juniorhighpastor.com

you mess up and the davinci code gets written

In a recent interview in Parade Magazine Dan Brown, author of the DaVinci Code, Angels and Demons and other books says this:

“I was raised Episcopalian, and I was very religious as a kid. Then, in eighth or ninth grade, I studied astronomy, cosmology, and the origins of the universe. I remember saying to a minister, "I don't get it. I read a book that said there was an explosion known as the Big Bang, but here it says God created heaven and Earth and the animals in seven days. Which is right?" Unfortunately, the response I got was, "Nice boys don't ask that question." A light went off, and I said, "The Bible doesn't make sense. Science makes much more sense to me." And I just gravitated away from religion.”

You might ask yourself “that couldn’t have happened”. I bet it did happen pretty much just like that. In my years of youth ministry I would talk to kids visiting our church who had similar conversations with their youth pastor. Like it our not we are responsible to either have the answer or find the answer to questions we are asked.

When asked a question by a kid you have two options, either give them the correct answer, or tell them you will need to read up on it and get back to them. And you better get back to them! Dan Brown’s story is a great reminder of the opportunity we all have!

On Edge or On Your Side?

I have to admit something. Parents kind of scare me sometimes. We did our full start with my preteen ministry a couple weeks ago, and so my office gets inundated with phone calls about small group changes, registration questions, concerns about the types of games we'll be playing, and the list can only go on.

Then there is this potential crisis. On an given night in our preteen ministry, I have about 150 students on our campus. Generally speaking, I have about 20 - 25 small group leaders on any given night as well. Here is a secret anxiety of mine. I get SO anxious that some student is doing something such as bullying under the radar of adult supervision, and then it is only after the fact that I get a phone call or email from a parent telling me about it. I shouldn't say that it 'keeps me up' at night thinking about it, but it's definitely a concern that I live with.

I will say this, there are several things that I am challenging myself to do more often this coming ministry year. I'm challenging myself to spend more time in intentional prayer for the community and the caring adults. I'm challenging myself to invest more time in ensuring an excellent program and message time. I'm challenging myself to pursue safer activities! BUT, I'm also going to challenge my posture towards parents. I need to change my posture with understanding that parents are on my side. They aren't the ones that are seeking to emotionally wound me or the ministry, nor are they really all that interested in giving me a hard time about every little thing!

I think this will make me more free to engage them in deeper conversation as well. I've found myself at times being defensive towards parents, and perhaps that has been because of my posture towards them.

What would you say is your 'posture' towards the parents in your ministry? Have you seen any signs in your reactions towards situations that might suggest something about your posture?

Tis the Season to be Training

This post may be a little "late" regarding talking about training volunteers, because chances are you have done or will be doing your 'kickoff' training with volunteers in the very near future. BUT, if you are behind in the training game, or perhaps you just need some ideas, then I think you'll appreciate this.

One thing that I've realized with volunteers is that SOME if not MOST volunteers struggle with a little bit of an 'identity crisis' in ministry. What is meant by this is the fact that volunteers may struggle to see how they fit into the grand scheme of what God is doing specifically in the context of the youth ministry in the local church. On some level, how we 'recruit' is directly proportionate to the level of 'identity crisis' that they could experience especially in the early seasons of ministry. By doing last minute recruiting (which let's face it, WE ALL HAVE TO DO SOMETIMES!), on some level we communicate that leadership in ministry is about "filling slots". While that may not be our intentional, and CERTAINLY is not the case, it could be what is communicated.

I think 'word pictures' are helpful. I think framing ideas and metaphors for ministry, as well as pithy statements about purpose and vision also help cultivate a culture for ministry that is conducive for adult volunteers finding their place and fit in ministry. So here we go...

How we've started to work through this within our Student Ministries staff is talking about "The Mentoring Effect". More or less, we are framing the purpose and vision for our volunteers to simply be MENTORS in the lives of students, or as we tell them, "bring faith to life through relationships". Probably when it comes down to it, that is probably the case with your adult volunteers as well. They certainly are not 'warm bodies' to make sure kiddos aren't making out in the back of the bus. They are part of a community of leaders that seek to be 'signposts' pointing the way to Jesus Christ through promoting God's relation-restoring love with God and others. 

How do you 'frame' volunteers in the grand scheme of ministry? If you can answer that, how well do they KNOW and SENSE that is how you see their role?

Our ministry isn't perfect with this...but we're on the journey. I hope you want to come along with us.

Facebook Saves!

via idle.slashdot.org

I don't think a youth pastor MUST be on Facebook to be effective but certainly it could help depending on your students. Here is another example of how pervasive Facebook is. It actually save lives people!

How Emergent Can You Go?

I wonder how many junior high pastors have attempted go "emergent" in their junior high ministries. I really have no idea what the number or percentage could be. For all I know it could be 96% have tried it and I'm just a minority!

I will say this, I have done a little dabbling with some emergent church language in my leader training and on Wednesday nights. When I say "language", I don't mean that I've bombarded my students with different quotes and words from the Dan Kimballs of the emerging church world, but I have subtly used phrases that I believe are renewing for the Church to use.

Like for instance, I am very committed to a vision of the Church being a "belong before you believe" community. Jesus was very inclusive about people when it came to "letting into the community". 

Another one that I use every so often is "trying Christianity out". This one perhaps needs a little bit more explaining. I do believe that in North America where Christianity has been thoroughly saturated, one of the best invitations to student guests in youth ministry could be to "try serving others" and "try building community". Someone will push back on me and say that it's not possible for them to truly "try Christianity" because of the reality of their potential un-conversion. But, I think it's very inviting for someone that is made in the image of God to participate in important faith activities in an attempt to show them that living God's Word and a life of faith can be a very powerful experience.

What about you? Any other "language" that you use with junior highers that may be labeled on the Emergent side of things?

L.A. en fuego.

Here is a stunning display of nature. Time lapse photography of the station fire happening right now in L.A.. It is amazing, powerful and humbling. Interesting to see the cars drive by like they do every day seemingly oblivious to the fire storm happening nearby. Although I am sure they are aware of it happening. Still a great illustration of just how powerless we are.

brandonriza.com

Twitter? Facebook? Myspace?

A few years ago, all the youth ministry buzz was around connecting to students through social networking devices. At the youth ministry conferences, you could attend sessions on "Building Your Ministry Through Facebook" and other such "connecting points" with students. It seems as though that balloon has been deflated. I wonder why?

Well I think I know why. I think the bottom line with social networking devices and teens is they use them because they are there, but deep down that is not the sort of community they are looking for.

Andrew Zirschky, a PhD candidate at Princeton Theological Seminary who is focusing his studies on teens and technology says that a total embrace of technology to be "incarnational" is not a true theological response. It's not theological because it tells us nothing of ourselves, God, and the world. It simply provides another vehicle to communicated and "connect".

Andrew goes onto to say that was students really long for is not connection, rather it is communion. Communion that is exemplified in the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, and expressed when Christians are gathered.

This is a reality that I think is important to sit with. Instead of embracing technology, perhaps we should be more thoughtful and listen to what is happening to understand what God might be doing in it. I do believe that through social networking sites like Facebook or Myspace, God is using the culture to remind us that there is shallow community being built out in the world. What we as the Church can cultivate is deep community.

Have you thought about the "theological reasoning" behind why you use social networking sites? Is it good or bad theology?