Youth Ministry Tip: What do you do when things get tough?

What do you do when money gets tight?

What do you do when attendance goes down?

What do you do when your friend is dying?

What do you do when you just received a phone call that changed everything?

If you don't answer these questions correctly, things will only get worse. 

Here are four things you have to do when things get tough:

1. Don't jump ship.

In Acts 27 the Apostle Paul goes through a tough time. The ship is is sailing on is getting ready to crash. Many people think about jumping ship, but Paul encourages them, "unless we stay with the ship we cannot be saved". 

Many times like the men Paul was traveling with, when things get tough, we want to quit the ministry, leave the church, dump the friend, jump ship and move on. But what good will that do? Running away from the tough times will not change anything. Keep trying. Keep pressing. Keep believing. Don't jump ship. 

2. Hold onto what you believe. 

In the same story in Acts 27, once the ship ran aground the men held onto pieces of the boat that had broken off. They held onto those pieces and floated safely ashore. 

When things start getting tough, you have to hold onto that you believe. 

Hold onto that passage of scripture. Hold onto that statement of faith. Hold onto what you know to be true. It just might be what it takes to get you safely to shore. 

3. Trust God for supernatural provision. 

God is able to do exceedingly and abundantly above that which we can ask or think. When tough times come, trust him to provide, protect, deliver, and change the situation. 

God parted the Red Sea for Moses, held the sun still for Joshua, surely He can help you.  Don't jump ship. Hold onto what you believe and trust Him to do something that only He can do!

4. Don't become bitter. 

There are very few things in life that we can control. We cannot control other peoples actions, words, or deeds. However, we can always control our heart. 

Scripture teaches us, "Above all else guard your heart for it is the well spring of life".

When your ministry is not growing, but your friends ministry is, guard your heart. 

When your Pastor pulls you into his office and corrects you for something you feel he is not being correctly, guard your heart. 

When you lose something or someone that was very dear to you and you don't understand why, guard your heart. 

Guard your heart against bitterness. Bitterness is a small monster that burrows it's way down deep and grows in the darkest place of our heart. But bitterness never stays there. It grows and begins to claw its way into ever area of our life. 

When things get tough. Choose to not become bitter. 

It would be so great to live in a world where there were no problems or opposition. But that is not the world we live in. Jesus once said, "In the world you will have many troubles, but don't worry, I have overcome the world".  

Your story is not over.

Jesus tomb is empty. 

Don't jump ship. Hold onto what you believe. Trust God to do the supernatural. Never become bitter. 

Youth Ministry Tip: Think Like a Parent (Part One)

I have been serving in Youth Ministry in one form or another for 24 years. You know one thing I have never had a parent ask me? I have never had a parent ask me "How many kids are in your Youth Group". 

Isn't that odd? 

In a ministry world where the conversation often turns to size, numbers, and how how many are you running, I never remember a parent asking me about the size of the group, number of attendance, or how many are in the room each week. 

Why is that? 

Could it be that parents are more concerned with safety, positive friendships, and spiritual growth of their children than the number of people in the room?

Maybe we as Youth Pastors should think more like a parent.

Maybe we should concentrate on making sure we create a physically and emotionally safe environment for teenagers on a weekly basis. 

Maybe we should create space during our gatherings for teenagers to cultivate authentic relationships with other students and Godly adults. 

Maybe we should put more energy in growing our teenagers spiritually, helping them read and understand the scriptures, live a life of victory, and press on even when they fail. 

Thinking like a parent requires that we spend more time giving teenagers what they need, safety, friendships, and authentic faith, and less time manufacturing what we want, a fun night and a full room. 

When we think like a parent, we might just make disciples. And isn't that what this thing is all about?

Youth Ministry Tips: Making disciples not attracting attendees.

In making disciples we have got to grab ahold of this truth - growth happens best in a group.

If someone wants to be a better basketball player, they don't just shoot hoops alone in the driveway they join a Basketball team. (A small group consisting of a coach and 12 to 15 players) 

If someone wants to be a better painter, they don't just purchase some paint supplies and become Picasso alone in their room. Instead they take a painting class. (A small group consisting of a teacher and 12 to 15 painters) 

If someone wants to grow in their walk with Christ, they don't just go to a church or grab a Bible and start reading it. If they want to grow they get involved in a small group led by a seasoned Christian and 12 to 15 other believers. 

Youth Pastor grab ahold of this truth. Growth happens best in a group. 

If you want your teenagers to grow, give them a group to be a part of. 

One of the greatest things we have ever done to make disciples in students ministry is Turn Life. Turn Life is a four week small group that teenagers go through to get a firm footing in their walk with Jesus. 

Turn Life has taken on many forms through the years, to fit the culture of the church we served in however, this is how we serve teenagers at TheCHURCH with this disciple making tool. 

Turn Life meets from 6:30 to 7:05 every Wednesday Night before our normal ECHO youth service. In a small group setting with a group leader, video message, discussion time and prayer, teenagers discover four key foundational steps in walking with Jesus. 

Wk One:
How to keep serving Jesus, even when the feelings are gone.

Wk Two:
How to read and understand the Bible.

Wk Three:
How to walk in victory over sin.

Wk Four:
What to do when they mess up.

Every student that completes the Turn Life program, is invited to a special graduation ceremony. The ceremony takes place during one of our weekend services. Students make a public profession of their faith in Jesus, we pray over each of them, and give each graduate a new Bible. 

In 20+ years of serving in youth ministry we have had over 1,100 young people graduate from our discipleship program. Several of these graduates have gone onto serve as youth pastors, executive pastors, senior pastors, and missionaries; while many more have grown into faithful spouses, christian parents, and christ followers in the work place. This is the goal of youth ministry - helping teenagers grow into fully devoted followers of Jesus long after they graduate High School. 

Of course we have done and do many other things with our students to continue their personal pursuit of Christ. However, we found that a four week small group like Turn Life was a great first step in the journey. 

If you would like more information about how you can build disciples not just attract attendees, email me at growmoore@gmail.com. I'd love to connect with you. 

A man, a bench, and a dream.

Today I was in my office thinking about a time several years ago when my family spent the day at Disneyland here in California. What an incredible place to spend the day.  The rides. The workers.  The food.  The landscape. Everything was perfect. Everything was thought thru. Everything was as if they had been planning on us coming and spending some time with them.

I loved everything that I experienced at Disneyland.

With all that being said the most memorable moment of the day for me was at the end of the night when I walked into a room that had a park bench leaning up against the wall.  Above the bench was a plaque that read “The Park Bench from the Griffeth Park Merry-Go-Round in Los Angeles where Walt Disney first dreamed of Disneyland”.

As I stood there looking at the place where everything I had experienced that day was imagined for the very first time, I was profoundly moved.  A man, a bench and a dream made the world a little better place.

Today, why don't we go to a park, find a bench, and begin to dream again. 

Lift Your Leadership Notes: Five things you need to know about Leadership.

Every Thursday we do a Lift Your Leadership Training event for our team that is open to the church and public. Here are a few bullet points from this weeks training session titled, "Five things you need to now about leadership."  

Feel free to take, apply and teach these principles to you team. 

1 – EVERYTHING RISES AND FALLS ON LEADERSHIP

Anywhere you find a great family, business, church or community, there will be a great leader in the mix somewhere. No Leadership = No Progress.

2 – FIND A TIMOTHY AND SERVE A PAUL

2 Timothy 2:2 says, "These things you have heard from me Timothy give to faithful men who shall be able to teach others also." 

In this passage we see a cascade of leadership. Paul influenced Timothy, Timothy influenced faithful men, and the faithful men reached others for God's kingdom. If you want to become all that you can be, maximize your leadership, and build something that continues long after you are gone, you need to find a Timothy and serve a Paul. 

Find a Timothy that you can train, teach, and raise up to take your place. 

Find a Paul that you can serve, love, and learn from. 

Who is your Timothy?

Who is your Paul?

3 – IT'S NOT HOW GOOD YOU ARE, BUT HOW GOOD YOU WANT TO BE

You have some measure of influence. You may have influence over yourself, your family, your community, or your church. But you have at least one person that is looking to you.

Leadership is not about the number of people you have following you, it is about the character in which you lead those around you.

So the question isn’t are you a leader.  The question is how good of a leader do you want to be.

4 – THREE THINGS THAT WILL CAP YOUR LEADERSHIP LID

LOOKING AT THE WRONG PEOPLE.

If you are a 6′ tall forward in High School that averages 15 points per game for your basketball team in rural small-town America and all you ever do is compare yourself to the local competition. You are going to be in for a rude awakening when you play against Division I Athletes that are All-Americans from the big city.

However, if you constantly study guys that are bigger, faster and stronger than you. It will keep you humble, reveal your weaknesses and help you understand where you need to improve.

The same is true for leadership. If you are a Pastor/Youth Pastor at a slightly above average size church, with a nice website, a few staff members, and a strong offering each week and all you ever do is compare yourself to other leaders with less people, less staff, no web-site, and a small giving base than you are going to feel like you have arrived.

However, just like the Basketball player, you haven’t arrived … you are just looking at the wrong people.

If instead of looking at Leaders that are the same or below you in certain areas, you would look at leaders with larger congregations, more staff members, multiple church locations, and much larger bank accounts, you would stay humble, see where you are weak and understand the areas that you need to improve in.

Far to many Christian Leaders have a “big fish in a little pond” mentality. When we do, we put a lid on our growth. I firmly believe that what we “see” is what we will “be”. Because of this, you and I will never grow past what we are looking at. So make sure that you look at people, organizations, and leaders that are bigger, faster, stronger and more effective than you currently are. When you do, you will stay humble and that humility will allow God to put His grace on everything you do.

I think his Grace is strong enough to open up your leadership lid and help you go to the next level.

REFUSING TO TAKE HONEST CRITIQUE

We all want to be right.
I think it’s just human nature.
We want to come up with a great idea, have it be amazing and then get all of the credit.

But the truth of the matter is, there are very few times in life where we as leaders come up with an idea that is absolutely perfect and cannot be improved upon. In fact I would go as far to say that there is NEVER a time in life where our ideas are perfect … everything can get better.

If you and I want to improve in life and leadership we have to be willing to open ourselves and our ideas up for critique. We have to be willing to have people sitting around a table or living life with us that care enough to say … “I think your idea is OK … but what if we did this instead”.

When we don’t do that. When you and I surround ourselves with a bunch of “yes” men or woman who are too afraid, too intimidated, or too apathetic to offer us their honest opinion …. we will never be better than our last idea. And may I be bold enough to say that our last idea … was OK at best.

If you want everyone in the room to agree with you … get used to where you are.
Because that is the only place you will ever be.

STOP ASKING QUESTIONS

Great leaders never stop asking questions … that is why they never stop growing. I have been around some incredible leaders thru the years, and there is one thing I have noticed about all of them … they ask a ton of questions.There is always someone doing something better than you are.Find them and ask them what they are doing. When you do … you will grow.

5 – THREE QUALITIES FOUND IN THE HEART OF EVERY GREAT LEADER

HUNGRY HEART:

I would take a hungry leader over a talented leader any day of the week.The only difference between an ordinary and extraordinary person, is the word extra. Their extra time, extra study, extra practice will take them places where those who were not hungry enough to do “extra” will never go.

HUMBLE HEART:

Humility always serves it’s authority well.

Humility is being confident that you are good, but not feeling the need to tell everyone.

Humility is the key God’s promotion in every area of our lives.

God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.

HONEST HEART:

People who have a problem lying really don’t have a lying problem as much as they have a “doing something wrong” problem. When we do the right thing, being honest becomes a lot easier.

When you lie you lose the ability to lead a group of people. Why is that? Because leadership is influence. Trust builds equity in the relationship and distrust erodes it. Don’t believe me, just ask Richard Nixon – Bill Clinton – Roger Clemens or the plethora of Pastors standing on the sidelines of ministry today.