What's Your Plan?

I've been thinking a lot lately about the importance, or lack thereof, of a strategic year to year teaching plan. In our ministry setting, if a junior higher enters our ministry as a 7th grader he/she will have approximately 100 weekend lessons and somewhere close to 60 small group bible study lessons under their belt by the time they graduate from 8th grade. Of course this assumes they are involved in a small group and rarely miss either small group or weekend programs.

Sooooo, with at best 150 (add 33% if you have 6th graders) opportunities to speak God's truth into the lives of a group of students who are in the midst of CRAZY social, spiritual, emotional, physical and intellectual development, it seems like junior high ministries should have a pretty solid christian education plan, right? It does to me, but we don't. Our team recently had a small, but rather disturbing, "ah ha" moment at our weekend program that caused us to acknowledge that perhaps we need to become more proactive in thinking through our teaching scope.

Sure we have certain areas of studies that we make sure we cover from year to year such as the basics of the faith, sexuality, core doctrine, etc. but honestly there isn't all that much that has been deemed as "stuff we always teach to every group of kids".

So this post is selfish, but hopefully one that will garner some discussion that will benefit everybody.

I would love to get comments briefly outlining your teaching strategy from year to year if you have one. If you don't, then explain your strategy for not having one. Here is some fodder for discussion:

- How do you balance felt need/topical with expository/doctrinal type teaching?
- If you have small groups, do they follow your weekend lessons or stand alone?
- Is it better to expose this age group to lots of topics or pick much smaller amount and repeat, repeat, repeat?
- Given their developmental stage, how much time should we spend helping them navigate this season of their life?
- Knowing that much of our faith is more 'caught' than 'taught', what types of strategies do you employ outside the formal teaching time to help students 'catch' a desire to follow Christ?

Okay, that's enough...I really could go on and on. Let's talk!

Monday Miscellaneous

- Hey! my last post was #650! I probably should have done something cool commemorate it.

- Starting next Monday, I will bring back the popular "Weekend Wrap Up". I would have brought it back today but I wasn't part of our junior high programs this past weekend so I have nothing to "wrap up" other than I heard it was a great weekend.

- If you happen to ride a dirt bike, what do you ride? Do you recommend one bike over another? Is there one to avoid at all costs? I ask because I am in the market to "move up" from my 2002 Honda XR 250 which I bought at a killer deal from a buddy as we were getting into riding. Now that it is something that has "stuck" with the family we are in the process of upgrading some of our bikes. And conveniently, I'm first in line!

- Two weeks ago the Jets beat the then undefeated Titans. This week the Broncos beat the Jets. Simple logic will tell you that this means the Broncos can beat the Titans, making them the best team in the AFC. :)

Random Randomness

- Enjoyed a fantastic Thanksgiving yesterday with both sides of the family. Sure missed having my dad there.

- Shows that I watched PART of during the course of the day: Lions/Titans game, Cowboys/Seahawks game, James Bond, Godfather parts 1&2, Texas/Texas A&M game, Kung Fu Panda, Dirty jobs, and others that I'm forgetting. Yes...it was a LAZY day!

- Today I'm trying to figure out whether to shop for black friday specials, take Cole to what will certainly be a crowded Vans skate park, clean my garage, See a movie with the entire family or some crazy combination of all the above.

- My new favorite drink (one that I "invented" on a plane trip a few months back but forgot about until a couple days ago)is cranberry juice with a slice of lime squeezed in. I call it a "CRIME". I'm sure there's a formal name for it, but hadn't ever heard of it until my discovery so I figured I could come up with my own name.

- Absolutely loving the cooler weather that has visited us for the past few days.

- Excited about this week's junior high lesson. We are going to attempt to, in 20 short minutes, educate our students on how to use various tools to study the bible on their own. Probably not the most exciting lesson, but an important one.

My Dad

Yesterday was a tough day. We got a call at about 7:30 a.m. telling us that my dad had passed away. As I write this I'm grieving but filled with joy knowing he is in the presence of our heavenly father and enjoying perfect health...something he hasn't known for many years.

Thanks a ton for all the comments and emails of support and encouragement the past couple of weeks. It has meant a lot. If the technological world of texts, instant messaging, facebook, blogs etc. have hurt "true community", I haven't sensed it during this time. I have had very few face to face conversations about my dad in recent days, but have never experienced more community and closeness with the body of Christ.

The End Of Ice Cream

I have fourteen 7th grade guys in my small group, which I co-lead with one of our volunteers. He travels quite a bit and couldn't be there this past Wednesday night. Because my fourteen guys are....one might say...."spirited", I knew I needed to try something different if I had any hope of keeping control of the group by myself.

I decided to show them Rob Bell's Nooma video called "RICH". In case you don't know who he is, Rob Bell is a young senior pastor who is an amazing story teller and teacher. He produces 10-15 minute teaching videos along a variety of subjects. "Rich" is dedicated to helping us understand that God has blessed us and our country so that we can be a blessing to the world around us.

At one point, Rob says something along the lines of "Did you know we could solve the problem of starvation in the world for "X" billion dollars? .....Guess what, Americans spend more than that each year on ice cream." That comment seemed to resonate with my guys because there was an audible "oooohhhhh" from the group.

When the video was finished I decided to seize the moment and ask about the ice cream statement. The short conversation is a classic reminder of junior high ministry 101.

ME: "So, remember that part about how the entire world's starvation problem could be solved for the same amount of money that Americans spend on ice cream?"

THEM: "Uh, yep"

ME: "What do you think something like that might be saying to us?"

7th GRADE BOY GIVING VERY SERIOUS ANSWER: "It means we need to shut down all the ice cream places in America."

Classic.

Check Up

If you're like me, the busier you get doing God's work, the easier it becomes to find yourself feeling far from God. Over the years, I've created a short little "check list" of questions I try to ask myself on a regular basis, and especially in the busy seasons. For me, the categories are more important then the specific questions.

HEART
- Am I feeding my soul?
- Are jealousy, greed or other cancerous motives creeping in?
- Is Jesus my first love?
- Am I generous?

MIND
- Am I guarding my thoughts?
- Do I like the "stuff" that has been at the forefront of my mind lately?

EYES
- Is the stuff I'm watching okay?
- Is the stuff I'm reading okay?
- Currently what do I tend to "set my eyes upon"?

It's not some sort of spiritual measuring stick or check list of do's and dont's that cheapens grace and invites legalism, but rather the acknowledgement of my sin nature and the fact that the busyness of ministry and life in general has a way of making it super easy to neglect my spiritual well being.

Time after time I've found that when I'm grumpy, stressed, overly frustrated, impatient, feeling unfulfilled or under-appreciated etc. there is a direct correlation to the categories I've listed.

Random Randomness

- My friend, Gregg Farah, just started what I think will be a really good blog. Greg is a great writer and it seems like his posts will mostly be short essays like this one. Good stuff, I think.

- When they first came out I really, really wanted an FJCruiser. My enthusiasm wained quickly for two reasons: 1) they seem to have a real bad blind spot which made me uncomfortable when I drove my buddy's and 2) I couldn't afford one. It's been about two years, and I suddenly find myself really, really wanting one again. They still have a blind spot and I still can't afford it, but do you really need to be able to see when switching lanes? Do my kids really need to go to college?

- My new "guilty pleasure" t.v. show is Sons Of Anarchy. It's a really well written and acted show that revolves around a motorcycle club/gang in a small town in Northern California. It isn't for the faint of heart and is pretty strong much of the time...like a cleaned up (but not too clean) version of the Sopranos on Harley's. Viewer discretion is advised.

- We are wrapping up "The Red Stuff" in our junior high ministry this weekend. I think it has been one of our better series in a long time. If I taught longer series, this would be an easy one to stretch five or six weeks.

Thanks And An Update

Thanks a TON for the prayers for my dad and for my family over the past few days. I truly have felt supported and strengthened by our heavenly Father.

It has been a crazy roller coaster which has brought no real sense of direction as of yet.
When we took my dad off his life support on Saturday night, we were told he would survive anywhere from 10 minutes to a couple of days, so we all braced ourselves for what was to come.
Now, a few days later he has stabilized to the point where they believe the best thing for him is to return home and "let nature take it's course" which could happen extremely suddenly or take a couple of months. His heart is at functioning at about 17%, his blood pressure is extremely low and his heart rate extremely high. It's basically a trifecta of bad scenarios that his body can only endure for so long. The hope of having my dad around for a little longer is thrilling, but the uncertainty of the situation is so much more un-nerving than I would have anticipated. In essence we are in a minute-by-minute, hour-by-hour, day-by-day, week-by-week posture.

Right now, I'm enjoying a few moments of alone time at Peet's Coffee trying to figure out how best to structure my life and time for the short-term future in order to maximize time with my dad without abandoning everything else.

Monday Miscellaneous

It's been a CRAZY Weekend....

- I wasn't at church this weekend so we decided ahead of time to do something we've never done: I video taped my entire message beforehand and showed the video instead of asking somebody else to fill in and teach. I was told that it was super effective. What I found interesting was that instead of shooting it in a creative setting we simply set me up on the stage and I taught to an empty room. I thought that was a mistake heading in because I assumed in order for the video idea to work it would have to be more creative...but the word is that students totally responded. I helped, I suppose that much of my lesson was built around a fun story and that we had a live "teacher" set me up and wrap it up.

- While we were in the dessert dirt bike riding we got word that my dad had suffered a heart attack (he has had several heart attacks and strokes in recent years), and had been placed on life support. We packed up, headed into town and have spent the last couple days and nights at his side. He has specifically requested no drastic measures be taken to spare his life, so we took him off the medication that was keeping his heart somewhat stable...so far he is still very much conscious so we have had some great time together. The doctor originally said that when we took him off the medicine he could survive anywhere from 10 minutes to several days.

- My dad loves the Lord and has been an incredible example of faithfulness over the years. He has always questioned his effectiveness of a father because we struggled financially so much while we were young and he has always seemed to carry an enormous amount of guilt over his "inability to provide for us". He brought this up in conversation at the hospital and we had some great conversation reminding him what some of the true measures of a man really are...all of which he has faithfully fulfilled. I would appreciate your prayers.

10-Minute Moment

A couple years ago while leading my 8th grade guys small group, the conversation took a detour along the topic of spending time with God. One of the guys mentioned something about not feeling close to God which set us off on a fantastic discussion. After a short discussion of their current prayer/bible study/devotion habits, I quickly realized that...well, that they had no habits at all.

At the end of our discussion I issued a challenge: "Let's all spend 10 minutes a day for the next 30 days spending time with God and his word." I did the math....30X10 added up to 5 hours of time with God...over an hour each week! The guys all agreed that spending 5 hours a month with God would probably help them grow in their faith and feel a little closer to God.

We came up with the name "10-minute moment", and everybody agreed to the goal of 10 minutes a day for the next month. Much to my surprise most of the guys in the group hit their goal (of course, they missed a day here or there) and all of them were stunned at how quickly spending 10 minutes a day had become a habit.

Ever since, I've been challenging the kids in my ministry to have their own 10-minute moment every day. To help them, I just created the first 10-minute moments journal and can't wait to put it in their hands. I pass the link on to you in case you want to help your students spend a few meaningful minutes with the father every day.

Monday Miscellaneous

- On Halloween, our student ministries department hosted "Trunk or Treat" for the young kids in our community. Families in the church sign up to host a trunk and are assigned a parking spot in our lot and decorate their cars and hand out candy as little ones file by. It was really, really fun and attracted an amazing number of families from our community who had never stepped foot on our church campus.

- "Trunk or Treat" ended at 7:00 p.m. and we then spent two frantic hours turning the Refinery around and setting up for our High School department's "Pumpkin Fest" which lasted until midnight. Our high school team and several of our junior high team members worked until about 3:00a.m. cleaning up and getting the building ready for the weekend.

- In Junior High, we kicked off our first week of our new series, The Red Stuff, and overall I think it went pretty well. We had lots of fun programming around the topic including a "Red Stanley" activity that involved giving every student their own Red Stanley to take home in the hopes that they will take a fun picture of Red Stanley and email it to us for a slide show next week. The music was great, the games were fun, attendance was strong. I ditched out of the fourth service and hustled down to our San Clemente campus to cheer on their new youth pastor.

- Football: I think my Broncos might be lucky to finish 8-8...but that could be good enough to win their division. Hard to believe a USC dropped two spots in the ranking after a blowout win. It is shaping up to be a wild finish to the college football regular season.

- Today, I'm having lunch with an old friend from San Diego who I haven't seen in years. Every time I am with him I go home refreshed, challenged and spiritually sharpened so I'm looking forward to re-connecting.

President? Who Cares, Really.

Just typing that little title to this post was tough. The reason: I feel like I care a little too much about the election Tuesday, who becomes our next president, the future of our country etc. I've been so caught up in this election and the various levels of implications that I have allowed myself to forget a few things such as...

- I'm a child of God and a Christ-follower first. I'm a husband, father and friend second. The fact that I'm also a proud American is, at the very best, third on the list.

- God's kingdom is really the kingdom of my citizenship.

- Ultimately my trust, security, future and everything else I hold dear is not protected by the United states or the person charged to lead us.

- Obama isn't going to bring about "Change we can believe in" any more than McCain is going to be a "maverick". That's all just a bunch of campaign hype. They're both politicians who will forget about promises made and positions staked out shortly after entering office. Partisanship, bickering, finger-pointing and gridlock will prevail under our new leader just as it always has.

I think this was more for my own "therapy" than anything else, but it feels good to remind myself of a few things.

New Podcast Finally Up

We shot this podcast over a month ago, but some "technical difficulties" kept it from being posted until this week. Phil Shinners, the junior high pastor at Mariners Church, joins in the discussion.

Are You Going?

I believe early bird registration ends on Friday! Group's National Youth Ministry Conference is entering its third year and this year is shaping up to be its best yet.
Hope to see you there!

Monday Miscellaneous....On A Tuesday

- We had an incredible, but really long weekend. On Friday night we hosted our first "7th Grade Retreat" for 7th grade small groups. It was short, sweet and simple. The event started at 7:00 p.m. and went until noon on Saturday.

- After the retreat, we took 150 students to High School Musical 3.

- Then, we ran four youth services that included our annual wrap up to Choctober...THE MUDSLIDE (a massive slip n slide made up mostly of soap and water with a little bit of chocolate syrup added for effect). Historically, we've done this event down the center isle of our junior high room, but this year we moved it outside and we built a ramp that ran down our amphitheater stairs which turned out to be super fun. The video was taken after church when one of our adult leaders got a massive running start and caught some serious air pretty much missing the entire ramp!

- I spent much of my day yesterday doing some very basic maintenance on our dirt bikes. Basic maintenance for most people, that is, but for me it took several hours!

- Today actually feels a bit slow which is nice. We are kicking of a new series this weekend called "The Red Stuff" that will focus on the words of Jesus (red letters in the bible...). I'm in the process of trying to categorize Jesus' teachings in some junior high friendly terms.

Link Fest

Okay, it's not really a "fest"... just a few links you may find interesting.

SOME FUNNY/STRANGE NEWS
- Racoon Vs. Taser
- Oh, Deer

NEW JH RESOURCE TO HELP STUDENTS SPEND TIME WITH GOD
- 10-minute Moments

HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL 3 DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
- Wildcats Weekend

A SUPER FUN HOTEL IF YOU FIND YOURSELF IN ANY OF ITS LOCATIONS
- The Ace Hotel

Oh, The Good 'Ol Days...

Today in a meeting, we somehow went down a very fun rabbit trail. We started recalling all the traditions, sayings, activities, approaches to ministry etc. from the churches we grew up in and even from the youth ministries we've been a part of. Here are just a few....add your own to the list.

- Singing "In The Round"
- Extending the "Right Hand of Fellowship" to new church members.
- Overhead projectors.
- Being driven around in the back of the youth pastor's pick up truck while Christmas caroling.
- Hearing the phrase "backsliding" as part of our vernacular.
- Goldfish swallowing contests.
- Showing students "physical affection" in the form of swirlees, wedgies, noogies, charlie horses, pink bellies etc.

Others????

Monday Miscellaneous

- This past weekend we wrapped up our six-week series, The Face of Love. We rarely do such long series, but it was part of a church-wide emphasis. Two weeks ago, we started having a Friday morning "Talk Through" of our weekend program because it felt like we were showing up on Saturday without a good enough grasp on what we were doing. So far, the results have been tremendous and well worth the extra effort.

- I feel really tired. Since the opening of our building in June, our team has been running 110% all the time. But the end of October looks like it will bring a little bit of down time for all of us.

- Big game tonight! A Broncos win will put them in the driver's seat of the AFC West.

- My wife and I have been meaning to for years, and today....at the deadline...we officially switched our voting registration to "Decline to State", which puts us as independents. I feel like I'm betraying my party....and my parents!

- Speaking of parents: I feel like I was a crappy one this weekend. I wasn't around much, I over-reacted to a situation with Cole, and when I was around, I choose to huddle up and watch too much football. Unlike me, and probably a sign of my fatigue.

- Heading out for a short date day with Rachel. Smiles all around.

Pragmatism In My DNA, I Think

Nobody has ever accused me of being a deep thinker, and I'm surprisingly okay with that. I'm a pragmatist through and through....with all the good and bad that comes with it.

After over 20 years of hands-on youth ministry combined with undergraduate and graduate education in the field mixed with extensive reading and writing on the topic combined with attending and teaching countless seminars and workshops dealing with youth ministry, I think I have come up with my own manifesto, of sorts (shout out to Marko...).

This is in no way meant to be a response to Marko's book or to Chap Clark's books or to Doug Fields' books or to Kara Powell's books or to Mark Yaconelli's books or to my own books or to.....well you get the point...there are a LOT of youth ministry books with a lot of incredible, important, information about how we can be better at what we are called to do. I'm a proponent of being a life-long learner, and I think the more reading and training and sharpening we can get, the better we become. But with all that also comes a muddying of the waters. Some of the most basic principles in youth ministry can get lost. So sometimes a little simple, pragmatic thinking can be a good thing.

So, my pragmatic youth ministry manifesto is this: Build a team of caring, Christ-following adults who like teenagers, then do whatever seems to work best in your unique setting to assist those adults in building relationships with your students as they walk with them through their journey of faith.

That would be a pretty short book, I suppose.

Youth Ministry 3.0 Update: Apparently the book won't be available on Amazon or through any other online or physical vendor until early next year. So until then the only place to get a copy is at one of the two remaining NYWC conventions. If you aren't going, find somebody who is and ask them to buy you a copy.

A Short, Thought-Provoking Must-Read

On the flight home from Sacramento yesterday I devoured Mark Ostreicher's new book, "Youth Ministry 3.0". If you work with students, you simply must read this book.

I say this not because I agree with everything Mark writes (in fact there is much in the book I don't agree with) but because it is a book that forces you to think about how you are doing ministry and to wonder if there might be a better approach to traditional youth ministry than doing it traditionally (my paraphrase, not his words).

Youth Ministry 3.0 encouraged me, frustrated me, challenged me and prodded me, and I hope it will do the same to you!

Help Us Create The New SJH Catalog!

The crew is working on a brand Simply Junior High catalog and could use your help. If you have pictures of your junior high ministry in action (serious pictures, goofy pictures of kids, pictures of adults interacting with students etc.), we want to put them in the catalog.

Please send pictures to Riley at rhall@simplyyouthministry.com

Thanks!

NYWC Days 2-4

A few thoughts and highlights as I get ready to head home...

- Overall, the conference has been a great one. From my perspective it feels like there were lots and lots of new topics offered in seminars, the general sessions were solid and as always it was a weekend jam packed with coffees and meals with old and new friends.

- I think my only complaint (complaint feels like way too harsh a word...) is the length of the general sessions that were often THREE hours long. I find it really, really hard to stay put for that long. I typically found myself slipping in later and later each session. Last night I snuck in just in time to hear Tony Campolo. The general sessions have always been long, but for some reason they felt longer than usual this year.

- Tony Campolo: As always one of my favorite speakers because he says a bunch of stuff I don't totally agree with, and forces me to re-think my theology, my world view and my methods of living out my faith in Christ.

- The exhibit hall was, as usual, a strange mix of publishers, camps, mission organizations, fund raising opportunities, universities etc. However, this year there seemed to be more than the usual amount of just plain weirdness.
* Hume Lake's booth was an opportunity to ride a mechanical unicorn while people in Elves costumes cheered you on and blew soap bubbles all around you. Your prize was a fake mustache.
It was like an acid trip meets strawberry shortcake meets cotton candy meets that candy mountain cartoon on youtube.
* There was a guy dressed up in a vampire costume promoting some sort of "Bite" ministry.
* Another guy had a huge snake around his neck.

- I felt like the seminars I taught were average. My first one was a 2.5 hour introduction to middle school ministry. I tag-teamed with my friend April Diaz who is a super sharp young youth minister. It was well received but I'm realizing I'm not a great person to teach alongside because I'm long winded, go off on tangents, get out of order etc. and I'm sure it was frustrating for April at times. The second seminar was on the topic of ministering to the parents of middle shoolers. It is a subject I've never formally taught on and an area in our ministry that has lots and lots of holes in it, so I felt somewhat insecure in presenting the seminar, but hopefully it provided some insight and encouragement.

- I haven't bought anything yet, so I think it's time to make a final pass through the YS bookstore.

NYWC Day One

My life-long buddy Chris and I rolled into town early this morning and have been going non-stop ever since, although at the moment I can't seem to find him. A few highlights and observations from day one:

- At lunch we ordered what, without doubt, were the tartest, tangiest, most bitter glasses of Lime aide ever put to lips. Delicious.

- During the opening session Mark Oestriecher said what he always says: "relax, eat a good meal, make new friends, skip sessions...do what you want to do to make the weekend a great one for yourself". I've heard that for years, but this year it really sounded good. I think I'm more tired than I realize and will probably sleep, read and relax at least as much as I do "conference stuff".

- In that spirit, I snuck out with some buddies to see Body of Lies. Good flick.

- I'm posting from a little internet cafe smack dab in the middle of the meeting hall and worship is in full swing. Feels a little awkward to be online while 3,000 others are engaging in worship (although there are three other people online next to me) so I think it's time to sign off.

Random Ramblings

- I'm excited about NYWC in Sacramento this weekend. It is always a great time of connecting with old ministry friends and meeting new ones. I mentioned trying to grab a meal with frequenters of this blog, but my meals are all booked! But if we see each other in the hallways, be sure to say hello.

- Speakers are no longer allowed to promote their books, resources, ministries etc. in their workshops (a good policy, I happen to think...) so be sure to drop by the simply youth ministry store in the exhibit hall to check out all the newest junior high resources.

- Don't go see American Carol. Even if you agree with the politics in the film, you will be shocked at how appallingly un-funny and offensive it is.

- Disney sent my family invitations the the High School Musical 3 premiere in LA next week. I'm not sure who's more excited my kids or their parents! They are excited to see the movie and the stars, I'm excited to walk the red carpet and be mistaken for a star...an aging, balding star.

Ministering to Parents

I'm trying to create a list of helpful resources for parents of young teens. Websites, books, newsletters etc.

If you have a favorite, would you mind sharing it?

Two New Small Group Resources!

On the hunt for small group curriculum?

I'm super excited about two brand new small group resources created specifically for junior highers.

Bible Stuff Vol. 2 video curriculum contains five video-driven lessons. Each video sets the small group leader up for some really great discussion with their students. Bible Stuff Vol. 2 focuses on God's story.

Active Bible Studies contains 20 hands-on, experience-driven small group lessons.

Monday Miscellaneous

- Weekend at Church was really fun and really busy. Started it off Friday by going to a high school football game, then popping into our high school ministry's '5th Quarter' which was really fun. On Saturday I went to our 4:30 JH service for our 4th week of "Face of Love" and then skipped our 6:30 service to attend Mariners Church for the grand opening of their new student center. On Sunday I attended our 9:00 a.m. JH service then hustled over to our Irvine campus to be a part of their 11:00 a.m. youth program. Whew....!!

- In addition, each year our JH ministry 'cancels' October and replaces it with CHOCTOBER...a month of chocolate games, chocolate prizes etc. Week one was a huge success.

- Pastor Rick took a whole crew of us to see "American Carol" last night. Fun idea and really great to be out with him and a bunch of the staff...but TERRIBLE movie. The best way to describe it would be a wacky "Airplane" type movie. But in order to even have a chance at laughing at the gags one has to be really, really well versed in the Left vs. Right politics of our times. That mixed with the fact that it just wasn't funny made for a rough ride.

- Interesting that it seemed like the media was united in calling for the "bail out" and now only a couple days later they are united in questioning if it was a good idea. I once heard that much of the media exists to first build people and stories up and then tear them down. This feels like an example of that.

- Does anybody watch "The Unit"? It is quickly becoming my favorite show.

- My wife has been laid up for over two weeks and today is her first real day up and around. She took one of the kids to school which made our morning much less hectic.

- Spending date day with Rachel by having breakfast together then taking my dad to the doctor followed by prepping for my Youth Specialties workshops. Not sure where the date in date day went!

HSM3 Contest Winners and Free Discussion Guide

If you are interested in downloading a free HSM3 Bible study/discussion guide to use with your students, you can get that here.

After much deliberation from our judges, the three prize winners for the HSM3 promotional stuff are:

3rd Place: "It's the start of something old..." submitted by Rob
2nd Place: "HSM8...The 20 Year Reunion" Submitted by Chris Trent
1st Place: "The parents' crisis intervention team realized after an initial panic that it was not Harry Potter robes on the youth pastor after all." Submitted by matthew mcnutt

If you three will send your mailing address to me at Kurtj@saddleback.net, we will have your prizes mailed out early next week. Congratulations.

High School Musical 3: CONTEST!

If you work with students, you understand the juggernaut that High School Musical has become! Disney Studios and Grace Hill Media asked if I would be willing to work on a project to help youth workers take advantage of the fact that virtually every kid in their youth group is going to see HSM3.

The Ask: Would I write a FREE Bible study around some of the major themes in the movie that youth groups can use after their kids see the film.

I will post more about that in a few days when the website is live and will give you directions to access the materials; most likely early next week.

But...to get us in the HSM3 mood, we have a little contest. Above is a photo-shopped picture of my head on Zach Efron's body (much of the movie revolves around preparing for graduation). The top 5 creative captions submitted will win a whole bunch of HSM3 promotion materials.

1st place will win:

1 HSM3 Banner, 1 HSM3 Movie Standee, 25 full-sized movie posters and 100 mini-posters.

2nd place will win:

1 HSM3 Banner, 1 HSM3 Movie Standee, 15 full-sized movie posters and 75 mini-posters.

3rd place will win:

1 HSM3 Banner, 10 full-sized movie posters and 75 mini-posters.

The contest will end this Friday, October 3rd at 5:00 pm Pacific time.

Slow Blogging Week

I haven't blogged much this week because my wife, Rachel, has been in the hospital with a pretty severe kidney infection.
Last Friday, she started complaining of some pain in her side and had a bit of a fever, but she wasn't feeling too bad and we figured it was just a small bout with the flu. This continued over the weekend and when things got a bit worse she went to see her doctor on Monday. He said she had a kidney infection and prescribed some antibiotics.
By Monday night, Rachel's fever was higher, and she couldn't keep anything down so we took her to the ER first thing Tuesday morning. That's when they discovered that her kidney infection was quite severe and admitted her, hooked her up to and IV and began pumping her full of 3 different types of antibiotics to fight the infection.

She came home yesterday afternoon, and as we were leaving the doctor told us, "If you had waited another 24 hours before bringing her in, she would have been here for several weeks". It was weird because we didn't feel like she had waited or tried to "tough it out"...we just thought she had a flu bug.

Anyway, she is home now and resting. Starting last night, we have had really yummy meals showing up at our door. Not sure it's worth what we've been through the last several days, but it sure is nice to see the body of Christ in action.

Handling Conflict

I've mentioned our new monthly outreach event that took place last Friday night called "The 3". It was an amazing event that turned out almost exactly how our team envisioned it would. However, while parents were picking up their kids, a very upset mom grabbed one of our volunteers and frustratingly blurted something along the lines of, "I thought this was a church event! Why was there freak dancing? My daughter won't be coming back!" By the time the volunteer leader found one of our paid team, the mom was long gone.

But she wasn't gone for long. The following morning she shot an email off to Pastor Rick who forwarded it to me. I share the following email exchange in the hopes that it will encourage you as you deal with conflict in your ministry setting. while I've certainly learned that not everybody response the way we hope they will, this exchange was a powerful reminder of the importance of quickly dealing with concerned parents.

SHE WROTE:
Pastor Rick,
Why are our youth leaders allowing "freak dancing" at the youth activities??? My daughter was at the Refinery last night and came home with this disappointing news. She won't be going back.

I WROTE:
Dear Mrs. O’Brian,
My name is Kurt Johnston and I’m the junior high Pastor here at Saddleback. I wanted to shoot you a quick note thanking you for expressing your concern over the dancing at last night’s junior high event. You would be surprised at how few parents are willing to let us know when they have a concern. I’m the parent of two young teens myself and, like you, I expect church events to be an appropriate place for them to attend.

It’s important that you hear from me personally that our ministry in no way “allowed” freak dancing to be part of last night’s activities. There were leaders in the room and whenever we saw anything that bordered on inappropriate, we addressed it right away (in fact the dancing was a very minimal part of the night…maybe 50 kids participated). Obviously with over 700 students at an outreach event, many of whom have never stepped foot in a church before, there will be some students who push the envelope and who don’t have the same boundaries as our “church” kids do.

In fact, that’s why last night’s event was created; as a monthly front door experience for un-churched kids. If, out of 700 students, there were zero instances of cursing or rebelling or even freak dancing, then I would be a bit saddened because it would mean that we did an outreach event and nobody showed up who needed to be reached. Our student ministry department is committed to helping junior highers grow in their faith and in their walk with Christ, and we are also committed to reaching out to students who have yet to experience God’s amazing grace. In an interesting twist, I asked two first-timers last night if they had fun, and their response was a strong “NO!” When I asked them why they said because we played music that was too clean and didn’t let them dance the way they wanted.

Last night was an amazing night. We had food, a skate park, smores at the fire pits, a scavenger hunt, giant earthball games, outdoor volleyball, and classic tv shows in the theater. Yes, we had a few students who danced inappropriately at times, but our staff worked hard to keep that to a minimum. I understand your decision to not allow your daughter to return to “The 3” next month, but I also ask you to pray for our junior high ministry as we continue our efforts to expose lost kids to the good news of Jesus Christ.

Please feel free to call me should you have additional questions or concerns about our junior high ministry.

God Bless,
Kurt Johnston
Pastor To Students

SHE WROTE:
Hi Kurt,
Thanks so much for your reply. I appreciate the time you took and the information you gave. I feel a lot better about our church and youth group now that I have read it. My daughter brought three girlfriends last night to "The 3" and we brought the same girls tonight to the 6:30 service. Hopefully they will continue to attend, hear the power of God's Word and have changed lives!
Thank you for your commitment to the youth and thanks again for your response. I will definitely be lifting you, your team, and the jr high ministry in prayer.
In Him,

I WROTE:
WOW....3 friends to church last night, awesome! Hopefully 'The 3' will continue to open doors like that. Please tell your daughter that wildside is proud of her...that is exactly what we hoped students would do. Good for her!
kj

Monday Miscellaneous

- Our first "The 3", a new monthly outreach event, was big success. We had way more students than we anticipated and everybody seemed to have a great time. Here are a few details:
* The 3 happens on the 3rd Friday of each month, for 3 hours and costs $3 to get in.
* Includes dinner and a variety of activities such as skate park, earth ball games, smores in the fire pit, dancing, scavenger hunt, classic t.v. shows in the theater, volleyball, giant twister and more.
* It is meant to simply be a front door event. We didn't gather students together for a message or anything like that...just a place for students to come and have good, clean fun. The hope is that un-churched students will come to "The 3"and decide they want to come to one of our weekend services. The plan actually worked! We had about a dozen or so first time visitors this weekend at church who had attended "The 3" on Friday night!

- We had a roller coaster of a weekend. Our 4:30 Saturday night service was a disaster. Probably the worst we've ever experienced. One of the videos was edited wrong and left a sexual reference in place (nothing crazy, but not church friendly). Another video had such poor sound that it was inaudible. We didn't think through the game and as a result it took about 3 times longer to play than it should have. The songs that were picked for worship were WAY to slow for a junior high "seeker-friendly" church experience.

- BUT....we re-tooled the service and the rest of them went really, really well.

- I had to respond to two parents over the weekend who were concerned about something in our ministry. One was actually quite irate (in fact, I'll post on that tomorrow), and the other was super cool...just concerned.

New Hobbie....Maybe

In a used book store the other day, I found an old copy of the Reach Out new testament. I remember as a kid,and even when in junior high,
seeing people with this bible.

I had to buy it and thus started my new (but not very cool or very seriously pursued I'm going to guess) hobby of collecting older bibles. I think I'll focus in on student bibles, various "slang" bibles etc.

Thinking About Parents

I was recently doing some writing on the topic of Middle School Ministry parents...what parents need, how to best minister to them, how to get them on board etc. Here are a few random tid-bits from that writing session.

- The key to getting parents "on board": Earn their trust.
When parents trust you and your ministry, it is as if you can do no wrong. When they don't trust you, it is as if you can do no right. Trust is often earned in the littlest of things such as getting home from trips on time, not changing dates and prices of events, making sure there is plenty of supervision at activities, communicating regularly with them and allowing them to have a "voice" in your ministry.

- One thing parents secretly think about jr. high youth workers: "If you haven't raised a young teen, you don't know squat."
They know that you understand youth culture and that you are an expert on adolescent development and that their child respects you etc. But deep down they also know that until you have a junior higher living under your roof 24/7 and until you experience your own flesh and blood going through the angst of early adolescence, you really don't understand the plight of parents.

- What do most parents need? Hope and Help.
That's it...just a little bit of hope and encouragement thrown their way. Reminders that they aren't the only ones struggling, that they will live through this, that much of what is happening is totally natural etc. Just a little hope. And a little help. A book sent to them in the mail, an email with a link to an article, getting connected with another couple who has already raised young teens for some support. As a youth worker, you don't need to have all the answers, and you can't fix all the ills the parents of your students face. But you can provide a little hope and a little help.

A Hidden Jewel?

I was browsing through a used books store the other day and stumbled upon Suddenly They're 13, a book for parents of young teens. It's about 10-years old but at first glance seems to have some very practical tips. It could be full of nuggets to pass on to the parents of your students.

Monday Miscellaneous

-We kicked off our new, church-wide, emphasis on love this weekend. We are calling the series "The Face Of Love" and spending the next six weeks helping students think about what love looks like in the daily life of a junior higher. I wasn't here this weekend, but word on the street is that it was a great weekend.

- The reason I wasn't at church is because I was in central California checking out an action sports camp that we are considering as a second camp option next summer. SevenOne is located about 20 minutes from Pismo Beach and focuses on wake boarding, skate boarding, mountain biking, surfing, photography, graphic arts and music.

- How 'bout those Broncos. Hey, anything is possible with the help of a referee or two.

- We're hosting our first of four men's Monday Night Football parties in the Refinery tonight. Should be a good time.

- Anybody going to be at Y.S. in Sacramento? Should we plan a JH workers meal together?

Andy Stanley On Leadership

At the Drive conference several months ago, Andy Stanley shared some "Random Thoughts About Leadership" that I found to be really good. I posted about them here, here, here, here, and here.

North Point has now made the message available here. I highly recommend it.

Up and Coming Journalist

A former student in our junior high ministry is jumping into his journalism career and I thought we could all help him out! Currently, he writes for the online edition of the Orange County Register. The more people who click on his stories, the better his next assignment becomes. If you want to help him out, just click here for his article and get his 'hits' up.

99 Thoughts About Boys...For girls eyes only.

Just wanted to take a second to thank you folks for all the great "thoughts" you submitted for my short little book. I used several of them, and the ones I didn't I probably should have!

I'm actually pretty excited for this project because I think it is chuck full of little tidbits that will be helpful for young teenage girls as they begin to navigate the world of guys. Plus, a companion book, 99 Thoughts About Girls...For guys eyes only will release at the same time! Both books should be available in late October.

Confidence and Comfort Counts!

This past weekend was a great reminder of the importance of feeling confident with your lesson and how confidence, or lack thereof, in a lesson has a huge impact on how well it is received.

The lesson this weekend was first and foremost a gospel presentation. We had told our students that if they brought a guest with them, their friend would hear a clear presentation of the Gospel and would get one of life's biggest questions answered: "Is it really possible to know for sure that you are going to heaven?"

We planned a really fun weekend and I felt like my talk was pretty decent, but I wasn't sold on it. It felt too long, too complicated and not easy to understand by un-churched 13-year olds. But, I had it prepped and ready to go so that's what I went with at our first service. Then, at the last minute (as I was literally walking onto the stage) I decided to try to tweak it a bit which made me feel even less confident. Nothing disastrous happened, but the lesson simply fell flat. I lacked confidence, I struggled to move quickly through too much material etc. As a result, students were not well engaged and what should have been the highlight of the weekend, actually turned into on of the low points.

In between services I decided to make one of my stories the entire focus of the message. I yanked about half my content out, made the lesson much more narrative in nature and felt WAY more confident and comfortable when I was speaking. As a result, students were totally engaged. They were making eye contact with me, listening intently and responded very well. The attendance at the second service was almost three times that of the first, but the level of chatter, and the amount of distractions was cut in half.

It was a really tangible reminder of the importance of thinking through my lessons, being comfortable with the content and remembering my audience.

Monday Miscellaneous

- Our Junior High program this weekend was one of our best in a long time. It was nothing fancy, just jam-packed with lots of elements and variety. Attendance was up with the start of school, and lesson focused on a short, simple gospel presentation. Next weekend we kick off our church-wide "40 Days Of Love" series that we are calling "The Face Of Love". We have some fun stuff planned and it should be a good series.

- Saturday was our community-wide grand opening of the Refinery and it was a huge success. Approximately 4,000 (of which at least half were on our campus for the first time)people showed up for a three-hour open house. Good stuff.

- Our high school ministry is kicking butt! I technically oversee High School as well a Junior High, but have very, very little to do with anything going on in that department. Josh Griffin has been leading the charge for about 9 months now and, in my opinion, the team and the high school programs have never been stronger. The brand new auditorium that was built for their use in the new building is already too small to handle their Saturday night crowd...a great problem to have but also a bummer in a BRAND new building!

- It rarely happens, but this weekend a junior higher tracked me down after service to tell me that she spent some time telling her parents about my talk from last weekend and how she will always remember it. Of course, the part she remembered and shared with her parents was the goofy story I told to set up my talk. It didn't seem like she actually remembered what the lesson was about. Oh, well...baby steps I suppose.

-We learned a lesson this weekend that I would like to pass on; one I'm sure you already know: Junior Highers love rubber bands. To promote our new program, The 3, we put stacks of promo cards on each chair. It made sense to rubber band them together, but we didn't consider the fact that having rubber bands in the hands of hundreds and hundreds of junior highers could have an effect on our program!

- Guilty pleasure of the weekend: A group of "The Guys" went to see a late night show of 'Death Race' last night. Totally lame, but totally awesome guy flick.

- Painful moment of the weekend: Before the movie a few of us "old fellas" went for a late night skate at our new skate park. There is a new 5-foot half pipe that I have been promising to drop into and last night felt like a good time to fulfill said promise. I finally made it on my third try, but slammed really hard the first two times. Hard enough that my 42-year-old body is feeling it this morning.

Kicking Off A New Program

In an effort to bolster some of the in-roads into our community and to leverage our new building, our junior high ministry is kicking off a monthly outreach program this fall. We've never done an ongoing program of this sort, so we're super excited.

We're calling it THE 3.
- The 3rd Friday of each month.
- 3 hours long (7 - 10)
- 3 bucks to get in.

This part isn't part of the promotion, but we are also challenging each of our 'church kids' to invite 3 friends each month.

Food For Thought

A few things I have been thinking about and/or working through lately...

- I'm not entitled to anything.
Entitlement has never been a struggle for me. I grew up in a poor, but loving family and my dad had the best work ethic I've ever seen. But as I've gotten older, become a bit more "successful" and as my tenure at my current church grows, I've noticed myself slipping into an entitlement mentality every once in a while. I don't like it, I think it's immature, it wreaks of arrogance.

- I'm no different than the next guy.
I've had a few mentors and a few colleagues step away from ministry far too early because of missteps that should have been avoided. I often find myself slipping into a judgemental mode or becoming angry at the dent they put in the reputation of ministry leaders. But then I realize that I'm really not a whole lot different than the next guy...any of us are a few dumb decisions away from the same paths.

- Life is short.
How cliche is that! But man is it ever true. This week I performed the funeral of an 84 year old man who lived a good life. I'm exactly halfway to that age and it's hard to fathom that my life really is halfway over. It might be time to start a bucket list.

- Very little matters.
At the funeral, nobody talked about this gentleman's accomplishments, wealth etc. The conversation totally revolved around memories, impact he had made into the lives of others and words of wisdom he was known for. Why the heck do we try so hard to achieve that which nobody really cares about?

- I think I'm going to get an iTouch.
Had to have something light weight in here! Plus, I've been thinking about it like crazy and it sounds like something that I'm entitled to, that the next guy already has, and will make my short life a little more meaningful.

Monday Miscellaneous

- Junior High Ministry had a great weekend this past weekend. We started a short, two-week, series called "New" and highlighted all the new programs and opportunities happening in our ministry this fall. We tied it all around the Newness that Christ offers. We had a hilarious, 4-part video that consisted of four different infomercials. A good weekend.

- Last night I saw "Traitor" with a couple of buddies. I actually really liked it and found myself having a tough time figuring out the direction it was taking. It's probably worth seeing in theater and certainly a good rental recommendation.

- Man, are the TV networks working overtime to try to convince us that "Gustav" is the next Katrina or what? Obviously it needs to be taken seriously but it feels like they are trying to create news instead of simply reporting it. But what's new?

- Anybody have an iTouch? I can't get an iPhone because I can't switch service providers, but I'm thinking about an iTouch....any thoughts?

- Off to spend the last day of Summer with Cole at the Vans Skate park...his favorite place to skate.

Cool New Venue @ Saddleback

Live in the area? If so and you want to check out a great new church experience come join us on Sunday nights!

Not A Political Blog, But...

Okay, all I can say as we head into the next 60-something days of presidential campaign craziness is WOW.

- Democrats have fresh, young, African-American rock star caliber presidential candidate with little experience but lots of great ideas partnered with steady, seasoned DC insider.

- Republicans have steady, seasoned DC insider presidential candidate partnered with a fresh, young woman with little experience. Not sure if she's a rock star, but she's no dud.

- History will be made either way, which I think is an awesome thing. I'm so excited that my kids will have a black president or a female vice president. Really, it's about time.

I'm not sure I've seen a riskier move than McCain's choice for V.P. Talk about swinging for the fence!

The biggest downside to me would be that if it backfires and McCain gets beat in a landslide, much of the blame will be put on Palin and that just sets things back again for women, which would be a drag. But Obama in the white house ain't a terrible historic statement either so that's a trade-off, I suppose.

The next two months promise to be interesting.

High School Here We Come!

It's been a crazy week in the Johnston family mainly because we are getting ready for our daughter to enter her freshman year of high school. She has spent her entire life in a much smaller christian school and is now heading into a public high school with a freshman class of around 700 students. Yesterday was the freshman "link" which consisted of four hours worth of meeting upper classmen, being introduced to administrators, going on a scavenger hunt to get familiar with the campus and more. Today was "round up" which was a one hour forms frenzy to make sure everything is in order for the year.

It is an exciting time. It's also an anxious time....for her and for us. The best part, though is that her impending move from a small, safe, christian school to a large public high school has cracked open the door for some great conversations.

With high school on my mind, I stumbled across two books that grabbed my attention. Neither of them are new, but neither of them really jumped out at me until recently. "The Price of Privilege" and "Doing School" both look like important reads.

Feel free to recommend a book that should be higher on my "must read" list.

A Team or A Work Group?

I think I may need to go on the record (whatever 'the record' is...) as saying that the term "team" has become overused and virtually meaningless in most ministry settings. Just because you work with a group of people doesn't make you a team; it probably just makes you a work group.

As the leader of a ministry, I really do want the group of people I lead to be a team, but it doesn't happen just because I want it to. I think in order to function like a team instead of just a work group, you need to identify what defines a team and then constantly work toward that goal.

A few characteristics of a "Work Group":
- The end result or product is most important.
- People are specialists and never contribute beyond their specialty.
- Usually has highly defined and highly functional chain of command.
- Trust, camaraderie, liking each other etc. aren't crucial for success.

A few characteristics of a "Team":
- The people and the journey is just as important as the end result or product.
- People may have specialties, but contribute in other areas to help the team when needed.
- Much more "fluid" chain of command. The person "in charge" may change from project to project or moment to moment depending on the situation at hand.
- Trust, camaraderie, liking each other etc. are vital for long-term success.

I have absolutely NO problem with work groups....In fact work groups may be more effective at, well at getting work done! I'm just suggesting that we not diminish what a real team setting looks like by calling every group of people one.

Monday Miscellaneous

- This weekend marked the end of our 10-week summer series, Full Service Summer. We wrapped it up with a lesson on using our past to help us navigate our future using the rear view mirror as our object lesson. Over all, I think it was one of our best Summer series in a real long time. Momentum stayed high and each lesson stood alone which kept a long series from feeling too long.

- Closing ceremonies of the Olympics, however, did feel too long...about 2 hours too long. The Olympics are over; blow out the torch and be done already...of course my wife was glued to the television through the whole ordeal.

- Taking Cole and his buddy to Six Flags Magic Mountain today. Should be fun despite the fact that it should be over 100 degrees.

- Don Cheadle is one of my favorite actors and the other day I was thinking that he was past due for a new movie. Last night (during the painfully long closing ceremonies) I saw a trailer for his new movie, Traitor, that opens THIS Wednesday! How is it that I've heard nothing about this?

99 Thoughts About Guys

I've recently agreed to quickly write a short little book called "99 Thoughts About Guys...For Girls Eyes Only". It's meant to be written FOR girls ABOUT guys. The book will be pocket-sized and a quick read.

Each thought will be short, with a sentence or two of explanation. For example:

When a guy says he loves you, he really doesn't understand what he's saying!
He may really, really like you, but he probably doesn't really, truly love you. Mainly because he's still trying to figure out what real love is all about. Plus, sometimes guys say things they think they are supposed to say.

Got one? I could use a little help.

Hump Day

When I was in junior high, the radio station I listened to (Kmet which played the current Rock and Roll favorites....AC/DC, Black Sabbath, Queen, Van Halen etc.) always referred to Wednesday as hump day and I always giggled when I heard that term. The reference was that once your work week made it over the hump, you were on your way to the weekend and better times!

Today is the first day in a long, long time I can remember hoping that the week would hurry up and end so that better times could ensue. It's just been one of those wacky, conflict-filled, problem-solving, "I can't get ahead of the game" kinds of weeks. Weeks I'm sure none of you can relate to!

Anyway, in honor of "hump day" and Kmet, I am listening to the sweet sounds coming from the classic rock playlist on my iPod. Better times are on the way!

A Little Jib, A Little Jab

I don't know how to embed a JibJab video, so here's the link to a fun one about the campaign that wraps up with a quick bit about Saturday's Civil Forum. Obama riding a unicorn may be the funniest humor bit of the campaign season so far.

A Very Cool Opportunity For The Right Couple...

Don't know much about the details, but Youth Specialties is looking for a couple to go on a 5-month road trip project! Read more about it here.

Gotta A Game?

Send In A Game And Get $100.00 In Downloads!
Simply Youth Ministry is set to create a new edition of "Game On!" and is looking for games. If you submit a game that ends up being one of the 24 used in the new resource, SYM will give you $100 worth of free downloads. Here's the criteria:
- Game must be original
- Include a title for the game, a brief supplies/cost list, an "objective of the game" that summarizes it and a clear, easy to understand explanation.
- Games need to be games that can be played indoors and can be group games, mixers, team challenges, individual physical challenges, etc.
- Submit your game to Nadim at Nadim@simplyyouthministry.com by Friday, September 19th and be sure to include contact information so you can be notified if your game is used.

24 Hour Blitz

Our junior high team is away for a 24 fall planning retreat. Fine-tuning and clarifying roles, planning the fall calendar of events and teaching topics, and creative brainstorming are all part of our schedule.

So far we have talked about what real teamwork looks like, added a few really exciting events and activities, made a little tweak to our small group schedule and eliminated a highly successful sacred cow (after at least an hour of seriously passionate conversation and debate). We have three hours together this morning to finish the tasks at hand.

In my opinion, this fall is shaping up to be fairly different than any in the past but quite a bit more exciting, too.

Random Randomness

Things that I have spent anywhere from 10 seconds to 10 minutes thinking about today:

- Internships: What makes them a win/win (a win for intern and the ministry)?
- Internships: Do they have to be two years long to be effective?
- Olympics: Crazy how a communist country ripe with human rights violations can look so appealing on television and under a certain spotlight.
- Starbucks: Why am I here instead of Peete's?
- Communicating to teenagers: Is it as important part of a youth ministry program as we think it is?
- Youth Pastors: What are the top 3 or 4 qualities of a truly effective one...one that can be successful in any size church and setting?
- Student Leadership programs: Ugg! So important, but are they really? Do they ever accomplish what we hope they will?
- Coffee: Why does it result in such bad breath?
- Public restrooms: Even though they all have that little chart that shows who cleaned it and how often...they are usually nasty.
- Leadership: So many books, and 'irrefutable laws', but certainly there are a handful of non-negotiables?

Mistakes Can Be A Springboard

Just saw this interesting list of the 10 worst gadgets of all time. Fun, little piece, but I would have LOVED if it included some list of what these products ultimately led to. My hunch is that some of them, though huge flops, were actually the predecessors to some pretty sweet stuff.

Can you think of a time a significant ministry "flop" turned out to be a springboard for something really great?

Great New Junior High Resources!

Middle School Talksheets
If I remember correctly, Youth Specialties has been publishing Talksheets since somewhere around the mid 80's. If you are looking for a GREAT way to get your middle schoolers talking about and engaged in your lesson, it's tough to beat Talksheets. The newest edition by Terry Linhart focuses on the life of Jesus.

My Changes and My Future (from the Middle School Survival series)
This six-book series comes to a close with the final two books written by Mark Ostreicher and Scott Rubin. Now that the series is complete, I'm hoping they package them in a cool "box set" parents can give their junior highers.

Group's Emergency Response Handbook
This book is about a year old, but somehow I just stumbled upon it and....WOW! Full of one-page insights into how to minister and respond to issues of grief, divorce, gender identity, addictions and more. On Group's site, it looks like maybe this is only available as a download, but I'm sure there is a way to get hard copy if you'd like. This is a book I would put in the hands of every volunteer in your ministry.

Gentle Reminders That I'm Getting Older

Today I was reminded that I'm getting older by...

- Taking my soon-to-be freshmen daughter to her new high school to meet with counselor to discuss class schedule etc.

- Spending about an hour outdoors today cleaning my side yard. It's going to take about 3 hours in my air-conditioned house to recover.

- Talking to my neighbor who recently suffered a stroke and had heart surgery...he's only about 10 years older than me.

- Grumbling under my breath as my son decided to trade a bunch of his video games etc. in at Game Stop to get a PSP. His other stuff is perfectly good and they don't fetch much value in trade-in (I hear my dad's voice in my head as i type!).

- Talking to a guy who is about to run a half marathon and realizing I couldn't even run a 1/10th marathon!

Random Randomness

I'm on a short vacation to Palm Springs so not thinking too much about anything very blog-worthy.

- Week 7 of our Summer Series "Full Service Summer" was smooth. Each summer we do a 10-week series and, depending on the series we pick, it can either be incredible or start to feel way, way too long. This summer has been really good. I think the key to long series is to have some sort of "umbrella" theme but let each lesson stand on it's own...trying to build off of each lesson for too long is where we seem to run into problems.

- Saw Wal-E last night and was pleasantly surprised. Such limited dialogue made good story telling a must.

- Check out Zombo.com (S.O. To Erik Williams)

- The first part of our vacation is exactly the kind I like: Lazy, nice hotel, swimming, movies, sleeping in (although I have a hard time doing that), eating out, reading...just being lazy. The highlight today will be the super fancy all-you-can-eat breakfast buffet.

- The second part of our vacation will entail a bunch of chores and projects around the house. Cleaning the side yard, pulling weeds, cleaning up planters, working on dirt bikes to get ready for riding season. Not nearly as fun or lazy as part one.

Xgames Gold Medal

Kyle Loza, a GREAT young man who grew up in our youth ministry (he broke his ankle at junior high camp bombing a massive hill on a dirt board), won the gold medal at X-games for best trick in freestyle MotoX for the second year in a row. If you haven't seen this you'll need to watch it a few times to comprehend.

Summer Camp Reminds Me...

Summer Camp Reminds Me That...

- A good jr. high camp speaker is clear, simple, and short. Ours this week has been all three.
- My wife is a really good cook.
- Junior high boys cabins have always and will always smell like warm feet.
- Organized recreation brings out the very best and very worst in people.
- Junior high girls cry very easily, and so do their counselors.
- Paintballs hurt.
- Pranks always start off innocent enough and always escalate out of control.
- "Lights Out" really means "Okay gang now is the time we suggest you begin to start thinking about getting ready for bed....brush your teeth, take a shower, play some games, wrestle, go for a night hike and then turn your lights out in a few hours."
- Most of our students live life at a really frantic pace and slowing down for a week is good medicine.
- God is in control, that he is a very present creator, that he loves his creation very much, that he has a unique, remarkable plan for every one of our students and we are privileged he allows us to play a small part in that plan.

Monday Miscellaneous

- We had a GREAT weekend in our junior high ministry. The lesson felt good (Car Battery..."How To Re-charge When You Feel Drained"), the games were fun, music was great and our live "bit" that we've been doing each week during the lesson was one of the strongest yet. But, perhaps the highlight of the week was that we finally had some acoustics installed in the ceiling of our room which made the sound much, much, much better. I was amazed at how much more attentive and involved the crowd was, which is logical since they could actually hear what was being said from stage!

- We're up at camp right now. The first night was great and day two seems to be off to a good start. Tons of kids who are new to our church and youth group. This is our 11th year at Thousand Pines and I'm still convinced it's the best camp experience for our group.

- News you've probably already heard: Youth Specialties has joined forces with Mark Matlock and Wisdom Works. Two really, really great organizations that, together, will do make a great team as they look for ways to minister directly to kids. Good stuff.

- One of my weird, quirky, favorite things about heading up to Thousand Pines is the library of old ministry-related books in the house I stay at. I stumbled across one today written 25 years ago. The topic: How the 'battle' between the fundamentalists and the more liberal theology is poised to rip apart evangelicalism as we know it. The back cover suggests this book offers a practical reminder about what evangelicals should, and shouldn't cling to. Not sure I'll read the whole thing, but it sure seems like it may have been more prophetic than people probably realized back in '83.

For Those Who Love Sports

In what has to be the slowest time of the year for sports fans, this selection of recent sports pictures itched my scratch.

Of course it was the first one that caught my attention. Denver Bronco Rod Smith's retirement brought tears to my eyes, too.

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

THE GOOD:
Spent most of the day today visiting our three regional campuses at their high school summer camp. We take our junior highers to the same camp next week, so it was an added bonus to get a sneak peak ahead of time. Our three regional campuses are doing a great job and it was really fun to spend a little time with the staff and students from those campuses.

THE BAD:
It was really, really hot. We left right when organized rec. time was starting and I couldn't bare the thought of 400 high schoolers being forced to create cheers, run around with banners and compete for cheesy points. The camp does a great job with rec, but to me camp rec always equals bad. Am I alone in that sentiment?

THE UGLY:
I'll be the first to admit that my youth ministry mindset is often one of "anything you can do, we can do better". While visiting the camp today it didn't take long for me to switch from a mindset of "I'm just here to visit some of my team and students" to "I'm going to critique each aspect of camp and come up with reasons we could provide a better camp by doing it ourselves." I get that part of my role is to provide the best possible experiences for my students and to ensure they are getting their money's worth at events etc. But it is shocking to me how quickly and easily I judge and criticize the efforts of other Christ-loving brothers and sisters who, at the end of the day, have the same goals for my students as I do. I DON'T want to run camp and I'm so thankful we go to an incredible camp that does an incredible job.

Junior High Ministry Prizes

Here are a few things I probably would have given away as prizes 10 years ago that I couldn't get away with today.
- Squirting Cigarettes
- Switchblade Comb
- Potato Gun

Obama and McCain Civil Forum

The rumors have been confirmed. On August 16th, Saddleback will host both candidates in a civil forum. Rick Warren will lead the discussion. Should be interesting.

Monday Miscellaneous

- This weekend was week #5 of our 'Full Service Summer' series. Overall, it was a great weekend. Bethany, a member of our JH team taught a great lesson on how to put the brakes on temptation. It was the first weekend of the Summer that attendance was fairly low.

- Wasted most of the evening last night watching the Deadliest Catch marathon.

- Kayla is at Disneyland, and Cole is at a buddy's house so Rachel and I spent some time on a 'date' shopping for sales on riding gear. Bought two new helmets and a jersey.

- Tomorrow we say goodbye to Allison Hibbard. Allison grew up in our junior high ministry, served as an intern for two years after college and has spent the last 5 years as a member of our full-time team. She's moving to Kenya for six months. Not sure what our ministry will be like without her.

Friday; And I'm Wondering...

...What the easiest way to lose 10 pounds is. I've heard you can loose it just by drinking water instead of soda. For the first time in my life, I'm a little heavier than I want to be.

...If Heath Ledger is really as good in Dark Knight as we've been hearing. We'll find out tonight.

...Why Cherry Coke and Sweet Tea have such a grip on me. Most likely the reason I need to lose 10 pounds.

...How many of the "core" kids in my ministry have ever had a spiritual conversation with one of their friends.

...When our junior high ministry will have a new intern or two. This is the first time in several years that we've been without. Intersted?

...Why CBS cancelled 'Cane' after one season. A decent show that, I think, would have picked up steam.

...If the ministry I lead has done a good job recently of loving, thanking, encouraging our volunteers. Our ministry would fail to exist if it weren't for them.

Encouraging Kids To Serve

At the PDYM student leadership conference we have had two teenage guests who are both making a significant impact for the kingdom share their stories.

Bethany Hamilton is the young woman from Hawaii who was attacked by a Shark a few years ago while surfing, and lost an arm as a result. Bethany had a promising career ahead of her and was tagged as one of the best up and coming female surfers. Since the attack, Bethany has refused to give up the sport she loves and has continued to climb the professional surfing ranks. She also travels the world sharing her incredible story and her love for Jesus.

Austin Gutwein is the high school freshman who started Hoops of Hope when he was 10 years old. Hoops of hope raises money for children orphaned by HIV. Austin loves basketball and decided he could get others to join him in a 'shoot-a-thon' to make a difference in the world.

Bethany is using something that happened to her to make a difference in the world and Austin is using something he's passionate about.

What a simple way to encourage our students that they can make a difference. When God allows crazy things to happen to us, it is an opportunity to use that experience to encourage others. When God puts passions in our lives, we can use those passions to encourage others. Every single student in your ministry has one or the other or both!

What Do The Experts Know Anyway!

I was snooping around CPYU.Org and stumbled across this recent list of Top 10 television shows.

Rank TV Program Audience (in millions)

1. America's Got Talen t (NBC) 12
2. Wipeout (ABC) 9.5
3. Criminal Minds (CBS) 9.1
4. So You Think You Can Dance - Thu. (Fox) 8.8
5. CSI: NY (CBS) 8.5
6. Two and a Half Men (CBS) 8.5
7. 60 Minutes (CBS) 8.2
8. House (Fox) 8.1
9. CSI: Miami (CBS) 8
10.Hell's Kitchen (Fox) 8
Source: Neilsen Media Research

Do you remember several years ago when the "Reality T.V." craze kicked into high gear? At the time, most television experts and pundits went on the record as saying that reality tv would only last a year or two. It's interesting that in the list above, 4 of the top 10 tv shows are reality shows. In fact, 3 of the top 4 fall into the category!

The lesson: Experts and pundits aren't always right. Every field has its experts, and in every field, those experts can often be wrong in their assessments and predictions. Youth ministry is no different. And is often the case in other fields, the youth ministry experts, pundits and predictors of things to come are often far removed from the real world of youth ministry. I appreciate the wisdom and observations of men and women who observe trends, society, theology and try to help us figure out where it's all heading. But I also realize that they can be wrong. It doesn't make them less smart or less authoritative, just wrong sometimes.

Keep reading, keep going to seminars, keep talking to people you respect. But don't change your entire ministry based on what today's hot youth ministry topic is among the experts.

When I look at that list I notice a couple things:
First, things change and progress, and that's vital to progress.
Second, while some things change, lots of things stay the same.

Perhaps that's not a bad way to look at youth ministry.

Some questions to chew on:
- What things in your specific ministry have changed that you didn't expect?
- What things did you think would have changed by now that haven't?
- What things desperately need to change and you are willing to make it happen?
- What things must never change?

Monday Miscellaneous

- Week 4 of "Full Service Summer" went really, really well. Heading into the weekend, I didn't love my lesson and after teaching it twice on Saturday night I really didn't love my lesson. But I was kinda stuck with it so headed into Sunday committed to giving it my best shot for final two services. My final evaluation of my lesson is this: Students seemed to like it and my insecurity of wanting to always be funny and captivating made me feel like this lesson wasn't very good because it wasn't as funny or captivating as normal. We had great attendance, games were fun, music was great, and the horrific acoustics in the gym couldn't even hold us back...even though they tried really, really hard.

- Played poker last night (we never play for money...just for fun). I went "All In" in the third hand and got schooled. My three Aces got beat by a straight. Needless to say I was home sitting next to Rachel on the couch much earlier than planned.

- I'm reading The Shack and, to be honest, I'm a little disappointed. Disappointed only because I expected it to be either the most amazing, world shaking and spiritually inspirational book of all time (based on what so many people say) or the most heretical, blasphemous, faith-wrecking book of all time (based on what so many people say). It is what it is: A good read with some great inspiration wrapped in a creative allegory.

- Spending the morning this morning working on my general session message for our PDYM student leadership conference. I feel nervous and unprepared and I believe I speak the session right before Francis Chan which will certainly set him up to look REALLY good! Better that I go before him than after him, I suppose. Wow, insecurity about teaching seems to be a recurring theme for me lately.

- Hoping to go for an afternoon surf today which would be the third time this week. I love Summer.

If Junior High Youth Group Was Like Costco

....Kids would need a membership card to get in (bummer)
....Grace, encouragement, acceptance etc. would come in mass quantities (brilliant)
...It would be well organized (brilliant)
...Some offerings would never change, but lots of things would be rotated out (brilliant)
...The stuff we sell at our snack shack would be the best deal in town! (brilliant)
...There would be lots of kids on the outside looking in (bummer)

Okay, that's about all I've got. It sounded like an easy analogy but maybe not. Shoot us your contributions!

Junior High-Friendly Resource

Even though '10-Minute Talks' wasn't written specifically for junior high workers, I think it could be an incredible tool for people who work with young teens. What JH youth worker couldn't use a couple dozen short, sweet, simple lessons to keep on hand for when they find themselves in a pinch? I have a feeling I'll grab this book far too often!

Random Randomness

- This week is flying buy! I've been gone since Tuesday morning on our annual "Burly" trip for JH guys. We limit the trip to 50 students and try to beef up on leaders so the event feels highly relational.

- Last weekend was week 3 of our "Full Service Summer" series. The object lesson was on the Exhaust Pipe. Application: Our outside actions, attitudes and words are closely related to what's going on "under our hood".

- Saw Hancock with a couple buddies on Saturday night. Above average but not great. The best part of Hancock (and, in my opinion often the best part of most movies he's in) was Jason Bateman. He has slowly become my favorite actor.

- I often say that junior high ministry is more about "long term fruit" than what you see in the moment. A recent example for us is Kathryn. Kathryn was in our ministry about 10 years ago. She went away to college, struggled in her faith for a bit and has returned this summer as a volunteer in our ministry. Her faith is strong and her servant's heart is amazing. She points to her junior high years in our ministry as key to her life experience. A great reminder of importance of young teen ministry.

- On Monday night our family went to the beach. It was the first time I've surfed in several months and I am still sore! It's amazing how quickly one gets out of 'surf shape'. The highlight of the night was watching Kayla and Cole paddle into their own waves.

Interesting Survey About High School Personas

It turns out that your persona in high school (nerd, jock, cheerleader, etc.) has strong influence on your future career. Read more about it here.

I had a hard time placing myself in a specific category...I was a weird mix of the entire bunch. I guess that's why I'm I weird mix today.

The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

THE GOOD:
The past couple of weeks have been like a breath of fresh air to me. Because it's summertime and because of our crazy schedule, I have been more "hands on" with our junior high ministry than I have in quite a while. I've always been really involved in most of the bigger day to day stuff, but in order to pull everything off in this season I've been doing everything from building stage props to shopping for prizes to coming up with the game ideas to working the information booth....you name it, and I've had my hands in it. I'm not sure it's been good for everybody else to have me up close and personal, but it's been GREAT for my own joy factor.

THE BAD:
As amazing as our new facility is, one thing stands out as HORRIBLE....the acoustics in our junior high room. Because of budget constraints, we eliminated acoustic treatments about a year ago while we were building. But the sound is so bad in our room that without some solution, I really believe we run the risk of attendance dropping. Students simply have to work too hard to clearly hear what's going on.

THE UGLY:
Last weekend during my lesson there was a brand new crop of cute little 7th grade girls sitting right up front. During most of my lesson they were talking fairly loudly amongst themselves. In a moment of weakness I called them out in front of entire group, which isn't the ugly part. The ugly part was my attitude and super sarcastic tone. Here's what I said (please read in your most sarcastic tone of voice):
"Hey you girls wouldn't happen to be brand new 7th graders would you? Yes? Oh, that explains why you're so immature and squirrley. Here in Junior High, we actually try to be respectful when somebody else is talking."
Ouch. Needless to say they didn't interrupt my lesson after that. The only redeeming piece of that story is that I tracked them down after service to apologize for the way I handled the situation which seemed to earn me some favor and grace.