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.

Posted by Scott Rubin

Yesterday & today my calendar is booked by the ominous “all-day-meeting”, for big church issues.
We’re working on a strategic plan that will effect the future of our church — lots of important topics.

And yet, I’m still teaching this weekend, getting ready to transition 5th graders into our ministry, dealing with a volunteer crisis, and planning for our summer camp! I have to admit that I’ve thought several times about how much further I’d be able to move our middle school ministry along if I wasn’t “losing” these 2 days this week. But… it reminds me of a conversation that I had with a senior staff member here, before he hired me into the role of middle school pastor.

He said to me, “We’re not looking for a Jr. High Ministry builder.”

Huh?!
I thought that was what the role WAS.

Then he said, “We’re looking for a Church-builder, who leads our Jr. High ministry.”
More than just semantics — it made sense.
He told me that if I was interested in building a student ministry kingdom, independent from what the church is up to, then I wouldn’t be the right guy for the job.
It made sense to me.

Believe me, I’m still held accountable for what our middle school ministry is up to. (too bad I can’t say “We didn’t get around to planning summer camp … I was thinking about big church issues!) So I still sometimes have to remind myself, in the middle of 2 days of meetings, that I’ll find a way to get the other pressing issues planned for.

When I make that Attitude Adjustment going into it, I free myself up to approach big church meetings with excitement for what God’s doing in our whole church. And yesterday’s meetings were honestly a THRILL! WE talked about all the cool stuff we’re trying, to help our people draw closer to Jesus. Not only that, I got great ideas for how to make our middle school ministry better, from ideas that were discussed there. I’m excited about the future of our church, and feel privileged to be invited to the table talking about All Church Stuff.

But now I’ve gotta post this and get going — this meeting starts in 18 minutes… and you know “big church” people… they don’t like tardiness.

Posted by Kurt Johnston

In his previous post, Scott asked the question, what are we doing different this summer. I made a silly comment that one thing I planned to do different was to surf more and work less.

While meant as a joke….it really wasn’t. This summer I plan to surf more than usual for two big reasons:

1) my son, Cole, has mentioned several times that this is the summer he wants to start surfing. I have resisted forcing the sport upon him for obvious reasons, but to hear him expressing an interest is music to my ears. I am taking advantage of it.

2) Surfing is good for my soul. It is fun, it puts me out in the largest, most unpredictable part of God’s creation, and it is a wonderful mix of intense relaxation and exercise.

I feel better when I surf. I feel more “connected” when I surf. Surfing is good for my soul, and a healthy soul is perhaps the most important piece of leadership.

So let me add to Scott’s question: in addition to ministry, what things are you doing this summer that are good for your soul?

Posted by Scott Rubin

** I’m interested in WHETHER YOU DO ANYTHING DIFFERENT IN YOUR MIDDLE SCHOOL MINISTRY IN THE SUMMER? Comment below?

I love summer. And yet… it’s such a unique time in our jr. high ministry!

Like many of you, we feel like we have a pretty solid strategy for the school year — and we have fabulous volunteers that are the lynchpin for that!
- Our volunteer small group leaders KNOW their students well.
- Our volunteer small group leaders CHALLENGE the students in their group individually.
- Our volunteer small group leaders CONNECT WITH PARENTS of their students.
We ask a lot of our volunteers!

So, while our small group leaders DO come to summer camp with us, we also encourage them to use the summer to refresh and refuel. It seems to have paid off, too… as so many of our volunteers return to our ministry year after year! Also, lots of our students travel over the summer, so their attendance isn’t as consistent. But by no means do we want to concede any gains in spiritual growth in June & July!

This summer we’re trying something new. We’re interviewing students from our high school ministry, and training them to help us lead middle schoolers for 9 weekends. We’re calling it “Elevate Summer Staff”, and we’re pretty excited about it. We’re only inviting high schoolers who are recommended by someone; it won’t be just a place for social connection — we’re counting on these students to help us encourage & challenge middle schoolers in their spiritual growth. Still putting all the pieces together, but we’re praying that God will use it to draw students close to Him this summer like never before!

Do YOU do anything different in the summer??

Posted by Kurt Johnston

Over the years, I have dealt with lots of critical or upset parents. Sometimes they had reason for their concerns and sometimes they didn’t. I have handled some of the situations well and I have handled others well….not so well.

I’ve learned that there are a few “defusing” techniques that almost always serve to help the scenario from blowing up in my face. These are in no particular order.

- “Feel, Felt, Found”: When I remember to utilize this tool, things
seem to go more smoothly. It simply means saying something like this: “Mr. Jones, I understand why you feel the way you do. In fact, others have felt the same way and here is what we have found……” This works when you are admitting fault as well as when you aren’t.

- Strike while the irons hot! Avoid the temptation to avoid an upset or critical parents. Whatever they are concerned about will only get worse if
they feel they are being ignored.

- Thank them: I know this one sounds crazy because none of us are thankful for critical parents. But I have learned to be. When I think about the thousands of parents who have allowed me access to their child’s life over the years, I am shocked at how few of them are willing to share their concerns with me. I have also learned that while their method of delivery may not always be the best (angry emails, third-person messengers, etc.), their concerns are often valid and have helped
me grow as a leader and provide better, safer ministry. I ALWAYS thank parents who
are upset or critical because it would have been easier for them to remain silent.

- Look for ways to turn critics into cheerleaders. More often than not, after a conversation with an upset parent they are back on board and more supportive of the ministry than ever before. They have felt listened to, and they have had their issue resolved. Don’t waste this opportunity. I will often ask these parents if they would now be willing to be a cheerleader for our ministry. I will say something like,
“Mrs. Adams, I’m sure you aren’t the only parent who has felt this way, and I would love for you to encourage others to come talk to me….or better yet, you can talk to them yourself now that you understand the situation more clearly. Mrs. Adams, when parents like you become vocal supporters of our ministry, it really makes a big difference!”

Parents….some of them are ticking time bombs; but most of them can be defused.

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.