- I found this article concerning Michael Jackson’s patent on a certain dance move really interesting.

- Lots of other odd MJ news, but this has to be toward the top of the heap.

- Burglar falls asleep while robbing a church!

- 2 year old boy smokes a pack a day.

- Oh, and there’s finally a new simply junior high podcast up…it’s episode #42.

Lesson: Week 1 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 James 1:22-24.

Lesson Length: 21 minutes.

Music: Really good considering the fact that we lost so many of our musicians who moved up to high school.

Attendance: Above average for Summer.

Volunteer Involvement: Fairly high. Our new “section” seating forces a higher level of ownership and interaction from our volunteers.

Fun Factor: High

Games Played: “The Orb” which is an elimination game in which four students try to name answers to categories while the orb is passed over their heads. The “orb” is a plastic water toy that holds a water balloon and when the timer goes off, the balloon is popped which covers the contestant. The last contestant standing remains dry and wins the prize.

“Up Close” is a game available at simply junior high. It fit well with the idea of “taking an up-close look at scripture”.

All in all it was a great weekend.

A few years ago I began using the phrase “fruitful and fulfilling” to describe what I believe is an ideal goal for our ministry experience be it full time, part time, volunteer and regardless of what our ministry role happens to be.

FRUITFUL: You’re good at it, you see some sort of results, the kingdom is being advanced, there is tangible “fruit” as a result of your labors.

FULFILLING: It brings a sense of purpose to you, it “feels” right in your gut, it’s something you are called to and gifted at. At the end of a bad, bad day you still put your head on your pillow with a sense of inner peace knowing you are serving where you are meant to be serving.

ministry….especially youth ministry….especially junior high ministry….is sacrificial by definition. When you and I signed up for it, we knew there were inherit sacrifices. Financial sacrifices, security sacrifices, family sacrifices etc. If you think ministry is an easy road, or that it should be, I’m afraid you don’t understand the nature of it. But I’m not convinced that sacrificing fulfillment in what we do is part of the mix, and lately I’ve spoken to quite a few people who love ministry and want to serve well but aren’t fulfilled….they are fruitful, but not fulfilled.

Question: is “Fruitful and Fulfilling” an accurate (or even biblical) expectation for ministry?

Question: If yes, then what do we say to men and women who are faithfully serving Christ who aren’t experiencing any true fruitfulness or fulfilment?

Question: If no, then why do things like spiritual gifts, learned skills, passions etc. matter?

This past weekend was our promotion weekend; when we say hello to a fresh batch of new 7th graders (my youngest, Cole, is one of them…). Because of this, the weekend was a little different than the usual fare.

We still had music, games etc. but instead of a lesson, we did something new. With about 25 minutes left in the service, we dismissed all the 7th graders to head to another area in our building for our “7th grade party” while the 8th graders stayed in our room. The 7th grade party consisted of some crowd breakers, some introductions, some fun prizes etc. It was super simple, but proved to be one of the most effective things we’ve ever done to get good face-to-face time with every new 7th grader.

Next week we kick off our 10-week Summer Series called “The Lab”. During this series we will be taking an up-close look at 10 of the most famous passages of scripture.

When I was a kid, the Magic 8 Ball was a popular way to kill some time on a boring Summer afternoon. My mom, of course, wanted me to have nothing to do with it as in her opinnion it was in the same category as a Ouija board or tarot cards….stuff we shouldn’t mess with.

I can only imagine what my mom would say about “Answer Me Jesus”! I am hilariously offended by it.

I’m in the middle of two new books; both of which are really good.

SimpleStudent Ministry: From the folks who brought us Simple Church comes an easy-to-read student ministries version. So far, I have really enjoyed it and recommend it to anybody who leads a youth ministry.

Take Your Best Shot: Austin Gutwein founded Hoops of Hope when he was nine. Six years later God is using Austin in some tremendous ways. Take Your Best Shot uses Austin’s story as the backdrop to challenge students to make a difference. I couldn’t recommend this book more highly….it’s a must-read for every teenager.

- Today my daughter, Kayla, turns 15. WOW, it really is amazing how quickly time flies. She really has become a young woman who loves Jesus and is beautiful on the inside and out.

- DANG IT! After I typed that last line I thought it would be good to send the same line to Kayla in a text message at school….only to reach for my phone and realize I don’t have it because it is “in the shop” today.

- This past weekend we said farewell to our current crop of 8th graders. I never cease to be amazed at how much students change during their two short years in junior high. After almost 22 years, I’m still convinced junior high ministry is the most fun, and most important, ministry in the church.

- I found this post on Tony Jones’ blog to be a pretty interesting one concerning the emergent church etc.

- Is it possible to be really excited for the Lakers but not at all excited for Kobe? That’s my tension.

- Other than a short trip to the Dominican Republic and a local speaking gig or two I don’t have any significant trips or projects until February of 2010! I cancelled some stuff and said no to a whole bunch of other stuff and it feels GREAT!

- If you lead a junior high ministry in the Southern California area, there are TWO fantastic events worth considering:

Stuck In The Middle; November 20-21, 2009

Junior High Believe; January 29-30, 2010

I just returned from helping out at Group’s Large Church Youth Ministry Summit. It was three days of really good discussion and I left with a ton of things to chew on and think about. Here are a few unrelated nuggets of wisdom and insight that I need to chew on.

- Jesus’ style of leadership could perhaps be best described as “Surprising”. He was constantly surprising those around him.

- Leadership is as much intuitive as it is strategic.

- It may be that volunteers on our teams need looser parameters, not tighter ones. Make their ministry “box” bigger.

- Most of the time, our failures or mistakes in ministry can be turned into incredible opportunities to learn a leadership principle if we are willing to make the effort.

- Historically, it seems like God uses reluctant leaders much more often than those who “really want to lead”.

- Leadership is “fluid”, or “liquid” which means as a leader you need to know your leadership style etc. but be willing and able to lead differently in different scenarios.

There were more sound bites, but those are the ones that stick out in my mind. And those will have to suffice because I left my notes in Colorado!

Teaching Topic: A “One Hit Wonder” (not part of a series) called What Matters Most. Next weekend is our annual 8th grade weekend in which students run the entire program so this was my last time to speak to our outgoing 8th graders.

Lesson Length: I broke the lesson into two halves, separated by some programming elements and music. Combined the lesson was 20:18.

“Fun Factor”: It was a fairly mellow program, but really fun. We introduced our 3 Summer interns by using them to answer various “Would Your Rather” questions.

Music: Above average in quality, but below average in band enthusiasm and stage presence. Lately, it seems as though our bands are lacking a little bit of excitement and energy as they lead. BUT…..still so fun to have students leading the way!

Attendance: A little bit above average for this time of year.

Volunteer Involvement: Low. In a couple weeks we are changing up some aspects of our program in an attempt to give our adult leaders a little more ownership and involvement.

In my last post I mentioned that one of my observations about Willow Creek’s middle school ministry was that their middle school pastor, Scott Rubin, seems to be much more of a teacher than a communicator which, in my opinion, was something that helped the large ministry feel smaller and more personable. To be honest, I’m not even sure I know what that means, exactly, but it really felt evident while I was listening to Scott teach. I’m hoping Scott will read this post and weigh in with some thoughts because I think trying to quantify some of the differences between “teaching” and “communicating” will be an interesting challenge.

I hope you will add your thoughts as well. Is there a difference? If so, what are they? Which is more effective and in what setting? The list of questions could go on and on. To get things started, here area few of my initial, but not totally thought out, ponderings:

- It seems like the smaller the youth group, the more “teaching” happens while larger crowds seem to have more “communicating”. I would possibly define teaching for this discussion as something like learner-based, interactive and instructional where communicating may be presenter-based, non-interactive and inspirational. Not sure those are the best definitions.

-Communicators try to capture the crowds attention and keep them engage through a high quality presentation. Teachers try to capture the crowds interest and keep them engage through interaction, student involvement, posing questions etc.

- Communicators usually hope their message was “good”. Teachers usually hope theirlesson was “meaningful”

Based on some of these comparisons are you more of a communicator or a teacher? Note: I’m more of a communicator. I may not be a good one, but that’s my style.

What are the strengths and weaknesses of each style?

What are other differences?

Are my comparisons fair?

What do you want to add to the conversation?