equipping, resourcing, and educating today's youth ministers
"Had too much fun at camp 52 bug bites and 14 bruises - would do it again- I love students"
Fri, 30 Jul 2010 23:26:26 -0700
“Had too much fun at camp 52 bug bites and 14 bruises - would do it again- I love...
Jesus and Football
By Scott
Sat, 31 Jul 2010 06:00:00 +0000
The Baltimore Orioles have just been awful over this summer. I mean, really, check out who they are ringing in as a relief pitcher! Meanwhile, Ravens training camp opened earlier this week. Everything is fresh and new. And, if you don’t think that there are spiritual / religious implications then… Meanwhile, in honor of the [...]
Dare you to move camp style
Fri, 30 Jul 2010 13:14:34 -0700
Dare you to move camp style: I uploaded a YouTube video: Switchfoot
Book Review: Transformission
By n
Fri, 30 Jul 2010 19:40:00 +0000
I just read a book entitled, Transformission: Making Disciples through Short-term Missions. I thought I would post my thoughts on my blog.
Many short-term mission books have been written through the years, but not a book that embodies short-term missions as a way of discipleship…until now. Michael S. Wilder and Shane W. Parker lay out a compelling book entitled, Transformission: Making Disciples through Short-term missions. With much academic experience and research, Wilder and Parker, explain the history of short-term missions and it’s impact on next generations. Next, the processes and principles behind not just using short-term missions as one of many options, but THE option for discipleship are explained. The book does a good job of giving a complete picture of short-term missions, past, present and projected future with practical advice in the end.
I see one area of concern. The authors explain the “seismic shift in social displacement of youth” with explanation from psychologist G. Stanley Hall. This was good content, but too short in explanation. The clear lengthening of adolescence was not discussed, which contributes to the challenges of discipling the coming generations. Their conclusion that bigger challenges (i.e. short-term missions experiences) is going to turn a generation around could actually cause youth to grow up too fast when they need to walk, not run developmentally through this distinct phase of life called adolescence. Certainly, I agree with the authors, short-term missions and lifting the bar high Biblically can help mature the next generation into great followers of Jesus Christ.
Wilder and Parker have a clear plan for how to implement Transformission through their acronym IDEA: Influence, Development, Engagement, and Assessment. Overall, this is a good book for pastors, youth workers, parents and others who care about the next generation and are using short-term missions in their ministries to pick up and read. It asks challenging questions about strategy, money, and partnership for local church congregations. Certainly, discipleship is a process of growing closer to Jesus over a lifetime and short-term mission trips can be used as part of the Transformation of all ages, but especially adolescents.
Visions of camp
Fri, 30 Jul 2010 08:42:28 -0700
Visions of camp
Quote: Jim Elliot
By n
Fri, 30 Jul 2010 13:51:00 +0000
"God, I pray Thee, light these idle sticks of my life, that I may burn for Thee. Consume my life, my God, for it is Thine. I seek not a long life, but a full one, like You, Lord Jesus."
Jim Elliot, Missionary1927-1956
The Church of Tomorrow?
By David Grant
2010-07-30T08:04:00.004-05:00
For years we've heard how students are the church of the tomorrow. To be honest, I hate the statement for all kinds of reasons. First of all it assumes a definition of the church that is inaccurate. If the church is a group of people following Jesus and living life together, would we dare say anyone under 21 isn't a part of that experience?
Also I believe "church of tomorrow" assumes students will lead someday, not today. Middle school and high school students who are growing in their faith are ready to lead now. We simply have to challenge them and give them space.
Here are a couple of examples.
Worship Experience For Student By Students
Last Sunday night had our first student lead worship worship experience. I know, late July is a horrible time to try something new. That's one of the reasons it was so cool. Ok, you wouldn't have been blown away by the event being cutting edge or highly creative, it was actually pretty simple.
About 6 weeks ago we invited some students to think about what they would like to communicate to their fellow students. They chose 1 Tim 4:12. The "don't let anyone look down on you because your young" passage. Pretty appropriate I thought.
We asked students to be a part of the music team, asked some students to pray consistently for the event, asked some students to help with tech and asked someone to teach. One student was mc and a girl who recently came to faith shared her story.
It was incredible! The sense of excitement was great from the students who were leading as well as the ones who were participating. Yes, I'm downplaying the work that went into the event a little, but the impact it had on our ministry was worth every ounce of effort our team put in.
Sandwiches For The Hungry Of Dallas
On our summer trips we challenged our students that mission trips and summer camp isn't a destination but a doorway. In other words, if those trips didn't somehow effect the way they serve at home it was a waste, well believe it or not they heard what we said.
Last Tuesday a few of our students showed up at the church to make over 600 sandwiches for a mobile soup kitchen. It wasn't my idea, they came up with it. I didn't discover the soup kitchen, they did. I didn't buy the sandwich stuff, they did. (I did provide my credit card). I wasn't even at the church when they met and made the sandwiches, the did it all on their own.
And yes, I'm really proud of them.
The interesting thing about 1 Timothy 4:12 is that it challenges the younger to set an "example" to the rest of the church. Setting an example means leadership. It means charting a course and showing the rest of us old people what it looks like to live out a radical life. A life that is consistently being transformed from the inside out by the gospel.
Students are the church of today. We must give them space and resources to live out the passions and gifts God has given them, then we must follow.
Revolutionary Truth
By Scott
Fri, 30 Jul 2010 06:00:00 +0000
During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act. – George Orwell (h/t Michael Hyatt)
Pennsylvania
By Scott
Fri, 30 Jul 2010 05:58:00 +0000
It’s been that sort of week. Last time, we visited the Keystone state, it was big enough to split into two, but nooooo, let’s do it all today! Besides being my own childhood home (eastern PA), it is now home again to former co-worker and fellow blogger Sharon (western PA). + Peer Listening Training is [...]
Speaking In “Big Church”
By Array
Thu, 29 Jul 2010 10:36:14 PDT
On Thursday afternoon of last week I got a phone call asking if I would be willing to speak in our adult services the upcoming weekend due to Pastor Rick having suffered an eye injury. The conversation went almost exactly like this:
voice on phone: Kurt, Pastor Rick is hoping you can teach this weekend…he is still in quite a bit of pain.
Kurt: Ummm….ummmm….sure. I would be happy to. Is there something specific for me to speak on?
Voice on phone: No….do you have something in your file you can use on short notice?
Kurt: Ummm….ummmm….I have only taught adults three times in my life so my file is pretty thin.
Voice on phone: Okay. Thanks a ton for being willing to help out…you will do a great job.
I love my Pastor, I love my church, I love that they felt comfortable making a last minute request, and I loved the opportunity to speak to the adult congregation at our church. Here are a few observations that struck me.
- Adults are a pretty easy audience. The pressure I felt was purely one of what I would call “content creation”….can’t give adults the same level of content you can give JH students….BUT adults are an easy audience! They all want to be there, they don’t send text messages or get up in large clumps to use the restroom. They don’t flick the ears of the kid in front of them and they don’t pass gas loud enough for the entire room to hear.
- Despite that….they really are just big teenagers. They have similar insecurities, similar struggles and similar hurts…..they are just packaged a little differently.
- Many of them have no clue about our youth ministry. I was shocked at how many parents introduced themselves to me saying things like, “we had no idea the youth ministry was in such capable hands” or, “we have never been down to the youth area…what else is going on for my teenager” etc. This was an eye opener for me and a reminder that no youth pastor can
assume parents are as informed, connected, in the loop etc as we often think.
- I am glad to be a junior high pastor! In 14 years at Saddleback, I have spoken in the adult services two times. I would certainly welcome the opportunity again, but last weekend reminded me that my giftedness and my calling (funny how those two [...] Continue Reading "Speaking In “Big Church”"
curating worship to get published in usa
By jonny
2010-07-29T16:49:09+01:00
good news - got an e-mail from the publisher of curating worship today to say that church publishing in the usa will be publishing curating worship stateside - yay! no idea when...
poem by Rainer Maria Rilke
By Gavin Richardson
2010-07-29T09:43:10-05:00
You who know, and whose vast knowing
is born of poverty, abundance of poverty --
despised and thrown away.Look at them standing about --
like wildflowers, which have nowhere else to grow.-Rainer Maria Rilke
since I returned home from missions stuff in the end of june and my change of work in july i have lost a bit of touch with the homeless folks i was beginning to know in tent city. this poem which was sent to my by a friend has me thinking of those folks & the plight of homelessness in our culture.
Posted via email from gavoweb's posterous
Podcast Episode 10- The Authority Question
By Matt Kelley
2010-07-29T08:28:00.001-05:00
The latest episode of The Truth As Best I Know It Podcast is up.
Jessica and I are continuing with our discussion of Brian McLaren's A New Kind of Christianity: Ten Questions That Are Transforming the Faith
You can listen or download the episode from Podbean, subscribe on iTunes, or listen on the player below.
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As always, comments and questions are always welcome. If you're reading through the book right now and have specific issues or questions you'd like us to address, please let us know!
close encounter of the whale kind
By marko
Thu, 29 Jul 2010 09:00:21 +0000
did you see this story last week? i saw this pic on the fail blog and figured it must be fake or photoshopped: but, apparently it’s real! following several clicks, i found this article from the telegraph (u.k.) that gives the story, including this quote from a woman on the sailboat: “It really was quite [...]
asbo is back in action...
By jonny
2010-07-29T07:16:33+01:00
after the burglary and trauma of a few weeks ago jon has been catching up with work he lost and asbojesus is back in action... [jon has also just animated the parable of the unforgiving servant for proost which is...
Zombies Can’t Play Dodgeball
By Scott
Thu, 29 Jul 2010 04:30:00 +0000
Joshua Griffin is the High School Pastor at Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, CA. (Perhaps you’ve heard of it… Imagine having to defend what purpose had driven you to leave a mess in the youth room <youth complex, actually> to Pastor Rick Warren – - yeah, that Saddleback.) Josh Griffin is a blogger. Find him [...]
The other O’s
By Scott
Thu, 29 Jul 2010 04:28:00 +0000
Nah, we’re not celebrating this blogger’s hometown baseball team. They’re in the basement, not much to celebrate there like we have already done with Oklahoma and Oregon. + Oklahoma City is prepping up for the Region 10 Catholic Youth Conference in November in Little Rock. The theme is Ignite your heart… Work for justice… Transform [...]
Question Time
By Array
Wed, 28 Jul 2010 16:15:58 PDT
Posted by Johnny Scott
I love the questions that jr highers ask. And by that I mean I usually hate the questions that jr highers ask in the middle of EVERY lesson that take us to a Sonny’s buffet of tangential abyss. Wow. That was therapeutic. I totally didn’t even know that was inside of me! ha!
I’m working on a project right now that is dealing with jr high students hearing and their calling from God. If you work with jr high kids you know they have a unique ability to dive into the deepest subjects that baffle man kind in one second and then wonder about how fart’s get their smell in the next. So as I am pounding through all the things a 6th grade jr high boy would ask about the subject, “hearing God’s calling”
(Some of you are laughing right now at the myriad of rabbit holes this daunting task alone has presented in theory)
You know that a question kind of like this is going to come up because you have most likely tried to answer it in the last week yourself, “Why doesn’t God do cool stuff like part the red sea anymore?”
Some of you answered this question like this: “The Lord enabled you to stop playing PSP long enough for me to get through an entire lesson! In my book that is a miracle in direct proportion to the Red Sea parting!”
With that in mind I took a stab at one of those types of questions. As always, please through in your two cents on the hot topic below with comments and real ministry moments. Here is the excerpt:
A specific word about Angels:
There would be no need for a book like this if God still used Angels as His main mode for telling us our calling. During Old testament times there were not copies of God’s word laying in the Tabernacle lost and found. But who are we to say God won’t fall back on the angel option instead of, say a text. So here is our official stance on hearing your calling from an angel: If an Angel told you to do something, it is God’s calling on your life. (They don’t carry angel identification cards from what we can see in the Bible. To identify [...] Continue Reading "Question Time"
7 Annoying Twitter Habits Your Should Never Adopt
Wed, 28 Jul 2010 12:30:19 -0700
7 Annoying Twitter Habits Your Should Never Adopt: Alright, so I’ll come out and say it: I use to be...
Co-Mission: An Alternative Approach to Mission with Youth
By Brian
2010-07-28T09:31:00.003-05:00
What is the difference between "mission" and "co-mission?" I recently discovered the answer to that question in conversation with a missionary to Haiti.
For many of us, the youth mission trip season will be winding down in the next few weeks as students get ready to go back to school and start band and sports practices. My own congregation has seen a steady flow of youth groups almost every week of this summer who have come to our church to stay in our Urban Mission Inn while they volunteer in inner city St. Louis. One group was blessed to be able to hear from Patrick Bentrott, a missionary to Haiti through Global Ministries, who was visiting St. Louis for a week.
Patrick gave us a great overview of the history of Haiti and the history of missionary involvement in Haiti then and now. I certainly was aware that the old understanding of mission work involved Christians going into a foreign lands and attempting to convert the populace (whether they wanted it or not), working independently of indigenous entities, while also attempting to impose their (usually European) culture and values on the locals. This kind of evangelism is the reason, for example, that Christian missionaries are still not welcome in China today. But it surprised me to hear that this approach to mission is still alive and well, in Haiti and other places. Apparently, it is still very common for Christan groups to walk into other countries and set the agenda for their mission work, completely independent of the desires of the native persons living in those regions.
As an alternative to this approach, Patrick advocated for what he calls "co-mission." In this model, foreign missionaries help in areas where they have been invited and where local faith-based organizations, led by indigenous persons, have indentified the needs of the people. Foreign missionaries then come in and partner with these local groups, allowing the locals to help set the agenda and priorities for the work of the missionary. Such an approach acknowledges that God is already at work all over the world, rather than the missionary believing she or he is "bringing God to the masses."
How might this co-mission approach work with our youth ministries? Certainly, some of us are already involved in international mission trips that are organized and led by indigenous persons in the places where we travel to serve. But, what about locally? How might we use this approach to serve in our own backyards? In the case of the Urban Mission Inn ministry at my own church, the work that our visiting volunteers do is always planned in partnership with on-the-ground community organizations who have a long history in the inner city and know what real needs exist. We work through these groups, rather than deciding on our own what the needs are and just sending folks out to do what we think should be done in our neighborhoods.
Another good example of a local version of "co-mission" can be found here at Benjer McVeigh's blog. Rather than taking an international mission trip this summer, Benjer's church partnered with their city to identify and work on homes in the community in need of repair (be sure to read the linked article to get the full story). Instead of starting by asking, "What do we want to do as a mission project for our city?" they went to the city leaders who already knew where the greatest needs were and offered to partner with the city in meeting those needs.
This co-mission approach is a far cry from a youth ministry I used to serve which began its summer mission trip plans by first asking "Where do we want to travel this summer?" and "What kind of work do we want to do when we get there?" The co-mission approach is a way of taking the focus off our own wants and desires as missionaries and instead being flexible enough to see where God's Spirit might be leading us in mission together.
-- Brian
get a free copy of ‘relationships unfiltered’
By marko
Wed, 28 Jul 2010 09:00:51 +0000
got an email from my friend andy root, asking if i would consider posting this offer from him. and, heck, i’ll not just post it because i like andy and think he’s one of the truly brilliant youth ministry researchers/thinkers/authors out there, whose books are significant contributions to our thinking and calling. i’ll post it [...]
Snack time with a gorilla
Wed, 28 Jul 2010 00:34:52 -0700
Snack time with a gorilla: I uploaded a YouTube video: Gavin and I sat down for a snack and the...
build your own prayer stool - worship trick 93
By jonny
2010-07-28T07:21:19+01:00
steve taylor's built his own prayer stool and shows you how - worthy of a worship trick - number 93 series 3...
Removing Hurdles
By Scott
Wed, 28 Jul 2010 06:00:00 +0000
Tom Peters has got this great Little Big Things series on YouTube that is worth monitoring. This series and his book are about suggesting that it is not the big showy things that make for great leadership but it is the little big things that are done and done well that make the difference. In [...]
Ohio
By Scott
Wed, 28 Jul 2010 05:58:00 +0000
Did i seriously forget Columbus last year? Seems so. Sorry! + Hey, that’s a colorful use of “buttons” on the Cincinnati site. + Wild! Cleveland has got an upcoming fundraiser at the fundraiser at the Zoo + Columbus has a special site for XLT + And for the second year running, Steubenville does not have [...]
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Saturday • July 31 • 2010