Posted By Kurt Johnston

1. We don’t Do it often, but this past weekend we made a broad, church-wide appeal for new small group leaders. We had an insert in the bulletin, Pastor Rick mentioned it at the beginning of service, and I got to mention it at the end. The reason is because with our small groups starting in a week, we have a record breaking number of students signed up, but less leaders than normal. That math doesn’t add up! The result: over 50 adults stepped up and expressed an interest! Now we need to meet them, interview them, and perform background checks. This entire process will likely thin out the crowd by at least 1/2.

2. Saw the movie, Money Ball over the weekend. One of the better sports(ish) movies I have seen in a while.

3. Dear Denver Broncos: You are now 1-2. I know Tim Tebow is your third string QB, but start him NOW. Play him for two games and you will be able to tell if he has any future potential. If it turns out he doesn’t, we fans will gladly support shelving the guy. At 1-2, and Kyle Orton as our starter, the season is almost lost already. Try something new and bold before it gets further out of hand.

4. In a few weeks, we will start filming THE CHALLENGE, a new a new JH game resource. I am super excited about some of the hilarious challenges we have planned, and can’t wait to see how it goes over in our JH ministry.

5. Have you seen the latest Simply Youth Ministry Show? It’s a good one!

Posted by Kurt Johnston

Below is a list of the the list of the “5 happiest jobs” based on data collected via the General Social Survey of the National Organization for Research at the University of Chicago, and reported in the Christian Science Monitor (They list the top 10, but I’ve only listed the top 5):

1. Clergy

2. Firefighters

3. Physical therapists

4. Authors

5. Special education teachers

No wonder I’m so happy!  I spend a ton of my time in THREE of the top 5 happy job categories.

Clergy:  I have been a pastor since 1988 and totally understand why it ranks #1.

Author:  Between writing small group curriculum, lessons, training material etc. for my own ministry setting and the somewhat frequent outside writing opportunities, I spend a fair amount of time as an “author” of sorts.

Special Education Teacher:  I work with junior highers….and I’m sure the similarities between my roles and those of a special ed. teacher are many!

(HT to Tony Jones)

Posted by Kurt Johnston

On Friday night, I am speaking to a group of about 100 denominational youth pastors. When I asked the organizer of the event what he would like me to talk about, he gave me an answer that I’m sure was meant to free me up….to give me tons of options…to avoid putting me in a box.  But, frankly, his answer has served to mess with my mind this week as I try to prepare.  “Speak to us about how to reach today’s teenagers” was his reply.  Simple enough, right?  Maybe for you!

On one hand I get it….all of us want to know how best to reach today’s teenagers. Afterall, that’s what we are in the business of doing, right?  Great topic. One everybody will be interested in!

But on the other hand….the topic is begging for a “silver bullet” answer; a formula that, if followed, will result in these youth groups reaching more of today’s teens than ever before. I’m a pragmatist (to a fault many times), and formulas often make sense to me. I like “three steps to a healthy marriage” (as if there are only THREE), and “The Keys to Financial Freedom”.  Formulas, step-by-step strategies and the like usually make sense to me.  So a “How to” topic would seem to be right up my alley.

But not this time.  The subject matter is too important, the ramifications too high to try to boil it down to a formula, or a set of keys, or a few steps.

I can already hear my opening remarks: “Reaching today’s teenagers” is hard, frustrating, thankless work…..and there’s no way to tidy it up into a pragmatic formula.”

Crickets….crickets….crickets…crickets….

Posted by Kurt Johnston

I have a confession to make: In every church I have ministered in as the junior high pastor, I have had a FANTASTIC relationship with my Sr. Pastor.  Seriously, I’ve never felt unsupported, disconnected, or like I had to convince my Sr. Pastor that what I was paid to do was important.

Sadly, I know that isn’t the case for many, many, many of my youth worker brothers and sisters.  That’s why I’m super excited about the book, “The Disconnect…bridging the youth pastor/senior pastor gap”.

If you are struggling in your relationship with your Sr. Pastor….and if your Sr. Pastor is strugging with his/her relationship with you, this book is a must read!  And, if you are blessed enough to have no need for such a book, then buy a copy and keep it as a ready gift for someone whose path you cross that would benefit from it.

Click HERE for more details about the book, and for a fantastic price!

Posted By Kurt Johnston

I spent the last three days with a group of 100 incredible youth workers. They were gathered together to help begin dreaming about the next Simply Youth Ministry Conference.

And while the purpose of the gathering was to talk about the conference, it was not surprising that most of the conversation and quality time together had nothing to do with conference stuff. A few random highlights and observations from the past three days:

- these days there is lots of talk in some circles about things like “A painful disruption” in youth ministry. And while I agree on most levels with my good friend, Marko….I also think much of the yet-
to-be-defined change needed is already in place in youth groups all over the place. The men and women I spent three days with are bending the rules, breaking the rules, and creating new rules!

Yes youth ministry needs some painful disruptions, and here is one idea: instead of youth workers in small to average sized churches trying to become more like the large youth ministries….perhaps the large youth ministries need to become more like the small and average sized churches. Perhaps (and this may be a painful disruption) we need to somehow “flip” where the major voices of influence come from?

- youth workers are a family. The hot new word right now is “tribe”, but I’m gonna stick with the picture of family. What I experienced the past three days was a true family laughing together, crying together, disagreeing with each other, hugging each other, praying together, holding each other accountable, and cheering each other on. There was also some pain, some hurt, some brookeness and some Un-health. But make no mistake, youth ministry is a tribe….a family.

- Junior high youth workers ALWAYS stick out! There’s just no way for those who feel a special affinity for, and calling to, young teen ministry to completely blend in.

- You belong! This particular mix of youth workers is fairly eclectic. Young and old, male and female, theologically conservative and theologically progressive, large church and small church, urban and rural, full time and volunteer, feeling fresh and feeling tired. It was a great reminder that there is room in the family for each and every one of us.

- And so you don’t get the impression that I only walked away with deep, meaningful insights…during the past three days I also managed to eat sushi for the first time, attend a home game of the Denver Broncos for the first time, catch a movie (contagion….really good), have a hilarious debate on the feminine/masculine nature of God, get drenched in a thunderstorm, and meet a ton of wonderful new friends…err tribe mates….err family members.

Posted By Kurt Johnston

As we all know young teens, especially boys, have fairly limited attention spans…add to that the new reality that they have been raised in a sound bite/facebook status update/twitter culture where so much of their information comes at them in bite-sized pieces.

Because of this, I have wanted to create a simple little “creed” that they can easily remember that, in my opinion holds the keys to success in life.

The early generation had coach John Woodens “pyramid of success” (have you seen the complexity of that thing?). I now offer my modern day, Tweet-sized alternative.

1. LOVE JESUS
2. WORK YOUR BUTT OFF
3. TREAT OTHERS WELL

I’m no John Wooden, but I think this sums up the three biggest traits the kids in our ministries need to pursue as they enter their teenage years….shoot, it’s probably stuff we ALL need to pursue!

Posted By Kurt Johnston

If, like so many JH ministries, you have some sort of small groups kicking off this fall, here are a few things worth considering:

- consider making them highly experiential and interactive in nature: Small groups provide a unique opportunity for the learning to be more hands-on, interactive and experiential…..which all of us know make it more effective.

-consider making the experience as important as the curriculum: This fits well with the above thought. But what if plowing through the bible study wasn’t them primary goal? What if creating an overall experience that was memorable, stretching, and encouraging was the focus?

- consider letting each group “run at it’s own pace”: No two small groups are the same….so don’t expect them all to look the same, feel the same, and progress at the same pace. what if you train your leaders to feel confident gauging the pulse of their group, and customizing it accordingly?

-consider knowing the purpose of your small group program: some of my above considerations are informed by a specific s strategy for our small groups. As you consider these ideas,and a whole bunch of others that come your way, it is helpful to have settled a basic small group strategy to help guide you as you think about stuff.

What are some things you have considered concerning small groups?

Posted by Kurt Johnston

Okay, I should probably start by saying that I had a hand in creating all four of these resources….BUT even if I didn’t, I’m pretty sure they would all still be in my current list of JH ministry resources that I think are WELL worth considering! Here we go…great things to add to your arsenal as you kick off the fall:

1) The Middle School Campference! Please join us for this event. You will be so very very glad you did. Instead of a link to the website, here  is a link to Marko’s most recent blog post about the event. Good stuff!

2) The Chat or Challenge Ball:  I think it is fair to say that this is my favorite JH resource of all time (or dang near close)! It plays like a clean, risk-free version of Truth or Dare. Students bat the ball around and when the leader yells, “stop” whoever has the ball looks at his/her left thumb….if it is sitting on a “chat”, they talk about the topic, If it is sitting on a “challenge”, they do the funny challenge. This thing is AWESOME for small groups…..unless you have a group full of kids with no left thumbs. Look at the picture at the top of this post…..how do you say no to THAT!

3) Teaching Series: “Flipped”.  This 3-week super series takes a look at three times Jesus took the common wisdom of culture…and flipped it upside down to reveal a kingdom truth. This is a great series to help students begin to recognize that Jesus’ ways are often completely different from the ways of the world.

4) Small group video curriculum: “Tempting Stuff”. This is our best selling video curriculum…likely due to the fact that I am joined by Katie Edwards. This 5-week curriculum tackles the tough topic of temptation, and how we can overcome it.

Posted By Kurt Johnston

Not sure when, exactly, it returns but you will want to tune into Doug Fields, Katie Edwards, Josh Griffin and Matt McGill when they return with their new and improved podcast. Here is a snippet:

the Youth Ministry Garage Episode 167 highlight reel from Matt McGill on Vimeo.

Posted by Kurt Johnston

This morning I heard an interesting quote that was credited to Steve Jobs, the recently retired CEO and primary creative force of Apple:
“It isn’t the job of the consumer to determine what they want.”

Wow! Read that one again. The junior high ministry correlations are interesting to ponder. Here are a few thoughts that might be worth your time:

- How much of what we teach should be “felt need” (what they want), VS. what we as experts in young teen ministry know they need to learn?
- How much of a “voice” should the students in our ministries have concerning planning of events, activities, elements of our programs, etc.?
- Should our ministries as a whole be a reflection of what kids want…..or is it up to us to determine FOR THEM what they want, need etc.?

Would love to hear your thoughts!