Posted by Kurt Johnston

Last night my Pastor, Rick Warren, spoke at our High School summer mid-week service. Because Josh Griffin is out of town, he asked me to be there to introduce Rick. In short: It was one of the highlights of my youth ministry career! Seeing the way our students engaged with their Pastor, and seeing how it energized Rick was something really wonderful to behold.

I realize that many of you serve Sr. Pastors who truly have no interest in what is happening in your youth ministry, and for that I am sorry. But I also believe that in some cases, their interest can be peaked. It is possible to slowly win the support of most Sr. Pastors. Here are a few steps you can take to help bridge the gap between you and your pastor….and your pastor and your junior highers:

1) Stick around a while. Longevity is probably the best way to build a healthy relationship between you and your senior pastor. Doug Fields served at Saddleback for 18 years, I have been here for 15, and Josh has been here for 7. Because Rick knows our commitment and loyalty to Saddleback, he is much more eager to build a relationship with our ministries.

2) Keep them in the loop. I have talked to tons of youth workers who say a version of this: “My Pastor never asks about our youth ministry…it’s like he doesn’t even care.” Perhaps. But perhaps it is our job to not wait until he/she asks! Look for ways to be proactive in communicating with your Pastor. Send an email after significant events, let him know when a student gets saved, build trust by being the first to tell her when something went wrong so she isn’t caught of guard. Take the initiative….it goes a long way.

3) Invite!Pastor Rick didn’t ask Josh if he could speak….Josh asked him! Rick showed up at our junior high camp for a day once simply because we invited him. Pastors are busy, and most aren’t looking for additional stuff to do, so inviting themselves to be part of your ministry likely isn’t on their radar. But…when you invite them, you may be surprised at their response. Even if they say no, they will be happy to have been asked.

Want to read more on this subject? Here is a great book dedicated to the Pastor/Youth Pastor relationship!

Posted by Kurt Johnston

I am super excited about two brand new opportunities….one for you, and one for your junior highers.

1st; the all new Simply Youth Ministry Show! Beginning on August 1st, and airing about 3x monthly, The Simply Youth Ministry show (hosted by me and my buddy Jake Rutenbar) will be a 30ish-minute topic-driven show. Each show will include a special guest who will share his/her insight, experience and expertise on the given topic.

Here are just a few of the guests we have already lined up: Dan Kimball, Kara Powell, Marko, Greg Stier, Scott Rubin, Adam McClane, Terrace Crawford, Tim Schmoyer, Kami Gilmour, Brian Berry, Brooklyn Lindsey and more. I really do think it will be a valuable way to spend 30 minutes of your time each week.

2nd; CIY, The folks who brought us Believe, are introducing a new summer event called MIX!
About 5 years ago, we made the decision to trust CIY with our junior highers and it was one of the best decisions we have ever made. Believe is a higlight of of our year, and I am super excited to see what MIX shapes up to look like. My biggest struggle is going to be the fact that we have attended the same amazing summer camp for 15 years, and the thought of leaving gives me a stomach ache…but so does the thought of missing out on MIX.

Good stuff coming your way!

Posted by Kurt Johnston

Spike Ball…until yesterday I had never heard of it, and today I am convinced it is the best youth ministry game since sliced bread (okay, sliced bread in itself was never a youth ministry game, but you get the point)!

It takes a little bit of athleticism to play, but not much.  And, it is as much fun to watch as it is to play so even non-athletic types will gather around.

Go….now….order one!

posted By Kurt Johnston

I would love to hear your thoughts and strategies on this one:

our ministry strategy has always been to “speed up” during the summer by providing a ton of activities for our students. The thinking has basically been, “Jr. High students tend to sit around a lot during the summer, so why not provide a bunch of alternatives to that?”

By summers end, we will have provided, and our team will have organized,a
summer camp, a mission trip to costa rica, a week-long urban work camp, an overnight guys trip and an overnight girls trip, a “night camp” (a different event every night for a week), several beach days, and several other one-day activities. All this on top of four weekend services every week, recruiting and training leaders for the fall, etc.

I don’t even lead or attend many of these activities, and the truth is most of our team picks and chooses what they will lead and attend, but it is still very obvious that our summer is busy. In fact, because of my philosophy of speeding up in the summer, it wasn’t until this summer that I took my first summer-time vacation in almost 25 years of ministry!

So, our team works like crazy to provide a very busy summer schedule for students. BUT DO WE NEED TO? BIGGER QUESTION: SHOULD WE?

Posted by Kurt Johnston

I’m not sure if he was the first to say it, but I heard it from Rick Warren first: “For too long, Christians have been known for what we are against; It is time for us to be known for what we are for.” 

His hope was to get the collective body of Christ to begin shouting as loudly about grace, justice, generosity, serving others etc. as we have historically shouted about abortion, homosexuality and the ills of society.  I loved the idea when I first heard it, and I love it now even more.

And it has me thinking:  What is my junior high ministry “for”?  And the bigger question: What are we doing (both strategically and subconsciously) that is sending an opposite message?  For instance, our ministry is “for” providing an emotionally safe place for young teens.  But are we doing things that send the opposite message?

Two exercises for you that I am doing myself: 

1) Take an honest inventory of your juniorhigh ministry’s reputation in the community.  Are you known more for being “against” all the bad stuff?  If so, is that a good reputation, or one to re-consider?

2) Make a list of the things you want your ministry to be known “for”, and then jot down the various ways your ministry helps or hinders that goal.

Posted by Kurt Johnston

Because my family is on vacation this week, and because our vacation consists of spending the week in Chicago with Scott Rubin and his family, it will likely be a light blogging week here.

Of course, Johnny Scott and/or Heather Flies and/or Katie Edwards hold the power to change that if they choose to!

My friends love it when I call them out publicly about my desire to see them contribute to this blog. That’s what I get for asking dedicated, in-the-trenches JH pastors to share their thoughts….they are too busy doing ministry!

Posted by Kurt Johnston

- We are away on day two of our regional campus staff retreat.  For the past FIFTEEN years, we have taken our entire paid team and their spouses away for a three day retreat in beautiful Palm Springs (a tradition Doug Fields started that we continue)…it’s beautiful in the fall and winter when temperatures are about 80 degrees.  In june it’s not so beautiful due to temperatures around 105-110 everyday. Not so beautiful…..but incredibly cheap.  We stay in a 5-star resort for about $75 a night!  Since we now have an additional 6 youth ministry campuses, with more to come, we decided to start the same tradition among the regionals.  So me, Josh Griffin, Katie Edwards and our spouses said farewell to the teams we lead on Wednesday, and greeted the regional leaders.  Makes for 5 nights of retreats and loving on our teams.  Long, but very much worth the effort.  To read some details, check out Josh’s recent post.

- I am both excited and frustrated about what my summer is shaping up to look like.  For the first time in almost 25 years of youth ministry, I am going to have to be very selective about what junior high activities I can actually participate in.  There is so much amazing stuff happening in all three of our student ministry departments that I can’t (and shouldn’t….) focus all my time in junior high.  So this summer I am going to “jump around” from event to event and try to spend a little bit of time at all of our significant trips, camps, mission experiences etc.  So my summer will consist of popping into our high school summer camp, our junior high work camp, our JH/HS mission trip to Costa Rica, our junior high summer camp, our college age music festival called Radicalis, our junior high boys trip called Burly as well as a few random activities.  Fun, busy….and I’m afraid not totally fulfilling. But we shall see.

- Saw Transformers last night.  I’ve never been a massive fan, so I’m sure my opinnion is skewed.  It felt 45 minutes too long, but was pretty decent. I’m sure it will make 8 zillion dollars at the box office over the weekend.

- Before the crazy schedule I mentioned above kicks in, the family is heading to Chicago to spend the week with our buddies Scott and Lynette Rubin and their three amazing boys.  Feel free to leave a Chicago “MUST DO” in the comments.

- Much more about this later, but airing August 1 will be the new Simply Youth Ministry Show hosted by Jake Rutenbar and Myself.  It will be a 30-minute video podcast that will typically focus on a single topic each episode.  We would greatly value your topic suggestions.  What are youth ministry topics/issues that you would like to see addressed?

Posted by Kurt Johnston

If you work with middle school students, and haven’t heard about the upcoming Middle School Ministry Campference, hosted by Mark Oestreicher’s new ministry, The Youth Cartel, let me be the first to tell you about it!

In short, it is a three-day conference in a camp setting…thus the title, “Campference”.  I am really excited to be joining the fun, and am looking forward to it for several reasons:

1) It’s middle school specific.  There just isn’t much (if anything) out there that targets the young teen youth workers.  Every general sesssion, every workshop…everything about the event…is designed to encourage and equip men and women who work with middle schoolers!

2) Marko is the leading thinker and “banner waver” in the junior high ministry realm.  Frankly, I just want to be part of something he is putting together because I know the conversations will be rich.

3) I want to hang out and rub shoulders with others who actually enjoy middle school ministry!

4) I’ve always wondered what camp would feel like if we could go to camp without students!  And that is exactly what the campference will be. it will feature all the cool things of camp, but we won’t have to worry about our junior highers!  Too good to be true.

5) October is the perfect time of year for a retreat.  Fall is in full swing, and the holidays are still a few weeks away…a perfect time to set aside for some personal growth.

Please consider joining us for what promises to be an amazing event.  The early bird rate ends this Thursday, June 30th!

All the details are at www.middleschoolministrycampference.com

Posted By Kurt Johnston

I’m not sure about you, but for many youth workers a common temptation of the lazy days of summer is the temptation to be lazy doing some of the things that need to get done in order to have a strong fall. Here are three areas to pay extra attention to this summer that will pay off in the fall.

1. Recruit, Recruit, Recruit. . The fall usually brings new small groups, new programs, and new activities. The summer usually brings a drop-off of volunteers who are done with their youth ministry run, and won’t be returning. The math is pretty simple: to continue to grow and expand a healthy youth ministry, you need to replace the volunteers you lose PLUS add a few. Failure to recruit during the summer sets you up for failure in the fall.

Plan Your Fall Calendar I know, it takes so much work to get ready for summer and to pull off all the summer “stuff” that the last thing you want to do is plan another quarter’s worth of activity. But you need to. you need to because the fall is arguably the most strategic season of the year, and failure to properly plan and strategize for it is a mistake.

Rest. It is summer, and summer is a great time to rest, reflect and relax. For the two reasons listed above, and many others, it is also a very busy time….so be well rested! Youth ministry and the church rarely slow down…but you should.

Posted by Kurt Johnston

…Actually maybe it’s truth is why it is funny. (sent to me by Jason Pogue)