Sticky Teams

I just finished the book Sticky Teams by Larry Osborne. The concept of team has really been on the forefront of my mind lately as we look to fill some vacancies on our youth ministry leadership team. So on the cover this book looked really beneficial. The book was good however I wish it came with more of a disclaimer. This book is written from a very Baptist vantage point. Me not being in that denomination found it distracting that instead of talking about teams, a term which most in ministry can relate to, he opted to talk about boards and the power they carry in most Baptist circles. Not saying that's bad just saying it's foreign to anyone not Baptist.

Once I got done translating this into my context there were some healthy points that I plan on implementing. Larry stated that the three main points of any good board (team) is...

• Doctrinal unity
• Respect and Friendship
• Philosophical unity

This i can relate to and find that it goes often in the unspoken but important section of working as a team.

Sticky Teams has a great section on shepherding a team as opposed to simply leading one. A dynamic worth thinking through if you've never pondered it before.

Also he brought up the concept of a plumb line. As many may know a plumb line is a building tool to make sure something is square and being built properly. It's basically a weight with a string on it that is hung beside a structure. Gravity pulls the string straight down and the builder can see if what they are building needs to be corrected because it'll look crooked next to the "plumb" plumb line. Larry makes the point that ministries need to have a set of written down plumb lines so they can measure off of them. So one of our plumb lines might be something like..."Students grow and are discipled best in small groups." or "Families are the primary disciplers of their students."  These are not mission statements but merely tools that help us stay the course.

"That’s where our plumb lines come into play. Once we’ve articulated what we’re about, it’s obvious what aligns and what doesn’t. That makes it far easier to resist the persistent parishioner or any small group of single-issue lobbyists who want us to take a different route...

...A great set of plumb lines also highlights any areas of unique vision, perspective, or expectations that you may have."

Prayer for the Youth Ministry

Here's something I quickly put together to help my team, our community, and leaders be more focused in their praying for the youth at St. Andrews....

Feel free to rip it off. Here's a link to the publisher file .

A Pic From Our Middle School Youth Group

Fun part of my job!

The Language of Youth Ministry

Here's our white board after

A conversation I had a few months ago that seemed to stick in my head was about language and how that defines a culture. When I was about to move to Charleston to take my present position a wise person counseled me to be very purposeful in how I use words in my first few months.

Words give concepts power. When we name things it gives them a position in relationship to other things. So when a friendship becomes named a "relationship" when a friend becomes a "Girl/Boy Friend" there is a power that goes along with that. I joke with my single friends about the DTR Power Talk (Define the Relationship)

So the questions I posed to my team a few weeks ago was "What are the terms that define youth ministry?" To get these definitions down means that not only communication flows in a more pliable manor but then we can start to leverage the power that comes with the words.

Here's some of the highlights that we hammered out during our meeting...
        *one thing we realized was that some or much of these are dependent on our culture and area of the country. Middle School and Jr. High are the same yet Jr. High is a mainly west coast term. 

•  Youth / Student / Teen : We opted for youth. Student gets blurry when talking to international people because it often includes college students, Teen sounds like it came from the 80's and many of the young middle school students don't consider themselves teenagers yet.
• Are the adults we put with students volunteers, mentors, youth coaches, spiritual shepherds, youth leaders, insane, youth workers?? We opted for youth leaders because of the above definition.  We want them to lead which can mean a variety of things from disciple to evangelize.
• What about small groups, life groups, cell groups, d teams, home groups, bible studies... Each one of those carries a particular nuance.  We've opted for small group because the community we're a part of uses life group terminology. Not wanting to get these confused with their parents we talked about the benefits of it but want our students to really find a place they can work out what we talk about on Sunday nights. Kind of a lab after a lecture thinking. 

That's just three we had a whole white board covered with this stuff. I can't stress enough that it is worth sitting down with a team and setting language. It'll make communication with the church and other staff members flow much easier.

So what are the major terms you need to define in youth ministry?

Resolve for Monday

Every Monday I'm going to post one of Jonathan Edwards resolutions. He penned these while still a very young man and used them to guide his life. What am I using to guide me, my family, my ministry???

14. Resolved, Never to do any thing out of revenge.

• Do you understand the insanity of revenge?
  
• Do you understand the the one upping that goes on leads to death?
• Read Sampson account in Judges. Judges 14- It starts with a joke and ends with hundreds of bodies.
  
• It never ends. What do you find yourself justifying? The only reason I did that was because they did this...??
  
• If it all evens out like revenge wants it to then what should God be doing to us?
• Do you want that?
  

Jesus sees you....

From my dad....

A robber broke into a house ..... 

 

He heard the words " Jesus sees you"  He looked around and found no-one except a parrot. Sure enough the parrot said " Jesus sees you ". The robber says to the parrot "What's your name ? "   The parrot says

 " Moses ". "What kind of a person would name his parrot Moses" the robber said.

 

 

"  The same kind of a person that names his Pit Bull  Jesus "  replies the bird !! 

Pure Scum: The Left-out, Right Brained; and the Grace of God

 

Once upon a time there was a band that made a huge impact on my life. Five Iron Frenzy (FIF) came into my life, encouraged me in my faith, made me laugh then in `03 they broke up. I miss you FIF. Tears aside they were involved in a church plant at the time in the Denver area. The church was pretty much everything opposite of what many would consider a "seeker sensitive" church to be.The church's name....

Scum Of the Earth

Recently the pastor of Scum wrote a book about how it came to be and what it values. The story isn't dramatic, it isn't neat and tidy, but it is real. Ministering to people is messy, figuring out things like love and faithfulness is hard. I appreciate the journey that Michael takes the reader on. It's a bit like a train that rolls off slow at first but picks up speed and ends racing. There were parts that took a while to go through, parts where his personal storyline seemed to overtake the narrative about Scum. In that it was kind of hard to follow. I also felt that he name dropped Five Iron a bit to much. I understand that their story is tied into the church's and his own, I also understand that I probably wouldn't have read the book if it wasn't tied to FIF that said I wonder if it would have gotten the same reviews on amazon.com if it wasn't tied so closely together.

It's a worthy read to shock us out of our comfort zone i feel. It was challenging yet short and made me think about how as a minister of God's grace I interact with those who operate on the fringe of society.

Resolve for Monday

Every Monday I'm going to post one of Jonathan Edwards resolutions. He penned these while still a very young man and used them to guide his life. What am I using to guide me, my family, my ministry???

13. Resolved, To be endeavouring to find out fit objects of liberality and charity. 

• liberality [ˌlɪbəˈrælɪtɪ] n pl -ties 1. generosity; bounty

• char·i·ty  (chr-t)n. pl. char·i·tiesoften Charity Christianity The theological virtue defined as love directed first toward God but also toward oneself and one's neighbors as objects of God's love.

1. With some definitions out of the way  what are "fit objects of liberality and charity" in your life? 
2.  Do you hear echos of Matthew 22:36-39 in the definition of charity? What reminds you to tie together loving God and loving our neighbors? 
3. This week look for ways you can endeavor to be more bountiful with the charity of God's grace towards those who believe.

Disc Golf

Played some disc golf this morning at the park circle course.

Shot 9 over on the front 9. Two really bad drives account for a good portion of that.

My game has really improved since playing with some really good hs students. Amazing how much you can learn from people who are a little farther along then you.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

I like to read

Two weeks ago I was pushed over the edge as I sat in a meeting and held in my hands my friends Kindle. It was magical. So now, as you can see by my growing reading list, I'm the proud owner of one. In the past I've talked about e-readers and I'm sure I'll post some reviews but a week in to really chewing on the device I have to say I'm impressed.

"One" a new series @Impact

This Sunday we will be starting a new series at our high school gatherings called Impact. The series will focus on the prayer that Jesus prayed for his disciples and for us today. John 17

Hope you can join us. See you Sunday.





Prop to these guys who are a great resource.

Leading Your Family : Where To Start

The Resurgence is on fire this week. Here's a great and practical article about 10 ways you can pastor your family. 

How I Pastor My Family

Justin Hyde

Acts 29 Pastor - Brenham, Texas
Many people ask me, "What do 'family devotions' look like at your house?" or, "How do you pastor your family?" or even more simply, "Do you pray or read the Bible with your wife and children?" Here is one attempt to answer those questions.

1. Routine

Our family works best with a routine. My wife and I, and our children, have a reasonably regular weekly schedule. Our "family devotions" fit into the larger rhythm and routines of our household (e.g. dinner, bedtime, etc.). Additionally, it is important to note that there are explicit and implicit aspects to our daily spiritual devotion. The bulk of the explicit aspects happen at night between when I get home from work and when I go to bed.

2. Intentional Evenings

I get home from work between 5:30PM and 5:45PM each night. But I have to prepare myself before 5:30PM so that I can hit the ground running when I walk in the door. Though I am invariably tired from my day's work, I have to remind myself that the most important part of my vocation happens after 5:30PM, not before. I am tempted to mentally "clock out" on my drive home, which would be easy. Yet I have to consciously prepare myself to give more energy, more attention, and more dedicated focus as soon as I walk through the door and am greeted by my 5 year old son, 3 year old daughter, newborn son, and wife than I have all day. This takes prayer, practice, and intentionality. It's easy to fail.
Husbands/dads, don't clock-out on your way home; be ready to be present and engaged; don't let your kids or wife expect to hear your formulaic: "I'm tired;" turn your phone off (I recently read something like this: "If you touched your wife as much as you touch your iPhone your marriage would be in a much better spot."); cancel your cable TV; repent of your addiction to new projects, hobbies, and distractions.
Wives, be gracious; be forgiving; learn and grow with your husband; make your home inviting and pleasing; manage the stress level (for you and the kids) before dad gets home (i.e. don't let the water boil all day so that it's boiling over the top right when dad's car pulls up).

For the rest click the above link.

• How do you lead your family? 
• What do family devotionals look like at your house?

The Jesus Story Book

Once again the kids Bible we got my daughter Abbie several months ago has absolutely floored me. Here's an excerpt..

"The woman knelt down before Jesus like he was a king. She held Jesus' feet in her hands and started to cry. Her tears fell onto Jesus' feet, washing them. She kissed his feet and dried them with her long, dark hair. And then she did something strange. She broke the jar and poured the perfume all over his feet. Everyone gasped. What a waste! Over someone's feet? Such expensive perfume! It smelled like lilies in a summer field.

Jesus looked at the woman, and he smiled at her. What she had done was the most wonderful thing. Just as Samuel had anointed David, God's true king, all those years before, so this woman had anointed Jesus not with oil, but with tears"

~ The Jesus Storybook Bible

Resolve for Monday

Every Monday I'm going to post one of Jonathan Edwards resolutions. He penned these while still a very young man and used them to guide his life. What am I using to guide me, my family, my ministry???

 12. Resolved, If I take delight in it as a gratification of pride, or vanity, or on any such account, immediately to throw it by. 

• "Wages of sin is death" How do you kill sin? 
•  What or who is in your life that helps you see areas you might be blind to? 
• This week find someone to help you be accountable. Give them permission to monthly give you an report of how they see your life? 
• Edwards took holiness seriously. What does that mean in your life?  

Baseball and Youth Ministry

Keeping up with the leadership theme. What does this mean with youth ministry in mind? ? 

Lesson 3: Develop a Minor League System

"Any organization that has to hire mainly from the outside has failed in attracting, training, deploying, and retaining emerging leaders. Thus, the organizational future is in jeopardy; payroll will be high, performance will be low (because young leaders won’t be pushing the older ones), innovation will wane, and young talent will slow to a trickle."

This from the resurgence.com

• Does this mean student leaders? 

• Does this mean cheerleaders of the ministry to volunteers in the ministry to leadership team? 

• Does this look like some kind of apprenticeship program or something like Year Team?

Leadership

Sometimes I lay awake at night thinking about emancipated eschatology, sometimes about if Adam had a belly button, these days I'm thinking about leadership.

It seems that every so often Jesus leads me to really chew on a subject which often produces more questions which requires more digestion.

(By doing this I'm breaking my cardinal rule of blogging which is... Never blog about stuff still in process. We'll let it slide as I think it's worth getting out there.)

Here's primarily what I'm chewing on.

• Who am I leading? 
• Who am I following?
• How do I invest in followers?
• Is leadership over rated? Should we be talking about follower-ship instead?
• How do I lead myself? My family? 
• How do I preach the Gospel to myself, and those I lead?
• How do we evaluate leadership? 
• How do we evaluate how we follow? 
• What tangibles do we use to measure success?

What leadership questions do you wrestle with?

P.s. to the student ministry team at SAMP gird your loins I have a feeling our team meetings are going to become very intense over the next month.

Easter `10 at Boone Hall Plantation

You might need to click to the blog to see the actual slide show.

Here's some pics from St. Andrew's Easter celebration...

Who Are You Following ??

My friend Randy sent this to me yesterday. It is one of the most thought provoking three min. videos I've seen in a long time. All of this came about from a discussion we were having about the power of words and how they shape culture. For example the local Campus Crusade group has started to refer to themselves not as a para church ministry or a Christian bible study gathering but instead they started to call themselves a "movement". How does that change the dynamic of what they are doing? What does this mean for youth ministries? What are the terms that need to be defined in youth ministry today?

Awanita Valley High School Alpha Weekend

A few weekends ago we took a group of high school students away for a great weekend of teaching, worship, and fun. We took the time to specifically look at the person of the Holy Spirit and how he points us to Jesus while pushing us out to be on mission with him in this world.

Here are some video clips from the bus ride up and some free time we had on Sat. afternoon.





Horses and Hummers

Questions night at High School Alpha

High school students...April 11th @ 7pm in Sams Hall bring any question you want you can submit it anonymously and our panel of smart people will help answer it.

Jonathan Edwards for Armchair Theologians

As I've blogged before I've been taking a short course on theologians who have made a significant impact on Christianity. As part of that course I chose to read one of the "... For Armchair Theologians" books. If you are not familiar with the series they are 10 or so books that each give a short survey of a participial theologian.  I read the book on Luther earlier and found it to be a really good look at the monks life.

Last week I wrapped up the book on Jonathan Edwards. Picking up this book I had high hopes. A few years ago, after being encouraged to read more dead people, I picked up a copy of Edwards' Religious Affections.  The first few pages had me enthralled and humbled by such a great mind however I quickly became lost.


With the Jonathan Edwards edition of Arm Chair Theologians I was looking for something to ease me into his thought and give me some context for his writings. The book delivered. Byrd did a great job of easing the reader into the passionate writings of this thoughtful pastor.  Here's one of my favorite passages as Byrd explains Edwards' view on original sin...

"One could argue that God indirectly caused human depravity by taking away divine influence, but an indirect cause is much different from a direct cause. When I turn off a lamp at night, I do not cause the darkness directly; darkness is the natural state of things at night. I have simply removed the light, which leaves the room in its natural sate of darkness. In the same way, Edwards described, God did not cause sin by removing divine influences in the soul; God's removal of divine influences merely left the soul to its own sinful inclinations. (Works of Jonathan Edwards 3:380-83"

The book was good as an introduction to the mind of Edwards. I wish it would have included some more of his actual writings like the Luther book did. However I do feel that now I can tackle Edwards a little better equipped to understand where he's coming from and going.  Especially for the busy, and hungry youth worker I'd recommend this as a great way to be challenge to go deep.

Glee

So I'm not a big fan sorry to break it to you world.  This parody is worth watching however...


Glee | Mariners Church Easter from Old Number 9 on Vimeo.

(It takes a while to load)

Props to Joshua Griffin for the find

Ipad and A Baseball Bat

What does it mean for us to smash our idols today? What do you feel as you watch this video?




Parents here's an outstanding article from Real World Parents I suggest you read it and have a solid conversation with your teenagers this week.

Resolve for Monday

Every Monday I'm going to post one of Jonathan Edwards resolutions. He penned these while still a very young man and used them to guide his life. What am I using to guide me, my family, my ministry???

11. Resolved, When I think of any theorem in divinity to be solved, immediately to do what I can towards solving it, if circumstances do not hinder. xxi

• This one will require you to wade through some language differences. What he's saying is that when he thinks of any problem with his faith, right away, he tries to find the answers. Are you content with your faith? 
• When was the last time you were challenged to think about why you believe what you believe? 
• I remember reading the quote that "As we go to scripture with questions we often find those questions turned around and asked of ourselves." (P.Yancey I think) Are you comfortable? 
• Doubt is not the opposite of faith. Questions drive us to a richer vibrant relationship with God. What questions do you have? Don't ask me ask God.
• Paul uses the metaphor of milk for babies and meat for adults. What's your spiritual food preferance?

Boone Hall Video

Here's a quick video (from my phone) of our Easter morning at Boone Hall Plantation.

Study Update 2

As a few of you know I've started to put together a space to be somewhat of a personal study space. There's a little shed behind our house that works nicely. This morning a friend and I finished part one of the transformation. I'm happy to report that the space is now fully insulated and came in $40 under budget.

Not bad for someone who's personal handy man motto is "If it moves and it shouldn't, duct tape. If it should move and doesn't, WD40."

Phase 2a is moving all the junk out and allow my wife to get the spare bedroom in our house back in order.

Phase 2b is putting up wall board to cover the attractive insulation.

Mini Fridge

Today is the hottest day since November. The temp is going to end up around 85! Not bad for April 1st. With it being so hot nothing kicks up fun office time like a cool beverage. If only I had one right next to my computer.

Wait I do. Thanks to my wife and her awesome gift giving powers I'm the proud owner of a mini mini fridge that sits on my desk, holds one can of the soda of my choice (Vanilla Coke mostly), and plugs conveniently into the USB port of my computer. It even has a little light inside for those late nights. Super awesome.

Soren Kierkegaard and Youth Ministry

This semester I'm taking part in a class at St. Andrews as part of St. Paul's Theological Center. The class covers great theologians over the ages. For me the challenge is to contextualize the information and apply it to my every day walk as someone who works with teenagers and families.

It's been several weeks and I've fallen behind on working through these thinkers. Up until now I've been at least familiar with the people we have covered. Kierkegaard I recognized by name and knew some of his work yet had never had the opportunity to study the man. Rev. Rob Sturdy came and taught an hour straight yet I feel I've only just begun to scratch the surface of SK's thought.

What stood out to me was SK's look at man. His anthropology I found fascinating. Rob took what I'm sure is a great body of work and distilled it down to talk about really a hand full of points.

• SK explained 4 categories humans fall into. 
1. The Philistines ; people like a wind up toy, they are swept by the tides.
2. The Aesthetic ; Hedonists seeking immediate pleasure
3. Judge; Life by ethics
4. Religious. Only for the will of God and live in complete opposite to all else.

• When working with teenagers and families it's hard not to see how nicely these apply to individuals. We see it all the time in the kids who show up because that's just what you do. You are drawn in by the tide and taken out by the tide. Teenagers in this century are famous for their hedonism if you don't believe me turn on MTV's Teen Cribs. We see students trying to live "good lives" only to find out it's not possible.  Even the Religious gets tainted by the others. We truly are people in need of a savior from outside the system.

• Soren pointed out to me how much Hegel has influenced modern thought. Here's a quick and dirty on Hegel; Hegel said you have a point (thesis) another person has a different point (antithesis)  to bring them together you get synthesis. This is how everything thing works today government, arguments, you name it. So in youth ministry we get parents saying "go to church." students saying "don't want to go to church" synthesis is "well if you get confirmed that will do."  NO that makes it a process and not a relationship with Christ. Time and time again we see students swallow the synthesis only to vomit it out because they've found something better in Jesus.

• Finally a point was made that Adam is Sub human until he executes his freedom. Only when he executes his freedom does he become human and also fallen. For the second Adam (Christ) who was fully man his freedom is executed in doing the fathers will. How free am I? How human am I?

"The man who knows he needs God is nearly perfect. God help the man who thinks he can do anything."


This quote from his journals at the age 22 floored me. Pay attention to the last few lines...

“What I really need is to get clear about what I must do, not what I must know, excerpt insofar as knowledge must precede every act.  What matters is to find a purpose, to see what it really is that God wills that I shall do; the crucial thing is to find a truth which is truth for me, to find the idea for which I am willing to live and die…what use would it be to me to be able to formulate the meaning of Christianity, to be able to explain many specific points- if it had no deeper meaning for my life?…I certainly do not deny that I still accept an imperative of knowledge and that through it men may be influenced, but then it must come alive in me, and this is what I now recognize as the most important of all.  This is what my soul thirsts for as the African deserts thirst for water.” (Kierkegaard Journals Gilleje, August 1, 1835)

Feel free to check out the text from this lecture at Rob's blog.

Easter at Boone Hall Plantation

Every year our church holds our main Easter service not in our ministry center but at the beautiful Boone Hall Plantation. Think Easter meets Gone With the Wind. It's a great place to celebrate the resurrection of  Christ and his victory over our sin. Would you join us this year? Consider this...