morethandodgeball.com

GUEST POST: Teens are Like Mobile Phone Batteries

I remember when I got my first mobile phone. I was told it was really important to charge it all the way up to the maximum, and then run it down until it was completely flat, and then charge it all the way up again. If you didn?t, your battery wouldn?t have its upper and lower limits properly established. It would learn that it?s ok to only give 80, and that it?s ok to give up early. It would never operate at its full potential.

I wonder if the same thing applies to youth ministry?

Filling up to the max ? Are your young people confronted with the rich, deep, passionate prayer lives of people who walk intimately with Jesus? Are they thrown in to environments of extended, humbling worship? Are they exposed to others who flow in the supernatural and who can testify to real-life miracles?

Running completely flat ? Have your young people actually witnessed injustice (as opposed to just hearing about it)? Do they regularly find themselves in situations where they are completely out of their depth and need to rely fully on the Holy Spirit? Do they know what it feels like to sit with someone in need and feel powerless to do anything to help?

The consequences for getting this wrong with a mobile phone are reduced potential and decreased effectiveness. Are they any different for a young Christian?

(My fear is this: We get this wrong, and the result is Christian adults who are cynical of the supernatural, apathetic for justice, and lazy in their relationship with Jesus.)

Jarrod Newton is a regular contributor at The Salvation Army?s Youth Leadership Blog.

simplyinsider.com

Brand New: Girls Ministry from Start to Finish

We have a brand new start to finish resource we’d love to share with you: Girls Ministry from Start to Finish. Here’s what it’s covers:

Each week, you look at the girls in your church, and you dream about the opportunity to make a bigger impact in their lives. You envision a team of women coming alongside you, investing their time and talents to help teenage girls discover how beautiful and valuable they truly are. You imagine groups of girls gathering to talk about their life experiences and offering support and encouragement to one another. You picture moms and daughters experiencing healed relationships and new beginnings.

It?s just a dream?for now. But you can turn that dream into reality with the tools, tips, and training you?ll find in Girls Ministry from Start To Finish.

This resource is divided into two parts.

Part 1: The Strategy Who will lead your girls ministry? How will you structure it? How will it benefit your church? What impact can you have on the girls in your congregation and community? This section takes you from ?big picture? thinking all the way to hitting the ground running.

Part 2: The Tools and Resources This includes stuff that will save you tons of times: event ideas, sample Bible studies, and suggestions for curriculum. Use them as-is or customize them for your ministry. They?re all yours. We?ve also tossed in some extra training resources on the challenges facing girls in today?s [...]

simplykurt.com

Random Randomness

- After spending the better part of 3 days with middle school youth workers at SYMC, I am (once again) convinced that many of the sharpest minds in youth ministry are found in middle school ministry!

- At a conference like SYMC (or YS or any other large gathering of youth workers) you meet lots and lots of people. It’s always such a great reminder to me that God uses an amazingly vast array of people to pour into students. I’m so thankful that the stereotypical youth worker (young, cool, plays guitar, surfs, rides skateboards, has a tattoo….) is no longer the “norm”.

- We are starting a 3-week series this weekend called “STUFF”. We are using household stuff as object lessons to teach a biblical truth. It’s a series we have done once before with great success. This week’s lesson: Take Out The Trash!

- Quite a few people tracked me down at the conference to ask me about regional campuses (basically church plants that are still part of the mother ship). Questions about how we structure etc. My simple answer: “Treat them like a franchise with freedom” They are a franchise in that there are certainly some things that they have to do in line with the main campus because they are the same church. But there shouldn’t be an overly large amount of control…they need freedom to tweak the ministry to their context.

- Dear Denver Broncos, Please get rid of Brandon Marshall.

- Dear senate and house leadership, Please either sign [...]

collegeministrythoughts.com

Mission Statements Causing Confusion

Every church and organization has a mission statement. And, for the most part, every ministry leader has a mission statement for their specific ministry – especially in the church. Mission statements are important because they articulate (hopefully) what we’re about, what we stand for and what we’re seeking to accomplish. These are good.

But there is something I want to point out that causes confusion. Or, at least, can. And that is church-based ministries that have a different mission statement than the church they are a part of. I see this all the time. The junior high ministry has a mission. The high school ministry will have a different one. And the church yet another one. Now, the truth is when you boil mission statements down, most churches are basically saying the same thing…just worded differently. But different mission statements in the same church?

Really?

Are we really seeking an entirely different mission? Or, are we simply seeking to move people in an age-stage toward embracing the same mission? If we’re a part of a church, I hope it’s the latter. Sure, the vision of implementing and applying that mission should be unique for age stage ministries, but it’s not a different mission! Well, at least it shouldn’t be.

Here are 3 encouragements:

1. Make sure you agree with the mission statement of the organization you serve under. If you feel like you need to change the mission statement, you probably shouldn’t be there anyway.
2. Understand that college age people long to belong in the church as a whole, not just a ministry. Having the same mission statement as the church (and helping the students we work with embrace that mission)is a very simply way we can help them feel a part of the bigger picture.
3. College ministry is an assimilation ministry where we bridge people from relational connection in the student life of our churches into relational connections in the adult life of our churches. We need all the continuity we can get in order to be effective in this. And this continuity begins with the mission statement.

youthmissionsinsider.com

Something from the fundraising seminar

SYMC is a wrap. A couple people asked about our sample timeline for big event fundraising stuff. Here it is. My usually witty commentary, and simultaneous harassing of Andy, will have to wait for tonight. I am beat.

Sample Schedule:

Fall Event ? Yard Clean up for church and others

Sports stadium venue (running concessions)

2 Christmas events (Parents Night Out, and a vendor-based Christmas bazaar)

January missions appeal to the congregation, including direct support letters

Valentines night out

Sports stadium venue

Pre-selling bags of mulch, and/or installing it

Spring Auction

marriedtoayouthpastor.com

It Really was a Stretch?

simplyurbanministry.com

Soul Food! If you love yourself, feed yourself!!!