I’m leaving in about an hour on our Mission trip to AZ to partner with a youth center on an Apache Indian reservation. I’m going along with a team of four dads as part of the “early crew” who will shop for food, supplies, meet with the leader of the youth center etc. so we’re ready to go when our students arrive tomorrow night.

Likely won’t be posting much over the long weekend.

Jr. High Grapple, a new resource from Group Publishing has me really, really interested. Much more than merely curriculum it is an online community, gives students a chance to vote for upcoming program elements and more.

I’ll be really interested to see how this resource is received and used….I love the idea, but it also feels really different and risky, which is why I love it so much!

If you try it, I would love to hear your reports.

I’ve tried creating “features” in the past but I haven’t had much success being faithful to them, but I’m going to try it again. The Good, The Bad and The Ugly will be a new occasional post in which I’ll feature a good, a bad and an ugly from my ministry.

THE GOOD:

PRIZE WHEEL: We invested a couple hundred bucks for a decent quality spinning prize wheel. It has about 30 slots and each slot has a different prize listed. Instead of constantly buying prizes that we think kids might like (and spending way too much time and money…) we decided to buy a tub full of goofy prizes and let kids spin the wheel to see what they win. Plastic dinosaur, can of corn, rubber spatula, pair of socks etc. are all on the wheel and ready to be won. Students totally love it.

THE BAD:

WEEKEND FOLLOW UP: Man, we just can’t seem to get this one right. I really want to do a better job of following up on students who attend our weekend program, but I have an aversion to mandated check in systems. The result: really poor follow up! Because we don’t take it seriously, we simply aren’t following up on students the way we should. I have to figure this one out…probably just sucking it up and creating a mandatory check-in of some sort.

THE UGLY:

VOLUNTEER DISILLUSIONMENT:

Had a tough meeting with a key volunteer in our ministry the other day. We mad a major decision that effected this particular volunteer significantly. While it was the right decision, his response made it clear that the process by which we made it was flawed. Flawed to the point that a significant level of trust was broken and I wanted to own our part in the process. It was one of those long, uncomfortable conversations that you hate to have but know you need to have.

- Joined Twitter about a week ago. Interesting. I’m surprised that I enjoy getting frequent updates from buddies.

- This was a great weekend in our JH ministry. We kicked off our “Heroes…from average to awesome” series with a lesson on Gideon. Lots of creative elements, great music and a pretty good lesson. We had students totally engaged from start to finish.

- I’m sure I’ll see Indiana Jones even though I’m not a huge fan and I’ve heard this one is a bit of a let down which is a bummer considering all the hype and incredible hassle to get it done.

- It’s hot, hot, hot and I’m realizing that I’m not quite ready for Summer. I’m ready for all the fun it brings, just not for the heat!

- Last night, a crew of us snuck into the Refinery, our soon-to-open student center, to play the inaugural game of basketball on the new court. High temps mixed with stuffy building mixed with lack of running water. But we had a Great time.

- Not sure which I’m more excited about: Our upcoming Mission trip to the Apache Indian Reservation in AZ. or my vacation that immediately follows. I haven’t taken a full week off in well over a year and we have absolutely nothing planned for this one….which is PERFECT!

The 5th, and final, nugget from Stanley:

“When your memories exceed your dreams, the end is near.”

- Most churches are living in the “good old days” and trying to figure out how to recapture them instead of creating new ones.

Takeaway: Don’t let past success or current momentum overshadow your vision…keep vision out in front.

Question for junior high ministry: Are you more excited about the past successes of your ministry of the future potential? What memories from the past are actually jeopardizing your future?

Okay, I’m not so sure about this but I got talked into trying twitter. Sounds kinda dumb, but sure seems like lots of people are lovin’ it so I’ll give it a shot.
www.twitter.com/kurtjohnston

If you have an account let me know and I’ll follow you.

The fourth nugget from Andy Stanley:

“If we got kicked out and the board brought in somebody new, what would they do? Why don’t we just walk out, come back in and do it ourselves?”

- Sometimes the most obvious, important changes are the ones current leadership doesn’t see or is unwilling to make.

Takeaway: Acknowledge what’s not working and own up to why you aren’t doing anything about it.

Questions for Junior High Ministry: What’s in decline? Where are we manufacturing energy (in other words, what things are we spending way too muchtime convincing ourselves and other people are important, when nobody seems to believe that’s the case)? What underlying assumptions do we have that may no longer be accurate?

The third random leadership thought from Andy Stanley at Drive:

“What do I believe is impossible to do in my field but if it could be done would fundamentally change my business?”

- Most great advances were once viewed as impossible or unreasonable.

Takeaway:
Pay attention to the people who are breaking the rules.

Question:
What is the “impossible dream” in your junior high ministry? What is something you want to see happen but have never been able to achieve?

Think big…what is something that can’t happen, but if it could would fundamentally change junior high ministry as a whole?

Another of Andy Stanley’s random leadership thought from his closing general session at DRIVE.

Thought #2
“The next generation product almost never comes from the previous generation.”

Andy’s takeaway for us:
Change is coming, and change is usually good. Most of the significant changes in ministry won’t be brought about by those leading the way today. They will be brought about by the next generation of church leaders. Current church leaders need to decide if the will fight change or fund change. Older leaders need to learn to be students not just critics.

What might this mean in a junior high setting?
- How much of my current approach to junior high ministry is fresh? How much of it is simply stuff that has worked for me in the past and doesn’t seem broken so I’m not really open to changing?

- How can older JH leaders begin to “fund” some of the thinking and innovation of younger leaders?

- Am I willing to learn from younger leaders who will usher in next season of JH ministry, or am I a critic of their way of thinking, leading etc.?

At the final General session of DRIVE, Andy Stanley decided to toss away his plans to teach on vision casting and share some of his recent random thoughts about leadership in general instead. For the next 50 minutes or so, he focused on five thing he’s been pondering based on five quotes that have stuck out in his mind.
Over the next few days, I’ll share super quick overview of each of these 5 leadership thoughts and throw out a question or two about how they may relate to a junior high ministry setting.

Thought #1
“To reach people no one else is reaching we must do things no one else is doing.”
- Craig Groeschel; founder of Lifechurch.tv

Andy’s big thought related to this quote was that obviously the majority of things church’s are doing must not be what most people are interested in because most people aren’t going to the things church’s are doing! Even a super cool worship service must not be what most people are interested in because most people aren’t going to super cool worship services…they are doing a bunch of other stuff instead.

Andy’s takeaway for us: Become preoccupied with those we haven’t reached instead of being preoccupied with those we are trying to keep.

What might this mean in a junior high setting?
- Does my ministry have at least as much focus on reaching un-churched kids as it does ministering to kids who already know Jesus?
- Is there a new way to begin reaching kids who don’t show an interest in coming to programs?
- What is one thing that nobody else is doing for junior highers that you have the resources, passion and ability to do in your ministry?