr High School for Journey Student Ministries at Peace Portal Alliance Church and regularly contributes GUEST POSTS to MTDB. You can, too! See how right here.