Tim Schmoyer is posting some great stuff over at his blog.
What I Wish Someone Had Told Me . . .
and
Problems With Youth Ministry Today and In The Future.
both of these are great posts and if you are in youth ministry, you must read them.
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I Agree with Tim
14 JanAt the Life In Student ministry blog, Tim posted his reasoning for keeping High School and Jr. High combined.
I agree with his assessment. I grew up in a ministry that had a combined big group mid week and then more age specific sunday school. The big gathering on wednesday nights were some of my favorite times as a Jr. Higher because I saw people older than me actively engaging their faith, and maybe our group was unique (i hope not) but I always felt that the older kids were very inclusive with the younger ones.
What do you think?
Success?
8 DecI know senior pastors can go through some pretty depressing thoughts on Sunday afternoon, and monday. Re-hashing what they said, what they could have said, what the church needs to do better or differently, feeling like a failure.
Well youth pastors can go through that too. I’ve been feeling it lately. I know that the size of our ministries weekly attendance is small, and I have a certain amount of internal and external pressure to see it grow. And that sucks. I try to play it cool, like it doesn’t affect me, but it does. The frustration grows and the ministry doesn’t.
This morning I started my work week by sending in last nights youth group numbers. And I commented for the first time on my frustration. I never do that. I usually just email in the numbers and move on. I didn’t know why I did that. I cleaned out my inbox, and then went to my google reader account to read some of my blog mentors. I find this is a good way for me to start the day. Email, check the blogs, and then focus on my projects the rest of the day. That’s just my process.
The 2nd blog I read was from
The size of your ministry does not determine the level of your success.
Even at Saddleback
22 SepMedia mistakes happen. Read this post from Josh and take comfort from Josh’s experience. We are not alone.
At the beach
11 AugSo we just walked out on the jetty it was covered in bird poop. Now there is lunch olympics and pirates dice happening. I love laid back trips like this.
Today and This Week
10 AugToday I have the privilege of preaching in our morning services. I’ve got a double header this week and next week. Talking about Genesis 41, Joseph and Pharaoh. I’ll post video later.
Then right after church we are taking the youth group to OCEAN SHORES!!! Woot! We are getting away for a few days. Instead of camp with the network this we opted to do our thing. which will be fun. I hope to see relationships strengthened this week between some of our older and younger students. So that’s what I’ll be up to.
Youth Leaders Meeting = Awesomeness
22 JulI know what you are thinking, how could any meeting = awesomeness. Well I will tell you. First of all the acutal meeting was brief. Which is key to awesome meetings. Second, we allowed for people to hangout and have fun together.
I’m going to be really honest right now, I have not felt that way after a youth leaders meeting in a long time. The last time I felt like this was when I was interning with Jay Smith and Cedar Park. Our youth leaders meeting were often the most fun part of being in youth ministry, because we all loved being together.
I hope that our meetings can continue to have that vibe where we want to get the meeting out of the way so relationships can be built. I think it’s important that the team that you work with likes each other.
I was super encouraged by this meeting because if our team continues to build relationships and love for each other, then we will be more willing to charge hell with a water pistol together, because we’ll do it together.
who are you kids becoming?
21 Julthis is from rick lawrence in this months Group Magazine
“I challenge parents to pay more attention to who their kids are becoming than to what they’re acheiving. Kids’ achievements may or may not impact the world for good, but who they’re becoming certainly will.”
Hurt by Chap Clark
11 JunI wasn’t personally hurt by Chap Clark. Chap Clark wrote a book called Hurt.
Anyway.
I am prepping for next weeks sermon. We are doing a Parenting Series at creekside, which is pretty cool and you can find our videos for the past few weeks at vimeo.com/creeksidechurch.
In my prep work I started perusing my copy of Hurt looking at the Highlights and I just was blown away by how insightful this book really is. I would say if you are a youth worker or a parent who wants to understand your teenager and their friends a little better. This book is a great resource. Check it out.
The Hurt in Clark’s book is Systemic Abandonment. Really powerful stuff. Read this book.
Also I would recommend Soul Searching by Christian Smith.
The struggle in Soul Searching is Moralistic Therapeutic Deism. That’s not just an adolescent problem, that’s an america problem.
Prayer Post-Its
4 Jun
This picture is more than just a bunch of random post-its. Everyone of these post-it’s represent a person a soul that our students are praying for. I took this picture with my iPhone and it was only a portion of the whole wall that was covered with Names.
On Sunday evening all of Creekside gathered to pray for our church, to move us forward as a church, and our students prayed in our student room to pray for their friends and our ministry. So great to come home and see this. Big prayers
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