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Student Ministry Trophy Case

December 20, 2012 by 1 Comment

Our friend Dennis Beckner over at Volunteeryouthministry.com has talked about having things in your trophy case, things from your days in student ministry where a student took time to point out that you made a difference in their life. I understood the concept, but I don’t think I truly understood until today.

I got a text from a guy who was in my last high school small group asking if we could meet and talk  tonight. My first response was to think that something was wrong and he was coming by for advice. I admit, I’m tired tonight and have had a sinus headache for a couple of days and wasn’t looking forward to this. Well, long story short, he didn’t have a problem, he actually came by to wish me a Merry Christmas and give me a gift. He asked me to open the box and inside was a mug with all of the pictures of my last group and a card thanking me for helping to make them the Godly men that they are today. I’m not often speechless but I was tonight, and not ashamed to admit I had tears in my eyes. Such a small thing, but it was huge to me. And now I truly understand why Dennis recommended the whole “trophy case” idea.

You know those times when you think you’re not getting anywhere, like you’re not making a difference…all I need to do now is look at that mug I realize that if you let Him, God will use you. I may not have been totally fired up for my role in student ministry when this day started out, but I am now!

Filed Under: Cool stuff, Volunteer ministry, Youth Ministry Tagged With: , , ,

Recharged and Excited

October 2, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Last night our Junior High Ministry had their “meet and greet” for the first night of small groups for this school year. I have several friends who lead junior high groups and as I walked through the meet and greet and talked to them I noticed one recurring theme. Everyone told me how “recharged” they were and “excited” to start the new year. I heard those words so many times it was either rehearsed by all of them or it was just the theme of the night. Then this morning, without me even saying anything to Steven about what I noticed last night I noticed a Facebook post he had on his page:

“The Life Group meet & greet tonight got me EVEN MORE excited for Life Group than I already was. Great group of guys this year. So thankful!” 

It’s great to start the year this way, but I always caution myself to keep that level of enthusiasm up. Remember we are all in this for the long haul. When your small group gets messy with problems and with Satan throwing spiritual warfare at you, remember the excitement you felt on this first night. Let this be one of those things that keep you going during the tough times.

This will be my third student small group that I’m leading and one thing I’ve found out through this process is that student small groups are not always just fun and exciting. If you’re doing a small group right then you have students opening up to you about their lives and things that need to change and those things are not always pleasant.

My advice to you new leaders is to keep this memory of the first night in mind, remember why you became a small group leader and keep pushing and plugging along during the tough times. The reward for students and for you is huge and so worth it.

My “meet and greet” for my new small group year is tonight and yes, I’ve very excited to meet my new students!

 

 

 

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

How to Keep a Conversation with Teens

September 8, 2012 by Leave a Comment

One of the most asked questions I get asked by new student ministry volunteers is how do I start a conversation and then keep the conversation going with teens. Today I read a great post from Brian Berry with some great tips and examples. Here’ a bit of the article below, the rest you can find here.

 

 

Like many youth groups around the country, we’re launching our small groups this fall.  We also have made some changes based on learnings from the flow of groups last year.  As a result, we have decided that the first 10 weeks will be largely if not almost exclusively focused on getting to know our students.  Then in January, after the Christmas break, we’ll then build on those relationships and begin a process to dive more fully into the Scriptures together each week in a more “traditional Bible Study”.

But what this means in the short-term is that from late September through Christmas, we’ll be spending a lot of time (like an hour or so) pouring into the life of just one student in each small group each night.  Not like a hot seat where a small group grills one member with questions, but more like a moment where we say, “We really want to get to know you more… but for reals.  So tell us all about yourself.”

If the small group you lead is made up of outgoing bubbly teenage girls, well that might be all you need.  You’ll be lucky if you get them to stop talking 60 minutes later with that one intro.

But if you’re leading freshman guys, it’s gonna take some more work.

So in order to help, we put together a packet of stuff to keep a conversation going with a student.  Here’s 6 tips we’re using to train our leaders.

START YOUR SMALL GROUP EACH WEEK WITH A BUCKET TESTIMONY.  Pick an item (bucket, purse, backpack, suitcase, basket, etc) and have a different person each week come with 10 items inside.   As they pull each item out, they tell you why they put it in there and what it means to them.  As leaders, you do this first, choosing a wide range of items from serious to funny and set the tone.  Then have someone volunteer or choose a student who can do this next week.  Don’t forget to call and remind them in the days leading up to your next meeting so they don’t forget.

Click here for the rest.


 

 

Filed Under: Repost, Training, Volunteer ministry, Youth Ministry Tagged With: , , , , ,

400th Post!

August 30, 2012 by Leave a Comment

This post you’re reading today is our 400th post on this blog. What started as a six-week guest post spot on our friend Dennis Beckner’s blog, volunteeryouthministry.com turned into us starting our own blog and 400 posts later we’re still going strong.

We’ve seen our reader numbers continue to rise, we’ve been picked up by other blogs and had our blogs reposted on some pretty awesome websites that we read every day, and we’ve been humbled and honored because of that. We have blog ideas come to us from all over the place and from our experiences. Before writing each blog, Steven and I pray that these words are God’s words and not ours, that we are just God’s mouthpiece. We also pray that God will put our blogs in front of other student ministry leaders who struggle with the same issues we do and need some ideas on the same problems we face. Each time we get a comment or an e-mail from someone we’re never met telling us how our blog has helped them, it just encourages us even more to keep going.

God has blessed us with the talents and gifts of student ministry and one day He will hold us accountable for what we did with these gifts. We LOVE the fact that we can help students grow in their faith and through some tough times in their lives but we also love that we can help other leaders and volunteers who face the same tough student issues that we do.

I am honored that I get to write this blog each week with Steven. I love his heart for students, his gift of wordsmithing, his sense of humor and his biblical knowledge. What started as a mentoring relationship has turned into an amazing friendship between us. I’m not ashamed to admit that our mentoring relationship probably resulted in me learning and growing just as much as he did if not more. It’s the reason I’m such a huge proponent of mentoring. It’s a win-win situation.

We have tons of ideas and blogs to come yet, and we thank all of you for reading this blog each day.

 

Filed Under: Uncategorized, Volunteer ministry, Youth Ministry Tagged With: , , , , ,

Care and Feeding of Volunteers

August 28, 2012 by 1 Comment

 The past couple of weeks the ministry I work for at Saddleback Church has lost a couple of really good volunteers. I was sorry to see them go and it will be a loss to our ministry. I read and then re-read their e-mails about why they were leaving and it made me wonder if as a staff person I could have done more to keep these folks as volunteers. Here’s what I came up with:

  1. Burn out. This one is huge. One of our volunteers just simply burned out. Between his full-time job and volunteering in a couple of ministries on our campus he simply burned out. Everyone needs to take a break and step back and rest for a while. It not only gives you a fresh prospective, it greatly reduces the risk of burn out.
  2. Not feeling like you’re making a difference. I don’t care what your ministry is; volunteers will not hang around long if they don’t feel like what they are doing is make a difference for the Kingdom. Do your best to constantly point out the good they are doing.
  3. Not growing. Find a way to elevate your volunteers either in a volunteer leader role or as a trainer to new volunteers. No one wants to stay at the same entry-level position they came in at in a career. It’s the same for volunteers.
  4. Sometimes even the best volunteers don’t really have a heart for your ministry. They thought they did and they did the best job they could but at the end of the day, your ministry was just not their cup of tea. This is actually a good reason to leave a ministry where you are serving. You need to be where God has given you the heart and talents.
  5. Use your older volunteers to mentor your younger volunteers. Every Timothy needs a Paul, every Paul needs a Timothy. This is a way for you to help your seasoned volunteers feel more useful if they are mentoring others, not only in your ministry but in their life. I am a huge proponent of mentoring!
  6. Find a way to thank and reward your volunteers. It can be as simple as a five dollar Starbucks gift card. Everyone wants to know that people appreciate what they do. Take them to lunch or meet them for coffee. Just do something to let them know you are thankful for them.
  7. Make sure your volunteers are getting fed.  I don’t mean food I mean that they are reguarly attending weekly services, are in a  small group and are having daily quiet times to keep close to God.

We’d love to hear your ideas on helping volunteers to stay strong and motivated!

 

 

Filed Under: Encouragement, Volunteer ministry Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Where everybody knows your name

August 14, 2012 by Leave a Comment

The other day I was watching a rerun of an old episode of Cheers. While the theme song was playing I heard the words and realized how much those lyrics can relate to students coming to a small group or to your weekend service.

“Making your way in the world today takes everything you’ve got.
Taking a break from all your worries sure would help a lot.” 

A lot of students are coming to service with some heavy hearts and some deep issues they are dealing with. Coming to a worship service should be a time we can take a break from all of our worries and just be with God for a while. I see some of our high school students who are our “core kids” at Saddleback Church  3-4 times a week. I’m sure a lot of them are there because they are really convicted in their walk with God, but I also know that some of them are there because they are escaping from something going on in their lives. Don’t be fooled into thinking your core kids are doing just fine…take the time to find out.

 “Sometimes you wanna go..where everybody knows your name
and they’re always glad you came.”

This may seem like a small thing, but it’s really not. When you take the time to get to know a student by name that tells them a couple of important things. It tells them that they belong. They are not just some nameless face that showed up at your small group or your weekend service. It tells them that someone cares enough to take the time to get to know them. It helps them to begin to open up and talk and share with others. It tells them you are glad they showed up today!

 “You wanna be where you can see, the troubles are all the same.”

Students often think that the troubles they are going through are theirs alone, no one can understand what they are dealing with because no one else is going through what they are. When you get students involved in a small group they realize they are NOT alone, often times my small group guys are struggling with stuff I struggled with at some point in my life. Problems get easier to deal with when we know we’re not alone, that others have dealt with and overcome the same issues we have.

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

Building Trust With Parents

August 1, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Yesterday I had an informal meeting time with my new small group guys, just some time for pizza and to get to know each other better. Half of them went to summer camp with me last week but the other half did not. I sent a text to them and an e-mail to parents explaining that I wanted to spend some time getting to know their son’s before we started the official small group in September. Yesterday I got an e-mail back from one of the parents asking me if I would mind telling her a little bit about myself, how long I’ve been a Christian, my background, how long I’ve been involved with student ministry, etc.

That’s when it dawned on me. These parents don’t know me; I hadn’t taken the time for them to get a comfort level with me. I was glad this parent e-mailed me, it was a reminder that I needed to take the time and let them get to know me, after all they are trusting me with their son! I normally do this in a parent letter at the beginning of the school year when small groups are starting out. Here’s the information I share with them:

1. My background, where I came from, where I was raised, how I became a Christian, my career, my family life, etc. Everything that is about me and who I am. I encourage them to contact our High School Ministry, our high school pastor and ask him questions about me and how I do ministry. I make sure they know our High School Ministry does a background check on all staff and volunteers who work with students.

2. I share my Facebook and Twitter page with them and this website. If you want to get to know how someone lives their life, often times Facebook and Twitter show a lot about you. I want them to look at this website, it’s an invitation to see into mine and Steven’s mind and how passionate we are about student ministry.

3. I give them my e-mail address and my cell number. I want them to know I’m here for them too, not just their student.

4. I let them know what I expect from them also. I’d like them to help their student commit to be at small group each week, and to attend church each week and to get involved and not just show up for small group.

These are small steps but they go a long way to building a comfort level with parents.

 

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

Junior high guys’ trip recap

July 21, 2012 by Leave a Comment

This last Wednesday and Thursday was our junior high ministry’s annual guys’ trip called Burly. It’s an awesome 2-day overnight event full of manly stuff all over Orange County. We took 45 students and 8 leaders, and covered a lot of miles to do some awesome stuff. I could write all about it, but my friend Dillon Phommasa was a volunteer for the trip and blogged about it already. Best part: there are almost 200 photos from the trip on his blog! Check out a piece of the recap he wrote, then head over to Dillon’s blog for the rest of the recap and all the photos.

Sometimes in youth ministry you just have to be a kid, and BURLY is a perfect time for that. Burly is Wildside’s annual guy’s trip, where we jam pack as many activities as possible along with all the junk food possible into two days. This was my second year at Burly and we did a ton. On the first day we watched a baseball game, went to lazer island, ate at a local pizza place in corona, played some dinosaur thumbwars, had a broomball tournament, watched the Sandlot, and finally went to bed! On the second day we ate breakfast at Chick-Fil-A, drove over to Speedzone, played arcade games, road go-karts & dragsters, played some minigolf, ate lunch at Pat & Oscars, bowled at Bowlmor in the District, and then finally went home.

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

Making volunteers feel valuable

June 23, 2012 by Leave a Comment

 

Since we both are not only on the staff of a church but also volunteer there, we’re always looking for good articles that point out ways to make volunteers feel like they are making a difference in your ministry. I loved this post from  Doug Franklin over at Youth Ministry Leader, I think you will too. Here’s a quick tease below, the entire post can be found here.

MAKING VOLUNTEERS FEEL VALUABLE

Volunteer staff need to feel like winners.  They need to feel invaluable in your eyes and the eyes of the students.  There are several different ways you can accomplish this, but here are just a couple of suggestions:

1.    Choose games that allow the volunteers to provide the vital part needed for success.

Here are three great ideas:

Taste Test: Create a list of 20-30 options and include crazy ones that only the adults would know. Example: For soda tests  include RC Cola, Tab, Diet Rite, etc.

Top 10 Songs from the 80’s: Play short clips from songs and have teams guess the songs. The staff will be the superstar for this game, and everyone will love the nostalgic stories.

Where am I?: Take video shots of yourself at the bank or the library, a grocery store or the courthouse, or any obscure         place around town. Staff generally know the answers because they are more aware of their environment compared to students.  It’s great to see students confused and amazed at places they didn’t know existed in their own town.

2.    Connect their ministry with their passion.
Find out what they enjoy and how they can best use their gifts.  Then structure their responsibilities accordingly.  Some ways to find out where they fit best is to give them a Spiritual Gift assessment or the DISC temperament assessment. It is wise to research how to analyze the results or find someone you know that can help you so the assessments can be applied.

One success story I know of this is when Steve was a new youth pastor, making his volunteer staff feel like winners in a role that they enjoyed was what made the difference for his ministry. One mom would only commit for one year, and she felt like she had to be the mean adult in the group.  When Steve helped her move past that self-assigned role to becoming the friend, she soared.  She was so encouraged by the change that she remained a committed volunteer for the duration of Steve’s ministry.

Go here for the rest!

 

 

 

Filed Under: Repost, Volunteer ministry Tagged With: , , ,

C-Group park day

May 12, 2012 by Leave a Comment

I loved seeing Dillon, another volunteer with the junior high ministry at Saddleback Church, post this quick story about how God worked in him and through him this week. Check out a clip of the post from his blog below, then head over there to see the rest of the post and some pictures from the day.

Today was one of those days where everything was just going wrong, so I went to the park early because I had scheduled my C-Group to meet there. When I got to Concourse I went to my favorite spot; I looked at the handcrafted mountains, trees, hills, and finally stopped, took a breathe, and reminded myself of grace; the undeserved, unmatched gift given to me freely by the Father, through His son Jesus Christ. The amazing grace that allows me to be called His. Instantly grounded, instantly thankful, and instantly satisfied, I sat there amazed by Him. The one who allows me to be in His presence anytime I want; the one who desires a personal intimate relationship with me…

(Read more)

Filed Under: Cool stuff, Encouragement, Repost, Volunteer ministry, Youth Ministry Tagged With: , , , , , ,
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