Where's the beef?

Remember the old Wendy’s catch phrase? Recently they have started airing a retro commercial using this old catch phrase. Guy finds a retro “Where’s the beef?” Tshirt at a Goodwill type store. Buys it and walks down the street wearing it. All of the people he passes say “Hey! Where’s the beef?” I loved those commercials with that little old lady in them from way back when though.

What does this have to do with youth ministry? Here we go! Last year myself and my wife were at a revival at a local church. The revival evangelist went through his sermon and when we were done I was left scratching my head. We got to the car and I looked at my wife and said “Where’s the beef?” Of course that struck her as odd but I explained my outburst. During the sermon the evangelist only said Jesus’ name one time and alluded to Christ one other time. Where’s the beef? Is it not Christ who we teach and preach? This also made me worried. How often do I mention Jesus and talk about the Gospel when teaching teens?

I paid more attention to my lessons after that and was okay with how often He was mention but not satisfied. It was more that the sermon I heard but I did see how the curriculum we were using spent an inordinate amount of time just talking about how sinful the current culture is, how kids need to avoid that, how a particular bible verse applies to text messaging, etc. You get the picture. It applied to teens but where was the beef? I’m not downing these wonderful curriculums but I had blindly followed them with not eye on how many times the teens were actually hearing the gospel. So I worked out a plan where every lesson I taught would transition into a Gospel presentation by the end. Not always an altar call but we would discuss the Gospel, how it affects teens etc.

Charles Spurgeon once said “I take my text and make a bee-line to the cross.” Maybe a good spin on that for a youth minister would be “I take my object lesson and make a bee-line for the cross.” Or “I take my pizza party and make a bee-line to the cross.” Or “I take my cool brand new neat guaranteed to make them happy icebreaker and make a bee-line for the cross.” I believe there are certain situations that warrant care when presenting the Gospel and knowing when to be a lamb and when to be a lion with it. But I know not of once instance where the Gospel would not be warranted.

So when planning your next lesson read it over and ask yourself “Where’s the beef.” Find Christ in your lesson and make sure He gets his deserved place in the lesson. High and lifted up! God Bless you guys and just keep swimming!

Ch-ch-ch-changes

Cue the David Bowie music…..”ch ch ch changes!” Bet you thought I was too young to know that one huh? You may have noticed that my info changed. Or you may have not noticed at all. If you didn’t shame on you! Gotta get you reading more often. If you did, Props to you! I recently left the church that I was Minister of Youth at for close to three years. It was a change that was going to happen eventually due to feeling God was calling me into vocational youth ministry. I was planning on waiting until after I got my degree but God has a way of making things happen in His time not ours. I was a volunteer minister of youth at Park Ave. Baptist Church since 2009. Park Ave was a wonderful church and if you’re in Madisonville KY and looking for a home church Bro. Matt Fowler is one of the best young pastors around. He has a great vision for the church and is leading it in a great direction.

But it was time for me to go. I was feeling restless and was getting some feelings that the youth ministry there was better served by me leaving. After financing the youth ministry out of our pockets for some time it was time for Jackie and me to do what was best for our children and look for a church that could support a youth ministry on its own. The financial strain on our family was too great and it had no indications of getting better. So after a church council meeting in which the youth ministry budget that would have alleviated the strain on us was turned down by one person before it ever was voted on by the church body, I sent out a message to my youth ministry peeps on Facebook. I asked if anyone knew of a youth ministry in need of a youth minister. Thirty minutes later a fellow youth minister friend of mine sent a message back saying he did. He was stepping down at the end of November and would put in a good word at his church for me. The next day a former pastor of ours called and talked to my wife. She stated we were leaving Park Ave. He told her of a youth ministry position that was open and he happened to be good friends with the pastor. It happened to be the same church. After praying about it A LOT! I decided to turn my resume in. I met with the search committee and the rest is history. I start this Sunday and really cannot wait. There are some many ministry ideas that I had that would not work at Park Ave but I will get the chance to try at my new church. The church is Dawson Springs, KY First Baptist Church.

Enough about me, let’s get to the point. When do you know it’s time for a change? With me it was a longing in my heart. I’m not sure if it was a longing for a larger audience that I could reach at the smaller church I was at. I’m sure the financial strain was part of it, but I’ve always trusted God to provide for us when we bought that extra pizza or took that extra trip. It was just an unexplained feeling I had. I knew God was in the move. Everything felt right, both people that talked to us were very godly men and I knew that had not only our best interest at heart but also the best interest of that youth ministry. I constantly would get impressions that God wanted me to go when I would pray for his will to be shown to me. I do know there is something to be said for perseverance. I had actually prepared a sermon on that topic for a Sunday evening service that I did not get to deliver. God doesn’t want us to tuck tail and run when it gets rough. He granted us a spirit of strength and power. But when God calls you to go, you better listen.

^“1 For everything there is a season,
a time for every activity under heaven.” Ecclesiastes 3:1 (NLT)

I truly believe that any type of minister; youth, music, education, or senior pastors, go through seasons. Some seasons will find them at a particular church. Then following a call from God the next season will find them at another church.

So I will leave you with some lyrics and a reassurance. The reassurance is that if God is truly in a move, the feeling that you’re letting your old youth ministry down and your old church down matters. You and your old church should feel excited for your new opportunity. It should be a celebration. God bless all of you and just keep swimming!

“Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

Turn and face the strange

Ch-ch-changes

Don't want to be a richer man

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

Turn and face the strange

Ch-ch-changes

Just gonna have to be a different man

Time may change me

But I can't trace time” David Bowie “Changes”

Youth Ministry Expert??

             I recently had a wonderful opportunity to attend a conference at a seminary in our great state of Kentucky. Wonderful time! I was blessed with being able to listen to such youth ministry giants as Dr. Jim Burns, Wayne Rice, Walt Mueller, and Mark DeVries. Also the worship artist was phenomenal. The seminary had revamped their old youth ministry conference and made more of a focus on youth and family ministry.

            When I was pondering my breakout session I knew I wanted to take Mark DeVries “Sustainable Youth Ministry” session. That my friends is a wonderful book and the session was even better. When I was trying to figure out who to take my second session under the thought popped into my head that I wanted to take one under a professor at the seminary. I’m continuing my own education by attending Truett-McConnell College online and was pondering this institution as a place to attend for my Masters.

            I will not say the names to protect the innocent, but that class was a mistake. But a good mistake in a sense that it gave me a blog topic. Never claim to know anything about youth ministry! As you can see from my explanation of my blog I do NOT know anything about youth ministry. I just provide random thoughts from a youth minister in the trenches. But if you start off a class with “I’m a youth ministry EXPERT” your pompous. No one is a youth ministry expert. By the time we reach the level that would be considered an expert in any field the culture changes and we are behind the times. The professor then proceeded to inform us that youth ministers need to be professionals. AMEN brother! But then his next statement was ridiculous. He said we needed to dress like the guidance counselors and teachers at the students schools. Then he proceeded to tell me that unless the teachers at the students school worn a faddish haircut like mine that I needed to cut my hair. Wow! Ok I don’t have much hair left so I’ll keep what I have thank you very much!

            But this leads me to my point. Be yourself! I’m not the school teacher type. Obviously this gentleman is. But if I was to show up to youth group in a pair of slacks and a polo shirt the kids would not more want to listen to me than a teacher. Not because I look like one of their teachers but because they know that’s not who I really am. They want authenticity! They want you to be real and be who you are. They want to see you live the life Christ called you to live. For me that’s a faux hawk hair cut, Toms shoes, boot cut jeans, and T-Shirts. I’m the type of person that, despite my age, I’m still young at heart. I PRAY that when I’m 70 years old I’m still a youth minister in some capacity and I will probably be wearing a t-shirt and blue jeans to youth group. I’m not discouraging you from wearing polo shirts, etc. I have many youth minister friends who dress like that and are absolutely effective. It’s because they dress like that all the time and it fits their personality.

            Do not ever claim to know everything in youth ministry because you found out what works for you. It probably won’t work for others. But please DO share your helpful advice on what works for you so that other youth ministers can glean from your ideas and apply the working principles to their own ministry in a way that works for them, which is what I PRAY I accomplish with my blog. Do not change who you are to fit a youth ministry stereotype. Until next time my friends. Be yourself and just keep swimming.

"Stay Thirsty My Friends!"

Remember the old “This Buds for You” commercials? I know what you’re thinking; this guy has lost his mind talking about beer commercials on a youth ministers blog! It is odd but stay with me for a second. It would always start out, “Here’s to you Mr. (fill in the odd job title here)”

Well here’s to you Mr. Youth Pastor! Working on less than minimum wage! Staying up all night at an overnighter just so Teens would come to know Christ! Catching so much grief from your congregation over this or that! Setting aside much needed family time to care for the teen girl who just got dumped! This Diet Soda is for you! (Raises pop can in a salute)

Hopefully you’re still with me! Thought I’d give you some encouragement and a much needed pat on the back. That can be so lacking in our calling sometimes. But here is something else that stood out to me this past week. Sometimes we run on empty! I just got back from a youth ministers conference in Louisville, KY. I had the privilege of hearing some giants in youth ministry talk. Dr. Jim Burns, Wayne Rice, Walt Mueller, and Mark DeVries were all there and I had the pleasure of hearing all of them address a variety of youth ministry topics. But more importantly I was able to get away.

The campus of the Seminary I was at was gorgeous. I was able to steal away some times and just relax, dig into the Word, pray, and meditate. Wonderful campus and wonderful time. God really spoke to me there too. Help me come to terms with some things going on in my ministry and my life. However one thing stood out above all else. I have to stay thirsty!

I joke with my Dad about looking like the Dos Equis guy. You know the guy that ends every commercial with “Stay Thirsty My Friends.” No truer of a statement could ever be said of youth ministers. We must stay thirsty for God! I know we go through seasons were we are a little more connected than others. What I’m saying is we must never let our ministry or our involvement in a church take center stage over God in our lives. I struggle with this. My personality is wired in a way were it pains me not to please people. I get upset when someone doesn’t like me or is mad at me. So I cannot say no to things. Often I let my commitments to my church over ride my need to get closer to God. Case in point. I played drums in our morning worship. I also can run a sound board. So when everyone in our sound department left our church, they instantly turned their eyes on me. I said ok without ever saying ok! So for about a month or so I would play drums, stop run to the back to play the choir tape, run back up to play some more, run back to the back to play the instrumental for the offering, run back…you get the picture. I was so exhausted from enabling others to have a worshipful experience that I neglected worshiping God myself. Even after service was over. I recently took care of that situation and after recommitting to the spiritual disciplines a little more (thanks Dr. McDonald!) I can say I find myself way better spiritually than in the past.

So to wrap up make sure you don’t let you earthly commitments override your spiritual commitment to God! Always seek God, have a passion to know Him more and let him guide your life! “Stay Thirsty My Friends!” and just keep swimming!

PS: In honor of “No Shave November” as my youth call it I’m letting my beard grow out. Who knows maybe by the end of the month my dad can say I look like the Dos Equis Guy!