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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: , , , , ,

Five Questions with Craig Gross

February 24, 2012 by Leave a Comment

This week I met a good friend and trusted advisor, Josh Griffin for coffee and we had an amazing hour together. I’m unique in that one of the mentors in my life, is younger than me but I can’t begin to tell you how much he has guided me on the path of working with students. One of the things we talked about was major issues facing students today. In my opinion pornography and pornography addictions are right up there with spiritual emptiness. If those of us in the trenches don’t address this issue with students and if we try to pretend it’s not there, it will keep getting worse and more teens are going to suffer. If you’re a female leader of a girl’s group please don’t stop reading here, girls are getting addicted to porn too!

If you don’t know who Craig Gross is…you should. He’s the founder of XXX Church.com.  Recently Josh sat down with Craig and asked him five questions. Here’s a tease of the post here. You can find the entire post here. Please read this carefuly…it might make a huge difference in a student’s life if you do.

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As a young pastor in Southern California, Craig Gross began to notice a recurring theme among those he cared for – a struggle with pornography. Boldly and courageously, he decided to address the root of the problem, so he went to the porn industry to ask some questions. This passion led him to start XXXChurch.com a website devoted to telling the truth about porn. It now has had over 70 million visitors to the website and almost a half of million people using X3Watch Accountability Software.

1) what are you most proud of in your work with the church and sexuality/pornography?

I am most proud that we have taken an issue that was silent in the church but widespread and in the 10 years we have been doing this we have seen openness to talk about this issue now like I never would have imagined. I find myself speaking at different churches each weekend in different parts of the country that I always ask myself.. are we sure this is the right place? Along the journey, I have met a lot of people that tell me they are accountable now using our software. It’s not about the software, it is about the relationships that I believe are changed and challenged because of this conversation and that means a lot to know that we have 1 million people now using our accountability software.

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

Why Student Ministry?

February 1, 2012 by Leave a Comment

As this website grows and we gain more and more followers, I get asked a particular question a lot. This question comes from both my friends who are church attendees and those who are not. The question I get asked is why I picked student ministry as the area I wanted to volunteer and serve. My answer is simple, I didn’t pick student ministry, God picked it for me!

I volunteered in a couple other areas at Saddleback church before I started volunteering with students. I got satisfaction from the other areas that I volunteered, but when I started with our high school team as a volunteer and a small group leader my spiritual life just exploded and I mean that in a good way. I have seen firsthand the effect that a positive role model and mentor can have on teens. I have seen lives changed right before my eyes. It hasn’t been all sunshine and smiles, there have been some sad times along the way as well, but that’s when I realize that Satan does not like what I’m doing and he will do anything to try to de-rail my ministry. I just turn to prayer and to the people close in my life and ask for their support and prayer. God has not failed me yet.

I know that student ministry is not for everyone, just like there are a lot of ministries that are not for me. You need to find how God has shaped you, what he has designed you for and run with it. It’s just like a job that you either love or hate. If you love your job you excel, if you hate it you’re probably just doing the least amount you have to in order to get by. Here are some tips on selecting a ministry; I’m going to do this same exercise with my high school small group so I can get them involved in regularly serving in a ministry:

1.  Pray. Ask God to help you select the right ministry for you.

2.  If you don’t know what ministry area you are suited for, I recommend this book, S.H.A.P.E. by Erik Rees.

2.  Ask your friends and those you trust what they think you might be good at. The reason I got involved in student ministry is because two people thought I would be good at it and they kept after me until I finally caved in and tried it. I will always be grateful to them.

3.  Find someone to do ministry with you. Two are stronger than one; I can’t imagine doing this ministry without Steven. We just “click” in so many areas, I get an idea about something I want to do, and he will take my idea and build on it. By the time he is done, my good idea has gone to a great idea. Pick someone who you trust, someone who will not just tell you what you WANT to hear but what you NEED to hear.

4.  If you try a ministry and don’t like it, or its more like a job than a labor of love, get out! Find something else. You won’t enjoy what you’re doing and God will not get glory from you doing a shoddy job at ministry. Get out, but don’t give up! Try something else. One of the ways we show our love of God is to serve others.

I’d love to hear why you picked student ministry! You can comment here.

Filed Under: Spriritual Life, Volunteer 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: , , , ,

I Can’t Wait for 2012 To Get Here

December 30, 2011 by Leave a Comment

 

I can’t wait for the New Year to get here. I don’t like this week between Christmas and New Year’s. It’s almost as if the world comes to a standstill during this week. Most people are off from work, but I don’t think I’ve ever had a job where I had this week off and as hard as I try – it’s hard to get motivated during this week. Christmas is over and Christmas trees just look lonely now, waiting their ultimate fate of a trip to the trash bin. There has been so much rich food around in the past couple of weeks that I am literally “junked out”. The other night I had a bowl of Rice Chex for dinner; it was the only thing that sounded good.

I want to do some serious spiritual goal setting with my High School small group in January. Next week I’ll be using Steven’s idea for setting goals and keeping them in mind, see his post here. One goal I want to achieve with my guys is making sure that by the end of the school year they are all taking full advantage of a quiet time each day. I know how much that has changed my life; I want them to get the same spiritual push that I get.

Working for a church, this past week and a half has been a busy time for both Steven and I and our posts have been sporadic this week, but rest assured, we’ll be back with daily posts right after the New Year, thanks for sticking with us!

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

Find the “Message Within a Message”

December 20, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Christmas is a great time to talk to students about their relationship with Jesus. I’m using it as my “message within a message” this week with my high school small group. Here’s how it’s going to look:

Christmas is a time for family. Christmas is a time to share. Christmas is a time for letting the people in our lives know how special they are to us. Christmas is a time when we forget about the wrongs that our family or friends have done, we set that all aside and just enjoy and love each other.

Translate that to a message within a message:

We are also a part of God’s family, not just at Christmas but all year-long. Being a part of God’s family means God will be there to provide and care for us. Maybe not always in the way we want, but in the way that God knows is best for us. When we share God with others it brings us closer to Him and when we share what we have with God it shows Him our trust. God doesn’t need our money but when we tithe we are showing that we trust God in our finances. We are special to God. All of us. When we have a special relationship with Jesus our lives are richer and fuller than we could have ever imagined. Jesus forgives and forgets our wrongs; He loves us and wants us to be with Him.

There you go, the “message within a message”. Four simple points, but all things that show Christmas is way more than gifts under a tree. You can probably come up with 100 different points like this when you put together a Christmas lesson for students. When I use this lesson with my students tonight, I want them to share what these points mean to them. I want to show them that when they have a true relationship with God, everyday is Christmas!

 

 

 

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

Don’t Give Up Don’t Give In Keep Pushing Forward

December 15, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Do not worry. Do not keep saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or, ‘What will we drink?’ or, ‘What will we wear? The people who do not know God are looking for all these things. Your Father in heaven knows you need all these things. First of all, look for the holy nation of God. Be right with Him. All these other things will be given to you also. Do not worry about tomorrow. Tomorrow will have its own worries. The troubles we have in a day are enough for one day. –Matthew 6:31-34  NLT

We all have seasons in our lives that are tougher than others. I think when we come out of those seasons; God has made us tougher in the process. It seems that all through the year I’ll have at least one student going through one of those times in his life. Right now I have two that having a rough time and the funny thing is…so am I.

 As I was talking to them separate from the group the other night and encouraging them and telling them not to give up or give in but to keep pushing forward and pray and trust God- something hit me. Those were exactly the words I needed to hear at that moment! God was using my rough time….to help two students…and their rough time was helping me. What an amazing God we have!

I’m constantly telling students that God never wastes a hurt, he will use your hurt to help others one day. I love when I see it play out right in front of me.

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

Unpacking Scripture

December 14, 2011 by Leave a Comment

One of the phrases I use with my high school small group guys is “unpacking scripture”. It dawned on me this week that most of them probably didn’t know what that term means. Tonight we had decided to do a Bible study on Romans chapter 8. I used this as an example for “unpacking scripture”, to show them what God is telling us in the verses in the Bible. We only “unpacked” verses 1-16 and we spend an hour and a half discussing what they mean. We spent half an hour alone on Romans 8:1, “So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus”.  – NLT

We talked about what condemnation meant, how God wants to change us, not punish us. It was an awesome experience for me to show them how to do it, and then just sit back and watch them do it on their own. I’m guessing for most of them they won’t look at Romans chapter 8 in the same way again.

The hard part for me was not doing all the talking. Once they got the hang of “unpacking scripture”, I just sat back and let them run with it. Most of the time being a good leader means you lead and then sit back and let your students run with the ball. If you’re doing more than 50% of the talking then your students are not participating enough and probably aren’t getting as much out of a lesson as they could if they were doing more of the talking. I have a few guys who can be quiet at times; I wait for the right opportunity to call on them for an answer to something without making them feel like I’m putting them on the spot. I recommend you try a lesson on “unpacking scripture” with your student small group. Once students know how to unpack scripture, it makes Bible reading and quiet times a lot more productive.

 

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

Where Is Steven This Week?

December 13, 2011 by 1 Comment

Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed.  If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But someone who falls alone is in real trouble – Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 (NLT)

 

You will probably be reading more of my voice this week on this blog, but don’t worry Steven’s insight and blogs will be back next week. He has finals this week at Biola and he is a little preoccupied. This morning it dawned on me, this is one of the reasons to do ministry with someone else and not alone. Two are stronger than one, and it gives us coverage to insure that we are always posting new content for you to read.

 Don’t get me wrong there are a lot of excellent student ministry blogs out there that are written by just one person. But I think that’s where this website stands out. We offer different viewpoints from different generations and we are also able to handle those times when life hits you head on with other priorities and still keep our site current with new posts. We want to do all we can to help you make your student ministry a success.

 I was thinking today of a few years ago, I had walked into our worship center at Saddleback Church. While I was in there I kept hearing this strange noise. I looked around the room and I saw an older gentleman who was going row by row and sharpening all the pencils that were in the racks in front of the seats. These are used by people taking notes during the service. I went over to talk to him and he explained that one day during a service he got tired of trying to write with a dull pencil so since he was retired and a widower and had time on his hands he made this his ministry. That’s great! He found a way to remain useful and serve God even in his elderly years. Our Worship Center is a big building and it seats about 3,500 per service, so this was no small task he had taken on. The problem is when he died, no one was there to pick up the slack and for a while we went back to dull pencils again! (We fixed the problem, we now use pens) How great would that have been if he included some of his friends in that ministry, they could have helped him or at least been there with him all day on a Friday to keep him company and make the experience fun while he was serving God. And when the time came when he could no longer take on this ministry someone would have been there to keep it going. We’re not meant to go through stuff alone, including ministry.

 Think about your ministry. Could you do it better or reach more students if you had help?

P.S. Pray for Steven and his finals this week!

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

10 Christmas Story Takeaways Students Need To Know

December 10, 2011 by 2 Comments

I saw this awesome article posted on youthministry360.com. The post is on “10 Christmas Story Takeaways That Students Need to Know”. It’s an awesome article, I’m going to use these with my high school small group. I’ve posted the first two, you can find the other eight here.

The Christmas story is literally crammed full of powerful teachings. Here are 10 takeaways that speak directly to students:

1. The Incarnation Is Awesome

Luke 2:6-7 says, “And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.”

It seems this generation of teenagers places a high value on authenticity. There is nothing more authentic than the God of the Universe taking on human form in order to perfectly save His creation from themselves. Students can know, and worship, and relate to God because He became one of us.

2. You’re Never To Young To Be Used by God

Luke 1:26-27 says, “In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary.”

Mary was pretty young. Scholars’ opinions range anywhere from 13 or 14 years old to 18 or 19. The point is this: God used Mary in a miraculous way. That’s God’s M.O. He used Mary when she was a teenager. He can and will (and does) use young people today as vital parts of His plan to redeem humankind.

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