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Middle School Ministry Campference

October 31, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Sunday I got back from an event I’d been really excited about for the past few months. The Middle School Ministry Campference is a conference for junior high youth workers, but it takes place at a camp. I love this from their website:

What’s great about Campference is that you get to enjoy all of the facilities and beauty of a great camp without being in charge. We’ve scheduled plenty of free time so you can use the zip line, guilt free.

This was the second year of the Campference hosted by The Youth Cartel, and it was a great time of seminars, large group sessions, worship and the best part–hanging out with other youth workers who LOVE junior high students! That was seriously the best part… talking to other people who share a passion for junior high students and ministering to them.

I was blown away the first night at dinner by how much I had in common with someone just because they work with junior highers. I guess it just goes to show that it takes a special breed of human to work with students that age, and we’re all so similar!

If you’re interested, you can check out tweets from the Campference here.

Marko has already announced that there will be another MSM Campference next year, so if you’re a junior high youth worker, don’t miss it!

Filed Under: Cool stuff, Training, Youth Ministry Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Treating the Disruption

October 19, 2012 by 1 Comment

Every week before my junior high small group, my co-leader and I like to do 2-on-1 dinners with one of our students. We rotate them through every week, so every few months we’ve gotten through our entire group. We treat the guys to dinner the first time, then every time after that they pay their own way. This is a fantastic way for us to connect with them individually, get to know them a bit better (especially in the beginning of a new group) and offer specific challenges to them that we can’t really do in a small group setting.

As we’re getting ready to start this pre-group dinner back up again, my co-leader Kyle came up with a good idea for the order of students we take out. We’ll start with the 3 most disruptive first, then hit the guys that are the more wallflower-types. After just 2 weeks of group we can already tell who these guys are going to be.

This order is for a couple reasons:

  1. We want to make sure the more disruptive guys know our expectations of them. We also think that connecting with someone personally is a way to help them be more comfortable, and then they don’t use their disruption as a comfort mechanism.
  2. We want to make sure to make the quiet ones more comfortable and connect with them to show that we’re safe.

I think bonding over food is one of the best ways to connect with someone, and it’s one of my favorite parts of doing ministry. Hopefully this new order of students will be successful like we’re hoping!

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

GUEST POST: Batman and Youth Ministry – Part 2

October 13, 2012 by Leave a Comment

This is the second part of a post from our friend Scott Glisson. If you haven’t read part 1, check it out and then come on back.

Students don’t always need some super smart theologian to tell them why they need to believe in Jesus, they want someone they can relate too and have a conversation with. Someone who will listen to them when they are hurting, and by hurting I don’t even mean something we as adults would consider major (death in the family, divorce, etc). To a student that major issue could be not making a team, failing a test, or even breaking up with that boyfriend or girlfriend they had for a week.

As youth workers, we can be the “heroes” in student’s lives. They might not remember our names in 20 years, but hopefully if we’ve done our job, they will remember the things we helped them through.  They will remember that it was because of that someone at church who went to their baseball game or their choir concert that they now have a relationship with Jesus.

That’s one thing I’m learning in the short time I’ve been in ministry. It’s not about me. It’s not about being the “cool” leader. It’s not about having the most kids want to sit by you during service. The real work / reward comes from the students who you are able to connect with and have a relationship with that’s deeper than the “hey buddy” on a Sunday morning.

We are nothing extra-ordinary without the grace and mercy from Jesus that He has already shown us in our lives. That’s the ONLY reason we are remotely qualified to share with these students. Without Him, we are not worthy to be a symbol of anything let alone a symbol of Christ.

Bruce Wayne knew Batman could be a symbol of hope and a beacon of light to a dark, dying city, just like we can by that in the lives of our students.

Scott Glisson is an intern with Wildside–junior high ministry at Saddleback Church. He hails from the great state of Ohio and LOVES junior high students. Keep an eye out for more guest posts from Scott in the near future!

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

GUEST POST: Batman and Youth Ministry – Part 1

October 12, 2012 by 1 Comment

Many people know that I am a Batman fan. OK, for me to say I am a “fan” seems to be a bit of an understatement.  I love Batman. He’s the best Hero. Notice I didn’t say “super” before the word hero.

People often ask me why he is my favorite, so I tell them. Batman aka Bruce Wayne (spoiler alert?) is a normal guy. Bruce experienced grief in his life and has decided that instead of wallowing in self-pity and grief, he was going to go out and make the world a better place for the people in his community. Does he have to? No way. He’s a billionaire! He could literally have sat in his penthouse and done nothing his whole life and would have died probably feeling decent about things. But he didn’t. He chose a higher road.

Bruce Wayne/Batman in the Dark Knight Rises discussed how he wanted Batman to be a symbol of good. That it didn’t matter who wore the mask, what mattered was people felt safe because they knew whoever it was, they were being looked after.

When I tell people I am in Jr High ministry I often get one of several responses. “Oh my, that sounds awful!” or, “better you than me!” or “Wow, it takes a special person to do that.” Or even just a “God bless you…” Kind of makes you feel like you are doing something extraordinary!

I love Jr High ministry because of the students. They are at such an impressionable age that if they have the right people in their lives impacting them, they feel like they can accomplish anything! Do you remember when you were growing up with dreams of what you wanted to be? Be it a fireman or an astronaut or heck, even Batman. All we wanted was someone to tell us that we could be whatever we wanted to be and that things would be OK.

Scott Glisson is an intern with Wildside–junior high ministry at Saddleback Church. He hails from the great state of Ohio and LOVES junior high students. Keep an eye out for more guest posts from Scott in the near future!

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

I’m excited about…

September 18, 2012 by Leave a Comment
  • starting my new junior high small group.
  • meeting 10 new students that I get to pour into for the next 2 years.
  • working with parents to empower their students to grow closer to God.
  • challenging students to grow in their faith.
  • teaching the Bible.
  • learning from my students, which has happened every year since the first.
  • the new experiences that will come.
  • teaching about Jesus for 2 years.
  • all the funny lines my students will say during group.
  • first small group night traditions: Eggo waffles.
  • co-leading another year with one of my best friends.
  • the next year to come.
Filed Under: Cool stuff Tagged With: , , , ,

Students need to own their faith

August 6, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Matt: When I was about 13 years old I realized that I had “super Christians” for parents. I wasn’t worried  about this whole God thing or heaven because I was certain that their good works were enough to get them and my whole family into Heaven. I remember one day asking my mom if I could skip church the next day to go to a Detroit Tiger’s baseball game. She sat me down and told me that I was at the age where I could make my own decisions about going to church and that if I wanted to go to a baseball game that was my choice, but that I should pray about it that night. I did, and well, you guessed it I passed on the baseball game and went to church.

It was that week that my mom made it clear to me that I had to start making some decisions about Christ and that my decisions, not hers or my dad’s, would determine my relationship with God. I can still remember that week was a life changing week for me in my walk with God. But what about students you may have in your group that don’t have parents that are believers? Or parents that have never had that conversation with their sons or daughters? This is a lesson that needs to be taught to students. Small group is the perfect place.

Find out from your students:

1. Where they are in their walk with God. Are they all in, or just along for the ride?

2. Make them realize that God wants the decision to be up to each one of us to follow and love him, not because someone told us we should or that because my parents are “Super Christians” does not mean that I’m going to Heaven without accepting Jesus.

3. Teach students that growing in Christ never ends, we need to keep being fed and keep learning and loving God, every day.

4. Be the best example you can be for students in how you live your life. They are watching us all the time and they know if you talk the talk but don’t walk the walk.

Steven: As someone that works mostly with junior high students, the idea of students finding ownership of their faith is a huge deal. Starting in 7th grade, our students start to feel the pull of maturity and they begin to question everything they’ve previously taken for granted. They start pushing the boundaries of right and wrong to see what they can get away with, and they start experimenting with their thoughts and beliefs.

Because this is such a crucial age for students to decide for themselves what they’re going to do with this “God thing,” we have a huge responsibility to take advantage of this questioning time. We can either leave them alone to their own questioning, or we can step in and try to help them understand what faith looks like apart from their parents. I don’t know about you, but it makes a whole lot more sense to me to help them understand rather than letting them drift along.

We need to recognize that students have growing to do, and we can either be a part of that process or not. We can encourage them to seek God in their lives, to live in a way that is set apart from the world, or we can stand by while they sort it out for themselves through a lot of trial and error. We can also be an example to them of what a Christian life looks like, and that can speak volumes in the way of helping them understand their own personal faith.

Filed Under: 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: , , , , ,

Quick Summer Camp Reminders

July 20, 2012 by Leave a Comment

This is a time of year that Steven and I both love; it’s time for summer camp!  I leave this Sunday for high school camp and in two weeks Steven leaves for junior high camp. We’re both really looking forward to camp this year because we both will have entirely new groups of students.

There has been so much written about summer camp these past few weeks but if you’re a leader at camp this summer here’s some quick reminders:

1. Pray like crazy. Pray for camp, for the students, for the leaders, for the worship team, and for your pastors.

2. Be intentional like crazy. Make sure every student in your cabin knows you care and do your best to establish a relationship with each one.

3. Know their names! One of the huge things that say you care is when you take the time to remember their names. I’ve made a goal to have that done within the first 24 hours.

4. Be involved. Don’t sit on the sidelines; don’t be afraid to be crazy, get dirty, whatever it takes to connect with students. Put your cell phones, smart phones, tablets, etc. away and make the week about the students, not the work that might be piling up at your office. The work will be there when you get back; this might be the opportunity for you to make a huge impact in a student’s life. Don’t miss the chance!

5. Don’t get so wrapped up in serving God while you’re at camp that you forget to worship God while you’re at camp. Find a few minutes each day for a quiet time. Reconnect with God yourself each day. For me being a morning person I slip off early in the morning before my guys wake up and have a quiet time.

This year I have a cabin of 10 freshman guys…pray for me!

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

Getting the torch passed on to you

July 19, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Last night I got to meet the freshmen guys who will be in my high school small group this coming school year. I was so excited to see them and talk to them and let them get to know me. I’m taking Steven’s junior high small group and Steven and his co-leader Kyle had invited me and my new co-leader Michael to be at their last night of small group and to introduce us.

The first thing that was very obvious to me was the love these guys have for Steven and Kyle. I could tell for some of them this was going to be a sad night and I knew it would be sad for Steven and Kyle as well.  Check out Steven’s post from yesterday if you haven’t already. They have poured into these guys for two years and have done an awesome job.

Here’s how we did the transition:

  • Before the group met, the four of us sat down and they talked about each of the guys in the small group, the best way to connect with each one of them and where they are in their walk with God.
  • Once we got to the house where they meet, Steven introduced us, told the guys about the friendship we have and how we share a ministry together and all about us. Then he opened it up for us to talk to the guys a little bit and then he let them ask us questions.

This made for a very smooth transition and I’d recommend this for others who are passing their student small group on to new leaders.

When I got home last night I prayed for this new group and for each of the guys by name. I also prayed for my old group that God would help them in their next phase of life as college students.

The torch has been passed and I’m ready to get started with these guys. Some of them will be at high school camp with me next week. Thank you Steven and Kyle for the amazing job you did with these guys, God has gifted both of you with an incredible talent for student ministry, and these nine guys you have handed off to me are proof of that!

 

 

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

It’s never too early to start planning for fall

May 20, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Since it’s Monday, this would normally be a post that Steven and I would write together. Steven has finals this week so he’s taking some time to study. We’ll be back to our regular schedule next week.

This past week our junior high and high school ministries at Saddleback Church spent some time planning out the fall calendar. That might sound strange since it’s not even summer yet, but if you want to be effective and make sure that things don’t fall through the cracks you really need to plan for the future with enough time to fix any issues that might come up along the way. It made me start thinking about my new small group and what I want to do this fall. I’m going to have a new group and also a new co-leader, so here’s what I need to do before fall:

  • Spend some time with my new co-leader and establish with him what we want to accomplish with our new group and how we’re going to get there
  • I also am “mentoring” my new co-leader at the same time so I need to make sure I’m growing and stretching him at the same time
  • I want to spend some time with the former leaders of my new group so I can get to know some background on each of the new guys. And while this isn’t necessary, it sure gives you a head start with helping to grow students in their faith if you have a heads up on what life application lessons we need to go over.
  • I want to see where our High School Ministry is going this fall, what will be the weekend lessons, what do they want us to teach on.
  • I want to plan out some serve opportunities. That’s a huge way to help students grow their faith when you get them serving others.
  • I want to plan out some fun events with the new group. Those events help them bond with each other, and help bond you to them as well. It also lets them see you as a person, not just a leader. Nothing brings you down to their level faster than getting smacked in the side of the head with a dodgeball!

Question: Have you begun planning out your fall schedule for your student small group? Any good plans you want to share we’d love to hear them!

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