Killing the Sacred Cow!

     As a Southern Baptist Youth Minister in Kentucky, I am afforded wonderful networking opportunities. Even larger areas in Kentucky are smaller than some small areas in other states. Plus we have that whole southern hospitality thing going, so most of us are more than willing to help another youth minister. (The main reason that I started this blog).

     A few weeks ago in our Kentucky Youth Minister’s group on Facebook, a fellow youth minister asked a very good question about how to revive his Sunday School Class. Which leads me to this week’s topic “Killing the Sacred Cow.” I love that analogy too!

      What are programs in your church that are only around because no one has the courage to kill them off? Now don’t get me wrong this isn’t the case for all churches but if you have a youth choir that maybe a good example. However no one wants to Kill the Cow! Why? Traditionalism. It’s been around since the 1950’s and that’s the way it is. Well ladies and gents that’s not always a good thing. If we mire ourselves in traditionalism then we cannot progress to the future due to being stuck in the past. This youth workers Sunday School class was a good example. Now I’m not endorsing a no Sunday School idea. But during the conversation on Facebook we came up with lots of great ideas to liven things up.

      The best by far was a fellow Youth Minister Tara Clark’s idea. Tara is a Youth Minister at Clay Village Baptist Church. She said “This may seem crazy, but I changed the name from "Sunday School" to WakeUp! Cafe and started serving coffee, juice, donuts or poptarts and giving them time to hang out for 10 or 15 minutes before starting bible study. We started teaching more apologetic type material on Sunday mornings, giving them tools for answering the hard questions.” Just by ditching the name “Sunday School”, serving breakfast snacks, and giving the class a specific focus, apologetics, she saw a change in attitude about it.

      Another idea. Instead of calling it “Youth Choir” call it the “Youth Praise and Worship Team” and have them focus on leading worship in “big church” when there are praise and worship songs involved. Put the youth in charge, let them select the songs. Have an adult approve the songs but let the pick! Get them involved, then it might not seem so bad or seem like a chore.

     But also do not hesitate in Killing the Cow when you need to. Youth Choir was eating up one half of my youth ministry time. I got tired of seeing teenagers sling paper air planes across the room and be inattentive. So I approached the youth, found they had no interest in singing, but had an interest in playing music. “Tada instant praise band!” Now I and key youth members are members of our church praise band. Plus I get the bonus of spending twice the time with them!
 
     So know when it's time to pull that trigger but also be cognizant of when it's time to just spruce up an exhisting program. Until next time peeps! Just keep swimming!

PS: Here's a funny video to help set the mood!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9Jr2jkbfzk

What's the point?

I know I know. I just posted the other day. Sorry this week is crazy so I’m posting my next post early this week. I have a Skillet and Disciple concert we’re taking the teens to tomorrow. I have two assignments due in college, and my heads still spinning over the post-modernism lecture. On top of that I work a full time secular job. So pity me lol!

What’s the point of my ministry? If you have been in youth ministry for longer than a year you have asked this question more than once. I ask myself this question at least once a month and four times near lock-in time! One of the best books you can ever read in youth ministry is “Purpose Driven Youth Ministry” by Doug Fields. It is a timeless classic on how to set up and run a biblically based youth ministry.

I won’t get into the particulars of the book but I will tell you my experience. The first year of my ministry I got beat up pretty bad. We were doing at least two major events a month with no growth, no direction, and a lack of counsel from my church as to what they wanted me doing.

I sat down and read that book at the behest of a friend of mine in the faith who had been a youth minister. I was blown away. I had never thought of a youth ministry being set up like this but it made sense. The first thing I had to do what to set down a Mission statement for our ministry. Why do we exist? I canvassed the church and got so many different statements about why we existed that I had to write a mission statement from scratch. The one that fit was this:

“The purpose of Revolution Youth Ministry is to REACH non-believing junior high and high school students, to CONNECT them with other Christians, to help them GROW in their faith, and to challenge the growing students to DISCOVER their ministry and HONOR God with their lives.” Park Ave Baptist Church Revolution Youth Ministry 2009.

Everything I plan and do must meet one of those guidelines. Tomorrow night’s concert got filtered through this statement. What is the purpose of this concert event? It will help us REACH a non-believing student we are taking with us and to CONNECT them with our Christian students. I try to make sure our events at minimum meet two of the criteria.

So come up with a purpose statement for your ministry. Need help? Read “Purpose Driven Youth Ministry”. Your ministry will have direction and your students and volunteers will know your vision

So you want to be a Youth Minister?

Thought I'd hit on something that anyone in Youth Ministry for more than 2 years already knows but it is a truth. I was asked by a friend of my wife, "What advice could you give to someone who wants to go into youth ministry?"

Here's my advice! Be prepared! You’re entering the fishbowl of church ministry. You'll be under paid or not paid at all. You’re not the senior pastor so you’re always the new kid on the block even if your older and been at the church longer (love you Bro Matt!). Everyone waits on you to mess up. When you do mess up it will be like someone just dropped an atomic bomb on the church. If you have an innovative idea it will be shelved since it hasn't been done like that before. You'll be over worked and underappreciated. You'll put in long hours at lock-in's and over nighters. You'll be hounded by parents who think their kids are being overlooked even if you spend every waking moment with said kid. You'll always be asked, "When are you going to grow up and be a real pastor?"

However! If you do chose this path, your heart truly breaks for teenagers, and you know beyond doubt that God has chosen this for you.......there is nothing more rewarding in the world. When you watch a student who has been raised in church all his life finally get "it". The message he's heard all his life finally comes to life in front of his eyes. Or a teenager who is fully in depressions grasp, with no hope in their eyes and no will to go on. When they finally hear of the redemptive power of Jesus Christ and God uses you to breathe life into that teen.....that will change your life forever.

I tell anyone who wants to go into youth ministry to be prepared. These teens will disciple you, minister to you, and love on you just as much as you minister, love, and disciple them.

My Church is in a transition what do I do?

     If you are in a youth ministry position in your church whether volunteer, part time, or full time at some point in time you will have to deal with a bad transition period. If it’s from a pastor leaving, your youth pastor leaving, or your church splitting. At some time in your tenure there you will have to deal with this happening. Great news is the church has been around for 2,000 plus years in one form or another. So there’s always hope.
     First things first. No matter how hard it gets or what is going on remember to focus on this one principle first. It isn't our church! It's Christ's church! Remembering this helps me put my personal feelings aside. If this is what is happening then God has ordained it. I must accept this fact and figure out how to operate under new rules, situations, etc.
     Our church has recently gone through a rough patch. The pastor of the church resigned after 12 years and the church called a younger pastor. Even though the church knew ahead of time he would have younger ideas, etc (mind you not doctrine or theology) they were not really as ready for this as they thought they were. Some members were what I like to call "Staunch Traditionalists". The type that say "we haven't done it that way for 40 years and are not about to change". We had a large group of these people leave the church.
     At first I was shocked and thought "How is our little church going to keep going?" The I realized a few things.
1: That's not my ministry in the church and it was keeping me from focusing on the youth that God has entrusted me with. I had to get my mine off of the problems and put myself to the ministry grindstone.
2: It wasn't the pastor’s fault. He made no doctrinal or theological mistakes. These people had more deep seeded problems that what they were telling us, since their arguments for leaving did not stand the test of scrutiny. So I have to stand with my "boss". I came along side our pastor, helped him through his self doubt, and showed the church that our ministry team is solid and unshakeable.
3: The members of our church that were left needed us. They were as hurt over this as we were and need us to minister to them.
4: My youth needed me to explain to them what was going on and to say it's ok. This stuff happens and we will keep on keeping on.
5: The most important thing to learn is, Christ is still Lord! Nothing changed! These members moved on and hopefully Lord willing will find a church that they fit into and will get plugged in and do the Lord's work there. But God is still God, Christ is still Lord, and the Great Commission didn't change!
    
      I know there were random facts but all are true. Just remember the best thing you can do in a time of crisis transition is to pray and rest in the comfort of the Spirit.