What Do You Do All Day?

What Do You Do All Day?

by | Oct 15, 2013 | The Youth Ministry Blog

Every week people spend countless hours behind a desk doing things that get very little attention or appreciation. It’s no different in Student Ministry. In fact, many people ask me the question, “What do you do all week?”

Fair question. After all, when they see me on Sunday’s and Wednesday’s I’m giving a sermon, leading games, or giving announcements. How hard can that be? Surely it doesn’t take a whole week to do that?

When a student asks me what I do all day, it usually has no effect on me. I simply reply, “I play Bop-It all day waiting for you to get here.”

But when that question comes from an adult, parent, or volunteer…the depraved, needing of affirmation side of me wants to sit them down and walk them through my weekly schedule. Show them the time that takes me away from my wife and kids. (Meetings, emails, meetings, sermon prep, vision casting, volunteer recruitment & training, school visits, bible studies, football/volleyball games, choir concerts, care visits & meetings, service planning, discipleship, emails, meetings)

Apart from wanting to “prove” our worthiness, I feel that Youth Pastors must ask ourselves this question: “What do you do all day?”

Are we being faithful in the small things, the unseen things? Or, are we only being faithful with what is seen, what happens from the stage?

What do you do all day?

Yes, you are preparing a sermon, but are you letting the Holy Spirit lead and speak to you? The fact that you are writing a sermon or Bible Study, does not mean you are being faithful.

Shoot, I’m guilty!

I’ve prepared last minute and given awful sermons. Ones where I felt completely fake. And you know what? They were awesome! You know why? Because I’m REALLY good at winging it! And you probably are also.

So let’s pull back the curtain on the Wizard of Oz and see what’s really under the surface.

Write down everything you do during the week. Where are you wasting time? What could you remove from your schedule in order to be more faithful in your writing and preparation? Are you spending time on your knees? Are you spending time in the commentaries? Do you know how to say “no?” Do you know how to delegate? What small things are taking a back seat? These are just a few of the questions we MUST answer in order to be faithful with the time He has given us.

You may be a good speaker, team member, small group leader, youth pastor, mom, dad, husband, or wife. But what would happen if you started being faithful with the small things?

“‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’” –Matthew 25:23

Texas native, Texas Tech Red Raider, M.Div. at Truett Seminary, husband to Ashley, father to Ava, Student Pastor at LifePoint Church in Plano, Tx, table tennis (ping-pong) extraordinaire, addicted to coffee. For anything else…you’ll just have to ask, Email David.

Keep Going

by | Oct 14, 2013 | The Youth Ministry Blog

Ever feel like GIVING UP in Student Ministry??? You need a FOLDER!!!

Lets face it Student Ministry isn’t the easiest thing in the world! Sometimes, a student will get on your nerves or you get that parent email that makes you just want to throw in the towel. It’s not easy because we are sinners dealing with sinners.

But we ALL NEED to REMIND ourselves WHY we do what we DO!!
“To BRING students to JESUS who can CHANGE their LIVES!!”
There is MORE JOY in that than anything in this world!!

No student is ever worth you quitting over!!
No parent is ever worth you quitting over!!
No leader is ever worth you quitting over!!
No email or text is ever worth quitting over!!

 

SEEING one STUDENT meet JESUS for the FIRST TIME is worth years of MINISTRY!!

 

In times that you feel like giving up in Student Ministry, do this!!!

-Start a folder where you can collect emails, tweets, Facebook posts, notes, and cards of how God has changed lives in your Student Ministry

-Pull that email out from the parent who emailed you saying how God changed their student’s life!

-Pull out that hand written card a student wrote you saying how much of a difference you have made in their life!

-Look back at your Student Ministry and see what God has done and rejoice!!

-Pull out that tweet and Facebook post of how a student’s life was changed!!

You will encounter times of wanting to give up and when you do PULL OUT that FOLDER and remind yourself of why you entered ministry in the first place!!

This suggestion came from Doug Fields book, “Your First Two Years in Youth Ministry.” It is a must read!!

Michael Hux is the Student Pastor of Team Church in Matthews, NC.

Connect with Michael on Twitter or Instagram: @_Hux

 

Reunioned or Ruined

by | Oct 11, 2013 | The Youth Ministry Blog

Last weekend I was fortunate to go to something very unique, my youth group’s reunion. That’s right, some 15 years after many of us graduated 50 of us gathered together for a night of reconnecting, dinner and worship. Some of us traveled great distances to be there, including my own youth pastor. We even had our old worship band play some of their old tunes. Singing those songs in our old youth room with my old friends really brought me back to those formative years in my faith.

As I was interacting with my friends I was reminded that one day my current students will graduate, get married and become adults just like we did. Through the conversations I was hit with some themes that made me reflect on how I do youth ministry.

Theme # 1 – Special Ingredients.
Throughout the night people kept talking about what made our youth ministry so great. They talked about how everyone was welcome, no matter who they were and what school they went too. They talked about how everyone experienced God’s grace at a deep level. This is what drew people to our youth group. I hope I never take for granted how powerful a warm, accepting ministry can be for a growing ministry.

Theme # 2 – Life after youth group.
Many of my friends had found it hard to connect with the church and it wasn’t because they didn’t try. The community they found so compelling in high school was lacking as an adult in the church. Some had even experienced deep wounds by church leadership. I was reminded that the faith formation of teenagers requires that we help them connect in the larger church body. It also requires that we prepare them for the inevitable reality that they will be disappointed by the church because it is filled with broken people just like you and me.

Theme # 3 – Life will get hard.
So many of my friends shared about how they “needed” our reunion. There were those who had gone through divorce and others who lost parents. I heard about shattered dreams and broken hearts. For many, these wounds left them disillusioned about God’s presence in their lives. Our reunion was an opportunity for them to be reminded that the God who worked in their hearts as teens is still with us today. I think most youth ministries fail to adequately prepare teens for the reality of living in a broken world. We paint the picture that if we follow Jesus, life will be rosy and fun. When life gets rough, they question their God because we didn’t do a good job of helping them encounter Jesus in the midst of their pain.

I don’t know if I’ll ever get to have a reunion with any of my youth groups, but I hope that I lead mine knowing that I will leave a legacy. I hope that our ministry will be known for displaying Jesus’ amazing grace and helping teens embrace Jesus through the ups and downs of the rest of their lives.

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

Emotional Boundaries in Student Ministry

by | Oct 10, 2013 | The Youth Ministry Blog

Have you ever felt sleepy driving on the interstate? It’s the moment when your tires start to “humm” as they roll over the small ridges on the side of the road that becomes a warning sign and wakes you up! It is only when you realize you are headed off the road that you can make a correction to stay on track.

In ministry and in life, we must set up boundaries.

Emotions are powerful. Emotions are a part of our makeup as human beings. God created us as emotional beings. The first step in breakdowns in boundaries is allowing emotions to be the driving factor to leadership.

Emotions left alone will lie to us most of the time. A lot of people think that sexual temptation is simply physical, but it truly begins emotionally.

5 Emotional Boundaries Every Leader Needs to Build: 

 1. Avoid talking heart-to-heart with other women besides your spouse.
I will talk and encourage girls but then connect them to a trusted female leader for further counsel. As leaders, our heart should be in pursuit of our spouse with reckless abandonment. Build healthy boundaries that support your families, especially your spouse.

2. Avoid the pressure to make a quick decision based on momentary feeling. 
Emotional decisions are usually fast. They are impulsive and without discretion that take a long time to clean up.
I try to ask the questions, “Is this worth spending my emotional energy?” or “Will I regret what I’m about to do, in an hour?”

3. Stop worrying about things we cannot control. 
Emotional conversations are usually without thought and usually include gossip and slander. Control is an illusion anyway.
When I feel the urge to complain or become angry, I’m trying to learn to surrender it to God.

4. Ministry does not define me.
We all want to succeed in ministry. But, at the end of the day, our identity is found IN Jesus and not through our ministry job. I’m a follower of Jesus first, then I’m a pastor. This truth helps me process the good or bad days of ministry.
If someone praises you, let it go to God and not your head. We are the instruments of God, and He deserves praise.

5. Always Forgive.
In ministry, we will face hurt. Jesus taught us to forgive and through His strength we can live free of bitterness. Bitterness eats away our passion for people, because we are reliving a moment in time over and over in our mind. A lack of forgiveness in a leader’s heart eventually saps them dry and leads them to look for sinful choices to fill the hurt. Forgive no matter what someone has said or done to you. Remember, we will never have to forgive anyone more than how much Jesus has forgiven us.

When our emotions and thoughts are in line with the Holy Spirit, then you will see clarity and peace.

How important do you think emotional boundaries are in ministry? In your life, where have you set emotional boundaries?

I’d like to hear your thoughts! 

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