by David Hanson | Oct 8, 2013 | The Youth Ministry Blog
My favorite movies growing up consisted of some form of Karate. I loved the never say die attitude in them, the fighting and the sound effects. One thing you learn quickly in martial arts movies is that you “Never Give Up, Never Surrender.” While this makes for a thrilling movie, it’s not consistent with life, especially in ministry. Many pastors take these unrealistic expectations with us into ministry. We bring a refusal to give up or trust anyone mentality with us into ministry.
When I say “give up”, I’m not trying to get you to quit your job. I mean doing your job better. I mean giving up on your ego and trusting God. It’s a better way of doing ministry when we trust and know Jesus. Here’s a few things I’ve given up on in my three years of doing youth ministry.
1. Give up on changing students lives’
Realize that it’s the Holy Spirit that changes lives and not your words, actions, or power. I’ve spent much of my young ministry trying to be the difference maker. I thought if I phrased things perfectly or spent enough time crafting my message that it would change lives. In reality, it’s the Holy Spirit’s job to change lives… not yours. If I’m not connecting with Jesus then I’m trusting my own power, strength, intelligence, ideas or words to change students’ lives. This is a lonely road that ends with many youth pastors trying to grow their own ego, quitting when they see little fruit, and moving on to something else.
2. Give up some of your power
Empower your people! I know it will take a lot of time and training, and sure, they won’t do it as well as you (or so you think), but you need to trust them. Ministry can’t be done alone and sometimes an effort you deem as “B team” is actually better for your ministry. It gets people bought in, and gives your ministry multiple voices. When people are bought in, they will devote more to a ministry. Multiple voices are needed for your ministry, and I don’t just mean from the “pulpit.” When people are invested it gives them a fulfillment and you shouldn’t hold back that joy from people.
3. Give up your need to be “right”
This mentality infiltrates every area of your ministry. You work with students, and guess what??? This means they are going to make mistakes. How you love and guide them through this has a profound effect on the rest of their lives. I find myself being too judgmental and not showing grace or love often enough. We love to hit students with rule following, but how do we show grace?
Needing to be right, hinders our ability to listen when others are critical of our ministry. That parent or other staff member might be right… It hurts our pride when we’re wrong and often we take it personal when others are critical of our ministry, but what if they’re right. If you don’t always need to be “right” then you might get some valuable information for your youth ministry. I’ve been guilty of getting so fixated on doing ministry my way that I’ve missed out on opportunities to grow.
Giving up takes confidence in what Jesus is doing in you and your ministry. You have to be able to hear God’s voice in it or it can wreck your self esteem. All of that said, it’s a better way of doing ministry. It requires you to find the gifts of those around you and bring them out. It means not getting offended by the fact that someone in your ministry might be better than you are at something. It means loving others enough to give them a shot. If we never give up, we’ll never see what all God can do through us.
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 | Oct 8, 2013 | Podcast, The Youth Ministry Blog
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On Session 4 of The Youth Ministry Blog Podcast, we welcome Josh Evans of Union Grove Baptist Church who discusses the ups and downs he has seen in his Student Leadership Team. In addition, he discusses interesting ways he is reaching the schools in his area.
Summary
– Use your Student Leadership Team to develop students who you want other students to follow.
– Where there is no leadership, there is no direction.
– We must call leadership OUT of students, not just expect them to stand up and lead.
– Inviting students into our homes is a great way to break down barriers and build trust.
– You won’t know about the needs of a school until you ask them!
Way too much to summarize in a few lines, click Play below!
Also, go to iTunes and give us a rating and review. We want to hear from YOU! (You can give us a ranking & review from the iTunes application. GO HERE then click “View in iTunes,” then “Ratings & Reviews.” We appreciate your feedback!
by David Hanson | Oct 7, 2013 | The Youth Ministry Blog
Many students see the Bible like they see a Stephen King novel. They look at it and think there are so many pages with no pictures. They think to themselves I have no clue where to start. They think there is no way I could tackle such a massive book.
If we want students to be passionate about Jesus, we have to get them in the Word.
If we want students to begin to walk, talk, and think like Jesus we must get them in the Word.
Gods Word is what changes us from the inside out so we must get students in the Word!!
So how do you get them to into the Word??? BUY DEVOTIONALS!!!!!
-Include Devotionals in your cost when you go to Summer Camp or go on a Retreat and hand them out to every student. Have them begin to start their devotional at camp and encourage them after camp to read their DEVOTIONALS!!
–Make reading Gods Word EXCITING by asking your students to take pictures of their daily time with God on instagram and twitter, then BRAG on them!! Get the WHOLE STUDENT MINISTRY in on it!!!
-Send out daily texts, tweets, instagram posts encouraging them to STAY in their Devotional. Challenge the parents to challenge their students to STAY in the WORD and hold them ACCOUNTABLE!! Some parents can even do the devotional with them!!
-Make getting a DEVOTIONAL EASY by purchasing some for your Student Ministry and asking parents to buy them!! Then they don’t have to go to Lifeway and its right there for them!
-Make sure to GET a 60 day Devotional to start out so they can see a goal and feel like it can be accomplished!! Here’s a strong recommendation for a DEVOTIONAL http://www.christianbooksbibles.com/product-p/9780310730040.htm
I truly believe you can get students EXCITED about Gods Word!!! Watch God transform their lives right in front of you as they ENJOY reading GODS WORD!! Watch them HUNGER and THIRST after Gods Word!!
Get DEVOTIONALS next time for CAMP or RIGHT NOW for your STUDENT MINISTRY!!
Michael Hux is the Student Pastor of Team Church in Matthews, NC.
Connect with Michael on Twitter or Instagram: @_Hux
by David Hanson | Oct 3, 2013 | The Youth Ministry Blog
We all need boundaries in our lives, especially in ministry.
Nobody starts out ministry with the mindset of dropping their guard and cheating on their wife, church or family. Without a clear set of boundaries, a leader becomes blind to fade of their character.
The reason to build healthy physical boundaries is to avoid distracting people from the life-changing message of Jesus Christ.
What we surround ourselves with will have an influence upon our actions. A leader who has a lack of physical boundaries is setting themselves and their ministry up for failure. Too many leaders have traded in character for a moment of pleasure. Never before has character and integrity been more needed in today’s church leaders.
3 ways to build impenetrable physical boundaries:
1. Never be alone with a student of the opposite gender.
– Students of the opposite gender expressing the need to talk should be encouraged to talk to their small group leader. If you have to talk with them, it must be in a ministry setting in public.
– Make the hard choice to walk out and away when alone. What we do behind closed doors is just as important as what we do outdoors. In today’s world, an accusation is one step away from destroying character.
– Transportation: Do not drive them home alone. If a student of the opposite gender is last to leave an event, ask a leader to stay until they are picked up.
2. Avoid counseling students of the opposite sex.
– Focus upon helping guys if you are a guy and vice versa. It is healthy to help, listen and encourage students of the opposite sex.
– Choose not to prolong counseling with the opposite sex, because it creates an unhealthy emotional bond. Make the wise choice, and urge guy leaders to counsel guys and girl leaders to counsel girls. I usually praise them for their decision and say something like, “I’m so grateful about you taking this step towards God, so I have a great leader that can help encourage you further” and connect them to the leader.
3. Maintain healthy physical touch.
– Help students feel valued by showing that you love them.
– Start giving high fives, side hugs and fist bumps. Physical touch should only happen in a public space, never in private.
Character is who we are when no one is looking and how we act when everyone is looking.
How important are physical boundaries in ministry? What would you add to the conversation?
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
by David Hanson | Oct 2, 2013 | The Youth Ministry Blog
Moses had it. Elisha had it. Jesus had it. They all had moments in their ministry where the burden of leadership seemed too great. They saw what God called them to and saw the impossibility of it. We do it in ministry too. The family that’s barely holding it together and only you know how close they are to the brink. The student who wants to believe but just can’t seem to fully give Jesus everything. The leader who is struggling with an inner battle.
As a Christian it’s our calling to sit down and enter into the pain and brokenness of other people’s lives. We pour out our lives and sometimes we pour too much of ourselves. We are left empty, tired and burned out. In the midst of these times there are three truths that you should take in to protect you from emptying yourself too much.
Jesus is the Savior, not you.
I’m pretty sure that no one would argue this theologically, but practically we deny this all the time. In pastoral ministry we start to believe that spiritual growth is all up to us. We do this when we say “yes” to meeting with more people than you can handle. We deny this truth when we can’t let a phone call or text wait until the next day. Jesus was doing pretty fine without me before I got here and He’ll do fine when I’m gone. Think about this. God never tires, do you? God won’t give up, will you? God is immortal, are you?
It is a blow to our ego to know that we are not the center of our ministry, but it’s the truth and this truth will set you free. When you free yourself from being Savior, then you are less likely to have your heart rise and fall with your ministry successes and failures. We are protected from pride. When a student accepts Christ, it’s not because we presented the Gospel in the right way. We are freed from guilt. When a student you’ve been pouring into messes up, it’s not because we failed them.
You aren’t alone.
It’s easy in ministry to feel like you’re the only one keeping the ship afloat. We see our own hard work and feel that if it weren’t for you the whole church would fall a part. The truth is that God is working through more people than you. Elijah, after the victory on Mount Carmel, received a death threat from Jezebel. Elijah complained to God saying that if he died, no one would be left to stand up against Ahab and Jezebel. God responded by telling Elijah that he had reserved 7,000 other prophets who had not bowed to Baal. In other words, “Elijah, this isn’t all about you. I’m working all over the place through many other people.”
The question for us is, “How do you release your ministry to other people so that your burden is shared with other people?” If you are keeping it all to yourself. You are not doing ministry the right way.
It’s not selfish to care for yourself.
There is a horrible belief in the church that caring for yourself is selfish and therefore wrong. If we even think about doing something for the betterment of our souls then that means we are putting ourselves above other people. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Even Jesus took time to tend to his own soul. When pressed by the burdens of ministry, Jesus went away to spend time in communion with His Father. One could argue that Jesus would have spent His time better if He would have healed more people or taught more truth. That’s how we operate a lot of the time. But Jesus knew that His joy and strength came from time with the Father. Without that His ministry would have no power.
I’ve certainly struggled with this over the years and need constant reminder that caring for my own soul is not an act of selfishness, it’s an act of love. If I tend to my own soul I will have a longer ministry and be able to bless more people in the long run.
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
