SYMC Early Bird Deadline: Oct 31

We’d love to have you join us at SYMC this upcoming March! There’s a bunch of stuff dedicated to those who work with junior highers, too!Here’s a little promo I was asked to create. Hurry, because the early bird deadline is October 31.

It’s Okay To Steal; In Fact You May Want To Start

I heard it first when I worked with John Maxwell: “Set yourself apart by stealing an hour a day”. In the almost twenty years since I head him say it, I’ve tried to make it a daily habit.

Full-time ministry makes a person busy.
Volunteer ministry makes a person really busy.
Part-time ministry (when you actually have two paying jobs!) makes a person insanely busy.

So how do you juggle the demands of any combination of the following? junior high ministry, a job, a marriage or relationship, raising decent kids, a school schedule, in-laws, a social life, extra-curriculuar interests/hobbies, the desire to speak, write or have additional kingdom impact and “X” (insert something important to you that I forgot)?

John Maxwell would say you start by stealing an hour a day.That’s it. Get up an hour early….or go to bed an hour late….or turn off the TV for an hour….or spend an hour less on Facebook, twitter or Instagram. It’s simple math, really. If you were to steal an hour a day, six days a week you would steal 24 hours a month….OVER HALF A WORK WEEK!

Here’s where it gets interesting. that adds up to 7.5, 40-hour work weeks per year…ALMOST TWO MONTHS OF EXTRA TIME!

What dreams might finally come true; what goals accomplished if you had two extra months each year to work on them?
- Write a book?
- Lose 10 pounds?
- Learn a second language?
- Stay up on current events around the world?
- Get summer camp planned well ahead of time?
- Grow…truly grow…in intimacy with the Father?
- Grow…truly grow…in intimacy with your wife, children or friends?

Very few things in life are free…or even easy. But very few things are as hard as they seem, either…especially if you are willing to start stealing!

Just For Chuckles…

It’s monday; who doesn’t need a little humor to start the week?Here are a few videos that have made me laugh recently:

* I rarely find SNL genuinely funny anymore, but I thought this video was funny AND actually made a worthwhile statement.

A Youth Ministry Dictionary

By now, you are likely familiar with The Youth Cartel, the cool new start-up youth ministry company led by Marko and Adam McLane.

One of their goals (which is a great one!) is to create space for “up and coming” voices in the youth ministry world. To that end, they are set to publish resources that either A) are outside the normal criteria for traditional publishers or B) are created by folks traditional publishers may not yet have on their radar.

The Youth Cartel’s Unauthorized Dictionary of Youth Ministry is one such resource….AND IT’S AWESOME!

If you want a fun, easy, read that will make you chuckle…..and who doesn’t……you need to grab yourself a copy!

Weekend Head-scratchers!

Over the course of the weekend I heard or read several things that made me pause, scratch my head and go, “hmmm….”.

I tend to ponder, to noodle, to chew on. And then I tend to draw a fairly strong conclusion and move on.I haven’t drawn any conclusions on this stuff yet…mostly because I think they are all worth chewing on a little while longer.Most of them weren’t wrapped in a ton of context so I won’t provide much for you.Just statements that are worth pondering, I think.

“Youth Workers Tend To Be Lazy”. Ouch.And stated by a youth ministry expert who doesn’t work in a local church. But worth consideration.

“Social Justice Is The New Legalism”. Zinger.Noodling….noodling….noodling.

“We elevate and idolize family in a way scripture never intended!”Oh, boy!chewing….chewing…chewing….

“Jesus’ pace was slow; ours should be, too”. Pondering….pondering….pondering

There you go. Since most of the readers of this blog are youth workers, and we are a lazy bunch….you should have plenty of time this week to chew on those statements. Don’t instantly dismiss them because there is oftentimes a nugget of truth in the things people of intelligence (and all of these statements were made by sharp minds) have to say.

SYM Show: Teach Me, Sensei

AC is back by popular demand, and Jason seems a little nervous about being permanently replaced! The guys talk about Hollywood look-a-likes, and share their favorite teaching tips. Plus, Jason is looking to hire!

SYM Show: Teach Me, Sensei

AC is back by popular demand, and Jason seems a little nervous about being permanently replaced! The guys talk about Hollywood look-a-likes, and share their favorite teaching tips. Plus, Jason is looking to hire!

Power To The People (P2P)

In this installment of P2P we visit Brandon Dasinger, A youth Pastor at First UMC Crestview. He has been given the task of creating a certificate program for youth workers in his denomination and is looking for feedback.

“Fellow youth pastors…I need your help! I am working with the conference on developing a certification school for youth workers. This training would be similar to the training of local license pastors…”

To read the post, and give your thoughts, visit Brandon’s blog HERE.

SYM Show: Yo, AC!

The one and only AC joins the boys and is introduced as the official "SYM Show Sub", and joins the conversation about caring for students. Plus, Jason brags about his new iPhone 5 and makes an incredibly bad joke (even by Kurt's standards).

SYM Show: Yo, AC!

The one and only AC joins the boys and is introduced as the official "SYM Show Sub", and joins the conversation about caring for students. Plus, Jason brags about his new iPhone 5 and makes an incredibly bad joke (even by Kurt's standards).

Random Randomness

I bore easily….and I’m already bored with the JH Ministry In Pictures series. I’m sure I’ll return to it (I’ve got 30 or so), but for now, we pause.Some random stuff on my mind:

- The current situation the Jets find themselves in with Sanchez and Tebow is an interesting case study in momentum and leadership. An organization is struggling, and it has a couple of options. One is to stick with what you think will work and what you have structured for. The other is risky…even though it has had some level of success in previous organizations.What would you do (not in Jets scenario…in your ministry setting.)?

- I watched the debate last night. I’m no Romney fan (I actually tend to lean a bit more independent/libertarian), but dang…the guy showed up last night! Obama was so disengaged that it made me wonder if it is actually a strategy of his to get beat up in the first debate and make a “come back” in the next two. Seriously, he made me wonder if he even wants to get reelected. It is implausible that Obama will come out that flat next time.

- Here are my Three-word reviews on my two most recent movies (This is for you, Eric Venable):
* Looper: Almost really good.
* End of Watch: Not for dates.

- I’ve resolved to avoid using the “kingdom” as a bargaining chip.As in: “Try to have a kingdom mentality, here.” or “I think this would be great for the kingdom”. I’ve found that I (read “most people, too”) seem to mostly use such language when there is something to gain, a decision to defend, etc. It can make me appear spiritual while simultaneously “spiritually bullying” the recipient of such language to do what I want.Obviously this isn’t always the case, and plenty of people have a healthy, biblical, generous view of kingdom dynamics…I’m just not sure I always do so I am going to use the phrase a bit more cautiously.

- Today our church is hosting Duffy Robbins and Doug Fields’ Speaking to Teenagers seminar. They are two of the best youth ministry communicators out there (though they are very similar in style…I wish for a seminar like this they were more distinct from each other), and if you find a seminar within driving distance in the future, I think it would be well worth you time!

JH Ministry In Pictures

I’ve often wondered if this simple job description is the most accurate for junior high youth workers: “Sowers of Seeds”
You could make a fairly strong argument that one of our most consistent tasks is that of continuously tossing out little seeds in the lives of young teens.

- seeds of faith
- seeds of hope
- seeds of “I’m okay”
- seeds of “I’m gifted!”
- seeds of “I’m gonna make it!”
- seeds of confidence
- seeds of “I can make a difference”

I often tell the junior high team I help lead, “We are ALWAYS casting seeds, and SOMETIMES we even get to harvest them!”
Too many junior high youth workers are frustrated by not enough tangible result for their labor. And their response is often to question their calling, their effectiveness, their students receptivity, etc.Instead, I think it’s wise to develop a long-view of youth ministry and embrace the fact that much of what we do in the junior high years is truly just sowing seeds that will (maybe) take root in our ministry only to begin to fully grow and blossom later on.

Maybe it’s okay to focus less on results and more on faithfully, consistently sowing the seed.

JH Ministry In Pictures

It’s Monday, it’s my day off, and I’m feeling a bit lazy. So I decided to pick a picture that was mostly self-explanatory.

Most adult youth workers like to talk….A LOT. In fact, we probably talk a little bit too much most of the time. It makes sense: We are older, wiser and have all sorts of life experience; especially compared to a 13 year-old. Because of this it’s extremely tempting to share our answers and wisdom with the students in our ministry…A LOT. In fact, we probably share our answers and wisdom a little bit too much most of the time.

The solution: Be a junior high youth worker with MASSIVE ears and a TINY mouth. In other words, make it a goal to listen much more than you talk. When you stop to think about it, most junior highers have few people in their lives who truly listen to them. Teachers teach, coaches coach, and parents parent. Some are better listeners than others but most adults view their role as that of imparting information to young teens.

Want to be an exceptional junior high youth worker? Develop the art of listening.

JH Ministry In Pictures

For years, our junior high ministry spent Spring Break in Mexico building homes for local families. Because the ministry we partnered with didn’t allow power tools (what, they don’t trust a 7th grade girl with a skill saw?) we had to hand-mix the concrete used for the 11′x 22′ foundation. That doesn’t sound like a ton of work until you actually do it; which we did….for about 12 hours on the first day. We had only three days to completely build a home, and if we didn’t push like crazy mixing concrete on day one, the foundation wouldn’t dry in time to build the rest of the home.

Mixing the concrete was hard, thankless work. In over 10 years of doing it we NEVER had a new home owner look at the concrete floor and thank us for such a great foundation.But we consistently reminded our students that without the blood, sweat and tears of the first day of mixing concrete, the rest of the house would have never been built.

Junior High ministry is the “concrete mixing” part of youth ministry….it’s where the foundation is built. It’s hard, and often thankless. I’ve been to hundreds of High School graduation parties over the years and rarely get mentioned in the “thank you” speech while the High School pastor almost always does. While the student is thanking the high school pastor and ministry for all their influence, I’m sitting there thinking to myself, “Hey, what about me? You were a punk in junior high and we loved you anyway! We layed the foundation that the high school group built upon!”

What you are doing matters….it matters a lot. You are in the concrete mixing business. Don’t give up, because God will use the foundation of your student’s junior high years to build something wonderful!

SYM Show: Mail Call!

They guys are hitting their stride....for the THIRD week in a row the show comes in under 15 minutes! This week they decide to clear out the mailbox one more time to answer a couple questions from the Youth Worker Nation. What types of policies should be in place for volunteers? What are the age restrictions? Should you show PG13 movies in youth group? And does Jason fold or wad (okay that wasn't asked....but we are dying to know).

SYM Show: Mo' Money, Mo' Problems

This week Kurt shares a new resource that he's overly excited about, and the boys jump right into two emails from the Youth Worker Nation....including one that NONE of us would want to see! And, in a crazy twist...It's actually Kurt who quotes scripture!

SYM Show: Mail Call!

They guys are hitting their stride....for the THIRD week in a row the show comes in under 15 minutes! This week they decide to clear out the mailbox one more time to answer a couple questions from the Youth Worker Nation. What types of policies should be in place for volunteers? What are the age restrictions? Should you show PG13 movies in youth group? And does Jason fold or wad (okay that wasn't asked....but we are dying to know).

SYM Show: Mo' Money, Mo' Problems

This week Kurt shares a new resource that he's overly excited about, and the boys jump right into two emails from the Youth Worker Nation....including one that NONE of us would want to see! And, in a crazy twist...It's actually Kurt who quotes scripture!

JH Ministry In Pictures

I’m a visual learner. Because of this, I’ve often used simple images in my thinking and training about junior high ministry.So…I thought I’d pass some of them along in a series called, “JH Ministry In Pictures”. Feel free to use these photos in your own setting if you’d like!

I use the picture above as a super simple way to explain the three primary areas of our JH ministry focus: We minister to students, to parents and to our volunteers. A three-legged stool is solid and steady but if we neglect or completely ignore any one of the three legs it results in an unstable, wobbly ministry.

In our setting, we try to spend about 75% of our time ministering to our students and to our volunteers and about 25% of our time ministering to parents. Certainly the percentages vary from time to time, and I suppose arguments could be made for a wide variety of time allocations in these three areas…which would certainly be valid.

Why such a simple picture?
A) JH ministry is actually quite simple; why do we feel the need to complicate things?
B) I want anybody on my team to be able to explain our ministry focus to a parent or potential volunteer clearly and succinctly while having coffee at Starbucks.

Random Randomness

- We are in the middle of a new series titled, “SNAPSHOT…Pictures of Jesus” in which we are looking at four “pictures” of Jesus: Jesus the human, Jesus the shepherd, Jesus the rebel and Jesus the savior. It is shaping up to be one of the best series we’ve created in a while.

- THREE picks in the 1st quarter? Come on, Peyton, even Tim Tebow can do that!

- If you haven’t watched the most recent episode of the Simply Youth Ministry Show, you can do so right here.It feels like Jason and I are beginning to hit our stride. One of the many things I love about Jason is that he isn’t afraid to speak his mind…which he certainly does in this episode!

- Dear Mitt Romney, I think your campaign is in deep, deep trouble. Some of it isn’t your fault….but most of it is.

- This year I’m leading a JH small group with a highly organized co-leader. He thinks he hit the lottery by getting me as his co-leader. I am about to shatter his dreams. In fact, I may have already done so since his wife reads this blog regularly!

- Yesterday I played in a golf tournament for the Jessie Rees Foundation. Jessie was a 12 year-old girl in our junior high ministry who lost her battle with a brain tumor several months ago. This AMAZING girl spent her last months on earth starting a little foundation (that has grown and grown) that gives away “JOY JARS” to kids all across the country who are fighting terminal cancer. It is a super simple way for your ministry to encourage others. Check it out!