Why are we here?

Last night we walked through why we are here as a youth group.  We have several new students and it's been a year since we had a message devoted to simply spelling out our purpose and strategy.


What is our purpose?


“Reaching students to discover life in Christ”
Matthew 22:36-40
Matthew 28:18-20

What is our strategy?  No purpose or vision is successful without a plan of action.
Reach
Challenging and equipping our students to share their faith with their friends.
1 Corinthians 9:16-17

Reconstruct
After a student puts his or her faith in Jesus Christ their lives change as God reconstructs them into who he wants them to be.
2 Corinthians 5:17
Colossians 3:10

Repeat
The Reach and Reconstruct is Repeated as students are seeing their friends come to know God through Jesus Christ.


Momentum.  We spent some time talking about how momentum builds and how the students can be part of the momentum but also how they can bust the momentum.  Their simple act of being there at youth group helps momentum.  Church is vital to our health and our youth group isn't separate from the church, our youth group is the church.
Hebrews 10:25

After the message* our students broke up into their small groups to discuss the message and to study and discuss 2 Corinthians 5:11-21.

*we had students lined up in advance to read the scriptures for the group as we went through the message.

Taking Notes?

In my mind I have a dream of students gathered before me learning and writing down every word that proceeds from my lips.  It's a dream!  Can't I have a dream?  It's not reality.   Not even gonna happen.  But we do have some students who learn visually so we put things up on the big screens for them.  We also have students who learn just fine by listening.  We have students who learn as they talk it out so we provide discussion in our PODz.

We used to do fill in the blank notes for every kid back in the day.  Many used them for passing notes to each other.  The studious students used them.  BUT it created more work.  So I wanted to get back into giving the students who want the opportunity to take notes a tool to use without having to create a fill in the blank sheet each week.  Plus I think these youth are smart enough to write down what they feel is important or speaking to them.

I also added an "on my own this week" section.  Each week my goal will be to have a section of scripture or a "homework" assignment for students who would like to go a little deeper into their study of God's word. 
  We also have the students who learn when they write.  So for those students a note sheet is a nice tool.

On the bottom is the "My Next Step" section.  Each week when we teach we should expect there is a next step for every person in the room to take students and adults.  I'm leaving them a little place to write down that next step to help them confirm what is taking place in their heart and life.

My hope is this tool will get some good use.

Do you do anything like this with your students?

Lead Like Joshua

I have been reading through the book of Joshua in the mornings.  Lots of good leadership examples in the life of Joshua.
This is from my journal today:
Joshua 24

Joshua gathers the tribes and their leaders and reminds them of what God has done for them. From bringing Abraham out from worshipping other gods to delivering them from Egypt. Joshua reminded them of how God:
>established them as his children
>cared for them
>protected them
>provided for them


God has established me as his child.  God has cared for me, protected me and provided for me.

In this chapter is my favorite line from Joshua.
Verse 15 "...Choose today who you will serve"

The choice is before Israel to choose to serve the gods from their ancestor, Abraham's, land. The choice to serve the gods of Egypt. The choice to serve the gods of the displaced Canaanites in the promised land. The choice to serve the one and only, true and living, God.
They chose to serve God.

I have a choice to make as well.  Who will I serve? 

My other favorite line from Joshua is also in this chapter.
"But as for me and my family, we will serve the Lord."
Joshua was not only a leader of a nation but he was a leader in his home and family. His family didn't get the option to choose. Joshua pretty much said, "this is how it's going to be in my family."

Leaders in the church must first be leaders in the home.

What is your choice? Who will you serve?

Sheepdog or Shepherd

Great post from LeaderTreks.   Good reminder of what we should be and do as shepherds of students.

Read More

Easter Lessons

Here are some trusted resources if you are looking for an Easter lesson for your youth group:

 

Leader Treks - The "Why" behind Jesus' death

Producing a Star Team Player

The topic of producing a star team player could be written down on pages and pages of papryrus and rolled into a scroll, BUT I have ADD so I like things in short bursts. (with numbers or bullets and pictures also help)

I was thinking about leading a team.  How should I take a church partner (member) and move them into the fabulous volunteer on a team?

Train 

There has to be some sort of training involved.  Whether it’s a class up front that explains the whole youth ministry and all that is expected or a series of small training sessions along the way mixed with on the job training.  Don't just throw them into the lion's den.  We have an annual retreat for training as well as a “stand up” team meeting before youth group each week.  Shoot me an e-mail and I can explain more.


Task   
When a person volunteers they want to do something, they want a task or tasks.  If they aren’t given something to do they feel unfulfilled and soon you will find yourself looking to fill that spot again and the vicious cycle.  We all want to feel like we are accomplishing something.

Turn Loose
Once they have been trained  and given a task you turn them loose.  Answer any questions they may have along the way.  Allow them the space to make decisions on their own within the expectation parameters they have been given.  Trust your team.

Talk
Check in from time to time and talk about their ministry. 
Ask questions:

“How do you like serving on the YM team?”

“What is an area you struggle with?”

“Do you need help with anything?”

“What can I do better to help you minister to students?”
“When you dream about our youth ministry where do you see us going?”
“How do you feel when we accomplish our purpose as a team?”

The Call 2014

We hosted The Call once again last weekend.  The Call began as an idea back in OK.  Students would come off the summer mission trips and camps excited and passionate about their Savior.  The Call serves as a "booster shot" during the winter months.

At The Call 2014 we had Alex McFarland as our main guest speaker.  Alex is a great apologist. 
Our worship in music was led by Drew Miller and his wife, Kathryn, and band.  They were spot on. 

Friday night we had two worship sessions. 
Saturday we had break out sessions for students:
Share Your Story/Reach Your Camps
Following Christ
You Were Created to Serve


We also had break out sessions for youth leaders:
Building a Team
I'm a Volunteer
Teaching/leading Students


Saturday we had two more general sessions with Alex and Drew. 
The best news is that 11 student made the decision to put their faith in Jesus Christ as their Savior.

It was great to see 9 different church youth groups from all over our region, from Rocky Mount, NC up to Suffolk Va., come together to worship and learn more about what we believe and why we believe.

I'm already looking forward to planning for The Call 2015.

Leading with Confidence

Leadership can obviously be a challenge at times.  Sometimes leadership feels like a constant challenge.  I remember many years ago when I stepped into the role of Associate Pastor (Nice title to help the older folks fund the youth ministry position) I was thinking to myself, “Now what?”.  A huge challenge lay before me.  The last youth minister was gone and regardless of what the church members felt about him either way I was staring at stepping in and taking leadership.  “Oh my word.......I don’t even know what I’m doing.”

We find a great example to learn from as leaders in Joshua.  Moses is gone.  Now God is letting Joshua know that he is about to lead the people.  I can’t help but think Joshua was feelings some of the feelings we might feel when we step into leadership or our leadership roles change within the ministry.


Joshua 1:6-7


6 “Be strong and courageous, for you are the one who will lead these people to possess all the land I swore to their ancestors I would give them. 7 Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the instructions Moses gave you. Do not deviate from them, turning either to the right or to the left. Then you will be successful in everything you do.

3 Things about Leadership I learned from Josh:


Confidence - We need to be confident in leading.  Not a self-confidence but a confidence in God.  He has called us to the leadership position we are in.  We are part of his plan so our confidence in him.  In verse 5 God told Joshua, “I will not fail you or abandon you.”

Obey the Word - Do what the Bible says.  Key to leadership is obeying God.  Moses set the example for Joshua.  Moses left the safety of the wilderness to go back to Egypt, the country he fled from after killing the Egyptian.  Obedience isn’t always the easy or popular route.

Don’t stray - Don’t deviate even the slightest.  If you are following God’s lead and direction then God has a destination in mind for your leadership.  If you deviate even the slightest in directions you end up in a different destination.

God told Joshua that if he did the above three things, “you will be successful in everything you do.”  As leaders we want to be successful, not for the “pat on the back” but to honor God and bring him glory.  


Made the Cut

 One article with lots of helpful links to youth ministry resources and web sites.  I made the cut.

Our Annual YM Team Retreat

This past weekend was our annual YM Team Retreat.  When we have our retreat we focus in two areas:  Spiritual challenge/health in our own lives and our team goals for the year in youth ministry.  We all gathered in a vacation rental home for the retreat.

Here is what it looked like:

Friday - 6:30 - Dinner (Tacos and Enchiladas if you are interested)
              7:30 - Goals for the weekend and look back at 2013's goals
              8:00 - Small Things Big Difference.   Viewed a message on the small things. 
              8:40 - Discussed the small things we should be doing and discovered they are the same         things we are encouraging in student's lives and if we aren't doing them how can we expect the youth to do them?
Here is our "small things" list:  (not all encompassing)
Prayer
Word
Sharing our Faith
Time Management
Quiet Times
Give thought to my words
Faithfulness
Trust
Dependability
Attitudes
Discipline

         9:00(ish) - have some fun/hang out

Saturday -
        9:00 - Breakfast (Biscuits and gravy, eggs, sausage, hash browns if you are interested)
        9:45 - Small Things Big Difference #2
     10:30 -  Discussion then a break
     11:00 -  Discussion on 2014's focus the three areas we are focusing on this year:
                   1.  Developing Student Leaders
                   2.  Growth
                   3.  Mission Projects
                   and there was much discussion and input from the team.  Great group of thinkers on our  team.
     12:30 - We went out to Lunch together
       2:00 - Afternoon free time
      6:00 -   Supper (Lasagna, salad and bread if you are interested)
      During Supper the team asked some questions and we talked about some changes we would make in our flow of students around the building while at youth group, safety/security issues, dealing with cell phone use.
      7:00 - Life Mapping (each individually taking a look at the coming year on a personal level)
      8:00 - We cleaned up and packed up and went home.

I hope you spend some focused time each year with your youth ministry volunteers doing some training and growth together.  Spending an extended time together gives you a real glimpse into the hearts of your team and their love and dedication to serving students.

When else do we meet?  Glad you asked.  We meet every Sunday night a half hour before our youth group gathering to have a "pre-game" meeting and prayer together.

Ministry Team Retreat

This weekend our youth ministry team, comprised of 10 great volunteers who love to minister to students and myself, will get together and spend the weekend together.  I will post more next week about our retreat this post will focus on why I feel retreats are important for teams.

• Bonding - you spend a weekend together and get to know each other better, laugh together, pray together, learn together.  Together is always better.  Getting to know who you serve with his important when you are in the trenches of ministry.

• Learning - we will spend some time focusing on learning some things about youth ministry and about ourselves that will help us be better equipped in serving students this coming year.  There is always something to be learned by a ministry team.  No matter what team a person is on there are some vital things to know and learn to help that team successfully focus on the purpose of the church. 

•  Growing  - we don't have a huge budget to bring in some great youth ministry guru or leadership specialist to help us grow.   I scour the internet, watch videos, etc. to find something we can watch and discuss that will challenge us to grow spiritually.  We can't feed students if we are running on empty.  We can't lead students to a place we have not been ourselves.

• Focusing - we will spend sometime to focus on our purpose and strategy and what some of our plans and ideas and dreams for 2014.

• Funning - sometimes when I share what we are doing in youth ministry a person will respond and say, "Wow.  That sounds like fun.  I wish I could do that."  To which I usually respond with an invite to our team.  Momma didn't raise no dummy.  In youth ministry we get to have fun, that's one of the perks of the ministry.  Usually in our setting we are sitting around chatting with students, playing with them on the Wii or Bananagrams, or simply schooling them in foosball.  We get to have fun with students.  I love our retreat because we get to have fun together as a team.  Laughing together, playing some games together, breaking bad in banangrams or spades, it's all good for the unity of the team.

Side note:  I lead our children's ministry team and we have yet to do a "retreat".  I've had some thoughts stirring about this one so I look forward to doing this with our team soon.

Does your ministry team have a retreat?  What do you do? 
No retreat?  Why not start small by getting together for dinner and have some fun then build from there?