Finishing Up

Here are the last of the notes from the Led by Fire Leadership Conference...

HELPING STUDENTS DEAL W/ IDENTITY

DYD New Jersey-

Zuny's clothing stores

·         Harrison Ford- "All I would tell people was to hold onto what is individual about themselves, not to allow their ambitions for success to cause them to try to imitate the success of others. You've got to find it on your own terms."

·         Who and what they identify with now will identify them for life.

·         5 common ways students demonstatrate their struggle with identity:                                                                                                                                                                                   1) Through Status Symbols- right clothes, right possessions

            2) Through Forbidden Behaviors- Lesbian behavior, smoking, drinking

            3) Through Rebellion- demonstrates seperation with parents/adults

            4) Through Idols- celebrities, pro athletes (Preteens- Hannah Montana, Jonas Brothers)

            5) Through Cliquish Exclusion- intolerant in exclusion to their peers (Junior High)

                                                                                                            - Dr. Les Parrot PhD -

·         Respond as opposed to react.

·         Their are certain things that you should just let go.

·         "Life in  a fallen world presents kinds with two options: either finding one's identity in Christ, or choosing to find identity in something else which is idolatry."

·         Final Exam

            - Matthew 19:16-22

            - T or F- Good Teacher what must I do to have eternal life? (Am I saved?)

            - Multiple Choice- What commandments have I kept? (All of the above)

            - Essay- What do I still lack?

            There was no identity there..he didn't have a name.

·         Quick decisions without commitments.

·         Salvation is the easy part. The hard part is Lordship and identity.

·         4 things as a youth leader, you can do:

            1) Ask yourself, where can I find my identity? Your identity is/should not the number you have in service.

            2) Check in on the identity-shaping world. John Stock- Dual listening

            3) Confront the lies.

            4) Nothing speaks louder than embodied truth.

                                                - Walt Mueller -

·                     Identity = Lordship.  What you find your identity is your god.

·                     1 John 3.1

·                     Ask if there are any questions about what was said before the altar.

FROM YOUTH MINISTRY TO YOUTH IN MINISTRY

A short history and the current imbalance:

·         Youth ministry is young itself (circa 1926 for the A/G).  The era of youth specialists is even younger.\

·               *Jesus Movement in 60s

·         Youth ministry was originally understood as a movement of what youth do over and above what others do for youth (sacrificially oriented)

·         Today's concept of youth ministry leans more toward what we do FOR youth than youth DOing ministry.

            +Has created a mind-set of "get the youth ministry to raise me kids."

+Thus, a large percentage of churches don't think they can "afford" to have an effective youth ministry--much less have one at all

+12,333 churches; only 27% have a youth pastor, 49% have a volunteer youth leader; 24% don't report any active youth ministry

(2nd most staffed position in the A/G is the youth pastor.)

 

A BIBLICAL FOUNDATION:

·         Mission Dei = Mission of God

·         Youth ministry false view that youth ministry is all about youth.  It's not all about youth, it's all about God

·         Matthew 4.19 [Mark 1.17] is the mandate theology of youth-in-ministry

      [+Come follow me and I will make you fishers of men]

*John was about 14 when Jesus called him; he was only 17 when he was the only one willing to stay at the cross.

·         2 Corinthians 5.17-21 and a lesson from history

*How many people need to know that they can start over?

"Be reconciled with God"  = be in a right relationship w/ God (better description that "got saved")

"Gave us the ministry of reconciliation"  = It's the responsibility of every believer

·         Why wait?  You go to the most stocked missions pond 5 days a week.

 

 

THREE PRIORITIES FOR YOUTH IN MINISTRY:

1)  Belief in Christ (win)

2)  Belonging with Christ ad His Body (build)

3)  Boldness for Christ from the spirit (send)

Philemon 6   (If you think that the altar experience is the best part of being a Christ follower, then you are missing out on the joy of serving in ministry)

 

MAKING THE SHIFT

·         Prioritize Biblical identity over image

            ***If necessary, consider a new identity that personfied youth-in-ministry

·         Present the youth leader as pastor more than persona.

            +Involve youth in ministry roles.  Take the risk to develop and deploy their ministry gifts in addition to their servanthood.

            +Don't just put on services and events.  Put on ministry!

·                     Practice ministries that move youth in ministry

 (Turnover in youth ministry is 22 months)

+Youth in ministry is a movement.  We need to view the whole of our ministry as a process, a journey, a living-thing.

OUTCOMES OF YOUTH IN MINISTRY

·         Identity over image

·         Movement over institution

·         Multiplication over addition

·         Belonging over bling

·         Purpose over program

·         Disciple-making over passing through 

 

 

Q+A Session

blog: jaymooney.com

 

Four connections teens need:  God, family, church, their purpose

Daily Double

To catch up, here's TWO sessions from the Led by Fire Conference:

Developing Student Leaders- Johnny Wilson

Aug. 6, 2008 11am

Mark 10:32-45

Keys Points:

In Student Leadership development:

1) Leadership is modeled

            John Maxwell- levels breakdown

You must show expectations and guidelines

Train youth leaders to build up stronger students

2) Revelation is personalized

Cast the vision ina smaller setting of a youth group breakdown

Student leaders should meet early to prayer meetings

Develop a leadership team

            If anyone else comes they develop themselves into leaders

Announce things to the group but also discuss individually with leaders.

3) Destiny is clarified

4) Relationships are purified

            Instill a servant's heart in them. Ask them to do things for others.

                        Ex. Pick up after another, or help move something for someone else.

            * Proverbs 27:17

            "Iron sharpens Iron"

            - People have to be close enough.

            - Iron has to touch to sharpen iron

            It doesn't happen over night.

                        - He's been there for 13 years.

            Don't be afraid to re-invent

                        - You will have to do so.

Flip My Preach

Chet Caudill, Appalachian DYD

(*”Degree” came from life experience, not college)

 

 

·         What are your motivations?  Why do I preach?  What is your purpose?

o   Sometimes our motives aren’t pure.  We want to “just get through it” or have people shout, etc.

·         Before you analyze and figure out “how” you preach, you need to discover “why” you preach.

·         PREACH MESSAGES THAT CHANGE LIVES

·         Challenges to Preaching:

o   What we’ve learned (styles, formats)

o   What we’ve NOT been taught

§  Sometimes we feel inadequate because of our lack of education

o   What we’ve seen

§  Televangelists

§  Hype-man (Flava-Flav)

§  Monotone (Ben Stein)

o   What we’ve not seen

§  Sometimes we’ve not seen authentic, genuine communicaton

o   What we feel and what we want

§  Do you want you ego boosted?

o   What we don’t feel

§  Depression

§  If you are not convinced in your message, no one else will

·         You have to believe what you are sharing

·         Sometimes we try to feed to much information to quickly.

o   We need more focus in our preaching, and preach for the long haul

·         Why did God call us to preach?

o   Luke 4.18-19

§  Jesus was all about meeting people’s needs

·         ***We need to preach to meet people’s needs

o   Matthew 7.28, 22.33; Mark 11.18, 12.37; Luke 4.22

§  It’s ok for people to be delighted in what you are saying

·         What is the best method for preaching for life change:

§  (Communicating for Change by Andy Stanley)

o   Inspiration

o   Motivation

o   Application

o   Transformation

§  Effective preaching begins with caring more for the people in the audience than the person standing in the pulpit

·         Questions to ask:

o   What is the goal?

§  To teach people how to live a life that reflects the values, principles, and truths of the Bible

§  Don’t preach for the response around the altar

o   Pick a point (ONE POINT!)

§  *Book:  What’s the Big Idea

§  What do I want people to Know, Feel, Do?

o   Create a map

§  MEYOUGODYOUWE

·         Start with Yourself

·         Move to the crowd

·         Focus on God (What does God say about it)

·         Apply it to them

·         As a group, how can we do this

o   Internalize the Message

§  Own what you preach; be passionate about it

o   Engage your audience

§  How you say something is just as important as what you say

·         Presentation matters (details for the Temple)

o   Be sure to address the felt needs in your audience

§  If you don’t, then the info you are sharing will be perceived as irrelevant.

§  Use visuals, stories, humor, etc.

o   Find your voice

§  I can’t be _____________.  I am who I am.

§  You HAVE TO be you!

·         Evaluation:

o   Self-evaluation

o   External evaluation

o   Are we accomplishing what God desires?

§  If not, how do we move to that?

·         Always live what you preach 

Creating a Discipleship Strategy for Campus Ministry by Rod Whitlock

·            Discipleship is a process!

            *ex: Peter tried to chop off the guard's head; James and John wanted to call fire down (racism)

 

·            Your doctrine is going to affect how, to what extent, and how often you disciple students.

            *Your need to know what you really believe

**Leader Netix  (google)

 

firestarters (nym.ag.org)  Daily devotions through the NT

-Use to connect with parents (devotions for family)

 

-Three essentials to Discipleship Process:

1)Mentor (who)

2)Method (when + how we meet)

3)Material (what you use)

 

Three groups w/in your church:

·            Core (CMs)

·            Committed (faithfully attend)

·            Crowd (Show up occassionally)

 

 

1)  Student leaders need to be a thermostat not a thermometer (they set the temp, not just read it)

"You are not a disciple until you've discipled someone who has discipled someone else."  [be fruitful and multiply]

Becoming the Leader God Designed

For the next couple of posts, I'm going to be posting my notes from the Led by Fire Workshops I attended in Charlotte.  Here's the first:

BECOMING THE LEADER GOD DESIGNED

WHAT COULD BE

 

Jeffery Portman, Seattle, Washington,

District Youth Director, NW Dist.

 

+Great leaders are not stuck in what was or in what is but are focused on what could be.

 

Nehemiah 1 - 2

*The wall had been down for over 150 years.  There were entire generations that grew up seeing the wall as a pile of rubble, and they just thought, "that's the way it is supposed to be."

·         Nehemiah couldn't complete his task as a leader until he recognized the condition of the wall [recognizing the need]

·         What could be is recognizing how God has gifted those around us and placing them in the right places and engaging them in ministry

·         Nehemiah saw the need, but he also responded

·         What could be is birthed:

            1)  When we listen more than we speak

                        +Proverbs 18.2

                        +Great leaders ask great questions

                        +Are you good at listening?

                        +It's easier to listen and plan, than to have to constantly make course corrections

           

            2)  When we are broken by the condition of our city

                        +Are we content w/ the way things are in this city?

                        +One of the greatest barriers to success is success (never be satisfied)

                        +Nehemiah fasted and prayed b/c of the condition of his city

                        +Nehemiah lived 600 miles away from Jerusalem, but it was still a burden to them

                        +Put yourself in a position to see people's brokeness

           

            3)  When our concern motivates us to the point of action

                        + Nehemiah's ex:  prayer, repentance, examined [if someone w/ all the means to fulfill your dreams asked you what you want, could you answer the question?], cast a              clear vision

                        + Don't settle for a small prayer life, because you will only wind up copying others, hoping that it will work for you

                        +What need can your ministry meet in your community?

                        +Arm your students with the Word to prepare them to leave your ministry

                        +Proverbs 18.21 -- your vision isn't just for your ministry, it's for the lives it transforms

                        +Nehemiah put the people in families.  Most of our students need to be placed in new families b/c they lack a real family.  We need to create environments of families.

                        +Florence Chadwick   "...If I could have seen land, I would have made it"

                                    *What are you doing to paint a picture that people can grab hold of.

Nehemiah 6.15

Galatians 6.9

           

            4) When we finish well in the face of adversity

                        +We must remember that it is not in our own strength that we go; it's in Christ

 

Recap

Here's some random recaps for Wednesday:

I really love 80s music (and music from to 00s that have a heavy 80s influence)...I believe the 80s were the greatest time to live...period.  At least I got to enjoy 3 years of it...Downloading your entire CD music library to iTunes takes a really LONG time!...I wonder if Brett is moving/moved to Auburn yet?...*Hold on, I've got to put a new CD in*...I know I've said this 10 billion times already, but I cannot wait to go to Charlotte...I also cannot wait for school to start back...God is going to rock Vincent like whoa this year...Started the new "back-2-school" series (Best Year Ever)...Next week > lead by the Spirit...My feet stink

Love you guys!

Matt

Stinkin' Forever

It's been stinkin' forever since my last post... I'll try to catch you up:

It feels like I've traveled to the ends of the earth this summer, but despite all the miles I've logged, I've yet to leave Alabama :(  [Good news though, headed to Charlotte, NC Monday :)]

I had a blast working with other Youth Pastors and having the opportunity to introduce them to Youth Alive Campus Ministry.  It was a blast!  Got to hang out with the CMs a lot this summer--especially during the CM Mini-camp [next years camp scheduled for early June!].  Had a blast in the sticks that I call the place I grew up.  Had fun experimenting with the Super Summer Contest.  I [ok, Amanda] already have a ton of ideas to make it even bigger and better next summer.  

I am super pumped about the upcoming school year.  I'm a little bummed that I'm going to miss the night-before-school-starts-back-service.  But I console myself with the thoughts of Charlotte.

This year is going to be awesome.  In fact, it's going to be so awesome that I'm dedicating the next couple of weeks' sermons to talk about how awesome it is going to be.  The series is titled "Best Year Ever" [thanks you VH-1].  We're going to find out what it takes to make this the best school year ever.

Hopefully I'll stay on top of this blog thing for a while.  Check back soon for new stuff!

_Matt

Youth Camp 08

Camp was awesome! We had a great time this year [but don't we always?].  We absolutely got plastered in the team competitions.  We finished 6th (of 6).  We were 50,000 points behind 5th place.  I got to take a nice swim in the Mud Pit for that one.  

The services were amazing from the first night.  It was so emotional to watch our teens get up on stage the first night and publicly declare "I'm not hiding from God anymore."  It was ultra-awesome to see Lee's daughter Whitney get up there.  I know that was a special moment for him as a father.

Unlike usual, it is hard for me to point to just one spot of camp and say, "this is what changed me."  I think it was a little bit of everything.  From seeing faith in its rawest form as Brooke accepted Christ w/o anyone praying/preaching at her, to making new friends w/ the Jasper guys, to the worship, and everything in between.

I know I have been personally challenged to go deeper in my relationship with God.  I want more of Him, I want to know Him in a new, deeper way.  I want to serve Him more.