Youth Ministry Training and Continuing Education Survey
Fellow Youth Ministers. The survey below is designed to find out what kind of training youth ministers have had and would like to have in order for them to be effective ministers to today's teens.
Could you take 5 minutes (literally 5 minutes is probably all you need) and fill this out. Thank you very much!
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Bridge Events that Work: Coffeehouses and Talent Shows
If you look at the title and say to yourself, what is a “Bridge event”, let me clarify before I get into how a Coffeehouse or Talent Show is a great bridge event. A Bridge event is designed to give every student an opportunity to come and experience some of what we do as a youth program in hopes that if they do not go to Church or have a Church home, they would make Cedar Run that place. We are bridging them from not involved into being involved in our program.
Coffeehouses and talent shows are nothing new. They have been around for as long as I can remember and can still be an effective ways in drawing new students to your Church or ministry. When you do a coffeehouse or a talent show, the norm is to invite students to share their talents. Whether it is a music or another talent, the point it to provide them a platform for them to perform in front of their piers.
Below is a list of 3 different formats you can take to these talent shows, but regardless of what variation you take these are all great bridge events for a few reasons:
- You are giving students and opportunity to display their talents in a friendly, low pressure environment. Who doesn't want to have a place where they can display their abilities?
- Depending on the size of your group, you may only have a few people who want to step up to perform. By opening it up to everyone, whether they go to your Church or not, you are increasing the amount of acts you have to perform and promoting to the "outside world" that your church or ministry is a place that they can display their talents.
- The three variations of this event are non-threatening and non-christian students can feel that this is a safe event for them to attend and participate in.
Different Versions:
There are a few different formats you can take - a coffeehouse, talent show or a variety show.
A Coffeehouse usually consists of some musical guests in a close knit environment. You want to dim the lights a bit, bring in some couches and create a relaxed setting where students can chill and listen to some music. I think this kind of format was really popular in the 90s and early part of the 2000s when Starbucks had tremendous growth and was becoming the "it" coffee to drink. At places like Starbucks, you also had an environment that promoted people sitting around together, chatting about life and listening to casual, almost blues type of music. Therefore, when youth programs began to do Coffeehouses, you wanted to create this kind of environment because Starbucks was not just the "it" coffee to drink but the "it" place to be.
Ultimately, with this format, you will normally attract people who want to sing, read some poetry or even tell jokes. It's a more mellow atmosphere which attracts a more mellow type of act or talent. Again, I believe this format was more popular a few years ago, but it can still be effective.
A Talent Show is really a free for all. It does not matter what kind of mood you have set up, although a carnival/festive atmosphere might be a good theme to run with if you desire one. Basically, a talent show is a simple display of talent from the youth (although it would be great to have leaders participate and show off a talent or two themselves). Unlike the Coffeehouse setting, because of the more festive atmosphere, the wide variety of acts you can get increases here. You are definitely likely to get some obscure talents to be displayed, more comedians and less musicians (although you will have a few).
Overall, a talent show is something that everyone can enjoy. Your students will have a great time while appreciating the opportunity to be stretched and share their talents to others.
A Variety Show is a combination of both - sort of like SNL. This is where you have a guest host who will be the MC for the night. He or she could either be a leader or student, but if you have a student do this, make sure it is someone who is strong and confident in front of people, someone who can definitely ad-lib where needed. This format will be similar to the talent show where you advertise mainly for talents and skit performers, not musical guests. Like SNL, the only musical guest you want to have is someone or a group perform a few songs in the middle and at the end of the show. If you have a Youth Band, this would be a perfect venue for them to sing some worship songs during the event.
What makes this variety show format different is that you are getting a majority of skits than anything else. Young Life does this great at their summer camp. It's called "Entertainment Night" with the idea of entertaining students and making them laugh. This is what happens at the variety show format. You want to mainly entertain students rather than share students. This opens the door up to a lot of students who may not feel they have a "talent" to share.
At Cedar Run we have done all three of the versions but probably lean more towards the Variety show format now because it works for our students. Depending on what type of students come to your program, you probably want to gear it around them and their interests. After all, they are the ones who have to come out and support it.
TAKE A MINUTE and...
- Start brainstorming for what format would work well with your group. If you have already done one of these formats, choose one that you have never done before. We have found that April/May timeframe works best for us.
- Then, start planning one out. No matter what variation you choose to do, start to encourage students to participate and plan the event with you. The more input you get from them, the better the support and turnout will be.
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Having Fun in Ministry
There is so much in ministry that can get you down. Whether it is challenging students, difficult working with other staffers, budget constraints or just the countless spiritual attacks Satan comes after you with, ministry can be tough.
That is why you have to have a little fun with it every now and then. I did this on Wednesday when I met up with my Associate Pastor, Mark Seager and a friend of ours. I did the whole meeting in this outfit and our friend, Blake, said he had a hard time listening to my critique of his talk without laughing at me constantly.
Donny was a run-on character I created for our youth to sell a few games. He was warmly received by the youth so I figured I would push the envelope a bit and take him into the wild.
TAKE A MINUTE and
- have some fun in ministry. Don't get bogged down with the craziness without being a little crazy yourself.
- share a story (or video) of you doing something fun in ministry. It's always a little encouraging to see that we don't take ourselves to seriously
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Being Flexible
This past Sunday, a lot of youth ministers in Indianapolis, New Orleans, Minnesota and New York had an interesting decision to make - do you cancel your youth group for a football game? Whether you live in those areas or not, you have probably been faced with this decision before. I have numerous times as I live just outside Washington, DC and this is Redskin country. When the Redskins play, people watch - no matter how bad they have been lately.
Tim Schmoyer, who writes a youth ministry blog, was faced with this decision this week. He said this as he was polling others and what they do -
"Since I think teens are already given way too many excuses to put spirituality behind everything else, I don't want our church to be part of enabling that. It's not that I'm anti-football or even that I don't think ministry can flex for current events. We cancel youth group for the Super Bowl, but for other games? It just doesn't feel right to me. God always comes first, especially before a football game. Our standards for teens spiritual growth are already so low! I'm sure we'll have a small crowd at youth group tomorrow night, which is fine with me. It's not important that we have a large group, it's important that we do the right thing for the right reasons and bring glory to God through it all. I'll be more than happy to focus on the students who are there."
I get what Tim is saying and I think this best sums up how I feel. HOWEVER, I think ultimately that there comes a point where we put aside our feelings and become a little flexible as a great opportunity is presented. Here is what I mean:
- For starters, when an event like the AFC and NFC championship game comes up (which this event was), it is a special event which means you show special consideration. If this was just a regular season or playoff game, you do not change plans, but football really is like soccer for so many other countries. We get very passionate about football and "our team" and when they are 1 victory away from the Super Bowl, that is a big deal. Sure, Christ should always come before all things, but when something takes hold of the whole city you live in, people want to watch and support their cities. But again, if this just a regular football game does not involve my city at all (other than the Super Bowl), I keep whatever I am doing on. For instance, I had a Parent/Teen relationship building gathering this week and I did not cancel my event. There were a ton of people interested in the game, but we had no city tie whatsoever so we had a pretty solid turnout.
- Secondly, rather than straight up canceling, I would alter my plans a bit. Instead of doing a regular "youth group" night, change it to incorporate watching the game together. Have your students invite their friends (especially non-believers) and center your night around fellowship and community building. Then, during halftime, shut the TV off and do a Bible study, sing some worship songs or even do some prayer and meditation. Sure, it may not be exactly what you had originally planned but the fact is you are leading them in Christ during that time which is the important thing.
As I have said above, I have had to make this decision many times and ultimately I change my plans. This is where I have to take my feelings out of it and look for the opportunity. I know some people will completely disagree with me and claim that I should never put a "youth group" event behind a secular activity. But in reality, I'm not putting Christ on the back-burner - just youth group. If you think the only time students can grow in Christ is through traditional "youth group" setting, then you probably have the wrong approach to youth ministry. "Youth group" is a tool, not an end game. The end game is being a fully devoted follower of Christ and you are simply providing steps to help your students get there. By being flexible and changing my plans a bit, I'm simply providing a different way for kids to experience Christ together. They will have a shared fellowship experience where they see Christ demonstrated in the lives of our leaders by the way we respond when our team does or doesn't succeed.
Again, in a perfect world, I wish all my students would step up and put Christ before all things all the time. But, the reality is that they do not. In fact, I do not always put Christ 1st in all situations (sorry, true confession). So, I completely understand what Tim and so many other youth ministers feel about this situation. But again, I do believe it is part of my job to be flexible and to look for opportunities to present Christ in all situations. Even if it means I have to change plans a little bit.
TAKE A MINUTE and plan out what you will do the next time a special event comes up and interferes with a regularly scheduled youth event. How can your students still experience Christ during that change of plans?
So what do you think? Feel free to share your thoughts and comments.
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Are you Super Bowl Planning yet?
As I have said in a few different posts, our Super Bowl Party is probably one of our biggest outreach events we put on ever year. In fact, we have built a solid reputation around the NW corner of Fairfax County, VA as one of the best Super Bowl parties around in which we draw an average of 125 people a year. Considering that we are a small to medium size church, we are very pleased by the turnout.
With less than 3 weeks until the Super Sunday, we are at full speed in preparation for this big outreach event.
The question I have for everyone is do you do a Super Bowl Party and do you use it as an opportunity to reach out to your community and non-believing teens? Whether you do or not, I believe that a Super Bowl Outreach event is one of the most effective opportunities we have at reaching out to non-believers all year. If for no other reason than everyone watches the Super Bowl, we have the perfect chance to bring students into the church. Whether students like football or not, the fact is that they are going to watch it (if for no other reason than the ads) and we can use it to our advantage to introduce students to our ministry. After all, the Super Bowl has such a festive ora about it that you want to watch it and want to watch with your friends. So why not give students a fun place to hang, eat great food and enjoy the game/ads together?
This is the exact reason why I have always done Super Bowl Parties. It was only once I came to Cedar Run over 6 years ago that we changed our philosophy to where we have gone from an "in-house" party to an outreach focused one. Even though we are less than 3 weeks away, you can still make an effective one happen.
Here are some ideas:
- Give students reasons to come. The fact is, your Super Bowl party needs to be more than just football. Even though most people watch the Super Bowl, you have to set yourself apart from the other parties that are going on. At Cedar Run, we offer a variety of things other than just football. For instance, we offer tons of free homemade food, plenty of activities (this year we are finalizing details to have some teen appropriate inflatables) and we have give-aways. By doing more than just showing the Super Bowl, you are opening up your doors to more people and giving students a reason to come to your party.
- Do your own half-time show. Unfortunately, we learned the hard way on this one. When the "wardrobe malfunction" happened, we were watching along with the rest of the world. It was at this point that we decided that we could use this opportunity to further set our party apart from others by doing our very own half-time show. Each year is different as we try to keep it fresh and new, but basically this is where we do a little mini youth group. We will play a mixer or a game, show a quick funny video and then conclude with a testimony and "This is Cedar Run" video. We do all this so that we give students an opportunity to see that Cedar Run offers so much more on a weekly basis. Doing our half-time show has been a huge hit.
- Share Christ. Ultimately, we did not just want to be another Super Bowl Party where you watched the game and ate lots of food. We wanted to stand apart by giving our students something provokative and life-changing to think about. Therefore, at the end of our half-time show, we have a a few students stand up and share about Christ's impact on their lives.
Even though you have less than 3 weeks to get organized, your Super Bowl Party can be a success. If you have to start small this year and implement a few new ideas, NO PROBLEM. Plan for long term success, not just short term. We didn't just throw a Super Bowl Party and get 125 students immediately. We had to work to get that number, building upon our numbers each year.
So, are you planning yet for your Super Bowl Party? If you are not, it is still not too late!!!
TAKE A MINUTE and...
- Start planning. Think of some unique things you could offer that would not only attract your students, but other non-believing students as well. If it is just one or two simple ones, implement them and start working on it so you can get the word out.
- Think of some students who might be good at sharing their testimony. Set it up that during half-time, you turn the TV off and give at least 1 student an opportunity to share about Christ.
- Create a Facebook page for it! We did ours over a week ago and the word is starting to spread like a wild-fire. Facebook is a great promotional tool.
If you have a thought or comment on how you have done Super Bowl Parties before, post them up so that all of us can benefit from the different and creative ideas.
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3 Boundaries to set up
Boundaries can be very hard to set and maintain. But, it is important for you to set them up so that you protect yourself, your family and your ministry. Here are some boundaries I believe we need to set up as youth ministers:
- Set up boundaries on the hours we work. I have been both a part-time and full-time youth minister. In both situations, I needed to be mindful to the hourly expectations. For instance, if you are hired to be part-time, be part-time as much as possible. We all know that when you are hired to work in ministry, you are never "part-time". But, if a Church cannot afford to hire you full-time for whatever reason, it is your responsibility to hold to your hours. As admirable as it may be and despite how passionately you feel about ministry, I have found that if you work more than you should, you limit other potential job opportunities (i.e., a 2nd job to make ends meet) and the Church may never feel the need to bring you on full-time. After all, why pay someone full-time if you are working full-time as a part-timer? Honor what the Church expects and then some, but hold true to your hours.
If you are full-time, understand what your Church expects from you. Most Churches I know of expect 40 to 50 hours a week of work. Understand what kind of "office hours" you need to uphold and how much they expect you to be in. Different churches have different expectations. Also, remember that Sundays are work days so make sure that you are NOT working one day during Monday - Friday. Limit your nights out so you can have a social life or spend time with your family. If you work a weekend trip, that is easy 24-48 hours of work right there, so definitely take 2 days off the following week.
In ministry, it can be very easy to work, work, work that we forget to turn off our cell-phones and not check our email. Remember, just because you "could" or "can" do something with youth, doesn't mean you always should do it. Believe it or not, you do have a life outside of ministry. Therefore, give all you can to ministry, but set up healthy boundaries so you don't burn yourself, your family and friends out.
- Set up boundaries in how you manage your time. It can be very easy to get into the pattern of dealing with just the urgent stuff - the things that are happening that day or that week. For instance, I often go into our Church Staff Meeting with little or nothing written on my To-Do list because I know that when I come out of that meeting, it is often filled up with "must-do" things for the week. Those must-dos are often assigned to me by others. I have found that if I get trapped in their urgent must-dos I forget about what is needed to be done from a strategic standpoint (i.e., curriculum ideas, trip planning, leadership recruitment and development and overall vision of the program).
Now, don't get me wrong, some of those "must-dos" are urgent and need to be accomplished. But, manage your time effectively so you can hit the urgent must-dos without sacrificing your plans of what needs to get done. If you get overwhelmed at Staff Meetings as I do, maybe you put in an hour after that meeting to handle the urgent must-dos you get assigned. That way you honor what our Senior Pastor wants by knocking them out quickly while not sacrificing what you need to get done.
The point is that ministry can be very A.D.D. Unless you keep focus and find time to pursue the long term and other important aspects of your ministry, you can get caught up in the urgent "must-dos" and never be able to move your ministry to where you want and where God is leading.
- Set up boundaries in time spent with the opposite sex. Let's be honest. If you been in or around ministry for any amount of time, you will have heard of or know Pastors or Youth Ministers who have had affairs or inappropriate relationships with members of the opposite sex. In just the 45 seconds I thought about it, I can count at least 8. This is a huge problem for people in ministry and unless you are very intentional about it, you set yourself up to being caught up in this as well.
I have made a conscious decision to set boundaries with women. For example, if I need to meet with a female leader, I always meet with her in a public setting (i.e, Starbucks) or at the Church with the door open so another Staff member can hear or pop in. Even though I share an office with Katie, we leave the door open at all times. Also, I try my hardest never to hug students, male or female (I'm not a hugger anyways, so this isn't too hard). I never have any female student on my phone contact list and I will only call/text a female student if I need a babysitter or for her to share something at Church.
The point is that I never want to put myself into a position where the devil has any kind of foothold in this area. Whether or not these boundaries will work for you, my encouragement is that you need to set some boundaries up so that you can withstand Satan's attacks. Again, too many people in ministry get taken out because of affairs or inappropriate relationships. The moment we feel that we have won in this area is the moment Satan turns the heat up even more. We have to be proactive, rather than reactive.
These are just 3 boundaries to set up to be successful as a person and in youth ministry. But they are not the only ones. So, what do you think? What are some other boundaries you need to set up so that you can have a healthy personal and ministry life?
TAKE A MINUTE and...
- Review the 3 boundaries I suggested to set up. How are you doing with those boundaries? What changes do you need to make in order to have more healthy relationships and a more healthy life?
- Suggest another boundary to set up. Again, there are more out there and we need to be encouraging each other so that we can be as effective as possible. Post a comment if you have one.
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Are we like Mark McGwire?
On Monday, Mark McGwire confirmed what many people always suspected - he used steroids for much of his career including the 1998 season in which he broke the home run record. In case you do not follow baseball at all, since the 90s (maybe even before that), many players have chosen to take steroids and other PEDs (performing enhancing drugs such as HGH) which many fans, sport writers and others believe have caused the players to, among other things, hit a lot more home runs and smash batting records. Many athletes will claim they did it so that they would heal faster from injury, but none-the-less, it gave these players a huge advantage on the field. For Mark McGwire to come forward and say after many years of speculation that he used steroids is a very admirable thing to do and, as a fan, I am glad he spoke up. HOWEVER, I do have one problem with what he said and I feel that there is a direct correlation to Youth Ministry in it.
In an interview with Bob Costas on the MLB Network, McGwire firmly believes that he would have hit all those home runs even if he had never taken steroids or other PEDs. He said, "There's not a pill or an injection that's going to give me, going to give any player the hand-eye coordination to hit a baseball." He went on to say, "I truly believe I was given the gifts from the Man Upstairs of being a home run hitter, ever since ... birth. My first hit as a Little Leaguer was a home run. I mean, they still talk about the home runs I hit in high school, in Legion ball. I led the nation in home runs in college, and then all the way up to my rookie year, 49 home runs." When he was asked if he would have hit all those home runs had he never taken steroids he said, “Absolutely, I truly believe so.”
This was Mark McGwire in 1987 as a rookie
This was McGwire as a St. Louis Cardinal later in his career
This is what I have a problem with. McGwire firmly believes that he would have hit as many home runs as he did (he is currently tied for 8th in the all-time home run record books with 583) with or without steroids. This is what I question. Take a look at these 2 pictures to the left and right. Based on their physical appearance alone, do you think these 2 people would be able to hit the same amount of home runs? Sure, McGwire is right that it is ultimately hand-eye coordination that allows you to hit the ball. But, once you hit the ball, it is the power and strength behind that swing that makes the ball go further. He believes the he could have done it alone and did not need to the steroids to hit as many home runs as he did. I find this hard to accept. It is my opinion that while he would have hit home runs without steroids, he would have never hit as many as he did had he not taken them. He needed the steroids and, unfortunately, he doesn't see it that way. The source of his strength was steroids.
So you might be wondering how does this pertain to youth ministry at all? Well, I'm glad you asked. Here is the link that I thought of when I heard this. As youth ministers, we will get our fair share of criticism of how we run things. But we also get a lot of praises for when things go well. When you get these praises, how do you respond? Do you give God the glory and praises or do you take those praises and continue to build yourself up thinking that you are some great person and have your act all together. Almost like you could do all these great things with or without God, that your strength and wisdom comes from you and not the Lord.
I have found in my ministry that it can be very easy for me to take the praises of what is going on in my ministry and think it is about me. That I did this and I did that. It was not a conscious decision on my part to think that I was so special, but none-the-less, there have been times where I believe that it was more about me and my ideas than anything else. It is almost like I have this Mark McGwire thinking that I could do all this with or without God.
Now, don't get me wrong, I don't go around all day thinking that I am some great youth minister and that God has no part of what I am doing. But seeing Mark McGwire on Monday talk about steroids gave me a great God moment. It was here where I remembered that all things that have happened in the ministry I have been honored to be apart of has been ALL GOD and less me. He is my strength and wisdom. Because of this, I wanted to encourage all of us youth ministers that we need to stay grounded and focused on who really makes things happen - that is the Lord! He is the one who changes hearts and gives us wisdom and discernment - not a great talk we gave or a small group we led. He is the power and the ultimate authority - not a cool youth room or event we created. Again, it can be very easy to think we are the all-star youth minister and that we have done some great things because we are constantly told so. But, we have to remember who it is that ultimately impacts all things - God.
As I strive to keep myself grounded and focused on God and His power, strength and provision, I am encouraged in these 3 passages:
- Jeremiah 9:23-24 - "This is what the LORD says: 'Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,' declares the LORD."
- Philippians 3:1-11 - Here Paul challenges all believers to stop boasting about who we are and start rejoicing in and chasing after who Christ is.
- Philippians 4:13 - This is a great verse that reminds us where we get our power from - Christ.
So, where are you?
TAKE A MINUTE and
- Examine your heart. Are you finding yourself more like Mark McGwire - believing you can do all things on your own strength or more like Paul who strives to give God the glory, praise and honor as it is his passion to get to know his savior better? Spend a few minutes praying and examining your heart as to where you stand.
- Then, take some time to give the Glory to God. Remember all that he has done in your ministry and give him the praise and honor He deserves.
If you have a thought, comment or encouragement about this, post a comment so that we can all benefit.
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Are you coasting?
In Mark DeVries book, "Sustainable Youth Ministry", he writes "If, instead of coasting in contentment, the youth ministry reengages in bold dreaming and engaging innovation, the seeds of fresh, new life can be planted in the ministry." (p. 72) I believe that Mark is right on and this can be a big problem area in ministry and our personal lives. When we coast, we stop creating and looking for ways to tweak and improve good things that are already happening. It is when we stop creating and innovating that we ultimately lose the edge we have at reaching teens for Christ in ministry and going deeper in experiencing Christ personally.
But creating and innovating is not necessarily the norm and easy to do. It is something we have to fight for as, in all things, it can be very easy to coast. For example, life is going well, just keep on doing what you are doing and coast. Your friendships are going well, so just keep on doing what you are doing and coast. Or ministry may be going well, so again, just keep on what you have been doing and coast. It is when we get in these mindsets that we start becoming ineffective in our personal and professional lives.
For example, some ways that coasting can negatively affect our personal and ministry lives are:
- You have been friends with someone for a long time and fairly recently they took up an unhealthy habit (i.e., over drinking, over eating, smoking, etc). Instead of saying the hard word, you coast by not saying anything and watch your friend deteriorate in a self-destructive habit.
- You are in a good place right now with finances and a solid working environment so you coast and do not seek to improve who you are at all. Because you coast, when a change in working environment (i.e., new Senior Pastor) or a financial struggle comes up out of no-where (i.e., car accident), you find yourself stuck in a situation where you are not able to get out of easily.
- Your ministry is going well and have students coming to know Christ and are being spurred to love him more. So, you coast and continue to do what you are doing with no improvements to programs, strategy or leadership. Because you coast and do not seek to improve what you are doing when leaders stop helping or when numbers decline a bit, you are not prepared to deal with changes.
So, we have to fight to innovate and improve who we are and what are ministries are. For example, some things you could do to not coast are to:
- Educate yourself with a seminary class, seminar, or other masters level course to help you be more effective youth minister
- Have an outside parent or youth minister come and evaluate your program so that you can seek ways to improve what you are currently doing
- Be on the lookout for new leaders. Come up with a potential leader list and start planting the seeds to others that you are interested in them being leaders for you.
- Set goals in ministry and your personal life so that you can continue to strive towards excellence in Christ.
As I said, these are just a few examples. Many more are out there. One of my goals for 2010 is to never miss a quiet time with the Lord. This time would not be something that I can just check off the box, but it would be a time where I spend time in prayer, listening, reading scripture, and meditation. As I have experienced a spiritual battle this past year, I know that if I am going to survive and thrive, I need that daily time with the Lord.
Because everyone benefits when we don't coast, TAKE A MINUTE and...
- Examine your life and your ministry. Look what you are currently doing and set 3 goals so that you can do to stay on top of your relationship with Christ and ministry. Then, strive towards them. It would be best if you had someone to hold you accountable to them to keep you focused and on course.
If you have some ways to create and innovate in ministry and your relationship with Christ, post them so that we can all benefit.
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Is Satan lurching around the Corner?
As we ring in 2010, I am happy and very thankful to say that 2009 is over! 2009 turned out to be one of the most unpredictable and craziest years I have ever been apart of and I am so glad it is over. Wondering what I am talking about? Let me explain a little.
I knew good things were happening at Cedar Run and that God was really working here. Because of this, I knew Satan was just around the corner waiting for something to devour (1 Peter 5:8). Over the summer the Church just hired a new female Youth Staff Associate to support our growing youth program and to help us minister to the girls better. I've talked about her before, but Katie is a great young lady who has a tremendous gift of relational ministry to girls as well as "out of the box" thinking to reach students for Christ. I have been bless to be working beside her, so again, I thought Satan would be lurching around the corner trying to mess this up somehow.
In addition to hiring Katie, our youth program was coming off a solid summer where we had a great mission trip and built lots of community amongst the students. I have seen relationships develop and be nurtured in a positive, Christlike way and I knew that this bonding was going to have a positive effect on our program. Students also grew in their faith during this trip and took some great steps of faith over the summer. Therefore, I knew Satan was going to be lurching around the corner ready to try to mess this up somehow.
Lastly, I was headed into the fall at a time when I was learning a lot. I had just finished taking a great PostModern class from Reformed Theological Seminary and was reading some good ministry related books. Because of that, I felt that I was going to be better equipped to lead our leaders and in turn, they were going to be more effective ministers to the students than in years past. Again, I knew Satan wouldn't like this so I knew he would be lurching around corner ready to pounce.
Because of all these great and positive things happening in my life and ministry, I knew that Satan would be lurching around the corner, trying to take me out. The only thing left to figure out was exactly how he was going to get to me. What was he going to do and how? As with everything in life, when you think you have figured it out, Satan attacked me in an unexpected way and oh boy he did not disappoint. I'm not going to go into the exact details of what happened but I will say that it had nothing to do with me personally (ie, infidelity or any kind of personal or ministry integrity issue). He came at me hard this year with a full attack and there were times when I have felt done and defeated. Satan was taking some really good licks at me.
The fact is, Satan wants all believers dead where we can make no impact for Christ whatsoever. Considering that we are all Youth Ministers who are in the trenches everyday for the eternal lives of countless youth, Satan must turn up the attacks even more. He is out to destroy our marriages, our families, our ministry, our friendships and anything else around us in order to eliminate our effectiveness for Christ!
Through it all, my encouragement has been and still remains that if Satan is lurching around the corner, God is always with me. These attacks by Satan has caused me to TURN TO THE LORD ALL THE MORE!. I am determined not go be taken out by Satan. Therefore, the more he attacks, the more I am driven by the power of Christ to perservere. James 1:2-4 says, "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." This past year has been a real test of faith as I have had to cling to him more and more each day. I have turned to the Lord countless times defeated and alone, but I know that he is there for me and helps me persevere.
This past year has not been easy, but I believe that I am better off from it, my family is better off and the youth at Cedar Run are better off because of this.
Because of what I have been going through, I wanted this to be an encouragement to other believers and minister who may have gone through similar things or who will go through them sooner or later. A few questions I had for you are these:
- Is Satan lurching around the corner? Is he hanging around, messing with your life in some way as well?
- What do you do when you have Satan lurching around the corner, ready to devour you?
- Where do you go and how do you process so that you can stay strong for Christ?
I believe these are important questions to ask and try to figure out so that when Satan does put on the full court press, we are ready and will be able to stand firm for the Lord. As Paul reminds us in Ephesians 6:10-18, our battle is not in flesh and blood, but "against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms" (Ephesians 6:12). Therefore, we have to be on our guard, ready to respond. We have to remember at all times that our enemy is powerful, but OUR LORD HAS BEEN AND WILL CONTINUE TO BE VICTORIOUS! No matter what Satan brings at you, you can overcome in the power of the Lord.
So, right now, TAKE A MINUTE and...
- Pray! Pray for yourself and others around you so that all believers and ministers can cling to Christ and stand strong for him despite the numerous and unexpected attacks by Satan.
- Be on guard. Satan will attack at any time. Keep roadblocks in place so that you do not give him a foothold to use against you in any way. Be a man or woman of integrity at all times and be pursuing Christ always.
If you have thoughts or encouragement about this topic, please post them so that we can all be encouraged and inspired to pursue the Lord all the more. I am praying for you all. May God bless your work.
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Leader Appreciation at Christmas
Last week, Katie and I had our annual Youth Leader Christmas Party with all our volunteer Youth Leaders. It has become an annual tradition as each year we give our leaders a gift certificate to a local mall and have dinner together. This year, we tried something different. Instead of having dinner at a persons house, we wanted to go out and treat the leaders to a nice dinner and then take some Christmas pictures by the National Christmas Tree in Washington, DC. Unfortunately, traffic and a bigger than expected snow storm wrecked havoc on those plans and we were not able to go into DC.
Because of this, we had to improvise on the fly. We changed plans and decided to go to dinner at a local Italian restaurant which had some very good food. Then, instead of taking pictures in front of the National Christmas Tree, we ended up taking some cool and random pictures in front of random houses and Christmas Trees in the downtown Fairfax area. Here is one.
We drove by some random, overdecorated houses and took pictures. This was one of them. We actually had the homeowner take this picture.
I have found that when we honor our leaders with this dinner and give them Christmas presents, it goes a long way with them. They feel appreciated and cared for which will hopefully inspire them to go that extra mile in building relationships with the students so that Christ can impact them for eternity.
So, what about you? Do you do anything for your leaders over Christmas? If so, what?
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