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Josh GriffinMore Posts Casting Crowns and Youth Ministry

Had the privilege of meeting the members of Casting Crowns this past weekend – one of our small group leaders gave us some great seats and meet n’ greet passes to the concert up at UCI. I’ve heard and enjoyed their music before, but didn’t really know the band’s whole story. It was great to see that youth ministry takes a front seat to their hearts and music. They have enormous credibility in that area – at intermission they invited all of the youth workers in the audience to a special room to meet the band and for encouragement and prayer. So great:

At the core of Casting Crowns is Mark Hall, a man who never would have thought leading a band into the wilds of the business of music would enter into his calling. His place, he thought, was to serve young people.

“I’ve been a youth pastor for about 12 years, and every church I’ve been in, music’s always been a part of it,” Hall says. “We’d usually start up a band made up of students so we could lead worship in our Wednesday night programs, and as the student ministry started to grow, the band would go off and play and do things in the area.”

The unit now known as Casting Crowns grew out of two of Hall’s stops along his youth ministry path, first coming into being while leading a youth group in Daytona Beach, FL., then transplanting and growing when Hall and his family accepted a position in Atlanta.

Here’s some lyrics from their song What This World Needs that was certainly inspired by youth ministry, right?

What this world needs
Is for us to care more about the inside than the outside.
Have we become so blind that we can’t see?
God’s gotta change her heart before He changes her shirt.

What this world needs
Is for us to stop hiding behind our relevance.
Blendin` in so well that people can’t see the difference
And it’s the difference that sets the world free.

And from Stained Glass Masquerade:

Cause when I take a look around
Everybody seems so strong
I know they’ll soon discover
That I don’t belong

So I tuck it all away, like everything’s okay
If I make them all believe it, maybe I’ll believe it too
So with a painted grin, I play the part again
So everyone will see me the way that I see them

Good stuff … very encouraging concert for any youth worker.

JG

1 View Comments September 24, 2009

Josh GriffinMore Posts Changing the Name of Small Groups

Some conversations this week combined with our small group leader training has me thinking about changing the name of our small groups. Just a far-fetched idea and rambling at this point, but thought I would share it here and see if there would be some action in the comments.

The primary purpose of our small groups is fellowship. We emphasize “life-on-life” conversations, accountability and community. Secondarily we strive for discipleship, asking small group leaders to teach Bible topics and lessons in a relevant and personal way to our students. We’ve called these groups in the past “Area Bible Studies (ABS)” and currently HSM Small Groups. But I’m wondering if the name combined with the emphasis on a curriculum, tips the scale toward discipleship and undermines the value of sharing life authentically together? I’m wondering if by default students expect a Bible class or theology lesson, instead of bibical community centered around God’s Word?

In a perfect world and our current discipleship process, I would say that groups should be 70-80% fellowship, and 20-30% fellowship. I wonder if it could be done without specfic materials at all, but share the outpouring of the leader’s and students’ walk with God. I wonder if there is a more accurate expression for our groups that convey the purpose more effectively.

Maybe we should call them … Life Groups.

If you have small groups, what purpose do they serve and what do you call them? I’d love to know and discuss.

JG

23 View Comments September 17, 2009

Josh GriffinMore Posts 6 Roles of a Small Group Leader

Here’s was my favorite part of our small group leader training from last night. I taught each point, then a veteran spoke about the subject for a bit, then Jake ad libbed a little scene showing how “not” to live it out this year. So fun, I’ll unpack each of these more in the coming weeks, too:

You are …

1. … a Spiritual Leader

2. … a Youth Pastor/Shepherd

3. … part of the HSM Team

4. … an Administrative Guru

5. … the Teacher

6. … a Relational Expert

JG

2 View Comments September 16, 2009

Josh GriffinMore Posts The SinScanner 2000

This was a video one of our volunteers (Parker, you’re the man!) made as an object lesson in this week’s back to school talk called You Are Here. In my talk I shared how so many people are intimidated by church – they feel judged and like people are looking down on them with condescending. It is as if they are being “sin scanned” and their sins will be on display for all to see.

I plugged in a little platform with rope lights and this “booted up” on the main screen. I interaction with it a few times, for the voice authentication part and especially the part about denial. It ends abruptly, and the bit ends with me holding the cord that I had just unplugged as it got to some serious sins.

Funny and hopefully effective illustration of how people when they enter the church doors for the first time – and how we want to make HSM a safe, warm, fun and life-changing place.

JG

5 View Comments September 15, 2009

Josh GriffinMore Posts 3 Rules for Small Group Leaders and Facebook

We love that our volunteers are on Twitter and Facebook! It seems like everyone is enjoying the benefits of social networking these days – so it shouldn’t come as a surprise your volunteers are interested or already involved for sure. Most use the technology to their groups’ benefit, though from time to time we’ve had to have conversations and consider removing volunteers for what they put online. At small group training this week I’m going to ask our small group leaders to apply these three simple guidelines when updating social networks:

Remember what you post is public
Here’s the big deal – a joke that is funny between a few friends might not be funny at all out of context or in the harsh light of public view. Remember that everything you post – picture, status update or essay, becomes completely public the second you push submit. You can never really take it back once its out there, so be wise and use discernment with everything you post.

Remember what you post influences students
Your students are checking out your profile. They look up to you. They are eager to make a connection with you, and since they’re always on Facebook they’ll almost always see what you post. But it is so much more than just seeing – what you say, what you value, what you show yourself doing – it all influences students – the good, bad and ugly. When you give an inch, they may take it a mile. Of course, it works the other way as well, when you use social media positively, it can have a significant encouraging influence on them, too.

Remember what you post is a reflection on our student ministry/church
Your character and faith is reflected in every post that you make so if you are doubtful about something, here’s a simple rule to follow: DON’T POST IT. Just like behavior on a youth ministry trip is a reflection on the church and student ministry, know that what you post adds or detracts to the reputation of the church and ministry … and ultimately Christ.

What guidelines do you share with your leaders about Twitter, Facebook and other forms of social media?

JG

5 View Comments September 15, 2009

Josh GriffinMore Posts Back to School Prayer Guide for Volunteers

Ryanne sent out this little prayer guide to our volunteers this week – if you can use it, please do!

Back to School…
Ahhh … the smell of new pencils and notebooks now fills the air as students head back to school. These are our students – the students we love and care for on a weekly basis. Each one of them is feeling mixed emotions of excitement and stress as they start a brand new year of school.

Take a minute TODAY to pray for them:

Pray for the Freshmen: They are entering brand new territory and have quickly gone from the top to the bottom. They have four years of high school to begin finding themselves and to grow closer to God.

Pray for the Sophomores: No longer freshmen they are feeling a little more confident, however they are growing up quickly and a lot of new things and challenges are being thrown their way.

Pray for the Juniors: They are entering their hardest year of high school academically.

Pray for the Seniors: They have big decisions to make – and they have a lot of people putting pressure on them to make the right ones.

Pray for all of our students to have the perfect mixture of boldness and meekness so they can win their friends to Christ.

JG

Add Comment September 12, 2009

Josh GriffinMore Posts 4 Reasons Why We Have Small Groups

Writing up a whole new batch of leader training this year for our small group leaders. Here’s some of the “why” I’ve been writing about small groups:

CARE: Small groups make the large group small
We like the anonymity our large group program provides, but love the attention to individuals that small groups give. Instead of being an unknown in a crowd, we help students be known and loved as an individual young man or woman.

COMMUNITY: They are an integral part of our discipleship process
The weekend service is just the beginning – we want to encourage students to take spiritual steps forward in our process. Small groups is that next step, and is the gateway to other parts of the journey like serving and growing deeper in their faith. A breakdown at this level can hinder spiritual growth.

WISDOM: There is power in an adult life intersecting with students’ lives
There are all sorts of influences in a student’s life – we believe that pairing them with a well-trained, loving leader is a powerful way for them to grow spiritually and taste spiritual community. Someone down the path of life a little further can provide impactful insight, encouragement and warnings in the life of a high school student.

ACCOUNTABILITY: In community there is plenty of positive peer pressure and reinforcement
Being in a small group with other committed Christians encourages students to grow together, to make wise decisions, and have present accountability speaking into their lives. We imagine a place where students are encouraged on God’s path and wise decisions are encouraged – and when someone makes a poor choice they are greeted with love and a push back onto God’s path. Small groups provide that environment of attention.

Why do you have small groups?

JG

4 View Comments September 9, 2009

Josh GriffinMore Posts 5 Things Parents Need to Know from Your Small Group Leader

Dennis over on Volunteer Youth Ministry just posted some great small group training on his approach to working with parents of his small group. I think I’m going to ask him to present some of it at our upcoming training nights. Good stuff, here’s a clip:

3. I’m not a knucklehead. I show I’m not a knucklehead by:

Not giving authoritative parental advice on subjects I’m not equipped or experienced to address — I can say I don’t know, but here’s some ideas instead of “Here’s what to do”

Talking to them in a way that makes them feel welcome

Interacting with them on their level — not same level I interact with their students

Finding answers to their questions instead of just sending them to a website or giving them the office phone number

4. Small group is not a waste of their child’s time. I communicate to parents the high value of their child’s time with me by sending them home with new perspectives on Christian living and action steps to match.

I don’t care if parents ever hear these words from their child, “Small group was so fun. Our leader is incredibly funny.” If this is all their parents hear, then small group time will be seen as just another way for their kids to postpone homework. While we do have loads of fun and I am the funniest person you could ever meet (have I mentioned I’m known for exaggeration?), I want students taking something deeper from our time together than how fun it was. I want them to communicate through their actions and discussions outside of small group that their hearts and minds are maturing spiritually.

5. I’m teaching them relational skills for home life. When I teach, I am very family-friendly. I include a healthy dose of tips for respecting parents and dealing with family struggles throughout the year. In this way, I partner with parents.

JG

1 View Comments September 9, 2009

Josh GriffinMore Posts LIVE Small Groups

Andy has been telling me that The LIVE cirriculum has been doing super well for youth ministries – it was just launched a few weeks ago and is super cool. Thank him for this commercial and check it out!

Youth leaders will experience a bountiful abundance of benefits. (Wasn’t that the name of an old hymn?) Because you’ll have your long-range plans locked down, you can devote more time to equipping your volunteers and building excitement in students about upcoming topics through creative promotions. And of course, you’ll save yourself countless hours of planning.

But wait! There’s more! You know what your small groups will be discussing six months from now, so parents will gain more confidence in your ministry, and along the way, you’ll provide them with resources to spark conversation and dialogue in the home. And if we’re serious about getting families involved in our youth ministries, how can you go wrong with that?

JG