Rebels!

It’s funny. As I was preparing for tonight’s message at youth worship I actually had to stop and laugh. We’re starting a 4 week series on Jesus: The Ultimate Rebel. I had to laugh at myself. Let me give you some background.

I grew up in a very TRADITIONAL church. I mean it was suit and tie every Sunday, you WENT to Sunday School or else sorta deal. I grew to HATE suits and ties. When I became youth group age our youth group experienced a radical growth. There were often around 20 or so of us there. So one Sunday I told my friends “Hey lets all show up to church in blue jeans and tshirts and see what happens.” That Sunday we did just that. Of course there was the normal church belly aching about how the youth don’t look nice and we should want to show God our best clothes when we go to church etc. But no one said anything to us. I later found out my father, a volunteer youth leader, squashed a lot of the commotion but it eventually became the norm for the youth to wear this. Flash forward 15 years and I’m getting ready for church thinking about what tie to wear this morning. When did I get old?!? Mind you I don’t wear a suit and what I do wear is probably considered by most to be dress down. I still rock the blue jeans but they’re nice blue jeans, I wear a modern fit dress shirt untucked with a tie on but the top buttons undone. I also wear my hair in a fauxhawk (I know the typical youth minister hair do, but HEY I value what hair I have left.). But when did I lose my edge? I mean I used to rock out the ripped jeans and tshirt to Sunday morning service.

Isn’t this the story of the church though? When did Christianity lose its edge? Christianity was considered at one time to be very counter cultural, and certainly still is. He rebel against everything that he world holds dear. We love our enemies, we help the poor, we care for the less fortunate, and we love one another…Yep I went there. Maybe the truth is we don’t do a very good job of those things. Maybe church has become just another cool thing to do. One thing I value about my job as youth minister is I stand in the gap. I stand between the young hearts that are on fire for God and would do anything for him and the older generation who have the experience. It’s a privilege and a honor to do that too.

As I get ready for worship tonight I pondering what to wear. I think I may just bust out some torn up jeans and a hoodie tonight. I’m sure when I go to evening service tonight I’ll get odd looks from everyone but it’ll be cool to get that edge back, even for one night. But what about the church? Let’s get that edge back. Let’s make the church not another cool place to go and hang out but a place where people meet Christ, where they see his love at work. Not for just one night, not just for a revival or outreach but all day long 24/7. Let’s be rebels for Christ!

Professional Youth Pastor PT #1

             What makes one a professional youth pastor? I recently read a great blog post my Matt Murphy on http://engagingtheshadowsofyouthministry.com/. It was over top ten traits that make a professional youth minister. Such a great post and I highly encourage you to read it. At one point in my youth ministry journey I asked myself this question. I was a volunteer youth minister and it was my first foray into the youth minister world. I constantly thought what makes one a professional youth minister. I’ve learned since then some things that have helped me come to grips with the fact that if your volunteer, bivocational, full time, half time, part time, most of the time, fill in, stand in, fell in, veteran, or newbie; We are all professional youth pastors. Some of us may act more professional than others, but if you assume the mantle of youth minister/pastor, student minister, etc. the you are a professional. So act like it! What are some ways you can act like it? Well this is where I will impart some advice over the next few weeks.

Tip #1:

Have a purpose for your ministry!

            For the first few years I was in ministry I floated from one event to another. From this Christian music concert, to that lock in, to the next missions event. There was no continuity and no purpose to my madness. I said there has to be a better way of doing this. It has to flow together. Then I stumbled upon a book, at the recommendation of a missionary friend of mine John Laffoon (Big ups John!). It was a little book entitled “Purpose Driven Youth Ministry” by Doug Fields. Honestly I’m a rebel. I read through it thinking “Yeah right! That’s what works out in California! Not here in Kentucky. Yeah that works great when your youth ministry has 500 kids! Not the 5 I have!” But the more I read the more it made sense. Here in my hands was the way to find the purpose of our youth ministry. Within weeks of finishing I gutted our entire operation and restarted with new concrete goals and new found purpose. Ever since then I considered that book second only to the Word of God as the most valuable book to my youth ministry.

            Since then I have moved churches and as soon as I arrived at my current church I implemented a PDYM model. It works folks! But whether you use PDYM, Family Based, or one of your own design make sure your ministry has a purpose. Spell that purpose out, in either a vision statement, ministry statement, or purpose statement. Make sure you know it and can articulate it to anyone who asks.

            We recently had a Nerf Blaster Battle at the church, kids had a great time, but while planning the event I was ready for any question that might arise as far as why we did that event. It was a great outreach, had two new teens come with current students. It was just plain fun, great time of fellowship. And to top it off, was a great segway into a lesson on how Satan try’s to tempt us in our Christian walk by throwing these darts our way, ie drugs, alcohol, sex, etc. But I was ready, I had the purpose of the event spelled out and everyone was aware of why we were shooting each other with foam darts.

            As youth ministers we come with certain stereo types, some warranted some not, but there is one that we can break. The one that says we are unorganized and our ministry has no vision and no direction. To give you an example of our PDYM statement it is as follows, our youth ministry is called HSM by the way (Heart, Soul, and Mind Youth Ministry).

“The purpose of HSM Youth Ministry is to be a JESUS CENTERED youth ministry, designed to REACH (Evangelism) non-believing junior high and high school students, to CONNECT (Fellowship) them with other Christians, to help them GROW (Discipleship) in their faith, and to challenge the growing students to DISCOVER (Ministry) their ministry and HONOR (Worship) God with their lives.”

Guest Blog!

Hey peeps! Sorry I haven't posted in awhile. But check it out! I was a featured guest blogger on Josh Griffin's blog, if you haven't checked Josh's stuff out its great, it is prolly the #1 youth ministry blog out there. If you follow me, then you HAVE to check out:
http://www.morethandodgeball.com
Look for Guest Post: Training Day (that's me!)
Please also be praying for Josh as he is going on a missions trip to Africa. Pray that lives will be changed and spirits renewed! Until next time peeps, just keep swimming!