- I’m reading “The Unlikely Disciple; A Sinner’s Semester At America’s Holiest University” by Kevin Roose.  It is a fantastic book written by a young college student who goes “under cover” at Liberty University for one semester.

- Heard about this fun website in latest issue of GROUP magazine.

- If you like sweet tea (which I’m trying to drink less of!) you will love this stuff.

- Want a cheap, super fun addition to your junior high meeting room? Check this out. We have one and play constantly.

- Have you pre-ordered your copy of “Middle School Ministry”by Scott Rubin and Mark Ostreicher?

- Looking for some cheap and easy youth ministry ideas? I just wrote the foreward to this great new book by Todd Outcalt.

What is the most overused word in junior high ministry. That’s a statement, not a question. My hunch is that trying to figure out what your ministry is going to do is a topic that takes up a great deal of your time.

- “What topics do we want to teach at midweek?”

-”What are we going to do for summer activities?”

-”What should we do about the rowdy kids that show up?”

-”What games should we play this Friday night?”

-”What are we going to tell the elders when they notice the damage?”

What is certainly an important word, but I think why is even more important. Instead of asking “What should our ministry do”, I suggest the first question to ask is, “Why does our ministry exist?” When you can define why your ministry exists, then many of the ‘whats’ will begin to answer themselves. At the very least, the ‘why’ will guide your answers to the ‘what’.

If you’ve never drafted a mission statement or purpose statement, I would highly encourage you to do so. A purpose statement is your chance to draft why your ministry exists which will help guide what you do and what you don’t do.

I’ve never read the book, so I have no idea what advice it gives but the other day I was thinking about some of my friends who have had the greatest influence on me in recent years and why that is. I thought it might be fun to pass along some of things about them that are (at least I hope) beginning to rub off on me.

The Ability To Ask Good Follow-Up Questions.  I have a couple of friends who are great at digging a little deeper, asking a question that brings the real issue to the surface etc. The ability to ask good follow up questions makes conversation rich and makes people feel valued and important.

The Ability To “Stop Time”. I have a friend who is extremely busy and everybody knows it. Yet when he stops to talk to you, even in a spontaneous hallway encounter, it’s as if time stops and you become the sole focus of his attention. There aren’t many things that make me feel better than when somebody who is obviously super busy can hit the pause button and make it seem as if they have nothing better to do than talk to me.

The Ability To Prop Up.  One of my lifelong friends is the master of encouragement. I honestly can’t remember ever spending time with him, whether it was 5 minutes or 5 hours, without walking away at the end of our time together feeling better about myself.

The Ability To Inspire. I love being around inspiring people. I have a buddy who is constantly dreaming of a new idea, a better way, a bigger opportunity etc.

If you have never done so, I’d encourage you to think about some of your friends and other people who have had great impact on you. What is it about them that you appreciate? What do you see in them that you need to let rub off on you and your relationships with others.

- I feel like our youth ministry is finally feeling the pinch of the economic downturn. Registrations for any Summer event costing more than about $50 seem to be very low while attendance at our “cheap and easy” events has been huge. This is mostly a good thing because it has reinforced my love for low-key, highly relational activities but it’s a very, very bad thing for our Summer Camp budget!

- I rarely read fiction, but when I do I prefer John Grisham. I read his newest, The Associate, in two nights. Good stuff!

- If you work with High School students, you may want to check out Live Curriculum, Simply’s new four-year small group bible study. While I found the website to be a little bit overwhelming (mostly because I’m old and not very “techy”) I think this new resource is a brilliant way to provide your high school students a well balanced, four-year, small group bible study experience.

- Interested in joining our Junior High team at Saddleback? We are looking for college graduates who want to be part of our two-year internship program.  Click here for more information.

Haven’t posted much due to two days of stressful prep for the Dominican Republic and a non-stop pace since we landed. The focus of my time here has been to help teach a one-day PDYM conference which we are currently in the process of wrapping up.

Tomorrow we relax at a swanky all-inclusive resort before catching an early flight home on Monday morning. I was just told that there is decent surf a short drive away so I’m hoping to sneak away to catch a few warm-water waves.

I’ll resume blogging on Tuesday.

- 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.