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Josh GriffinMore Posts Youth Workers Need to Learn to Say No

Loved Seth Godin’s post this morning on saying no – remindes me of the powerful book that shaped my thinking – What Matters Most by Doug Fields. I don’t usually reprint an entire blog post from someone else, but this was too much gold to only excerpt:

If you’ve got talent, people want more of you. They ask you for this or that or the other thing. They ask nicely. They will benefit from the insight you can give them.

The choice: You can dissipate your gift by making the people with the loudest requests temporarily happy, or you can change the world by saying ‘no’ often.

You can say no with respect, you can say no promptly and you can say no with a lead to someone who might say yes. But just saying yes because you can’t bear the short-term pain of saying no is not going to help you do the work.

Saying no to loud people gives you the resources to say yes to important opportunities.

JG

5 View Comments May 26, 2009

Josh GriffinMore Posts Top 5 Signs You Know Josh is on Vacation

Here’s the Top 5 signs you know I’m vacation, as submitted by my loving brother-in-law:

1. The Internet is 15% faster due to decreased traffic.
2. Satellite imagery shows an empty bubble of traffic around the GrifCruiser on I-15.
3. Makers of RSS readers are asked for tech support since they seem to deliver less stories than normal.
4. Strangely, no reports of natural disasters or fires from SoCal (coincidence, doubtless).
5. Various state economies report sharp uptick as the Griffin invasion hits, mostly in sales of small children-oriented commodities and Star Wars memorabilia.

JG

Add Comment August 28, 2008

Josh GriffinMore Posts Take 6 Vacations A Year

OK, so its not exactly 6 weeks of vacation – I would have to be a senior pastor for that – but it is 6 separate trips or getaways every year to keep balance in our life. We take some trips with the whole family, some just with my wife. Here’s how we break up the year to spend time together:

October — Miramar Air Show Weekend (2-3 days)
Every fall we take a couple of days and spend time down in San Diego at one of the greatest air shows on earth. We haven’t missed in a few years and love to time travelling together and seeing the planes and display of airpower. We stay at a motel or beach trailer and while it is really just a long weekend, we sure love being together.

November — Thanksgiving Break (2-4 days)
Almost everything around here shuts down for a few days in November. We take off small groups, scale back the weekend services, and enjoy some time as a family. We don’t usually travel to meet anyone, we’ve found that less hustle and bustle in these seasons work really well for us.

December — Christmas Break (7-9 days)
Same thing here – the church all but shuts down the week between Christmas and the New Year – so we totally slow down as well. Everyone is off school, the weekend services are combined junior and senior high, so everything is low pressure. We haven’t left home for Christmas in a couple of years, and have really enjoyed just spending time together as a family.

May — California Weekend Trip (2-4 days)
This year we spent some time down in San Diego at the Zoo – next year we’ll hit up San Francisco or Yosemite National Park. The idea here is for a mid-year break to get away from the rigorous pace of ministry and life to see our state. They say that most people don’t take time to see some of the attractions in their area, and we don’t want to make the same mistake.

June – Team Staff Retreat (4 days)
Every year the student ministries team takes a couple of days off to relax as a team before the big summer run. And while that is a distant memory right now … it was a beautiful thing back in June. We find someone to stay with the kids and this is a husband/wife trip.

August — Road Trip Vacation (8-12 days)
This is the big one – we hit the road as a family and head out into the wild. This year we went to Nevada, Arizona, Utah and Wyoming. Next year, we’re planning an even bigger trip to the Midwest. This is pure family time on the road and visiting family at each destination.

JG

4 View Comments August 27, 2008

Josh GriffinMore Posts 3 Things to Make Sure You Tell the Retreat Speaker

We’ve had some great experiences with camp and retreat speakers we’ve brought in – but as I’ve thought more about it I realized that there are a few things we should tell speakers up from before they take the stage at the weekend service or discipleship retreat. An outside speaker is just that – an outsider – why not give him/her some inside information to help them be more successful. Here’s 3 things that I’ll be sure to tell our next speaker:

Give them the inside tip on the history
What were the teaching series that preceeded this event? What is the direction you’ve been taking the students and how does this event play a part in it? Was the teaching time successful last time you had an outside speaker, and why? What are some areas your ministry/students are struggling in the outside voice can address?

Give them the inside tip on style
What format and teaching style are the students used to hearing? How does technology play a role in your communication style? What should the speaker wear? What is the typical length of a teaching lesson? What is considered normal, and are we OK with doing something outside of that? What is the typical translation used in teaching? Are students used to carrying a Bible and looking up passages?

Give them the inside tip on the audience
Who is going to be in the audience? What is success for the teaching time? Is there a large percentage of students who haven’t accepted Christ? Are students forced to be there? Who is represented in the audience? What is the spiritual depth of the typical student in attendance? Are there any sensitive issues/topics that the speaker should be aware of? Do we have the resources and volunteers to deal with the response a particular type of talk could generate?

JG

7 View Comments August 18, 2008

Josh GriffinMore Posts Staff Retreat Letdown

We’ve got our annual staff retreat for Student Ministries coming up for a couple days next week, and I couldn’t be more excited.

Here’s the crazy thing … knowing a break is coming, I’ve felt myself really starting to letdown already. Normally I’m completely driven and focused when no relief is in sight. But when I see an upcoming break (conference, vacation, whatever) I start to let down early. I realize I don’t guard myself emotionally, I don’t fight to finish tasks that need to be tackled before I leave, I let things go that shouldn’t be let go.

So that is the battle I am facing this weekend. I can’t wait to get away. I have no agenda for the retreat. I have nothing planned. I just have to make it … through the next 2 days. Ah, the letdown.

JG

4 View Comments May 30, 2008

Josh GriffinMore Posts There’s Not Enough Time in the Day

Joby has a great new article on less being more in the new year in youth ministry. Some great stuff, clearly written by a guy in the trenches with a great here. Here’s a clip:

I walked into my office today, after a week of traveling and visiting family, to a youth ministry reality that will never change. THERE IS NOT ENOUGH TIME TO GET EVERYTHING DONE THAT NEEDS TO GET DONE. I live in your world. There are phone calls to be made, students to visit, talks to write, events to plan, and the list goes on. Don’t fall into the trap that ’07 will be different if I just suck it up and do more.

Make your New Year’s resoltion to do less. What if this year instead of staying busy, because we all know how well its worked in the past, you became more focused. I know one of the biggest struggles of youth workers that are new to PDYM is a sense of being overwhelmed with information. A youth worker that has been accustomed to a couple of bible studies a week and some fun activities doesn’t see how to become purpose driven.

I mean there is evangelism, worship, discipleship, ministry, fellowship, small groups, crowd program, volunteers – and I still have to keep everything going. You are probably excited about the newyear with all the new opportunities and are ready to make ’07 be the year when you get all things accomplished. You plan on creating an evangelism team that is finally committed and passionate about spreading the gospel with every student in your community. You are going to create the coolest worship service in town. You are going to finally see your students show up with their Bibles and beg to be taught. You are going to recruit and train the greatest group of volunteers since the days of Peter, James, and John. And all this is going to be done before your next youth meeting. Right …

JG