My beautiful wife has started blogging again after a long hiatus during our transition to Gateway Community Church. My wife's latest entry is about our high school small group that meets on Tuesday night.

"I'm so amazed at God's perfect plan. His willingness to use imperfect humans to express his love to the next generation. Chad and I meet with 12 students on Tues. night in our home. This group of high schoolers..." Read more.

Soul Revolution: How Imperfect People Become All God Intended

how to get students to serve

Words would be pretty insufficient to describe what has been happening with the Tuesday night student leadership gatherings that Cat, Andy, and I have hosted at our home. I tried to describe a little bit of it here. Raising the bar with these students has resulted in some pretty cool stuff. As we do this I can't help but think about REVEAL. Willow is right. Today's seeker and even Christ follower does not want to be entertained. They were impressed years ago but now the game has changed. You can ask them to read, pray, express, experience, serve, and reach and it is like combining gas and a lighted match.

This past Wednesday night at the Uprising students from this gathering led worship and it was off the charts. As we get close to the Fall my reproducible question will be experimented with through these students. Students will lead the gatherings and adults will simply encourage and equip. I have been really questioning that old school youth ministry "urban" legend that you can't put students in a shepherding role or aspect of shepherding. We have some students in this group that have been more solid than some of our adult leaders.

Here are some tips to start getting students to lead and serve.

1. Announce your intentions and see who shows up. On a program night at the end of the service I simply announced if you have been wanting to go deeper and do something more with your faith I am holding a meeting in my office for the next 10 minutes.

2. Focus on listening to Jesus at gatherings and the passages that have to do with being a disciple. Invite someone to lead in worship with an acoustic guitar. It softens and prepares students through a language they all understand in music.

3. Make sure you talk only 20% of the time. That time should be focused on pushing the group toward the truth in the passage and the tension from the potential application.

4. Create experiences they can speak through. Having them use their hands to create gives them a means to drop their guard as they speak through the exercise or experience they went through.

5. Require students to read large amounts of God's Word. They want to. They have to come prepared to discuss it. We have read whole books in the New Testament during each week. Teach them how to journal and give them a small notebook.

6. Create opportunities where they can confess their faults to each other. This is where they begin to love on each other and help each other.

7. Be clear in your intentions that as they grow they could not keep the experience to themselves. Prepare them for their leadership and your groups growth.

8. Make sure every idea is birthed through them when it comes to doing something with their faith. Do not preach or tell them what they should do. If you just ask questions you will see them present and authentic and self initiated response that is far more healthy. In regards to this you have to be prepared to equip them to do whatever it is God has laid on their heart. *If you tell them what to do it just became an event they get to attend. If they decide what they want to do and wrestle with it you just created a movement and passion.

Soul Revolution: How Imperfect People Become All God Intended

Social Online Network for Youth and College Ministries

I got word from a peer in student ministry, Brandon Riley, about a service called tuggle.

Tuggle is a free social network designed specifically for youth and college ministries built on top of a management platform. Brandon says, "the students at our church have been using Tuggle this past year and it has revolutionized our student ministry online."

You can find out more about it here.

campus group game (Nertz)

Over the holidays my sister, Ashley who goes to school at Texas Tech, taught our family a game called Nertz. This game is incredibly addictive and amazingly fun. It has been a student magnet for hanging out having fun and laughing at each other. We have played this game for the first hour of our high school small group for the last two times that we have met and even after the Bible study kids want to play again. Here is a little bit of instruction on how you play.

Object Of Nertz

The object of Nertz is to score 100 points as quickly as possible in as few hands as necessary.

Number Of Players

Two opposing teams, of two members per team, may play. One member is the Dealer and plays cards from the Dealer Stack, the other plays cards from the Nertz pile. A single player may oppose another single player and perform both tasks.

Game Layout

A. Dealer B. Nertz Card Player C. Common Scoring Area D. Dealer Stack N. Nertz Pile T.

Team Play Area Read the rest.

small group leader training

Today after our fifth service all of our small groups leaders gathered for lunch in the student building. I ordered Saddleback's video a month ago that gives student leaders an inside look at how they do their small groups. If you feel like your voice has gotten old to your leaders and is not getting through don;t ever be afraid to borrow someone's elses voice. Doug Fields said the same things I say every month about relationships and contact work so the vidoe worked well to get the leaders talking and looking forward to 08. I reccomend this video to help you at your next trainning meeting. You can order using the link below.

Jesus and the Burger King Whopper Commercials

Cat and I lead a high school campus group every Wednesday night in our home for Pembroke Pines High School. We're getting ready to start a new study from simply youth ministry called beginning in Jesus. Watching the expressions and hearing the discussion in the group got me thinking about hunger and growth. I got to thinking about the new burger king commercials. Watch the full length commercial at the end of this post and then think about theses statements and questions.

When we are hungry for something we start freaking out don't we? You get a craving and nothing else will do. What happens spiritually, socially, and emotionally when we deprive people of Jesus? What if we didn't talk about Jesus at our church or in our student ministry? What if we deprived students of the one thing they need the most? Would they freak? Could we see it in their lives, expressions, discontent? It really begs the question what is the most important thing we do in student ministry? What if we didn't do it anymore? What if they don't freak? We have a serious problem don't we?

Students are so smart. They know what they really need. They come to your ministry every weekend or midweek screaming out in their lives "GIVE ME A WHOPPER! GIVE ME JESUS CHRIST!" It's what they know we do. They expect it. Don't be afraid to serve it up. It never gets old. It's who we are and nothing else can compete with Jesus or take his place.

What do you think?

Simply Youth Ministry - simplifying ministry and saving you time!

Five Things You Can Count On When You Work With Hurting Kids

Most kids are hurting a whole lot more than they are willing to let on to the adults in their world
More importantly - Most kids we work with are hurting a whole lot more than we want to know. Most kids will talk to the person they trust, (often a friend) - not the person they are supposed to talk to.
Most hurting kids usually care more about our heart than they care about our education or our qualifications.
Sadly, most kids in our communities don't experience the church as a safe, healing place.

s/o YS

free student ministry resource "parable of the soils"

We just finished our series entitled "the seed." This series was on the parable of the soils from Mark 4. We took five weeks with the first being an introductio to the series. Posted here are the Large Group Teachings and the Small Group Discussion Questions. You can use this with either high school or middle school. Enjoy the material and we hope it helps your youth ministry.

Large Group Discussion
Week 1
Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

Week 5

Small Group Questions
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Week 5

Series Slide (click to enlarge and copy)

Teaching Slide (click to enlarge and copy)

service project

This past Sunday we had about 200 students and leaders break out into small groups that headed out to the grocery store with money and a thanksgiving meal list. Students bought thanksgiving dinner with all of the trimmings (what does that mean?) and dropped off their purchases at the doorsteps of unsuspecting families who were in need this year. As kids watched from their parked car up the street in the cover of darkness, another kid would pound on the door and bolt. It was a good way for the kids to give and not get anything in return. Here are some pictures. Cat has a small group of middle school girls she leads. Her and her assistants broke up their group of 25. My high school campus group also participated. I had a few students who are also middle school table leaders so they headed out with their crew. Anyway it was a good time. After the service project all of the students came back to celebrate. I took a few shots of Duce and some of his students getting ready and leading the students. These paticular pics at the end are cool to me becaus eone day I know we are going to be using that auditorium for an all students, all campuses, shin-dig! (gathering) Another thing of note is we realized how much better the band sounds with modern day equipment. What an incredible difference. Having just a few upgrades would tremendously increase our influence nad potential with worship.

Youth Ministry Class 101

Our six year old Cameron has the best teacher. My wife who majored in elementary education and who is amazing herself is constantly impressed. Today we were talking about how good she was and that's when we realized she doesn't have a desk. She doesn't need it. She moves around from student to student getting down on their level with hands on teaching. She won't allow herself the luxury of being tethered to comfort or tradition. Ouch.

investing in students

Look at that car! It's awesome isn't it? It's a Fiat Spider. By coincidence I drive a 1991 Mazda Miata but it's only because I was looking a for a car and a friend had one they sold to me for $1,200 three years ago. But I will never forget the day when I was 15 years old and a youth worker in the church I grew up in let me drive their Fiat through the neighborhood. Looking back as an adult youth leader I recognize that Jay and Sharice were depositing into my relational account the beginnings of what I now know as incarnational or relational ministry. Even though I can't recall too many conversations with them I can recall that Jay & Sharice were always there and cared about me at a time when I didn't know God. When I drive my Miata or see a Fiat Spider my mind goes back to them as a couple and who they were to me in my life beyond the people who let me drive their car one late night after small group.

As leaders four things happen when you stand before kids.

1. You determine and be prepared to be a mentor for students beyond their years in school. You're paying it forward so never forget that it takes a year to earn their trust if you're lucky, two years to be seen as a viable outlet for help, and three years to have earned the right to be heard from their point of view. Beyond that you need to know that students should and will come to you again later on in their life for advice, help, and sometimes to say thanks.

2. You go under the microscope. Even when you feel like they a student doesn't care what you do or say to them you need to understand that they always, always, do no matter what they say or how they act. They are watching you with incredible scrutiny. Every word you say or thing you do is a chance for them to learn, be affirmed, or be denied in their eyes. Everything matters. Don't be afraid just be Jesus and that's all you can do.

3. You become better. When you work with students there are many times that you will cry, be disappointed, frustrated, or even angry. There are also times where you will be proud, euphoric with rejoicing, and happy over what God did with your kids. Being available to students and effectively in their life places you in one of the rarest and most elite group of people who serve God in their community. By investing in kids you replicate the model of incarnational ministry that Jesus used and changed the world with. You really are a hero worthy to be commended that is building lives in the present and for the future.

4. You become empty. Those who work with students know that you mostly give and what you give is never from yourself only but from God. By being empty everyday for students you come to a place where you have to be filled with God and the power of prayer and His Word. You can not give what you do not posses. If you try to lead students in relational ministry without the presence and power of God you will burn out and possibly do more damage than good. By depending on God you actually will do yourself a favor with the trmendous emotional and relational burden that you will be led to hold. Even Jesus had to peel away to get alone with God.

Thanks for reading. If you feel you need ot know more and a rehungry for the journey here are a few books that will prepare for a lifetime of mentoring.

The Be-With Factor: Mentoring Students in Everyday Life

Hurt: Inside the World of Today's Teenagers (Youth, Family, and Culture)

goodwill hunting

Last night in my high school campus group for Pines Charter Cat and I hosted a social for our kids we called Goodwill Hunting." The idea was not my own it came from Matt McGill.

The idea behind the event is that you get your small group together and ask them to bring $20 for the night. When everyone shows up you draw names from a hat and the name you draw is the person you will shop for at Goodwill. WHatever you buy they have to wear. Whatever someone buys for you you must be willing to wear it too.

We had a blast the outfits were spectacularly scary, funny, and memorable. I think we all had a good time. Oh, I forgot to say that you are only aloud to spend $10 on your partner and the other $10 is for dinner.




Simply Youth Ministry – help your students cultivate spiritual growth…on their own with the HABITS Super-Series

campus group

Last night was our third campus group meeting for Pines Charter High School. We had a great group but Cat and I had to cut it short for a staff meeting at the church. It was one of those talks that you see how far you can push it. First off I know God does the pushing internally with students as his word is being discussed but if you're like me when you are creating, crafting, and pulling discussion out of students there is an internal conflict within you wrestling between two places, too much and not enough. We discussed the passage on how Jesus told Peter to cast out his net. I know the easy thing to do is to judge yourself on the dialogue but the real work is in the leader's prayer the next day.

Leading a group of students on a regular basis with small groups is the best tool in a student pastor's arsenal for personal growth, learning, and relevancy. I am so glad to finally have room now to be doing this again. That season of being out from this was arduous.