Blogelemy

Career Class at Eden Prairie High School.

Yesterday I was given the opportunity to talk about what I do for a living in the Career Class at Eden Prairie High School.  I will take any opportunity I can get to go on a school campus!  This opportunity was unique in that I was given free reign to talk about what I do and why I do it.  I was excited that I knew some of the students who were in the class I was teaching.  I went in thinking that I might not see anyone I knew since EPHS is so behometh. 

Youth ministry can take on so many different settings (Church, camp, school etc.) and it can look vastly different within those settings (volunteer, part-time, full-time, full-time but paid like a volunteer...)  Within all these differences there are lots of different things that student ministers do on a given day.  Sometimes our day is spent prepping for an event.  Some weeks we find ourselves in a different country implementing the mission trip we spent so much time prepping for.  Other days we are with a family dealing with a crises.  And there are those days where we are eating a meal with a leader, student, parent or fellow-youth worker.  For some students I think that I opened their eyes that youthpastors do more than play video games and eat pizza (see videos below).

I shared with the students that one of the hardest parts of ministry is that you never get to see the finished product.  This is because ultimately it is up to that person to make wise choices and seek God.  If I were a carpenter then I would have a finished product when the task was done.  Ministry isn't like that.  Youth ministry is extremely rewarding in that we get to be a part of the discipleship of students who grow in their relationship with God and we get to watch them influence their friends to do the same.  I love watching a student who is squirly as a Freshman grow into a leader and influencer as a Senior.  I also love to share this joy with volunteer youth leaders who get to observe the same growth.  I'm grateful that God has called me to this ministry and can't think of anything else I would rather do!

Here's a funny video from the Simply Youth Ministry Conference giving stereotypes that all youth pastor's should avoid.  They got me on a couple of these:

Here's another great video that takes the opposite approach:

Killer Youth Ministry Tips from Igniter Media on Vimeo.

Ask me anything via formspring...

I'm trying something out. I have seen a few students use formspring and I am seeing if it is something I want to keep up on. 

I do see a valuable ministry use for those times when you ask students to submit questions they might have for a given topic (i.e. love, sex, dating).  This would provide an excellent electronic way for this to take place.

For now ask me a question, and I just might answer you:

Ice Dams

The past few weeks I have been wrestling with the accumulation of snow on my roof which can result in a pretty serious and costly problem of ice dams.  I have an older roof which is far down on the list of things to replace on our home.  As a result the crazy snow that has stayed on the ground (and my roof) since Christmas has been on my mind - especially when I lay down to go to sleep.

Here are a few things that I have been doing to remedy the problem:

- I've been spreading salt on the problem areas like it's birdseed.  I don't know if this does anything but provide peace of mind. 

- After watching this newscast I got my name on the waiting list at the hardware store and have the ice melt hockey pucks to throw up on the roof.

-I had a friend give me this as a gift which is way more fun to use than it probably should be.  It's like cutting cheese off the roof.  It probably works best if it were done soon after the snow has fallen. 

Last night, as I was thinking (and praying) about the ice on my roof, I started to compare ice dam emergencies to youth ministry.  Most leadership involves problem solving and youth ministry is no different.  Here's what I have so far:

• There are lots of times when youth ministry is lots of fun - sometimes more fun than any other ministry!  Imagine what I looked like using this!
• Sometimes we need to change our methods and keep a watchful eye.  I've lived in this house for 2 years and haven't had to worry about this because the accumulation of snow hasn't been as severe. 
• God's transformation needs to take place internally.  If we just change the external (the accumulation of snow) and neglect the internal (ice) we are only fooling ourselves and will soon have huge problems.  Our true character will show itself!
• One of the most difficult parts of ministry is that you don't get to see the finished product.  You can focus all your energy towards a student but if that student rejects or stiff-arms God they will have to learn the hard way.  Likewise the student who seems to get it, can go to college and throw it all away.
• It is better for us to be proactive in the lives of students.  If they can think about wise choices, Godly influences and a life of worship before they've damaged their relationships then there is so much we can spare them from.  Get the snow off before it ices up!
• You are never really finished.  I could get on my roof and remove all the snow but that doesn't guarantee that I'm done.  The next storm (Wednesday night, Sunday morning, retreat, family crisis) is coming...
• A key ingredient to youth ministry is TRUST  You can't guarantee that everything will be saved simply because of your effort.  Recently, I have found myself in situations where I have been up late at night asking God to do what only He can do because I am at a lost. 

Do you have any other connections of Ice Damming to Youth Ministry or leadership?

So you think you can dance?!

This was a fun dance that the Eden Prairie area youth directors did on September 30 at Grace Church. Kelli Warder who is a professional choreographer gets the credit for organizing it.  No one is to blame but myself for my bad dancing.

One person's junk... (3 Stories)

This blog post is at least a month old.  The idea of it has been rattling around in my head for that long and I finally decided to sit down and let it spill out.   One weekend in late April early May, I was working in my yard trying to rid it of all the infestation of dandelion's.  I was using a new tool that I purchased at Home Depot called the Weed Hound.

In addition to this tool, we for the first time, hired a company to come and spray our lawn so that it might be healthier.  One afternoon while I was outside weed hounding, my daughter came outside and wanted to ride her bike, she needed me to walk alongside her for when she gets stuck and needs an extra push.  So, I put the "weed hound" down and walked with her.  She rode to the neighbor's house got off her bike and walked to their yard and started to collect as many "pretty yellow flowers" that her little hands could hold.  She brought her treasure inside so that they could be placed in a vase.  Here the thing that I had spent lots of time and money to remove from my yard was the very thing that brought my daughter joy.

A few days after the story mentioned above, my wife joined in the neighborhood garage sale to sell most of our boy clothes that we had kept over the years.  When our son was born he was the only grandson on both sides of our family and the result was he had warehouses full of clothes and toys.  My wife and mother spent several hours going through these items to prepare them for this sale.  Beyond the baby clothes, we are stumped by how we continually collect so much stuff!  This is our third garage sale in three years.  You would think that we would run out.  My wife was aggressive in advertising on Craigs List what was available for the sale.  As the sale was about to begin, there were several cars waiting for us to open our garage and haul our junk out for them to rifle through.  I gratefully had kid duty for the sale.  This means that I need to keep the kids occupied inside of our house, while mom sells our stuff in the garage.  I was amazed at the steady flow of people coming to purchase the stuff that we could do without.

And finally, our student ministries team a few weeks ago tackled the daunting task of thoroughly cleaning out our storage area.  We did the take everything out and put it all back in.  It took us the better part of two days and almost half a dumpster to contain all of the items that we threw away.  As I was going through this stuff and throwing most of it away, I couldn't help but think of all of the student ministry pastors who preceded me at Grace Church.  The stuff that I saw as trash or worthless at one time was an item that leader thought: "Hey, we might want to keep that we might use it again"  And one day someone will be tossing all of the stuff that I am holding onto.

The moral of the three stories is painfully obvious. 

FM419 and Rock the River

I am so thrilled to invite all Middle School, High School and College students and youth & young adult workers to an incredible student evangelism training conference by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association called FM419.

John Maxwell has said that Billy Graham has communicated the Gospel to more than any other person in human history.  This student evangelism training conference will draw from this historical reservoir of experience in sharing Christ and will be relevant and fresh for the next generation.  See the details below and hurry to reserve your spot by registering online ASAP.

What? FM419 – student evangelism training conference from the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and Rock the River

When? May 15^th-16^th – Friday, May 15, 6:30-9:30pm and Saturday, May 16, 9am-5pm

Where? Grace Church – 9301 Eden Prairie Road, Eden Prairie, MN 55347

Who? Stellar Kart worship and concert, training by youth evangelists from the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association

Cost? $15 includes breakfast and lunch on Saturday, t-shirt and wristband.  For every 10 students who register, 1 goes free. 

Seats are going fast.  They can’t guarantee a spot.  Register Today or ASAP online at www.FM419.org or cravegrace.com

You can also connect, keep up & spread the word with all the happenings of Rock the River in the Twin Cities at www.RocktheRiverTour.com and facebook, MySpace, YouTube and twitter.

The last several weeks I have been involved in a number of meetings and I am excited for what God is "birthing" in the Twin Cities for the next generation.  I alluded to this in a previous blog post.  (You can also read more about Rock the River and FM4:19 on the cravegrace blog).

 

Another reason I love my job

I love seeing God work to transform people's lives!  You don't have to be a pastor to see this happen but as a Pastor I feel like I get a front row seat to it sometimes.

A week and a half ago, a student stayed after on a Wednesday night to talk with me about the state of his mother and father.  This student painted a vivid picture of a husband and wife who live in the same home but do not act as if they are married.  He shared that he had never seen or heard them fight or argue but could tell that they were no longer “in love”.  He also shared that it seemed that they were going to be getting a divorce sooner than later.  He told me that he had been given a free ticket to the Family Life Conference from another student in his small group whose parents are involved in the leadership of Family Life and that he was going to go home and ask his mom and dad to attend the conference.  Honestly, from the picture he painted earlier in our conversation I thought that there was no way this couple was going to attend something like this.  That’s when it hit me, this is why we need to pray for God to do a miracle in this couple’s life.  This student and I prayed that night for God to do a miracle and have his parents accept the invitation and not only go but be transformed in their relationship. 

That Friday, we got the word that his parents were going to the conference!  I couldn’t believe it!  But I also knew that the time to pray was even more significant.  It was one thing for them to go.  It is a completely different thing for them to be open to change and transformation.  So, after a few phone calls the small group leader and I gathered as many guys from this students’ small group that we could on short notice to come to my home and pray for this husband and wife by name.  It was amazing to see this many guys on a Friday night coming to our home to lift up their friends’ parents up in prayer.  And Glory to God, He has done a work in this couple.  I got a text message from this student last Tuesday night that read: “I can’t believe it.  My parents have had a complete 180.  I’m so happy I can’t even explain it.”

Make It Count

This past weekend we hosted a dodgeball tournament with the junior and senior high school ministry at Grace Church.  This is an event that we have been doing for at least four years in this ministry (personally this was only the second one that I had been a part of).  Several months before this event, our team got together and thought creatively about how we could maximize the purpose of this event and create a memory and attraction that would extend to students who don't have a relationship with Jesus Christ.  We determined that our purpose for this event was to create an onramp to the ministry for students.  We wanted to create an appealing experience that would be easy for committed students to invite their friends and fun enough to give them the desire to take the next step.  As far as creativity goes, we looked up the Guinness Book of World Records for what the largest game of Dodgeball was.  Suprisingly it was 50 vs. 50 and was set by the rock band Weezer while shooting a music video for "Troublemaker".  I could've sworn that I have played a larger game of Dodgeball when I was in elementary school.  I guess no one recorded it!

We were more than pleased with the results of this event.  As we reflected on the reasons for this we concluded that there were a few things that contributed to this:

1) we communicated this clearly to the students what the purpose of this event was.
2) we kept the cost down.  It was free to play.  The only cost was lunch if you chose to buy one.
3) we allowed students to register at the door.  This made it hard to organize the teams and brackets
    on the fly.  However, it was helpful for students to procrastinate and wait and see if something
    better comes up (which is what their track record shows)
4) The World Record was a draw for students.  They want to be part of something bigger and the idea
    of being a part of a legitimate world record was appealing to some.  It is amazing what can happen
    when it means more than just a dodgeball tournament.  It appears that we destroyed the record!  It
    will be interesting to see if the people at Guinness recognize it.
5) we provided the means for students to watch the NCAA Tournament.  This removed a potential
    conflict for those students who wanted to watch the games.

There are some great ideas as to how to build on this event for next year.  One thing that we would like to do is partner with other local churches in this endeavor.  I'm left grateful for the team of staff and volunteers who knocked the ball out of the park.  I am proud of our students who asked their friends to join them (there were a lot of students I didn't know who showed up).  I am grateful to God for the best job in the world.

Read Jed Culbertson's blog about World Record Dodgeball

I like big whiteboards and I can not lie

The highlight of my last week was getting two enormous whiteboards for my office.  I have been in this office for a year and a half and I have been contemplating buying a large whiteboard for the past year.  Last week I was getting to know a new staff member in their office and they said, "look at these great whiteboards that were hung in my office, I found out that there are a bunch of these in storage downstairs".  After hearing this, I did not pass go, I did not collect $200, I called dibs on two whiteboards for my office.

While I haven't quite used them yet, I am excited to be able to organize thoughts, create lists, and create an "idea queue's" instead of having a number of post-its and legal pads with random lists and thoughts strewn all over my office.  So you might say that having a whiteboard is a step in going "green".  Maybe I should call it my "greenboard"?

Here are the whiteboards themselves!:

One great benefit to whiteboards is the artwork that your kids can leave!

We have a leader who has some resemblance to the UPS Whiteboard guy.  Look for us to use the video talents of Jed Culbertson to create the Crave Whiteboard video.

The Student Ministries Office (Episode 5) in HD

The Student Ministries Office: Episode 5 from Grace Students on Vimeo.

If you missed the first four episodes you can see them here:

Episode One, Episode Two, Episode Three and Episode Four

Encouraging Students to Bring their Friends

One of the hardest things in youth ministry is encouraging students to bring their friends.  Case in point, Typically on a Wednesday night we want to provide an atmosphere where students can bring friends but some had shared that with the small group breakouts it is hard to bring a friend who might be uncomfortable with sitting in discussion groups.  They asked if we could do some things that would be set apart as a night where people brought friends.  I really liked this idea! 

So, last night we intentionally hosted a Crave Luau in order to provide an environment where students to bring their friends and have easy next steps for them to enter into the Crave Senior High Ministry community.  Specifically, we shared a trailer to our next series "Gospel Journey Maui"  A few students understood what we were doing and brought new friends, the majority did not.  I talked to a lot of our regular students and asked them, "So, who did you bring?"  Most of them said that they brought the person who comes with them every week (I guess they thought that was funny).  One said that he didn't know about the Luau.  The ironic thing is this same kid won a text message contest a few weeks ago where he had to text this back to us in reverse:

11hcramyadsendewnouaulevarcehtotsdneirfruoyfollagnirb

How did he not know we had a Luau and that this was a night for him to bring his friends to?!

We tried to remove obstacles, pricetags etc. to help students make the sell but for some reason it wasn't compelling enough to our regulars for them to invite their friends.  I try to put myself in these students shoes and I can empathize that their is a lot of risk in asking a friend to something like this.  Most students didn't know how serious we were about THROWING a Luau until they arrived and reacted, "Wow, you guys were serious!"  I can't look at this problem without seeing some glaring holes in how we do things.  We are currently looking at revamping our student leadership (ways that we involve students as the leaders instead of doing everything with adults).  Perhaps if we gave the preparation for this Luau to students, they might've caught the need to invite other friends.

All this to say, after attending today's "Rock the River" launch lunch today, I hope that our ministry can sell the vision for students to take advantage of the opportunity to see thousands experience a changed life through the Good News by not just attending this event themselves but by investing in and inviting their pre-Christian friends.  This will be my prayer for the next several weeks!

Teenagers making a difference - "Hoops of Hope"

I love stories about young teenage men and women who get that they can make a difference now and not later. Pastor Rob Wassenaar forwarded this video to me that shows a young teenager (Austin) who gets it! Watch for yourself: