Blog

Numb to Numbers

Are you thinking numbers?  Many youth workers are — especially as the summer draws near and several youth groups see a seasonal drop in attendance.

Does measuring success in youth ministry = playing the numbers game? I’m a firm believer that the fruit of ministry does NOT boil down neatly into how many warm bodies are in a room at one time.

Numbers are important, yes… but that’s only because numbers — in this context — are people. And hopefully, these “numbers” are lives that are being influenced.

Measuring this kind of influence isn’t easy. How do we know when we’re growing? When we’re succeeding?

I suppose it comes down to… (I’d better stop and think here. I’m supposed to be a paid “professional”. I should know the answer to this.)

…Jesus.

Jesus showing Himself larger in a student’s life than the influences of the culture.

A student becoming the hands and feet of Jesus through outreach, serving, and loving people that everyone else rejects.

A student that desires daily communion with Jesus.

Jesus living through a student that stirs up some old, religious thinking.

A group of students that have Jesus‘ heart for others more than they are interested in getting self-gratification out of a weekly service experience.

A group of students who value worshipping Jesus, not just by singing songs, but with their lives.

Student’s who have given their lives over to Jesus on Mondays and Tuesdays, not just Sunday mornings and Wednesday nights.

Students who don’t just pay lip service to the words of Jesus, but act on them.

Lives that have been transformed and set free by the incredible, extraordinary love of Jesus.

Numbers are good. They help us to measure things. But numbers aren’t everything. I’d much rather have Jesus.

NOTE: This post was originally posted at Youth Min Blog.

May 26 2009 - Posted By: Shawn Michael Shoup | 1 Comments

---

Twitter of Faith

Adam Walker Cleaveland, a youth worker from Livermore, California was recently working on his personal statement of faith for his ordination and had a crazy idea. Why not ask Twitter members to tweet their statement of faith? Is it possible to condense what you believe into 140 characters or less?

Here’s his description:

While fitting everything you believe is hard enough to do on one page, what if you only had 140 characters to do so? So, if you’re on Twitter (if you want to know why you should try Twitter, read this), please participate in this. This was the initial challenge:

Twitter of Faith: What do you believe? You have 140 characters – give us your statement of faith in 140 characters. #TOF

In order for us to be able to keep track of them, please add the hash tag #TOF to it, and then you can keep up with the results here. If you want to track both the hash tag #TOF and the phrase “Twitter of Faith” – this is a great way to view the results.

Here are a few results of this interesting and beautiful social experiment:

December 01 2008 - Posted By: Adam McLane | 6 Comments

---

5 Good Reads

Go ahead, grab a cup of coffee, tea, or hot cocoa and enjoy these five blog posts.

1. The Time is Now by Doug Jones
2. The Video Revolution (disclaimer: muffled foul language.)
3. Setting the Tone for Effective Meetings by Craig Groeschel
4. 30 Days of Thanks/Giving by Tony Myles
5. Youth Pastors in a Negative Light by Mike Kupferer

November 18 2008 - Posted By: Adam McLane | 2 Comments

---

Students Say the Darndest Things

This is a guest blog post from Brian Ferry from Cincinnati, OH

It doesn’t take long working with students before you realize that it’s the best gig around. Paid to play. We carry around wiffle ball bats and Bibles, we prep games involving gummy worms and discussion questions to help students encounter God. Most of us who got into this gig did so because we love being around teenagers. We may spend more time now with adults equipping them to invest in students but some of the best times we spend is engaging in conversation with these kids who God loves even more than we do.

Youth ministry is at once fantastic and extremely taxing. We need to know we aren’t alone. And we need to laugh. A lot. Whenever our tribe gets together we share stories of the hilarious stuff that goes down on the job. There are no shortage of stories. My only problem is that I don’t get to share and hear some of these things often enough.

I have some students that say the most amusing and ridiculous things. And I know my colleagues (that’s you) do as well. So I thought, this stuff needs to be heard and I need to hear what students are saying in other youth ministry contexts.

Recently I launched a blog called “Students Say the Darndest Things” where we, as youth workers, can get a quick, 10 second, laugh and a little jolt to keep us lighthearted and plugging away at curriculum or calendaring or writing notes to students or whatever.

Also, and more importantly, youth workers can contribute by sending a text via the blog and it’ll be posted.

Humor as fuel for ministry.

November 15 2008 - Posted By: Adam McLane | 2 Comments

---

NYWC Sacramento Recap

If I could summarize the feeling of my coworkers this morning into a single phrase, it would be invigorated exhaustion. As much as this weekend filled us with excitement, filling us with energy, it was also a weekend where the whole team gave as much as they could and are completely tired.

Of course, I’m a huge fan of NYWC! So rather than sharing my reflections, here are some things about Sacramento from the blogosphere.

• Tim and Andrew both offered video recaps, highlighting likes and dislikes as well as sharing things they learned.
• Amber, Kurt, and I shared our experiences riding the magical mechanical unicorn in the exhibit hall.
• Sarah wrestled with all of the challenging content and Dan shares some quick insights on stuff he did.
• A lot of people were excited about speed dating, here’s Abby’s two sentence thoughts.
• Marko took a 24 excursion from Sacramento to our Convencion Internacional in Dallas.
• Jonas got to meet some of our speakers and Lily and Jonathan, our speakers, got to meet some of her favorite people.

It was a great weekend and the perfect kick-off to our fall convention season. As Trinity shared, “Change is in the air around here, and seeing as the wind is blowing a lot things are getting russled about.“

Did you blog about Sacramento and I missed you? Share your reflections, links, or comments.

October 14 2008 - Posted By: Adam McLane | 2 Comments

---

Five Good Reads

Grab a cup of coffee and join us in chewing on these tasty thoughts.

1. 15 Things to Do in Your First Year of Youth Minsitry @ a Small Church by Jeremy Zach
2. Significant Changes in Youth Ministry by Tim Stevens (exec pastor at Granger)
3. Great Youth Ministry Resource Giveaway by Justin Ross (more should do this!)
4. Major Life Change for Me by Dan Kimball (this is really big)
5. Thinking about Parents by Kurt Johnson

September 18 2008 - Posted By: Adam McLane | 0 Comments

---

5 Good Reads

Here at YS, we try to keep our eyes open for great youth ministry blog posts to pass along. Here are 5 we think you should read right now.

1. Mike shares what he is looking for in a youth ministry blog, Signs of a Good Youth Ministry Blog.
2. Josh caught a little problem in his next message series and asks if he is running a Sexist Youth Ministry?
3. Tony had a chance to interview a member of Hillsong United, here’s his 5 Questions with Jonathon Douglass.
4. Dennis got one of those notes that reminded him, Why I Do Youth Ministry.
5. Josh shares some great tips for those working with a retreat speaker, 3 Things to Make Sure You Tell the Retreat Speaker.

Bonus: Here’s a cool interview Mark did with Tic Long. (YS President of Events)

August 20 2008 - Posted By: Adam McLane | 2 Comments

---

Page 1 of 1 pages