Last night in the Senior High Ministry we kicked off our "Advance" theme for the summer. It was a push to not take this summer as a break or kick our relationship with God into cruise control. Rather, the challenge was actually to 'advance' in our relationship with God with the summer time afforded to us.
In the midst of thinking through this summer theme, and preparing the first installment of teaching. I had a internal crisis as I realized the obvious fact that I could talk and motivate towards "advancing" all I want but if no one in the room really wants to advance it isn't going to happen. I can't make someone change! So this left me with the question, "What causes a person to want to advance?" I came up with two major ways this happens. The first way that I'm motivated towards change is through inspiration. We can be inspired through movies that we see or influential people that cross our path. Another change agent is our own disappointment with self. If we are able to take a good look at ourselves and see things that we may not like, we can be motivated towards change.
Knowing that my list probably wasn't complete, I asked the students what other things motivate them to change. Their answers were great. Here are a few that I could remember:
Passion
Knowing that I need to represent Christ to the lost
Pride
Jealousy
Satisfaction from being in the Word
Joy
Affirmation from Parents
Fear
Desire not to waste our lives
I don't think that I am done wrestling with this. I think it hits a fundamental issue that Pastors and Teachers face. They can create a compelling talk to motivate change but unless the Holy Spirit prompts a person towards change, the presentation is just words.
Comments