worship | More Than Dodgeball

Josh GriffinMore Posts HSM Weekend in Review: Volume 92

Weekend Teaching Series: You Own the Weekend: El Toro HS (week 2 of 5)

Sermon in a Sentence: God is the Great Rescuer.
Service Length: 69 minutes

Understandable Message: The weekend told the story of the Prodigal Son through a message as well as real-life stories of God rescuing students and bringing them back to him. A powerful combination of the teaching of the passage and illustrations of it on stage.

Volunteer/Student Involvement: This series is about students doing everything – and that’s exactly what they did! Lights, camera sound, band, choir, control room, setup, cleanup, stage, greeting, activity afterward, prayer patio, testimony, speaking, program. Students took over every role, the adult team simply looked for conversations and helped create a welcoming environment.

Element of Fun/Positive Environment: Students created a positive atmosphere with creative school-themed decorations like streamers and posters, as well as had a ton of greeters to make everyone feel welcome. They had a funny video as part of the countdown and used the school drum line as part of the opening to the night, and even included them in the worship songs at the end of the night. Positive, fun, memorable.

Music Playlist: Song of the Broken, Amazing Grace, With Everything

Favorite Moment: My favorite moment came Sunday afternoon – I took my kids to Yogurtland as a treat for doing so well in flag football Saturday morning. The student behind the counter regularly attends HSM, and she mentioned bringing her friend for the first time, and that they absolutely loved it. The weekend is our front door – we work hard to create a positive, welcoming environment with lots of students involved sharing an understandable message – it is always a great feeling when students feel safe enough to bring their friends. Love it!

Up Next: YOTW – Capo HS (week 3 of 5)

1 View Comments April 26, 2010

Josh GriffinMore Posts Q & A: Starting a Youth Ministry from Scratch

Got a great question this week via the contact page, thought I would turn it into a quick post.

QUESTION: If you were going to serve at a church that had no student ministry program, where would you begin?

ANSWER: Great question! There are two things I would jump on immediately:

Behind the scenes, I would begin to build a crack team of volunteers. This is absolutely crucial in starting a youth ministry from scratch. I would evaluate my circle of friends and start there, as well as begin to mine the congregation for star players. Starting a youth ministry from nothing isn’t easy, so you’re going to need to look for great players who can handle the bumpy road of getting this thing off the ground. The first program I would launch is a (the weekend, or whatever time is best) worship service. Building a great entry-level program is a great place to start. Begin with a simple program that is relationship-focused, friendly to outsiders and builds a community. It’ll give you a great base to build on from there!

Agree? Disagree? Leave a comment with your answer, too.

JG

worship

14 View Comments April 1, 2010

Josh GriffinMore Posts HSM Weekend in Review: Volume 89

Weekend Teaching Series: Stories (1-off)

Sermon in a Sentence: Stories of students’ life-change told live on stage.
Service Length: 59 minutes

Understandable Message: This weekend was all about stories of life-change: Kristen shared about God’s mercy through a family crisis, Shea shared about accepting Christ and forgiving someone who had hurt him deeply. Martina shared her story of depression and suicide, Ryan and Taylor talked about sponsoring a couple of street kids in Kitale, Angie shared about visiting a local mosque and hoping her new friends would accept Jesus, Arianna told about shoplifting, partying and coming back to God. Very diverse stories with tons of different possible takeaways.

Volunteer/Student Involvement: No adults were on stage at all this weekend – all students, all of the time. Volunteers worked the crowd looking for conversational opportunities with students. Good stuff.

Element of Fun/Positive Environment: This weekend had a couple of fun moments within the stories, though we didn’t program in a significant amount of direct humor. We did play a great little video from SYM Media Store and I wrote up a little script to end the weekend to tie the stories together and end on a positive note, pointing them back to Christ in all of this.

Music Playlist: You’re Not Alone, Safe, Fix You, More Than Anything

Favorite Moment: This weekend my favorite moment was talking to parents. SO many parents visited HSM this weekend, it was exciting to see them supporting their children and cheering them on from the audience. Great conversations, great connections.

Up Next: EASTER at Angel Stadium (no HSM next week!)

1 View Comments March 28, 2010

Josh GriffinMore Posts GUEST POST: Simply Rested

I am back from the Simply Youth Ministry Conference 2010 in Chicago! It took me a few days to recover from a packed weekend. I learned a lot of tips and youth ministry ideas, but the biggest thing I learned was this: Every involved youth worker should go to a conference like this. Here are 3 reasons why.

A time of learning – I learned a lot. There were so many opportunities to take a class on a subject that will help me to stay in ministry for the long haul. SYMC offered classes on marriage, volunteer training, games, counseling, conflict resolution, preaching, & teaching. I chose the Helping Hurting Kids track and I benefited from probably one of the least discussed topics but one of the most influential problems all teens face — teen depression and addiction. I believe we all need to learn more if we are going to help teens through their adolescence.

A time of encouragement – The worship and camaraderie I was able to participate in was very therapeutic. I met many people I have had the honor of speaking to online through the SYM Podcast. Getting to meet Doug, Josh, Matt, and Jana in person was awesome. It felt like seeing old friends for the first time in a long time. I also got to meet Andy B in person after so many emails for products. I also met new people like D.C., Matt K., Rick Lawrence, Tom, and many others. Tim Timmons really encouraged me through his worship leading and a few of his songs are STILL stuck in my head.

A time of rest – Youth Ministry is T. O. U. G. H. with a capital STRESSFUL. Dealing with tough kids, tough parents, boards, elders, pastors & ministers can take a lot out of you. We don’t tend to take time for ourselves because we are so committed to getting it right as often as possible. We overwork ourselves to the point we lose much of our drive and passion. Taking a weekend to listen to others who are doing what you do and understand your faith, love, passion, hurts, and struggles can only benefit. I felt loved on. It had been 7 years since I had been to a large convention like this. I forgot how much I needed it. Now that I am back, I feel stronger. There isn’t a huge list of things to tell people about the conference itself other than the encouragement I received. I did come back with this though: the passion and desire to help hurting kids. I think that was worth the admission alone.

Mike Lewis is the Youth Minister for the Westside Church of Christ in Beaverton, Oregon. He writes a blog that might be worth reading at www.bigmikelewis.blogspot.com and will gladly be your friend on Facebook, too.

Add Comment March 17, 2010

Josh GriffinMore Posts GUEST POST: I’m Thinking About Leaving My Church

I’m thinking about leaving my church.

I’m 22 years old. And I work with students at the church that I grew up in.

Now, when I say “grew up in”…I didn’t know Christ until I was a junior in high school, and this was where I met him. When I graduated high school, I didn’t go to college, and since I was staying at home, I decided to give back to the youth ministry that had given so much to me, and started working with 6^th graders on Sunday mornings, and helping out with our mid-week youth worship service.

I’ve been doing this since for 3 years and I love it. Students are a fantastic bunch of people to work with, and Youth Workers might be the greatest group of people you’ll ever get to do ministry with. So. I love what I get to do at my church. But I don’t feel fed. I don’t feel the sense of community that my soul longs for. I am struggling and praying through whether or not I should leave this church, and start attending one here in town that I know offers those things. I am hurting over whether or not the students that I know and love at my current church are worth not getting what I feel like I need spiritually.

I know that I can work with students wherever I end up, but I’m talking about going from a 200+ student ministry to a ministry of about 30-40 students. Which honestly has some cons for me, as well as pros. But a big part of it is that I love these kids that I work with now. I’ve invested in them for the past four years. They’ve been a big part of my life, and I hope I’ve made an impact on them.

I’ve wondered if it’s just me. If I need a spiritual attitude adjustment. But the more I think and pray about it, I see that the things that God has put on my heart, are not necessarily what He has put on the hearts of church leadership here. And that’s ok. We don’t have to be going after the same things, because as long as we agree that salvation is through Christ on the cross, and only that. The rest is neither here nor there, honestly.

So am I being selfish? I don’t know. I know that I am not growing spiritually like I have in the past, and I know this is part of the reason why. I don’t know if it’s reason enough to seek out a new community of believers.

Here’s the thing. I want your thoughts. And honestly, I’m sure I’m not the only guy (or girl) out there who is dealing with something like this. So, have you ever had to leave a church or ministry because you were giving a ton, but not getting much out of it for yourself? Is that a valid reason, or that that a line of selfishness to give yourself an out?

Anonymous would love to read your thoughts in the comments section of this post.

17 View Comments March 12, 2010

Josh GriffinMore Posts GUEST POST: Teens are Like Mobile Phone Batteries

I remember when I got my first mobile phone. I was told it was really important to charge it all the way up to the maximum, and then run it down until it was completely flat, and then charge it all the way up again. If you didn’t, your battery wouldn’t have its upper and lower limits properly established. It would learn that it’s ok to only give 80%, and that it’s ok to give up early. It would never operate at its full potential.

I wonder if the same thing applies to youth ministry?

Filling up to the max — Are your young people confronted with the rich, deep, passionate prayer lives of people who walk intimately with Jesus? Are they thrown in to environments of extended, humbling worship? Are they exposed to others who flow in the supernatural and who can testify to real-life miracles?

Running completely flat — Have your young people actually witnessed injustice (as opposed to just hearing about it)? Do they regularly find themselves in situations where they are completely out of their depth and need to rely fully on the Holy Spirit? Do they know what it feels like to sit with someone in need and feel powerless to do anything to help?

The consequences for getting this wrong with a mobile phone are reduced potential and decreased effectiveness. Are they any different for a young Christian?

(My fear is this: We get this wrong, and the result is Christian adults who are cynical of the supernatural, apathetic for justice, and lazy in their relationship with Jesus.)

Jarrod Newton is a regular contributor at The Salvation Army’s Youth Leadership Blog.

1 View Comments March 11, 2010

Josh GriffinMore Posts GUEST POST: The Sexy Truth

Teens these days are inundated with messages about sex, our culture is saturated with commercials that have sexual innuendoes. You can barely turn the television on during prime time and not see scantily clad girls and guys targeting the high school and middle school students. Culture is screaming sexuality!

But on the other side of the coin I think the church in also not addressing the issue. What does the church say in response – Don’t have sex! And that is it – we don’t explain why, we don’t talk about the gift of sex or that having sex is an act of worship when in a marriage relationship. Because the church has avoided talking about the topic, our students are turning to the media to get their answers.

I am currently working part time for an organization called Expectations Women’s Center. I also with another woman are currently writing a curriculum to be used in Public Schools and in churches to educate the students on “The Sexy Truth” – the truth that sex is an amazingly wonderful thing – created with boundaries to protect us not to wreck our fun!

One thing we do is talk about the idea that the condom only protects the physical consequences of sex – however what is protecting the social, emotional, spiritual, and psycological aspects of sex. Our program is geared towards talking about the whole person and how sex effects each of those aspects.

Another thing that we spend a lot of time talking about is the idea of Bonding…did you know that the frontal cortex of your brain is not fully developed until someone is 25 years old. All the decisions that they make as a teenager are actually molding and shaping their brain to be patterned to hook up, then break up – check out the book “Hooked” it is a great resource to understand the brain chemistry!

I share this all, to let you know that we want our students to know that Sex is actually a wonderful thing – God made it, calls it an act of worship, it is meant to create intimacy with your spouse but also with God. It is not a horrible thing that we portray to our students in hopes that we will scare them away from sex until they are married.

As the church – we should be talking about healthy sex, we should be talking about the celebration of a marriage relationship, so we can attract people to a positive message, not a message of Don’t do this, don’t do that – our faith in God is about a relationship, not about the list of Don’t do this, Don’t do that – and that is what we want to promote in “The Sexy Truth” – sexy means attractive and we want to attract people to the Truth about Sex!

Jana Snyder wants you to check out www.thesexytruth.org or her blog www.tarajaministries.com.