Archives For student ministry blog

I Don’t Fail, I Experiment

March 7, 2013 — Leave a comment

When it comes to ministry and trying new things I go all in. Our team goes all in. The moto when it comes to trying something we never have done before is, “The best idea wins. If it worked last year it doesn’t mean we NEED to do it again. If there is something better let’s do it.” Let’s be creative. Let God move. Plan something that would not work unless God came through. Failure is something that will always be probable I guess. But…

IN THE EYES OF GOD THERE ARE NO FAILURES, BUT FORCED GROWTH.

What we are so worried about? Failing. We don’t want to fail, it makes us look bad. No one wants to fail. The idea that in God’s eyes there is no failure, only forced growth, is encouraging. Every time we fail to do something, it helps us grow in some way, shape or form. Failure forces us to grow, helps us learn from our mistakes. We can take this idea in our faith journey and in our ministry.

Are we ever going to stop messing up and failing? No, sorry. We are human and that is what we happen to do. It is what we do AFTER we fail which will define us. If we just give up, we fail. If we don’t, it was just an experiment and research on the right way of doing it.

James 1:2-4

Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

In creativity, Leadership, Ministry Idea, student ministry, Youth Ministry , , , , ,
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This Is Why We Do What We Do

January 22, 2013 — 2 Comments

There have been days, even weeks where I have felt ineffective. My group is not listening to a word I say. They same to be making bone head mistakes, all of the time. It seems as if ministry is just something I am trying to get through.

I have a pretty big small group of guys. The keep on bringing their friends who do not go to church, so obviously I’m not going to turn them away. they know they are welcomed here and won’t be judged. Most of my guys have grown up in the church. They know their stuff, it’s now the living it out that they are trying to learn how to do. The guys who are coming who are not Christians take it even to the next step of immediately Instgramming pictures of themselves drinking wine when they get home. Not trying to hide it, but bragging about smoking weed. So I have the Christian kids trying to figure it out, the non-Christian kids being themselves because they don’t know how to do anything else yet. Talks will need to take place when the timing is right, but it is part of the game.

But here is the thing. They come every single group. Almost the entire group, unless they have a game, is there. They come with their Bible and a pen and take notes. When we are going through our study, I look up and they are into it. Underlining. Taking notes. Circling. I can see it, in the guys who have grown up in the church and the guys who don’t believe yet, their wheels are turning in their minds. There is something working in them. God is working in them, and that gets me excited.

I just got a text from one of the guys who is just checking out this whole Jesus thing (his words) that said, “Ever since we analyzed the Bible on 1 John 1, I have been reading the Bible a lot more. Just want to give you thanks for helping me out! God and I are pretty much the closest we have ever been. My faith has been growing slowly more and more since I joined this group.”

THIS IS WHY WE DO WHAT WE DO!

Let me encourage you today:

  • Today we expect to see immediate results. That’s just our culture. God is working on them way harder, and more effectively than you are. Be confident He is working.
  • They are listening even when they do not seem like it.
  • Be patient. They are watching and listening to us. When they hear the Gospel and how it calls them to live, they see the difference it makes and most of the time they look at you on how to live that out.
  • The best thing in ministry (in my opinion) is to see a student finally get it. Something clicks and they are on fire for the Lord. It’s the best feeling to see how God is working in them.
  • Be encouraged that God is working in their lives and being faithful in their lives because you are being faithful to them by teaching them, being their for them, and doing life together with them.

It’s the text we get when the light bulb goes off and they finally let down their walls to allow God to start working fully in their lives, a reminder of why we do what we do.

Keep this in mind. It’s the best.

In God, high school ministry, Leadership, personal growth, Relational, student ministry, Uncategorized, Youth Ministry , , , , , ,
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Yo Gabba Gabba For Adults

January 9, 2013 — 4 Comments

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This last week I got to babysit my little niece and nephew for a few hours while their parents had a wedding to go to. No, do not worry, I had my wife with me to help. Without her those kids did not stand a chance. Ha! But while we were there my niece loved watching the show Yo Gabba Gabba, which is a children’s program with cute/weird characters and she was hooked into it. It was amazing. The moment that it came on, she actually sat still and watched it and would occasionally dance with the characters (super cute), but she was mesmerized by it. Now I am not speaking anything against it, I actually enjoyed the show because they have bands and musicians I love guest star on it, but I was just interested in the reaction of my niece when it was on. Her demeanor changed when it was on, she zoned out and nothing could get in her way and she noticed nothing around her that was happening. Unreal.

Cell phones are the Yo Gabba Gabba for adults and students. I am not going to lie, I love my phone. I read a ton of great things on it, I love posting on Instagram, checking Facebook and Twitter, without the maps app I would literally be lost going anywhere, they are useful. But my wife has hated me on it…why? Because I become like my niece watching her show. Then I started to notice our students doing the same (even in services! Shocker!). Not only students but all pastors who have a smart phone. There was one point this weekend where I was in a room full of adults with no one talking but all were on their phones.

We have let our minds become like a two-year old’s by droning out and not paying attention to what’s happening around us because we are too into what is happening in our phone.

I got to thinking, what are we teaching our students about how important they are if we cannot go a full conversation without checking our phone. How important does that person that person you are having coffee with feel when you can’t go 10 minutes without checking your email. How loved does my wife feel when I’m droned out on my phone sitting on the couch instead of engaging in even a simple conversation. I’m not saying our phone is bad, it’s actually quite helpful. I’m also not saying that we need to get rid of it and that I have all of the answers on how to combat this, what I like to call “Adult Gabba Gabba Syndrome”. It’s actually now being described by doctors as FOMO, fear of missing out, syndrome, but I like mine better.

Here are some things I have been intentionally trying to do so I do not fall into this what I feel potentially dangerous cycle in ministry:

  • When I’m at home, my phone is on “Do Not Disturb” (iPhone) and in my bedroom, where I cannot check it all of the time. 
  • When I’m at work, my phone stays on my desk. It doesn’t go with me when going into a meeting with someone or the team.
  • If I am with a student, my phone is off. There is nothing more important than that student sitting in front of you in that moment.
  • Same goes when I’m out with my wife or a friend at dinner. Most of the time I just leave it in the car so the temptation is not even there.

I’m not going to lie, I suck at doing this. And since I write this a week ago, I have failed numerous times. I’m trying to make this a habit. I NEED to make this a habit. I just thought I would share some easy ways to keep me honest and aware of what’s actually going on in front of me. Anything else you can suggest?

In Leadership, Ministry Idea, personal growth, Uncategorized , , , , , ,
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Church Isn’t For Church Kids

January 1, 2013 — 14 Comments

Crazy right? Now let me explain.

In all of my ministry experience (4 years as a volunteer, 3 as full time minister), serving in four different churches, I have only have been under the leadership or have lead with the mindset of passion for reaching the non-believer. Of course there is discipleship, but the main purpose of the ministry to students is students bring their friend who don’t know Jesus to church so they get a chance to know Him. This is still a huge passion of mine. I understand there are a ton of different philosophies of ministry and strategies to reaching students who do not know Jesus, and I only can speak in which the context I have served and am currently serving. I have always had the mind-set that our main services for students is to reach the non-believer, not the already saved and converted.

Now, in the context of ministry our team works in, on the basis of our church DNA and pastor’s heart, our church was founded by the concept of: “This church is going to be a church for the people who don’t like church”. Everything we do on the weekend services is not for the Christian, but for the non-believer. Same with our student ministry. Our whole weekend experience is to EXPOSE students to the Gospel of Jesus, through many different outlets. The church is competing with the world for attention, and the world is good at it. I believe our ministry needs to be more creative, intentional, and good at executing the message of Jesus through great music, videos, sermon illustrations for new students who have never been to church before. Something that will get them thinking, “This is church? Not what I was expecting. I’ll come back to this to hear about this Jesus guy.”

It’s easy to think that when we loose our identity in way we do our weekend services that what we are doing is not helping students grow. It’s not for the church kids, it’s for the ones who are new and do not usually go to church. Now listen, we preach the message to students, every single service, and our team has had to deal with apathetic students who say, “Well I just don’t get anything out of it anymore.” Usually my first questions back are, “Are you in a small group? Are you in scripture everyday? Are you serving somewhere? No wonder. The services are not for you” (I say this in a loving way of course).

Small groups are the back bone to our ministry. Our goal is to get all students in a life group because that is where I believe life change happens. We have more students in small groups than who attend our weekends (glory be to God because that is Him working amazingly through our small group leaders who minister to our students). Services are the means in which we get them to a small group to grow deeper in Christ, and our small group team and volunteer leaders do an amazing job at getting kids in groups to minister to them in ways that they need.

I understand that there are so many different ways in which we do ministry. I understand that their are some groups that go verse by verse through the Bible, which the last church I was serving at did, and it’s great. But you have to look at the type of people coming into your ministry and make the decision from there. Context changes at every group you go to. Our services are not geared for the devoted believer, small groups are for this, our services are geared for the non-believer to create an understandable message for them to know Jesus and then surround that message with fun and creative ways to help them understand it better.

What is your ministry philosophy on that? Do you plan this as well? How does it look different? 

In Devotional, high school ministry, Leadership, organization, Small Groups, student ministry, Uncategorized, Youth Ministry , , , , , , , , ,
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Youth Workers: You Are Loved

December 27, 2012 — 5 Comments

Is it budgeting meeting time for you too? Some of you join me in solidarity as you just went through this meeting yourself, and others of you just got mad at me for reminding you that it’s coming up in a few months. Woops, sorry.

It’s no secret that many churches are hurting finically and when it comes to the church budgeting meeting sometimes it looks likes a wrestling match. Different ministries are fighting to not lose money here or to gain money there. Then it comes time to talk about student ministry and the criticisms starts.

Some of the comments are constructive.

Some of the comments you just nod politely and think, “Homie, you think student ministry is just a good message and a game huh? Ahh that’s cute.”

Then there it is; that one comment that pierces you where it hurts most. You just want walk out of the room crying or reach across the table and strangle the person. You know that feeling I’m talking about? Perhaps this feeling did not occur at that budget meeting. Maybe it that one comment from a parent, or that co-worker, or that e-mail, or something else entirely, but as a youth worker you are not only offended, but your feelings are hurt and for a split (or not so split) moment you are numb.

I want to recognize the reality that we in student ministry also hurt. We also go through pains and trials. Sometimes it is work related; we can be having a great time in ministry and then something happens negatively at work and we hold on to that. Yes, I know it is not healthy to hold on to the negative, but let’s admit that we hold on to the negative from time to time. Sometimes our hurt is not work related at all. We too feel loneliness, and we too know the feeling that everything is not alright.

Today, I just want to simply remind you that YOU ARE LOVED. You are loved first of all by the Creator of the universe. You are loved by the God who is compassionate, gracious; slow to anger, and abounding in love and faithfulness. You are loved by the very same God who called you to this ministry. God wants you in this ministry journey. We tell students all the time that they are loved and they are not alone. This time it is our turn to hear that too.

We are loved and we are not alone. Remember when we tell students that Christ shares in their sufferings? Remember when we tell students that Christ knows full well our pains and struggles? Yes, that message is for us as well.

We are loved and we are not alone.

Also know that you are loved by your students and their families. They love you for coming to their games. They love you for coming to their concert. They love you for just being there when they are hurting. They love you for how you have cared for their child.

Friends, we know that hurt still continues, but we have a hope that helps us continue in life and in ministry.

Friends, YOU ARE LOVED.

*This post was written by my very good friend/pastor/my groomsmen/college roommate who is the Student Ministries Director at Good Shepherd Presbyterian Church in Long Beach, CA. He is one of my favorite people on this earth and you can follow him on Twitter @wernerramirez 

In Communication, Devotional, Leadership, Relational, student ministry, Uncategorized, Youth Ministry , , , , ,
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Insta-Life Series

December 26, 2012 — 1 Comment

instalifeweb

This had to be one of my favorites series that we have come up with so far. Because Instagram is such a huge thing for students, we thought this would be the perfect way to use whats hot in the app store and bring it to life as talk about how God is working in our lives. Below are parts we used to speak to our students during the series: teaching illustrations, games, and what we wanted students to get our of the weekend services. Hope this is of some help!

Series Arc:

InstaLife: Jealousy – Wanting Someone Else’s Username:Being jealous shows that we are not satisfied with what God has given us, that what we have is not enough. The Bible tells us that we need to be content with what we have because God would never forsake us and leave us with nothing. In order to go head to head with jealousy we need to become more like Jesus and less like ourselves. We need to stop wanting and ogling what everyone else posts through Instagram.

InstaLife: Being Fake – Look Behind the Filter:We post pictures online for everyone to see. We will post pictures on this app to allow other people to get a little glimpse into our lives. Many post pictures of the life they wish they had or pictures from only the good parts, giving the false perception to everyone who sees it thinking that you are just fine and dandy when in reality you are truly hurting. It is time to stop pretending that everything is okay and come to Jesus get out from behind the filter.

Games: The game is simple – someone turns over control of their Instagram account to the host of the show, who is then given permission to do whatever they want in exchange for prizes. In this case we used the Wheel of Destiny to let it randomly choose what would happen. Some of the options included:

  • deleting 10 random friends
  • trolling someone’s profile (aka liking all of one person’s pictures)
  • posting a picture of another girl in the room and tagging it #newgirlfriend
  • $5 to Starbucks
  • become Instafamous – everyone in the room takes out their phone to follow them
  • Week-long hack – the phone stays logged in and randomly in the week we hack them again
  • … and many more!

We had previously hooked up an iPhone to our main screen using an Apple TV so the whole experience was sick and flawless technically, too. Oh and also painful … and hilarious. The students who played along were good sports and hosts were loving but ruthless. Another epic game we’ll for sure use in the future, too!

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Sermon Illustration:

20121217-105343During the message our team made a real life Instagram picture on stage in front of the students eyes (picture above) and talked about how we try to make the perfect picture to portray to everyone else when sometimes our real lives are not doing too hot. We explained how God can see through the “filters” we put up and just wants us as we are, right now, with no filter. How he wants authentic and real, not posed and faked. So the above picture we brought in items one by one to make “the ultimate picture”. Then explained how that was not our real selves and God wants us #nofilter, just as we are.

It was powerful, and you can see it in the eyes of the students as they were convicted because they know they do this every time they post a picture online.

You can download the series notes for cheap HERE.

*The game description was taken from morethandodeball.com because he had already explained the game perfectly.

In creativity, high school ministry, Ministry Idea, service programing, student ministry, Uncategorized, Youth Ministry , , , , , , ,
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3 Reasons Why You Should Get Away

December 19, 2012 — 2 Comments

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So I just went to Hawaii on my honeymoon. Let’s just say it was incredible and I do not want to make you jealous, but 10 days in Kauai and Maui is the way to go. What I do hope what happens is that you get the itch to get away for a bit. Since I got to Saddleback, I have had time off, but this was my first “real long” time off that I have had and it was incredible. I literally turned off my phone (when was the last time you have done that for an extended period of time?), had no agenda, read a ton, got away and didn’t think about work.

Here is what I learned about my time away and why it was so important for me:

You get to refuel: I have never felt more energized as I do right now. Spending time, uninterrupted with my wife is such a blessing. I turned off my email. I didn’t go on Facebook, I only used my phone as a map. I got to sit, relax, and read a ton of books. I got to have some great fun, some things that I love to do….like eat, hike, and go on some adventures (kayaking, zip-lining, etc.) It’s amazing how much your realize how draining having constant emails, texts, voice mails, and meetings can be and to be able to turn it completely off is amazing. If you have trouble doing this while you are not in your office, you might need to have a vacation more than ever then because that is a problem. Get away, refuel.

You have to plan ahead: I was going to be gone for 12 days so that means I needed to make sure all of my duties were going to be taken care of. It caused me to look ahead 2 weeks and get my mind around what is going to need to happen while I’m gone. To be very clear in my direction and vision for the weekends so when we had our meeting the week before I left, I came in with guns blazing with ideas and our weekend team drew out the weekends on the whiteboards in detail. This got us 2 weeks ahead, which we have not been, and it allows us room to work from this point on. Hopefully we can keep up this momentum. It set us up to stay ahead in our weekend planning of services.

It allows others to step up: It is my responsibility that our weekends, all of the moving parts, come together to make one awesome service. Since I was going to be gone, it allowed other members of the weekend team to step up and take charge and lead these weekends. And honestly, they killed it. I came back just for the last weekend in our series and was blown away by what our team did. It was way better than what we originally planned in the first place and the series was probably one of my favorites and best ones we have done yet… and I wasn’t even there to over see it! The team stepped up in huge ways and now it has revealed to me what our team can do and I am excited to see what can come out of this for the future. Sometimes you have to get away and get out-of-the-way to allow the people around you to step up and dominate and see what they can do.

So… get away. For you, for your team, for your ministry. It’s healthy on all accounts!

In God, high school ministry, Leadership, Ministry Idea, service programing, student ministry, Uncategorized, Youth Ministry , , , , , , ,
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The Crowd, The Group, The 3, The One

December 13, 2012 — 2 Comments

I was talking to a good friend of mine about small groups. I reading looking at Jesus’ disciples (his small group) and I noticed something about them that is similar to my small group, and maybe yours too.

As a Christian we are to be Christ like. We are to mirror the image of Jesus and the ideas of how he did ministry. Jesus was a fan of small groups because with his small group of 12, it was the back bone of His ministry when he was not physically there anymore. Jesus loved the huge crowds, he hung out in them, preached to them, did miracles in them.

But he spent a majority of the time with his disiciples. A group of 12 men. And even within the group, their was an inner group in which he would focus on. This is the same approach that we can take ourselves when it comes to any small group.

Overall Structure:

The Crowd: Jesus preached to the crowd. Spent some time with them as a whole. This is our youth groups. What ever night you meet would be your crowd. You love them, hang out with them and know them by name. As the leader you need to spend time with them.

The group: This is your group or your leaders small group of students that they spend their time with outside the crowd. This is the Bible study, the group of people they will “do life” with on a weekly basis. It’s not so general but its more specific on their lives and their lives with you in it. Jesus spent a majority of His ministry with his disciples. He knew them. He hung out with them. He had parties with them, laughed with them, ministered to them far beyond what we did with the crowd.

The 3: Jesus had 3 men within the group he spent more time with than the others. Peter, James and John. These are the 3 he took with him on the mountain with Moses and would take to pray off to the side. This doesn’t mean that he loved them more or was playing favorites, he he invested more in these men because they later became huge pillars in starting the Church.

Typically this is the same with our groups. There are students within the small group that come on a regular basis but miss here and there because of business or sports. But there are always a few that do not miss at all, who are there every single week, who ask you to hang out outside of group and you do. Those students you invest into because you simply get more time with them and you get to dig deeper into their lives.

The One: John was the Beloved Disciple/ He seemed to have this special relationship with Jesus that just clicked. He was the one that God revealed to him about Revelation and whom Jesus loved. There is that one student who you see that if you were to specifically and intentionally hang out with, they would be your one because you see the potential that they have in Christ. They tend to be your helper, the one who you might ask to help you out in ministry more outside of group. It’s the one that maybe take in your own footsteps.

Just some thoughts. What do you think?

In high school ministry, Ministry Idea, organization, Small Groups, student ministry, Uncategorized, Youth Ministry , , , , , , , , , ,
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5 things You Need To Know in Doing Youth Ministry Well

December 5, 2012 — 4 Comments

Couple days ago I got together with a few of my good friends in youth ministry and were talking about when we first got into it and how little we knew. I admit, I still know very little but I’m in progress. It got me thinking about if there is anyone you know, on staff or volunteer, just jumping into ministry, what would be good to know. So I thought of 5 quick tid bits of advice for anyone new and diving in to ministering to teenagers.

The 5 things you need to know to start in youth ministry well:

Be all in- Go all in. Get involved. Break the awkwardness of you being one of the only adults in the room. You know, the students know it, just jump in and break that awkward wall down. Greet them, get involved in the games, the worship, the message. They are watching you whether they know you or not and will determine if you are the real deal or not within two seconds. Is it going to be weird? Probably at first, but once they see you go all in, they will be right behind you.

Be real- Students are the best B.S. detectors I know. They can easily sniff out someone who is not genuine from the start. Don’t try to be the “cool” person because they are not interested. What I have found in doing ministry is that student respond best to any adult leader when they are open, honest, and real. You will not have every kid there liking you, but there is at least one kid that needs to hear your story and how you handled it that will help shape their spiritual life. Students will come to you once they know you are a “real” person.

Be consistent- Nothing kills a student more than opening up to a leader and then that leader just all of the sudden stops showing up for no reason. It will make that student not open up to another leader because they think that they will just stop coming. Sometimes being there is all they need. They see you every single week, being involved, being real, and it makes a difference. There is no way anyone can effectively minister to a student if they are not there constantly pouring into them. Be there and be there regularly.

Be caring- People are broken. Obviously. Students are broken with huge emotions and need some guidance in areas of their life in which they will come to you for advice. Even if the “problem” does not seem like a big deal, to them at that time it is a huge deal, so showing compassion and that you care means everything to them. Sometimes just being there is enough for them to show that you care for them. Be genuine in how you are for them. Take a second and pray for them, right then and there. It shows that you care for them.

Have fun- Plain and simple. Youth ministry is so much fun, it can be very tiring, but it is so fun. If you don’t think so, then you probably should go to another ministry. Students love to have fun and they want leaders to have fun with. I love my students and we can be serious and talk life, but we can also be stupid and just laugh our faces off at stupid things. It’s okay, I promise.

If anyone new to youth ministry were to take these to heart and be all in with these items, they will do some amazing things in the lives of students for the Kingdom.

In God, high school ministry, Leadership, Ministry Idea, Small Groups, student ministry, Youth Ministry , , , , , , ,
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HSM Freshman Rap Music Video

November 30, 2012 — Leave a comment

 

A few weeks ago we had a huge competition between the classes of HSM. Whomever brought the most canned foods to services over 3 weeks would get to write and record an anthem for their grade and then shoot a video for it.

Our freshmen class won and this is their video! Enjoy!

In funny, high school ministry, Leadership, organization, service programing, student ministry, video, Youth Ministry , , , , , , , ,
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