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Category: Leadership

Teaching Teenagers

While our church is between youth pastors, I’ve been leading our yourh ministry. I’ve been a Kids & Youth Pastor in the past, and done this interim role before – and I always enjoy it. People often ask me how is teaching teenagers different from teaching kids, or preaching to adults for that matter. Honestly, I love it. It’s the best of both worlds! Too many youth pastors, I think, teach them as though they are already adults – as though they are suddenly “too cool” for the “kid stuff.” I beg to differ. Instead, I find you get to enjoy a really fun blend of both styles. Teenagers are not little adults. Don’t let those those big bodies fool you! They may start to interact as peers, but they are FAR from peers. If you want to be effective in ministry with teens, you must respect them as emerging adults, but secretly understand that they are more big kids than little adults. And actually still crave kids stuff more than they will admit. Let’s talk simple brain development. How is the teenage brain different from the chid they were just a few years ago and the adult they will…

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Write It… And Toss It

Saw this Calvin and Hobbes and it reminded me of some GREAT advice my dad once gave me… but first, enjoy the cartoon: Ever gotten so upset about something you sat down and HACKED OUT A LETTER? I have! There were many a letter I wrote that after showing to my dad for his input, he quietly read and then said, “It’s a great letter! Well written! Excellent points! Well organized and presented! Perfect arguments. Now throw it out.” Throw it out?! How could he compliment it so highly, and then tell me to throw my masterpiece out? He was helping me not make a bad situation worse since my letter would only pour gasoline on the fire. So was my letter a waste of time? No! My dad explained that “hot letters” are still good to write because they help you organize your thoughts… process your emotions and sort out the details of what happened. Then, after you toss your flaming masterpiece,  you’ll be better prepared to write the more diplomatic letter that will get results. OR, better yet, pick up the phone if you can’t meet in person. E-mail and text messages have kinda ruined the pace of…

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Truth to Youth is Different Today

One of the most powerful workshops I ever attended was taught by my good friend Dick Crider several years ago. It was about the changing of the very words we use. When we talk to young people today, we THINK we are saying one thing, but the very words we use have been redefined to have completely different definitions. This is intentional, and it is devastating to the Church and to Truth. These are the pictures I took of some of this slides as he taught. Let them sink in and realize that when you talk or teach today, you have to be extremely intentional in how you communicate. We have to make extra effort to be clear about the Truth. Definitions may change but the Truth remains constant. How each person responds to the Truth hasn’t changed either. (Hebrews 9:27)“Tolerance” doesn’t mean the same thing to us, as Christians, as it means to the secular World. We are the most tolerate of all people… they would disagree. We also are very accepting. But the World has a different definition for accepting. You must not just accept the person, but endorse and even praise their actions. We separate the person…

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A Prisoner to Ministry?

As the year comes to a close, are you starting to make plans for next year? We all want next year to be better than this year, right? I know I do! In the midst of celebrating Christmas and enjoying friends and family and hopefully a little bit of downtime, this is the perfect time to start to think ahead to make some plans for the new year! Do you ever feel like a prisoner to ministry? Let me introduce you to a video training that I did many years ago that is as relevant today as a day I filmed it. It was the final installment in a five-part Leadership Lab training series. As we head into a new year, it would be a great investment to pick up this fifth segment, Define, Refine and Shine, and if you are feeling the early stages of burn out – pick up part one too, First Things First I have been to that place where you feel trapped and overwhelmed – feeling like you secretly hate what you love because it’s just too much. You can’t blame your boss, your church, your spouse, or anyone or anything external. Control starts within.…

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Are You Called to Minister to Children?

In my vast collection of children’s ministry resources, materials, booklets, pamphlets, and relics from decades of ministry I stumbled upon this treasure. It is a recruiting tool from CEF, Child Evangelism Fellowship. No author’s name is provided, but the content does say you’ll never gain fame or glory in children’s ministry, perhaps they lived that by leaving off their name. I’m posting this because the content of this simple pamphlet is GOLD. I’ll be sharing some of the heart of it in my children’s ministry orientation on Sunday to potential volunteers. I’ve scanned it here for you to read, reflect and reuse as you see fit. The words may be dated but the message is timeless. I think this is a message that needs to be shared today loudly and clearly. The CALL of Children’s Ministry needs to be elevated to the high calling that it is. Here is the overview: The one who is called to children’s ministry will believe that children are important in themselves. One who is called to minister to children believes that children are important to God. Those called to reach children are committed to their life-and-death spiritual needs. The one who is called believes…

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