testimonies | More Than Dodgeball

Josh GriffinMore Posts HSM Weekend in Review: Volume 191

Weekend Teaching Series: Before and After: a study through Ephesians (series finale, week 3 of 3)
Sermon in a Sentence: A celebration of summer camp decisions framed around the whole armor of God.
Service Length: 89 minutes

Understandable Message: The week after camp might be my favorite youth group of the year. Everyone is there and everyone is on fire! All 4 high school services this weekend were a total joy to be at – hearing all that God did in the hearts of our students was absolutely incredible. Made me so thankful to be in youth ministry and honored to serve with an incredible team. I opened up the message by reading through Ephesians 6 and the whole armor of God. Then I asked them for testimonies on each of the parts of the armor of God:

Helmet of Salvation: testimonies or trusting Christ, baptism, etc.
Shield of Faith: stories of spiritual growth, etc
Shoes of Peace: testimonies of forgiveness, restoration, reconciliation
Body Armor of Righteousness: stories of turning away from sin
Belt of Truth: share a truth or confess a lie you’ve been living or believing
Sword of the Spirit: share a verse that has been meaningful to you this summer

Element of Fun/Positive Environment: This weekend we played the HSM Summer Camp highlight video and made a couple of callbacks to awesome videos from camp. The Amp Up Song, Krispy Kreme (Haters Wanna Be Me) and The Other Direction all made appearances. Such a fun, overpowering weekend!

Music Playlist: Here for you, What Would I Have Done, All I Am Christ in Me, We Are The Free

Favorite Moment: For sure hearing students stories. So, so strong.

Up next: Worship Together Weekend #2

Add Comment August 2, 2012

Josh GriffinMore Posts HSM Weekend in Review: Volume 188

Weekend Teaching Series: Stories Weekend (1-off)
Series in a sentence: Testimonies of life change.
Service Length: 70 minutes

Understandable Message: This weekend was ran by AC (yoacblog.com) as our pastoral care guy. He gathered up 4 students and one of our staff for a powerful weekend of sharing their testimonies of how God has moved in their lives. Alyssa (junior) shared how she grew up in the church but it wasn’t until this year that moved her to move forward in Him. Ian (senior) shared about how he was bullied and kicked out of sumer camp for fighting and how sports and girls were his main priority until he met Jesus. Catherine (senior) talked about how her relationship with Christ far out ways any romanic relationship or abusive relationship, that God is bigger than any of them. Paula (senior) talked about how coming to this country from Argentina and growing up in a pastor’s family and how when God calls us to do something we need to do it no matter what out of love and obedience. And Dillon (our graphics guy at HSM) shared about his family life and how when he met God, God gave him all these new passions and abilities that he didn’t know he had that could be used to bring God glory. Very diverse stories with tons of different take aways.

Element of Fun/Positive Environment: Being that is was a pretty serious weekend with students telling their life stories there was no games or funny videos, but the atmosphere after they shared was very open and friendly. We played a reflective song (Your Beloved) between the half the testimonies to have the student sit back and reflect on the words and how God is moving in their lives.

Music Play List: We Can Change the World, Divine and Holy, Your Beloved, What Would I Have Done, The Stand, Tear Down the Walls, God Above All

Up Next: Worship Together Weekend

(post written by Justin Knowles, I was on a student mission trip to Rwanda)

Add Comment July 18, 2012

Josh GriffinMore Posts Powerful Testimony from Senior Weekend

Senior Weekend was incredible with seniors owing the weekend – speaking, sharing their testimony, videos, decorations, theme – a strong ending to an incredible 4 years in HSM. Here’s one of the students who shared – Melissa Minkovsky did a great job of walking students through her past, present and future. Love it!

JG

1 View Comments June 19, 2012

Josh GriffinMore Posts The Strength of Stories

I have preached a lot of sermons and heard even more in my life in the church and each time as I prepare, my hope is that each time I prepare, that some part of what I am teaching would go from head knowledge to heart and God would speak through my teaching and He would transform lives as a result.

This unfortunately is not always that case and sometimes those well-prepped and researched talks fall on arid and crumbly soil. While this can be really discouraging, what amazes me is the fact that while sermons can often be forgotten or tuned out, there is something powerful and disarming about a student or leader sharing their testimony. Make them part of you youth program and here’s why:

Stories are personal and real: What I love about testimonies is that they are a story that isn’t over, they are in process and there is something exciting about that. For students to hear where their friends are really at, what they have struggled with, been through and experienced and how God has been faithful through all of it, they hear that. Students crave authenticity and can smell disingenuous people a mile away; testimonies are a window into the inner workings or someone’s very personal Christian walk.

Stories are hard to refute: When I am talking to my non-Christian friends or skeptical students, they often have well-rehearsed arguments about why God can’t exist and have opinions on the validity of the Bible. They can refute God to certain extent, but cannot deny what He has done in someone’s life. Tangible encounters with God, sudden and dramatic heart change, miraculous healing, freedom from sin. All of these are part of student’s story, and those are hard to argue against.

Stories bring the Bible to life: For students who are new in their faith or just seeking, the Bible is a not a book that they know well or at all. So when we teach from it, it’s not always easy for them to understand how the Bible can actually impact and affect their life. But when you hear students sharing stories about their life verses and how God used a certain scripture to transform their heart and life. Stories bring the Bible to life for other students.

JG

1 View Comments January 12, 2012

Josh GriffinMore Posts HSM Teaching Calendar – Fall 2011

Here’s a quick look at the sermons and series we’re taking on for the rest of the year in our high school ministry here at Saddleback. Really excited about this fall!

September
LAUNCH wk 3
No HSM [9/11 services in big church]
Secrets (week 1 of 2)
Secrets (week 2 of 2)

October
Facebook Official: Relationships, Friendships, Love and Status Updates (week 1 of 4)
Facebook Official (week 2 of 4)
Facebook Official (week 3 of 4)
Facebook Official (week 4 of 4)

November
Do Something: Don’t Just Listen … Do (week 1 of 3)
Do Something (week 2 of 3)
Do Something (week 3 of 3)
1-off for Thanksgiving

December
STORIES: 1-off testimony weekend
Christmas (week 1 of 2)
Christmas (week 2 of 2)
No HSM [Christmas]
No HSM [New Year]

JG

5 View Comments September 1, 2011

Josh GriffinMore Posts Stories Weekend: Ryan

Here is one of the student testimonies from this past weekend in HSM. It was part of our occasional STORIES weekend where students share what God is doing in their lives. Good stuff, if you want to see the other 5, hit up this link, too.

JG

Add Comment June 2, 2011

Josh GriffinMore Posts HSM Weekend in Review: Volume 140

Weekend Teaching Series: Stories (1-off)
Sermon in a Sentence: Real-life stories of life change from core kids who are making a difference by serving and sharing their faith.
Service Length: 62 minutes

Understandable Message: This weekend was all about students sharing their stories. We typically do a couple “stories” weekends a year, but this time we concentrated on students raised in Christian homes that were living out their faith. I’ve noticed from time to time that when we ask someone to share, they have a great story – drugs, alcohol, messed up home, etc. So this time we looked at the core kids who have typical Christian, even stereotypical environments to be raised in and used that as a basis to encourage their peers in their faith. The result was an extremely positive service that had great messages about sharing your faith, getting involved in ministry, purity, sportsmanship and more. Really terrific.

Element of Fun/Positive Environment: This weekend we had lots of student greeters and students running the band, lights, cameras, sound, etc. They program included another push for HSM Summer Camp, and a interview with the lady who runs Saddleback’s food bank. Solid program that clocked in right at the hour mark.

Music Playlist: The Earth is Yours, Like an Avalanche, With Everything, Beautiful Things, Your Name High

Favorite Moment: I think my favorite moment was the students sharing and how positive the message was from the weekend. Everyone has a story – it was great to hear how God is working in our core students lives and to have them as an example to other students. So good.

Up Next: Communion (1-off)