Archives For sweet articles

Guest Post: What Is Your Golden Calf In Ministry?

November 1, 2012 — Leave a comment

I think if we are honest with ourselves many of us have placed idols in our lives at some point or another. We may have not gone to the extreme of melting all our gold down and forming them into the form of a cow(Exodus 32), but if we are honest with ourselves there are things that we lift to the place of God in our lives. It may look different in your life than it does mine, but I have been very guilty of this myself.

A great example would be a few years ago when I was transitioning out of my position in the Chicago area and making the decision to move back home to northern Indiana. I knew I was going to be transitioning out of my position and had been looking for a full-time youth ministry gig. I’m not going to lie to you,  I was arrogant during that time and really believed that a church was going to be lucky to hire me. I knew that God had called me into youth ministry, so I had no doubt I would land a great gig soon and be ministering to students in no time.

Little did I know that I would be taking a break from ministry and that it would be the most fruitful time I’ve experienced in a long time. It turned out that I was not able to get into a church full-time and that I would be transitioning into working a full-time retail position. I had no clue the lessons that God was going to teach me through those 3 1/2 years were going to help equip me so much for ministry. I learned so much over those years and am so thankful for God directing me to walk that path.

See in my life, I had placed the “title” or “role” of youth pastor in Gods place. I let my title and my role define who I was in. If I’m honest I would also say that I elevated my position to a higher place of honor than God. I was more concerned with me “being a youth pastor” instead of being a follower of Christ. Instead of teaching out of the overflow of my life I was basing my whole relationship with God on the work that I was doing in ministry. It defined everything I was. I put the ministry before my family, friends, and even God.

When it came time to transition and I didn’t have a solid position nailed down, my world came crashing down. What defined me was quickly gone and I was left feeling empty, alone, and far away from God. I was bitter towards others and even more bitter towards God. I was angry with God that He didn’t provide a position for me. I was angry that I hadn’t landed a new position. It was during that time in my life I experienced so much pain, bitterness, anger, and even depression.

Eventually I realized that it was my heart and my own relationship with God that was the problem. I soon realized that I had a family I needed to restore. I had put my ministry at a higher importance than my family and wasn’t being the husband or father I should have been. I realized that my number one priority had to be my own relationship with God and ministering to my own family before I could ever think about getting back into ministry. It was once I realized this that God started doing a great work in my life and my heart.

At a point about 2 1/2 years into this journey I came to the place where I was ready to serve again. I knew God had placed a call on my life and I wanted to make sure I was being faithful to that call. I finally came to a place in my life where I just wanted to serve in ministry at whatever capacity I could. I started volunteering as a youth leader at our home church. I started living out my own faith and teaching from the overflow of my relationship with God.

It’s at that point that God started opening up doors for me to minister. When I didn’t let my role or my position define me is when God started opening doors for me to be able to serve him more and more effectively. Eventually he opened the door for me to become the youth pastor at my home church, but even then I was hesitant because I didn’t want that role to define me.

I did end up stepping into the role and this time it’s been different. I am protecting my family time more than ever. I am ministering first to my own family. I am concentrating on my own relationship with God and letting that define who I am rather than letting my role define me. So far…so good.

I am writing this to simply tell a little bit of my story and also encourage others. Guard your own heart and guard your family with everything that you have. Never let your role define who you are and never put anything over your relationship with God. No ministry, no person, no role, deserves more honor and more of you than your relationship with God does. For me my “golden calf”was full-time ministry. What is it for you? What could God be pointing out in your own heart? Also, for you volunteers out there. THANK YOU. I truly believe that God honors your role SO MUCH. Don’t think that you have to be a paid full-time position to be effective. Be faithful to the gifts that God has given you and be faithful to those He has called you to.

* Derek Coy blogs at http://derekcoy.blogspot.com, you should check him out.

In Devotional, God, Guest Post, high school ministry, personal growth, student ministry, sweet articles, Youth Ministry , , , , , ,
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Blotted Mercy

July 24, 2012 — 2 Comments

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.

In creativity, God, Leadership, personal growth, student ministry, sweet articles, Youth Ministry , , , , , , , , , ,
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Lion Eats Baby

June 19, 2012 — Leave a comment

This video is pretty awesome. I have to admit that. But it got me thinking…

What if that glass was not there? It would a completely different kind of video wouldn’t it? It would be a massacre. That baby would have no chance.

1 Peter 5:8 says, “Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.”

So let us picture in that video, our enemy is that lion. We then are that little baby, that is dressed to look like a little zebra, whom that lion is very obviously trying to take into its jaws and have a little baby snack. The glass then, that is protecting that baby from the jaws of the lion is God Word, Scripture, the Bible, protecting us from the jaws of the enemy.

In Matthew 4, Jesus goes out into the wilderness to fast and to pray where he is then met with Satan who tempts him to veer off the path that God had for Him. If you were to read Matthew 4, Jesus is tempted 3 times, and you will notice Jesus recites scripture to refute each temptation. If Jesus knew and used scripture to stay out of the jaws of the roaming lion, how on earth do we think we can go on not doing this as well?

To be a Christian means to be a “miniature Christ” on this earth. We are to be  mirror of who Christ is, and if Jesus read and knows God’s Word inside and out to fight against temptation and sin, then we are called to do the same. We are called to know God’s voice as He bids us to follow Him.

Because if we are not following God voice then we are following someone else’s, and that is not the road in which God has called us to go down.

In Devotional, God, high school ministry, Leadership, personal growth, student ministry, sweet articles , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
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Service Programming: Planning Center

June 14, 2012 — Leave a comment

I would have to say Planning Center Online is my service programming saving grace. Planning Center is an online program that allows you to plan out services for the future, allows you to set up program sheets to the detail, minute by minute account of where you want service to go to make sure everyone is one the same page at the same time.

We didn’t have this when I first came onto Saddleback HSM, and since we brought it online, services have been going smoother because of the communication that comes from everything that Planning Center has to offer.

Here are some of the main reasons why I personally love and use this program:

  • Organization – I get flustered when things are all out of whack when it comes to planning services. Especially when we are a few months out, and things change. I love that I am able to click a weekend, go in and make a change, and that’s it, everyone else gets an update. On a week to week basis, I can write notes to all who are involved in the service. For example, I can write a note to the band on when to come in, or a note to cameras what kind of shot we want to get, etc. It makes it real easy to communicate on all moving parts.
  • It is a one stop shop – all moving parts of our weekend services are based off what is on planning center. This is the central HUB for our entire operation. Our Worship Director can go on and add songs for the weekend (and add the song notes, mp3’s, and chord charts to it as an attachment), all of our tech arts is scheduled from here, our graphics guy can go on and see our announcements and message notes to make sure he has everything we need, and this is the paper I pass out to everyone to make sure we are on the same page.
  • It is hard to mess up – You would have to try really hard to mess it up. When you look at it, it is super clean-looking. It is not confusing at all (at least to me). Everyone can look at it and know exactly where and when everything is supposed to go, especially if I am writing notes to all the different areas of tech, audio, band, and speaker. I can essentially not explain the whole service in person and someone can just look at this sheet and would know how to run the service without any direction.
  • Planning Center Live – We are not here yet, but I want to be able to use the Live version of this program during our services. This is where all areas (band, speaker, tech, audio, lights, etc) are all on the same system online, and it is a live feed of what is happening service. Where I would have my iPad calling the shots moving section by section through the service, writing notes to all areas who need it. It gives the live run down, how you are on time, and so much more which I will be excited to explore hopefully in the fall.

Here is a program sheet from one of our services from a few weeks ago:

If you don’t have it, I would recommend talking to your church about getting on it. It  has helped me be organized, and get all of our moving parts organized as well so we are able to run a smooth but amazing service.

In creativity, God, high school ministry, service programing, student ministry, sweet articles, Uncategorized , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
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Service Programming: Creative/Brainstorm Meetings 201

June 7, 2012 — Leave a comment

Last week I posted on the first part of our creative process for Saddleback Church high school ministry. If you missed it, click HERE and you can check it out and catch up.

From our big brain storm meeting where everyone is involved, we have a smaller meeting the following week with Josh (high school pastor), Parker (creative master, video extraordinary), Travis (mind can think of anything funny/can literally build anything) and myself (the guy who tries to reign everyone in on one point). This meeting is to take all of the ideas from the big meeting and start the conversations of putting feet to some of the ideas that the students had and make them happen in the services. This is where we talk about what ideas go best in certain services, what sermon illustrations can actually happen, and what videos we think we can actually do make service just that much more fun.

How I process this meeting:

Dont be too specific – This meeting is not to hammer out exactly what we are doing for each service. The previous meeting was to get ALL ideas come to the board for the entire month of services. This meeting is to start to place some ideas (which not all ideas will be used) into the service we feel will best fit for the topic of teaching. This is just to get a basic over view, and a generic plan of action of who, what, and why we want this idea into the service. The specifics will be hashed out in one more meeting (which I will post next week).

Let it soak in – Coming from the previous big meeting, there are a ton of ideas that are being thrown left and right. It can be a lot to take in all at once. I know for me, I let all of the ideas come, and I just sit back and help navigate to make sure they don’t stop. I do better when I have all the ideas and I can look them over and have a few days to process them. then I can come up with a better way of implementing them into our services. That is why I dont like to have a meeting the next day. Give it a week.

Make it intimate - I don’t mean have a dimly lit room and candles everywhere. I mean this meeting needs to be intentionally smaller than the main idea one. I want just a few people, the people who will actually be making the ideas into reality for services. Instead of the bombarding of ideas, this is where you take the existing ideas and talk about what is actually possible. You need to be able to discuss and be able to banter back and forth. This is how amazing ideas come out of good ideas.

Allow discussion and disagreement – A lot of the time, we are left to thinking we are limited on what we can do because we have not tried something before. If one person feels strong for one idea, and I dont feel like I can pull it off, there is aback and forth and a push of encouragement to pull it off. We all push each other to do things we never have done before, or things that have never been done before ever. I’m excited as we keep on pushing each other for the fall. Big things coming out of Saddleback HSM.

Be strategic – At this point, we are a month out. During this meeting we talk about what ideas should go to what service and how we should do them. We know how much time we have and this is the meeting we talk about what it will take to get the idea done. We dont hash out the specifics, but just the general idea for what needs to happen and how much time this will take us. We need to be up on our game and know when to start moving.

Are you a slow processor? A fast processor? Is there anything you think I am missing? Would love to hear your input!

In creativity, Devotional, God, high school ministry, Leadership, personal growth, service programing, student ministry, sweet articles , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
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SHOUT OUT FRIDAY: 50 Freebies From Our Friends At LeaderTreks!

May 18, 2012 — Leave a comment

This is a great free resource from youthministry360.com. Pretty incredible. So make sure you go check them out. It is a great website that has a ton of great resources.

free stuff from ym360

At ym360 everything we do falls under one of these four things:

  • Bible Study Resources
  • Training
  • Community, and
  • Networking

When we say “networking,” what we mean is shining a spotlight on other ministers or ministries doing awesome stuff. We don’t believe in competitors. We believe in ministry partners. We love sharing great resources, whether their ours or not!

Today’s one of those days where we get to share great resources from some of our friends.

If you know LeaderTreks you know they do amazing mission trips and student leadership resources. (You may also know that we’ve partnered with LeaderTreks to create one of the coolest resources around, DNow Online. It’s a perfect solution for your Disciple Now, Retreat weekend, or Summer Camp content needs.) They also give away awesome FREE stuff. And today, they’re giving away 50 Freebies! The 50 Freebies feature assessments, team building initiatives, illustrations, Bible studies, and activities.

Simply click on the image below to head on over to LeaderTreks and access your 50 Freebies.

 

Oh, the other thing LeaderTreks is really good at is taking care of their customers. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask.

In Free Stuff, God, high school ministry, Leadership, organization, Shout Out Friday, student ministry, sweet articles , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
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Shout Out Friday: Stop Critiquing and Start Creating, How to Defy and Destroy our Barriers to Change

May 11, 2012 — Leave a comment
This Shout Out Friday, I had to share this post from Donald Miller’s blog that I read the other day. I do not know why, but it hit a chord in me. And hopefully it does for you too. Enjoy this post and check out his blog at Donmilleris.com
Stop Critiquing and Start Creating
 Today’s guest post is by Justin Zoradi, who runs an nonprofit called These Numbers Have Faces. Justin has guest posted before and I hope we hear more from him in the future. Today’s guest post is about creativity, but to me it’s also about maturity. Justin elaborates on some of the thoughts in Andy Crouch’s book Culture Making.
In an age where too many books aren’t new material, but critiques of whatever else is out there, Justin argues we need to mature from consumers to critics to creators. Great thoughts:

A good friend told me there are three types of people in the world:

1. Consumers

2. Critics

3. Creators

There was a time in my life when I thrived in my role as a Critic. I had an opinion about everything and spent many sleepless nights brooding over ideological arguments and creating fake debate scenarios in my head. It was mania, an obsession, fueled by the high of feeling “right.”

One day I realized that my very critical opinions were taking up a lot of time and making me a very angry person.

I also realized I was against a lot more than I was actually for.

Take politics. No matter who is in the White House, it’s easy to critique the policies of a President without having to constructively engage in the political process. I find it fascinating how many people have very strong political opinions but can’t name their local representative in Congress.

But if you look at the people who’ve made the greatest change in the world, they’re the ones who spent the least amount of their time as critics and consumers.

I believe human beings were made by a God who loves to create, and in his benevolence, he made us a lot like him. Whether 7 days or 7 billion years, God is at his best when he’s creating. So are we.

I also believe that people and the positions they hold can change. Which means it’s our job to try and move from a life of consumption and criticism and into a life of creative action.

Maybe you’ve already begun. If so, it’s your job to cultivate creativity in others.

This isn’t just for artists, activists, engineers, or entrepreneurs. I think everyone has the ability to create with great purpose. This is one of the reasons I’ve started this blog.

I believe ordinary people have the unique ability to impact the lives of others. And if you’re reading this with a few minutes to spare and high speed internet, you also have a moral responsibility to do so.

Work can be monotonous. Each day I try and put one thing on my to-do list that requires a fresh creative punch. Oftentimes this is as simple as a 10 minute phone call to bounce a new idea off a friend. I find this simple act of forcing myself to create actually invigorates all the other things I’ve been avoiding all day.

Some final thoughts:

Creativity is an exponential force. It produces better work that produces better work.

Creativity is also a repelling force. The more we create, the more it repels us away from the dangers of over consumption and over criticism.

Questions to ask yourself:

What moves you? What drives you? What infuriates you? And how can you creatively engage in a way that uses your innate gifts and abilities, instead of just responding as a critic or consumer?

Start today. The worst thing you can do is postpone your creative action until tomorrow.

- JZ

In creativity, high school ministry, Leadership, Ministry Idea, personal growth, Shout Out Friday, student ministry, sweet articles , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
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Shout Out Friday: Church on the Move

May 4, 2012 — 4 Comments

One of the churches I find myself going to a lot for inspiration and ideas is Church on the Move in OK. They do some amazing things and I always end up asking myself the same question…how on earth did they even some up with that?

Their blog is unreal. They have videos, sermon series, stuff for adults, stuff for kids, for students and worship. It all is pretty amazing and I have spent hours just going through what they have and I leave ready to go feeling inspired. It truly is a blessing that they post it all online to help out other ministries when it can be really easy to keep it all to themselves. I would say they are some of the best when it comes to creative arts in every arena for a church program.

Here is an excerpt from their blog on how they come up with ideas:

“I think a big misconception about creative ideas is that they’re born almost fully formed. That is, that the genesis and the finished product somewhat closely resemble each other. Sure, we assume there’s going to be some tweaks made a long the way, but for the most part the crux of the idea is born in tact. We think John Lassetter woke up one day with Woody and Buzz dueling in his head, that Steve Jobs had a miraculous vision of the iPhone in his sleep, that George Lucas knew Darth Vader was Luke’s father from the inception.

We want to believe it works that way don’t we? Why? Because it’s sexier, because It’s more fantastic, because it’s more grand and mysterious. But above all else, this misconception persists because it let’s us off the hook.”

You can check out their Seeds Blog by clicking HERE.

In God, high school ministry, Leadership, Ministry Idea, Shout Out Friday, sweet articles, worship , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
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Shout Out Friday: Generation to Generation Youth Ministry

April 27, 2012 — Leave a comment

Today’s Shout Out Friday is from the guys I got to guest blog for from the post earlier this week on my blog. (Click HERE to check that post out.) Generation to Generation Youth Ministry is a great blog with some real, honest posts from two dudes who love the crap out of students and have some amazing insight to youth ministry. Be sure to check them out and enjoy this post from them titled “Good Example or Great Example”:

Tonight I had a phone call from the mom of one of my high school small group students. During the conversation she thanked me for being a good example for her son. After the call was over I began to think if I’m a good example, what could I change to be a great example.

When we decided to get into student ministry either as paid staff or as a volunteer I think that all of us agreed that we need to live our lives to a higher standard because we are an example to students of what a Christ follower is. None of us can be perfect all the time but there are things we can do to ensure that we are putting our best foot forward when it comes to being a good example.

I asked myself the following questions, ask yourself and evaluate your answers.

  • Language  Am I careful how I talk, not just when students are around but all of the time?  - Don’t use foul or abusive language. Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them. – Ephesians 4:29 NLT
  • Relationships  How you treat others is a big example to students of a Godly man or woman. If you’re in a relationship, is it Godly and pure? You can’t teach students about purity and saving sex for marriage if you’re not living it yourself. They will see right through you.
  • Gossip  Don’t get caught in the gossip circle. Gossip is a sin that destroys ministries. If you’re not part of the problem or part of the solution then don’t gossip about it.
  • Worship  Make sure that you are attending worship service on a regular basis and that you are getting spiritually fed. You can’t expect students to be church attenders if you’re not. Don’t spend so much timeserving Jesus that you don’t have time for Jesus.
  • Quiet Time  It’s hard to get students to participate in a daily quiet time with God if you’re not doing it yourself. It’s also the way you stay connected to God. Pray for your students every day. Pray for your church and for your ministry. - Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. – Philippians 4:6 NLT 

I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to just be a good leader, I want to be a great leader. Every now and then we need to stop and evaluate our lives, I did tonight and I know I have to make a few changes.

What do you think? What do you wish you did great? How do you take the first step?

In Devotional, high school ministry, Leadership, Ministry Idea, personal growth, Shout Out Friday, student ministry, sweet articles, worship , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
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Shout Out Friday: Free iSmiley Face Software

April 20, 2012 — Leave a comment

Parker is a genius. He is on staff here on the HSM team at Saddleback. He is the creative guy and he can literally make anything and everything. You can check out his blog HERE, and check out some of his other stuff. You can download this program for FREE now! Which is awesome and it really is a cool thing anyone can do for their service. Below is Parker’s post that goes along with this video. Click HERE to check out his website.

I created iSmiley for a three week series we called, “Happy”. Face, as we called him, showed up at the beginning of each service and interacted with the host and audience. It was a ton of fun and the students loved him! Everything was controlled by a laptop plugged into the big screen backstage. The “puppeteer” spoke through a microphone to give Face a voice.

He’s an installable app for Mac & PC. iSmiley is FREE and comes with free updates for as long as I live! Since I don’t plan on wrestling bears any time soon, it should be totally worth it! Plus, I’m a youth worker and the massive amounts of money they are paying me isn’t enough to support my lavish lifestyle while I pay off my yachts. Please let me know if you have any requests for future updates. As always, if you use him for your youth group, send videos and pictures!

Frequent Asked Questions
Q. Does iSmiley work on my Mac?
A. Yes! As mentioned above, it works on both a Mac and PC.

Q. I can’t open the install file! What the heck, dog!
A. Whoa bro! Calm down! You may need the Adobe Air Installer. It takes a few seconds (unless you’re on dial-up grandma!)

Q. How do I get Face on the big screen at my church?
A. You’re going to have to talk with your IT guys for that. Long story short, every system is different. You’ll need a display cable to go from your computer to the screen. Again, that depends on your computer. If you get really stuck and have no where to turn, feel free to email me!

Q. Does Face support the theft of NBA talent by the Monstars?
A. No. Absolutely not.

Q. Are you making more apps?
A. Yes! There are some awesome youth ministry games in the works! You can follow me on Twitter (@parkerstech) for updates!

In God, high school ministry, Leadership, Ministry Idea, organization, personal growth, Shout Out Friday, sweet articles, video , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
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