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Do you feel called?

October 23, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Every person in the Kingdom of God has a calling. While it may take some people longer to discern that call in their life, everyone has a calling. Everyone in the Kingdom is given gifts from God, whether tangible abilities or individual ministries. The fact that this is how things work is such a testament to how gracious and loving our God is.

I have never felt more secure in my calling. I absolutely feel that God has called me to work with people in a ministry setting. Right now, that calling also includes junior high students, which I’m extremely thankful for. I’m grateful that I wake up in the morning wanting to have conversations with students in order to lead them to God. Not everyone gets a chance to know with 100% certainty that they’re doing the right thing. I feel confident that I have that certainty.

If you don’t have a feel for what your calling is, keep seeking. Be prayerful about where God is calling you to and be attentive when he speaks. In my life, there were a lot of people who pointed out pieces of the puzzle that led to me figuring out my calling. Pay attention to those people in your life. God wants you to know your calling–while it’s not always easy to figure out, he will reveal it to you.

Filed Under: Encouragement Tagged With: , , , , ,

Evaluating your small group leadership

May 5, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Matt McGill has a great post on his blog from this week about self-evaluation. His team sent this out to all their leaders so they could reflect on what their ministry looks like and how they are living spiritually as a leader. A few of the questions are below, but head over to McGill’s blog to see the rest of the evaluation and go through some of the questions yourself.

Last week, we sent the following tool to our leaders to help them evaluate their personal ministry:

PERSONAL LEADERSHIP EVALUATION

It’s impossible to get better if we don’t evaluate! Here are a few questions to help you think about your ministry. I encourage you to take some time to reflect on each of the following:

  • Am I maintaining a passionate faith and living a lifestyle that is above reproach?
  • Who are the students with whom I’ve really made a strong connection?
  • Who isn’t showing up to my small group that should be? What kind of follow-up should I do this week?
Filed Under: Repost, Spriritual Life, Volunteer ministry, Youth Ministry Tagged With: , , , ,

Are Your Students Ministering To Each Other?

March 7, 2012 by Leave a Comment

I love when I see students in my small group ministering to each other. I’ve seen it after a group meeting when someone talked about a tough issue they are going through and I watch the others pray for and love on that student and let him know, “Hey, I’m here for you and I care”. I think that’s one of the signs of a healthy student small group. Today I saw a post on Facebook from one of my students to another one thanking him for being there for him. What makes it even better is that I know these two are accountability partners as well.

But I have to admit when I saw that today my first thought was, “What was he going through that he didn’t text or call me for some help?” Quickly it dawned on me if that happens all the time I’m not doing my job as a student small group leader. Part of our task is to teach them to minister to each other. When we see that happen it means we leaders have done our job! By nature I’m a fixer, I want to help everyone fix their problems but by teaching my student small group to minister to each other I am helping them fix their problems by being there for each other.

Don’t make that mistake yourself, in fact if you’re not teaching your students to be there for each other, to minister to each other, to be accountability partners then you should be. Teaching life application to scripture is important, but so is teaching students to just be there for each other. Remember, most of the time the real ministry happens outside of your small group time.

Question:  Are you teaching students to minister to each other or are you doing all the ministering?

 

Filed Under: Small Groups, Spriritual Life Tagged With: , , ,

I HAD a lesson prepared for my small group…

February 28, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Last week I had one of those events that I call “a total God moment”.  It’s amoment when God just kind of speaks to you and pushes you in a direction and you have no idea why, but at the end of the night you realize how awesome it was and why God led you there.

I had a lesson prepared for my high school small group guys. I was going to talk about the Beatitudes  and how they apply to our lives today. I did a lot of research, I borrowed a commentary from Steven by D.A. Carson on the Books of Matthew and Luke, I spelled out practical applications, and by the time I was done I had 5 pages of notes. When I was done with this lesson my guys were going to be totally schooled on the Beatitudes, they would be reciting them in their sleep. I knew I had nailed this lesson, heck, even I understood the Beatitudes better than I ever have! About 30 minutes before my group meets I did my usual routine of going into my office in the Student Ministry building at Saddleback Church, closing my door and having some serious prayer time with Jesus before hand.

When I was done with prayer time, I don’t know why but something kept telling me that tonight was not the night for the lesson I had prepared. “No”, I thought…it has to be I’ve spent a lot of time on this and it’s good if I don’t say so myself!  But the closer the time got to my small group meeting time and my guys started arriving I kept getting this feeling that I need to skip the lesson for tonight and do something else. I put it out of my mind until we got into our meeting room, and began talking about everyone’s week. It hit me again…not tonight..put this lesson away. By then I figured it out and knew it was God telling me something else needed to be talked about tonight. The next thing I knew I started asking them to tell me what the definition of forgiveness is, and do they need to forgive anyone? Or do they need to ask forgiveness of someone? One of the guys asked me for my definition of forgiveness. I told him to me, true forgiveness means that I forever give up the right to hold against you what you have done to me. Once I say “I forgive you”, its done, its gone, it never happened.

At that moment one of the guys began talking about something he had done and needed to ask forgiveness for. It was a pretty tough issue and I was so proud of him for putting his feelings out there. And then another one, and by the time the night was over two more had text me about issues they needed to ask someone to forgive them for. That night our group’s Facebook page lit up with comments from the guys thanking me for the lesson and for helping them make some tough decisions tonight. WOW! If I had kept with my original plan none of this would have happened! God definitely knew what was best for the lesson last night and I’m thankful I heard and followed His direction. The awesome part is that I got to just sit back and watch them minister to each other! Tears were shed, hugs were given out and accountability partners were chosen.

My question is….are you far enough along in your faith to recognize when God is moving you to or away from something?

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

Identity

February 15, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about the topic of “identity.” I’m speaking on that topic in our junior high group in a few weeks, so I’ve relived how my own identity has changed over the past 10 years and what I see now as God is leading me through life in ministry.

Naturally, my brain goes to the 9 junior high guys I disciple every single week. What are their identities? Are they allowing other people to define them, are they changing themselves to fit what someone else’s identity for them is, or are they allowing God to live in and through them?

If I have one goal for my guys by the end of this school year, it’s to help them realize that their identity is in Christ. I think we have a fair amount of work to do, but the result could be astronomical.

Question: What is the current identity of your students?

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

Where do you get your youth ministry power?

February 9, 2012 by 1 Comment

As I was spending time in prayer and reading through the book of Mark on Tuesday night, I ran across a story I only remember reading once before. It’s the story of Jesus’ disciples who, when brought a boy afflicted with a demon, are unable to cast it out like they had done countless times before. When Jesus sees the boy, he casts out the demon, leaving the boy seemingly dead. Jesus grabs the boy by the hand, lifting him up to life and sending him on his way.

When Jesus and the disciples are away from the crowd, they ask him why they were unable to cast out the demon like they had before. Jesus replies in verse 29,

“This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.”

This got me thinking about my ministry. Often I find myself on a roll–having great conversations with students, helping them with issues they face, challenging them to think differently–and I begin to forget about the thing that drives me and gives me the power to do ministry. Without prayer and surrendering my ministry to God, I begin to lose the power I once had to effectively lead students in their faith.

Tuesday was a great reminder for me that as a leader, I need to be in constant prayer for God to empower me to be a leader. I need his power in order to change lives. Let that be your reminder today: if you haven’t already, take some time right now to stop and pray for God to lead your ministry. Ask him to empower you to do the ministry he would desire. Without it, you will be powerless.

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

When You Feel Stuck

February 4, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Here’s a repost of an article from Benjer McVeigh, a student pastor at Washington Heights Church in Ogden, Utah. We’ve all felt like our ministry was stuck in neutral and not going anywhere. Here’s a tease of his post, you can find the entire post here. 

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Lately, I’ve felt…stuck. Stuck in ministry, that is. There’s no one thing that I can put my finger on that’s really, really broken in our student ministry. It’s just that I feel like we’re not making the impact we could be making, and that as a leader, I need to help our team figure out where we need to go next. The feeling is actually quite hard to articulate, and it’s something I’ve spent a lot of prayer and thought on lately. I’d be willing to bet that others have felt this way before, or may be feeling this way right now. Here are some things to do that are helpful when we feel “stuck” as leaders:

Ask: Why do I feel stuck? Do you feel stuck because you realize that there are hundreds or thousands of students in your community who don’t know Jesus, and you feel burdened to reach more of those students? Or do you feel stuck because your pride hurts from lower attendance numbers or slower growth? Sometimes we’re just longing for another shot of momentum to stroke our egos and feel important.

Pray: Obvious, yes. But worth mentioning, because if you’re like me, you’re a problem solver. I studied math in college, and I love solving problems. Many times, I approach my role as a leader the same way and continually try to puzzle things out. There’s nothing wrong with solving problems, but I often forget that it’s the Holy Spirit that leads, not me and my tiny little brain.

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

Are we in love with loving Jesus?

May 12, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Do we love loving Jesus more than we actually love Jesus himself?

This question popped into my head Tuesday as I was sitting in a lecture on the book of 1 Peter. The speaker referenced an interaction Jesus had with one of his closest disciples, Peter, and he asks Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” (John 21:15) My initial reaction, and maybe yours too, is that Jesus is asking if he loves Jesus above other things, like worldly things, rulers, religious leaders, etc. In reality I think Jesus is asking an entirely different question. To put Jesus’ question in other words, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than the other disciples love me?”

This question is completely loaded. If Peter answers that he does, in fact, love Jesus more than the other disciples do, he would have to question his motives for loving Jesus. Does Peter really love Jesus or does he love loving Jesus? Does he desire the recognition that comes with loving Jesus most out of The Twelve more than he desires Jesus?

Compare this to how we do ministry. I’ve seen a few people involved in our ministry at Saddleback Church that probably like the idea of volunteering in youth ministry more than they enjoy doing it. It might make them feel good that they’re serving God in doing this, but does it really honor Him if they’re doing it with a heart in the wrong place? At times, I feel this too. Sometimes I get so wrapped up in youth ministry “success” that I lose track of the ultimate goal – bringing students closer to God.

In Doug Fields’ book Your First Two Years in Youth Ministry, he lists the Ten Commandments of Youth Ministry. One of the commandments is “I will regularly check my motives and evaluate my heart.” This is super important for all leaders involved in youth ministry to remember to avoid the love of loving ministry and not ministry itself.

Are you more in love with loving Jesus or with Jesus himself?

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