In just about every profession/industry there is a tendency to get caught in ruts (even good ruts), to get so bogged down in the day to day busyness that creativity falters, fresh thinking disappears etc.Youth ministry is no different. Yesterday, I was reminded of the importance of getting out, looking around and being willing to “steal” ideas from other ministries when I visited my friend who is the junior high pastor of a church about an 30 minutes to my north.

GET OUT: Every now and then you need to get out of the four walls of your church, out of your community and out of your usual circle of colleagues.

LOOK AROUND: Once out and about, look around and notice all the stuff that is different, new, fresh, uncomfortable, stretching etc. My friend’s church is much older and much more traditional than mine, yet his junior high room is WAY more creative and forward thinking! His theming, his decor, his floor plan….the overall atmosphere forced me to evaluate the atmosphere in my youth ministry space.

STEAL: When you see ideas that you like, when you hear a conversation that pricks your interest, when you experience something in a different setting that you think will translate to yours….STEAL IT! Simply ask permission to take that new “something” and use it in your context. Chances are you will need to tweak it a bit because no two settings are exactly the same.

I’ve learned that if I go through seasons when I don’t get out, look around and stealI typically find myself in seasons of repetition, ruts and non creative thinking.

- Weekend Wrap Up: The weekend started Friday night with “The 3″ which had about 1,600 students, a ferris wheel, a magic show, and tons of other fun. Our weekend program included our 5th lesson in our “Happy” series, a chocolate slip n slide (in honor of Choctober), some fun videos and great music. All in all it was one of our better, but more tiring, weekends in quite a while.

- After Monday Night Football, I actually heard a commentator say that he thinks the Broncos are best team in AFC…better than the Colts. So funny that a couple weeks ago they werejustlucky; the worst unbeaten team in history and now they are the BEST team in the AFC?

- Going to Disneyland with the family today. I have managed to navoid theplace forseveral years….today my luck runs out.

- Beginning to work on new book, The Best Practices In Youth Ministry (that’s the working title for now, anyway). I am really excited about what this book will offer youth workers.

- Rode the motocross track for only the second time yesterday. When you have the courage to go faster and jump farther, the track is supposedly much smoother and actually easier to navigate. I say “supposedly” because I have no courage!

Here is an article that you simply must read if you work with teenagers (passed on to me by Scott Rubin). In fact, it may be one you will need to read a few times as you process it. Here are a few questions that popped into my head right away…questions I haven’t tried to answer yet.

1) Does the fact that the writer of this article is gay add credibility, hinder credibility?

2) If the writer were not gay, would that add credibility, hinder credibility?

3) A keypoint the writer makes goes along this line of thinking, “We don’t question 12 year old boys when they say they have started liking girls, why would we question them when they say they have started liking boys.” How valid is that point?

4) Is society’s increasingly openess about GLBT lifestyles helping young people come out of the closet or is it creating a bit of a trend of experimentation within younger circles?

5) Is the junior high ministry I lead in prepared to appropriately respond to a student who decides to come out?

6) What IS the proper response, and can a junior high student REALLY even come out?

I don’t do it often enough, but every now and then I like to spend some time taking a good, hard look at myself. I don’t have a set routine or a “check list”, so the things I inspect and, as a result, the things I discover vary every time. Here are some things I have become more aware of lately:

- Spiritually, I get “out of sorts” quicker than I used to. I used to be able to go a couple of days without connecting with the Father before I would feel the side effects. Nowadays it seems that if I misseven oneday I get grumpy, distracted, selfish etc. Honestly I don’t know what this means…could be good or bad.

- Age has finally set in.This one hurts…literally! My eyes hurt after reading, my muscles hurt after exercising (usually for a couple days!) and if I happen to incur some sort of injury it takes much longer to bounce back than it used to.

- Related to the last one….I am older than many parents of junior highers in my ministry. I don’t feel older, I don’t feel wiser or more mature, but the truth is many parents now look to me not only as the pastor to their child but as a parenting model or coach.

- I bore easily.I’m not a great multi-tasker, but I like to juggle lots and lots of projects at once. I can’t really focus on anything for more than acouplehours so variety is the key to a productive day. I’ve always known this, but I think I am just now beginning to embrace it and figure out ways to make it work for me, not against me.

- I care about people, but I’mterrible at showing it!I hurt when people hurt…I hurt a lot. But I am really bad at confidently and appropriately expressing this. My most awkward interpersonal moments seem to happen when I am trying to console somebody or during hospital visits etc.

This article isanother reminder of the struggles so many teenagers face. While there is simply not excuse for this, there is obviously a plethora of issues in the lives of teenagers that lead to this type of behavior. May God give those of us who work with teenagers the wisdom of Solomon.

I am so excited about two brand new junior high resources. Simply Junior High has teamed up with Scott Rubin to create a 5-lesson video curriculum called “The Red Stuff” along with a new 10-minute moment devotional book with the same title. If you want to help your students take a closer look at the words of Jesus, these brand new resources will help you do just that.

- Last weekend was an interesting one in our JH ministry. The program was strong, music was good, the games were really fun and the crowd was great. The only problem was…well, me! I put more time and energy into my message than usual, but for some reason it just felt “off”. Students and staff seemed to really like it but I felt out of sync which hasn’t happened in a while.

- Because I jumped into full time ministry so early, I put seminary/grad school off for far too long and have been spending the last several years pursuing a graduate degree in christian leadership. I am at the very end of the road but finding time to fulfill my final graduation requirements really challenging. When younger youth workers ask me about Seminary I am often torn because so much of my ministry journey is due to the fact that I got lots of experience at an early age. But going back to school later in life is BRUTAL! My advice is always to try to go straight to Grad school so you don’t have to worry about it later.

- The Broncos beat a decent Dallas Cowboy team to advance to 4-0! The next two weeks against Patriots and Chargers should be an interesting test. On twitter, I joked about Kyle Orten being league MVP and people thought I was serious! very funny.

- On Thursday I am speaking in a general session for our Purpose-driven Childrens Ministry conference and I’m pretty excited. Our youth ministry has a FANTASTIC relationships with our children’s department which I realize isn’t the case for lots of churches out there.

- Just sold our Toyota Sequoia and replaced it with a Dodge Ram Quad Cab truck that will be great for our various outdoor adventures. the first thing I did was buy a set of black rims to make it look a little “tougher”. With a Ford Expedition and a big truck, the Johnston’s carbon footprint continues to be significantly large. My motto: “DRILL NOW!”. When Al Gore quits living in mansions and flying in private jets I may begin to listen to what he is preaching…apparently saving the earth is everybody’s job except the politicians. Okay, sorry for that rant.

I don’t do this every week, but after I write my lessons I like to “pour” them through a little filter I’ve created that helps ensure I have written a well balanced lesson. I like to ask myself this question: “Does this lesson T.E.A.C.H.?

Is it True? Have I used scripture appropriately, I’m I being true to the text? Our my opinnions backed up by God’s word?
Is it Encouraging? Do I encourage students toward some sort of life change?
Is it Applicable? Have I helped them apply this to their lives? Have I provided some action steps?
Is it Clear? Is this lesson easy to understand? Is there a clear “flow”
Is it Humorous? Have they giggled, chuckled etc. at all during the lesson. Humor helps people learn.

Here is a short list of what I believe to be fundamental when teaching/speaking to junior highers:

- The first minute is the most important minute
- It doesn’t need to be long to be good
- If it’s going to be long it needs to be good
- Junior Highers like to laugh
- Junior Highers like stories
- Be authenic
- Be relevant to THEIR world
- When possible, include active learning ingredients. Students learn more when they experience it.
- Offer specific application steps
- The last minute is also the most important minute

- I have been invited today to a lunch for Christian bloggers to talk about our strategy, where we get ideas for content etc. Not sure how I got on the invite list…have these people ever read my blog!
- Denver Broncos are 2-0! This despite Kyle Orten.
- How to earn points with your wife: The Crock Pot. Before I headed out of town yesterday, my only “chore” was to put dinner in the crock pot so it would be ready for my family when they got home last night. I missed the meal but apparently it was delicious. My wife has been singing my praises ever since.
- I am currently evesdropping on a conversation between Mark Matlock and Kara Powell…two brilliant youth workers. I am trying not to say too much. You know the old saying, “better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt”.