GUEST POST: Expectations for Youth Leaders

In any position, expectations are important…very important! The person applying for a job needs to know what is expected of him first. If the boss does not lay out the expectations from the get go, he cannot expect for his employee to meet those expectations. Therefore, I blame this on the boss. In student ministry, it is important that you lay out the expectations for the youth leaders ahead of time. When I came to this student ministry, we already have had youth leaders in place, and I have not had to go out recruit much, but when I do, this is important. Lay out clear expectations for your youth leaders. Okay, we got that…now, what are some expectations that I should have for our youth leaders? Here are a few of those for you to start out with:

1. Maintain a healthy growing time with Jesus– Youth leaders time with God will show in how they approach their ministry! If they have not been growing in the Word, you will see it lived out in youth group, and you cannot have this! Youth leaders must be steadily growing in their relationship with Jesus if they ever want the students to grow.
2. Be faithful to church/youth group– This is a no brainer in our minds, but let me tell you from experience, the youth leaders need to hear it! It is important and vital that you stress this. We cannot ever expect our students to be faithful to church if we cannot be faithful. Tell your leaders that you expect them to be at church when the doors are open so that is applicable to however your church does its service times.
3. Attend youth events– Now, there are going to be times when some youth leaders cannot attend certain events throughout the year, but they should be at many throughout the year for sure! This is their responsibility. Attending youth events is one of the best ways to build relationships with the students. They love seeing their leaders at stuff. It is tough, but from experience the leaders with the best relationships with their students are the ones who try to come to every youth event!
4. Build relationships with their small group students’ parents– This is HUGE. I actually had a breakfast meeting this morning with one of our youth leaders discussing how we can be more involved in the home and the parents lives. I am learning that we are ministering to our parents as much as the students and your youth leaders must understand this from the get go! Therefore, they must try their best to talk with the parents and build a solid relationship with the parents throughout the year.
5. Participate with enthusiasm– This is important to me. The reason is there is nothing worse than you being excited and no one else is. That is awful for the student pastor. If you have leaders (and you should), this should never happen! Meaning as long as leaders are there, there should never be a dull moment in youth group. If there are, it is the leaders responsibility to kick up the enthusiasm and energy. Expect this from your youth leaders.
6. Follow Rules & boundaries of church– Every church and youth group have certain boundaries. Sometimes they are crazy and far-fetched, but every youth leader must know that they are responsible for teaching the students to follow rules whether or not they agree with them.
7. Offer suggestions for improvement– I desire this from every youth leader. If you have 5 youth leaders, that is 5 different perspectives that you need to hear! I love hearing feedback from our youth leaders, but you should expect every leader’s feedback, not just the same few every single time.
8. Attend training and leader’s meetings– This is another big thing that we struggle with. If you have a leader who skips out on all of the meetings that you have, they are not going to be much good. It is your responsibility to find the best time for the most leaders to attend and schedule it. Schedule them far in advance so that the leaders can plan accordingly. After that, it is the youth leader’s responsibility to attend! They must plan around important meetings.
9. Follow through on responsibilities– If you give them a responsibility, follow through with it! Youth leaders who sit on things for a long while are not going to be good leaders. Find leaders who are eager to get things done for you. Also, if they suggest for you to do something, you must follow the example and the expectation of getting it done in a timely manner as well.
10. Pray daily for the student ministry– This is another no-brainer, but it sometimes goes unnoticed. We expect so much when it comes to the program, but when it comes to the biggest thing like praying, we do not stress this! Every youth leader should be responsible and held accountable that they are praying daily for the student ministry!

I could go on and on, but these are 10 expectations that you must have! Remember to lay out the expectations early. The student pastor’s who are frustrated with their youth leaders and their performance are normally the ones who have not laid out the expectations that they desire!

*Josh Evans is the student pastor at Union Grove Baptist Church in the Winston Salem, NC area. You can connect further with Josh on this blog or send him a direct email at joshhevans@gmail.com.

GUEST POST: The Often Forgotten: Volunteers As Free Labor?

The role of a youth pastor is unfortunately cross-functional and creative.  Read that again.  The responsibilities that are the weekly to-do list are daunting and incredibly unachievable.  No, that’s not pessimism – that’s realism.

Here’s the thing, ministry is not meant to be done on your own.  That’s not profound, that’s simple.

I have been looking for a job as a high school pastor for 4 years now.  I have seen interview after interview, panel after panel.  Though each community is unique, one question remains consistent: “How do you balance your ministry?”

Believe it or not, my answer is not “I just do.”  The key responsibilities of youth pastors are two-fold: Lead students, Train leaders.  This second half is often overlooked.

As I said above, all churches and communities are unique, but this fact remains true no matter how big your youth room is.  You need staff support.  No, I don’t mean free labor to pick up a gallon of milk for your Wednesday night game.  I mean a group of people who are passionate about connecting with students.

I had a professor in college that continually beat into my skull that, “life-change happens in the context of a meaningful relationship.”  This means the gallon challenge won’t officially bring students into a relationship with Jesus Christ.  However, a student and a volunteer talking about the gallon challenge could.

That might seem a little unattainable but it remains true.  Students connect with each other and with Christ through volunteer leaders.  I would strongly argue that the best way to grow your ministry is through training and empowering your volunteers.

I know a lot of youth workers who think they can connect with every student and single-handedly disciple and grow the ministry.  I don’t know about you, but I might label this as a messiah complex.  The ministry of your youth group should involve the extension of your heart for Christ and students through the time and effort of your volunteers.  This is why it is crucial to focus on the development of your leaders as much as you focus on the development of your students.

Take a look at Luke 9:1-2 –

“When Jesus had called the Twelve together, he gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal the sick.”

Huh. If Jesus didn’t do it on his own… you probably shouldn’t do it either.

So this is where the rubber meets the road.  Are you investing in your volunteers or are they free labor?  Is your staff growing or is it tough to get people to show up?  This is why I see the ministry of a youth pastor to be a healthy balance.  Investment in students is most successful when you empower your dedicated leaders to do it as well.

This is not an excuse to run your ministry as the CEO of a fortune 500, but it is permission to share the responsibility.  Ministry is not a one man or woman show.  Developing your relationship with your leaders allows you to see the gifts these volunteers bring to your community of students.

This isn’t a formula – it’s an idea.  There are a lot of ways to make this practical and I encourage you to find what works for your group.  A great place to start is looking at Justin’s blog on the 10-foot rule.

So as you plan your next message or event, grab coffee with a leader and see what happens.

*Timothy Crossland is a youth ministry major from Azusa Pacific University who is now up in Kirkland, WA (looking for a youth ministry position, get him, he’s amazing). He just started a blog at http://timcrossland.tumblr.com/ and you can follow him on twitter at @tbxland
 

GUEST POST: Students and Their Gifting

One of my favorite parts about my job is that I get to help students discover their gifts.  I believe that knowing how you are gifted is a key characteristic of not just an effective leader, but a kingdom worker in general. God specifically created each one of us with unique talents and abilities that we need take full advantage of.  It is a huge part of us finding our identity in Christ.  We need to find security in who God created us to be so that we aren’t consistently trying to become who we feel others want us to be.  Normally, that message is taught about moral integrity, but I believe that it can also apply to Godly servanthood and leadership.  When it comes to student leadership, I always encourage students to lead according to how God created them.  While I want them to be looking at other leaders and applying leadership skills that they have observed, I don’t want them to lead like someone else who has different gifts. When we aren’t using our gifts, we are keeping ourselves from reaching our full potential.  I got to see a great example of this a couple months ago.

This summer, we took our student leaders to the Student Leadership Conference (if you aren’t already going, you need to go next year!). At the conference, two of our students (Delaney and Ashley) got the opportunity to lead a workshop.  Each girl got to teach their workshop two times, which allowed for them to learn a valuable lesson. The first time around, both workshops fell flat.  After some debriefing, we found that the problem was that they weren’t using their gifts. For example, Ashley is an incredible writer, often sharing her poetry in our weekend services. Being the writer she is, she wrote a beautiful lesson on how to lead like Jesus. Now Ashley is great at communicating what she has written down, but isn’t strong when she teaches off of memory.  The first time she led her workshop, she abandoned what she had written and taught outside her “sweet spot”, where she fell flat. Because of that, we told her to read off of what she had written.  99% of the time, that is the worst advice you can give to a speaker, but with her, it was perfect.  She started her workshop by explaining that God has gifted her with writing and she began to read off her message with the passion in which she wrote it.  The results were powerful and impactful, with several students walking out talking about it.

Once Ashley made use of the gifts that the Lord had given her, she was able to lead like never before. That is what I want to see all students doing, making use of their gifts! If you are wondering how to help the students in your ministry do this, here are a couple resources you can check out:

• Student Leaders Start Here by Doug Franklin: What I love is that this book is a workbook.  It teaches students leadership principles while allowing them to take quizzes to find out more about their spiritual gifts and leadership style.  We are currently taking our students through it.
• Strengths Finder 2.0 by Tom Rath: It is a secular book, but it is incredible. When you buy the book, you are also buying an online strengths quiz.  The book walks you through the pros and cons of your strengths.
• Congratulations… You’re Gifted! By Doug Fields: This book takes you through the S.H.A.P.E acrostic (Spiritual Gifts, Heart, Abilities, Personality, and Experiences).  We use the S.H.A.P.E. model even in our adult ministry at Saddleback Church.

What are you doing to help your students find their gifts?

 

Colton Harker is the Student Leadership Coordinator at Saddleback HSM.  If you have any questions or comments, feel free to contact him at coltonharker@gmail.com or on twitter at @ColtonHarker

Building Our Kingdom vs. God’s

 

Look at that sand art! It’s amazing isnt it? All the time and the effort that was put into this awesome piece of art. The detail. It’s beautiful. But the crazy part about this beautiful sand piece is that tomorrow… it is going to washed away with the waves. It is going to crumble and fall because it is only made of sand. There is no solid foundation.

This is what happens when we do not have a solid foundation as well. In our human nature we are selfish. We are self-kingdom building machines. Pretty much everything we do we are building up ourselves. We care more about our popularity than we do making Gods name the most popular name. We care more about the stuff we have and the clothes we wear than making sure everyone in our community has clothes to wear. We care more about what others think of us rather than what God thinks of us. These are all self-kingdom building attributes. Building our own kingdom is building up our own selfishness. Pleasing people will ALWAYS fail just as sand castles will ALWAYS crumble. When we focus on pleasing people, we build our own kingdom. Building our own kingdom is living in a way that God has not intended for us to live.

Our biggest form of worship is self-surrender. Building our own kingdoms will fail. Always. Submitting under God’s because His plan for your life and will for your lofe is far better than you can ever imagine.

GOD CARES FOR YOUR FUTURE AND RELATIONSHIPS WAY MORE THAN YOU DO.

Why don’t we stop trying to please others? Why don’t we stop worrying about what others think? Why don’t we put aside our selfishness and stop cutting others down so we can show how important we are to everyone else?

Daniel 4:3b, “His kingdom is an eternal kingdom; his dominion endures from generation to generation.”

God instead wants us to join His kingdom. Because his kingdom will never be going away. It will never crumble. It will fail us, leave us, or forsake us. It is going to outlast everything and living by it through His Word (the Bible) we are invited to come into it and join His kingdom instead of building our own.

We have to stop building our own kingdoms because like all of the great earthly empires we learn about in history (Romans, Persian, Babylonian, etc) they only last as long as their king. Same with us. What we build on our own only lasts as long as we do. Submitting to God’s kingdom because we know he will do way more with our lives than we can is the ultimate form of worship.

Matthew 7:24-27

²⁴ “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. ²⁵ The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. ²⁶ But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. ²⁷ The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”

Forgiveness…Is More Than Saying Sorry

Forgiveness is not an easy thing at times. Forgiveness is not a lot of things, but there are 3 things that forgiveness is.

1.  Forgiveness is a choice. When has being mad every fixed anything?  When has getting even ever changed the situation?  When has getting even ever really made things even?

We can choose to hold a grudge or we can CHOSE to forgive. I like to think of it like this, for every time that someone has hurt us, we probably have hurt someone else at one time by things we either have said or things we have done. We are the same.  We have done the same things.  When does holding a grudge really change our views of someone, or their view of us?  When does holding onto hurt ever make us feel better. Gandhi’s said “an eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind.”

2. Forgiveness is a command. Forgiveness would be simple if we only had to grant it to those who come asking for it in sorrow and repentance. The Bible tells us that we are to forgive, without condition, those who sin against us. Refusing to truly forgive a person demonstrates resentment, bitterness, and anger, none of which are the traits of a true Christian. Jesus said in Matthew 6:14-15, “If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins.” In light of other Scriptures that speak of God’s forgiveness, Matthew 6:14-15 is best understood to be saying that people who refuse to forgive others have not truly experienced God’s forgiveness themselves.

 3. Given to us everyday. Whenever we disobey one of God’s commands, we sin against Him. Whenever we wrong another person, we not only sin against that person, but also against God. When we consider the extent to which God forgives all our transgressions, we realize that we do not have the right to withhold this grace from others. We have sinned against God infinitely more than any person can sin against us.

God promises that when we come to Him asking for forgiveness, He freely grants it.1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” The forgiveness we extend should know no limits, in the same way that God’s forgiveness is limitless.

When you are forgiven by someone, don’t we feel so much better? That worry about what that person thinks of us? Wondering if we are ok with them and our relationship will be ok? Once we are forgiven by them, we then do everything in our power to make sure our relationship is restored and we try to rekindle it and strengthen it. Same thing from God. God has already forgiven us. Not only from our huge mistakes from also from our little ones. The everyday ones. We then too need to go on with our relationship with God in the same way. We are forgiven. We now need to be thankful and rekindle our relationship with him. That because we are forgiven every single day from every single sin, we need to realize that and strengthen that relationship with God. It doesn’t matter if we have done a huge boo boo, or just a million small little everyday ones, we HAVE to remember and allow that to shape our lives and actions as forgiven people.

*This is just a section from my workshop from our HSM Summer Camp that I got to teach at. I hope this helps!

How To Keep The Camp High

For both students and for leaders, there is always a camp high when we come back from a camp. It is during those times in which we feel so much closer to who God is, what He is doing in our lives and it always seems to be a rekindling  of a relationship between us and God. So how do you keep that? How do you not lose that when you come home and have it fade away?

If you really think about it, there are 5 major things we do at a camp or retreat everyday that we tend to not do when we get back. 5 things in which we are supposed to do on a daily basis which we tend not to do at camp or retreat. It is these 5 things that give us that spiritual “high”, but if we were to do these everyday we would be able to have that feeling everyday.

• Pray- We pray everyday at a camp or retreat. that communication between us and God is key to our closeness with God. If we are having a struggle on determining where God is wanting you to go, what better way than to have a conversation with the One who made you.
• Quiet Time- At a camp or retreat you have a quiet time with God every single day. You study the Bible for at least 30 minutes everyday you are there. This is something I myself struggle with on a daily basis and I know it is a reason in which the “camp high” fades when I come back.
• Community- You are in a great community of people everyday. You are around people who you are comfortable talking to and opening up to and being able to talk openly about struggles that you are having and being able to pray with them right then and there.
• Worship- There is worship session every single day (usually in the form of music). But its time where you and God connect and you can just worship Him for who He is.
• Laugh- We let loose at a camp or retreat because we are not worrying about anything besides just being there with God. Jesus says why worry about tomorrow, today has enough worry for its self. When we are at camp or retreat we can just have fun and laugh with everyone around us and not worry about anything.

All of these things happen at retreats and that’s why we get that extra close feeling to God. Because these are the things that we are called to do on a daily basis, so that “camp high” doesn’t need to go away…ever! We have to stop doing these things just at camps and retreats and not on a everyday basis. No wonder we don’t have that feeling when we come back because we forget to do this when we are back.

That’s my goal as we just got back from camp, to continue to do these things to keep that “camp high”.

Relational Student Ministry Goals

Intentional, relational, authentic ministry. I would like to think this is the goal for everyone and anyone in youth ministry. Students are the most accurate “B.S. Detectors” and can sniff out a fake from a mile away. One thing that has been on my heart lately is being real, genuine and intentional about relationships with students that I know well and students I just met. Whether is was the sleep over I had at my apartment for some of my small group guys who I know really well and love or the students I met for the first time at our 80’s Ice Skating Event, being intentional about the relationship I start and develop with them is key. What does it say?

• I Care About You– In any case with a student, whether how well you know them, any step you take into getting to know them a little better than you already do, shows them that you care. It is really easy just to say hi during the service, but to ask them about themselves, how their relationship is with God and simply just have fun, shows how much they mean to you and that you care for them.
• I’m Not Just Another Face– I am really bad with names. I mean, I’m awful with names. It’s embarrassing. Being intentional about remembering a new persons name will go further than you can even think of. Just the other day, another leader told me that a student who I met once before, who has not been to church in a month, said I remembered her name and it made her feel so welcome and loved that she had to tell a leader and was glad she was back. It then sparked a great conversation. Make their face known.
• You’re Proud of Me? – I have been making a point to tell the students who are serving in our ministry to help me pull off our weekends that I am so thankful for what they do and that they contribute so much to the weekend and that I am proud. Never have I ever said that and have someone be upset or angry. Their face lights up. These can be a game changer knowing that you, their leader, are proud of what they are doing.
• You’re a Nerd. Me Too. Let’s Be Friends– Sometimes to break the ice, you have to look stupid and make them laugh. Since laughing is one of my favorite things, I like to assume everyone else likes to as well. Sometimes you have to look dumb and not care what others think. This works for me at least. For example, I met a ton of new students at our last event. I showed all of them a new dance move I made up called “The Knowles” (a video will be made someday with this, I promise). I looked dumb, but I got the whole group of new students to do it as well and spread the word. 2 days later I got a Facebook message about how excited they were that they made a new friend by doing the dance move to a student, and a friendship started.

These are my own personal intentional relational goals that I am working on. If you have any personal goals as well, please share! We are all in this together.

Blotted Mercy

When you look at the ink blot above, what do you see? What do you focus on? The blot? The space around it? What?

In prayer I think we sometimes focus on all of our problems and not the widespread mercy of God. For example, if there was a blank white page and there was an ink blot right in the middle of it, because the page was blank, the ink blot will stand out to us and that will be the thing that we focus on. But the ink blot doesn’t take over the whole page, its just a small section compared to the rest of the page. There is still a lot of white on the page. The ink blot is our sin, and the rest of the page is God’s mercy. In prayer we only focus on the ink blot, our sin, and that’s the one thing we focus on. The rest of paper, which is far bigger than the ink blot, is God’s mercy, and that is what we should be focusing on. We always pray for and focus on our sins, which is only tiny compared to the rest of the page of God’s mercy. THAT’S WHAT OUR PRAYER SHOULD BE FOCUSED ON, THE VAST MERCY THAT SURROUNDS OUR SIN.

Proverbs 28:13

People who conceal their sins will not prosper, but if they confess and turn from them, they will receive mercy.

I Would Rather Sink

We all know the story of Jesus walking on water. Jesus meets his disciples in the middle of the lake and Peter calls out to Jesus asking him to come out on the water as well. Peter steps out of the boat and begins to walk on water but then gets scared and sinks and has to be saved by Jesus. Fail.

In the Gospels, Peter seems to be better known for his failures. But if you compare his actions to the rest of the disciples in the walking on water scene, he is the only one who actually steps out of the boat. He stepped out of the boat when Jesus called when it made no sense.

We always forget about the disciples in this story. Where were they? In the boat, not doing a thing. Just watching Peter step out and do an amazing feat. Doesn’t mater what happened with Peter because Peter still gets to say he walked on water. No one else but Jesus can say that. Because the other disciples stayed in the boat, maybe that is why we forget about them in the story. They were spectators.

Sometimes following God, He bids us to take a risk and step out of the boat. I would rather sink than stay on the boat. But in the end, these risks reap the greatest reward. If it weren’t for the risks that Peter took he wouldn’t have experienced the incredible things that he did.

I want to have an experience like Peter, not the other disciples. With my life and my ministry, I want to try to not get into the same routine and play things safe when it comes to my relationship with God and my ministry for Him. I am trying to constantly step out for Him and try new things knowing that if I am doing them faithfully, God will pull me up out of the deep water just like He did with Peter.

Let that be a challenge to us all.

31 Sermon Series Topic Ideas

A couple of weeks ago, we met to lay out our Fall series schedule for Saddleback High School Ministry. What came to the table was amazing. Here are just a few that we considered. Hope these help in any way or spark some ideas for some amazing series. Our fall series is still being worked on, so I’m sure we will get them up soon:

• Do Something
• Taboo: What Church Isn’t Talking About
• Things Jesus Didn’t Say
• Grace Mob
• Brotherly Love (cross out love, over it “wars”)
• How To Survive High School Guide
• Identity Theft
• YOLO
• Irrestistible Revolution
• Life Apps (going off the iPhone. Could be fruits fo the Spirit or the Bible is the first and best app)
• I Want Your…
• Poser
• Can You Hear Me?
• Rewind
• WWID? – What Would I Do?
• I am _______________
• Jesus: Liar, Lunatic or Lord
• I Am Legend
• Abandon Ship! – abandon sin, self
• Wasted – Growth, Heaven, Hypocrisy, Possessions
• Forever Alone
• God is…
• Eyes Wide Shut
• He > I
• > Greater Than
• Booty. God. Booty (From a blog post of Jon Acuff)
• Nothing – God makes something out of nothing. If you are nothing, God can make something out of you
• AWE/SOME – God is awe/all, we are some
• Get Dirty
• IDK (I Don’t Know)
• Things Jesus Did Say

If something sparks you that creates another amazing series, let me know! I would love to hear what you came up with as well!