You are here: Home / 2012 / Archives for January 2012

What will keep me going in ministry

January 31, 2012 by Leave a Comment

This past Friday I had the amazing opportunity to help lead one of my small group guys to give his life to Christ. If you read yesterday’s post, you’ll know more of the story, but the important part is that there will be one more person in heaven when we get there. The feeling after seeing that happen is something that can’t be described with words alone. I was filled with the most amazing feeling of worship and gratitude to God, and it was a great opportunity to thank God for ministry and his grace.

I write this not to pat myself on the back or brag about the opportunity I had to witness to one of my students, but to encourage those in ministry today. This experience is ultimately what we’re investing in every time we go out into the youth ministry trenches, discipling and loving on our students. It’s the ultimate reward for our time, and it’s a great opportunity to see God work through us.

This wasn’t the first time I had a part in leading a student to Christ, but the overwhelming feeling I experienced afterward is what I know will keep me going in youth ministry. It’s moments like this one that really show us what it’s all about, and I’m so grateful that I had the chance to be used by God to make it happen.

Filed Under: Encouragement, Youth Ministry Tagged With: , ,

Don’t assume your students know Jesus

January 30, 2012 by 2 Comments

Steven: One of the things I’ve found to be difficult in junior high ministry is effectively judging where a student is in their relationship with God. With older, more mature people it’s less of a challenge, but for some reason junior high students are less accessible in this area. I’ve seen this in 2 ways:

  1. When you ask them where they’re at with God and if they have a relationship with him, they’ll feed you an answer they think you want to hear.
  2. They don’t really know how to answer the question.

I ran into this situation on Friday night. Our junior high ministry took 3 bus loads of students to CIY’s Believe conference for our winter retreat. At the end of the first night, the speaker gave leaders an opportunity to take a few minutes with each student and talk about their relationship with God and where they land with the whole “Jesus thing.” The first guy I talked to was one of my small group students that I assumed was a Christian based on conversations we’d had in the past. When it came down to it, he couldn’t remember a time when he had given his life to the Lord, and I ended up helping him pray to accept Christ into his heart that night (praise God!).

The second guy I talked to (also in my small group) was in a similar camp. We talked about a few issues he has going on at home, and it led into a talk about his relationship with God and how he thinks it’s going. He said he didn’t really know if he was a Christian or not. Unfortunately we ran out of time to finish the conversation because the band started playing too loud for us to talk, but I told him we would finish the conversation at our group on Tuesday.

I learned that night that we can’t assume anything of our students. I made the mistake of assuming, and all it took was a direct conversation to find out what was really going on in these students’ lives.

Matt: Steven makes some real good points here so I won’t repeat them in my words. I do think this is one area where you need to be careful when you’re dealing with a student who is really not sure how they feel about God in their life and if they are ready to accept Jesus as their savior. I think this is an area where it’s just as easy to say the wrong thing as it it to say the right thing. I would also tell students this is something I can’t tell them what decision to make. I can tell them the decision I would like them to make but what ever decision they come up with has to come from their heart, not mine.

Students do need to realize that they can’t get to heaven on their parents’ faith, this has to be their decision.  I can tell them how I feel and I can tell them what they have to do to be saved and show them how simple it is to be saved, but I can’t make the final decision for them. If you find yourself in this situation when talking with a student, start praying. Let the Holy Spirit give you the right words to say, the right scripture to quote and the right ideas to keep the conversation going.

If a student is still not sure where they stand with God, don’t force the issue. Let them have time to think about it, but don’t forget to keep checking with them and let them know how important this decision is. If you have high school seniors in your group and you are not sure where they stand with God, keep at them, don’t let them graduate without having a serious one-on-one discussion with them about accepting Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. It might be the most important conversation you have with them.

Filed Under: Counseling, Youth Ministry Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Writing Bible Study Curriculum

January 27, 2012 by 2 Comments

Recently Steven and I have been asked to write some curriculum and before we agreed to this venture we took some time to think and pray about it. There is a lot of curriculum out there by a lot of really good student ministry leaders, so we know that the bar is already set pretty high. We want our curriculum to be the best we can make it, something that somewhere some student ministry leader is going to look at and say, “Wow, that’s exactly what I’ve been looking for!”

Andy Blanks from YM360.com wrote an article about this very thing. Andy is one of our favorite writers and I love his insight on this subject. Here’s a tease of what Andy has to say. The entire article can be found here.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

I don’t know it all, and I have a ton to still learn. But here are five truths about Bible Study curriculum I thought I’d pass along. (And just to clarify, when I say curriculum, I am referring to curriculum you purchase, not the kind you would write yourself.)

1. All Curriculum Needs Tweaking

There’s no perfect curriculum . . . not even ym360′s. :)   Few lessons, “as is,” straight out of the box, perfectly meet the spiritual needs of your students or capture the personality of your group. You know why? The man or woman who wrote it doesn’t know your teenagers. They don’t know your structure. They don’t know what resources you have access to and which ones you don’t, and so on.

What does this mean? Two things . . .

  • You must create a culture where it’s expected that your teachers will invest the time in adjusting lessons. Help your teachers see that this expectation is part of their role.
  • As you choose curriculum, you might want to consider how much time you’ll need to spend tweaking the lessons. Look at samples. If you think you’ll have to spend more than a couple hours a week tweaking a lesson, you might want to consider another curriculum. Just a thought . . .

 

2. Curriculum Isn’t For Everyone

If your spiritual gifts are in the writing, teaching, and speaking mode, then you might enjoy writing your own curriculum. If you have the time and the chops, you’ll find nothing but a supportive voice here. If this describes you, you might find your curriculum needs on the lesser end of the spectrum.

Filed Under: Repost, Youth Ministry Tagged With: , ,

It’s Awesome When Students Minister to Each Other

January 26, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Last night after my high school small group met, I had a moment that made me sad at first and then the sadness turned into happiness and a prayer of thanks to God.

We’ve written in the past that often the best ministry happens AFTER your small group meeting is over and that’s exactly what happened to me last night. After our group was done and all the guys were standing in front of our student ministry building, one by one they begin to say goodbye and leave. However, three of them stayed behind and while I was saying goodbye to one of the other guys I noticed that the three of them had gone to a far corner of the building, off by themselves to talk. I started to head over there and then I thought to myself that since they took the time go way over there they probably wanted to talk without me being there.

At first that made me kind of wonder what was up that they didn’t want me in the conversation and a little bit sad…but then it was as if God hit me upside the head with a frying pan! They were ministering to each other! And isn’t that what we are suppose to be teaching them?? After they all left I got text messages from two of them and the message was basically the same, “the three of us just had one of the best talks I’ve ever had” “thanks for showing us how to be there for each other”.

The main concept of this website is, one generation teaching and mentoring the next generation. That’s what has happened in my small group. We as leaders can’t always be there for them, so it’s an amazing feeling knowing that they have learned to lean on each other as Christian brothers in a time of need. If being successful in this area makes me feel sad and left out from time to time, fine with me, bring it on! It means that my loving on them and showing, teaching and mentoring them has worked! Praise God!

Coming up soon, we’re going to post  about an example of a Generation to Generation to Generation to Generation teaching and mentoring that has occurred, watch for more details about that it’s something Steven and I are super proud of, and another example of what can happen when you let God use you.

 

Filed Under: Mentoring, Small Groups, Youth Ministry Tagged With: , , ,

The Real Face of Jesus

January 25, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Last week I was going through some Bible basics with my students–things like “What is the Bible?” “Where did it come from?” “Who wrote it?” “Why the heck should I care about it?”

As I was talking through some of that stuff, which I really think the guys needed to hear, a question came up about Jesus being black. Valid question for a junior higher. Then one of the guys started talking about how Jesus couldn’t be black, because he’s only seen pictures of a white Jesus. The challenge came when we had to explain that Jesus probably didn’t look anything like the boys were thinking.

When I explained that Jesus looked like a normal guy, probably like most of the people we see that live in the Middle East these days, they were a little surprised. “How could Jesus look like that? I’ve only ever seen hippie-looking white Jesus.” In reality, Jesus probably looked like the picture above. BBC did a mock-up of what Jesus may have looked like based on the very limited description of Jesus in the Bible and the norm of a man’s physical appearance around the time of Jesus.

My question is this: If you showed that picture to your students, what would they think? Would they be let down that the real Jesus is so average looking? Would they be upset he isn’t the taller-than-everyone, long-flowing-hair, hippie-looking Jesus? To be honest, it still throws me off. I probably wouldn’t even recognize him if he went walking down the sidewalk next to me. But the fact remains–Jesus is still God regardless of what he looked like. He still redeemed the world of its sin and died as a perfect sacrifice.

Challenge: Show this picture to your students this week and let us know what their reaction is.

Filed Under: Youth Ministry Tagged With: , , , , ,

40 Days in the Word

January 24, 2012 by Leave a Comment

How well do your students know the Bible? How well do you know the Bible? I think I’m like most volunteer leaders, I can find stuff in the Bible when I’m looking for it, I can use the index and the concordance in my Bible and eventually I can find what I need. But I’m not content with that. I want to be able to have scripture at the ready when I’m dealing with a student going through a tough time. I want to be able to give him the right words at the right time. To do that I need to spend some intentional time in my Bible study each day.

At Saddleback Church we just kicked off a church-wide campaign called, “40 Days in the Word” Click here for more information on how you can participate in this awesome study. I want to use this 40 days to my advantage. I want to greatly increase my knowledge in scripture so that I can use God’s word not only for myself but also be able to minister to my high school group. When we as leaders show our students that we are willing to take the extra effort to know the Bible and read it on a daily basis we are showing them how they can do the same thing. I’m afraid that in the past, my fumbling through my Bible probably sent the wrong message to students.

In our student ministries at Saddleback, we are also participating in the “40 Days in the Word” series. Click here for Josh Griffin’s (our high school pastor) link on his website for the series arc that he is teaching on. The first week went really well and I’ve had a ton of positive feedback from students about the weekend service. It showed me that students are just as hungry for more Bible knowledge as we leaders are. If you’re not teaching students on Bible study methods or on ways to unpack scripture your students are missing out, and you’re missing out on better ways to use scripture to walk a student through a crisis in their lives.

Are you taking the time to teach students how to read study and interpret the Bible?

Filed Under: Small Groups, Volunteer ministry, Youth Ministry Tagged With: , , , , ,

Baptism: Taking the Plunge

January 23, 2012 by Leave a Comment


Matt: One of the most awesome things I’ve gotten to experience is getting in the baptism pool with my students when they get baptized and helping the Pastor dunk them under the water. At camp this past summer two of the guys in my group got baptized. Our custom at
camp is when students make the decision to get baptized, the leaders call the student’s parents and make sure they are ok with their teen getting baptized. I don’t know of any that have refused, but some have wanted their kids to wait so they could be present at the baptism, totally understandable. With my two guys at camp, once they told me they wanted to get baptized I sat with each of them to make sure they truly understood why they were getting baptized and that they were not just caught up in the moment of a camp high and wanted to get baptized because their friend had decided to do it. Both of mine were clearly ready to take the plunge. When I called their parents both were excited and readily gave permission.

I currently have a student who wants to get baptized, but his parents are Catholic and have informed him that he was already baptized and there is no need for him to do it again. I should explain here that Saddleback Church is Southern Baptist and we believe in total immersion for baptism and not just sprinkling water on their head. We also believe that babies don’t yet understand what baptism is and that baptism needs to be something you understand why you are doing it and that you are saying, “Yes God, I believe that Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior and baptism is my public statement that my sins have been washed away.

So my problem is, do I tell my student to honor his mother and father, because the Bible says to do that and respect their wishes, or do I tell him that his love for God needs to be more important than anything else in his life and he needs to make this decision himself and do what he thinks is right. I’m leaning towards the latter. I’d love your thoughts on this issue (not that it should matter but this student is 18 years old).

Steven: The cool part about working and serving at a large church is that baptism is everywhere. We baptize adults after every worship service on the weekends, and we have baptisms for students one weekend a month. There is always celebrating and the joy of someone displaying their faith at our church.

Junior high is a great opportunity to speak to students about baptism. It’s a time when they’re still trying to grasp what their faith is, rather than their parents’ faith. Many of them have already been baptized, but they start thinking about the fact that it wasn’t really for them, it was more for their parents. Either that or they didn’t fully understand what baptism is, they just know they were encouraged to do it. I have a lot of guys right now that are in this position–either they haven’t been baptized or they think they don’t need to be because they were baptized as kids.

Just like any other part of the Christian faith, junior high leaders should use baptism as an opportunity to help students embrace their own faith. Chances are they’re just starting to understand what it looks like to have a faith independent of their parents, and this includes the act of baptism. For the ones that have already been baptized but feel like they didn’t know what it fully means or didn’t do it based on their own faith, I encourage them to think about being baptized again. Obviously for those that follow Jesus as their Lord and Savior, I encourage baptism as a next step in their faith.

As a leader, I would encourage you to think about baptism as a faith-builder in students. Help them get to that next step. Really explain what baptism is and what it should mean, rather than just as something you should do to “be good.”

Question: How do you teach and encourage students to learn about and be baptized?

Filed Under: Youth Ministry Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

GUEST POST: How can we go deeper with our group more quickly? – Part 2

January 20, 2012 by Leave a Comment

This is part 2 of Nathan Wells’s post from last week. If you haven’t read part 1 yet, head over there and then come right back!

When it goes deep

The guys naturally just began to group off and talk with one another. This was a great time for me and my co-leader to connect with them in some smaller settings. So we each sat in separate groupings that had formed throughout the night with some of the guys and hopped around, switching between groups every so often and seeking out individual conversations along the way. This is a great time to really have some serious and meaningful conversations with your students so don’t let it go to waste.

There is something magical that happens in the early hours of the morning (anywhere around midnight to 4am) where that wall and guard or mask that a student wears all the time crumbles before you. Bring up topics or maybe even some hard direct questions you’ve been worried or maybe to intimidated to bring up. If its really specific maybe try and have some one-to-one conversations throughout the night. You will see that they will actually answer the question and a conversation about it will ensue.

What about sleep?

You may or may not get any sleep that night but don’t complain about it. Remember the reason why you are having this Overnighter. It’s not for you, it is for your students. If you remember that throughout the night, it will be the most rewarding lack of sleep you ever gave up. By the end of it you and your students will have created so many memories and stories to share with one another and others. As a result, you will all be a lot closer and trusted then before you did this.

So be brave and go one night without sleep for God. It’s really not asking a lot and your students will remember how much you cared for a long time to come.

Nathan Wells, a dear friend of ours, is on the Tech Arts team at Saddleback Church and is also a high school small group leader. This is his second year in high school ministry, and he is doing great things with his group. Expect to read more from him in the future!

Filed Under: Guest post, Small Groups, Youth Ministry Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Summer Camp is Only Six Months Away

January 19, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Our high school ministry summer camp is six months away and I’m already thinking about this year’s camp and praying about it. For the past two years I’ve seen lives changed in that week at camp, I know how powerful it can be for students who meet Jesus for the first time at camp. I’m taking a freshman group this year, so I’m also praying for me and hoping I can find a good co-leader for camp this year.

I have a friend who I work with at Saddleback Church and he just got involved with being a student ministry volunteer this year and I want to con him…I mean convince him into coming to camp this year, I think it will grow him and be a great thing for students to have him there this year.

As a camp veteran now, there are some things I want to be sure I do. I want to make sure I make the most of cabin time at night with my group. Our camp is one week long so I have four chances (Friday we are on our way home and there is no cabin time) to share God with students and help them along in their walk. I look at it as each night 25% of my cabin time is going to take place and I need to make the most of it.

Activities during the day with students are super important. I learned that last year when I had a group that I hadn’t met until the day we left for camp. I made a concerted effort to spend as much time with them during the day and find some one-on-one time with each student during the week. It paid off; those guys are all in my small group now and I thank God every day for each of them. However I will stress here, it’s important to find some time during the day for a quick quiet time with God. Don’t get so wrapped up in serving God at summer camp that you forget to spend time with him yourself!

I also think it’s important to find some time during the day to slip away and have a quick few minutes with other leaders:

  • After about 24 hours of total immersion with students I need to have a conversation with someone that where every sentence does not start with the word “dude”.
  • I want to hear how other leaders are doing, how they are handing problems with their groups. I might be having the same issues or someone else might be dealing with what I am. Two are stronger than one; we need to help each other out.

I’m also praying for the students I’ll have a camp this year, who I don’t even know yet. I’d love to hear how you start preparing yourself for summer camp.

Filed Under: Summer Camp, Youth Ministry Tagged With: , , , ,

Bible Reading vs. Bible Resources

January 18, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Our church (Saddleback Church) is about to embark on a series called “40 Days in the Word”. It’s a six week series that will teach ABOUT the Bible and how to read to Bible, how to love the word, learn the word and live the word.  This will be a church-wide campaign that will include our student ministries as well. Before our High School Ministry begins the six-week series I want to spend some time with my small group guys and show them how the Bible was not meant to just increase our knowledge of God, but to change our lives. I want to show them how to be a “living Bible” for their friends who are not believers.

One thing I think we as leaders tend to do is use the Bible to teach on the latest hot issue. If we want to teach a lesson on the evils of pornography, we find Bible verses that deal with that issue. We seem to have gotten away from just taking a chapter or book in the Bible and unpacking what it means to us. I love that when a student is going through a tough time or dealing with a particular issue I can use the Bible to point him to specific scripture that will help him with what he is going through at the moment. But I also want students to know how to use the Bible for a daily quiet time and how to read through books in the Bible and unpack what the scripture is saying. I want them to know that the Bible is not one book, but 66 books wrapped up in one.

I’d love to hear how your favorite ways of teaching Bible reading techniques to your students. You can comment here.

Filed Under: Small Groups, Youth Ministry Tagged With: , , , , ,
«Older Posts