GROUP’s March/April magazine is awesome – with their annual youth ministry salary survey and much more. If you don’t get group – why not? Here is my little review of what you will find in it:

Something I liked: I got a chance to meet Jeff Dunn-Rankin at the SYM Conference 2012 and I was impressed. Then I got to read his review of Lee and Leslie Strobel’s book, “Surviving a Spiritual Mismatch” and I was super impressed. Mr. Dunn-Rankin did a great job explaining the book and he has convinced me to read it. One of the key thoughts that he shared was, “We youth workers see the changes (when a kid of a non-believing home accepts Christ) as all positive but we need to understand that too many parents, (these changes) might be threatening, scary, and irritating.”

???: It’s good to see the annual youth ministry salary survey but I didn’t agree with some of the thoughts Tony Myles shared at the end of the article. I struggle when anyone shares that full time ministers (youth minsters or senior pastors) should consider seasonal or special event work to help pay monthly bills.

Key Statement: Great thought from Dan Webster, “Every life is a mystery waiting to be uncovered, not a mistake needing to be corrected.”

Creative Idea: Walt Mueller is one of my favorite researchers. He shared a little idea that I think is awesome. He said, “A great way to begin (evaluating media) is to randomly choose ads and play a quick game of ‘Spot the lie,’ working to uncover the false promise(s) made by the ad.”

by Mark Eades, the middle school guy
“It’s not the magic that makes it work; it’s the way we work that makes the magic.”
Lee Cockerell explains how he does this work throughout his book Creating Magic. He shares two key “work” ideas in working in the middle school ministry, making this book a valuable addition to my library.
One is the importance of being a humble but strong leader in what we do. He shared a number of methods. Here are some that stand out:

GROUPs first 2012 magazine came out and I really enjoyed the read. In fact, I read it a couple of times before I put together this little review:

Something I liked: I really liked the interview with Jake Kircher called “We love our youth worker.” The idea that there our churches out there committing to seven promises in their relationship with their youth workers is totally awesome.

???: Rick Lawrence article “Depression is an Inside/Outside thing” has a quote by Stephen Ilardi who said, “the more ‘modern’ a society’s way of life, the higher its rate of depression.” Wished there was more clarity to what “modern” meant.

Key Statement: Darren Sutton had this great thought “The spiritual gift of most junior highers is knowing which buttons to push, and when.” Love it!

Creative Idea: I picked up the T3 challenge kit from group at the last SYMC and have used it to challenge the kids to do something with $50 that we gave them. One of the “in the news” articles Stephanie Martin shared about was on Liquid Church and how it handed out money to its worshipers to use as they needed it or use it to make a difference — loved that idea and doing that with my kids.

by Mark Eades the middle school guy
I work with a great group of people who spend time and energy impacting middle school youth. I often teach them about the importance of creating “remember when” moments which, in turn, helps them with their interactions with the kids. It gives them the idea that as they journey with these “out of control” kids they can make a difference in their lives — to help them take spiritual steps forward.
As I read Joseph R. Myers’s book The Search to Belong I thought about those discussions about “remember when” moments — and it was very refreshing. Mr. Myers illustrates that to help people know where they belong, we (Environmentalists) need to help create environments for them to be in.
“When there is a favorable environment,” he writes, “we make spontaneous choices regarding to whom we want to belong. This is the type of connection that people are looking for in their lives…’Environmentalists’…are primarily concerned with creating a ‘healthy’ climate for spontaneity to occur.”
Mr. Myers highlights four different spaces in his book where people exist to create spontaneity — public space, social space, personal space, and intimate space. Each space has different “distance” dynamics to help define them but, in each, people can flourish. He explains that we have to try to create these spaces for people to flourish in, and then validate each person in those spaces.
“Were we to validate the space people inhabit — whichever of the four spaces it may be — we will find countless people who are actively committed, who are happy to participate, and who have previously been eased aside into the shadows or written off entirely.”
This book is a great read for those thinking about the best approach in creating an environment for ministry to flourish.
Mr. Myers puts it this way: “I believe in helping individuals grow in their walk with God in the space where they connect with him, and helping them use this as the means to move forward.”
As a middle school youth pastor I’m always thinking of ways to create “remember when” moments and The Search to Belong gives me a lot of fodder to think on.

GROUP’s 2011 Sep/Oct issue hit my desk mid-September and I finally got around to reading it. The front cover made me think of our local middle outreach called messfest so I was excited when I finally got a chance to read it. Here are a few thoughts I had:
Something I liked:

After recently finishing Seth Godin’s book Tribes, I am convinced it is as memorable a read as his book The Dip, which I read a few years ago.
Two key points stood out to me in Tribes. To create a forward moving Tribe (a group of people) that is vibrant and motivated, a leader must care for the people — and cast vision for the Tribe that they haven’t seen yet.
It’s so important that a leader care for the people that work and volunteer for him.
“Caring is the key emotion at the center of the tribe,” asserts Godin, emphasizing that the tribe becomes even more vibrant and motivated when people perceive that they are heard and are important to the leader. “People want to be sure you heard what they said — they’re less focused on whether or not you do what they said.”
Care is critical for any leader that wants to grow.
Additionally, a leader has to be willing to think ahead, share what they see, and be willing to endure ridicule for that — to be the underdog. Leaders have to be willing to endure difficulties for the tribe and what could happen in the future.
“Leaders create things that didn’t exist before. They do this by giving the tribe a vision of something that could happen, but hasn’t (yet),” Godin states. “Leadership almost always involves thinking and acting like the underdog.”
If you are a middle school/junior high leader of any kind, Seth Godin’s Tribes is a must read. It can help you move middle school kids, their parents, and volunteers to forward if you care and cast a clear but not seen vision for them.