by David Hanson | Mar 18, 2014 | The Youth Ministry Blog
“To the church in Fort Worth.” That phrase popped into my head this afternoon. Far too often I forget that the Bible was written to specific people living in a specific time. It certainly does apply to my life, but I wasn’t written specifically to me.
The New Testament books are written to the churches in cities like Galatia, Rome, Ephesus, and Philippi. These are geographic locations that had streets, local hangouts, city governments and places to eat. When Paul or John writes to these people he is addressing specific problems that Christians are having in these cities.
This got me thinking. What would a letter written in my day to my city look like? This is the city that I love with the people that I love. What would be included in a letter to the church in Fort Worth?
If I sat down and wrote my letter, it would include hopes and dreams that I believe God has for my city. I would want certain things to change and other things to stay the same. I have certain people in mind when I think about my city, just like Paul and John did. My letter would be different from your letter because your city and people are different from mine.
Each day we have carry the weight of translating the Gospel of peace into a language our students and our city can understand. Because we live in different communities our translations look different. This is the process of contextualization, where we translate the timeless truths of Scripture for a specific people, time and place.
What would you include in your letter? Where is justice needed? What needs aren’t being met? What powers in your community need opposing? Who needs someone to stand in the gap for them?
You are called by God to translate the Gospel for your community. If you don’t, who will? Go ahead, get writing!
Kevin Libick is a Middle School Pastor living in Fort Worth, TX with his wife Kara and her two cats. He is a novice banjo picker and expert Hawaiian food eater. Kevin loves to connect with other youth workers and equip them to live out their calling in God’s Kingdom. Connect with Kevin on Twitter: @kevinlibick
by David Hanson | Mar 10, 2014 | The Youth Ministry Blog
If you are in a position where you can choose the direction of your student ministry and help guide it, this can be one of the most rewarding and sometimes frightening places to be. You feel the weight of shepherding this ministry you have been entrusted with. In the proper frame of mind, this will cause you to listen, pray, and spend time with the Lord. Sure, there are egomaniacs out there, bent on running the ministry in the way they see fit with little guidance outside of their own minds, but hopefully this is not the common case.
These decisions are sometimes large ones (what programs or services you will offer, vision of your ministry, etc) and sometimes small ones (stage designs, to have donuts or not to have donuts, etc). Some people think through every decision, while other people have more of a “Hey, whatever!” mentality, I find myself in the former camp.
This fall I was working on restructuring our small groups and finding ways for our teaching to coincide with them. In the past, our small groups had been some what autonomous in their teaching, with leaders picking different studies they found intriguing. I wanted to streamline this process, focus in on Scripture more, and really dig into certain passages to help them stick in their mind. Side note: I believe that students will not remember much of what I say in my sermons five years from now (maybe five minutes?), but if I can teach them to study and understand their Word, then this is something they will carry with them for the rest of their life.
I started to feel that I wanted my students to really grasp the Gospel of Jesus in a holistic way. If Jesus is the central figure of Scripture, our Redeemer and Salvation, then I wanted my students to grasp His life and hopefully fall deeper in love with Him. I started to feel pulled towards teaching exegetically through a Gospel and I naturally started to look towards Mark. I say “naturally” because I love the flow of Mark and the straight forward nature of it. A professor at seminary had opened my eyes to Mark in a profound way, and I’ve never thought of it the same since then.
This was a big undertaking though, it meant over four months in the book of Mark to teach it adequately in the way I wanted to. It meant not teaching through some of our regular fall series. What if the students got tired of going through the same book? What if staying in the same chapter all week long meant they would check out of groups? I know these may seem silly to you, but these were my thoughts.
I trudged forward with Mark in spite of my doubts, we are three weeks away from finishing, and it has been an awesome Spirit-led decision. I devoured books and studies on Mark. We didn’t skip over the difficult parts of Mark, but tackled them head on. We asked tough questions and didn’t shy away from God’s truth. Our students have come to grasp the life of Jesus in a way they never have before. They read ahead to get a better picture of what’s coming up. When students have gotten saved over the past few months, I tell them to read Mark, knowing that we have a group of students that can walk and guide them through their readings. It has helped to galvanize our ministry and the adults are learning a lot too.
All of this to say, don’t be afraid to teach God’s Word. Don’t be afraid in student ministry to engage the Word in a deep and meaningful way. Make it fun and ask the tough questions. Our students have gotten the most out of the misunderstood passages like the Rich Young Ruler. God’s Word will change you and your ministry. God’s Word is awesome…
Brandon Weir is the Student Pastor at The Fellowship Round Rock near Austin, TX. What does Brandon love? “I love my wife Jules, my dog Ranger, Texas Tech, being outdoors, the Texas Rangers, camping, hiking, reading, Torchy’s Tacos and I love me some Jesus.”
by David Hanson | Mar 7, 2014 | Podcast, The Youth Ministry Blog
In Session 8 of the podcast, I discuss Disciple Now with co-blogger Brandon Weir. More specifically, we look at:
1. Why Youth Ministries do retreats like Disciple Now
2. Where we have found success during retreats
3. Structure of Disciple Now
4. Pro’s & Con’s of Adult Volunteers vs. College Students
5. Thoughts about Branding & Preparation
6. Getting Feedback
Action Items:
1. Give the podcast a Rating and Review on iTunes so that other Youth Pastors can find us!
2. What was the best part of your Disciple Now or retreat weekend? We would love to hear what has worked best for you! Share your thoughts by commenting below!
by David Hanson | Mar 4, 2014 | The Youth Ministry Blog
I’ve thought a lot lately about my example as a Dad. A pastor. A friend.
“Do as I say and not as a I do” is an ineffective way to lead people.
If I want my children to love Jesus, I need to love Jesus by example. If I want students that I lead to share their faith, I need to share my faith. If I want people to be in small groups, I need to be in a small group.
“Everything rises and falls on leadership.” John Maxwell
“Leadership is action, not position. “D.H. McGannon
“Do-so is more important than say-so.” Pete Seeger
People not only want to be taught but they want to emulate. Just as important as our public leadership is the private leadership of our actions.
If our goal is to lead people to accomplish the vision of God, it must start with example.
Practical ways to lead by example:
– Smile.
– Encourage: Give courage to people as they serve. Help them see their God-given potential.
– Listen: When someone talks, listen to them. Don’t talk over them or ignore their suggestions.
– Deflect praise to God: Avoid taking credit that belongs to God.
– Follow through: Do what you say you will do.
– Ask Forgiveness: When you make a mistake in what or how you lead, be the first to admit and ask for forgiveness. Admitting mistakes solidifies leadership and builds trust.
What would you add to the practical ways to lead by example? Leave a comment below!
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Josh is the student pastor at Church @ The Springs in Ocala, Florida (www.thesprings.net). Josh has served in student ministry for 9+ years and has a passion to lead students to imitate Christ and influence the world! He has a personal blog at http://joshrobinson.cc
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by David Hanson | Feb 19, 2014 | The Youth Ministry Blog
An accurate view of reality.
Nehemiah had a vision: to see is people safe back at home. Nehemiah had a task: to build the wall in Jerusalem. His vision and his task motivated him to act on behalf of his people.
Nehemiah displayed incredible leadership when it came to actually carrying out his God-given task. When Nehemiah returned to Jerusalem went to the source of the problem: the wall. In chapter 2 we read that late at night he got up and walked the walls to assess the damage. Instead of relying on other people, he saw the problem for himself. Through his first hand knowledge he was able to come up with a plan to rebuild the wall.
What would have happened if Nehemiah started work on the wall without seeing the damage? He may have sent workers to the wrong spot, not provided the right resources or underestimated the need.
In order to be a Spiritual leader, we must have an accurate view of reality. In other words, we have to solve the problems that actually exist. To have an accurate view of reality, we need to see the problem for ourselves.
One time I had a small group leader that I thought was doing a great job. He was a nice guy and was faithful, so I assumed that everything was great in his group, but I never observed his group. I started to hear rumblings of discontent and dismissed them as students being complainy. I decided to visit his group anyways to see him at work. Through watching him firsthand I realized that he was dropping the ball on some key areas. Since I saw him lead a group first hand, I was able to help him grow in these areas and he became a must better small group leader.
When we fail to have an accurate view of reality we start solving the wrong problems and we solve them in the wrong way. We answer questions our students aren’t asking. We fix programs that don’t need fixing. We don’t see the problems until they have become out of control.
Leadership requires that we face our challenges head on and we can’t do that if we don’t know what the real issues are.
Step back and observe – If you are in the middle of the storm you can’t see things objectively. Sometimes you need to let go of some tasks so that you can observe your ministry.
Ask questions from the right people – If you want to know how you are doing ministering to families, then you should probably talk to some parents.
When you know what’s really going on in your ministry, you’ll be able to make the necessary course changes to solve the problems that actually exist.
Kevin Libick is a Middle School Pastor living in Fort Worth, TX with his wife Kara and her two cats. He is a novice banjo picker and expert Hawaiian food eater. Kevin loves to connect with other youth workers and equip them to live out their calling in God’s Kingdom. Connect with Kevin on Twitter: @kevinlibick
