Thought For the Day...

Do you ever feel guilty for not being more of a "morning person" in your spiritual life?

Don't! Jesus got alone to study and pray just as much in evening as He did in the morning time.

The "American" Prayer

I have been wrestling for some time with the way that I pray. I know that God hears all prayers but I can't help but feel like that when I pray, I pray very selfishly. So it caused me to begin listening to others as they prayed. I found 4 common things that almost every person prays for when they pray...

Any idea what you think those 4 things might be?

Church Budget

"I wish there were a way to do youth ministry without money." I can't even begin to count the number of times that I have made that statement to myself and to others. It seems like so often, the things that we want to do in ministry are often handicapped by the all-mighty dollar.

What happens in a lot of church all over the world is that the church leadership feels the pressure to higher a student ministry pastor but they are not ready financially to take on the responsibility.

I read an interesting thought on this by Mark DeVries in "Susatinable Youth Ministry." DeVries suggested that a church should be prepared to spend roughly $1,000 per student that is involved in the student ministry. Now, that number may sound high (or low depending on the # of students who are involved in your student ministry) but part of that number also includes the actual salary that the youth pastor is being paid.

That can be a daunting task for any church to take on, however, it is so important that a church be prepared financially to take on a growing, thriving student ministry. Not being prepared is often what causes a lot of youth pastors to become frustrated and often leave their ministry setting.

Book Review #3: Sticky Church

Our church leadership decided that we would read "Sticky Church" together this year so that we could better learn how to close the "back door" of the church. Osborne challenges that so many churches are all about having their front doors swinging wide open that we all too often forget to close the back door once they are in the church. We look at our church and ask ourselves, "Why aren't we seeing more growth in the church? I see new people showing up every week." Osborne says that it is possible that so many church as so focused on getting people in, that they forget to take care of them once they are there.

This was a great book to read as this was something we had already been discussing within our student ministry. How and/or where can we create "stick or velcro" points to will cause people to stick to our church?

Stomp Team

In the middle of May, I preached on the importance of using the gifts that God has given for His kingdom. At the end we challenged ALL of our students to investigate within themselves what they were good at and ask themselves, "How can I use this for God?"

Well, anyone that knows anything about the town of Avon knows that it is known for it's marching band and drum line. They are the reigning Bands of America's champions and 7 time National Champions. There is no doubt that there are some very talented students at Avon High School.

I brought up the idea of putting together a Stomp Band to a few of the students on the drum line and they absolutely loved the idea. So two weeks later they put on their first performance and rocked the house. Today, they were asked to playin the Arts Festival at Arbuckle park and they were nothing short of amazing!

We could not be any more proud of them than we already are. If you want to check out all of the videos from today's performance (and maybe leave some words of encouragement), you can check them out here: YouTube

Battle of Schools Event - Pt. 1

Since the time I arrived in Avon, I have wanted to do something that would bring the students from all over Hendricks County together. So we decided to do an event called Battle of the Schools that is much like a HUGE pep rally where we will pit schools against one another in contests to win the ultimate prize: The Spirit Trophy. This will be an annual event for us and we are super excited about it.

As we began planning it, we realized that to make this event really work, it was going to take us meeting with the schools and gaining their "buy-in" to help promote it school wide. Any one who works in ministry knows that this is tough because schools have to be cautious about blending "church and state."

Today, God moved! We met with the "higher ups" at Avon High School and they have agreed to partner with us. They are going to promote this event school wide and encourage their students to go and represent their school! How awesome is that?

Book Review #2: Crazy Love

Need a wake up call? Francis Chan's, "Crazy Love" may be exactly what you are looking for. Chan challenges us to consider God's love for us and how it has changed our lives. There are a lot of tough questions and thoughts that you will have to wrestle through to really get something out of this book.

Though I don't 100% agree with some of the theology that he uses to challenge us, I definitely agree with him when he challenges us live in a way that seems strange to others as we pour out the same love that God has shown to us on to others. This was absolutely a great read!

Leaders are learners

Doug Fields wrote a book a few years ago titled, "Help! I'm a student leader." It's a great book to read and even better for your students to read about truly becoming a leader and not just someone with another title. In the book, Fields challenged students to continue to learn because "Leaders are learners." He then produced an audio series for both students and youth workers to help them continue to learn and grow.

Personally, I have bookshelves of books that I once desired to read (or still desire to read) but just haven't gotten around to it. It's so easy to focus on the tasks that need to be gotten done each week within your own personal ministry setting that we often neglect ourselves and our own personal growth as leaders. I'm not talking about reading the latest youth ministry book either in hopes of finding that new "magic formula" that will catapult your ministry to the next height.

So I have issued a personal challenge to myself. For the next 52 weeks, I am going to read one book a week. That way, I can continue to learn and develop more as a leader...and not just a youth ministry leader, but a leader for the Kingdom of God.

Each Sunday night, I will post my latest book review. So check back each week to see what I've been reading.

Book Review #1: REFUEL

Doug Fields' newest book, REFUEL, is an incredible book for those who are struggling to keep the spiritual tank full.

What I LOVED about this book is that it is not a book with another formula to follow that will be the next step in your spiritual journey. Fields' was right on target when he talk about all of the hoops that churches often put in place for people to be "more spiritual." (What does that even mean, anyway?)

If you want to fueled, all you really need is to stop, be quiet and make a connection. God will take care of the rest.