teaching | More Than Dodgeball

Josh GriffinMore Posts GUEST POST: How to Equip Students to Preach

When I was 16 years old, I had my first opportunity to preach in a church service. I was nervous as could be. I could feel my heart pounding in my chest. For some strange reason, my youth pastor felt it was worthwhile to put me in front of an auditorium full of people and be the main speaker for “Youth Sunday.” The rest, as they say, is history.

Equipping our students to become preachers of the Word not only impacts their future in ministry, but can be a great encouragement to their peers, the youth group and the church as a whole. Most of Jesus’ disciples were teenagers. He believed they could do the work of ministry, so should we.

How do we go about equipping our students to do this facet of the work of ministry?

1. Look for those who may have a calling to full-time ministry.
Guard against just investing in the popular students or those who are in student government at school. Passion for Jesus trumps popularity every time. Plus, you would be surprised how many “diamonds in the rough” are in your church waiting to be discovered. I happened to be the geeky-nerd-hyperactive kid. Pray and ask God to open your eyes to see those students whom you could potentially invite to preach.

2. Invest in them relationally.
Before you just throw them behind a pulpit, spend some time letting them see your heart and passion for Jesus and helping them continue to grow in theirs. Maybe lead a small group Bible study with all the “potential candidates.”

3. Stick with them during each step of the preparation process.
As the student begins to prepare a message to share with your youth group or church, be sure to stay along side them through each step of the process (http://bit.ly/YheAiq). This is a crucial part of their equipping. The last thing you want to do is just throw them in the deep end and see if they can swim.

4. Celebrate with them after their message.
Take the time afterward to not only review how they did, but celebrate what God did through them. Students typically need extra affirmation and encouragement – especially after getting up in front of people and communicating the Word of God.

As with any mentoring and equipping that you do with students, remember the age-old equipping process:

I preach.
I preach with you watching the process.
You preach with me alongside you in the process.
You preach.
You equip someone else to preach.

PRACTICAL TIP: Attempt to schedule having your students take the lead in speaking/teaching/preaching in your youth group or church at least one series per calendar year. This could be in the form of a “Youth Sunday” or a “You Own the Weekend” series annually.

Matt Maiberger has been involved in full-time student ministry for over 16 years. He and his family are currently in the process of moving to Fort Collins, CO where he will become the Associate Pastor of Life Church. Matt is also the founder of Youth Speaker’s Coach – committed to the resourcing of youth pastors, youth workers, and youth speakers to help them become better communicators for the post-modern students represented in youth ministries today.

1 View Comments May 4, 2013

Geoff StewartMore Posts GUEST POST: The Desire for Victory

As a kid I used to dream big, and you probably did too. Not NHL or NBA big. I’m talking hero to thousands big! Someone who would receive global recognition for their efforts and heroism. As I grew up these dreams changed and altered to varying degrees but more or less, I always wanted to be a hero. If I heard on the news that there was a devastating Tsunami with millions injured or political wars over economic crises, I often dreamt of being the one to come up with a solution and being recognized as, you guessed it – the hero. Or, on road trips with family I would stare outside the window watching telephone pole after telephone pole with a glossy look on my face not paying attention to what I was looking at but letting my imagination run wild. Dreaming of someone in need of a knight in shining armor, thinking of those who needed a savior. Wanting to be like Spiderman or Superman there was something in that desired victory. Heroism wasn’t something someone told me to think about, it was just there. It is just there even today.

Why bring up this desire for victory? Because it is likely that many students across the world have these same desires. I have been in church for many years now. And I want to submit this notion that the victory of Christ at the moment of the Resurrection should not be highlighted solely on Easter Sunday. In my studies I’ve come across a picture of Jesus known as the Christ Pantocrator. Pantocrator in Greek simply means “Almighty” or “All-powerful” and the image is one that emphasizes the all powerful victory and strength of Christ at the destruction of sin and death at the Cross and Resurrection. Students who desire victory need to know that they can live in Victory - Christ’s victory. The yearning for victory and the success of the greatest victory is exampled in Jesus Christ. Preaching victory is preaching the Gospel. Students of all ages need to be reminded that the greatest victory has been accomplished and as we dream of victory, the reality is we can have victory in Christ.

If a students desire or vision for victory is never encouraged how does one expect that student to walk victory in their life? If there is no constant reminder that Jesus is victorious, what encouragement do we have to be victorious in a fallen world? The victory of Christ is central to the Christian message. If Christ has not been raised, Paul would argue, then our faith is futile and we are still in our sins; in other words, we have no victory (1 Cor. 15:17). As a kid, the desire for victory was always there but I constantly dwelled upon what my victory could look like for my name, fame and glory. That desire for victory in light of the work of Christ enables students to walk in confidence for the name, fame and glory of Christ. The desire for victory is present within us all. Lest we forget that Christ actually was, and is, victorious.

Ryan McCurdy serves as a volunteer at Revolution which is the Youth and Young Adults Ministry at Christian Life Assembly in Langley B.C. You can follow him at Twitter here.

-GS

Add Comment February 17, 2013

Geoff StewartMore Posts GUEST POST: 3 Things I Learned in My First Year of Youth Ministry

My first year in ministry has been incredibly awesome, incredibly hard, and easily the best year I’ve had yet. It has been so great to look back and reflect on all of the successes and… not successes that I’ve had this year and see how much God has taught me along the way. I thought I would share a few of the big things that I have learned this year.

Look Around. I’m an ambitious person. I am always looking ahead at what is coming next and always looking at achieving my goals. This has been really helpful in my career, but at the same time, really challenging. It keeps me from pausing and embracing where I am. It seems like it’s so hard to be present. I found before I started working on it, I was rarely satisfied with where I was or what I had. It kept me from taking a break and trying to see what God was trying to teach at that moment, to see what opportunities He was trying to present. So I learned to not just look ahead, but around as well. I learned to try to find out the purpose God has for me in this stage of my life. It is far more important to achieve God’s goal for my life than my own.

Ministry is a Rhythm. A couple weeks ago, our church’s head pastor spoke to our Student Ministries Team. One for the most impactful things that he talked about was that ministry is a series of rhythms. Sometimes we take the things we want to spend our time doing (family time, personal time, ministry time, etc.) and prioritize it or faction it out. We try to make sure that at all times, every part of our life is getting attention. The problem is that isn’t how ministry works. Sometimes you need to spend more time in ministry. You will spend 60 hours in the office and have an event every night of the week, but that is okay. Its okay because you will (eventually) have a time where you don’t need to spend more time in ministry and you will have more time to spend more time by yourself, with your family, or whatever you need. Ministry is a series of ebbs and flows; give and take. This is guilt-free ministry.

Be Expectant. I was originally going to title this point as “Trust God,” but I think that “be expectant” does the idea more justice. Trusting God is an action, a great action, but being expectant is a mentality and a lifestyle. The last year was filled with uncertainty. Whether it was the success of an event or my future in general, I was so afraid that God wasn’t going to provide and I focused more on being okay with things not working out than expecting God to show up. I wasn’t praying the “big” prayers because I was afraid I’d be disappointed if it didn’t come through. Now don’t get me wrong, sometimes God doesn’t provide in the ways that we want and that can be disappointing, but He always provides in the ways that we need. We need to be praying those big prayers and expecting God to show up in big ways.

For most of you, your first year of ministry wasn’t very recent… but you are still learning! What are some of the biggest lessons God has taught you during your time in ministry?

Colton Harker is the Student Leadership Director at Saddleback HSM. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to contact him at coltonharker@gmail.com or on twitter at @ColtonHarker.

Add Comment February 15, 2013

Geoff StewartMore Posts GUEST POST: Don’t Buy the Short Attention Span Myth

I hear it all the time.

“Keep your message short” - “Teenagers only have a 15-minute attention span” - “Attention spans are shorter than they used to be”

Have you ever heard similar advice?

I’m going to go ahead and call bull. I’m not saying that getting the attention of an ADHD junior high kid isn’t difficult. But I have made a few observations over the years. Teenagers will sit easily for at least an hour to watch their favorite TV show. They will listen intently to a stand up comedian for an hour. They will sit for 2 or 3 hours to watch a new movie. They have even been known to play the same video game for 3 hours or more on end.

I don’t buy the short attention span myth.

Think about it. TV show are actually getting longer! Most prime-time shows are now an hour long. Big season premieres and finales may even run up to two hours.

Here is the point: We don’t have to preach shorter; we have to preach better. The bar has been raised. Their standards are high, because they are surrounded by high quality entertainment 24/7. They can spot boring quick. We have to be more engaging.

Tell stories (Jesus did). Use humor. Ask questions. Draw them in.Don’t sell out. Don’t think you have to just play a lot of games and sneak in a quick surface-level message before they notice.The short attention span myth is a cop-out for putting in the hard work to creating messages that resonate with students and create a lasting impression.

Now, don’t go overboard. They don’t need to hear you ramble for over an hour on the sacrificial system of the old covenant. But don’t sell yourself short. There is power in the preaching of God’s Word.

Engage your students. Get excited about the message. Make the Bible come alive for them. Keep working. Keep improving. Don’t give up!

Put in the work and you just might be surprised how long they will listen.

Brandon Hilgemann has been working in Youth Ministry for years in churches across the country from church plants to megachurches. He has been on a personal mission for the last 9 years to become the best speaker he can be. For more of his thoughts on preaching, check out his website right here.

-GS

3 View Comments February 13, 2013

Geoff StewartMore Posts Guest Post: The Talk Nobody Remembered

Ever had that moment? A student walks up and tells you that they thought your talk last week was hilarious? Or the game was intense and really great?

And then you ask them what the point of the message was, and they have no clue?

I have.

I’ve learned that I need to spend just as much time thinking about how I’m going to drive my point home as I do trying to figure out what my point is. Here’s what I’ve come up with:

1. Concrete Ideas: Give your students something to DO. As soon as the message is over if you can. Spell out very clearly for them what living out what you just spoke on looks like. Show them. Illustrate it. Tell them in five languages if you have to. Be very, very clear with your students about what they can DO with what you just told them.

2. Short and Sweet: Get the point of your message down to 120 characters. Why? Two reasons: so your students can remember it and so you can tweet it after the talk. In fact, tweet it multiple times throughout the week, just to make sure they remember it. Even better: put a picture with it. Visuals change lives (I just made that up and have no research to back it up with).

Live It : Whatever you just told your students to do, make sure you are doing it, have done it, and will do it too. You do damage to your message every time you act differently than what you just presented. Think your students will forget your message? You’re right. But think your students will forget your actions? Not a chance.

These things won’t guarantee that a student will remember your talk from last week. But boy they help out!

Ronald is the youth minister at FBC Lexington, TN. He’s married to Bekah and has two girls: Sophie and Penny. Find his blog here and Twitter here

Add Comment February 12, 2013

Geoff StewartMore Posts Caught Not Taught: 6 Lessons Students Must Learn From Our Life Part 2: Stewardship / Generosity

As we continue with our series on things that students need to learn from watching our lives we come to another important topic: Stewardship and Generosity.

Lets face it, you didn’t go into youth ministry to get rich, and we know that serving in any capacity as a Pastor or Youth Worker is not the highest paying gig, but its still the best job in the world.

But just because the pay isn’t great, doesn’t mean there’s an excuse for us wasting the resources we do have. I have met enough youth pastors who seem to have the latest and greatest gadgets and clothing yet complain that they are living pay cheque to pay cheque. Guess what, your students are watching this pattern as well. Stewardship is defined as the responsible management of resources and in the Christian world how we use our time, talent and treasure.

Time: Youth ministry is a crazy world with late nights, evening meetings, weekend retreats, the hours are all over the place. I often tell students that when I was young I had more time to give than money and now as an adult I have more money than time. For my students I believe it is essential that they see me serving at events and functions that are not a part of my ministry area and invite them to be a part of it. Whether its kids ministry, service hosting or just stacking chairs, your students need to see you serving the Kingdom. The purpose is not to be a show, but to invite students into serving others with a heart to see the Kingdom advance. Be a cheerful giver of your time, it will rub off on your students.

Talent: You are gifted, after all, you got hired! So what are you doing with it? How are you using your gifts to serve the Church? Your community? Students expect your best when it comes to your job but do you put the same amount of effort into the areas of your life you are not being paid to do? I am so inspired when I see youth workers serving as coaches, mentors, music teachers, scout leaders and many other unpaid volunteer positions where they can use their passions and interests to serve others. Social media communicates all aspects of your life and what you value and find important will come through loud and clear.

Treasure: This is the big one because it effects so much of your ministry. The way you manage your personal finances will often be reflected in how you spend your youth ministry budget. Questionable or wasteful spending on your personal or ministry budget will not allow for there to be funds left over for a rainy day or an unexpected expense. The question I wish I could ask every pastor I meet is: Do you tithe? For many, giving is often the first thing to go when money gets tight and poor planning and budgetting can mean our last fruits are what we give God not our first. Youth workers, we need to shape up here and be responsible for that which has been entrusted to us. When we can manage out finances well we are able to be more generous and we are able to mentor students to live a life of generosity. Help students see generous living as empowering, that they can be a part of supporting the work God is doing by giving.

I will be the first to admit that having all of these in order is not a simple task and that many of the challenges each of us face in these areas comes from how these were modelled for us when we were growing up. The call is simply for us to be obedient to God, that we would be generous with our lives and our resources and that students would be challenged by the way we live and seeing us give the first fruits of all we have. It is not easy and I have made many mistakes, but God continues to show me areas where I can be more generous. I hope that our students can catch a vision of how empowering and addictive generosity can be.

Geoff – Twitter @geoffcstewart

1 View Comments January 29, 2013

Josh GriffinMore Posts Duffy Robbins on Speaking with Your Whole Body

Loved learning from Duffy Robbins last week at a Speaking to Teenagers seminar we hosted at our church last week. It was incredible, here’s a little clip from their seminar, be sure to check out their official website to bring them to your area, too!

1. When not gesturing, park your hands some place that isn’t distracting (your pockets, the sides of your chair, or the edges of the podium).

2. Keep your gestures high up on your body frame. You don’t want the audience to have to choose between looking at you (your eyes and your face) or looking at your gesture. I usually stage my gestures about six to eight inches in front of my chin. To look at my gestures, you have to look at my face.

3. Match the breadth of your gestures to the size of your audience. A larger audience might mean more exaggerated gestures; a smaller audience allows for conversational gestures.

4. Time the gesture so that it best serves your point. Pounding the pulpit 10 seconds after the preacher has made his point leaves the audience either confused about the preacher’s intent or concerned about his reflexes. Neither response enhances the message.

5. Give your gestures a firm end point. Imagine that a gesture leaves a mark in the air (e.g., a vapor trail). There should be an obvious beginning point and an obvious end point. That helps define the gesture, and it aids the audience in interpreting its meaning.

6. Don’t overlook the power of stance. Pulling your chair closer to the circle, moving closer to the group, stepping over to one side near that kid who is detonating his underwear, even the way the feet are positioned if you’re standing: all of these help to communicate focus, boldness, intensity, importance.

Be attentive to how your whole body communicates. Let them hear your body talk.

JG