yw2yw

From Matt Ransom, Youth Director: Brenneman Missionary Church

2011-10-13T14:48:00.000-04:00

That One Kid

I'm sure we've all been there. Scratching our heads after "that one kid" did something that we would have never expected. And, generally it is not a good thing! And ever since "the event" you've had to come up with a rule. I think we all have those in our ministry history.

In my own personal ministry, some of the rules that I have had to make after "that one kid" event are as follows:

Energy drinks and missions trips don't mix
It is not a good idea to toast marshmallows with your fingers (especially if girls with long hair are around)
Duct tape and pocket knifes don't equal a good outcome
Be sure to check for low branches when playing hide and go seek at dusk.

Those are just a few of the rules I've come up with over the course of my 13 years in ministry. Fortunately, none of those incidents led to any major accidents or upset parents. But it would have been a whole lot easier on me if someone would have told me that I needed those rules ahead of time.

So, what are some of your "that one kid" rules? Share them in the comment section below and maybe you'll save one of us fellow youth pastors from having to make that rule after the fact. As always, change the name to protect the innocent. Share your stories and you may even get something in return for educating the rest of us ...until that next "that one kid" event.

From Joel Greenwood: Youth Pastor, Fairview Missionary Church

2011-09-29T11:20:00.000-04:00

I know that this isn't going to be the first time you have ever heard about this topic, but it's importance merits repeating often.

A doctor who is sick cannot take care of his/her patients. As youth ministers, it is way to easy to get involved in doing good things that we forget to do great things. C.S. Lewis says that it is easy to get rid of the hurtful things in our lives in order to focus on the best things, but it is much harder to not allow great things to get in the way of doing the best things. Ministry is a great thing, but taking care of our personal health is the best thing.

Have you ever been in an airplane? If you have, you remember the speech the flight attendant takes you through about the seat belts and other things. The one that stands out to me is that they make it clear that if the cabin loses pressure and the oxygen masks come down, you are supposed to put yours on before you help anyone else.

Now it might seem like a heroic thing to run around the plane and help as many people as possible with your last breath, and it would be, but how many people could you help ...20, 30, if you were really good? What if you put on your mask first and were able to walk around with it? You could save everyone on the plane!

I want to encourage you to make sure your personal relationship with Jesus Christ takes priority over your ministry.

I had the opportunity this week to get alone with God in the woods for a three-hour chunk of time and it was more refreshing than anything else. I feel re- energized to do ministry, be a better husband, and a better father!

Take time to make sure you are healthy this week, even if it is a couple hours of solitude with God!

From Adam Sharp, Youth Pastor: Crystal Valley Missionary Church

2011-09-22T13:36:00.001-04:00

Leading Volunteers Toward Success

One of the hardest things we have to do as youth pastors is recruit, train, empower, energize, and schedule volunteers. They are the life blood of our ministries; we can't operate if we don't have those committed volunteers sitting next to students every week. Through my years of failing and messing things up with my volunteers, I have come up with three things that are essential for volunteer growth and longevity.

EMPOWER YOUR VOLUNTEERS. THEY ARE YOUTH PASTORS: When meeting potential volunteers, I tell them that the youth ministry revolves around them. They are the youth minister to students. I don't need chaperons to serve punch; I need adults who'll listen to kids' stories and have encouraging words for them. In our monthly meetings, we are always reiterating that to them. They are what makes this ministry move forward. Every month we allow the volunteers to tell others what they are learning about God. It's amazing to me when our entire meeting consists of God stories from our leaders. They just want to talk about what God is doing in their own lives. It's fantastic! So empower your volunteers to do ministry because they are the real youth pastors!
EMPOWER YOUR VOLUNTEERS WITH THE HEART OF CHRIST: It takes time to build a healthy team. There are no short cuts or drive thrus when it comes to building a team whose heart is set on Christ. During your meetings allow your volunteers to be real with one another, talk about personal issues, and allow for prayer time. There needs to be space for depth in your meetings. It's okay if you spend less time on the youth calendar if there is a felt need being met and your group is becoming closer. Email your leaders resources and articles that you feel might be helpful to them. This is one thing I have been trying to work on this year. I feel like in the past I have thrown volunteers out to the wolves without being properly trained. Now, I listen to my leaders, I give them advice, but as I am reading on my own, I send that leader an article specific to what we talked about at the last meeting. Resource your leaders and you will be amazed at what they will glean when you supply them with the right training.
EMPOWER YOUR VOLUNTEERS BY BEING HONEST WITH THEM: A lot of youth pastors back down from confrontation and hope that the situation will go away with prayer and ignoring the issue. There will be times where you need to pull a leader aside and be honest with them. They might not be ready to be a small group leader, worship leader, sound guy, greeter, or driver. Your job is to help them grow towards Christ and when you ignore the situation, you aren't doing your job. Whenever you confront someone with an issue, allow them a path back to the group. I have seen too many people removed from a ministry and they have never come back because they thought they weren't wanted anymore. Have a plan for them whether its counseling, or one on one meeting with another volunteer, to help them grow through the situation they are in. Try to bring restoration in that relationship. Christ's heart is all about restoring shalom back to His people.

Be a blessing to those students and adults you serve. Keep fighting the good fight...don't give up, don't give an inch, and to God be the glory!

What are some things you have learned in working with volunteers? All legitimate comments from MCNCD youth pastors will receive a $5 iTunes gift card.

From Aaron Burdin: Youth Pastor, Hillside Missionary Church

2011-09-14T12:01:00.000-04:00

AM I MISSING SOMETHING IN YOUTH MINISTRY?

In youth ministry there are so many things demanding our time. We are easily consumed with building relationships with teens and adults, youth group, small group, mission trips, meetings, planning material, explaining to parents why their son or daughter jumped out of the church van, and so on. Just kidding about the church van bit, but we all have times where teens do things we think will cost us our jobs.

No matter how long you have been in youth ministry, there are some key essentials we must not forget.

Our influence on teens will rise and fall on our relationship with Jesus.
Our prayer life is what connects with the God of the impossible.
Teens must have a relationship with Jesus.

This is not to say that all the other things we spend our time doing aren't meaningful, but without Jesus we will completely miss the point of ministry.

I was reminded of this truth this past week about how important it is for you and I to be in right relationship with the Father. I was also reminded about how important it is for us to share our relationship with Jesus with our teens.

Saturday I had the opportunity to sit down with two college ministry leaders and hear about what they were doing to help college students develop their faith. Afterwards, they told me that the number one problem they face with college students is that most of them have never really listened for God's voice or have any idea what a relationship with Jesus looks like. I made note of this comment and I had to ask myself, "Am I missing something in youth ministry?"

If it is true that that most college students don't know what it means to have a relationship with Jesus, what are you and I going to do about this in our ministry? Fortunately, I beleive God gives us these moments to stop and re-evaluate what we're doing so that we can be better in line with Him.

Youth ministry will always be demanding. Whether you are full time, part time, or a volunteer, we must first focus on our relationship with God. These students need leaders who not only care, but are constantly connected to the One they desperately need, so they can see Jesus.

Share your comments ...how are you modeling a personal relationship with Jesus to your students?

**MCNCD youth workers who leave a legitimate comment will receive a $5 iTunes gift card. Yep, that's right! So, leave your name!

From Joel Greenwood: Youth Pastor, Fairview Missionary Church

2011-06-13T14:28:00.000-04:00

THE IMPORTANCE OF DOWN TIME

A "normal" day in the life of a youth pastor is hardly normal! On any given day, my schedule can be changed multiple times and I never quite know what to expect.

I try to plan out my calendar for the whole week on Monday mornings so that I can remember everything that I have to do. We are all aware of the emergency phone calls we receive that seem to throw off our planning. Although, I don't believe this is an excuse to not plan.

I do my best to plan my week, leaving some down time, for those unexpected situations. I try to work on an average of 45-55 hours a week at the church and doing things related to my job. Some weeks I spend 40 hous in the office and other weeks I spend only 20 hours in the office, depending on the time of year.

I have been at Fairview for over seven years now and I am glad that I read two books by Doug Fields before I even started (Purpose Driven Youth Ministry & My First Two Years of Youth Ministry). I don't think it is ever too late to read these books. They helped me see the importance of having a purpose and being scheduled.

I always wanted to go against the common generalization that "youth pastors are lazy and just hang with teens and eat pizza"! I wanted to do my job to the best of my ability to serve the LORD and have a reason for everything the youth ministry did. I found out very early how important my "down time" was.

I call "down time" anything that is NOT youth related. This does not mean going to a football or basketball game or a play at the local high school. This is time that I specifically block out of my calendar for either "me" time or my family.

I do a lot of things in my "down time" such as; hang out with friends (and not talk about church or ministry), golf, run, do yard work, spend time with my wife, spend time with my son, spend time as a family, and read non-youth related books.

I realized when I first started working at the church that my job is never done. There is always one more thing that I can do. Since I was never done, I had to learn to walk away and leave the rest up to God (really it is all up to him)!

Make sure you are incorporating "down time" into your schedule so that you can be refreshed and stay strong to lead the ministry that God has put you in charge of!

From Jon Andrews: Wakarusa Missionary Church

2011-05-18T11:38:00.000-04:00

TOP TEN LIST

During the last 12 years of youth ministry, first as a volunteer, then as a part-time preteen director, to now being full time staff, I feel like I have learned a little bit about what works and a lot about what doesn't work. I have put together a Top Ten list. So here goes ...

10. TIME: Students love having time with youth workers! Get the most bang for your buck. Use high school sporting events. You can connect with both junior and senior high students. You not only get to hang with the athletes, but fans (parents), band members, and all of their friends on a neutral turf.

9. LIKE-MINDED ADULTS: Students crave relationships and acceptance from adults that are like-minded of their parents that are NOT their parents. I think back to my own time as a student. It was my uncle that could speak truth into my life. Often times it was almost word for word what my parents said or would have said. Yet, coming from him it just seemed to click with me. I was able to not just hear what was being said...I actually listened.

8. CARE: For yourself! This means mentally, emotionally, physically, and spiritually. I know that over the last couple of years since I have begun to run, I have most of my memorable times with God. There have been times that I ran 3 to 4 miles and don't remember running them ...okay, my body does ...however mentally, emotionally, and spiritually I was so connected with God that was all there was. I heard this question one time and it always makes me think. "Can you ever be at your best spiritually, if you are not at your best physically, mentally, and emotionally?"

7. SHUT UP & LISTEN: I have discovered that over the years there are many times that I need to shut up and listen. Awkward silence is called that for a reason, it is meant to be awkward. It isn't always our job to fill it. Students are smart; they usually have the answer to their own questions. It is our job to help them find the answer.

6. LONE RANGER: This one may seem a little obvious and still needs to be here. You are dealing with people, and people are messy. Find a person or a team of people that you can meet with to bounce ideas off of, to be held accountable to, to travel this ministry journey with you. There is a great team of youth pastors and others that passionately love students. I would encourage you to tap into one or all of them. YOU can't do youth ministry alone. It is not about YOU!

5. TOUCH: The invention of the fist bump is a terrific way to connect with those students whose love language is physical touch. I would also suggest lots of high fives and the famous one-armed hug. While doing this, remember there are students who are uncomfortable with invasions of personal space.

4. COMMUNICATE, COMMUNICATE: In this day of technology, there is absolutely no reason that someone should say, "I didn't know." Utilize text messaging (there are some great websites that will allow you to send group texts), Facebook, Twitter, blogs, webpages, PowerPoint's before service ...and those are just for the students. While parents are indeed catching up to the students in the use of technology, they still appreciate an old-fashioned phone call or post card.

3. TALK: Spend time talking with students one on one, and in small groups. They are craving your attention. They want to feel like they are the only ones in the room, that they are more important than anything else.

2. BOUNDARIES: These must be in place. I have been at the point of working 80 - 100 hours a week. That was not healthy on so many different levels. Now understand me ...there are times that you may need to be there for your students that don't fit into a nice 8:00-5:00 time frame. However, YOU are the one responsible for YOUR marriage and your family. You should never jeopardize them by having an affair with the Church.

1. PRAY: You should start your day and end your day in prayer. That is what this is all about. It has been my experience that there is NO way to answer the call to youth ministry without God's help.

From Matt Ransom, Youth Pastor: Brenneman Memorial Missionary Church

2011-04-19T15:51:00.000-04:00

What Are You Reading?

Whenever I have a conversation with a certain friend of mine, beyond the casual, "hi, how are you?", I know that this question will be asked: "So, what are you reading?"

As he asks the question, he's not looking for the usual suspects, i.e. the newspaper, Sports Illustrated, People, etc. He is wanting to know what books I am reading to better myself...what books I'm reading that are challenging me in my walk with Christ.

Sometimes that can be a difficult question to answer, because as I look at my schedule, I find that outside of Scripture, there is not anything that I am reading that is challenging me. At other times it is encouraging to be able to talk about what God is showing me through the different books I am reading.

So today, I ask you that question ...what are you reading? Beyond the fun, beyond the betterment of your student ministry, beyond the have to, what books are you reading to challenge you and to grow your personal relationship with Christ?

Planning with Purpose: YW2YW Lunch & Training

2011-04-14T13:47:00.001-04:00

Saturday, April 30

9:00a - 1:00p

Crystal Valley MC

Speaker: Terry Bley

Cost: First two FREE

Each additional only $5.00

Register by April 22!

Focus of discussion will include:

short range & long range planning
goal setting
team building (working with volunteers)
building a discipleship process that matches your community, your church, and you
building intentionality into your scheduling that allows your heart to stay hot
time management techniques

From Adam Sharp, Youth Pastor: Crystal Valley Missionary Church

2011-04-05T15:19:00.000-04:00


A Recap of a Youth Group's Commitment

I have a little puppy named Harriet and every time we take her outside on a walk she always sits and looks at the birds and just wags her tail. I don't know why but it brings me so much joy knowing she is having fun outside and noticing things that I pass by every single day. Mainly because I just don't have time to look at the birds.

This reminded me of what our students were going through this last month. They were taking time out of their day and noticing the little things that God is whispering to them. I know during one of the days when we fasted from lunch tables, we had a couple of students go and sit with a different group of students. They had a great time talking with them on why they were moving lunch tables for the day, and they had a great conversation on why they were fasting.

So many of our students have talked about how much they enjoyed actually hearing from God in different situations. Another fun story ...we had a freshman girl on a day when we were fasting from food who went into the choir practice room to pray. As she was praying for a specific friend to come to know Christ, that same friend walked into the choir room to find her. They had a great conversation about God. That freshman called me right after school in tears because God actually listened to her and then gave her the words to say to her friend.

I could go on and on about different stories from this fast and how even for me as a youth pastor, doing this fast with our students brought me to a very humble state. I had to confess to junior high students who didn't eat food all day or didn't have any caffeine, that I did. They were angry because they fought through the hard times and won out in the end and I failed. It was great getting called out by a junior high guy who saw me drinking pop on a day we were fasting from caffeine. He came and snatched the pop out of my hand and threw it away. I loved it!

I would highly encourage all youth groups to go through a fast like this. It will be a test and you will have students who totally hate it, but the ones who grasp it ...it can change their lives! Our student ministries won't be the same.

A GETAWAY FOR YOUTH WORKERS & THEIR SPOUSE

2011-03-24T10:31:00.000-04:00

STOP! OKAY ...NOW READ CAREFULLY! When you saw the title of this post, you may have decided to stop reading because you have already decided that you won't be going! Here might be some of your reasons:

Too hard to get childcare
The money is just not there
I've never gone before, I don't know these people
I have to teach on Sunday
I have an ingrown toenail

MOST of these are very legitimate reasons! (That last one was just to see if you're still reading.)

Now let us give you some reasons to go:

You spend all your time with teenagers (not a bad thing), but ...
It's time to spend a weekend with your spouse and other youth workers
It's a "getaway" ...get away!
You will be encouraged through worship & great teaching & sharing
The hotel is awesome!
There's a Starbucks in the hotel lobby
You don't HAVE to attend any sessions...make this weekend what YOU need it to be
Spend Saturday afternoon doing something fun during the free time with other youth workers ...or just sleep, or swim in the indoor pool
You will have fun!
You will be so glad you made the decision to go

Speaker/Facilitator

Now that you're convinced, let's talk details.

Date: May 6-8 (you have the option of staying one or two nights)

Location: Courtyard by Marriott, downtown Ft. Wayne (website: http://tinyurl.com/4njmlzh)

Worship Leader

Go to the MCNCD website to download a registration now!

From Adam Sharp, Youth Pastor: Crystal Valley Missionary Church

2011-03-21T09:21:00.000-04:00


A Youth Group's Commitment

The final week! How have you been doing? Leave your comments below!

For this final week, fast from:

March 22: Making fun of people, only be encouraging
March 23: Talking...spend as much time as you can in silence today
March 24: iPod
March 25: Video games
March 26: Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter
March 27: Busyness! Take today and rest.
March 28: Your lunch table. Go sit with someone who is by themselves.
March 29: Fast food. Go home and help make dinner with your parents.
March 30: Food ...until youth group time.

From Adam Sharp: Youth Pastor, Crystal Valley Missionary Church

2011-03-14T11:05:00.000-04:00


A Youth Group's Commitment

Are you ready for week three? Has anyone else challenged their youth group to do the same? Here we go ...fast from:

March 15: Sarcasm
March 16: Caffiene
March 17: Junk food and fast food ...eat healthy today
March 18: Computer (unless required for homework)
March 19: Friends ...spend time with your family
March 20: Texting
March 21: Television

One more week to go!

From Adam Sharp, Youth Pastor: Crystal Valley Missionary Church

2011-03-07T09:08:00.000-05:00

A Youth Group's Commitment

Here's this week's fasting list. Let's keep it going ...

March 8: Your lunch table
March 9: non-Christian music
March 10: iPod
March 11: Food ...drink only juice & water
March 12: Making fun of people
March 13: Gossip
March 14: Reading anything but the Bible, unless you have homework

From Adam Sharp, Youth Pastor: Crystal Valley Missionary Church

2011-03-01T10:25:00.001-05:00

A Youth Group's Commitment

The first seven days are listed below. Watch for more each week throughout the month of March!

March 1: Food
March 2: Texting
March 3: Television
March 4: Facebook
March 5: Music
March 6: Videos
March 7: Friends ...spend time alone after school

From Adam Sharp, Youth Pastor: Crystal Valley Missionary Church

2011-02-24T11:15:00.000-05:00

So Sunday night at Crystal Valley we had a Relationship and Sex Q & A with our junior high and high school students.

When the students walked in, we had a number up on the screen that they could text. My intern received the text and was our filter for the questions since we had junior high students there. After the session my intern actually said there were no inappropriate questions asked.

We talked for an hour and then released the students who's parents were there to pick them up. We gave everyone a 5 minute break and then we sat in a circle and they just started firing questions again. After another 45 minutes, we shut things down at the church and went to a local restaurant and split guys and girls and talked for another hour. It was a great time getting to talk with students and answering their questions. Here is a sample of some of the questions they texted in:

Why do people who get a boyfriend or girlfriend forget about their friends?
Does it hurt the first time?
Why do guys think its cool to talk about sex?
Would it be a sin for a married couple to have sex on Sunday because its a holy day?
How can you tell if a guy only wants you for sex?
How fun is sex from a scale of 1 - 10?
If someone is raped, is it a sin for them?
Why do girls want to give up their V-card?
How would you start a conversation about boundaries with your boyfriend?
What is oral sex?
Can you get an STD if you use a condom?
Is dating in high school worth it?

These questions (there were at least 20 more) were some of the ones that were texted in when we were talking just openly about relationships and what they feel at school, and how many parents don't talk with them about sexuality.

The reason we did this event is because we know students have questions and they aren't being heard. I would highly recommend doing this event. We did this without any parents in the room. It was just my wife, Esther, and I because we wanted the students to be able to talk openly and honestly with us.

I hope this might be a help to you as you look at doing an event like this at your church. Please feel free to contact me with any questions you might have. My email is cvmcadam@gmail.com.

conVERGE 2011

2011-01-31T11:04:00.000-05:00

conVERGE 2011 Highlight Video from conVERGE on Vimeo.

An Important Training Opportunity

2010-12-30T18:36:00.002-05:00

Do you know how to respond to suicide thoughts, threats, attempts or deaths? The Youth Team of the North Central District is providing an opportunity for you to receive training in Prevention, Intervention, and Postvention at no cost to you.

The Connect Project is a grant funded, non-profit organization that provides free training and we want you to be able to take advantage of this one day training opportunity.

Here are the details:

Date: Saturday, January 29, 2011
Location: Zion Missionary Church, Elkhart, IN
Time: 9:00a - 4:00p

This training will be divided into two sessions. The morning session will focus on Prevention & Intervention. The afternoon session will focus on Postvention. There will be a lunch break from 12:00 - 1:00 p.m. (lunch is on your own).

Pre-registration is required by January 24 for this training. To register, call the District Office or send an email to Connect Registration. IMPORTANT NOTE: You must be 18 or older to attend.

From Brad Thornton: Bremen Missionary Church Youth Pastor & District Youth Director

2010-12-16T14:58:00.000-05:00

Youth Ministry CAN Support the Church

I know at times when looking at church ministry as a whole, student ministries can sometimes feel like they have to take a backseat to all others. But for the most part, we might be the ones to blame for that thinking amongst the rest of the church. Do you think of yourself as part of the bigger picture of your church's ministry, or are you trying to set yourselves apart from them every chance you get? Do you plan events and activities that correlate with the rest of the church and its calendar? Are you conveying your vision and direction for your student ministry to the rest of the leadership within the church? Student ministry is a part of the greater whole. Once we see ourselves in that way, as a part of what God is doing through our congregations, we will be able to serve the church so much more effectively.

Here are a few ideas I have gleaned from others over time and have tried putting them into practice. They have helped me along the way in seeing our student ministry become a vital part of the church as a whole.

Host an event that supports the church. Look to see if there is another ministry in the church that you can get your students involved with. Quit looking inwardly and send some of them out for awhile. Maybe they can minister in the nursery during your services. Not the same students all the time either ...spread them around so it gives everyone a chance to serve. How about planning a carnival or something similar for the children's ministry. Have your students plan and then work the whole thing simply to give the children's ministry workers a break for a week. They would love to sit back and enjoy a night off. And, don't forget to do something for the adults or senior citizens as well. Take an evening and send students out to simply go visit with some of the older adults in their homes. For the most part, they absolutely love to sit and just talk with young people. What a blessing you can be by simply giving time and a listening ear. Who knows, those old folks just might be able to teach us young ones a thing or two!
Clean up when you make a mess. Who us? NO! We never make a mess! Right?? You know as well as I do that we are not always to blame, but we do cause a few stains here and there that show up after the students parade through the church. When that is the case, please be sure to clean up. For that matter, even if you know you didn't make the mess, clean it anyway. Save yourself the hassle of having to defend your students when they get blamed for it. My wife and I have always had the philosophy, "leave it better than how you found it." In life and ministry, that one can make a huge impression on those that come after you. When you are done with the church van, be sure it gets swept out and the gas tank is filled up. Heck, you can even wash the thing! It might be the only time it happens all year long.
Try to implement this idea into your philosophy as well: Be flexible. When someone wants to borrow something from your student ministry program, let them. If you get stingy with your stuff, do not expect anyone to come running to your aide when the time comes. If they need to use your room, find a way to make it work for all involved. If something gets planned on the same date you had something going on, try to find an alternate date for your event, if possible. Some things are worth fighting for. Just know which ones they are and go to bat for those, but also know when to just smile and nod.

I know it might sound and feel like I'm asking you to just lay down and let everyone walk all over your ministry, but believe me, I am not. I am simply asking you to become part of the whole church ministry.

Sometimes we can minister much more powerfully by being part of a great team. Your student ministry will become stronger and will be looked upon more favorably if the rest of the church feels like you want to be on the same team and not the "Lone Ranger." That kind of thinking will get you and your ministry stranded on the figurative island real quickly. And, once you are floating out there on your own ...it can be a long paddle back to the mainland.

From Brad Thornton: Bremen Missionary Church Youth Pastor & District Youth Director

2010-12-09T14:20:00.000-05:00

Leaders Beware!
You are a LEADER!

Through my years of ministering to students and also being a father of two wonderful sons, I have found that there are very important lessons to be learned that cross over into both worlds. I think I have always known this, but now that my sons are both in my youth ministry, it seems all the more relevant to my daily life.

Hearing you teach a lesson is good. Some students might be able to grasp what you are saying and figure out how to implement that into their lives. Others might just be hearing words, or possibly the sound of Charlie Brown's teacher's voice rattling around in their heads. But, if they see you living the lesson out in your own life, it will help solidify in their minds exactly what you are trying to say. If they hear your challenging words and then see your life not reflecting the things you just taught, there is little hope that they will do anything but reflect what they have SEEN you live out.

Here are a couple of examples:

Never pick up that cell phone while you are driving anywhere with your students in a vehicle. If you want to put your own life in danger, that's one thing ...but putting the lives of a bunch of kids in a church van in danger just so you can check the latest tweet is pretty sad. I have been guilty of this and God has used a student to personally convict me. OUCH!!
If you want your students to go out and share the Gospel with family, friends, and strangers, then get your butt off the chair and take them out and show them how to do it yourself. Whether you are on a missions trip or simply at lunch in their school, if they see you sharing the love of Christ with others outside the walls of the church, they will understand how to do it. Show them exactly what it is you expect them to do, and more than likely they will do it and probably even exceed your expectations.

I should also be sure to point out one of the more difficult lessons that we all must learn. As the person leading and working with these students, understand that WE ARE NOT PERFECT! I know that might shock some of you, but it is still the truth. I know I screw up at times, and sometimes people catch it and sometimes they don't. I have found one of the most powerful lessons I have ever taught is about honesty in failing and seeking forgiveness. It is a very humbling thing to come clean to your students when you make a mistake. Sometimes you may have to seek forgiveness on a personal level and sometimes you may need to do it publicly to the whole group. But it is in those times that God will shine through and use you once again to model His love and grace for each of them.

From Brad Thornton: Bremen Missionary Church Youth Pastor & District Youth Director

2010-12-02T10:50:00.000-05:00

How to CHANGE a Life: 101

As I sat thinking of what I would share for my first ever attempt in "blog world" as it pertains to youth and youth workers, I kept coming back to a simple phrase that I have always used as a mantra in my ministry. No matter what area of church ministry you are involved in; whether it be working with youth, children, young adults or even the dreaded dark side of adult ministries, it's still the same. It is a phrase I have shared with every intern that has come and gone from our fold and I will continue to share with each one in the future. That saying is this: "It's all about a relationship."

I truly believe that if we ever wish to see a life changed, we need to invest into a relationship with those individuals. It is much more than an hour each week of being the talking head on stage. Don't get me wrong; that is still part of the job and it is one that can be effective. But, I am talking about making some long-term, lasting, life altering impact on a student's life. And I think it all stems from us building that relationship over time with those students. You may be thinking, "Isn't this called being a mentor or making disciples?" My answer to that is yes. You can call it what you want. I tend to think sometimes that the word "mentor" itself can make people feel intimidated. If I were to ask you all to go out and mentor or disciple a few more kids, you may begin to feel overwhelmed. But if I were to ask you to simply go out and spend time with those kids and build a relationship with them, suddenly it seems more doable.

I see evidence of this concept in the fact that Jesus had a huge impact on the lives of those He spent time with and touched personally. The people He spent time with found their lives drastically changed. Many times they never even knew it was happening, but simply by being around Him and living life alongside Him, their lives were forever changed.

I know the life of today's youth worker is as busy as ever, but at the same time I know deep in your heart that their is nothing that you wouldn't give to see that life transformation take root in your students' lives. My challenge is simple: No matter if you are a full-time youth worker, a part-time youth worker, a volunteer, a youth sponsor, or a Sunday school teacher, I urge you to find that one or two or three students to fully invest in and begin the process of altering their lives forever. Bring them alongside and let them be a part of you as you "do" ministry. Just the simple everyday things we do and take for granted many times are the things that might make that lasting impression on a student's heart. Go about your lives as usual, but bring a student along when possible. Let God use your life in a different way to change lives.

A few years back I read a good book by Bo Boshers titled, "the be-with factor" which completely reinforced my thinking on this idea. In the book he says something that I think we should all embrace. He says, "Jesus was a success despite his dismal numbers, because the measurement that mattered wasn't just a short-term body count. We believe the standard by which Jesus measured His own success was deep, lasting change in a few." I urge you to think the same way. Deep transformation of a few who continue to influence others is how we need to be measuring our personal ministries.

From Chris Lehane, JH Pastor, Nappanee Missionary Church

2010-11-27T18:50:00.000-05:00

The PAUSE Button

I don't know about many of you but my wife and I have a DVR (Digital Recorder) with DirecTV in our home. We jumped into this about a year and a half ago when we moved into our new home. We'd heard many great things about DVRs from our friends about being able to fast forward through commercials, record shows onto a hard drive and not video tapes, and then being able to PAUSE live TV. I have to say that this has been one of the coolest things that we own in our home. We're able to keep up on several shows we like, such as Survivor, while not needing to stay up late. We can record shows during the week and then catch up on the weekend.

This reminds me of a valuable lesson that I thought would be good to end the month on with Thanksgiving and Christmas season just ahead of us. The PAUSE button, as many of you I'm sure are familiar with, allows to put a hold on something you're watching so that you can attend to something else that is important to you at that moment. Although many of us think of the PAUSE button on things like iPods, VCRs, DVD players, video cameras, and video games, there is an even more important PAUSE button that I'd encourage you to hit from time to time.

Hitting the PAUSE button when it comes to ministry is a necessity, not an option. Sometimes we can get so caught up in doing ministry that we rarely ever take time for ourselves or our families. We take PAUSE moments in our work weeks to have lunch with friends, students, or ourselves to get away from the office. When is the last time that through that you just hit the PAUSE to spend time with your spouse, with your kids, with your extended family or maybe all of them.

We need to remember that in ministry God, as I understand, intended us to love and keep Him first, our family second and then ministry third. Hitting the PAUSE button allows us time to make sure these priorities are in the correct order. We all need to escape for a brief period of time to make sure that we're keeping the main things, the main things ... to recharge and reconnect with those that are most important to us. It allows us to take some time to get our focus off of ministry and to those that are important for us to stay in ministry, our families and our Heavenly Father.

With Thanksgiving this week and Christmas rapidly approaching, I'd encourage each of us to hit the PAUSE button. Use this opportunity to get away and disconnect from ministry for a few days. Spend time loving on your family, extended family, and friends. Spend time connecting with your Creator for more than just your next devotion or teaching lesson you share with your students. Don't talk about ministry at all. Talk about life. Catch up on life and be in the moment with each of them. Love sincerely and ask some tough questions about how you've been doing in the area of hitting the PAUSE on these areas of your life. Ministry can wait for a period and we will be able to re-engage it when the time is right so that we can tend to the things that are most important now.

May each of you be blessed this Thanksgiving! Take time to PAUSE, recharge and reflect on the things and people that you are most thankful for. Thank Him for the many blessings that He's given you. Thank Him for the relationship that you have with Him.

From Chris Lehane, JH Pastor, Nappanee Missionary Church

2010-11-18T15:56:00.000-05:00

Being a Constant Learner

One of the things in ministry that is so essential in the field that we're in is being a Constant Learner. The worse thing we can do as a leader is to be content in the knowledge that we have. The truth is, when we stop learning, we stop being effective.

So, who are the people that are "mentoring" you as you minister to youth? Who are the people that you're allowing to teach you in areas that you're inexperienced in or unsure of? Who do you turn to when you need advice about a situation? If your answer is "No one", "I'm not sure", "I've been too scared to ask someone", or any other reason you might come up with, you're probably in desperate need of finding someone to mentor you.

In my experience, "mentoring" for me takes place in four different ways:

PERSONAL - There are people in my life that I turn to that I can sit across a table from and talk through ministry situations, problems, or questions. These are people who are more experienced or are in the same ministry setting as I am. For instance, I have two really good friends who work solely with Jr. High students. They are the ones I turn to when I want to talk about Jr. High ministry, share ideas, talk about situations I'm facing, or find out games that have worked for them. This makes me a better Jr. High pastor.
BOOKS - Books are a great tool. I know for some it takes us back to college and we'd rather stay away from there as much as possible. However, if we want to continue growing ourselves, reading the insight and expertise others offer is needed. I would encourage you to read a wide spectrum of books. For instance, don't just read books about a problem you're facing now or even just about ministry. Read books by Christian authors, sure, but also read books that are for personal and spiritual growth. Also, read books and magazines that are outside the Christian realm. What better way to get inside the mind of teens or those that don't know Christ than to hear from their perspective.
PODCASTS - One free resource that's out there today is podcasts. I've come to value these so much. Whether it's a podcast from Simply Youth Ministries, Simply Junior High, or podcasts from some of the well known authors and pastors like Andy Stanley, Mark Driscoll, Rob Bell, etc., listening to some of these pastors/teachers gives me insight, perspective, and wisdom in a timely fashion and grows my ability to learn.
CONFERENCES / SEMINARS - These are great for several reasons. One, you get exposure to many great specialists in a wide range of topics and issues. Two, you get a buffet of things that you can pick and choose from depending on situations that you're facing right now. Three, it gives you a chance to get away, recharge and gain perspective. Four, this gives you an opportunity to invite some ministry friends to go with you, to build relationships, network, and have fun. Although some conferences like the Simply Youth Ministry or even Youth Specialties conventions do have a tendency to cost more, plan ahead and try to add the cost to your budget if you can. If you can't, there are many other seminars that can be closer, shorter, and cost a little less that are very effective as well.

So, who are you allowing to invest in you? Share with us your insight on great books that you've been reading or maybe some podcasts or websites that you look to for further insight, wisdom, and development by posting a comment below for others to read.

Here are a some links to a few great articles that have come out recently that are worth the read:

Lead Better Discussion, Part 1
Lead Better Discussion, Part 2
Lead Better Discussion, Part 3

Random Act of Culture

2010-11-17T11:41:00.000-05:00

On October 30th, the 600+ Opera Company of Philadelphia sang the "Hallelujah Chorus" in Macy's store. They called it a "Random Act of Culture", but clearly God was honored and praised!

From Chris Lehane, JH Pastor, Nappanee Missionary Church

2010-11-12T09:57:00.002-05:00

The Resource of Networking

Beyond the many book, magazine, and video resources that are out there these days, we possess one of the greatest resources when it comes to ministry ...each other. Whether you're full time, part time, or a volunteer in youth ministry, we need each other. Regardless of what church setting you are in, we are in the trenches together. We serve a great God and we all work with students for the same purpose ...to help them grow in their relationship with Christ.

I remember when I first came into the North Central District. I was fresh out of college with lots of ideas that I thought would work; things that I had read in books. Unfortunately, as you get into a ministry setting you realize pretty quickly that many of those things are great in principle but don't work the way that a book states. You may feel down on yourself or feel like you don't know what you're doing. You feel lost and you're looking for ideas that have worked and maybe some advice or someone to talk to about your ministry to help give you ideas.

Maybe you felt that or maybe you're on a different side. Maybe you feel like things are going great for you. You feel like you've thought everything out and you're ahead of the game on planning. Well, one thing I can assure you ...at some point in your ministry journey, you will begin to feel lonely if you're aren't connected to other people.

Networking is one of the best resources we have at our fingertips on a day to day basis and the greatest thing about it ...it's free! Networking gives us the opportunity to do several things for one another.

Soul Care: One of the important reasons we network is to recharge and encourage each other. So many youth workers are on all the time. This networking and meeting together provides us time to focus on relaxing, praying, and laughing together, not busting out our schedules for a collaborative event.
Tell Stories: Veterans and rookies, we have all had that one time great ministry blunder. It's important for us to remember where we came from, but also share success and encourage one another with stories of student's whose lives have been changed.
Intentional Time Together: Time to get away from your own personal ministry and connect with others who are in the trenches. Share life together and break bread.
Commit to Each Other: Commit to gathering together. A network doesn't work very well when there is no one to network with. Be consistent with meeting times and seeing the importance of life together outside of your own ministry.
Last, but not Least ...Food: Good fellowship revolves around good food! Once a month, except during the summer, we meet at different restaurants over lunch to connect with one another. These times are so valuable in networking with one another. Another way we try to do this is with our YW2YW Supper & Training events.

We weren't meant to do life alone. I hope you'll value networking and connecting with others in the district. It has been a necessity in my own life in surviving and thriving in youth ministry.

From Chris Lehane, JH Pastor, Nappanee Missionary Church

2010-11-04T16:45:00.000-04:00

GAME ON!

If you're in youth ministry or any setting where you're working with students, it's always good to have some games in your back pocket. Whether its for your main programming, retreats, overnighters, or at a school function, games have the power to break down walls with students. Whether its breaking down gender walls, walls created by going to different schools or you have a wide spectrum of students with different personalities, games bring an element of fun, laughter, and leveling of the playing field for the worst or best athletic student.

As I look to the array of games that I've tried in youth ministry, I wish that I could say every game was a success. There will always be those times when even the best game doesn't seem to connect. Here are some tips that I've learned from experience and from youth ministry friends and specialists like Kurt Johnston that I'd pass along.

Keep It Simple: Don't over complicate the game. Keep your instructions clear, concise, and quick. If it takes too long to explain the game before it even starts, you run the risk of already losing before you start, both in momentum and with your audience. Sometimes it is a worthwhile exercise to have other students or leaders that you've talked to beforehand to be a visual example as you are explaining the game.
Vary Them Up: Mix up the types of games that you do. We'll try to mix up game styles from ones where everyone participates (at least for a time), group games, physical games, mental games, and on-stage games that just call for a few people. The big thing with this is to keep the game moving quickly so that you don't lose momentum for any students who aren't playing or have been knocked out or eliminated. If students aren't participating, their interest in the game will decline quickly.
Be Excited: If you aren't excited about the game, your audience won't be either. Always go into a game with the mindset that it's the greatest thing since sliced bread. You need to be the salesperson for why this is the greatest game your students will ever play.
Tweak: Don't be afraid to take old games and re-tweak them a little bit. Last year we played Reverse Paper, Rock, Scissors. Just a small twist to a common game with a visual slide to remind students of what would beat what when reversing the game. It was neat to watch the expressions of students who thought they won but then realized they lost. It added a great fun factor. Our finalist ended up being a guy versus girl face-off. The guy totally got blown away and, of course, we took advantage of it.
Always Leave Them Wanting More: Always end your game on a high point. You've got to be aware of when to cut off a game because your audience is having a great time as opposed to overdoing a great thing. Even a great game can become a bore the more and more your do it, whether its from week to week or just taking too much time one night to play. Be sure to end the game in time for students to groan a little bit because they want to play longer. In the long run, this will help you have a good game in your pocket that kids already know how to play and that they love at a time that you need to infuse a little excitement and energy.
The "Wow" Factor: Whether its a big event, an outreach, overnighter, or just a regular night in your ministry, having a game from time to time that creates the "Wow Mom" factor is a great thing. Anytime you can get students to walk away talking about the game saying, "I can't believe they did that!", you create a buzz amongst your students and a talking point for them with friends. Obviously you need to make sure that the game is appropriate, doesn't put a student in danger, and won't cause illness. It doesn't have to be a fear factor type game where they have to eat insects to be fun and something that is completely unheard of, so be creative. We did a game a while ago called "Ice Cube Awesomeness" where we took everyday items that are in your fridge, froze the contents, and then asked blindfolded contestants to guess what it was. It ranged from coffee to milk to mustard and more.

It's game time!! Go have some fun together!

From Adam Sharp, Youth Pastor Crystal Valley Missionary Church

2010-10-21T15:43:00.000-04:00

How to Handle A Frustrating Youth Night

How many of us have ever been done with youth group, the last student is gone, and it's just you and an empty building? As you finish cleaning up, your mind starts going back over the night. You remember that the video didn't start when you wanted it to, and right when you were making a big announcement, the junior high kid knocked over a chair and everyone laughed and you lost their attention. And then when you were making your big point at the end of the night you see a bunch of kids on their cell phones texting. Then it sets in ...FRUSTRATION!

We have all been there before. If any youth pastor says they have always had great nights with their youth, they are either lying or they need to write a book. These are the times when it can break a youth pastor down to their core. I know I have been there before ...questioning if I should even be doing youth ministry or if I should just go get a normal job and quit worrying about students all the time. Here are some things that I try to remember when these moments set in.

Take inventory of what went right that night. I know that this might be hard, but even coming up with the fact that students came to youth group that night is a win, because you obviously have done something to make them want to come or you have parents that love them enough and think that you are doing something worth sending their student to. Make a checklist of tings that did go well that night and dwell on those instead of the things that went wrong.
Ask God what you need to learn from this. I know for me, when there have been nights that have gone crazy, sometimes God is wanting to teach me that I can't do it without Him. Then when I look back on the week leading up to that night I realize I didn't spend time with Him at all, or I didn't read my Bible unless I was researching something. God sometimes has to knock us to our core to make us realize that we need Him way more than we think we do. Take time to ask God what you might need to take away from a night like this. Ask yourself some hard questions like, "Why am I so upset at that student?" or "Why am I upset that God didn't work in the ways I wanted Him to?" When we look in the mirror, God might be calling us to some change in our relationship with Him so we can be more effective with our students.
Don't let Satan get a foothold. The enemy knows exactly what to do to get you going, and if he has to attack you at your youth ministry, he will. Don't allow yourself to fall into that trap. We have to understand that the schemes of the enemy will attack us anywhere and everywhere. We have to be there with people around us to support us, and we have to be willing to get on our knees and cry out to God when we feel these frustrations welling up inside of us. Don't allow the enemy to work you over with self doubt and self loathing. Regardless of how horribly youth group went, you are still created in God's image and He has a plan to prosper you and bless you beyond what you could ever imagine possible.

These are just three things that I know I go through. What are some things you do when you have a frustrating night at youth group? Comment below so we can help each other!

From Adam Sharp, Youth Pastor Crystal Valley Missionary Church

2010-10-14T10:28:00.000-04:00

The Experience of Youth Groups

The other day I was watching a video online about a father who is a youth worker himself interview his two high school daughters about trying to find a new youth group in a new town. The interview really made me think of how welcoming we are to new students to our ministry. Here were a couple of things mentioned:

Don't be fake. Most students in high school and junior high can tell if someone is just putting on a show for them. One of the girls commented that the person that greeted them wouldn't even look them in the eye, they were just checking off a to do list in saying hello. When we are seeing new students come into our ministries, we need to make sure that when we talk with them we actually do spend time getting to know them.
Students make the best host. Having students meeting the new students and welcoming them into their groups they hang out with is a huge deal! One of the girls talked about how there were a couple of girls that didn't leave their side the whole night. They made her feel welcome and gave her the "skinny" on the night's flow. They also texted her that night and thanked her for coming. Having a team of students being your hosts for the evening is really important. They can really make the student feel at ease, where sometimes it could be awkward having the youth leader hanging around them all night. Allow your students to take ownership of that aspect of your ministry.
Ask questions. When getting to know people, we always go by the 1% rule. Everyone has at least 1% in common. Find out what you have in common with that person and focus 100% of your energy on that. Even if its something you don't know a lot about, ask questions. Then go and research some of the things you talked about and get to know some more about those things that student likes. We are to be servants to these students. Sometimes we might need to do a little homework before we can serve them effectively.

Here is a check list for welcoming new students to your ministry:

Are students personally welcomed when they walk in the door? The first few minutes are the make-or-break moments for many. If they feel welcomed coming in the door, you have a much better chance of reaching them for the rest of the evening.
Are newcomers given directions and input as to where to go and what to expect? If students are wandering aimlessly around the building trying to find where you gather, this may be a problem. It's better to have a system set up so that everyone knows where to go. This is already a new and potentially frightening experience for them. Help them feel at ease and let them know what to expect.
Are they introduced to other students their age? You've probably heard it before, but I believe that it's true ..."students will come for a program, but they will stay for relationships." One on one connections, especially between peers, are irreplaceable. It gives students a connecting point, and even more importantly, a name, to come back to next week.
Do leaders introduce themselves? Leaders are another contact point, another safe place, and another person to show them God and His love. Train your volunteers to keep their eyes open for visitors.
Have you considered giving first time visitors something free during their first visit? A ticket for a free drink at your coffee shop, an energy drink, a candy bar, donuts ...whatever. Free stuff is always fun!
How about offering some print materials to take home with more information about other opportunities to connect? If they don't read it, their parents probably will. To get a teenager's attention, hand them a business card with your ministry's website on it.
Will they be contacted via letter, email, or TXT in the following week? Let them know that you appreciate them coming and that you hope to see them again. Make it personal.
Do you have a welcoming event for newcomers? Host a regular dessert night for some of your student leaders and volunteers to come out, eat, meet new people, and just have fun.

From Adam Sharp, Youth Pastor Crystal Valley Missionary Church

2010-10-08T11:57:00.000-04:00

Have you ever had a student who came to your youth ministry for a couple of months all of the sudden just disappear? Without giving any reasons why they left, you just noticed they haven't been around in 2 or 3 weeks. You start asking their friends about where they've been and how they're doing, and all you get is "they're good, but they don't want to come to church". So, your heart sinks. If you're like me your mind starts going to all the worst possible scenarios, like they are never going to church again because of something we did, or they are going to start spreading gossip about our youth group and we are going to get a bad name in our high school for being unfriendly and judgmental. After your mind slows down, you have an important decision to make. To chase the student or not to chase the student.

Here are some things that I try to remember when chasing a student:

Don't suffocate them. You want them to know that you care, and that if they are ever going through a hard time, you are there to talk, to give counsel, and to just listen to them. Don't go overboard on the Facebook comments, the text messages, the constant invitations to Sunday School. They will like the fact that even though they aren't going to your youth group every single week, they are still loved and thought of as important.
Pray. Pray. Pray. Sometimes my biggest fault is that I think I can do it on my own and I can win them back to the fold and claim a massive victory in my honor. When we all know half of the things we say and do comes straight from the Holy Spirit. Even on our best days we couldn't win over students on our own merit. We have to remember that sometimes the best way to love that student is to pray for them because you might be the only one doing that on their behalf. Continue to pray for them to fall in love with God, and connect somewhere with other believers to strengthen their relationship with Him!
Empower other students. Allow other students to come along side you and pray for them, talk with them, and seek them out to encourage them. As a youth pastor/youth worker you will never be able to reach the amount of students as your actual students are able to reach every single day at their schools. Empower your students to encourage them and see how things are going in their life. But again, I would remind you to look back at point #1 when empowering students.

The main goal is not to get them back to "your youth group". The goal is to help them have a healthy relationship with Jesus Christ! Let's keep that in mind while we're chasing students!

From Matt Ransom, Youth Pastor Brenneman Missionary Church

2010-09-30T09:41:00.000-04:00

A lot of times in ministry, the only time we hear anything from others is when something goes wrong.

So, let me take the time to say THANK YOU!

THANK YOU for the countless hours ...the late nights ...the heartfelt conversations.

THANK YOU for the times when the things you have done have gone unnoticed.

THANK YOU for giving your life for the Gospel.

THANK YOU for making an impact in the lives of students that you serve.

THANK YOU for all that you do.

THANK YOU for being God's instrument in the shaping of students.

YW2YW SUPPER & TRAINING

2010-09-28T09:09:00.000-04:00

Saturday, October 2
6:00 p.m.
Prairie Camp

This is it! The final countdown ...get your reservation in by Thursday. Call or email Kathy at the District Office.

We'll have a cook out & case study discussion, with s'mores to top off the evening!

Some of the case studies we'll be discussing are:

A popular new youth pastor has doubled the size of the youth group and the kids love him. The problem...he has begun dating a 17 year old student.
How can you make your youth group fun AND impacting at the same time?
Your volunteer staff is the same group that's been helping for years. There's nothing wrong with them, but you would like to see some new people step up and no one is willing.
You are spending all your time preparing lessons, going to sporting events, giving updates to your senior pastor, trying to spend time with your family ...when do YOU have time to spend alone with God?

These are just a few examples of the ten case studies we'll take some time discussing. Your volunteers would greatly benefit from you providing this opportunity for additional training and support! Bring 'em all!

From Matt Ransom, Youth Pastor Brenneman Missionary Church

2010-09-23T15:20:00.000-04:00

One of the greatest things about being involved in student ministry is the schedule that we keep. We are thankful that the job we do isn't your normal 9 to 5 in the office type of job. Football games, Cedar Point, grabbing lunch with the students, and late nights with them all fall into our regular weekly hours.

On the other hand, one of the biggest potential pitfalls of being involved in student ministry is the schedule that we keep. Because we don't have a regular 9 to 5 type of job, we are able to go to football games, Cedar Point, grab lunch with our students, and hang out with them, and all of these fall into our work hours.

How could something be one of the GREATEST things and one of the biggest potential PITFALLS at the same time? Very easily! If we are not careful, we may end up discovering that our last true entire day off was who knows how long ago. We have seen more of our students than our own family. We can't remember the last time someone other than McDonald's or Papa John's was the cook for the evening. And the last time we got a good night's sleep was ...

To be the most effective youth pastor that we can be, we must not neglect the times we need to "get away" from student ministry and be able to focus on ourselves, our family, and our own health. We must remember that we are not just youth pastors; that is only one aspect of who God has called us to be. Our flexibility in ministry must not be at the expense of every other area of our life.

May we each balance the right mixture of ministry, personal time, and family time so that we can be who God has called us to be in each of these areas.

From Matt Ransom, Youth Pastor Brenneman Missionary Church

2010-09-16T11:24:00.000-04:00

The Danger of Youth Ministry

I don't think that there would be any argument from you to read that being involved in student ministry is a balance of extremes. On the one side we get to see what happens when God gets a hold of a student and does some amazing things in their life. It is great to see students respond to God's call on their life, to see them overcome struggles, to see them reach out to their friends. There are those students that make ministry so easy. Those are the times that gets our blood flowing and gets us pumped up towards what we do.

Then there is the other extreme. Times when students just don't want to get it. We pour our heart and soul into them only to see them walk away. We share with our students out of love and only receive criticism or a "whatever" type attitude. Students that share with you their problems, but don't want to listen to what you have to say to help them. All of these situations can not only be physically and emotionally draining, but spiritually draining as well. And that's where the problem comes.

As student ministers, we are in a unique position. Every week we are in Scripture to craft Wednesday night challenges, Sunday school lessons, and small group lessons. We know the stories, we know the talks, we know the right things to say in almost every situation. That can be a dangerous place to be. We minister out of what we know instead of what we are being taught.

May this be a reminder to you to desperately carve out time for your own spiritual health. Time that you can be alone with God and allow Him to teach you. Not for a sermon or lesson or small group, but for you! The extremes will always be there. Nothing we can do will ever change that. And because of that, we need to make sure that we are taking care of our own spiritual life. Because if all we do is give and empty ourselves, without taking the time to be filled, eventually we will run out and burn out.

From Matt Ransom, Youth Pastor Brenneman Missionary Church

2010-09-08T14:11:00.000-04:00

Youth Pastor in the Mirror

I'm sure at some point we have all been there. Standing there in front of the mirror wishing that things were different. Not that we want to be taller, skinnier, more athletic, or anything that has to do with our physical appearance. But standing there looking in the mirror of student ministry and wishing we were a different youth pastor. How often do we stare at ourselves in the mirror and only see what's not there?

Usually it happens after an interaction with other youth pastors when their strengths have been on display. We see the creative minds, the charismatic personalities, those that seem to own the stage, those that speaking comes so easy to, the outgoing ones, the ones that all the students want to be around, the tech savvy ones, the ones that are really organized. I'm sure you could even fill in a few more. And what usually happens after that is that we try to become those things. We focus on becoming more creative, more charismatic, more tech savvy, or more organized. And while it is good to be pushed and have the desire to "improve" our weak areas, I wonder if sometimes that pushing and desire is at the expense of the strengths that God has already given us.

I could go on and on about how I wish I was like so and so in this area or that area, but in doing that I miss out on how God has gifted me and given me strengths to do what He has called me to do. I could spend most of my time trying to improve those "weak" areas, but in doing so miss out on the opportunity to use my strengths to impact students' lives. I could spend so much time looking in the mirror and focusing on who I am not, that I miss who I am.

May you be the youth pastor that God has created you to be. May you see your strengths as the way that God desires you to impact students' lives. May you see your "weakness" as an encouragement to continue to learn and grow. May you be confident in the youth pastor staring back at you in the mirror.

Fall Supper & Training

2010-09-02T12:03:00.000-04:00

Saturday, October 2

6:00 p.m.

Prairie Camp

Cook Out & Campfire

How do you:

confront your own volunteers when they are in an inappropriate relationship?
get the shy kid in your small group to open up?
address homosexuality in your youth group?

These and other case studies will be presented for your Round Table Discussion. We are not training you ... you are training each other!

Cost: First 2 registrations are free / each additional registration is $5.00 each.

We encourage you to bring your volunteers for this time of sharing, training, and networking with other youth workers from around the NCD. Hang out after the Round Table Discussion for s'mores around the campfire!

Registrations were mailed September 2. Or, you can contact Kathy @ 574.293.1332 or kathy@mcncd.org for more information.

From Joel Greenwood, Youth Pastor Fairview Missionary Church

2010-07-08T11:24:00.000-04:00

Are You Serving?

I had the opportunity recently to go down to New Orleans for a week and continue the rebuilding efforts after Hurricane Katrina went through almost five years ago. Many people have forgotten that event, yet the city continues to be in ruins. The population was about 1.4 million before the hurricane and is now around 400,000 people. That means that about one third of the homes are still not being used and are in ruins. I took twelve teenagers and some adults and we worked on two different projects.

I learned a lot while I was down in New Orleans because the culture is very different. They are more laid back in the South and much more friendly than the North. In the North we always seem so task-oriented and don't take time for relationships and just time for talking a living life together. I appreciate their openness and love to communicate and get to know each other. It is almost as if you are family right when you begin talking with someone. If you see someone on the porch of their home, it is appropriate to go up and sit down next to them and start talking. It seems, at least in my neighborhood, that if I go and talk with someone that I am an inconvenience because he/she has things to do. We can so easily get caught up in our own lives and our own "to-do" lists that we forget why we are still on this planet. There is a reason that God didn't just bring us to heaven as soon as we accepted Him. We have a job to do and it isn't mowing the lawn and weeding the flower beds. Our job is to win people for Him and to build relationships and change lives.

The neatest thing that happened while we were down there was when we circled to pray on our last work day. We were in the 9th Ward of New Orleans, a predominately African-American neighborhood. As we were getting ready to pray, we heard a noise of someone running down the street. This guy that had been working in his yard, was so excited to pray with us (he was a strong Christian man) that he was sprinting down the street in a heat index of 110 degrees to make sure he got in our circle to pray. As we went around the circle, he took his turn and began thanking the LORD for our service to his community and then he said my favorite line of his prayer, with a chuckle, "God, thanks for bringing some color to this neighborhood!"

Do we ever sprint so we can pray with God? Am I so passionate about corporate prayer that I will run down the street just to be involved? As always, I think God blessed our team more than we blessed those we were serving. Don't get me wrong, I know those people we worked for felt blessed, but I think I took more away from the trip than they did.

God will always sharpen us when we take time away to serve others and put aside our selfish ways. Do we have that same attitude when we are home on our mission trip that is 24/7 to the people around us? Do I go across the street to help my neighbors when they need it? I think we have an awesome opportunity to be the "hands and feet" of Jesus to those around us. What better way is there to show God's love in a practical way!

From Joel R. Greenwood: Youth Pastor, Fairview Missionary Church

2010-06-24T15:37:00.000-04:00

Family Devotions ...Part Two

It is my desire and passion to do family devotions when my new son, Micah, grows old enough. I am super-excited for the times we can sit down as a family and open up the Bible together. I think Scripture is meant to be read in a community so that we can learn from each other and sharpen each other. It can be dangerous to only read Scripture alone and not hear what other people may be saying about a particular text. I know my children will have heard the "fun Bible stories" like David and Goliath, Jonah and the Whale, etc., but I want them to understand the theology behind them and what they show us about God! I don't think that is asking too much of my children.

As a society we have almost given adolescence a free pass to be "stupid" and do whatever they want because, "hey, they're just teenagers"! I don't necessarily agree with how we treat them. They are definitely smart enough, as teens, to make the right decisions and be given responsibility. I look back at history (which I hated when I was in school) and realize that the standard for 12 - 18 year olds was way higher then than it is now. I mean the Israelite boys would memorize the entire Torah before they were 12 years old and the ones that were good at it would memorize the entire Old Testament by age 18! Can we even comprehend that as youth pastors? I think it is great that a teen knows there is an Old Testament, let alone can quote anything from it. Our standards are too low for teens these days and I pray that my expectations will be higher for Micah.

What would our church look like today if we had these expectations of our young people? I know we talk about the disciples all the time and that they were probably teenagers when Jesus called them. This group of teenagers was able to change the world because someone (Jesus) had high expectations for them and didn't allow them to just fit the mold of what it looked like to be 12 - 18 during their time in history. James and John could have just continued to fish with their father and take over the business, but Jesus called them to something greater. Jesus said that he was going to turn them into "fishers of men", a job that would be much harder and new to them, but one that had eternal rewards. I want to be a youth pastor and father who calls teens to a higher standard because I know the rewards far outweigh the cost!

As a side note, it is not because I am a youth pastor that I long for teens and my children to love the LORD. Sometimes I think people look at me and say to themselves, "...well, he is supposed to feel that way, he is a pastor!" It is because I am a follower of Jesus Christ that I do what I do, not because of a paycheck or a title. I wish many times that my title could be taken away and that people would just see me as a normal person who loves the LORD! One day I may not be a youth pastor anymore, but I am sure people will still think I am some sort of religious lunatic. I am OK with that! I love God will all that I am and I want that to show in my actions and how I live my life. I wish everyone would be like me, minus the faults, of course! I am sure this world can only handle one Joel Ronald Greenwood though. Thanks for listening.

From Joel R. Greenwood: Youth Pastor, Fairview Missionary Church

2010-06-17T15:59:00.000-04:00

Family Devotions

As a youth pastor, do you ever feel like you are fighting a losing battle? I know of many youth pastors who become senior pastors or marriage counselors and as a rookie youth pastor, I never understood why. I used to call them "quitters" or "lame," but as the years go by, I begin to realize more and more why they leave youth ministry and go onto something else.

There have been many times over the last few years that I have asked the same question ...! How am I supposed to get the teenagers to love the LORD, do devotions, and be passionate about their faith when I see them (if I am lucky) for three hours a week and they are learning from others the rest of the time?

In a recent Sunday school study I did entitled, "How to Study Your Bible", I asked the teens how many of them had family devotions, personal devotions, or saw their parents open their Bibles during the week. I can't say I was surprised by the answer. I suppose I was more discouraged than anything and once again asked myself the same question.

In the youth ministry God has blessed me with, less that 5% of the teens raised their hands for any of the above options. I continue to believe that the main excuses people don't open their Bibles are simply that. Excuses. Time, too confusing, boredom, and too long are not good enough reasons to stay out of the most important piece of literature in human history! My teenagers continue to learn from their parents that Christianity is simply something to put on their calendar. Christianity is about going to church once a week (twice if they are holy) and hearing what someone else has to say about the Bible because they have a title in front of their name (i.e. Pastor).

Gone are the days that Christianity truly effects the decisions that you make on a daily basis and dictates your moral standards. I am obviously speaking in rash generalizations and there are those in my church and ministry that don't fit this mold! The overwhelming majority of those teens in my ministry do not see a passionate follower of Jesus on a daily basis in their family.

I have the opportunity to preach in the month of July and I have had it laid on my heart to urge this congregation to get into the Word as a family. The most recent statistics state that less than 2% of marriages end in divorce when Mom and Dad pray together. That number goes down even more if the family does devotions together.

I am not saying that I am perfect, nor that I always embody this passionate follower, but it is something that I strive for. I pray that I may be a positive example for my teenagers of what following Jesus on a daily basis truly looks like, despite my failures.

I believe most youth pastors become senior pastors or marriage counselors so they can get to the "root" of the problem. Until the family gets back on track and our parents are teaching their children about God and what a follower of Him looks like, I feel we are missing the mark. We live in a society that usually makes the easy decision as opposed to the right decision! Parents believe they can drop off their teen once or twice a week and they will learn everything they need to know about God and many times I feel the burden to fulfill that desire.

Recently I have decided to let go of my desire to be everything for everyone at all times (since that is really God's job anyway)! I know that I can't change everyone, but that I can do MY BEST and let God fill in where I fall short. I continue to preach my heart out to the teens, love them with everything that I am, pray constantly for them and also be fun at the same time!

I have a lot more to say about this topic, but I will refrain until my next post. I am encouraged when I talk to other people in the ministry who feel this same burden. I will continue to "fight the good fight" and I don't plan on leaving youth ministry because it is too hard! May God receive the glory and change lives in spite of my many failed attempts.

From Joel R. Greenwood: Youth Pastor, Fairview Missionary Church

2010-06-09T15:25:00.000-04:00

Do You Know Where Your Time Goes?

I have always been a very regimented person. My life is run by Google calendar and whenever someone asks me if I am available, I have to open my iPod and check! As I sit and reflect about how busy my life is that I need to carry around a digital copy of my calendar, I wonder where all of my time goes.

I just adopted my first child a little over two months ago and my time has become even more important to me. I have finally accepted the fact that the eight hours of sleep a night I was used to is a thing of the past. Not only do I lose that sleep, but when I get home my time is not my own anymore as it is shared between Micah (my son) and Karolyn (my wife)!

As I said previously, I am almost obsessive compulsive about my schedule and have had a weekly calendar for the last six years that I have been at Fairview Missionary Church detailing what I am going to do in half hour increments. Some of you already think I am crazy (which may be true), but it isn't as hard as you think. Before I even started this job I read Purpose Driven Youth Ministry by Doug Fields. He gives an example in an Appendix in the back of the book of how he schedules his weeks. I followed his example and have made a weekly calendar for the last six years.

Since my time has become such a hot commodity, I decided to see where my time was going and what I was giving to the "ministry." As I looked at my weeks, I realized that I was giving over half of my time (nearly 75%) to administrative/office work or non-youth related church jobs. This made me contemplate exactly what my position was at the church. My title is Director of Teen Ministries, but it didn't seem like I got to work with teens that much (which is what my passion is). I've spent the last month talking to God about this and how I can change it. There was no more margin in my life to just add "teen time" so I was going to have to cut some things out!

I met last night with my youth workers and told them that some things were going to change. I was going to shift my priorities (not in my mind, but with what my calendar showed was important) and spend more time with teenagers. This means that things may look different for FUSION and The EDGE (our Jr. & Sr. High ministries)! We may not have fancy announcement slideshows, track attendance so rigidly, have clean rooms all the time (yes, I clean the rooms), or have candy and pop to sell in our Casa, but are these things really important?

It is my goal this summer to spend at least 15 hours a week with teenagers (one on one or in groups) and the other 30 hours with my other church responsibilities (preparing lessons, meetings, etc.).

Do you know where your time goes? I encourage you first to make a weekly calendar to keep you on track. It is so easy in ministry to put in a 10 hour day and then go home and wonder what you did all day! I take an hour at the beginning of each week to schedule out my appointments and other obligations. This is the best hour I spend each week. I am the most efficient with my time when I have a plan.

Second, I would suggest that you actually take a few weeks and see how your time is used and what it is used on. You may be surprised, like I was, that your calendar and mind don't share the same passions. We will be at our best when we are doing things that align with our passions and gifts. If you say your family is important, does your calendar show that? If you got into ministry to work with teens, are you doing it?

It is healthy, every once in awhile, to take a step back and evaluate what you are doing, why you are doing it, and what matters most!

Joel R. Greenwood

Teen Camp 2010

2010-05-18T14:44:00.001-04:00

Teen Camp registrations should be in your hands and your students should know they're available!

Here's the rundown in case you've been living in a hole and haven't heard ...

Speaker: Ryan Flemming
Ryan is a graduate of Northridge High School and Bethel College. In 1999, he moved to the inner city of Gary, IN, as an urban missionary and has made it his home. Currently, he is the pastor of The Revolution, a church plant targeting the inner city community. "DJ Rhino" (Ryan) has appeared at 3DYC and continues to DJ every Sunday at church, various concerts, and his mixes can be heard on 98.7 FM Fusion Radio in Elkhart on Wednesdays at 5:00 p.m. He and his wife, Johanna, have two children.

Worship Leader: Brent Thomas & We Are Faithful
Brent and his band, We are Faithful, have a passion and desire to be true worshipers of Christ. They are a worship/music project created to minister to a group of youth in a generation that is separated from an intimate and personal relationship with God. Brent shares that his life was transformed by the atmosphere and worship offered as he grew up at Teen Camp and now wishes to use the gift God has given him to provide that atmosphere to the next generation. Band mates are Micah Klutinoty, Kevin Chupp, and Chad Hostetter.

Click here for more info and registrations.

Summer Fun Ideas

2010-04-27T11:52:00.002-04:00

Need ideas for summer fun? Check out a few of the places listed below. Click on the title to check out their website.

Deep River Water Park - Crown Point, IN
Group Rate: 15-150 - $14 per person
Chicagoland's largest water park with over 28 attractions

Full Blast - Battle Creek, MI
Attractions: outdoor/indoor water slides, pools, trampoline jump, bungee run, and much more.
$9 access to both water parks
$12 access to both water parks, attractions, and one water wars.

Zao Island - Valparaiso, IN
Attractions: outdoor miniature golf, go karts, game room, and batting cages.
Zao Island has INCREDIBLE pizza!
Call Sue at 219.983.2040 or email sue@zaoisland.net for group rates.
Zao Island is a perfect stop on the way home from Deep River or as a stand alone event.

Wanna Waves (Splash Universe) - Shipshewana, IN
Indoor water park geared toward the younger student
Attractions: water slides, floating lily pad walk, rippling river
Group Rates: 260.768.7729

Hackers - Niles, MI
Attractions: go karts, mini golf, batting cages, driving range, and arcade.

Oxbow Park - Goshen, IN
Attractions: volleyball courts, horseshoe pits, bike trails, archery range, observation tower, athletic fields, canoe launch, and an 18 hole disc golf course!
Gate Fee: $2 per car
Disc Golf: $1 per player

Ft. Wayne Laser Tag

Lazer X

Laser Tag Ultra Zone

Crazy Pinz - Ft. Wayne, IN
Attractions: bowling, mini golf, bumper cars

Strikes and Spares Entertainment Center - Mishawaka, IN
Attractions: bowling, mini golf, go karts, and arcade (all indoor).
Group rates are available. Call 574.243.BOWL

These fun ideas are brought to you by Carrie Badertscher, Prairie Camp Director.

From Carrie Badertscher, Prairie Camp Director

2010-04-20T11:50:00.004-04:00

Missions/Service Resources

Many of you will pack your bags this summer and lead a group of students on a short-term mission adventure. You've scheduled five training days, collected medical release forms, and held a parent's meeting, but it feels like something is still missing.

We seem to do a great job preparing and carrying out our scheduled trips, but fail to provide sufficient follow-up and debriefing after the trip has ended, making it difficult for students to find everyday meaning in their cross-culture experience.

Below are a few resources that will help you with your next missions/service opportunity before, during, and after the trip.

The lessons in Deep Justice Journeys will help you prepare students for what to expect during their mission trips and service projects and allow them to reflect on their experiences. And, since no two mission trips are the same, and each youth group will have its own challenges, this book includes 50 learning activities that you can choose from to customize your group's lessons. In this book you will find:

ideas to help get parents and the church engaged in your youth ministry's short term mission work.
discussion exercises you can use to get students thinking about poverty, cross-cultural relationships, teamwork, and spiritual gifts.
creative activities for debriefing to help your group wrestle with questions about students' experiences.
ideas for how your youth group can ensure the ongoing growth and service of your students once you return home to the "real world."

Check out this video:

To purchase Deep Justice Journeys:
From: Fuller Youth Institute
From: Amazon

Additional Resources (read before you leave):

Serving with Eyes Wide Open: Doing Short Term Missions with Cultural Intelligence, by David Livermore (Baker Books, 2006)

When Helping Hurts: Alleviating Poverty Without Hurting the Poor ...and Ourselves, by Steve Corbette & Brian Fikkert (Moody Publishers, 2009) www.whenhelpinghurts.org

TEAM BUILDING EXERCISE

2010-04-13T13:24:00.000-04:00

Gumdrop Tower: Team Building

Items Needed:

colored gumdrops
toothpicks
gummy bears
raisins
colored mini marshmallows

Before You Begin
Before your students arrive, you will need to make a tower out of items mentioned above. The tower is most easily built when using four toothpicks in a square, with gumdrops at each corner; stack each set of toothpicks and gumdrops on top of one another until you have four levels high. (Feel free to get creative; add a few extra things on a level or attached from the square set.)

Once the tower is built, you'll want to hide it from the students' sight until you are ready to play. Keep it on a table behind a wall or divider of some sort.

When the students arrive and you are ready to play, break them up into teams of 5 - 6 people.

The Object
The object of this activity is for your team to build the exact replica of what you see built. It needs to be exactly the same as what you see ...color and placement. The first team to do this successfully will be the winner.

The Guidelines

Only two people from your team can look at the built tower at any given time. Everyone will have a chance to look, but you cannot have more than two people from your team looking at the same time.
Only take the items you need to complete what you have just looked at. There shall be no hoarding of supplies.
Scream when you think you are finished and a leader will come check your work. If in fact you are missing something, the game will continue until a winner is declared.

After the Activity
Below is a list of questions you can use to debrief the game (you can discuss as a big group or in their smaller groups).

What was difficult about this activity?
What was your job in the group?
How did you work together as a group?
Did your group work together well?

Talking Points
This activity can be used as a way to discuss the roles of a team, how everyone plays a unique and important part in finishing a task. It is also a good way for students to get to know each other. As a youth pastor, you may want to watch the students as they interact with one another. It's incredible how personalities come out in an activity like this.

HAVE FUN!!!

From Aaron Burdin, Youth Pastor: Hillside Missionary Church

2010-04-08T10:35:00.000-04:00

LOVE

Love is the single most powerful word in our language. It is also a word greatly abused. If someone were to google the word love, there would be so many different depictions of this word and some of these depictions would be a crime against the true meaning of love.

Too many times lust has been exchanged for love and it could be the farthest thing from love. The Bible talks about there is no greater love than when a man lays down his life for friends. Jesus is the greatest picture of love. It is love that carried him to the cross and this was not a small task.

If anyone has seen the Passion of the Christ, they will soon realize how terrible the beating was that Jesus went through in carrying out his mission. I am always amazed and speechless when I watch this illustration of Christ's love. How can one man have so much love to endure this kind of suffering?

At least once a year I use a clip of the crucifixion and it is one of the best clips I have ever seen. I would like to encourage you to use this sometime this Easter season. It is called "Held By Love." I have placed the video on my facebook. Here is the link: http://www.facebook.com/people/Aaron-Burdin/1361327039 (copy & paste into your browser).

From Aaron Burdin, Youth Pastor: Hillside Missionary Church

2010-03-31T15:29:00.002-04:00

GRACE

When we hear the word Grace, what comes to mind? For some, the hymn Amazing Grace is the first thing people think about. For others, the word grace seems so far and distant. We live in a world where grace is often forgotten and most will move ahead in the line of success at the expense of another's failure.

Grace is such a complicated subject. What happens if a person is given too much grace? Won’t they just abuse it time and again? Is it really our right to judge whether we should reserve our grace for someone more worthy of it?

The funny thing is, when you look at Jesus’ life he would always show scandalous grace to those around him and he is the Son of God. The religious leaders probably thought Jesus was just enabling the sin around him because he was able to forgive what others would not. We can even look at the final moments before Christ’s death when he told the thief next to him that he would be with him in paradise. Reading this passage some may say, "Why does this guy get grace when he is getting what he deserved?"

The truth is God’s grace is amazing. He is a God of love and in his love he has the great ability to forgive those open to him. Life is not about what we do, but who we are. None of us deserve God’s grace and yet he gives it. The sooner we can understand this grace, the sooner we will be able to live a life following Jesus. If we understand grace, how can we any longer look at those who are homeless, addicts, sexual abusers, criminals and those considered nothing in society and think we are any better.

It is by his grace that we have hope and it is through his grace that we can give grace to those around us in a broken world.

From Aaron Burdin, Youth Pastor: Hillside Missionary Church

2010-03-24T12:04:00.000-04:00

Tonight We Begin with Hope

This is the time of year when most churches begin to focus on the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is during this time that I want to make sure we give our teens the opportunity to accept Christ in their life. We will often take the couple of weeks leading up to Easter to talk about the importance of what Christ did for us on the cross.

At Hillside this year we are taking some time to explore three topics of the cross: Hope, Grace and Love. Tonight we begin with Hope.

In a world where it seems like there is not much Hope, Christ has given us the ultimate Hope and yet we so many times forget this. I know for many of the teens we work with their home life is a mess. I find myself wondering how we can show the love of Christ to our teens and help them to see it is so vitally relevant to their lives when they go right back into a home that has no intention of following God? There are times where I have gotten discouraged but I know that with God anything is possible.

Remember the Roman soldier at the death of Christ? He was not a Jew and yet in the midst of everything going on he said, “Surely this is the Son of God.” Most recently one of our Jr. High students accepted Christ and it was awesome to see him step out. We must never underestimate the power of the family, but at the same time we must always look for where we can speak the truth of God into these teens’ lives.

Tonight we will be talking about how God can give us Hope even when everything else is falling apart. There will be time when I will have the teens sit quietly before God allowing the music of David Crowder to speak into their life. I will challenge them to dig deep and place their greatest desire before him. I am excited to see what He will do!

From Aaron Burdin, Youth Pastor: Hillside Missionary Church

2010-03-17T09:11:00.004-04:00

Unplugged

All of us have routines and practices when we get up each day. For many of us it is not uncommon to check our voice messages, texts, e-mails, facebook posts, my space posts, twitters and so on. We have more communication going on today than any other time in history, but is all of this communication really just noise? Don’t get me wrong. I love to facebook, read blogs, get twitters, text and send e-mails, but I have too often found myself deeply disconnected with God. In the midst of all that is going on, maybe the thing we need to incorporate the most is going unplugged.

How can we as youth workers and youth leaders know how to guide teens through life’s mess without truly connecting with the One who has the answer. Sure all of us have great advice and insight into our students' lives, but if we think we can give students what they need without taking time to connect with God, we are greatly mistaken.

There are many things in our life which add value and can help to make our lives easier, but we cannot forget why we even got started in youth ministry. God has called us and it is He who will guide us. Even as I am writing this I find myself thinking, “I have not taken a whole day to get away with God in a long time. I need this and I have to find the time.”

Switchfoot wrote a song called “Noise” and it is a great reminder for each of us. If this is just noise, shut it off. We talk to our teens about shutting their cell phones off and putting away their mp3 players when we need to do the same thing.

When was the last time you purposefully left your cell phone or computer at home to get away? We need these times and then we can use all these other great resources to talk about the things God is teaching us. Without a good connection with God we are just adding to the noise.

SERVE: Saturday, May 1, 2010

2010-03-12T14:33:00.000-05:00

Don't miss out on the opportunity to get your youth group involved in the MC One Day SERVE on Saturday, May 1.

Here's how it works:

Your youth groups chooses how they want to serve on that Saturday in your own community.
Now go do it!
Then at 6:00 p.m., come to Prairie Camp to hear reports and celebrate with other youth groups from all over the North Central District.
Using the phone number on the card sent to you, call or text by 1:00 p.m. that day the number of people you will be bringing to Prairie Camp.
Why do you need to do this, you might ask ...we're providing FREE pizza and we want to make sure everyone gets some! Seriously ...how mad would your kids be if you forgot to let us know and there wasn't enough pizza?!?
One more thing ...if you get to the camp between 5:00 & 6:00 p.m., we'll provide some basketball and dodgeball for ya! Don't come before 5:00 though ....we might make you pick up leaves and sticks.

Now, go out there and get your SERVE on!

From Aaron Burdin, Youth Pastor: Hillside Missionary Church

2010-03-08T08:54:00.003-05:00

Helping Teens See A Bigger Purpose

As we work with teens, we will undoubtedly encounter many different situations ... trauma, eating disorders, cutting, suicide and many other crisis situations.

Recently there was an article in the South Bend Tribune about a 16 year old teen who accidently killed himself. What caused his death ...self strangulation. He thought it would be cool to play the “Choking Game”. He did not realize this would be the last game he would play. Once he passed out, the weight of his body kept the tie around his neck from loosening and he choked to death. When the teen’s friends, family and church were interviewed about the incident they all said it was an accident. There were no signs that the young man wanted to die. What they did know about him was that he always wanted to do extreme and dangerous things. It was quoted, “He wanted to live on the edge.”

Sadly, this is too often the same story for many of the teens we work with. Society, family, friends and even the church have failed to give them something worth really living for. It is only natural that when someone’s needs are not being met they will turn to other things. Some of these choices are very lethal. There is no excuse for a teen to turn to these activities if they feel their life has true meaning. Too often we give them little credit for what they can accomplish. They want something that is much bigger than themselves. The kingdom of God is about making an impact. If they are active in their community and taking part in changing people’s lives, there is a natural joy and purpose for them. Instead of asking why teens turn to such dangerous games maybe we need to be asking how we are giving them a much bigger purpose?

More recently I have been making community involvement in our youth ministry a priority. The last Wednesday night of the month we have been making this our community night. These nights are designed to give teens a sense of a much bigger purpose for their life and get them involved in people’s lives. A great way to incorporate this into your youth ministry is to check with your local community agencies. Ask them if you can do a worship service for the residents, game night or movie night. Help teens to see that the greatest experience they could ever have is to touch someone's life in a new way.

SERVE: Saturday, May 1, 2010

2010-03-01T14:47:00.000-05:00

It's easy to look around neighborhoods today and see pain and poverty in every direction. People are hurting, we recognize that, but seldom do anything about it. That's about to change.

May 1st, 2010, is a day set aside for service. Local youth groups will partner together to change their world, one neighborhood at a time. Each youth group is encouraged to serve in their community and then come together at 6:00 p.m. at Prairie Camp for pizza and celebration!

Come, be a part of something bigger than yourself. Let this not be something that just happens one day, but the beginning of a service revolution in our area.

"If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has not pity on him, how can the love of god be in him?" (1 John 3:17)

Watch for more info in your mailbox this week!

From Adam Sharp, Youth Pastor: Crystal Valley Missionary Church

2010-02-16T15:38:00.000-05:00

Things You Need to Know Before You Date

We have been challenging our students in our series called "Things you need to know before you date"

We are trying to hit a bunch of positives in this series on dating, but putting it back in their court by saying if you do not have a working and healthy relationship with Jesus Christ you shouldn't be dating at all. We have stressed this aspect so much that we have had some couples take "breaks" because we have been telling them that if they aren't running after God they shouldn't be running after anything else. I encourage you as youth workers to really stress the importance of being shaped by Jesus before you start being shaped by the person you are dating. Really drive home the fact that Jesus Christ wants to have them in a great relationship like He did for Adam and Eve but they must first spend time with the maker. Read the first 3 chapters of Genesis with them and really stress the importance of knowing God before knowing someone else!

Be in prayer for your students because this is such a huge temptation for them, and its hard when the world around them is pressing in and telling them that they need someone in their lives. We need to be praying and telling them any chance we get that they are God's creation and that God loves and wants to be with them! Stay strong, and fight the good fight!

From Adam Sharp, Crystal Valley Missionary Church

2010-02-10T16:07:00.000-05:00

Relationships & Purity

This month our student ministry is dealing with relationships and purity. This year we have been trying to attack this issue with relationships and purity at a different angle. We are talking all about the positive aspects of dating and relationships. The first 2 weeks we have talked about "What you need to know before you date" a guy version and a girl version. We didn't break them up when we talked with them because we thought as a youth staff that they needed to hear both sides. These are the main points we are making to them.

You need to have a solid relationship with Jesus Christ before you consider dating.
Guys: Need to learn to pursue girls in a Godly way. Girls: Need to make sure they are not compromising
That all relationships need accountability.

These are the things we have stressed the first 2 weeks. The upcoming weeks we have had students text, twitter, and facebook questions to us and we are going to be answering them as a youth group and dialoguing about them. Here are some questions we have faced.

How far is to far?
Is it wrong to date a non-Christian
Is making out bad?
How do you know if a girl/guy is right for you?
Why do guys always try to impress you?
Why do girls dress slutty all the time?
If I have already had sex, will God forgive me?
Is it wrong to date older men?
When is the time to say "I love you"?
Are homosexuals going to heaven if they say they are Christians?

These are just some of the ones I have found that keep coming up. Here are some tips that have worked for us in discussing these issues.

Back up your answers with Scripture
Explain yourself very clearly
Share your story
Pray Pray Pray
Allow students to discuss these things openly.

I hope as we all go through this together as fellow youth workers I pray for you that God works through you, and your ministry!

yw2yw Supper & Training

2010-02-04T09:17:00.000-05:00

Our upcoming Supper & Training on February 20 will feature a panel discussion with your questions. Leave your responses to the following questions in the comment section:

What are the top 3 areas in your ministry that you seem to to find yourself struggling with the most?
If you could ask one question of someone who is a specialist/veteran in youth ministry, what would it be?

yw2yw Supper & Training

2010-01-28T16:06:00.000-05:00

Saturday, February 20, 2010

6:00 p.m.

St. Mark Missionary Church

For more info: contact 574.293.1332

Leadership: From Jon Andrews, Wakarusa Missionary Church Youth Pastor

2010-01-21T09:21:00.001-05:00

Some say that leadership can be learned… I understand that idea, but I disagree. Leadership skills and methods can be learned but I’m of the opinion that true leadership ability is a gift that cannot be learned or grown into. A real leader doesn’t need to read a book or blog to increase his/her leadership ability, he or she does so to sharpen their gift.

The number one challenge for churches, groups and organizations is finding leaders. We want to grow and grow in the right way, but without passionate and competent leaders the effort is stunted. It is difficult, at best, to find a leader. Not just someone who has led something, but a true leader. Real leaders can be hard to find because some without the gift have mastered the art of mimicking it. It is when those who mimic the gift are placed in the fire (especially the fire of ministry) they are exposed and unfortunately the wake of destruction they leave is usually wide.

So, how does one distinguish a leader from a pretender? I don’t know for sure, but here are a few thoughts I have in regards to the qualities that should be found in a real leader.

A real leader…

• looks to get involved in solving problems instead of running from them.
• defends his team first before making excuses for himself.
• rejects offers to leave his team for the sake of personal advancement.
• knows when he is placing a lid on the ones he leads and is quick to get out of their way.
• inspires those he leads with his commitment, care, attitude and effort… and then his words… if necessary.
• is followed.
• speaks truth in love and never forsakes the vision or lowers the bar.
• inspires growth without demanding it from those he leads.
• is one his people want to be around and not one they dread seeing.
• has a desire to be led and not left alone.
• realizes that he is a part of the team… not above or better than the team.
• encourages and invites critique of his abilities from the ones he leads.
• sees defeat as a learning experience and not the end of the world.
• stays calm in the midst of calamity and does his best leading when the times are the toughest.
• doesn’t make decisions by looking at popular opinion or traditional values.
• challenges the status quo and risks his reputation to do so… not for notoriety or gain, but because its the right thing to do.

Just a few thoughts of my own…. I’d love to hear what you believe to be the qualities of a real leader.

From Jon Andrews, Wakarusa Missionary Church Youth Pastor

2010-01-13T15:00:00.000-05:00

Hello!

My name is Jon Andrews and I am the youth pastor at Wakarusa Missionary Church. I was drafted to share some blog posts with you the next month or so.

One of the “Highlights” of Epic Conference this year was Epic Gives Back. I still remember Carrie’s comment of “When passion and purpose collide, things get done.” I wonder how many of us have forgotten about a “passion” God gave us that day. I want to share with you the “stirring” on our youth group.

It is especially fitting for me to share a bit about our Epic Gives Back project, especially since was Human Trafficking Awareness Day earlier this week.

Here are just a couple of things for you to know, that I would like to share with you.

***CAUTION***

***THIS MAY NOT BE FITTING FOR YOUNGER TEENS!

1) There are more people being forced to work as slaves in the world today than there were at the height of the transatlantic slave triangle. Trafficking is overtaking weaponry to become the 2nd largest illegal industry after drugs. It’s taking place in every single country in the world.

2) It can be expected that 1 in 40 girls in Cambodia will be sold into sex slavery. As in other countries, poverty, the hope of finding a better paid job by moving to towns and cities, and the market for sex on demand are all root causes of this horrifying statistic.

3) 1.2 million children are trafficked each year (low estimation). The point of each sale is for someone else to make profit from that child. People will pay $1000 to rape a virgin for a week particularly in the East where there is a common myth that it will cure the man of Aids and give him strength against illness. In Cambodia, that child (AS YOUNG AS 3) will often be restitched without anesthetic and resold to increase profit.

4) 70% of adult sex workers entered prostitution when they were children or young teenagers. You may see a ’consenting’ 18+ prostitute but you wouldn’t see what might have been done to her when she was 13, 10, and 8 years old.

5) The millions of girls and children who’ve been trafficked are so traumatized and ashamed by what has been done to them that are not in a position to speak up about this crime. They need help but feel worthless. That is how the traffickers and pimps remain doing what they are doing and why we hardly hear this subject talked about.

Our students were introduced to the subject of Trafficking this past fall. They are collecting loose change to “Change the World.” Did you know that there is over 13 billion dollars in loose change in America? For less than $4,000 we can put a person at a border monitoring station.

What is a Border Monitor Station, Jon? I am glad you asked.

Border monitoring is an effective way to intercept girls being trafficked across a national border. Trained employees watch for suspicious activity in order to identify possible trafficking. Along with local police, the border guards question the girls and suspected traffickers looking for conflicting stories or dubious behavior. As the situation warrants, traffickers can be prosecuted. The girls are then either returned to their villages or, in certain cases, placed into a home.

When $4,000 actually equals $10,000

Upon our return to Wakarusa, I was informed that our church was willing to match up to $1,000 that our students raised. Then came another person saying that God was calling them to give “sacrificially” and match the students up to $4,000. Then another came and said that they would match our students up to $1,000.

All told if our students raise $4,000 then $10,000 will be contributed to border monitoring and ending human trafficking.

For more information on human trafficking;

Friend me on Facebook

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or just comment on this blog.

Thanks for Listening! I would love to hear from you how your Youth Group has brought Epic Gives Back to your church.

Youth Worker & Spouse Getaway

2010-01-05T10:23:00.001-05:00

Registrations will be arriving in your mailbox the week of January 4. We will be going back to Ft. Wayne, but to the Marriott Hotel this year. Good news ...prices have remained the same! Click here for more info:

Epic Conference Gives 5,637 Pairs of Socks to Hannah's Socks

2009-12-29T13:38:00.000-05:00

Hannah (Hannah's Socks) and her family.

Epic Gives Back

2009-12-29T13:35:00.000-05:00

Epic Conference Gives Back

Day Two

2009-12-29T13:34:00.000-05:00

Our Epic Cops (Sean Kelty & Brad Thornton)

UpRock - 1st Session Epic Conference

2009-12-28T20:38:00.000-05:00

Brandon Grissom & Band - 1st Session Epic Conference

2009-12-28T20:37:00.000-05:00

Epic Conference Begins!

2009-12-28T20:35:00.002-05:00

And more preparation

2009-12-28T20:32:00.003-05:00

More Preparation

2009-12-28T20:32:00.000-05:00

Preparation

2009-12-28T20:30:00.000-05:00

From Adam Sharp, Youth Pastor: Crystal Valley Missionary Church

2009-12-17T13:44:00.000-05:00

"You have clothed yourselves with a brand-new nature that is continually being renewed as you learn more and more about Christ, who created this new nature within you." (Colossians 3:10)

Of course God doesn't need a job. I'm fairly confident that He has more than enough to do with running the entire universe and all. I'm sure glad that He takes His job seriously, aren't you? For example, did you know that if God allowed the earth to get just a little bit off course, we'd all be either human popsicles or poster children for tanning oil?

But if our Father did end up needing to find employment, He would make an excellent lapidary- don't you agree? Oh, maybe you need a little clarification- no problem:

Lapidary is the term for a cutter, polisher, or engraver of precious stones. In other words, he or she takes rough looking rocks and (through extreme skill and patience) turns them into the gems that folks pay the big bucks for in the jewelry store.

So why would God qualify as a lapidary? Because in a way, He has been practicing this art since the beginning of time. No, God doesn't sit around and polish stones in His spare time; rather He uses these skills on people. Huh?

Remember what you were like before you trusted Christ? Or perhaps how you would have turned out if you never had been saved? I know... scary picture- and it's the same with me. Yet God is not content to leave us that way. To Him we are rough stones who have incredible potential to become precious jewels...but only after years of being refined and polished.

God delights in using the sand of circumstances, the tool of trials, and the fabric of failures to remove the tarnish of our transgressions and the stain of our shortcomings. People who resist this are just not very bright- in more ways than one! Those who allow God to be a lapidary in their lives can lavish in the luxury of love.
Are you a stone that keeps jumping off God's table? He is very patient, but He is also determined to make you into an amazing display.

Why does He take the time to be a lapidary? Does our Savior find joy in the pain of our lives? Absolutely not! Dark clouds come into everyone's lives- the difference is that Jesus uses them to make us more like Him. He also knows that life itself was intended to be lived looking like a diamond, not smelling like a dung heap.
And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn, with many brothers and sisters. (Romans 8:28-29)

So the issue is this- in looking back over the past year, are you looking more like the pit you were dug out of or the Person who gave His life for you?

God knows that you are starting to shine when He looks at you and sees a reflection of Himself.

Youth Worker Dinner & Training

2009-10-28T16:42:00.001-04:00

Building your own burger and connecting with other youth workers ...what else could you possibly want out of a Saturday night?

The North Central District Youth Team is inviting two youth workers from each church to attend free of charge. However, we don't want to exclude volunteers serving with you, so if you have more than two from your church, the additional cost is only $5.00 per person.

Terry Linhart from Bethel College will share up to date information about what you need to know in today's youth culture.

You got the invitation, so mail in your reservation no later than November 7. Hope to see you there!

Welcome!

2009-10-26T17:48:00.003-04:00

Welcome Youth Workers of the Missionary Church, North Central District!

Want to stay connected with other youth workers from around the district? Want to know what's coming up? Want to share great resources?

Several youth workers from around the district will be contributing to this site on a regular basis so be sure to subscribe so you don't miss a thing!