Junior High Ministry 101: Faith Development

As they enter adolescence, young teens go through a ton of developmental changes: Physical, emotional, social, intellectual and spiritual. For those who minister to this age group, the spiritual development often proves to be the most challenging and sometimes frustrating when, in reality, it should be one of the most exciting because it provides fodder for wonderful discussions.

Kids who have grown up in church and developed certain assumptions suddenly begin to ask questions about their faith. While this sometimes feels threatening to adults (especially youth workers and parents), the reality is that without asking some of these questions and wrestling to own their faith, most junior highers won't develop a mature trust in Christ that lasts. The questioning is a REALLY good thing.

On my 13-year-old daughter's blog, she posts a question about faith....it's one of the first times I've seen her ask this type of question, and it's super exciting!

Here's what she posted (re-printed with her permission, of course!):

"Tonight I met a girl who was very nice and super great, but something was different about her. I thought she was a Christian, but how can I know for sure? I was comparing our lives (in my head), and realized that mine was totally different, and that mine mainly revolves around the church, and I am not so sure if hers does. I know that it isn't a bad thing to be super involved in church, but is there a point when it is too much? And at that point, where you begin to schedule things around your "church plans". I don't know what got me thinking, but I also don't know what to think. All I know is that there are so many people like this girl out there, and it's crazy to think that some of them don't even go to church, or have maybe even never heard of it."

In that short post are several issues that Kayla simply wouldn't have wondered about a year ago. Part of her intellectual and social development is the sudden ability to observe lifestyles of other people, compare them with her own and question how this relates to being a Christian.

Junior high students are asking questions. They may not post these questions on a blog, or even come directly to you for answers, but questions like my daughter's are on the minds of most of the students you minister to...

And that's a REALLY good thing!

Retreat Highlights

Our junior high and high school teams plus spouses returned yesterday from a fantastic four day retreat. A few highlights:

- The realization that over 1/3 of our team has been with us for less than 2 years.
- Our PDYM quiz (very interesting to see the rookies on the team do so well!).
- Working through the 'Elements' that make up our team culture.
- Playing 'speed frisbee' in the pool (that's not the name we all call it....but I don't think we call it by any name).
- A massive bowl of delicious guacamole.
- Getting to know our newest team members a little bit better.
- Beating Matt Hall at golf (a rare occurrence).
- Riding the elevator with Hulk Hogan's wife and daughter.
- Waiting 2.5 hours for food at Red Robin (really more like a low light).
- Lots laughs, lots of great conversation and lots of relaxation.

Weekend Wrap Up

Attendance: Below Average
Lesson Topic: Week 1 of our summer series: Road Trip Summer
'Fun Factor': Above Average
Volunteer Involvement: Above Average
Music: Above Average
Lesson Quality: Below Average
Length of Lesson: 12 minutes
Student Response: Above Average

An incredibly busy, but fun weekend. It was the first weekend of our new service schedule plus promotion weekend. Our schedule was:

Saturday:
3:00 7th grade parent meeting
4:30 Service
I ran up to the baptismal to baptize a family in between services...
6:30 Service
8:00 7th grade game night

Sunday:
9:00 Service
11:00 head out to our paid staff and spouse retreat in Palm Springs!

We'll be together in Palm Springs until Wednesday afternoon.

A New Day!

When I was in College, one of my professors would start our 'Missions in a cross-cultural context' class by making us sing a song together. He didn't just do this at the start of the semester, but at the beginning of EVERY class! To make things worse, it was the same, cheesy song every time. I had never heard the song before, and I don't think I've heard it since.

Yesterday was a tough ministry day. One of the worst in a really long time. This morning when I woke up, that cheesy old song was running through my mind.

"The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning, new every morning. Great is thy faithfulness, oh Lord. Great is thy faithfulness."
(sung to the tune of a really old, dorky christian song!)

That's it...that's the whole song. A song that, this morning, doesn't seem so cheesy.

Got Culture?

On Sunday afternoon, our entire student ministries team, along with spouses, is heading out to Palm Springs for our annual Staff Retreat. Amazingly, the church picks up the entire tab for this 3 night retreat because they recognize that each year just as we come out of a crazy school year, we head into what feels like an even crazier Summer! They support our need to get away to relax and re-charge.

Heading into our retreat, I've spent some time trying to identify and quantify our day-to-day culture. Who are we as a team? What are we marked by? What do we value? How do you know if you 'fit? etc. Without question, we have a culture that is unique, but trying to create a tangible representation of that culture (both the 'real' and the 'ideal') proved to be quite a challenge. I think I landed on something I'm ready to share at the retreat and I'll post about it when we return.

In the meantime, I'm going to toss this out to you: Can you define the culture of your student ministry or church team? Anybody want to share?

Shuffle It Up

A while back I was tagged to list the first 5 songs on my iPod when I hit shuffle. Today, I was tagged by Stacy to list the first 15. No cheating allowed! However, I do need to make this disclaimer: I get a good portion of my music from my daughter so that may explain some of what you see!

1. Eaten By The Monster of Love: Sparks
2. Surrender: Cheap Trick
3. Enough: Chris Tomlin
4. U Got The Look: Prince
5. Hear Me: Kelly Clarkson
6. Behind These Hazel Eyes: Kelly Clarkson
7. Pour Out My Heart: Everybody Duck
8. Photograph: Nickleback
9. Girlfriend: Avril Lavigne
10. 100 Years: Five for Fighting
11. Ring of Fire: Johny Cash
12. I Could Be Happy: Altered Images
13. Don't Stand So Close to Me: The Police
14. Something Beautiful: Natalie Grant

Let's see....I'll tag Kayla (we'll see how many of our songs are the same....), Brent, and John.

Weekend Wrap Up

Attendance: Below Average
Lesson Topic: Week 2 of "When I Was Your Age"
'Fun Factor': Above Average
Volunteer Involvement: Average
Music: Above Average
Lesson Quality: Above Average
Length of Lesson: 21 minutes
Student Response: Above Average

We had a really fun weekend! Shaun Blakeney, our high school Pastor, taught the lesson so that our 8th graders could have a chance to meet him before they move into high school. Our music was strong, games were great and the overall energy of the weekend felt really high. Because it was Father's Day, our attendance was so low on Sunday night that we decided to combine our junior high and high school programs which is something we rarely do.

13 Candles

Tomorrow, I will become the parent of a teenager. Kayla will officially enter her teen years and, even though I know nothing significant will change instantly, Rachel and I will enter a new stage of life to some degree.

Perhaps the biggest part about tomorrow is that just thinking about it has made me realize how quickly time passes. It seems like I've only blinked once since Kayla was born. I'm afraid to blink again because if I do, she'll be headed off to college. Two more blinks and I'll giving her hand to some punk (actually, I'm sure he'll be a fantastic young man, but right now he's probably a 13-14 year old punk....)!

Random Randomness

The ladies in my family are at the mall, the boy in my family is at a buddies house and I'm relaxing in front of the t.v. watching the golf channel. Life is pretty good for the Johnston's! Lots of stuff running through my mind today:

- Had a dream last night that I was eating dinner with the entire Hilton family...Paris, Nicky, mom and dad. Mrs. Hilton was asking me how much money I give to missions projects each year and was fascinated by the whole idea of tithing and giving. I wonder if dreams actually mean anything or if they are completely random.

- Today I saw a fantastic example of conflict resolution between co-workers. Somebody recognized they had been hurtful and was quick to make it right and ask for forgiveness. It's refreshing to see Christians act like Christ!

- I attended both Kayla and Cole's classroom award ceremonies today. Man, I love my kids!

- We are about a week away from our annual student ministries staff retreat in Palm Springs. 4 days of relaxing with the team and their spouses. Good times.

- Beginning the last weekend of June, we are switching our weekend service times for junior high and high school. We'll be adding an additional Saturday night service and only having one on Sunday morning. It's going to be a HUGE adjustment for church families but should set us up to reach more students in our community.

- On the table under my television sits the entire set of DVDs for the British version of The Office. My brother-in-law loaned them to me several months ago and now that there is absolutely nothing worth watching on T.V. it may be a good time to check 'em out.

Speaking to Students

I was asked to read the manuscript of a new book by Doug Fields and Duffy Robbins called Speaking to Teenagers: How to Think About, Create, and Deliver Effective Messages.

I'm only about 1/3 of the way through it, but I think it may turn out to be one of my favorite youth ministry books in a long, long time! It is so practical and full of incredible insights into preparing to speak to students. If you regularly teach a group of kids, you need to get this book when it is released!

For those of you who don't want to read an entire book, and believe that I'm probably smarter than Fields and Robbins combined, I offer my super short 'TEACHING 101' seminar below:

- The first minute is the most important minute.
- It doesn't need to be long to be good.
- If it's going to be long, it needs to be good.
- Students like to laugh.
- Students like stories (especially real life ones...not from an illustration book).
- Be real.
- Be relevant.
- When possible, include active learning ingredients. Students learn more when they experience it.
- Offer specific application steps.
- The last minute is also the most important minute.

Wow, that's the worst seminar you've ever attended! Good thing it was free.

I have no idea when their book is set for release, but I urge you to buy it when it's available. I really do think that by implementing some of Doug and Duffy's insight, you will be doing yourself and your students a favor.

Almost Home

As I post this I'm sitting in the drive thru of In 'N Out Burger in Riverside. We had a great trip...the best part really just being the road trip with the dudes.

My golf game was average, my wound is oozing. It will be good to be home in an hour or so.

Weekend Wrap Up

This is a tale of two days happening simultaneously. The usual weekend junior high festivities mingle with a comedy of Kurt Johnston errors.

Junior high festivities went great: A solid weekend (low attendance), followed by a fun family picnic.

The personal saga that was running parallel was a different story told in three chapters:

Chapter 1: OUCH!
In between our two Sunday morning services, I was climbing high about the ground in our JH storage area (a gated, fenced, enclosed area) and as I was climbing down, I decided to push off and jump backward the rest of the way like you down when climbing down a fence. All was fine until my butt landed on the corner of a piece of plywood sticking out from where it was being stored. I completely ripped the entire left side of my pants and my butt was totally exposed and there was a foot long gash running all the way up! To say it hurt would be an understatement. When my buddy, Matt Hall, looked at to "ASSes" the damage, he broke down laughing like a little baby. Today, my butt is swollen and sore.

Chapter 2: LOST!
After church, I was shopping for the picnic and put my Cell phone in a nifty little tray in the shopping cart created just for such items. Of course I left it there and didn't realize it till several hours later. I called the store and they hadn't seen it.

Chapter 3: DANG!
I got to the park with a truckload of supplies only to find the parking lot completely packed due to a soccer tourney. I decided to back into a handicapped spot just long enough to unload the gear so I could avoid lugging it too far. As I was unloading, a policeman came up and starting writing a ticket! I tried to explain that I wasn't 'Parked' in a handicap spot but was just 'unloading' he told me there is zero tolerance and proceeded to write me a $275.00 ticket!

But now I'm in Phoenix for two days of golf with friends so all is well. As long as my butt lets me swing a golf club.

The Annual WOW Awards

Tonight is our 3rd annual WOW Awards Ceremony. The WOW Awards is a night put on by our church to honor our volunteers. We run it sorta like an Academy Awards night with hosts, presenters from each department etc. I never seem to look forward to it, and really don't think our junior high volunteers need the night because we do a pretty good job of honoring them all year round, but I always end enjoying the night and our volunteers do, too.

After the WOW Awards, we are having an after party at Fudruckers which will be a fun way to cap off the event. WOW..it's going to be a long night!

Junior High Ministry 101: The Importance Of 'The Feel'

A couple of years ago Chap Clark made the following comment at a gathering of middle school youth workers:

"In ministry to young teens, the feel of the ministry is more important than the content."

That comment launched us into a discussion around the idea that creating a ministry that feels safe, accepting, comforting, etc. is actually more important than the content you teach because of the crazy place young teens are at developmentally.

I think I agree with Chap. That isn't to say biblical instruction, learning doctrine etc. don't play a part in junior high ministry; they do. It is to say, however, that how a ministry feels to a young teen is equally important (so maybe I don't agree that it's 'more important', but that it is equally important). Creating positive memories, building relationships, creating a safe place to ask questions and share doubts, providing lots of experiential learning, surrounding students with caring adults etc. are crucial pieces of an effective junior high ministry.

If we can create an atmosphere in our ministry that is comfortable to junior highers during the 2-3 toughest years of their lives, we'll probably keep them around for years to come which will provide plenty of time for deeper content.

Worship Conference

Each year, at the end of June, our church hosts a fantastic worship conference. I know nothing about music, I have no idea what a good worship conference looks like, but people who do know that kind of stuff have told me that this conference is a great one. If you happen to be a local youth worker and are interested in taking some of your students, track me down. I can get you a special student rate that is not advertised on the website.

Weekend Wrap Up

I wasn't at church this weekend due to our anniversary escape and haven't heard the details.

- It was the last weekend for Stephen Perry, an intern who is on his way to a full time middle school position in West Palm Beach. He spoke, and I'm sure he did a great job.

- We opened up registration for all of our Summer events, camps as well as small groups for next year.

That's about all I know. Rachel and I borrowed a convertible bug (thanks, Karen) for the weekend and spent two super lazy days driving around the beach, visiting open houses, eating good food and enjoying each other's company. church really was the farthest thing from my mind!

Random Ramblings

- Sixteen years ago today, I married the beautiful Rachel Salzman. Today Rachel Johnston is more beautiful than ever.

- I took the weekend off for our anniversary, but we can't figure out what to do.

- We're beginnng to look for ways to make our student ministries team feel a little more like one team instead of two competely seperate silos. It feels challenging and I'd love to hear from anybody who has made progress in this area.

- Changing our youth service times in a couple of weeks to try to make room on campus on Sunday mornings: Our Current Youth Times are Saturday @ 6:30, Sunday @ 9:00, 11:15, 4:30
Our New Times: Saturday @ 4:30 & 6:30, Sunday @ 9:00.

- 'Pirates': I hate the ride at Disney Land, didn't really like the first movie, haven't seen the second, therefore have no desire to see the third.

- I knew this day would come: I'm getting burned out on Chic-Fil-A (the food, NOT the sweet tea).

- My son has really been struggling at school this year. At the same time, he has developed a love for guitar and seems to be excelling at it. Several months ago we agreed that if things turned around at school we would purchase an electric guitar. I'm thrilled that with only 2 weeks left in school, it looks like I need to find some guitar money.

- We've been wrestling with the fact that we charge over $350.00 for a week of Summer camp. It just feels like too much. I just received a brochure for a weeklong Christian surf camp. The cost: $1,200.00.

Thumbing Through

This book is a big, thick, bundle of information! It's not the kind of book that I'll read cover to cover, but I'm really enjoying thumbing through it. Lot's of great stuff.

The One Thing

Yesterday, in an impromptu meeting with a few key leaders of the church, Pastor Rick mentioned the importance of 'The One Thing'. The one thing is the ONE single most important thing that you are responsible for in your role. It's the ONE thing that matters more than anything else and it's the ONE thing that nobody else can do for your ministry...the one thing that you and you alone must do.

I'm really wrestling with that. what is the ONE thing a youth pastor must do? And is it the same ONE thing for every youth pastor?

- Is it teaching/preaching at the youth group meeting?
- Is it equipping adult leaders?
- Is it casting the vision?
- Is it ministering to parents?
- Is it different in different seasons of life and ministry?

What is the ONE thing?

Weekend Wrap Up

Attendance: Way Below Average
Lesson Topic: Week 3 of "Exposed....the naked truth about sex"
'Fun Factor': Below Average
Volunteer Involvement: Way Below Average
Music: Average
Lesson Quality: Average
Length of Lesson: 34 minutes
Student Response: Below Average

A tought weekend for us. We had a whole bunch of our students and leaders in Mexico on a missions trip. Two of us stayed back to run the weekend. The trip combined with Holiday weekend set us up for super low attendance and hardly any volunteers at our programs. My lesson ran long (41 minutes of Saturday night!....I managed to trip 7 minutes for Sunday), our program was sub-par and students didn't really seem too into it all. But, the subject matter kept them interested for the most part.

Six Strange Things About Me

I was tagged by Ryan. Haven't been tagged in a while, and I'm feeling rather bored because my entire family is away on a JH missions trip that I have to miss so I can wrap up our Sex and Dating series. So, here is my list of 6 weird/strange/odd things about me.

- I wear a size 6.5 shoe. My 10 year old son has bigger feet than I do.
- I have been shaving my head for almost 10 years and have no idea how much hair I actually have. I've been tempted to grow it out, but afraid of learning the truth.
- I still get really, really, really nervous EVERY time I am about to speak in public.
- I once fell backwards off a high dive and landed on the pool deck. Somehow I didn't get hurt.
- In the first seven years of our marriage, my wife and I moved seven times!
- Extremely popular T.V. shows that I've rarely or never seen: Friends, Seinfeld, Simpsons, Grey's Anatomy, House, The Bachelor, CSI, Law and Order, Will and Grace, The O.C., Beverly Hills 90210.

Middle School Youthworker Gathering

I'm super excited about this opportunity to gather with 70 or so other middle school youth pastors in September. Marko shared the details of this event here, but I haven't mentioned it until now because registration wasn't ready to go.

If you're interested, you need to hurry.

Junior High Ministry 101: PARENTS

The longer I'm involved in junior high ministry, and now that I'm a parent of a junior higher myself, the more I'm convinced of the importance of parents in my ministry. Here are a few bullet point thoughts about parents:

- Parents are your ally not your enemy.
- The key to getting parents on board: Earn their trust!
- If parents are for you, who can be against you?
- Parents have stuff you need!
- Two things you can give to parents that most of them desperately need: Hope and Help.
- You don't have to be a parent to lead parents.
- You probably haven't raised a young teen yourself, and you don't have all the answers.

Random Randomness

- Heading up to Forest Home on Sunday for the annual get-together of JH/Middle School workers. Our little crew has been together for 6 years now so the time is becoming more valuable each year. The word on the street is that there is no internet or cell service, so probably no blogging 'till Thursday.

- When I was in junior high, my favorite candy was Chick-O-Stick. I don't think I've seen one in about 5 years....somebody just walked in and handed me one! That almost makes up for the Jamocha Almond Fudge fiasco.

- The jury is still out, there's a LOT I don't know, the election is a long way away, and this observation surprises me: I really like Mitt Romney.

- We have a young man from Willow Creek visiting this weekend and interviewing for a position on our High School team. He's a really good guy and seems like he could adjust to life on the West coast quite well.

- Speaking of Willow, if you've never been to their student ministry conference, you really should go.

- The finale of The Office was fantastic. The deleted scenes may be even better!

A Heavy Heart. A Shockingly Heavy Heart

Last night on the way home from my daughter's open house, I suddenly had a wanting for ice cream; not just any ice cream but Jamocha Almond Fudge from Baskin Robbins. I don't have much of a sweet tooth and usually pass on desserts, but Jamocha Almond Fudge is my Achilles tendon, my kryptonite in an attempt at healthier living.

Sadly, last night I experienced the devastation of Baskin Robbins only having 30 of their 31 flavors. I asked for a double scoop of Jamocha Almond Fudge in a cup only to have the young lady behind the counter share with me that they were out of it. As if that wasn't bad enough, they had left the empty tub in plain sight and as I made eye contact with it, I felt like it was taunting me.

Words that would not accurately describe the feeling in my gut:
- disappointed
- surprised
- sad
- disheartened

Words that would accurately describe the feeling in my gut:
- horrified
- shocked
- sucker punched
- hopelessness

I'm not posting about this because it's a slow day. I'm posting this because my wife and I spent about 5 minutes trying to figure out why I was so distraught (another word that would describe how I felt) over something as simple as an ice cream flavor. She was totally cracking up! It was the weirdest thing. I wasn't angry, I was genuinely hurt (another good word). I'm telling you it was bizarre!

Here's what I came up with this morning:
My life is way too comfy and I am spending way too much time in the shallow end if the most pain I've felt in months is brought on by an empty tub of ice cream.

Using Caution When Blogging

Blogs seem to suddenly be a big trend in our youth ministry. Most of the paid staff have one, many of our volunteers have their own and read those of the staff. And more and more of our students have their own blogs and read the blogs of our volunteers and paid staff. The sudden realization that so many of our volunteers and students are visiting the blogs of my team awakened me to the fact that I've never really talked to them about being wise in what they post, what they choose to talk about, who they link to etc. We have talked about healthy MySpace habits, but blogs seem to be taking over our ministry so I shot out a quick reminder email to my team last week...maybe you'll find it useful.


Hey team,
Since almost all of us have blogs, I thought I'd send this friendly reminder. In this case, 'friendly reminder' is actually more like "blog policy".
Remember that students and even some parents are reading your blog....so:
- Use wisdom in what you post. Don't post subject matter, Youtube videos etc. that you wouldn't be comfortable letting a student or parent see. What may be innocent humor to you and your friends may not be as appropriate for the students reading your blog.
- Use wisdom when linking to other people's blogs. Don't list blogs of people who you don't trust 100%. The students and parents who read your blog will likely click to read the blogs of your friends.
- What you post is permanent. In a real sense, your blog is the same as writing a book, writing a column in a magazine etc. Once you post something, it is 'on the record'. So be smart and safe.
- Remember, you are a minister at Saddleback Church and a representative of Christ. Your blog is a reflection of your character, our church and our Lord.

Thanks!
kj

Hole In One!

Yesterday I played in a fundraiser golf tournament for my kid's school. A buddy of mine is an executive at the insurance company that covers the school and he sponsored a foursome ($1,500 per group!).

At three of the four par 3 holes, a great prize was being offered for a hole in one. There was a trip to Maui, a trip to Cancun and a brand new Mercedes SUV! I didn't come close at any of 'em...but I did take this picture as a statement of faith BEFORE I hit my shot for the Mercedes. I have a ton of faith, but a crappy golf swing.

However, one gentleman yesterday actually DID get a hole in one....unfortunately it was on the one hole that didn't offer a prize!

Weekend Wrap Up

Attendance: Above Average
Lesson Topic: Week 1 of "Exposed....the naked truth about sex"
'Fun Factor': Average
Volunteer Involvement: Average
Music: Average
Lesson Quality: Above average
Length of Lesson: 24 minutes
Student Response: Way Above Average

Quite a weekend! We kicked off our three week sex series. We sent letters home to parents so they would have a heads up, and were shocked that even though church-wide attendance was down due to Mother's Day, our attendance was quite a bit larger than normal. I think that's a good reminder of two things: Students want to hear about sex, and parents want us to talk about it! We had quite a few parents sitting in on the program in the back of the room because they said they wanted to hear the lesson so they could have good follow up discussions with their kids. Our program was a little bit weaker than normal, and we ran short on time because the adult service went about 20 minutes short, but it was still a fantastic weekend.

Junior High Worship

My brother in law, James, and a friend of his host a monthly podcast dedicated to the subject of leading worship within the local church. On Monday,they invited Taffy, our student ministry worship leader, and myself to join the podcast to talk about junior high worship. As you will hear, James, Christian and Taffy are the experts. I was just there for filler.

Ours is episode #9: One For The Young'ns.

Help Wanted

I'm sitting on a panel this Saturday hoping to help a room full of moms of teenage girls get a better understanding of youth culture. One thing I would like to do is provide a list of "Things Every Mom Should Know About Technology" or something of the sort. I don't want it to be a listof scary stuff or a list of the evils of the internet (although I'm sure some warnings are needed), but rather just some stuff they need to know.

I'd love to get input into this, so here's my question:

What are one or two things every mom of teenage girls needs to know about technology?

Junior High Ministry 101: SHOWING UP

I'm typing this from the backseat as we head to Mexico...the wording of this post may be as bumpy as my ride!

Beginning today, I'm starting a feature I'll call 'Junior High Ministry 101'. Once a week or so, Junior High Ministry 101 will feature a short, simple junior high ministry tip, trick, training or tid-bit. If you're a seasoned vet, you probably won't learn anything new, but you may glean something now and then that you can pass on to others.

SHOWING UP:

This usually surprises people when they hear it, but I really like officiating memorials and funerals. It's not because I like crisis, it's not because I feel gifted in grief counseling and it's not because I like wearing dark suits. The reason I like officiating funerals is because it is a reminder to me that a key to ministry is simply being willing to show up in people's lives. The truth of the matter is that I don't like crisis at all, I don't enjoy grief counseling and I hate suits. BUT, I do like showing up, and I've discovered that the best ministry happens when your willing to simply show up.

I don't know how well equipped you feel for your role as a junior high youth woker. I don't know how much training you get from your church or how many Y.S. conventions you've attended. I do know, however, that none of that stuff makes as big a difference in the life of a junior higher as simply showing up!

Show Up at a baseball game
Show Up at a school play
Show Up when they get their tonsils removed
Show Up when they need a little extra attention

There's nothing easy about junior high ministry...there's lots to it. But it is pretty simple to make a big impact in your students lives just by showing up.

Randomness

- I'm re-reading The Primal Teen by Barbara Strauch. If you work with teenagers you really do need to read this book that takes a look at new discoveries about the teenage brain.

- Heading down to Mexico for the day tomorrow to meet with the Pastor of the church we are partnering with. Hopefully we'll be back before dinner.

- This weekend we are co-hosting The Promise with our women's ministry team. The Promise is a two day event for moms and their teenage daughters. I'm sitting on a panel to help mom's learn more about young teen culture.

- We are kicking off our sex and dating series this weekend (Exposed...the naked truth about sex and dating). It's going to be interesting because my daughter will be in the crowd. We've had all sorts of talks about the subject, but I do think it will be a bit awkward for her to here her dad talking about sex to all of her friends.

Weekend Wrap Up

Attendance: Below Average
Lesson Topic: Week 3 of 'ONE...because change begins somewhere' (focused on global missions)
'Fun Factor': Above Average
Volunteer Involvement: Below Average
Music: Above Average
Lesson Quality: Above average
Length of Lesson: 28 minutes
Student Response: Above Average

We wrapped up our missions series by focusing on global opportunities. We shared stories, showed visitors, had a guest from Kenya and led students through 5 stations that exposed them to the issues facing people around the world. This series has been one of, if not the best, series we've done in a long time. I really think it's going to serve as a launching pad for how our ministry continues to approach missions and serving.

What A Difference A Buck Makes

I don't usually post on the weekends, but several people have asked me to post the 25 ideas we gave students along with their dollar bill a couple weeks ago. This list was stapled to the dollar that we handed each student as they left church.


1. Buy a can (or two) of soup for a hungry person in Orange County.
2. Buy a cake mix and bake a cake for your bus driver or teacher.
3. Get your neighbor an air freshener for his car.
4. Buy a bottle of water (or two) for the local gardeners.
5. Buy a double-cheeseburger and give it to a homeless person.
6. Give it to someone who doesn’t usually receive tips (mailman, substitute teacher).
7. Drop it in the tip jar at your favorite coffee place.
8. Buy cookies for the stranger behind you in the school lunch line.
9. Exchange it for quarters and pay for loads of laundry at the local laundromat.
10. Buy a donut for a Wildside volunteer.
11. Buy a bottle of all-purpose cleaner and clean your kitchen.
12. Buy your mom her favorite candy bar.
13. Combine it with $3 in your wallet and pay for a movie rental for your neighbor.
14. Pay the toll for the car behind you on the toll road.
15. Offer to pay the postage for someone mailing a letter.
16. Add it to the tip the next time you eat at a restaurant.
17. Buy a bagel for your little brother or sister.
18. Buy a package of pens or pencils and donate to a school in Africa.
19. “Gift a song” on i-Tunes to a friend.
20. Give your teammate a pack of gum, for no reason.
21. Buy $1 worth of Top Ramen (about 20 packages) and donate them to a food bank.
22. Drop it in the offering at Wildside.
23. Buy your dad his favorite soda.
24. Buy a bottle of window cleaner and wash your carpool’s car windows.
25. Pay for someone’s topping at Golden Spoon.

The Power Of Junior High Friends

Last night I was at the rehearsal dinner for the wedding I'm officiating tonight. Believe it or not, there are a total of 24 people in the wedding party! The bride and groom each have 12 friends that they have asked to share in their day.

As we hung out last night, and as story after story was shared, an interesting theme began to develop. The vast majority of these friendships could be traced back to their junior high years. I was reminded of the fact that friendships made in junior high almost always shape the future character of our students and many of these friendships last into the adult years. I found myself asking these questions:

- Is our ministry doing enough to acknowledge the power of friendships?

- Are we really helping students navigate the 'friendship waters' safely?

- Have we helped them develop the skills of choosing good friends, being a good friend and getting out of unhealthy friendships?

- Are we helping our students recognize that who they become will, in large part, be determined by who the choose as friends?

National Day of Prayer

A few thougths about today:

- I hung out at my house this morning watching various morning news shows and didn't see any mention that today was national day of prayer. You don't have to be a far-right fundie to wonder a little about that one.

- I love America, but God isn't American.

- I love America, but found myself praying for God's will to be done, his kingdom to come and his power to reign on earth not only on my home turf.

- I believe that for all our flaws, America is still the greatest country in the world. Our belief in freedom, our efforts to treat each other as equals and our attempts to protect and expand those values to other parts of the globe (even though we don't get it right much of the time...) sets us apart from much of the world, and for that I'm thankful and proud.

- I live for Christ and I hope I'd be willing to die for his cause. I live in America and hope I'd be willing to die for its cause as well.

Full of It!

Forgive me for crossing a line, but there really is good reason. I'm going to recommend a book I wrote. Trust me, my motives are pure. Even if everybody who reads this blog bought a copy, It would only net me about a hundred bucks in royalties!

I was in a conversation yesterday with some of the Pastors on staff and we were talking about the never ending tendency we have to burn out our volunteers. To over-use them, to re-use the willing and able ones again and again, etc.

I'm not sure if youth ministries are more guilty of it than other ministries in the church, but few could argue that youth ministry has a history of burning out volunteers. We don't do this on purpose, of course, but the nature of youth ministry combined with our need for help combined with the nature of youth ministry combined with our need for helped combined with the nature of youth ministry combined with our need for help has created a cycle that most youth groups are stuck in.

That's one of the reasons I wrote 'Full of It' with my friend Katie. Full of It is one attempt to help youth workers keep their volunteers motivated, encouraged and feeling appreciated. This book is full of 101 super easy ideas to say thanks to your leaders for all the work they put into your ministry.

I've learned over the years that even though leaders are over extended, they usually don't quit because of burnout. The biggest reason volunteers leave youth ministry teams is because they don't feel appreciated. This cheap, little book won't solve all your youth ministry volunteer issues, but I do believe that it will help you do what's most important: Encourage them.

Goose Bumps

In yesterday's post I mentioned that we gave each student $1.00 and challenged them to do something creative with it and to let us know what they did. This morning I had this email waiting for me. It's from an 8th grade girl:

This is how I spent my one dollar.

At my school the P.E. teachers often go unappreciated; mainly because they are the only teachers that require endless running and push-ups for a grade.
I have even been asked to come egg one of the P.E. teacher's houses because the students were so fed up with running. The teachers are hugely disliked throughout the entire school and even some of the other teachers have begun to be prejudiced against the P.E. teachers.
I used my one dollar to buy a cake mix and brought cupcakes to school for the P.E. teachers Monday morning. They were very appreciative and surprised to have someone remember them. I got a hug from each teacher and a big thank you. None of them mentioned the cupcakes during the period to my relief, but as I was dressing out to go to my next period I saw my seventh grade P.E. teacher ,whose husband had just died, biting halfway through a cupcake with a grin on her face. Did I mention it was 9:30 in the morning?
Thank you for coming up with the one dollar idea. I hope that there are more awesome stories about how the dollar has influenced this community and made a difference. Thanks again!

Man, just reading that gives me goose bumps!

Groundhog Day

Saturday:
- Woke up at 5:30 a.m.
- Drove to Airport to catch flight (to las vegas)
- Put my suit on upon arrival
- Hung out for a few hours
- Performed wedding for close friends
- Attended a long, but wonderful reception


Sunday:
- Woke up at 5:30 a.m.
- Drove to Airport to catch flight (back home)
- Put my suit on upon arrival
- Drove to San Diego
- Hung out for a few hours
- Performed wedding for close friends
- Attended a long, but wonderful reception


Oh, and took great picture with Kayla (world's cutest 7th grader)!

Weekend Wrap Up

I wasn't there this weekend, and only have partial information:

Attendance: Average
Lesson Topic: Week 2 of 'ONE...because change begins somewhere' (focused on local missions)
'Fun Factor': Above Average
Volunteer Involvement: Above Average
Music: Forgot to ask!
Lesson Quality: Above average
Length of Lesson: Forgot to Ask!
Student Response: Above Average

Apparently, I missed one of the best weekends in a long, long time. I received two separate phone calls telling me how fantastic it was. A few of highlights:

- Austin Gutwein, The 7th grade founder of Hoops of Hope (he founded it as a 5th grader!), flew in from Phoenix to share his story and challenge our students to do something...anything...to make a difference.

- For our 'Impossible Shot' we brought in a basket ball hoop (it's usually a big hole in the backdrop of our stage) and let four students from each service take a shot from 3-point distance. If they made it, our ministry would donate $200 to Hoops of Hope. 2 students made the shot which was awesome. In addition, at one of our services, an adult volunteer said he'd give $200 if Austin Gutwein could make it...which he did. All in all, we were able to give Austin's ministry a gift of $600!

- As a takeaway, we gave each student a one-dollar bill with a list of 25 possible things they could do with that dollar. We've asked them to write down what they did and share it with us. I'm excited to see how creative students got with a buck.

Three Weddings In Seven Days

It's going to be an interesting stretch. I'm performing three weddings between today and next Friday night. Here's what this weekend looks like:

This afternoon: Drive to San Diego with my family for wedding rehearsal for wedding #2.
Tomorrow morning: Fly to Las Vegas for wedding #1 which takes place tomorrow night.
Sunday morning: Fly home from Vegas, pick up kids and drive to San Diego for wedding #2 which takes place at 3:00 p.m. on Sunday.

Next Thursday is the rehearsal for wedding #3 followed by the ceremony on Friday night.

I really don't like performing weddings (way too much pressure), but all three of these couples are super special to me and I'm thrilled to be part of their big day.

What A Character!

Our kids' school has a neat tradition. At some point during the year, each student receives a character trait award from their teacher. We've noticed that the teachers really seem to take this seriously and put quite a bit of thought into what character trait they acknowledge. Today in his fourth grade class, Cole received the character trait award of 'flexibility'. She listed a dozen ways he has shown flexibility this year at school, which was fun to hear.

I love that his teacher gave him this award. Cole is super strong-willed and stubborn which would seem to go against the trait of flexibility. However, Cole has been working hard to go with the flow and be more flexible. I'm proud of my boy for beginning to develop a character trait that doesn't come naturally for him.

Valuing Volunteers

Once a quarter, our church staff attends a half day training day in which we can pick two workshops that are taught by fellow staff members in their area of expertise.

Today I went to a workshop on volunteers lead by Erik Rees and got some pretty good stuff. One thing that stuck out was his training on how to Value volunteers. His acrostic:

Visit (one on one coffee, lunch etc.)
Affirm (cheer them on, lend them support and encouragement)
Listen (be available, be open to input and suggestions)
Update (keep them informed and in the loop)
Educate (train them)
Shepherd (care for them)

I think our team does a pretty good job in most of these areas, but we aren't doing so strategically. Today was a good reminder that being intentional in these areas will help ensure all the bases are coverd.
Bottom line: If a volunteer feels valued, he or she is more likely to stick around for a while.

As I was finishing up this post, Josh Griffin informed me that he posted on the very same thing!
a) I'm too lazy to change my post
b) Maybe it's an important concept....at least two of us think so!

Simple Thoughts

Several very simple ministry thoughts I've grappled with lately.

- Don't bother with a website if you aren't going to update it (ours is totally outdated...)
- Cool looking promo rarely seems to get more kids to your event.
- If parents are for you, who can be against you?
- Junior high ministry is simple, but not easy.
- It's easier to say 'no' to a potential volunteer than to try to get rid of him later.
- Every lesson needs some sort of 'thought for the week', 'final thought', 'sermon in a sentence' etc. to help students hold onto it and apply it once they leave church.
- One of the best parts of junior high ministry is watching the transition from children to young adults over two short years.
-They really just want to be liked!
- Being a leader who is young, cool, athletic, and funny is way over-rated.
- Paying attention to the little things makes a huge difference.
- Don't take yourself too seriously.

Weekend Wrap Up

Attendance: Average
Lesson Topic: Week 1 of 'ONE...because change begins somewhere'
'Fun Factor': Average
Volunteer Involvement: Above Average
Music: Above Average
Lesson Quality: Above average
Length of Lesson: 31 minutes
Student Response: Above Average

A really good weekend! Katie Edwards is teaching the entire three week missions series. Instead of games, we did a little extra music and a great activity that allowed students to look at 20 different missions/ministry/service scenarious and decide which opportunities they were most drawn to. It really seemed to set the stage for the lesson and the series. Music was strong, the lesson was great and I think this series will be a highlight of our school year.

Missions Update

We start our three week missions series this weekend. The series is called "ONE...because change has to start somewhere". We're going to focus on three areas of change: Personal, Local and Global and try to begin helping our students develop the desire to be change makers as part of an ongoing world view, not just as something that happens when on a missions trip to T.J.

I have really enjoyed reading the comments on the 'new paradigm' post. Your comments have fueled my thougts. I feel like this series is a significant launching pad for an interesting journey in our ministry.

Free Gift

I received this book in the mail today, but have no idea who sent it to me. Most likely from somebody who knows I like to read leadership material and could use a few more lessons! I look forward to reading it.

My Thoughts On An Awkward Award

For the second year in a row, The Church Report has put me at the top of their list of 'Top 20 Youth Ministers'. I didn't mention it to anybody last year and wouldn't have this year if not for the fact that it is the topic of conversation on a couple of blogs. Let me give you a little history and my thoughts.

HISTORY:
Last March, my assistant received a phone from The Church Report Online asking for a bio because I was being listed as one of the top 20 youth pastors. I was surprised that I was on the list, and even more surprised and slightly concerned that such a list was even going to be published, so I asked my assistant to call them and ask how the list was compiled, what the criteria was etc. Their response was basically this: Each year they do a massive survey asking church leaders to list the most influential churches in America. They publish this list each year. From that list, they create their list of top 20 youth pastors, top 20 worship leaders, top 20 children's ministers etc.

They said that they took a quick look at the health of the youth ministries and the reputation of leadership to make their list....that the list didn't match the top 20 churches exactly, but came from the top 50 churches, and that I was being named #1. In hindsight, I wish I would have declined the award right then. But I guess my thinking was that if such a list exists, I may as well be at the top (I recognize the arrogance and insecurity in that statement)!

THIS YEAR:
I heard nothing, got no phone calls. I began receiving emails this week from people offering me genuine congratulations as well as my friends mocking me for my 'repeat', my 'dynasty in the making', my 'back to back championship' etc. I went to the current issue of TCR and compared it to last year's list. IT WAS EXACTLY THE SAME! Nobody was off the list, nobody had moved up or down a spot and there was nobody new added.

MY THOUGHTS:
I could probably right a book about my thoughts! I'll make them bullet points and try to keep them brief:

* I dislike anything in ministry that pits churches, pastors etc. against each other. Creating a 'top 20 list' seems to go against kingdom economics.

* I found last year's list and methods to be suspect at best. Just because a church as a whole won an award from a survey of peers somehow means the youth pastor at that church automatically wins the same award?

* I find this year's list to be completely invalid (again, I think the whole concept is questionable, but much more so when it has no integrity). I think that by cutting and pasting last year's list, the organization hurt it's own credibility and also hurts the credibility of youth ministry (at least it feels like it hurts our credibility....although I'm not quite sure why).

* The question has been asked: "Why Kurt and not Doug Fields?". While I would like to say that it is because I'm obviously a much more gifted and talented youth worker, I have a feeling it happened like this:

Church phone rings and is answered by receptionist who happens to know me better than Fields...
TCR: "Hello, can you please give us the name of your youth pastor?"
Church receptionist who happens to know me better than Fields: "Uh, Kurt Johnston?"
TCR: "Thank you."

And that, Ladies and Gentlemen, is how I have become America's Top Youth Pastor two years in a row.

Random Randomness

A few thoughts and happenings from my Thursday:

- Played an early round of golf this morning. Had a decent round, but stuck my hand in some kind of wild shrubbery looking for a ball and my arm from elbow to wrist began burning and stinging instantly. Three hours later, it still hurts.

- We're kicking off a three week missions series this weekend (which is what got my mind going yesterday...). I'm not teaching at all for three weeks, which feels really weird, but kinda nice.

-I drink lots and lots of sweet tea from Chic-Fil-A (I have one on my desk right now). It's interesting to me that no two batches taste exactly the same. Fries always taste the same, chicken sandwiches always taste the same, but something as basic as sweet tea seems to vary quite a bit.

- Not sure how, or if, to address the Virginia Tech incident this weekend. On one hand, it feels like it will be old news by Saturday, but on the other hand I'm sure some kids haven't talked about it with anybody and would welcome the opportunity.

Time For A New Paradigm?

I'm going to acknowledge from the get-go that this post is simply a reflection of some of my current thinking. I've got tons of questions and very few conclusions. My question is this: Is it time for a new paradigm for youth group missions projects?

Others have raised this question and it has been addressed in numerous articles, forums and youth ministry circles, and my response has been what it typically is when people begin to question long standing institutions: 'Show me something more effective, and I'll consider changing'.

But for some reason, I am beginning to feel a strong desire to change how we do missions sooner rather than later, to begin to move toward change even though I'm not sure what the 'something more effective' is.

I believe in short-term missions. I know first-hand the impact they have on the lives of our students (I felt called to youth ministry while on a short-term missions trip). I recognize that the efforts of students on these trips does impact those we serve. But is there more to it than that? Could there be more to it than that? SHOULD there be more to it than that? Certainly Rick Warren's PEACE plan is one effort at a new paradigm, but I'm struggling with how to flesh it out in a youth ministry setting.

Like I said, I haven't reached any conclusions. My only conclusion is that there must be a more effective strategy than a youth group showing up in a bunch of rental vans once a year to run VBS and paint houses. I know this isn't the only paradigm, but it seems like it's the prominent youth ministry strategy. In fact, I'm not sure if 'strategy' is even the right word. 'Tradition' is probably a more correct word. I think it's time to question the traditional approach and come up with a new, more effective, strategy.

Cute Little Cusser

Cussing made cute.

Weekend Wrap Up

Attendance: Average
Lesson Topic: One Hit Wonder: WORSHIP
'Fun Factor': Average
Volunteer Involvement: Average
Music: Average
Lesson Quality: Above average
Length of Lesson: Shorter than usual
Student Response: Above Average

Lots of things made this past weekend a little bit unique.
- The week after Easter is always tough because we cancel for Easter and for some reason it takes a couple of weeks to re-gain momentum.
- We are in between series so we did a 'one hit wonder'. Each year, we try to teach through our purposes a couple of times. This week we taught on the purpose of Worship.
- It was Mariah Miles' last weekend with us. Mariah heads up our small group ministry and is getting married in a couple of weeks and moving to Oklahoma. She taught the lesson and we built much of the weekend around her.

Flat Thursday

I'll post more thoughts about my Mexico Scouting trip yesterday later on, but this post is in honor of several girls in my youth group who declared yesterday as 'Flat Thursday'. I've posted the pictures of Flat Kurt's day in Mexico that included arriving early to drive, purchasing Mexican insurance, a delicious lunch in Ensenada, a visit to the High School tent city and a thrilling wait to cross back into the U.S.

By the way, I uploaded these pictures in reverse order....sorry about that!

All in all, Flat Kurt had a fantastic day!

Funny, But Sad, But Funny

After reading this news story I can imagine some of the water-cooler talk:

"When this trial goes to court, the judge is going to tell the guy he doesn't have a leg to stand on."

"His partner in crime might get off though because he seems to have a leg up on him."

"The whole story is strange. To be honest I'm totally stumped by it."

"Flat You" Day This Thursday

On Easter Sunday, my daughter Kayla thought it would be fun to make a 'Flat Stanley' and take him with us on our various festivities. A friend of hers read her blog post about it and, together, they decided to make Thursday 'Flat You' day.

Here's how it works: just draw and color a little, flat 'you' and take him with you Thursday taking pictures at your various locales. Then post them on your blog Thursday night.

I'm going to Mexico Thursday, and I'm taking my 'Flat Me' along! I won't be able to post my adventures until Friday afternoon. If you or somebody you know wants to participate just reply in a comment so we know to check your blog for pictures.

That's a picture of 'flat me' all ready for his trip to Mexico.

Why Didn't I Think Of This?!?!

I fancy myself an amateur inventor. How did I miss this one!'

(SO to Jaime)

Choose Your Own Adventure

Because we didn't have youth services this weekend, our family had all day together on Saturday with nothing planned. So we decided to have a 'choose your own adventure' day. Each member of the family got to choose something they would like to do and we'd all do it together before heading off to the next destination. Here's how we spent our day:

Brunch at The Pancake House (Kayla's Choice)
Looking at Model Homes in new development nearby (Kurt's Choice)
Walking around shopping Center and stopping for Coffee at The Coffee Bean (Rachel's Choice)
Going to the movies to see 'Meet the Robinson's' (Cole's Choice)

Very fun.

Lessons From The Office

After over a month of repeats, The Office made its return last night.
Some life lessons I learned:

- If 'the man' is keeping you down, it may be because 'the man' is actually being kept down himself.

- Somebody always has to speak first.

- If you want 12%, ask for 15%.

- Three grown men don't fit in the front of a pick up.

- I'd rather be hit with num-chucks or a karate star thingy than sprayed with pepper spray.

- Never buy a suit in a hurry.

- I'm a very gruntled employee.

The Middle School Blogosphere

A few months ago I read somewhere (how's that for credible research?) that only 2% of young teens have ventured into the world of blogging. For a while that stat felt about right, but it seems like, at least in our youth group and within a certain group of kids, the number is rising. I wouldn't call my daughter, Kayla, an early adaptor but she created a blog this week and seems to really be into it. She even has a little journal where she writes down her ideas for upcoming posts.

I'm interested to see if blogging becomes a middle school trend.

36 Hour Retreat

The core leadership of our student ministries team is away for a quick overnight retreat. Other than just a chance to hang out and have fun, our time is focusing on two questions:

1) Share a time you felt proud to be 'one of us'
2) How would you describe the past, present or current 'culture' of our student ministries team?

I'm excited to see where the conversation takes us.

Makes Me Wonder

If you haven't read the article I linked to in my last post, you really need to! If you know me at all, you know that I tend to err on the side of simplicity and pragmatism. So, even though I was fascinated by the conversation between Rick Warren and Sam Harris, I found myself frustrated at the whole thing. Here's why:

- Rick's core belief is that God created man. For him, everything flows out of that.
- Sam's core belief is that man created God. For him, everything flows out of that.

Since theism and atheism are both faith-based belief systems, how do you prove the other guy wrong in a debate?

God?

A couple weeks ago, Rick came into a staff meeting just a few minutes after he had finished his discussion/debate with leading atheist Sam Harris for this Newsweek article. He shared just a few highlights that left me starving for more details! I'm running out for a date day with Rachel, but can't wait to read this in it's entirety.

Weekend Wrap Up

Attendance: Average
Lesson Topic: Why Easter Matters
'Fun Factor': Above Average
Volunteer Involvement: Average
Music: Above Average
Lesson Quality: Above average
Length of Lesson: 24:00
Student Response: Above Average

Each year, we cancel our youth programs on Easter weekend, so we built this weekend around Easter. Our games were Easter themed, Our songs were Easter themed and the Message talked about three reasons Easter and the empty tomb matter (the empty tomb is proof, the empty tomb is powerful, the empty tomb is permanent). All in all, it was a great weekend. One of the highlights was the music. We sang several older, classic worship songs and learned a new one that students seemed to really like.

If you are looking for an Easter message for mid-week or this weekend, you can download the free outline and audio from the lesson I taught this weekend at www.simplyjuniorhigh.com. It should be up by late this afternoon or early Tuesday.

We can't! We will! We did....kinda!

Yesterday, our junior high team holed up for about 8 hours worth of long term planning. We talked about virtually every aspect of our ministry but camped out for a significant amount of time discussing and, to some degree, debating our approach to 'educating' our students. We talked educational philosophy, learning styles, content, scope and vision, large group learning, small group learning, helping kids grow on their own etc. Several times throughout our conversation, Jaime would interject something along the lines of 'There's no way we'll all agree on this....entire school systems can't agree!' or 'Jen (his girlfriend) and her teacher friends have this exact same discussion all the time and they've never figured this out...that's why we have public schools, home schools, charter schools etc.' I would reply something along the lines of 'Sure we can!' or 'We'll figure it out because we have to figure it out' or some such arrogant statement.

In the end, we figured it out....kind of. I think (because it's only kind of figured out, I'm still not exactly sure...) we decided a few things when it comes to how we'll approach Christian education in our ministry:

- The 'feel' of junior high ministry is more important than the formal teaching time and content of that time. In other words, creating a safe place for students in early adolescence may be the best lesson we could teach.

- Our ministry is always teaching. Formal or not, just about everything that happens in our ministry is teaching our students something.

- We decided to begin the process of pinpointing the 10 topics that we want every junior higher to be exposed to in their two years in junior high. These topics will each consist of a three week large group curriculum, a 1-3 week small group curriculum and materials that students can use on their own for deeper learning. The rest of the curriculum will vary from year to year as we see fit.

So, instead of totally random/felt-need stuff or a concrete 2 year comprehensive curriculum we landed on a 'both/and' that has some stuff set in stone from year to year and other stuff that is much more flexible.

Here's where I'd love to hear some input: What are your 10 non-negotiable topics that you would want every junior high student to learn about over the course of their two-three year experience in your ministry?

A Historic Day!

Today, after several years of planning, funraising, planning, fundraising, planning and fundraising, the first beams of our future Student Zone were raised into place! Seeing the building actually beginning to take shape is going to be a huge boost to our congregation. I can't wait until this weekend when carload after carload of families drive onto our property and see the progress. This afternoon, a group of us gathered together to pray for God's continued blessing on our ministry and the construction.

Energy Zappers

Shaun Blakeney, our high school Pastor, just handed me a copy of his new book Energy Zappers...Dealing With People Who Drain You Dry. I'm really intrigued by the subject matter and look forward to reading the book.

Volunteer Retreat

This past weekend we took about 55 of our junior high volunteers and spouses to our annual volunteer leader retreat in down town San Diego. We charged $25.00 per person and picked up the rest of the tab. The schedule looked like this:

SAT.
Arrive any time after noon for hanging out, shopping etc.
4:45 meet in lobby and ride trolley to dinner
8:00 'Generational Olympics' (goofy olympic competition by age brackets)
10:00 Late night movies, card games etc.

SUN.
8:30-10:00 Walk over to the French cafe for Breakfast
10:00 - 11:30 Group time with prayer stations, 10 minute challenge, communion

We didn't talk about junior high ministry or do any formal training. The retreat is our way to simply say thank you and to love on our volunteer team.

A Long Ride

I'm posting late today because I was on the road at 6:00 a.m. for a day of dirt bike riding with some friends. The day consisted of a two-hour ride through the desert, over foothills, and through ravines and river beds to an In-N-Out Burger in Barstow. We ate, relaxed and then rode 2 hours back to our truck.

Right now every bone in my body aches and my arms feel like spaghetti.

Weekend Wrap Up

Attendance: Below Average
Lesson Topic: STUFF week three(toast)
'Fun Factor': Above Average
Volunteer Involvement: Below Average
Music: Average
Lesson Quality: Above average
Length of Lesson: Longer than usual
Student Response: Above Average

We were away at our annual volunteer leader retreat this weekend so Josh Griffin and others stepped up to run our programs. From what I've been told the lesson was a little longer than usual but that was partly because Josh crammed it full of creative elements that the students loved. This week was the toughetst/most abstract lesson of the three and going into the weekend I felt like it could be a tough one for the kids to grasp. I talked to my 7th grade daughter about it and she felt like it was really good, but a little hard to understand. For toast, we used the idea that when you mess with the timer on the toaster, the toast never turns out quite right.....the same is true in life: God has perfect timing and trusting it helps life turn out better. There was more to it than that, but that was the basic idea.

Moto-Crossed

A friend of mine made me an offer I couldn't refuse on a Honda XR250. I don't ride a ton, but it is something our entire family seems to enjoy so I'm beginning to buy used gear when I can afford it. We're heading out for a ride on Monday.

Simple Thought: Budget Allocation

If your church operates on a fiscal budget, you may be heading into 'budget prep mode'. Each year at this time I spend way too much time trying to figure out the best use of the resources our church gives our ministry. Here is my super simple breakdown of what I think may be the best way to spend the money your church provides...we don't do it exactly like this, but I probably would if I could:

10% Tithe/benevolence: Give a portion of your budget to a needy church, ministry etc. or use it as scholarship money.

40% Volunteer appreciation: underwrite the cost of their trips so they can go for free, take them to coffee, pay for a date-night, buy them a Christmas gift.

40% Weekly programs: prizes, decorations, snacks, curriculum etc.

10% Personal growth: training events, conferences, books etc. for the point person of the ministry.

New Office Look

I have a brand new office look that I really like. While I was away on a trip, my assistant spent hours giving my office a make over. The desk is gone, replaced with an old dining table. The walls are painted a soft brown and there is warm decor all over the place. I've taken a little heat from colleagues and friends who think it's a tad too feminine and not quite 'kurtish' enough. Here are three pictures that give the best look. What say you?

Myth Buster....Or At Least Myth Checker

In the current issue of Group Magazine Tom Carpenter, a Senior at Bethel College, takes a crack at finding the truth behind the much hyped youth ministry drop-out statistic. You've probably heard different variations of it, but the popular opinion is that a shockingly high percentage of High School kids drop out of church after they graduate. Tom used the 88% drop out statistic as his starting point for the article. He traces the origins of this statistic back to the Southern Baptist Convention's Council on Family Life which released a 2002 report that found roughly 88 percent of evangelical young people leave the church after they graduate from high school. Tom states, "That number is not only shocking and upsetting, but my analysis of its substance shows it's also false." He then spends the next two pages doing a pretty good job of building a case for why, in his estimate, the actual drop out rate is closer to 40%.

I've never been a huge stats follower. They always seem to get inflated, deflated, twisted or tweaked to prove some body's point (look at the current state of the global warming debate as an example). Because of that I've never really bought into the hype around the various drop-out stats that have been passed around as fact lately. So, I'm not convinced this article puts the issue to rest, but I do think it's good to see a thoughtful response to a really important youth ministry issue.

I'm not sure if Group makes back issue articles available later, but if they do this would be worth reading when available. Heck, if you don't subscribe to Group Magazine you really need to. It's a valuable ministry resource that all youth workers should have sitting on their desk.

Weekend Wrap Up

Attendance: Average
Lesson Topic: STUFF week two (trash)
'Fun Factor': Above Average
Volunteer Involvement: Average
Music: Average
Lesson Quality: Above average
Length of Lesson: 19:21
Student Response: Average

This series is shaping up to be one of my favorite in a long time. The lessons have been super junior high friendly and we've done a great job of working the theme throughout our entire program each week. Next week, Josh Griffin is going to fill in because we'll be on our volunteer staff retreat. His topic: Toast

Me Likey This CD

I realize that this may simply be because I'm buddies with Brandon and that I think he's a great person, musician and junior high youth minister (he leads worship for Willow's middle school ministry), but his new CD is what I'm finding myself listening to more than anything else right now. I know I mentioned it briefly as part of another post a few weeks ago, but it really is good! Brandon wrote every song but one, so you won't recognize 'em but I think the vast majority are songs that translate really well to a junior high ministry setting.

My three favorite songs on the CD:
1) He Made a Way
2) Father of Glory
3) You Are The Same (Scattered Around)

My least favorite song:
Dancing Generation (the one song he didn't write!)

You can purchase it through the willow creek association, Amazon or at simply junior high.

Here kitty kitty kitty....

I don't like cats. This article is for everybody who has ever questioned my position.

Random Ramblings

- Don't know why I didn't post yesterday. Actually I do know: The thought never crossed my mind.

- 300 may be the best 'manly movie' I've ever seen. It probably isn't what you want to see on your next date night, but if you're looking for a great movie to see with the guys, this is it!

- Is it consistent to be concerned about the environment but not really concerned about global warming? Because I am and I am not really.

- Just got word that 'My Faith' is already in its second printing. I thought it would sell well because of the subject matter, but this still feels surprising. 'My Family' isn't selling as well which isn't as surprising.

- A whole crew of ours is preparing to camp out all night at a grand opening of Chic-Fil-A. The first 100 people in line get 52 coupons for a free combo meal. That's one free meal a week for an entire year! I love Chic-Fil-A, but the idea of camping out in a parking lot all night just doesn't sound fun to me any more. Certainly a sign of middle age.

- I haven't had a soda of any kind in over a month. I've lost a few pounds and feel amazing. Now, if I can just get off the sweet tea. Wait, free combo meals at Chic-Fil-A means free sweet tea. I gotta grab my sleeping bag!

Weekend Wrap Up

Attendance: Above Average
Lesson Topic: STUFF week one (toothpaste tube)
'Fun Factor': Above Average
Volunteer Involvement: Below Average
Music: Below Average
Lesson Quality: Above average
Length of Lesson: 22:00
Student Response: Above Average

STUFF is my adaptation of a series idea that Ryan Nielsen shared at a recent junior high pastor's gathering. The idea is to take common household items and use them as the object lesson for the teaching time. He called his series 'The Law Of...' and used different items than we are using (actually, he did use toothpaste tube, but the next two weeks will be different). I called the series STUFF because it felt a little more JH friendly. Upcoming STUFF topics: Trash and Toast. It was one of our best weekends in a long time.

Transitional Period

Mariah Miles, who has served on our team for about 2 years as our small groups coordinator recently became engaged to John, a former intern now serving at a church in Oklahoma. They are an amazing couple and I'm excited to see what God does in and through their lives. For the past several months my team and I have been interviewing candidates hoping to find a good fit for this super important role on our team. It feels like we've narrowed it down to two, one of whom is flying in this afternoon to spend the weekend with us. She is currently the junior high director at a fairly large church, so it feels like she would be giving up quite a bit to join our team. I'm looking forward to getting to know her this weekend.

Feeling Sad

The father of a girl in our junior high ministry passed away this week. He was only 42 and had been fighting cancer for quite a while. I'm meeting with the family this afternonon to work through the final details of tomorrow's memorial service. Obviously I want the formal memorial service to go well and be a good celebration of this gentleman's life, but more importantly I hope our ministry and other support systems can rally around his daughter.

A good friend of mine passed away a couple years ago at the same age. His daughter was also in junior high at the time and it was such a devastating loss. My heart is hurting today knowing that another young teenager is facing the loss of her dad.

Simple Thought

Simple Thought: Maybe better isn't always
It seems like many youth workers (myself included) have bought into the idea that newer, cooler, more expensive, fresher, flashier stuff is always better. If having lights is good, then better lights must be better. If playing games is good, then better games must be better. If having our own youth room is good, then a better youth room must be better.

About 6 months ago, I broke the bank and purchased four brand new X-box 360's to replace our old X-box systems. Nothing was wrong with our old ones, but hey 'If an X-box is good, than a better X-box must be better!'. Not even close! Sure, the graphics and games were a bit better, but we have had problem after problem after problem with the new systems. We've returned a couple only to have different problems with the new ones.

Our solution? We decide to buy a bunch of $20 plug-n-play games at target...there is a whole isle of them to choose from. My logic was that when these broke, we could easily replace one for less than the price of a single X-box game.

Two interesting observations:

1) They haven't broken! They are pretty durable.
2) Our students love them and we haven't had a single question about the whereabouts of the X-box systems.

Maybe better isn't always.

Wow! Interesting.

Here's the current top 10 praise and worship songs in America this week according to CCLI. Interesting that Chris Tomlin has 5 out of 10. Has that ever happened in secular music? Did the Beatles ever have 5 top 10 songs at once? Madonna? Michael Jackson? The pool of people contributing to the praise and worship genre is probably quite a bit smaller, and I imagine the shelf life of a worship song is much longer, but it's still an amazing feat.
(so to Josh )

1 How Great Is Our God / Tomlin, Reeves, Cash
2 Blessed Be Your Name / Redman
3 Here I Am To Worship / Hughes
4 Open The Eyes Of My Heart / Baloche
5 You Are My King / Foote
6 Holy Is The Lord / Tomlin, Giglio
7 We Fall Down / Tomlin
8 Forever / Tomlin
9 Lord I Lift Your Name On High / Founds
10 The Wonderful Cross / Reeves, Tomlin, Walt

A Safe Return

At 3:30 p.m. yesterday, my daughter walked through customs and into our lives once again! The next three hours were spent listenting to story after story and adventure after adventure from her experience in Kenya. We looked at loads of pictures....a few of which were actually in focus! :)

She's already talking about the need to spend three weeks there next year because two weeks wasn't enough. Not news her mom was ready to hear!

Weekend Wrap Up

It was a unordinary weekend, so I won't have the ordinary wrap up today.

First, It was our winter camp weekend so our junior high department headed up to Thousand Pines. We joined three other churches, all of which are led by guys who have served with me at Saddleback at some point. It was a fantastic weekend...there was actually quite a bit of snow on the ground....which for our So. Cal. kids is a big deal.

Second, Jason Pogue, one of our key volunteers stayed back and led the weekend services at church. as usual, when he fills in for us the weekend doesn't skip a beat. His lesson was on 'You Are A Masterpiec'. The whole time he spoke he had an artist on stage painting a picture. Very cool.

Third, I wasn't at church or at camp. For the first time ever, I missed on of our camps (I did miss a Mexico Mission trip once, but that's a story for a different time). One of my best friends, who is a youth pastor in Carlsbad (beautiful beach community about 30 minutes south), was speaking in the adult services and I wanted a chance to hear him. That, combined with the fact that I was late with my book deadline with Marko, made it seem okay to escape for a personal retreat of writing and going to my friend's church. I was glad I did. His message was fantastic (he's one of the most creative communicators I've ever heard) and I was able to finish my portion of the books and send them in.

Next weekend things will return to normal as we kick off a new series: STUFF

Sweet Spot

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this. Here's how I typically advise younger ministers and leaders:

- Spend the first 10 years of ministry (say from ages 22-32) becomming as well-rounded as possible. Discover your stengths, identify and work on your weaknesses. Have your hands in lots of different 'pots' so you get a variety of experience and allow yourself plenty of opportunities for growth, especially in your areas of weakness.

- The rest of your career (say from 33-60) are best spent and most fruitful if you limit your focus to your sweet spots (your areas of strenght and passion). Don't worry so much about improving your weaknesss; focus on your strenghts.

The idea that a 45 year old should still be making great efforts to become more organized if he's not, or to become a better speaker if she isn't, doesn't make a ton of sense to me.

My Lunch Table Memoir (warning: name dropping ahead)

Donald Miller is quickly becoming one of my favorite Christian leaders/speakers/authors. It's not because I've read his books or because he's an incredible communicator. He is a wonderful writer, and a gifted speaker, but he is becoming one of my favorites because of who he seems (I say seems because I really don't know) to be when he's off the stage and not hidden mysteriously behind the pages of a book.

Yesterday I found myself at a lunch table with him. I really shouldn't have been at a lunch table with Donald Miller, but there I was. Since I really shouldn't have been at a lunch table with Donald Miller, I decided not to talk.....only to listen. What I heard, and what I didn't hear, was refreshing. I heard humility, gentleness, vulnerability and honesty. I heard him asking more questions than he answered. I didn't hear arrogance, hyperbole, brashness or sarcasm.

He was such a regular guy that if I didn't know he was Donald Miller I know myself well enough to know what I would have thought: "How did this guy get a seat at MY lunch table?"