by David Hanson | Jul 16, 2013 | The Youth Ministry Blog
Energy
My students and I are at camp this week! We traveled 13 hours from Plano, TX to Glorieta, NM to attend FUGE Camp put on by Lifeway. (Fantastic Camp!)
Every year I am quickly reminded how hard it is to sleep on a bus and how draining the travel and first day of camp can be! It’s amazing how quickly Satan seeks to capitalize on our bodily weakness and get us distracted from the point of camp. Excitement for what God is going to do gets overshadowed by the desire for rest. The anticipation of students making decisions for Christ gets trumped by the anticipation of a nap. Granted, there may be a few of you freak youth workers out there who only require one hour of sleep to function…but not me!
It’s in moments like these, where you are running on fumes, that your true character shows. As youth leaders we need to remember that the same God that is capable of creation is capable of giving us energy we didn’t know existed. Call it adrenaline, a camp high, whatever you want, but the ability to lead and lead well during sleep deprivation and exhaustion is something only done when your heart is set on Him and what He is seeking to accomplish!
How do you keep energetic (aside from coffee) amidst a crazy summer schedule/camp/retreats? (Comment Below!)
by David Hanson | Jul 8, 2013 | The Youth Ministry Blog
Having a fruitful prayer life is not just a pipe dream for those of us in student ministry. Even though our schedules are hectic, there are three ways that we can inject a healthy prayer rhythm into our ministry.
Unify – I firmly believe that there is power when believers are united in prayer.
This summer I’ve challenged our middle school team to pray for the same things all summer. At the beginning of the summer we came up with five spiritual goals for our students and three specific numbers-based goals to pray for. I challenged them to pray for these every day along with a Psalm that fits with our summer teaching. The result is that we are aligning ourselves with God every single day.
Keep a Record – The Book of Psalms is essentially a collection of recorded prayers. These prayers have become the foundation for Jewish and Christian prayers throughout the centuries. There is power to having a record of prayers. It allows you to go back and see where God was at work stirring your heart over the years. I don’t journal regularly, but I wanted to keep a record of my prayer life. So, I took some butcher paper from our children’s ministry and put it up on the back wall of my office. Whenever I am praying for a meeting or have someone to pray for, I jot down a quick prayer. It’s cool to see the record of what I’ve been praying for over the semester.
Pray-peration – Preparation is key to success in any area of ministry. We schedule many of our ministry activities way in advance, but do we take the time to prepare Spiritually? A few weeks back Johnny Derouen, Professor of Youth Ministry at Southwestern Seminary, challenged our staff to pray for each aspect of our gatherings. He wanted us to pray not only for the worship and message, but for the games, welcome and even pray over each individual seat. We’ve been doing this for a few weeks and the result is that we are aware that every part of our gathering has a Spiritual component. It’s helping us to see with fresh eyes how God can use everything for His work of drawing teenagers to Himself.
What about you? What is the single most effective prayer practice you do each week?
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 | Jun 19, 2013 | The Youth Ministry Blog, Uncategorized
This Sunday my associate (Ben) did something very cool during his teaching time. He asked questions. On Sundays we run two student services with worship through song and preaching. This Sunday, rather than preach AT our students Ben engaged our students.
Throughout his teaching he paused and allowed students time to reflect and answer questions we had printed on the bulletin.
When students, and everyone for that matter, put pen to paper there is an ownership that takes place. When you write down what you think and believe about God you are taking ownership and clarifying your belief.
Here are some of those questions he used to get student thinking critically about their faith:
1. What blows your mind about God?
2. How does God’s holiness effect your life?
3. God is Understanding. What does that mean to you?
4. God is Faithful. Why is that important to you?
5. God is Worthy. What does that mean?
6. How are you hypocritical in your walk with Jesus? Do you focus on your works, or His?
7. How are you sincere in your walk with Jesus Christ?
If you missed the first installment of questions, you can find them here: Youth Ministry Questions
by David Hanson | Jun 10, 2013 | The Youth Ministry Blog
Prayer Vs. Productivity
A few months ago, one of our student ministry interns snapped a picture of me asleep in my office. I don’t always take a mid-afternoon nap at my desk (I have several “secret” spots for napping). I wasn’t embarrassed about getting caught nodding off, because I wasn’t dozing. I was praying. More accurately, I fell asleep praying and I’m ok with that.
One of the biggest barriers to having an active prayer life in ministry, oddly enough, is ministry itself. Our meetings, events, e-mail and other tasks can get in the way of our Spiritual transformation. As we strive for professionalism, productivity is a benchmark of excellence. The problem with prayer is that it doesn’t feel productive.
Imagine telling one of your volunteers who runs a plumbing business that you spent part of your day praying. Would you feel ashamed, unproductive or guilty? Would you worry that they’d think you were lazy? One of my best friends in ministry once told me, “You should NEVER, EVER feel guilty for putting prayer into your ministry workday.” Prayer is the MOST productive thing we can do because only when we invite God into our ministry work will we see real power and transformation in our ministry and churches.
Thankfully, I serve in a church that sees the value of prayer and has never made me feel unproductive for getting time away to pray. They model dependance on Jesus because we pray together a lot as a staff. If you aren’t feeling the same level of freedom, I would suggest for you to meet with your leadership to talk about it. It’s too valuable of a matter to let fall through the cracks.
Prayer isn’t for the ascetics and monks. It’s for every Christian who seeks to live life in the Spirit. A flower would never feel guilty about soaking in the sun and water. You should never feel guilty for spending time soaking in the glory of Christ in prayer.
Prayer challenge for the week:
Schedule15-20 minutes of prayer each day in the middle of your work day. This isn’t your quiet time or personal Bible study. This is just time for you and Jesus to spend time talking about the pressing matters of your heart. See how this “appointment” with Jesus will transform the rest of your work day.
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 | Jun 10, 2013 | The Youth Ministry Blog
We all know that parents are the number one influence in the life and spiritual life of a teen. With this in mind we need to help parents engage their students in spiritual conversation. My pastor did a series this week and presented 5 questions that parents need to ask their children. Pass these on to the parents in your ministry:
#1: What will be the center of your worship?
“And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment.” – Matthew 22:37-38
“I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me forever, for their own good and the good of their children after them.” – Jeremiah 32:39
#2: Who will you allow to influence you?
“Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.” – 1 Corinthians 15:33
“…so it is with Christ’s body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other.” – Romans 12:5
#3: Who do you want to be? (Rather than ‘What do you want to be?’)
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” Galatians 5:22-23
“You shall be holy, for I am holy.” – 1 Peter 1:16
#4: What do you have to give?
“As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ.” – 1 Peter 4:10-11
#5: What does your life tell others?
“All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself,not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.” – 2 Corinthians 5:18-20
