Our Team is Growing!

This past week I had the privilege of bringing two new church partners on to our YM team!  The interview time with them reminded me of our history as a youth ministry as well as our future.
I pray this means that God is about to grow our group some more.  It's not about the numbers but each number is a student who is being reached with the love and good news of Jesus Christ.
Our current student to youth minister ratio is about 5 to 1.   That's  pretty good!

Some suggestions for interviewing new team members:

1.  Have an application - you need all their important contact info.  Our application also includes space for them to share their faith story as well as why they feel God would have them to serve on the team.

2.  Clearly defined expectations and job description.  (our team members serve each and every Sunday night)

3.  Background check. (a step in protecting students and team members) 

4.  A signed covenant.  (expectations we agree on)

5.  Get some references - especially important if they are new to you or your congregation.   We ask for a reference from their previous pastor.  This could give good insight into who they are as a person and also help prevent any future conflict.

6.  Spend some time meeting with them.  At our interview last week I shared:
> our history
> our expectations
> teaming with parents
> our strategy
> our philosophy

7.  Find out a little about their personality type.  It really helps if your team can gel and understanding how we are each "wired" can be a huge step in that direction.

8.  Pray together

9.  Introduce the new team members to the rest of the team.

10.  Training.  Much of our training is "on the job" but I also send our team articles to read and we get together each week before youth group to run through our "game plan" for the night.  Once a year we have a team retreat to get together and have fun together and learn together.

If your volunteers fill the role of chaperone it may be time to come up with a new approach to youth ministry.  Some training for your volunteers, sit down with them and hash out the expectations.  Cast vision for what their role is and why they are so vital to the youth ministry.

Super Bowl Party = Great. The Game = BORING

We hosted our annual Super Bowl Party this past Sunday evening (that would only make sense).
At the writing of this blog post our church does not have cable or satellite so we streamed the game online and put it on the big screen and flat screens in The Loft.  Worked great with only a few hiccups.

We asked the students to bring either a bag of chips or a package of cookies.  The result is we have enough chips to last for the rest of February's youth group gatherings. (all part of the plan)
Here are the stats:
18 sq. feet of dip, chips and other goodies. (you have to hear "goodies" in the voice of Nacho)
40 roast beef, ham, and turkey melts.
A triple batch of queso.
12 liters of soda pop.
2 gallons of red Kool Aid.

The sandwich melts were easy to make and a great way to feed a bunch of people without a lot of work.  We placed sandwich meat (we used Boar's Head meats and cheese) and cheese on a hamburger bun.  Wrapped each sandwich individually in aluminum foil.  Popped them in the oven at 350 for about 25 minutes.  Then we moved them into a roaster oven to keep them warm.  Students grabbed the sandwich they desired.  We wrote on the foil with a sharpie so they knew what was roast beef, ham or turkey, etc.

 
One of our team members, we call her "Cinni Mini", make some sort of giant food for the party each year.  This year she made Dip Stadium.  Home made bean dip and guacamole and lots of other good stuff.  Check it out!









During half time another team member, we call him "Scott", shared from the Bible and showed this challenging video.



This is a great inexpensive event to do and the students who attend have a blast hanging out together.

Refuel Retreat

I am really looking forward to attending the Refuel Retreat.  I've been to the big national youth worker events in the past and love them.  Refuel caps their attendance off at 30.  So it's small, intimate I'm looking forward to that aspect even though I'm more comfortable in a large crowd. 

As I venture into my "older" years I often wonder what youth ministry will look like for me.  Much has changed in my approach and level of activity (I learned a few years ago to not to try to outrun a 16 year old playing manhunt).  More will be shaped as I edge into my 50's.  Oh my!!!  I see equipping and turning loose youth ministers from within the church becoming my thing as time goes on.  At the retreat we will be refueling spiritually and life mapping.  I'm not sure what life mapping is all about but I guess I'll find out. 

So I am stoked about Refuel.  Check it out.  Refuel is put on by Leader Treks.  Great people with some great resources.

The retreat I'm attending will cover the following: (as well as worship time)

1. Leading Yourself
Developing your own leadership identity is key to overcoming so many of the challenges you face in ministry. This will help you find success in your leadership and will prevent you from mimicking others around you.

2. Leading the Mission
Are you spending most of your time in areas that push the mission forward or in areas that drain your energy? When you learn how to lead the mission, you’ll steer the ministry in the right direction.

3. Leading Up
Every youth pastor needs to work with people who are older than they are: adult volunteers, parents, and senior pastors to name a few. Knowing how to effectively lead up is one of the most essential things a youth pastor can learn and it can help the church rally behind the youth ministry in big ways.

Super Bowl Party

We don't have cable so we stream the game on a big screen and two 42 inch flat screens (we have the cables and everything in place for 3 more flat screens as budgets allow).
Students bring either a bag of chips or a bag of cookies.
We provide lots of great food, games, comfy places to sit with friends.
During half time we share something from God's Word.
Bam!  Super Bowl Party!

Working with ADD

Working with ADD can be tricky.  There is medication to help an adult with ADD focus.  I would rather not take drugs so my brain and my desk reflect my choice.

So what do I do:

1.  Recognize I work better with a routine schedule.
      If I break routine it can throw my day out of whack which impacts my entire work week.  My office time at the church is as routine as I can make it.  Is changing a thermostat in the church part of my daily routine?  No.    Is stopping to get milk on the way home part of my routine?  No.  So that takes me to:
2.  Use available tools. 
     For the milk scenario above I must put a post it note on my cell phone (then hope I remember to take my cell phone home with me)  I'm also discovering new tools both online and apps that I can download to help me.  I use "to do" lists or task lists.  I write down only the things that in my mind matter therefore I can't keep meeting notes from our staff meetings.  I have the natural ability to take an hour long meeting and condense it into 16 words.

3.  Keep things in the same place. 
     My keys, wallet and phone have to be on the bar at home or I will leave home without them.  Well at least without my phone and wallet cause I can't very well leave home without my keys.  If I routinely keep something in the same general area and it is moved or covered with another object that can throw me way off.

4.  Read in short controlled bursts.
     A story/article/book has to be really, really good to hold my attention.  I read blog posts but if they are more than 3 paragraphs and aren't bullet pointed I don't even bother.  If I click a link to an article and it looks overwhelming I just keep on trucking.

5.  Turn off distractions.
      If I really need to get something done I'll mute the phone, shut the office door, etc.  The devices I use to help me stay organized can even become a distraction and that's a vicious cycle isn't it?

6.  I let people know that the worst place they can attempt a conversation with me is in a room with lots of other people or noise.  Try as hard as I can to focus I won't hear everything you say but I may hear the entire conversation happening behind me and tell it back to you verbatim.

7.  E-mail or Text.  If you tell me something you need me to do while at Sunday morning church or when youth group is happening I will totally forget.  So e-mail is my friend.  I used to carry a tiny notebook around to write that stuff down but I kept losing it because it would never end up in the same location.

8.  I forget a lot of things I am asked to do, pick up, etc.  I live with that.


That about sums it up.  I also have Misphonia but that would be another whole blog post.

Celebrating Christmas

We spend the whole month of December celebrating Christmas.  We do some serious and some fun.

Last Sunday night Ramon and I taught about the first Christmas.  Ramon took the lead sharing some of the prophecies and events leading up to Christ's birth.  I followed with Christ's birth and how it fulfilled prophecy and dispelled a few myths (that most of us picked up in church along the way) about Christmas.

One of the interesting thoughts that hit me as I studied last week was the fact that there was no place for home or room for Joseph and Mary.  One would think that since Bethlehem was Joseph's family's home that there would have been some relative close or distant that they could have stayed with.  Maybe the place was just slam packed.  Maybe, could it be, that there was no room because here they were an engaged couple and she was pregnant?  Maybe their family and the community looked down on them for the situation they found themselves in.

This Sunday we party, we celebrate Christ's birth.  We spend some time talking about the gift of Jesus Christ.  We then play a great game of sneaky Santa.  Then we eat some fabulous party food that the students bring.

The Sunday before Christmas many of our students go traveling to visit family.  We use this Sunday when numbers will be down to get way from the usual and we go bowling, our annual Christmas Bowl.  We have been doing this for years.  We usually have a great turn out and it's an awesome opportunity for our students to bring their unchurched friends and for our team to hang out with the students.  This year we are encouraging tacky Christmas sweater to be worn to the bowling event.

Another Student Knows Christ

Last night at Contagious Youth . . . .

Nate led worship in music along with the help of two of our students.  It's great to see students jumping in on serving.  We have students greeting the students when they arrive, setting out the food, taking care of Instagram account, taking care of the tech stuffs, making sure we keep our Compassion International child on the front of our minds.  Much of this ministry stuff has happened organically.

Ramon shared the message, the 4th in our current series about the future.  During the message Ramon clearly explained the gospel.  The opportunity was given for anyone who wanted to put their faith in Jesus Christ and we had a young man take that step!  Not only that but he was very excited and also expressed a desire to follow Jesus in baptism.  We gave him a new Bible and a copy of New.

I'm praying we see this happen more and more and that our students catch on to sharing their faith with their friends.  We taught last year on this but I feel a "refresher" message coming soon.

God is at work in Nags Head Church and last night's salvation decision is evidence.

Where did that kid go?

Great article from YM 360.  We all know the pain we feel when a kid just stops coming to youth group.  Some good advice in this article from YM 360!

Last Night in The Loft

We were back in The Loft on our normal school year schedule last night.  The new "flow" seemed to work well.   The full band definitely increased the energy of our worship in music.  We started off with couple great Minute to Win It games, complete with prizes.  That helped break the ice and engage the students.  Music was fantastic.

I taught the first in our current series, "2020, The Future is Now".  Each student received a booklet to use throughout the series and we included 3 daily quiet times for each week in the booklet.  I'm copying more this week because we gave all of them out last night and you know some of those will be "lost" in the abyss called "bedroom floor".

The Taco Bar was a smashing success.  The food was great.  We used signupgenius.com to create the food sign up sheet.  I included a link in the parent e-mail update last week and the parents stepped up to the plate and delivered the food.  Worked great!  Signupgenius.com is free.

Created a bumper video using Keynote and iMovie.  It worked!

We had excellent attendance last night with several guests.  Our students are approaching our attendance goal.  I'm praying we hit it consistently over the rest of this series and then boost our goal a little higher.  Every number represents a student who needs to know Christ and grow in their faith walk with Him.

Youth Room Lighting on a Budget

 

1.  Buy a remote control electrical outlet thingy.  The one I purchased controls three different units.  

  

2.  Buy a 3 way splitter for each electrical outlet thingy.  Plug into the outlet thingy.

 

3.  Buy some small par cans.  Search the web for the best deal.  Most run in the $20 range.

Get some colored gels.

Make sure wherever you buy your par cans that you buy a safety cable for each one.  You don't want them falling from the ceiling and cracking someone on the head.

Back to The Loft

This Sunday night we kick off our new school year in The Loft.  We are changing things up (see previous post).  I'm looking forward to the change, the "experiment".  A few things I'm focusing in on as the youth pastor this school year.

1.  50!  I see no reason why our youth group doesn't have 50 students on a regular basis.  (I really think we could have 100)  So my prayer is that our students get passionate about sharing their faith with their friends.  I want them to invite them to youth group but more importantly I want them to share their faith, build relationships with their peers and seek out the opportunities to share their faith.
This goal will require at least 3 things of me:
                                                                       a.  teach on how to share your faith
                                                                       b.  grow our volunteer team.  (why expect God to send
                                                                            us more students to disciple if we aren't equipped and
                                                                            ready)
                                                                        c.  A and B are the easy part.  I need to be a witness and
                                                                             I need to set the example

Why focus on a number?  That number represents 50 students who need to come to faith in Christ and be discipled.



2.  Student Leadership.  In the past I have attempted to create student leadership teams.  I created something that looked good on paper but administratively it was not a fit to who I am.  I think sometimes we get caught up in great ideas but we try to replicate what others are doing in ministry without consider the fact that God created each of us differently.  Sure we should work on our weaknesses but we should focus on our strengths.

This school year we are going to go for a more organic approach to student leadership.  Look for opportunities to draw students into ministry.  "Hey.  Can you help me and grab those 10 chairs and set them up in a circle over there?"  Those kind of moments and build from there.

In "big church" we serve each other.  Why is it that most youth ministries it is the adults serving the students?  We have been guilty of this.  It should be us equipping the students to serve other students.



3.  Think Tank.  I'm going to invite our students to join me and our middle school dude, Ramon, in a "Think Tank".  Sit down and talk with students and get their input on message series, directions to go, events, etc.  Invite the students in to help pull these things off.



Now it's time to pray!