Below is a super short little article I wrote for a newsletter a few months back. Since I don’t think very many people actually read the newsletter in which it was published, I thought I’d re-post it here:

Part of being a Christian, or a Christ-follower, is striving to become a little more like Jesus, right? I want to lead more like Jesus, I want to love people more like Jesus, I want to make choices more like Jesus would etc.  But if I’m totally honest with myself, it’s shocking how the way I live my life, the way I lead, the way I treat others etc. is often nothing like the way Jesus would!  In fact, most of the time, I am embarrassingly un-like Jesus. Of course the fact that I’m a wretched sinner and he was God incarnate probably makes for an unfair comparison, but you get the drift.

I recently started a little routine that you may want to try, too. I bought myself an old-school bible that has Jesus’ words in red. I’m a bit lazy, and I want his words easy to find! Whenever I find myself having a particularly “un Jesus-like” day, I take some extra time to read the red stuff in God’s word. When I read the words that Jesus himself spoke, I am quickly reminded of who I serve and the model he set for how I am to pursue life. In Christ’s words I find encouragement, hope, conviction and challenge. In his words I see how I ought to live and am reminded of my need for a savior because of how I actually live.

Paying a little extra attention to the red stuff has been good for my soul.

Below is a video an 8th grade guy made to promote our small group ministry. When you place a value on letting students use their gifts in your ministry, it’s really fun to see what happens!

Click To Play

Lesson: Week 7 of our Summer Series, “The Lab”.  Each weekend during the Summer we are taking an up-close look at some of the more famous passages of scripture. This weekend we looked at Joshua 1:9

Lesson Length: 16 minutes. While at Summer Camp, I filmed this lesson on location. We used various aspects of camp as examples of good fear (fear that protects) and bad fear (fear that prevents). It turned out great and students seemed to really enjoy it. Plus, it kept me from speaking four times the weekend right after camp!

Music: Way above average. We had a super strong band and they played songs from camp so our students were highly engaged.

Attendance: Below average.

Volunteer Involvement: Below average.

Fun Factor:High. We planned a fun weekend and the students who attended camp added extra energy.  We had an unbelievable clay-mation video that was made by one of our students to promote small groups, a camp highlight video and our summer theme video (each week we are making a video in our ”Lab” in which Egor is interviewing potential new masters….think Young Frankenstein meets cheesy junior high video making skills!).                                         

Games Played:“Wiilay Race” Simple, but so fun. We created four teams of three and picked a three-lap race on Mario Cart (on the Wii, which is why the game was a Wiilay race). Each time a team mate completed a lap, they passed the steering wheel off to the next person on their team.  We also played “Sit Down If”, which is one of our classic games whenever we have something crazy like camp the week before church. “

A slow blogging week due to the fact that I’m away at Summer camp.  With only one full day remaining, here are a few highlights:

- Because camp is a little smaller than normal, it has been easier to “make the rounds” and have some brief conversations with virtually every student.

- Our speaker has been incredibly “junior high friendly”.

- Our band has been incredibly “junior high friendly”.

- We have our youngest group of leaders ever (about 80% just graduated from high school or are heading into their Sr. Year), but they have been one of the best crews we’ve ever had.

- As always, the Thousand Pines staff has treated us like kings.

- Several students have made decisions to follow Christ!

Lesson: Week 6 of our Summer Series, “The Lab”.  Each weekend during the Summer we are taking an up-close look at some of the more famous passages of scripture. This weekend we looked at John 13:35

Lesson Length: 19.5 minutes.

Music: Above average

Attendance: Above Average.

Volunteer Involvement:It’s was odd….our Saturday night services had above average involvement while Sunday was below average.

Fun Factor: Extremely High…one of the best weekends in a long time

Games Played:“Bobbing For Beach Stuff Relay”. We created four teams of 5 and each team had a large tub filled with water and 5 identical sets of “beach items” (a flip flop, a tube of chap stick, a sand bucket etc.). Players had to run to their tub and, without using their hands, “bob” for an item then race back and tag the next player.  We also played “Beach Ballooza”. We blew up tons of beach balls and when the music started each half of the room tried to hit as many to the other side as possible. When the music stopped, each side of the room counted to see how many beach balls were on their side…..we played several rounds and the team with the fewest accumulative beach balls was declared the winner. It is a super basic game, but students absolutely loved it.

In the mail yesterday I received a very timely gift: A copy of the new book “Evangelism Remixed”   by Dave Rahn and Terry Linhart.  We are heading to junior high summer camp tomorrow and I can’t wait to take it with me! A few reasons I’m excited about this new book:

1) Of all the things our youth ministry “does” (evangelism, fellowship, discipleship, ministry, worship), I’m probably most passionate about evangelism. And the form of evangelism I’m most passionate about is helping students develop the desire to be salt and light to the people around them. Because of that, the sub-title of the book is what I’m most excited about “….Empowering students for courageous and contagious faith”.

2) I’m also excited because of the timeliness of this book for our youth ministry. Historically, our primary evangelistic tool has been students sharing Christ with their friends. However, in the past year we have slipped dangerously close to abandoning that philosophy in favor of the traditional “program-driven” evangelism. This was due in large part to the fact that we moved into an incredible new youth facility which made it almost irresponsible to not leverage it with some new programs to attract students. But, now that we have been in the building for over a year and the “shine” has worn off, it’s time to get back to our bread and butter and re-create a culture of friendship evangelism (that’s what we call it).

3) I really like the cover! I’m one of those silly consumers who makes initial judgments and purchases based on first impressions. The cover of this book is super clean and fresh looking. I tried to insert it into this post but it was messing up the alignment of the text (I’m not very blog savy) so you will have to open the link above to check it out for yourself. Plus I know that once you are on the Amazon page, you’ll probably just go ahead and buy the book!

So, even though I haven’t read it yet I feel pretty confident I can highly recommend Evangelism Remixed simply because I believe in the premise that the best evangelism is when it’s led by students.

I have the benefit of having somebody on my junior high team who is INCREDIBLE at encouraging our adult volunteer team. Simply put, Katie Edwards is better at loving on leaders than anybody I have ever known.  I thought it might be worthwhile to share some of her simple little encouragement ideas with you from time to time.  So, in the new “Volunteer Encouragement” category I will share an idea with you that Katie has used to encourage our adult leaders.

SPECIAL DELIVERY

Supplies Needed: Candy bar, padded envelop, note card, postage

Cost: Under $3.00 per person

Everyone loves mail! Find out what your volunteer’s favorite candy bar is, and send it to him or her in the mail. Mail it in an envelope, or stick the address label and stamp right on the candy bar! Attach a little note of encouragement to the back side of the candy bar.

EXAMPLE: “You are doing an awesome job as a small group leader. Take a break today, kick your feet up, and enjoy a treat on us!  Have a sweet day!”

• Tip:Take the candy bar to the post office to have it weighted so you get the correct postage. You also might want to purchase a candy bar that won’t easily melt:  For example, a Starburst or PayDay (although this could be tough since most people prefer chocolate!). that’s why the padded envelope option is a good one. Not only does it protect the candy bar from breaking, it helps protect it from the heat.

- Our weekend was fantastic. Katie Edwards taught our 5th week of “The Lab” and did a really, really good job. Games were fun, music was great and attendance was fairy high for this time of year. 

- We leave on Sunday for summer camp at Thousand Pines. This is our 12th summer there! Summer camp is where we have felt the pinch of the recession for the first really tangible time in our ministry as we barely have enough students signed up to fulfill our camp contract. However, all of our other, much cheaper, events have been jam-packed this summer. I would be interested to hear if your experiences are similar.

- We had a special screening of “To Save A Life” this weekend at church. Great movie.

- I spoke in three adult services at Saddleback on Sunday night. After already logging four junior high services, I went into the night feeling really tired, but it was fantastic. I’m glad I don’t teach to adults on a regular basis, but the change of pace felt kinda nice.

- The topic of the adult message was basically around how to have a meaningful time in God’s word. On the way home I thought of this line: “It’s not how much of the Bible you get through, It’s how much of the Bible gets through to you!” Dang it….that would have preached!

Through various avenues this week, I have been reminded of some really basic junior high ministry principles.

- Remembering student’s names is a bigger deal than I think it is. Forgetting a name I should remember is also a bigger deal than I think it is!

- Typically it takes time to earn the trust of a parent, but it takes almost no time to lose it!

- Trying something new, mixing things up, etc. is almost always a good thing. It’s better to swing and miss than to not swing at all.

- A junior high lesson doesn’t need to be long to be good…but if it’s going to be long, it BETTER be good!

- Junior High students aren’t as critical as I think they are. I am usually the toughest guy in the crowd to please.

Lesson Topic: Week 4 of our Summer Series “The Lab…An Up Close Look At Famous Bible Verses” (Ephesians 2:8-9)

Lesson Length: 20:45

Attendance: Above average for Summer. Saturday night attendance was a little low, but Sunday was quite high.

“Fun Factor”:  Above average. We had a stupid, but fun, skit to promo Summer camp. Our games were fun and energy seemed high.

Volunteer Involvement: Above Average

Music: We have been utilizing a new worship leader in junior high and he’s a GREAT guy. He’s still figuring out junior high culture and our weekend atmosphere but he’s got an incredible heart.