Posted by Kurt Johnston

Because I spend so much time working at Starbucks (there right now, in fact), I figured it would be sort of silly for me not to read Onward, the new book by their CEO, Howard Shultz. It was fantastic.

The book chronicles Starbucks rise, fall (not really a “fall” but certainly a stumble) and rise through the Lens of Shultz.

Ministry and leadership lessons drip from almost every page. Here are just a few:

- At one point, Shultz reminds the organization that they are NOT a coffee company that serves people, instead they are a people company that serves coffee.

- The root of Starbucks struggles several years ago was their inability to stay true to their founding principles and values.

- Shultz’s intuitive style of leadership is obviously a huge reason for Starbucks success, but he is quick to admit that it has caused problems along the way.

While I think the book was about 25% too long, and people who aren’t super business savvy will loose interest at numerous points (at least that was my experience….a little too much talk about wall street, reports to shareholders, etc.), If you serve in a youth ministry setting, I couldn’t recommend this book more highly.

If you are THE leader of your ministry: Learn a ton from Shultz’s journey.

If you are a team member, volunteer, etc.: There are numerous examples of people
“leading from the middle” to influence the organization and effect change.

Posted by Kurt Johnston

As I type this, I am sitting in Chicago Ohare airport about to miss a speaking engagement for the first time in my life. The day started by hitting the road at 4:00 am to catch a flight that was delayed twice resulting in a missed connection. Then the Chicago skies opened up and started dumping rain resulting in my flights being cancelled. Even though it is “an act of God” and there’s nothing I can do about it, I feel TERRIBLE.

But this negative “first time” experience has me thinking about all the incredible “first times” I have experienced over the years in JH ministry.

- The first time I took a group of students to the beach. By “group”, I mean two 8th grade guys, and on the way to the beach, my car suffered two flat tires. Years later, when I see Joe and Chad, we still share the fond memory.

- The first time I went to a weeklong summer camp as the person ultimately in charge. I felt like I was in SO over my head. And I was. But God showed up, like He has a way of doing.

- The first time I taught about sex and dating. I wasn’t even married, had never had sex, and felt like I needed the lesson more than they did!

The list of “first time” ministry memories could go on and on. I’m sad today that I am experiencing my first speaking foul up, but so very thankful for all the other “firsts” God has allowed me to enjoy!

Posted by Kurt Johnston

The title of this post is also the title of a new category. Whenever Scott, myself or another author wants to post something that has nothing (or very little) to do with junior high ministry, we will title it, “This has nothing to do with junior high ministry, but…”. This way you can quickly decide if you want to read any further!

This has nothing to do with junior high ministry, but today I heard a very interesting statement: “Academics talking about real ministry is like fish talking about
bicycles”.

Strong. Loaded. Biased. Yes.
Somewhat true. Profound. Painfully accurate. Maybe.

Would love to hear your thoughts.

Posted by Kurt Johnston

This weekend, our junior high ministry did something we try to about once a month: We forced ourselves out of our typical weekend rut. I think the weekend church experience we provide for junior highers is a great one, but because it works and because we have it dialed in, it would be very easy to get into a “good rut”.

So church this weekend was way different. It was on one hand much more relational (we sat around tables, had lots of discussion questions, etc.) and on the other hand much more serious in tone (we worked through the last few days of Jesus’ life). The weekend was FANTASTIC, not because what we did was so much better than what we normally do, but because it was different….we didn’t do what we normally do.

Ruts are bad….even good ruts…so there really are no good ruts. When really good stuff becomes predictable, formulaic, etc. it begins to lose effectiveness, and thus a bunch of really good stuff can slowly become a rut.

Here are a few ways to become a RUT BUSTER:

- Always leave them wanting more, quit while you’re ahead, etc. It is super tempting to play the groups favorite game over and over and over again. But if you do, their favorite game will quickly become the one they are sick of. It’s easy to lock onto a certain type of humor that your students respond to….but don’t overdo it. When they get overly used to it, it is no longer as useful a tool.

- Invite new voices into your planning process: One of the reasons ministries find themselves in a rut is because they constantly have the same people planning the lessons, the activities, the leader training, etc. People are creatures of habit, so when we find something that works, we are slow to recognize the need for change. Inviting new, fresh voices into the process will make it much
tougher to fall into ruts.

- Network with other youth leaders, and visit their ministries. I recently met with a very sharp young leader who was contemplating making some changes in his junior high ministry. He admitted that his model was the ONLY model he had ever seen…that he was simply doing ministry the way it was done before his arrival on the scene. I applauded him for wanting to learn how we do things at Saddleback, but was quick to point out that if our ministry was the only one he looked at, he was missing out on dozens and dozens of other effective ministry
models.

Start with a blank slate. Next time you get ready to write a lesson, plan an activity, etc. start with a blank slate. Most of us have been taught the value of keeping good records and history files so that we can document our learnings. The common wisdom is this is that the next time around, we can grab our file and see what worked last time, what didn’t, etc. I think this is helpful, but it is also a sure-fire way to get into ruts. Instead, take a shot at starting from a blank slate….pretending their is no history at all. dream big, brainstorm, think outside the box….think outside the history file!