Life in Student Ministry

Freebie Friday 188: Interactive plan for discussing purity and abortion

tim@studentministry.org (Tim Schmoyer) — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 06:32:42 +0000

Brett Hetherington continues to create and donate high quality lesson materials for Freebie Fridays here at LISM and today is no exception. Besides serving as one of the Youth Ministry Mentors, he’s contributed eight other youth teaching series’ and resources. Visit his site and let him know how much you appreciate his generosity in equipping your ministry with great resources time and time again!

Here’s what Brett says about this week’s Freebie Friday:

Our group gave me a list of topics they wanted to cover this summer. Among those topics were both teenage pregnancy and abortion. This did not surprise me since our area is ridiculously high in teen pregnancies, so I tied them into one evening (since often one will lead to the other). The evening is an experience-driven lesson time, with students walking and journaling through two rooms, one about teen pregnancy, the other about abortion. Each room has leading questions, passages of Scripture and images of that room’s focus hanging on the walls. Students walk through each room, answering questions, meditating on Scripture, and thinking about that subject, then we gather together in another room to debrief. Students are invited to share their thoughts and their experience with the group, and the facilitator for the evening closes out by pointing back to what Scripture has to say about both topics, namely the need to remain sexually pure and our task to preserve human life.

There is a lot of room in this evening for the Spirit to move, and a lot of flexibility to tailor that final closing talk around the facilitator’s own theological foundation. Our group’s discussion time actually veered into areas of where sin starts (the mind and heart, not the hands), whether or not kissing is a sin, fleeing temptation vs. resisting temptation, and some very personal debates over whether or not there is ever a legitimate reason to abort a baby. Your group’s experience will depend on your facilitator. The teaching notes I include are sparse, so make sure you take time to familiarize yourself with the evening’s Scriptures, and study them for yourself.

Video of Brett sharing about this interactive lesson

Brett shares more about this lesson plan in his video here.

Included in this series you will find:

WORD and PDF copies of my teaching notes
WORD and PDF copies of the participant journal
Publisher and JPEG files of leading questions to hang on the wall
Publisher and JPEG files of Scriptures to hang on the wall
JPEG files of the images I used in each room (these were obtained in a Google search. Feel free to find your own images if you so desire)

Download “FETAL” lesson plan

Segregation at youth group? [video]

tim@studentministry.org (Tim Schmoyer) — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 04:25:48 +0000

When I heard this story about the church in Mexico where we’ve been serving all week, everyone sat and shook their heads about how sad it is that believers would have such division solely because of economic status, but what about division that’s caused by maturity levels instead? Is that just as bad? When we do youth ministry and separate the jr. and sr. high, are we segregating the body of Christ in any way? Does that divide the body of Christ in an unhealthy way?

If you like this video, please give it a thumbs-up on YouTube and subscribe to my YouTube videos for other youth ministry videos.

Getting Rid of the Junk [Time Out]

tim@studentministry.org (Tim Schmoyer) — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 14:00:04 +0000

Time Out: Weekly quiet times for the youth worker’s soul.
(by Benjer McVeigh)

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.” -Jesus

Recently I spent a little time on two tasks to tidy up my office, both in the physical and the electronic sense. Tidying up in the electronic sense was basically deleting obsolete emails (Celebration: I went from 4,183 emails to 63!). Tidying up in the physical sense included getting rid of all the stuff I collect on my desk. Usually, this “stuff” comes in the form of various kinds of papers: staff meeting agendas, curriculum samples, vacation request paperwork, and lots and lots of sticky notes and scraps of paper.

I got rid of a lot of clutter. I didn’t set out to tidy up my desk just to make it look cleaner—my office doesn’t look a whole lot better than before! I needed to tidy up because I had accumulated so many unnecessary things. It became distracting, and it kept me from finding the stuff that’s actually important when I needed to. It’s not that those papers didn’t serve their purpose at one time; it’s just that their continued presence kept me from being efficient during my office time. Sure, I still have piles all over the place (yep, I’m a piler), but now that I’ve limited those piles to important things that I actually need to have at hand, it’s easier for me to work on the stuff I’m supposed to be working on.

This happens in my walk with Jesus, too. I have a lot of clutter in my mind and my heart. Jesus says in Matthew 5:8, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.” When something is pure, it means that it has only what it’s supposed to have, and that is usually only one thing. If we say water is pure, it means that it’s just…water; no other “stuff” is in it. The same is true of gold, silver, and other precious metals. So to be pure in heart is for our heart to have but one desire: to follow God in everything we do.

Just like my desk was not pure, my heart and my desires are not pure. Sure, there are the obvious contaminants: some greed, a lot of self-centeredness, and a good measure of envy. But there are some things that don’t look bad on the surface, but they do clutter up the heart, just like the Post-it note with the phone message I took four months ago was cluttering up my desk. A lot of it can be related to my calling as a youth pastor, such as a touch of workaholicism, which can be evidenced by thinking more about how I can relate a passage of Scripture to students than how to apply it to my own life, even in my personal devotional study. Or perhaps I spend too much of my free time on good stuff that has its purpose (catching up on my YM magazines, texting students, checking in on websites I like, and yes, blogging), but the importance I place on it clutters up my heart and my desire to follow God. If we are to be pure in heart, we need to ask God to show us what’s clutter and what’s not, and to refine us along the way (Psalm 66:10).

Questions for Reflection:

What “stuff” clutters up my heart that keeps me from a single-minded and single-hearted pursuit of God?

God sometimes uses the tough stuff in life to purify our hearts (Isaiah 48:10). In what ways is a difficult—or even tragic—situation teaching you what’s clutter in your heart and life and what’s not?

What is one thing you can do this week to de-clutter your heart?

_________________________________________________________________________
Benjer McVeigh is a youth pastor in Ogden, UT, where he works with students in grades 9-12 and their families at Washington Heights Church. You can read more from Benjer at www.benjermcveigh.com

What works best in training your volunteers? [podcast]

tim@studentministry.org (Tim Schmoyer) — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 09:00:02 +0000

This question is something I struggle with in my own ministry. How do you get a team of youth leaders all together at the same time for the purpose of training, encouragement, support, and unity?

Since the panelists had last minute responsibilities that come up and were unable to make the show, I basically shared the story of what’s going on in our ministry and asked that you would listen and leave your feedback in the comments below. I also answered some questions from people in the live chat room about working with volunteers.

Here’s some of the questions I asked and discussed from my ministry’s context:

What different ways have you tried in the past of getting everyone together for training? What’s worked the best and why?
What do you do with their valuable time in those meetings?
What do you do with the volunteer who rarely shows up for trainings?
How do you prioritize what they need to be trained about first?
What training material you use?
Why investing the budget into volunteers for training is the best use of your budget.

This has been a struggle for me the past couple years here at my church, so I’m hoping you guys can help me out! I’ll share part of my story on the call.

You can listen to the discussion below or grab it in iTunes.

Play this episode

Subscribe to LIVE YM Talk in iTunes

Join our next LIVE Youth Ministry Conversation!

Freebie Friday 187: 56 free worship backgrounds for PowerPoint or MediaShout

tim@studentministry.org (Tim Schmoyer) — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 09:00:22 +0000

The worship director at my father-in-law’s, Russel Martin, church offered a download of 56 free worship PowerPoint backgrounds from his Flickr account.

If you’re looking for some fresh new backgrounds to use with MediaShout worship or PowerPoint, check out his post below.

56 free worship backgrounds

My random day of life in student ministry [video]

tim@studentministry.org (Tim Schmoyer) — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 22:30:34 +0000

I’ve been wanting to do a daily vlog (video blog) for 30 consecutive days for a while now just to have fun and experiment with it, but due to travel and time priorities, I haven’t been able to pull it off. Rather than put it off any longer, I decided just to go for it and do them on random days instead of 30 days in a row.

Here’s my vlog from last Thursday. If you get the question, “So what does a youth pastor do all day?” maybe this can help.

If you like this video, please give it a thumbs-up on YouTube and subscribe to my YouTube videos for other youth ministry videos.

Other youth pastor vlogs from Thursday

When I originally tweeted the idea of doing a vlog last Thursday, a couple other youth workers jumped in and said they would do it too! Although several vlogged their day on Thursday, only three of them were able to get their videos online in time for this post. Here they are:

Travis Deans: his blog | his vlog on YouTube

Jillianne Davis: her blog | her vlog on YouTube

Andy Disher: his blog | his vlog on Vimeo

Follow me on Twitter and click “like” on the Facebook page if you want to know when the next day of random “life in student ministry” vlogging takes place.

Stop Having Small Groups [Time Out]

tim@studentministry.org (Tim Schmoyer) — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 14:00:44 +0000

Time Out: Weekly quiet times for the youth worker’s soul.
(by Adam Wormann)

Word on the street is that most pastors have a lot of relationships. Guys and Gals in youth work are constantly encouraged to connect relationally to students. Small groups were all the rage a few years back (and often still are), though now we like to talk all about community. Still, pretty much trying to communicate the same thing, just using different language. For all the focus on relationships, we still have quite a bit of lonely people. It looks like relationships are becoming the wrong thing.

Look at Acts chapter 2:42-47 (ESV)
And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

People were connecting relationally. This has become a model for how we do ministry. Hey, it’s good, it works, it’s how the early church modeled it, it’s Scriptural…nothing wrong here. Until we (and I think I really mean “I”) get a hold of it. Then it becomes a program. It’s a mean to an end. We participate in, lead, and enable small groups. Yet, we never really connect. It’s probably because we view it more like “ministry” as in “accomplishing the church’s work” instead of “ministry” as in “sharing your life in the context of Gospel living.” To me, it’s become more apparent why so many pastors and church leaders are often so lonely.

Think about your small groups, your friendships…where you spend most of your time. Do you ever have time and people where you have mutual benefit and share life together, where it’s not a church program? Where we break bread in one another’s home, have all things in common, look out for one another, take care of one another, and truly connect? Or is it a “small group” that’s another tool?

Maybe what we need to do is just stop having a “small group meeting.” Give it up. Instead, just love one another and connect. No agenda, just to pursue relationships like Christ intended. Stop making things always about “ministry” in the professional/volunteer sense and more about feeding the souls of others and your own as you share life together.

Ask yourself:

Who are the people I’m really closest to? Do I have a friendship or ministry relationship with them?

What am I doing that allows me to authentically connect with other people?

Who do I need to connect with soon?

____________________________________________________________________________________
Adam Wormann is a Youth Pastor in Old Bridge, NJ where he’s been serving for the past 8 years. He is also one of the mentors at Life in Student Ministry and the editor of the “Time Out” series. You can stalk him on Twitter and Facebook.

Freebie Friday 186: Camp follow-up form

tim@studentministry.org (Tim Schmoyer) — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 17:24:07 +0000

One of the questions asked in last Monday’s LIVE YM Talk show was about how we can best do camp follow-up this summer. EJ Swanson, who works at Lake Anne Camp, shared with us their process for follow-up, which includes the camp counselor filling out a form with the camper with the intention of passing it along to the camper’s youth pastor. Listen to that discussion here (it starts around 43 minutes, 44 seconds).

EJ sent me a copy of their camp follow-up form for all of you to use freely with your own ministries. It’s officially called their “2010 Spiritual Growth Record.”

Download the Camp Follow-up Form

Answering recent questions from MinistryQuestions.com #5 [podcast]

tim@studentministry.org (Tim Schmoyer) — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 17:22:27 +0000

This week we discussed several of the recent questions that you all posted at MinistryQuestions.com. There’s a lot of great answers from the MQ community on the site itself, but we wanted to discuss some of them out loud, too.

Questions we discussed

This weeks panelists

EJ Swanson (camp speaker)
Justin Van Rheenen (camp intern)
Tom Roepke (youth worker)
Paul Turner (youth worker)
Jillianne Davis (youth worker)
Tony Myles (lead pastor)
Tim Schmoyer (host, youth worker)

You can listen to the discussion below or grab it in iTunes.

Play this episode

Subscribe to LIVE YM Talk in iTunes

Join our next LIVE Youth Ministry Conversation!

Evaluating your youth ministry’s health

tim@studentministry.org (Tim Schmoyer) — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 04:57:18 +0000

Last week I did a video Skype call for a camp as part of their daily training seminars offered for the youth pastors there. I was asked to talk about evaluating the health of a youth ministry, but we spent most of the time talking about what a healthy youth ministry is and then discussed how to evaluate it at the end, because obviously you can’t evaluate something if you don’t know what it is first.

I shared:

One precursor to a discussion about healthy ministry
Two indications of a healthy ministry from scripture
Practical examples of how that plays out in my youth group
How to evaluate the process of spiritual growth and health in your ministry

Unfortunately, there was a bit of a delay on the call due to a poor Internet connection on their end, but it’s still worth listening to. It’s about 41 minutes long.

You can listen to the whole conversation in iTunes or using the link below.

Play the conversation

Free download in iTunes

Can a youth worker effectively serve teens in a multi-role position? [podcast]

tim@studentministry.org (Tim Schmoyer) — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 14:12:55 +0000

There are many youth workers who do not serve full-time for only youth ministry. Some are the “Minister of Music, Youth, Children and College.” How does this impact the youth ministry of the church? How does this impact the minister serving in that role?

Some questions we discussed in this show

What does it take to be a youth leader with multiple roles in the church?
How do you balance everything?
5 essentials for any multi-role youth pastor
Giftedness of a multi-role church leader

Panel members from this show

Patti Gibbons (youth worker, author)
John Potts (Minister of Music, Youth, and Children)
Nick Church (Youth pastor, school teacher, coach)
Tim Schmoyer (youth pastor, blogger here at LISM)

You can listen to the discussion below or grab it in iTunes.

Play this episode

Subscribe to LIVE YM Conversations in iTunes

Join our next LIVE Youth Ministry Conversation!

Lessons learned from punks taking my money [Time Out]

tim@studentministry.org (Tim Schmoyer) — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 14:00:02 +0000

Time Out: Weekly quiet times for the youth worker’s soul.
(by Adam Wormann)

I was in Wal-Mart a few years back getting ready to check out. I saw money on the floor and picked it up. Apparently there was a $50 bill that someone just happened to drop, and I just happened to come across. I wanted to say that God just wanted to bless me, but I decided to ask the guy in front of me to count his change. It was all there, he didn’t drop anything. I asked for a manager, who wound up being a 20-year old girl. I wanted to do the right thing, and told her that I found money on the ground, and asked what kind of policy there was about something like this. “Do I just hang on to it unless someone claims it? Do you hang on to it for a week, and if nobody claims it, it’s mine?” Really, I’m the good guy here doing the right thing, the least you can do is let me have the money if it’s not someone else’s. Apparently, I was wrong. It goes into what I immediately called the “young girl iPod fund.” She said they have to keep it, and that’s pretty much it. I accepted the fact that I just contributed to this girl’s lunch, and went home pretty frustrated.

A week later, I decided to use this as an illustration for my junior high students, trying to teach them that you do the right thing, even when there’s no reward, and costs you either what you have or would have. It’s part of having integrity. It’s part of doing what is right. Apparently, a junior high girl decided to dig a little bit:

“You just gave her $50?’

“Yes”

“You gave it to her?”

“Yes”

“You just found it by the register and…”

“Yes, I know. I gave her the money. I could have kept it. I didn’t. That’s my point…”

“Adam, my mom dropped $50 of my sister’s money when we were in Wal-Mart. We went back and they said some guy actually returned it and gave it to us.”

“Wait, what?!”

So apparently, doing the right thing helped someone. And coincidentally, it was someone I know. Someone from my church. Then another kid really nailed me.

“Adam, because you just assumed that girl kept the money, doesn’t that mean that you judged her unfairly.”

“Crud.”

Oh yeah, as it turns out, the girl didn’t take my money. I was wrong. She did the right thing, and probably had a better attitude than me. I learn a lot from students sometimes. One thing that I really learned pretty well that day is that people are always watching. Paul writes:

“Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.” -1 Tim 4:16

We’re told to keep a close eye on what we do and what we teach. Watch out for who you are. Even our attitudes are noticed, and that’s probably what gets us more than anything else. It’s much easier to control actions. Attitudes are subtle and they’re noticed. Our students see them, our families see them, unchurched people see them…so what are they? Ask yourself what’s going on in your heart, especially in attitudes towards others.

Spend some time in prayer and reflection. Ask yourself:

What attitudes are coming out of me?

Am I really paying attention to what I’m teaching? What are my subtle messages?

When I have an attitude, who is it normally directed towards?

How can I change the way I look at other people?

______________________________________________________________________
Adam Wormann is a Youth Pastor in Old Bridge, NJ where he’s been serving for the past 8 years. He is also one of the mentors at Life in Student Ministry and the editor of the “Time Out” series. You can stalk him on Twitter and Facebook.

Freebie Friday 185: Customizable Twitter background for your youth group page

tim@studentministry.org (Tim Schmoyer) — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 05:22:18 +0000

Today’s Freebie Friday is contributed by Luke Frederick of Sheepish Design. He didn’t really want to promote his design services too much, but this is such a cool freebie and he’s such a great designer that I’m pushing his service for him instead. (Surprise, Luke!) Seriously, he can design almost anything for you and your ministry — from websites to Facebook landing pages to logos to Twitter backgrounds. He does high quality work. And when I asked him about his pricing yesterday while we were hanging out at a camp, he surprisingly gave very competitive quotes considering the quality of his work (like, half the cost of what I expected!). Check out his site! And follow Sheepish Design on Twitter.

Here’s what Luke Frederick has to say about this week’s freebie download:

Have you ever wanted a custom Twitter background for your youth group but don’t know how to make one? Well here is a free customizable Twitter background and tutorial to walk you through the customization process. I hope this makes your student ministry look hot! If you have any questions that are not answered in the tutorial please leave a comment and I will try to answer it.

Here is a preview of what it looks like:

You can customize…

the logo
the group name
both polaroid images

Video tutorial

Luke created this video to give you step-by-step about how to modify and customize this Twitter background using PhotoShop. It also shows you how to add the background to your Twitter page and gives you the color settings to use on Twitter to make the background look like it fades to black.

NOTE: If you don’t have a copy of PhotoShop, you can download a 30-day free trial from Adobe’s website.

Download the Youth Group Twitter Background Template

Visit SheepishDesign.org to see Luke’s design ninjaness!

Also check out a free Twitter-themed newsletter template for your youth group.

Blogs I read that you might not know about

tim@studentministry.org (Tim Schmoyer) — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 17:27:41 +0000

I subscribe to about 130 blogs and websites in my RSS reader, which I know isn’t a whole lot compared to some of you — I like to keep my reading/skimming time focused.

There’s a couple sites I subscribe to that I really enjoy and read almost everything they write. Some of them are pretty well known, so I won’t bother to list those for you, but there are some lesser-known, even undiscovered, blogs out there that are real gems. Here’s a few of them that I read.

1. iblogo: imago’s blog about culture, learning and faith

I love how these guys combine issues related to technology, learning styles, creativity and communication. They ask really good questions about what we’re doing in the church, why we’re doing it, and if it’s really the best way we can do it.

2. Shrink The Church

I don’t remember how I found these guys (probably Twitter), but I do remember that the first post I read by them was “10 Reasons to Under-Program Your Church.” I liked it enough to tweet it, browse through some other posts on their site, and then subscribe to their RSS feed. They talk about how the church needs to become smaller in how personable it is, how it uses resources, communication, technology and more. Good stuff. And having a web design that’s pretty clean is definitely a plus, too.

3. Radical Living in a Comfortable World

While I first learned about Seth Barnes and his blog many years ago when he published a response to a post I had written here at LISM, I didn’t start following his blog closely until after we traveled to Haiti together last February. After that experience with him, the things he writes about faith, missions, and life are often challenging for me. It’s too easy for me to slip back into my comfort zone of American Churchianity and Seth keeps reminding me that God wants and expects more from me than that. Thanks, Seth!

4. Fuller Youth Institute Blog

What I like best about the articles here are that they’re usually short and concise. Most of their posts take me about a minute, maximum of two, to read, kinda like Seth Godin-style. Sometimes they simply ask questions, other times they write about family life, other times its good reminders about things I too easily loose sight of in ministry.

5. Orange Parents

A youth pastor here in Minnesota actually turned me on to this blog (thanks, Matt!). This blog is exactly where I’m at in life: a parent, a youth worker, and a guy who’s trying to explore ways to combine youth ministry and family ministry by helping parents be the spiritually influential leaders God calls them to be. Their posts relate to me on all of those levels. Sometimes it helps me be a better parent for my daughter and son on-the-way, other times it helps me think through how to work with parents in youth ministry, and most times it’s both.

6. Type (B)eing Leadership

If you’ve listened to LIVE YM Talk recently you’ve heard this guy and know that he’s a fountain of wisdom and knowledge. He posts a lot of good practical insights and challenges about being a leader in the church. I learn a lot from this guy.

Subscribe to Life In Student Ministry

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Got any other blogs you read to recommend (besides your own)?

The power of identity and focus in ministry

tim@studentministry.org (Tim Schmoyer) — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 04:53:10 +0000

Last week while driving home from vacation my family and I stopped for lunch. I tried using the spork they gave me to eat some yogurt my wife packed in our cooler, but that didn’t really work. Then I tried using it to stab some cut peaches, which was even more frustrating because the tiny little prongs hardly penetrated the peach far enough to hold on to it.

Then I had this thought:

My spork is a lot like ministry. If you try to be too many things, you end up doing them all poorly.

Know what your ministry is about, focus on that, do it well, and refuse to be distracted by trying to do too many other things. That’s when your ministry will become diluted and mediocre.

Remember the power of focus and identity.

[originally posted at timschmoyer.me]

The window when ministry really happens [Time Out]

tim@studentministry.org (Tim Schmoyer) — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 15:00:29 +0000

Time Out: Weekly quiet times for the youth worker’s soul.
(by Tony Myles)

Have you ever noticed how the “non-behavior behavior” of your students and adult leaders affects your ministry? Every volunteer and teenager has a sort of unconscious groove that when put together with everyone else can tell you a few things about the maturity, comfort level, interests, and distractions of your group.

This doesn’t mean you can make a generalization from afar but should consider what is happening in your midst so you better know your in-road to better engage the young people. Think about what everyone does the moment you conclude your youth night:

* A boy who stands up and quickly after the program, sits on the back of the chair in front of him, and surveys the room for cute girls.
* A small group leader who is making connections with the new kids, being sure they felt welcomed.
* A girl who gets her friend to go with her to talk with a guy she likes.
* A kid on the theological fence asking you what you meant by that one thing you said about that one thing.
* The teenagers dressed in black who slip into a room they shouldn’t be in by themselves.
* The athletic looking guys who are still talking about the crazy competition that involved trash cans over their heads.
* The plans a group of influential girls are making to get everyone to go out for ice cream.
* The young person who doesn’t want to be there in the first place and bolts out the door as soon as possible.
* Two students sitting down together talking, because the one who gave the other a ride asked, “So what did you think?”

In every one of these scenarios, there’s an opportunity to see what is happening based on what has happened… and join into it. Even someone who has flipped open their phone to start texting can become someone you intersect with in order that more conversation and life change can continue. “Alright, who is the most important person on the other end of your phone right now? How come? etc”

Colossians 4:5 Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity.

This requires you and the other youth workers you serve with to be intentional about maximizing this window, though. And all of that tracks back to your connection with God in those moments. Ministry does often happen in what we plan, but a significant portion occurs “before” and “after.” Pray and ask God to lead help you best evaluate what is happening in between the lines.

Here’s some questions for you to think about and reflect on…
* What does this verse mean to you in light of these thoughts?
* How can you help the other leaders around you to not go on auto-pilot but intentionally engage students at “up” and “down” moments in ministry?
____________________________________________________________
Tony Myles is a 16-year youth ministry veteran who now serves as lead pastor of Connection Church in Medina, Ohio. His love for the Church and its future has spilled out into writing, coaching, and conference speaking. He’s written the book Miracles of Jesus and helped produce Christian Endeavor’s Pray21 campaign. And he really, really likes smoothies.

The hurdle of faith after high school [podcast]

tim@studentministry.org (Tim Schmoyer) — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 05:56:16 +0000

I’m still on vacation, so Tony Myles graciously stepped in again to host the show.

This discussion covers the hurdle of what typically happens “after high school” in the lives of students. Namely, the erosion of their faith during the college years.

Some key thoughts from the show

Churches face a temptation to “throw a college” ministry at emerging adults. Perhaps because it’s easier to push large group environments that feel like candy versus mentoring that isn’t quite as glamorous and marketable.
Emerging adults are finding community elsewhere – in drinking a beer or a fraternity/sorority. We need to ask “Why?” Is it because these environments are more appealing to “let them be where they are today?”
Our trend as a church is to draw people to a maturity level they aren’t at. Do emerging adults struggle with this?
We need to destroy the idea of a finish line that ends at high school and move it at least four years further. Even then, it’s not a true finish line but more of a point where we have helped shape an understand of what self-feeding Christianity looks like and how they can contribute into the state of the church (and it’s plans for ministry).
Success is perhaps best defined in terms of identity – a young person finishing high school or college and knowing with conviction how they are a son or daughter of God.
Some of the greatest stories of us doing this well almost always involve a person or two who checked in on emerging adults semi-regularly to remind them who they were and wanted to become.
We need to see church as a family and not as a program.
One idea: Start to paint a picture of this early on during elementary years – what it looks like to become an adult who is walking with Christ in a healthy way and turning around to invest into the next generation; utilizing “identity based” curriculum during the last two years of high school; helping the church know “who” has graduated and what is next for them so that they don’t become a statistic; and so on.

Panel members for this show:

Abbie Smith (co-author of “The Slow Fade: Why You Matter in the Story of Twentysomethings“)
Brian Scramlin (Youth Pastor)
Dave Turner (Youth Pastor)
Tom Roepke (Youth Pastor)
Lars Rood (Youth Pastor)
Brandon Benfield (College Ministry Director)
Tony Myles (Lead pastor, Coach to Youth Pastors)

You can listen to the whole conversation below or grab it in iTunes.

Play this episode

Subscribe to LIVE YM Conversations in iTunes

Join our next LIVE Youth Ministry Conversation!

Freebie Friday 184: Social media slides of pre-church graphics

tim@studentministry.org (Tim Schmoyer) — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 13:02:00 +0000

Today’s Freebie Friday is contributed by Shift Creative:

Shift Creative and City Church Savannah are excited to offer these free graphics to you! We specialize in logo design, graphic design, video production, web design, audio/video/lighting system installations/upgrades, and anything else media related a church might need. Shift Creative is based in Savannah, GA and is helping to fund a church plant called City Church Savannah. The entire staff of City Church pulls no salary from the church, we all work full time for Shift doing media designs and working at sound/video/lighting installs.

If you need new media equipment (sound, video, lighting), a new logo, a new website, or anything else for your media needs let us know. You can email us at brian@shiftcreative.org. Or check us out on Facebook or on Twitter. We’d love to stay in touch with you!

This download includes 3 slides you can show before your church service begins.

A blank Twitter slide to promote your church or youth group’s twitter account
A “silence your cell phones” slide
A blank Facebook slide to promote your church or youth group’s Facebook page

Download the Pre-Service Social Media Graphics

5 misconceptions about large youth groups

tim@studentministry.org (Tim Schmoyer) — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 14:00:23 +0000

When I worked in a small church setting, I’ll admit that I held several beliefs about large church youth groups that were solely based on an outside perception. But now that I work in a church that some people would consider “large,” I see that none of them were true.

1. Worship is more energetic in a large group. This depends on what you mean by “energetic.” If by energetic you mean lots of lights and loud sound systems, then yes, larger churches are more likely to be able to pull that off, but we all know that energetic worship has nothing to do with genuine and authentic worship, which usually has nothing to do with energy.

2. They can do events that are more attractive to teens and outsiders. Not true. Some teens and outsiders are attracted to smaller intimate groups for a whole variety of reasons: they feel like someone knows them, that they’ll be missed if they don’t show up the next week, or that there’s more authenticity than show.

3. Their large budget lets them do a lot more events and programs. As someone who works with a “large” budget, I can guarantee you that having a large budget doesn’t necessarily mean that it goes any further on a large group than a small budget goes on a small group.

4. They have more leaders to recruit from. Just as the budget ratio between students and dollars is often similar for both large and small ministries, so it is for adult leaders. There may be a larger pool of leaders to recruit from, but there’s also a lot more leaders needed to serve. The struggle is often the same either way.

5. Bigger ministry somehow equals better ministry. Quantity over quality does not apply to bigger youth groups any more than quality over quantity applies to smaller youth groups. The effectiveness of a youth group has nothing to do with it’s size nor how “busy” it is with activities and events.

Do we really need more youth ministry resources?

tim@studentministry.org (Tim Schmoyer) — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 13:54:22 +0000

Almost every other week I get an email from someone who wants to show me their new youth ministry resource website. Two weeks ago I got an email that prompted me to ask this on Twitter and Facebook:

There’s a lot of people starting youth ministry resource websites, but is that what we still need? Are we really THAT under-resourced?

I had some good dialog both publicly and privately about that statement. My sentiments are that there are already several people and organizations who are doing a great job with resourcing while there are other needs youth workers have that are remaining largely unaddressed. Why don’t the new start-ups try to serve us in ways that no one else is doing rather than jumping into a market that’s already populated with very high-quality resource products and services? Like, what about soul care for youth workers, emotional support, and help with vision casting?

But I guess it probably depends on where you assume the needs are and how well that need can be monetized (which is important for sustainability and scaling). There have been several surveys conducted about “what are the greatest needs of youth leaders,” most of them pretty informal, and they all come back with different answers. Without naming the studies, one said the greatest need was that youth workers feel unsupported by their churches and sr pastors. Another study said they don’t know how to effectively lead others. And yet another said they are under-equipped.

I want to hear from you:

What do you feel a youth worker’s greatest needs are?
Do you feel that youth workers are under-resourced? (And don’t say “yes” just because you like having more stuff.)

Please leave your thoughts in the comments below and help me think through this. Thanks!

Best advice and worst advice in youth ministry [podcast]

tim@studentministry.org (Tim Schmoyer) — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 14:02:14 +0000

This was the first LIVE YM Talk where I was not present. I was on vacation in Texas, so Tony Myles graciously stepped up and hosted the show instead. It’s really fun to listen to someone else facilitate the discussion besides me!

The show covered everything from advice we’ve followed in ministry and personal life to the really bad advice we’ve often heard. They also touched on what it means to have a Sabbath in a way that makes sense to your life, dynamics of staff relationships, how we talk about other people, whether it’s more important to be professional or relational, and parenting when you’re in ministry.

Panel members for this show:

Dave (Calvary Chapel Florida)
Todd Perkins (Youth Pastor at Discovery Church in Orlando)
Jillianne Davis (Christian Ed & Youth Ministry)
Brandon Benfield (New to ministry with college students)
Tony Myles (Lead pastor, Coach to Youth Pastors)

You can listen to the whole conversation below or grab it in iTunes.

Play this episode

Subscribe to LIVE YM Conversations in iTunes

Join our next LIVE Youth Ministry Conversation!

Freebie Friday 183: “Minute To Win It” activity guide

tim@studentministry.org (Tim Schmoyer) — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 05:54:24 +0000

I know I just posted a couple weeks ago about NBC’s “Minute To Win It” game show and some of the ideas you could take and use as youth group games, but this week’s resource is a bit different.

Instead of just browsing through NCB’s website for games, this official downloadable “Minute To Win It” activity guide includes a lot of great features that makes it perfect for youth group, camps, and retreats.

It includes a list of supplies you’ll need for each challenge, the current record to beat, ideas for game variations, diagrams, and more.

You won’t be looking for game ideas for a long time after downloading this. Good stuff. Thanks, NBC!

Download “Minute To Win It” activity guide

A process for helping teens understand their call to serve

tim@studentministry.org (Tim Schmoyer) — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 19:36:47 +0000

Brandon Matthews shares with us his youth group’s process for getting teenagers to take ownership and serve in their youth ministry.

Share your tip or advice: We’d love to hear your youth ministry advice and tips! Record your video, upload it to YouTube, and post a link to it in the comments below. Guidelines here.

5 advantages of a large youth group

tim@studentministry.org (Tim Schmoyer) — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 14:33:16 +0000

Whether you’re in a small church, a mid-size church, or a large church, there are unique challenges and opportunities in each.

Just as there are several advantages of having a small youth group, large groups have some advantages, also.

If you’re in a large youth group, learn to capitalize on these advantages.

1. More resources at your disposal. That often includes man-power, facility use, budget, and more.

2. Diverse giftedness. The group is more likely to have many different spiritual gifts, talents and abilities represented that can be utilized in the ministry to bring honor to God and to edify the body.

3. Buzz spreads about your ministry. With more people comes more mouths talking about it, which means more people hear about your ministry and what’s going on. Give them something positive to share because that also means that negative buzz spreads just as quickly.

4. Multiple staff members for quick advice. At least this is true for me. I love working in an office surrounded by multiple pastors, administrative assistants and staff members because I have instant access to have questions answered and get quick input on ideas and thoughts.

5. Large gatherings of people tend to generate excitement. There’s a feeling of anticipation among participants. People gather because they share something in common, whether it be at a basketball game, the school play or at church. People enjoy having a shared experience together with other people, even people they don’t know.

Question: What other advantages does a large youth group have? The comments below are open for discussion.

Working to Hurt Your Kids [Time Out]

tim@studentministry.org (Tim Schmoyer) — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 15:06:53 +0000

Time Out: Weekly quiet times for the youth worker’s soul.
(by Kevin Twolmby)

(In honor of Father’s Day, this week’s post is a special one geared towards an issue and passage typically dealing with dads. Don’t worry, mom’s can apply it too!)

1 Kings 16:34 – In Ahab’s time, Hiel of Bethel rebuilt Jericho. He laid its foundations at the cost of his firstborn son Abiram, and he set up its gates at the cost of his youngest son Segub.

When we strive to do things that we are not called to do or push too fast to make them happen people around us suffer. Here we see a classic example of a workaholic father whose two sons deal with the consequences. Hiel set about rebuilding Jericho and missed out on the opportunity to be a father to his sons.

I can only imagine that his sons then went on to be rebellious and disrespectful. Without a father to teach them they probably chased after anyone who would show interest in them. Having seen this happen a few times my heart grieves for the sons as well as for the father. They each had desires and dreams that were not attained.

As a father of three I always want to remain balanced in my obligations and responsibilities. I never want to ignore the needs of my kids to further my positions or roles. I am mindful that my priorities fall in line from God to family to career and as long as I keep first things first I should remain in a healthy place that will flow into all other relationships I have.

Questions to ask yourself (and really work through these, maybe write out your answers…)

What are the things that are out of line with your priorities?

What conversations do you need to have to recalibrate those priorities?

Who do you have in your life that can pick up on the misdirections that you are taking and speak up about them?

_______________________________________________

Kevin Twombly has been the Generations Pastor at Grace Capital Church in Pembroke, NH for the last 10 years. During this time the youth group has grown from 1 student (church plant) to a thriving group of over 150 students that meet weekly for a large group and small group setting. Kevin is a very relational leader who desires to equip others in Youth Ministry in order to continue to expand the Kingdom of God.

Camp vs Missions Trip vs Conference vs Retreat [podcast]

tim@studentministry.org (Tim Schmoyer) — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 18:26:29 +0000

This was one of those discussions that left me feeling frustrated by not having answers, but relieved that the issues aren’t quite as clear as they may seem at first. It definitely prompted a lot of good questions, value systems, and perspectives that I’ve been thinking through all week long.

This is definitely a must-hear discussion for all youth workers.

If you could only take your group on one trip this summer, would it be to camp with other youth groups, a missions trip, a big student conference, or a small retreat with only your group? And why would you do that? Is one have more value than another? Is one more biblical than another?

Panel members for this show:

E.J. Swason (camp/conference guy)
Jeff Goins (missions trip guy)
Tony Myles (sr. pastor)
Mark Riddle (church/youth ministry consultant)
Tom Roepke (veteran youth pastor)

Some of the things we talked about:

Does one event have more value than another?
Is missions more biblical than the others?
How do you decide which is right for your group?
Do all of these events feed consumerism?
Which leads to the most life-change?
And a lot more…

NOTE: The audio quality is poor at first, but it gets better after about 2 minutes.

You can listen to the whole conversation below or grab it in iTunes.

Play this episode

Subscribe to LIVE YM Conversations in iTunes

Join our next LIVE Youth Ministry Conversation!

Freebie Friday 182: 5-week “back to school” Bible lesson series

tim@studentministry.org (Tim Schmoyer) — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 16:07:43 +0000

I know it’s may be a bit early to share this, but some of you plan super-far ahead, so I thought I’d drop this for ya anyway.

This is a 5-day lesson series I originally wrote back in 2001 for an online teen Bible study I used to coordinate for a national youth ministry. Then I re-worked it to be a 5-week lesson series for a youth group I lead.

As you can see from the notes when you download it, the version that I’m now making available is a bit awkward to use since it’s a cross between a written Bible study and notes used for presentation, but you’ll need to fix it up to work better for your youth group’s setting anyway.

The lesson series is meant to be taught when kids go back to school at the end of the summer to help them think through starting well. It covers 4 main areas of their school life:

Week 1: Introduction
Week 2: Social life
Week 3: Mental life
Week 4: Physical life
Week 5: Spiritual life

Download “A New School Year” lesson series

5 advantages of a small youth group

tim@studentministry.org (Tim Schmoyer) — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 14:07:32 +0000

Why is it that the big churches try so hard to be like the small churches, while the small churches try to hard to be like the big churches? The large churches start small groups and try to be communal; the small churches try to have big programs and lots of flash.

It’s like they’re all teenage girls or something! The girls with straight hair spend hours curling it, and the girls with curly hair spend hours straightening it. If only they could all swap scalps, maybe then they’d be content what what they have.

Whether you’re in a small church, a mid-size church, or a large church, there are unique challenges and opportunities in each. The grass is not always greener on the other side no matter where you are.

If you’re in a small youth group, rather than trying to become like a large youth group, here are 5 advantages you have. Learn to capitalize on these.

1. A sense of community. Everyone knows each other’s names, each other’s families, parents, interests, personalities, etc. When someone is missing from a youth group meeting, others notice and can follow-up without having to check an impersonal attendance sheet.

2. Easier to focus. You can’t do everything and you know it. A smaller group often makes it easier to focus on doing one or two things really well and allowing the lesser important things to fall away.

3. Welcoming to outsiders. It’s easier to notice when a visitor shows up at a youth group meeting. That newcomer can quickly feel accepted and loved by the entire group.

4. Easy to stay in touch. You can say, “Good morning!” to every kid in your youth group just by sending a single text message with multiple recipients.

5. Be in-tune with their lives. You can know the needs, struggles, hopes, dreams and failures of every kid. This allows you to be very specific in what you teach and how you teach it at youth group meetings.

Question: What other advantages does a small youth group have? Share your thoughts in the comments section below this post.

Read: “5 advantages of a large youth group“

What gets teenagers into the doors of your ministry?

tim@studentministry.org (Tim Schmoyer) — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 04:47:46 +0000

A couple weeks I posted an idea for a group project: share your youth ministry tips and advice on video.

Mike Kennedy, a youth pastor in Georgia, stepped up to the challenge and recorded a great video about how we sometimes try to attract kids to our ministry. It’s under 2 minutes long, so check it out:

It’s not too late for you submit your youth ministry tip or advice via video. Record it, upload it to YouTube, and post a link to it in the comments below.

When microwave burritos take too long to cook [Time Out]

tim@studentministry.org (Tim Schmoyer) — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 15:32:51 +0000

Time Out: Weekly quiet times for the youth worker’s soul.
(by Adam Wormann)

I’m really not a patient person. People say that I am, and I may be in some ways, but I don’t feel like it. When I’m in traffic, I feel myself getting anxious and angry at other drivers (and in NJ, this happens a lot!). I get impatient waiting for the microwave when it takes 60 seconds to make a burrito. You’d think that someone can wait a minute or less for their lunch, but not me. It’s not that I’m too important or my time is too valuable. I just don’t like waiting. When things don’t happen quickly, I get frustrated.

This happens in ministry as well. Everyone tends to have ideas. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don’t. The hard part is waiting for an idea to go through, whether it’s from a youth pastor waiting for a board to evaluate and go through “trial periods” or a volunteer who has great ideas but gets hesitation from a youth pastor. We get frustrated. Then what happens?

You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing at the door. As an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.
James 5:8-10 (ESV)

Take the time to actually look up that passage and read the surrounding verses as well. James is talking to people who were oppressed and being taken advantage of. James encourages them to be patient. Not only do we get impatient when we don’t see what we want to happen, but when there seems to be injustice. When you have a strong sense of justice, this becomes even harder. We want to see the results now, but they’re not there. James tells us we need to be patient in any context, in light of Christ’s return. Keep things in perspective. When we don’t, the next part comes in: grumbling.

When we get impatient, we grumble. Think about it, the last time someone didn’t agree with you, or things were taking a long time, how did you react? For me, it’s grumbling. I see it take place, and I complain to my wife, then to a friend. Think about your conversations, are they complaining, or productive. When there’s complaining, James encourages us to do a heart check. Where’s our focus? James points to the prophets. We love the prophets now, but in their time they were usually poorly received. There was no quick reward for what they did. Their ministries were met with opposition. There was no choice but to get angry, or to be patient. They were patient though, and rewarded by God for what they did. We need to take the same perspective.

So, ask yourself:

How do I really act when things don’t go my way, or they take a long time? (Really, not how I want to believe I act)

Am I someone who vents, complains, or finds solutions and waits patiently?

What specifically do you need to hand over to God that you’re hanging on to control of?

…and have someone who you can confide in tell you honestly, are your conversations productive, or do they foster a negative spirit.

————————————————————-
Adam Wormann is a Youth Pastor in Old Bridge, NJ where he’s been serving for the past 8 years. He is also one of the mentors at Life in Student Ministry and the editor of the “Time Out” series. You can stalk him on Twitter and Facebook.

New LIVE YM Talk format, Facebook privacy, and more [podcast]

tim@studentministry.org (Tim Schmoyer) — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 04:00:56 +0000

For the duration of the summer, we’re going to return to our roots and take a different format with LIVE YM Talk. Instead of having focusing on one “expert” in a more-or-less interview style, we’re going to have a panel of guests with different perspectives, experiences, and input on different topics and issues related to youth ministry. At the end of the summer we’ll run a poll and get your input on which style you prefer.

For this show we tried out the new format and introduced some of the panel members. Other panel members will be joining us for upcoming shows, as well.

Panel members for this show:

Some of the things we talked about:

The new format for LIVE YM Talk this summer
Announced some panel members for the summer
Facebook privacy in youth ministry
Slowing down youth group programs for the summer
An idea for $100 budget youth ministry this summer
And a lot more…

You can listen to the whole conversation below or grab it in iTunes.

Play this episode

Subscribe to LIVE YM Conversations in iTunes

Join our next LIVE Youth Ministry Conversation!

Freebie Friday 181: A 5-day camp devotional guide

tim@studentministry.org (Tim Schmoyer) — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 19:35:54 +0000

Here’s another great Freebie Friday contribution from Paul Turner of TheDiscipleshipProject.net.

This is a five day camp devotional based on the book, Do Hard Things, by Alex and Brett Harris. Paul wrote this for a camp in Florida and is happy to share it with the rest of us.

The 5 included devotionals are titled:

Get Out Of Your Comfort Zone
Go Beyond The Expected
There Is Strength In Numbers
Do It Anyway – Respond Now – Reward Later
Take A Stand Against The Easy Way Out

Download the 5-day Tough Stuff Camp Devotional

My top 5 most common youth ministry mistakes

tim@studentministry.org (Tim Schmoyer) — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 06:02:43 +0000

5. Talking publicly about future plans and ideas (because I’m so excited about them!) before they’ve been directed through the proper approval channels.

4. Putting youth leaders in a ministry position before they are trained and passionate about our ministry’s vision.

3. Being late with paperwork that I don’t like to do, but needs to be done in order to help other people’s jobs at the church run smoothly.

2. Not keeping my sr. pastor up-to-date about all the different dynamics that are taking place behind the scenes of the youth ministry.

1. Saying exactly what I’m thinking instead of holding my tongue and running it through some filters first.

What are yours?

Spiritual deception in America is exposed by Haiti

tim@studentministry.org (Tim Schmoyer) — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 18:29:43 +0000

Disclaimer: I’m just merely sharing a story because its intrigued me since I heard it. Please don’t miss my point for the details.

During my visit to Haiti last month I learned a lot about Voodooism and the spiritual realm that is so very active in that country. Some of that I’ve already shared with you in an earlier post about my take on the earthquake and Haiti’s “devil pact,” but here’s a little more that I didn’t originally share.

One evening I was sitting with our main Haitian translater along with several other people from my church’s team. As we listened to the beat of drums from a distant Voodoo ceremony, I asked him if he had ever been a part of a Voodoo ceremony and what it was like. It turns out that not only had he been a part of several ceremonies, but many of them revolved around him being at the center, bound and tormented by evil spirits. He told us stories of how the Voodoo priests placed curses on him in attempts to get him to stop telling people about Jesus. Once he was even physically displaced (supernaturally, from what I understand) from Haiti to the Dominican Republic where he resided for several months before returning back to Hait to continue preaching the gospel. His stories about the persecution he’s endured for the sake of Christ are truly humbling, especially coming from a 25 year old guy with a limited academic education but such a thorough knowledge of God’s Word that it feels like it puts my Bible college and seminary education to shame.

After his stories I asked him to share what happens in a Voodoo ceremony, and hopefully I will never forget what he shared with those of us sitting around that evening.

He explained that, while different Voodoo ceremonies have different elements depending on what they’re doing, sometimes they’ll call on the evil spirits of a snake to come possess them, and when it does, it causes grown men to lay on the ground and slither around like snakes. They make sounds like a snake and they even slither through the trees. Sometimes the demon will leave a man when he’s slithered to the top of a tree or hanging upside-down on a high branch so that when the man comes out of his trance he falls to the ground and dies instantly.

Then he said that other times evil spirits come and possess them to make “boy like boy and girl like girl.” The men are possessed and start having sex with men and the women with women. Several times he noted how despicable this was and that the evil spirits cause them to sin in “a very bad way.” I stopped him and said, “That happens in America, too, but no one equates it to the influence of evil spirits. Some people say it’s just an attraction you’re born with and there’s nothing wrong with it.” At that, he started getting noticeably angry saying how it is absolutely an influence or a possession of evil spirits. Yikes. I decided to let him move on with his story.

He went on to share that other times the evil spirits that come during the Voodoo ceremonies are ones that possess people to be greedy, so greedy that they’ll do almost anything necessary to get money and material possessions. “Wow,” I thought, “we see that in America, too, but again, no one necessarily equates that directly to demonic activity.”

As I listened to him share more and more, not only did it confirm over and over again just how publicly active the spiritual realm is in Haiti, but how it doesn’t exist any less here in America than it does there. The enemy just has a different tactic in Western society to stay hidden and behind the scenes. If the enemy can get us to believe they don’t exist or that their influence is minimal, they achieve the exact same results with us as they do in Haiti: to focus on something other than God. We thereby are just as blinded and deceived as they are.

Now that I’ve been back in the US for a couple weeks, it’s so clear how blinded I was. I cover my sin with excuses or deem it to my list of “struggles” and fail to see what it could really be going on, not that there’s a demon behind every sinful thought or deed, but at the same time I must not discredit the power that’s there and active. That’s why I need Jesus’ strength, power, and authority so much more than I originally thought.

Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” Matthew 28:18

“I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.” Ephesians 1:18-21

P.S. If you choose to go to Haiti someday, be forewarned: it will mess with your theology! Whether we like it or not, too much of our theology is defined through an American lens.

Are you “doing” or “being?” [Time Out]

tim@studentministry.org (Tim Schmoyer) — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 16:33:36 +0000

Time Out: Weekly quiet times for the youth worker’s soul.
(by Tim Schmoyer)

A few weeks ago when I landed in Haiti I thought, “This is gonna be great! We’ll crank out our training this afternoon and tomorrow we’ll be out doing what we came here to do.” We had so much to accomplish in such a short period of time. It was essential to get working as soon as possible… or so I thought.

After spending the first day locked up in our compound doing nothing but praying, studying God’s Word, spending time in worship and going through last-minute prep and training material, I’ll admit I was itching to get out the door and start serving. When the same thing happened the second day, my itch had turned to frustration. “I can do this kind of stuff at home. Why are we using our time now to pray and worship when there are people outside this compound that I can help?”

It was then that the Holy Spirit convicted me and said, “Tim, if you go out and serve now you’ll be doing it in your own strength instead of mine. I’ll let you leave once you become the person I need you to be so you can do what I’ve called you to do.” Ouch.

I was so focused on what I wanted to do that I forgot that what’s really important is who God’s called me to be — a servant who is 100% dependent on reliant on Him, someone whose ministry flows from what God’s doing in me rather than from my agenda of to-do’s that honestly exist to mostly make me feel like I’ve actually accomplishing something.

Perhaps the most detrimental thing that can happen to our personal spiritual growth is becoming so busy that we start doing ministry and miss the opportunity to become the person God desires. God wants our heart more than our actions.

But it’s so easy to focus on the actions:

Preparing bible studies
Going to students’ graduation parties
Meeting with adult leaders
Encouraging parents

All these things are good, but not if you’re doing them through your own strength instead of letting God work through you and the person He’s molding you to be. He doesn’t care what you do as much as He cares who you are, because then what you do will flow out of who you are. It’s so easy to define your identity and even your self-worth by your task-oriented ministry. God wants your identity to be wrapped up in Him.

Have you ever thought something like:

I’ll pray with Johnny tonight. I don’t need to take the time to stop and pray for him now.
I’ll skip reading my Bible because I’ll read it tonight with the youth group.
I’ve got too much to do today to stop and introduce myself to kid working the checkout counter. (Can you say, “good Samaritan priest?”)

Your relationship with God is more important than the important things you do in ministry. Hunger for Him so deeply that your passion for knowing God can’t help but be so contagious that is spreads to the teenagers around you. Become the youth worker who’s known for loving God so much that service is an expression of that love instead of it being your job.

Scripture
John 15:4-5, “Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”

Reflect

What’s happening in your relationship with God right now?
What warning signs do you see in your life that indicate you are more focused on ministry and task than on becoming a man/woman of God?
How can you become something deeper than just a director of events and Bible studies for teenagers, or someone that makes youth group “happen?”

Freebie Friday 180: Small group talksheet for Ecclesiastes

tim@studentministry.org (Tim Schmoyer) — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 17:52:26 +0000

As I mentioned in an earlier post, my church is going through a lot of transitions the summer. Several staff members are leaving for different reasons (church plant, retirement, new jobs, etc.), which is thankfully forcing the rest of us to prioritize our time, energy, and resources. It’s also causing us to focus our vision for when we launch ministry for the fall.

One of the major changes that will be coming in the fall are church-wide sermon-based small groups for everyone from teens through adults. There’s many significant advantages of this, which is a post for another day, but to provide an example for some small group leaders in a meeting last night, I drafted a mock version of what such curriculum could look like. It’s based on my pastor’s message from last Sunday titled, “Finding It,” a series through the book of Ecclesiastes.

If you go through the book of Ecclesiastes with your students (and you should!) with your students, this talksheet contains some questions and ideas that might be helpful as you prepare your lessons.

Download the small group talksheet for Ecclesiastes

63 youth ministry topics YOU should cover

tim@studentministry.org (Tim Schmoyer) — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 03:40:52 +0000

Almost two years ago I published a list of “100 blog topics I hope YOU write” addressing various aspects of youth ministry. Many people responded, used the list as a springboard of ideas for their own blogs, and covered over a third of the content I suggested. Earlier tonight I was skimming through some of the old posts people wrote and there’s a lot of real gems of wisdom here.

Let’s try to complete this list! Take one or more of these ideas and run with it. Take the best ideas from whatever these spark in you and keep coming back to this page as often as you want to see what topics people are covering. Or just use them as a way to bounce into better posts of your own. Make podcasts, blog posts, whatever. Have fun and be creative.

One favor? Would you include a link somewhere back to http://www.studentministry.org? I’ll do my best to keep up with these topics around the blogosphere as your incoming links show up in blog’s dashboard and will then link the appropriate title in this post back to your blog post so others can read your insights.

How to use Facebook for ministry
How to build community among teenagers
Technology I use in youth ministry [also posted here and here]
How to write Bible study lessons for youth group
Conversation starters to ask a student you just met [also posted here]
How to get parents involved in their kids’ lives
How to handle confrontation
How to teach students with learning disabilities
How to market your events
How to effectively use visual aids in teaching
How to make time for personal prayer and devotions
How to empower your youth leaders
How to follow-up with new believers
Using podcasts in youth ministry
How to engage students in worship
How to deal with a suicide in your ministry
Everything a youth worker should know about eating disorders
Addressing porn and masturbation at youth group
How to help parents prepare their students for college
Recommended books for every youth worker’s library
How teenage girls best relate to each other
How teenage guys best relate to each other
Teaching students to evaluate their media consumption
How to equip your students to achieve their dreams
Sermon presentations versus small group discussion Bible studies
Necessary elements for any youth meeting
Balancing youth group events with athletics, homework and jobs
How to achieve longevity in youth ministry
What students need from their youth leaders
How to take an idea and make it happen
How to plan a youth ministry budget
The real influence of celebrities on students
How to change a teenager’s world forever
Why youth ministers should read their students’ blogs [also posted here]
How to evaluate ministry and implement change
Addressing sin in your own life
How to make youth group visitors feel welcomed [and how NOT to here]
How to use the arts in youth group
The youth event no one has ever seen
What I wish every Sr. Pastor knew about youth ministry [ and What YPs should know about Sr. Pastors ]
Balancing youth ministry with my personal life
The difference between part-time and full-time youth ministry
How to fix your mistakes in ministry
How to develop students to be spiritual leaders
When I feel frustrated in ministry… [or with colleagues]
Youth group strategies for evangelism
How to come up with creative ideas
How NOT to introduce visitors to the youth group
What every youth worker needs to know about Jr. High students
What every youth worker needs to know about Sr. High students
How to earn the trust and respect of your Sr. Pastor
How to lead a youth group when you’re the only volunteer
How to help a student break an addiction
How to teach through a book of the Bible
What youth group students need from each other
Internet tools I use for youth ministry
How to develop a world missions strategy for your youth group
How to simplify your life and ministry
The future of youth ministry
How NOT to use video in youth ministry
How to handle the most common youth ministry struggles
How to keep God’s Word fresh for teenagers
How to work in a church that doesn’t support it’s youth ministry
What to do with “God sightings” stories in your youth group
Tools for working with hurting teenagers
How to get kids plugged in to God’s Word
Youth ministry topics that need more coverage
How to become a student-led youth group
Expectations to hold for any youth worker volunteer
How to turn conversations toward Christ
How to respond to criticism
Ten youth ministry sites I like and why
How to work with the hyper-active kid
How to address self-esteem at youth group
How to get your kids sharing and contributing to small groups
A story of how Christ changed my youth group
When to let go of a student and trust God take care of the rest
How to recharge your emotional batteries
How youth ministry made me go crazy!
How to make the most of a youth group retreat
How to shake a student from their apathy for God’s Word
Things to consider before purchasing a curriculum
American youth ministry and how I would change it
How to give yourself away
How NOT to give advice to a student
The top 10 excuses every youth leader makes
The top 10 excuses every youth group student makes
How to settle a disagreement with your Sr. Pastor
Common mistakes to avoid in youth ministry
Guidelines to follow for selecting new youth leaders
How to facilitate communication between students and parents
How to partner with parents in youth ministry
Reaching rural kids versus reaching urban kids
How to support a student through difficult times
The #1 best thing you can do for the kids in your youth group
How to promote an attitude of prayer in daily life
How the Internet is changing students’ perspective of community
Why I’m in youth ministry today
A passage of scripture every student should know
How to get students involved in the rest of the church body

4 tips for preparing youth group Bible lessons

tim@studentministry.org (Tim Schmoyer) — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 03:28:17 +0000

Exploring family family [podcast]

tim@studentministry.org (Tim Schmoyer) — Mon, 31 May 2010 16:00:10 +0000

Last Monday we had a great conversation with Matt Archer about family ministry. Two years ago his church shifted its focus a bit by combining children and youth ministry and changed his title to Family Ministry Pastor. He shares a bit about the history behind that shift, the programs they cut, and how it currently fleshes itself out in his church’s ministry.

Some of the things we talked about:

How to start changing the mindset in your church from children and youth ministry to family ministry
Why a comprehensive plan from child through adult ministry is important
Resources for shifting to family-based ministry
The story of one church’s shift from “silo” stage-of-life ministry to family-based ministry
Including teens and children who don’t have Christian parents or have no parents at all
And a lot more…

You can listen to the whole conversation below or grab it in iTunes.

Play this episode

Subscribe to LIVE YM Conversations in iTunes

Join our next LIVE Youth Ministry Conversation!

Finding Time to Rest – Part 2 [Time Out]

tim@studentministry.org (Tim Schmoyer) — Mon, 31 May 2010 13:00:01 +0000

Time Out: Weekly quiet times for the youth worker’s soul.
(by Adam Wormann)

Last Monday, the same day that Time Out launched a devotional about the Sabbath (and coincidentally my day off), I received a call from a parent. There was a situation with a student having some significant difficulty and they needed me to come and talk to them. I broke my own rule and went to see them. My family was gracious and understood the need to help.

A few years back, a church I know pretty well had a child that died. Funerals are usually difficult enough, but when there’s a child involved, it makes it so much harder. There was a memorial service being planned for the following Monday. The worship pastor of the church was asked to lead some music for the service. He kindly told them, “I’m sorry, I can’t do it that day. Mondays are my day off.” I can’t imagine what that response was like for the family.

There was an attempt to trap Jesus in Matthew 12:

“He went on from there and entered their synagogue. And a man was there with a withered hand. And they asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?” – so that they might accuse him. He said to them, “Which one of you who has a sheep, if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not take hold of it and lift it out? Of how much more value is a man than a sheep! So it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.” Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And the man stretched it out, and it was restored, healthy like the other. But the Pharisees went out and conspired against him, how to destroy him.” (Matthew 12:9-14, ESV)

Last week we talked about the need for the Sabbath, and let me reinforce that thought again. Take a day of rest. Read it again if you need to. But, we’re never truly “off.” We are always called to do good. We are always called to love. We are always called to be followers of Christ. Don’t plan meetings, do logistics, check email, etc. on your day off. There are things like this that you should certainly avoid, and it’s healthy to do so – they can wait. But, please don’t neglect the opportunities that come to you. This isn’t an excuse to work, but a call to always do good.

In Mark 2:27, Jesus adds that the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. The Sabbath was created because we need rest from “work” (not good). God does not need a specific day for us to honor Him. In fact, we ought to honor him the same way, every day (Romans 12:1). So don’t be legalistic about it. If an opportunity to do good comes up, take it. If you can take a few minutes, or an hour or two, to bring someone to rehab, do it. If you can stop to help a woman with a flat tire, do it. If there’s someone crying in deep need, talk to them. Don’t let your day off become a rule, that’s never what God intended. And just maybe, we can wrestle with the question “If I only do what is good and helpful when the opportunity comes during “work” time, what does that say?”

Think about these things for a minute. Give the questions some time:

-What do you really value more, “rule” or “good”? Do your actions agree with that?

-When was the last time that you honestly put yourself aside to do good, apart from paid ministry (if you are paid) or when not “convenient” (if you’re not paid)?

-Jesus makes the contrast to the value of the sheep. What is truly valuable to you in your life?

-Where are your opportunities that you’re taking and/or missing?

(*And yes, it’s okay to change your day off when something like the funeral story comes up, in order to still get some kind of a break, but please value people. And yes, you need to guard yourself and your family. Use discernment in taking phone calls, and clearly communicate to people that you can take emergencies, but if it can wait until the next day, please let it.)

Freebie Friday 179: Youth pastor business card PhotoShop file

tim@studentministry.org (Tim Schmoyer) — Fri, 28 May 2010 16:28:47 +0000

Andreas Fronius has I blog I wish I could read more often called Holy Sheep. It’s pretty much like Life In Student Ministry except for our German friends.

Andreas recently posted his PhotoShop file of a business card for youth pastors. It looks pretty slick, so if you don’t already have a card that’s designed by your church, maybe this would be the perfect fit for you.

I’m curious to know how many youth pastors still use business cards or not. I’m running a poll to find out. Take a second to vote!

The youth pastor business card includes:

two sides
for any type of business or personal usage
easy to edit the information
layered PSD file
3.5×2 inches
300 dpi
CMYK
Print ready

Obviously it requires PhotoShop to edit. If you don’t have PhotoShop, you can get a free 30-day trial from Adobe’s site.

Get the Youth Pastor Business Card [original link, English at the end of the post]

Get the Youth Pastor Business Card [Google Translate link]

A theology of youth rooms and buildings

tim@studentministry.org (Tim Schmoyer) — Thu, 27 May 2010 17:02:59 +0000

Last December I wrote a short rant about church consumerism, cliques, vision, youth rooms, attention spans and more. A discussion that followed that post on Facebook is worth sharing with you.

Item number 6 in that post mentions that I turned down someone’s vision to build a youth building or at least a youth room in our church because right now we have neither. The reason is because I think it’s more important that the teens become a natural integration into the church body and a youth room/building could unintentionally allow them to separate from the body too much. Plus, I don’t think it’s healthy for kids to feel like they belong in one room of the church building more than any other place else in the rest of the church, nor for adults to reinforce that notion by sending them to their “youth room.”

Here’s part of the discussion between me and a high school student (not from my church) on Facebook that followed my original post:

STUDENT: I don’t know if a youth room is such a bad thing. I would really, for me, enjoy that. You get to do stuff with your own age group and its like a spot where you can fit in. (Well, my whole church is like senior citizens, so I think a room for my church is sort of a good thing.)

ME: I’m not saying a youth room is bad, but I am saying it’s easier to do exactly what you mentioned — separate from the rest of the church (i.e. senior citizens).

STUDENT: Oh, I see your point. Well, I just kind of like it because I’m able to interact more with my age group more it seems that way. Like with other the other generations I get to do that in church and during coffe hour or whatever. But afterwards you are able to get togather and be with people with similar circumstances and problems. Isn’t it important to spend time with your peers spiruatally and with other generations too? I personally like to be with the older generations instead of my peers, but I like also being able to spend time with my peers also.

ME: Yup, there’s absolutely value in both. And like I said, there’s nothing wrong with having a youth room as long as relationships are continuing to be formed intergenerationally. It’s when the youth room becomes the hideout for the youth that the segregation starts.

Don’t get me wrong, the intentions for a youth room/building are usually pure. Like, “Let’s give the youth a place where they feel comfortable, a place where they can belong, feel like they fit in, a place they can make their own and have meaningful conversations about what they’re going through in life.”

I agree with all that and say, “Yes, let’s make the church a place where teens feel comfortable, a place where they can belong, fit in, can make their own and have meaningful conversations about what they’re going through in life rather than sticking them in a corner room somewhere, conveniently out of the way from the rest of the church.”

For me personally, I’d rather not have a youth room than have to fight against that “us” and “them” mindset between adults and teenagers in the church. Biblically, it’s supposed to be “we” and, for me, that’s easier if everyone is together without “our room” and “their room” (like, the church sanctuary is usually perceived as a room for the adults, ya know?).

Agree? Disagree? How does your ecclesiology impact how handle youth rooms and buildings? How do you balance the separation of teens from the rest of the church body? How do you avoid the problems that come from having youth group as a mini-church inside the larger church? Is this part of youth ministry’s contribution for why 20-somethings are missing from many churches? Can it sometimes become youth group vs “big church”? Share in the comments below.

UPDATE: Please don’t get defensive or feel like you need to justify to me why you have a youth room and how you use it. I promise I don’t think any less of you either way! lol

FAQs for taking a youth group to Haiti

tim@studentministry.org (Tim Schmoyer) — Wed, 26 May 2010 04:42:35 +0000

During my past two trips to Haiti I met an Adventures In Missions staff member named Benny. He’s kinda the head guy for AIM’s efforts in the country. He recently wrote a series of misconceptions about Haiti on his blog. They’re definitely worth checking out if you want a real perspective of someone who’s been living on the ground there for the past several months.

Since returning from Haiti and now planning another trip to go back this fall and spring, I’ve received a lot of questions from you guys about Haiti and how it relates to your youth groups. First of all, if you’re thinking about going to Haiti yourself or with a team from your church, make sure you read Benny’s misconceptions series above.

Video about taking a youth group to Haiti

While in Haiti, I sat down with one of my high school youth group girls and another youth pastor and talked about tips and FAQs for taking a youth group to Haiti. We discussed the experiences teenagers will have in Haiti, the safety concerns, what God is teaching us, and a lot more. Here’s a video of our discussion.

[Download this video in iTunes.]

Here are my thoughts on some of the other common questions I receive about Haiti and youth groups.

Can teenagers really make a difference in Haiti?

Absolutely. It’s easy to look at the big picture of all the devastation and think, “There’s no way we can put a dent in that. Let’s leave it to the experts.” While the experts are definitely needed, there’s also a need for normal every-day people like you and me to be there and serve. The experts can operate the big heavy machinery and provide medical expertise — we can minister to the spiritual and emotional needs of the Haitians.

Although you and your teens might not make a big dent in the lives of every Haitian, you will make an incredible difference in the lives of some Haitians. And if enough believers step up and do it, that can add up. It certainly matters to the individuals who you are able to help.

Can I go by myself?

Yup! Just go to Adventures.org, select the date and trip you want to join, and sign yourself up. In fact, there was tremendous value in me going to Haiti that first time without anyone from my church because it allowed me to come back and authoritatively share what I saw and experienced. People trusted my judgement and jumped on board very quickly after that. If you have the time and resources to go ahead of your youth group, I highly recommend it.

Is it safe?

Benny addressed some of those concerns in one of his Haiti Misconceptions posts above, so you can read that for his perspective.

My perspective is that it’s totally safe! Yeah, there’s a kidnapping here and there, but nothing more than what’s happening in cities across America at this very moment. Sure, there’s also violence in pockets of the country among certain people, but again, nothing more than what happens here on our own turf every day. The domestic issues are so common here at home that the media doesn’t cover it much anymore and many of us forget that those things are even happening at all.

Just like taking your youth group through unfamiliar urban territory in the US, there’s places of the city you’ll want to avoid, certain allys you don’t want to explore, and sections of town you want to avoid after dark. It’s no different in Haiti. Use common sense and you’ll be fine. And when you’re not sure what common sense is in Haiti, the translators AIM hires have excellent instincts. They know their people very well. Just follow their lead if in doubt.

It’s worthy to note that, as we shared in our Haiti testimony video, many Haitians feel that the world is looking down on them right now. There’s been a couple small cases of bad things happening and the rest of the world focuses on that and blows it out of proportion from all the positive things happening there. Several Haitians told us to tell Americans back home that they are good people with good hearts, and from my two weeks there, it is absolutely true.

We talked more about the safety concerns in the video above. If safety is a concern you have, I encourage you to hear about it from the perspective of Brook, the high school girl in my youth group.

What will my kids experience?

I don’t think this is a question I can really answer because everyone’s experience will be different. In the video above, Brook talks about her experience in Haiti as a high school student. Also the stories in my last trip’s recap video shares a lot about what we experienced.

Generally speaking…

They’ll be challenged to take ownership of their faith, to live it out instead of just talk about it.
They’ll see the power of prayer as they listen closely for Him to lead them.
They’ll see spiritual realities at work all around them.
They’ll develop a burden for lost souls and people struggling through hardships.
They’ll have a hard time entering the United States again. In many ways, that was the hardest part about each trip for me.

What did you think about Adventures In Missions?

I did both of my trips to Haiti through AIM and I highly recommend them for many reasons. Perhaps the biggest two distinctives AIM has that are very important to me is their emphasis on discipleship and listening to God in prayer. They make the missions experience become one of the most intense discipleship experiences you and your teens can go through together. And everything they do is saturated in prayer, so much so that some of our teens spent all morning and afternoon praying and walked away totally energized by it. For most of them, it was one of the most meaningful times on the trip. They had never spent more than 5 or 10 minutes praying before, so 4 hours was a pretty big jump for them that totally rocked their prayer life.

I plan to do all my future trips to Haiti through AIM. (And no, I am not getting any perks from AIM to say any of this. It’s my honest opinion.)

Do I need to go right away or will my visit still be helpful a year from now?

While there is an immediate need for help in Haiti right now, most of us cannot go there on short notice. Yes, there’s a sense of urgency right now, but the relief work in Haiti will be ongoing for a long time. They need help now. They’ll also need help a year from now. Go when you can and consider a long-term relationship with a Haiti church through the Church To Church Program.

Finding Time to Rest – Part 1 [Time Out]

tim@studentministry.org (Tim Schmoyer) — Mon, 24 May 2010 13:46:49 +0000

Time Out: Weekly quiet times for the youth worker’s soul.
(by Adam Wormann)

Ministry is long. And busy. And never seems to end. I love it, I think it’s important, and I don’t bemoan doing it (well, most of the time), but it is constant. This morning, meeting with two other youth pastors, 2 of the 3 of us got calls about students in crisis, while we were sharing stories about crazy things that have happened in our ministries. This is after the call yesterday from a parent, very concerned about something their kid posted on line. And it keeps going.

But our ministries are nowhere near as busy as Jesus’ ministry. Yet, he still found time away. Look at these two passages from Mark:

“And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed.” -Mark 1:35

“Immediately he made his disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. And after he had taken leave of them, he went up on the mountain to pray.” – Mark 6:45-46

As youth workers, paid and volunteer (let’s face it, volunteers usually work/school full time, then invest crazy amounts of time with students on top of it!), we need time to rest. We need to be refreshed. Tragically, we often don’t take the time to do it. Or we rest, but don’t invest spiritually because of all the other time we spend studying, preparing messages, and reading blogs during the week. We functionally act as if that is enough, even though once again it’s pouring into others. Selflessness is great, but if Jesus needed to take time away from everything, so do we.

Take out a Bible and look up the two passages at the top. Seriously, grab a Bible and turn there. Look what’s around them. There’s intensity to Jesus ministry. Not to compare us to Jesus, but there’s times when ministry is really busy, and those times are frequent. Bottom line, we cannot pour into others if we don’t take the time to be refreshed ourselves. That’s what Jesus modeled. It usually doesn’t happen through services that we’re in some way involved in. It doesn’t happen (usually) when we’re studying with the point of teaching. We need to take the time out ourselves.

God created the Sabbath for a reason. It’s a pattern for us to follow. We don’t need to be legalistic about it, but we do need to be realistic about the way God has wired us – that we need rest. So, if you haven’t done it, schedule a time to rest. Take the day to be with family. Mark off part of that time to be alone with God. Don’t check your work email. At all. Don’t peek. Emails can wait. Don’t plan out your events, or try to multitask with family. God told us to rest, let’s honor Him by resting.

Here’s some questions to think about. (Lots of times, we get to the question part read the Q’s, then close out. That’s not reflecting, refreshing, or growing, that’s a task. Don’t let it become a task, let it be a time to feed your soul.)

-What do I need to rest from? What is draining me? (Doesn’t have to be bad)

-What is it that’s refreshing for me?

-What am I doing that’s really helping me connect to God, outside of ministry? What do I need to do?

-Am I really being faithful in rest?

—————————————————————-
Adam Wormann is a Youth Pastor in Old Bridge, NJ where he’s been serving for the past 8 years. He is also one of the mentors at Life in Student Ministry and the editor of the “Time Out” series. You can stalk him on Twitter and Facebook.

The passion, process and principles of youth discipleship [podcast]

tim@studentministry.org (Tim Schmoyer) — Sat, 22 May 2010 04:37:13 +0000

Paul Turner of TheDiscipleProject.net joined us to talk about the passion, process and principles of youth discipleship. It was a good discussion revolving around many issues and questions we all have about discipleship and helping teenagers become more like Jesus.

Some of the things we talked about:

Why passion for discipleship is important
Making a discipleship process contextual to your ministry and kids
Principles for discipleship in your ministry
Evaluating the discipleship process in your ministry
Evaluating discipleship by process vs destination
And a lot more…

You can listen to the whole conversation below or grab it in iTunes.

Play this episode

Subscribe to LIVE YM Conversations in iTunes

Join our next LIVE Youth Ministry Conversation!

Freebie Friday 178: Themed event promo invite card and PowerPoint slide

tim@studentministry.org (Tim Schmoyer) — Fri, 21 May 2010 15:06:22 +0000

This past spring E.J. Swanson flew in to be our guest speaker for my youth group’s retreat for high school juniors and seniors. The theme for the weekend was “Transitions.” We talked about all the upcoming transitions in their lives, everything from moving out of the house, being responsible for finances, transition in relationships with parents, transition in taking ownership of your faith, and more.

E.J. was kind enough to create a logo PowerPoint slide image for the retreat as well as a promotional invitation card for it. He gave permission for me to share it here with you all to use and modify for your own retreats or events.

This package contains:

Transitions JPG image for PowerPoint slides
4×6 postcard front PSD (requires PhotoShop to edit)
4×6 postcard back PSD (requires PhotoShop to edit)

Download the Transitions event promo packet

Why my youth group is going back to Haiti this fall and spring

tim@studentministry.org (Tim Schmoyer) — Thu, 20 May 2010 15:04:16 +0000

It’s only been a couple weeks since we returned from Haiti and already we’re planning our next trip back, most likely in October.

It’s becoming clear to me that short-term missions is one of the most powerful ways to do discipleship that has long-term life-transformation condensed into a short, but impactful, period of time. It’s basically following Jesus’ model of discipleship by traveling with teens to do ministry as you teach and model for them them what discipleship is all about. (Note: there’s a difference between missions trips and work projects. I’m talking about missions trips.)

Because of that, it seems to me that, not only should we be doing more mission trips, but we should also be pushing more resources toward it than we do. Since my church’s fiscal year starts July 1, I recently proposed reallocating over half of my youth group’s budget toward two trips to Haiti next year, which will probably be approved.

Listen to the testimonies and stories from the adults and teens on our last trip to Haiti. It explains why.

I’ve also learned that there is tremendous value in doing church-wide missions trips rather than just youth group trips. When parents, adults, grandparents, siblings and college students all come together to serve, something incredible happens and the impact is far greater than if it’s just a group of teens with a couple adult leaders.

Church To Church program

You can also get involved by participating in Adventures In Mission’s Church To Church program, an opportunity to partner with a church in Haiti for prayer, encouragement, rebuilding, and even trips to lend helping hands. In fact, Mark Oestreicher, Doug Pagitt, Seth Barnes, and others have formed a team are going back to Haiti next week to finalize the Church To Church program. They’re also trying to raise $35,000 to fund the salaries of a few Haitian leaders for the next three years who will lead and mobilize the effort on the Haitian side, thus impacting even more churches and communities for many years to come.

You can follow their trip on Facebook and Twitter.

How to raise awareness in town about your ministry

tim@studentministry.org (Tim Schmoyer) — Tue, 18 May 2010 03:57:09 +0000

No related posts.

The Time Out series is turning to the community

tim@studentministry.org (Tim Schmoyer) — Mon, 17 May 2010 15:05:57 +0000

Since the first Monday of January 2008, my dad, Jerry Schmoyer, has been the sole author of the weekly series, Time Out. He’s been doing an outstanding job with it! Two years later now, there’s a shift coming in the series.

The vision behind Time Out

The vision behind the Time Out series is to provide weekly reminders, challenges, and encouragement specifically for youth workers to spend personal time with the Lord in the midst of ministry. We all know it’s way too easy to become so focused on teaching God’s Word to teens that we fail to soak in God’s Word for own soul’s nourishment.

Combine that with my bigger vision for Life In Student Ministry to become more of a “conversation among youth workers” with many voices besides my own, it made sense to shift Time Out to a community-driven series rather than a single author series.

The first LISM Editor

One of the Youth Ministry Mentors, Adam Wormann, offered to coordinate the series and has thus become the first of a future team of Life In Student Ministry Editors.

Adam has already begun to collect and edit Time Out contributions from other members of the Youth Ministry Mentorship Team. I’ve read some of them and you’re in for some excellent reminders and challenges in both your spiritual growth and ministry growth. However, we don’t want Time Out to be a mentor-driven series — we want YOU to write it for your follow youth workers.

How to become a Time Out contributor

Keep your Time Out devo to about 400-600 words total.
Include a scripture passage and a couple reflection/journal questions at the end.
Send it to Adam Wormann at adam@studentministry.org.
Optionally, if you include a brief bio (60 words or less) along with your blog/Twitter URL, we’ll be happy to include those in the footer of your post. Even if you don’t, you’ll still get full attribution for the content.

Feel free to submit as many Time Out devos as you’d like over any period of time.

There’s no monetary compensation, but for you youth ministry bloggers who are looking for some exposure, this could be a perfect opportunity to spread the word about your site while edifying the body of Christ.

Feedback?

If there are questions or comments about all this, Adam and I would love to hear them in the comments below! Also, you can follow Adam on Twitter.

Answering recent questions from MinistryQuestions.com #4 [podcast]

tim@studentministry.org (Tim Schmoyer) — Sat, 15 May 2010 16:07:11 +0000

It’s time to have another MinistryQuestions.com episode where we discuss recent questions that are posted at MinistryQuestions.com. Unfortunately, I had technical difficulties with my Internet connection and was kicked out of the show twice, but the other guys on the call just kept on truckin’ away with me, which was cool. Just hang tight through some of the interruptions — there’s a lot of good stuff in this recording!

Some of the things we talked about:

You can listen to the whole conversation below or grab it in iTunes.

Play this episode

Subscribe to LIVE YM Conversations in iTunes

Join our next LIVE Youth Ministry Conversation!

Freebie Friday 177: 4 week lesson series on Haggai

tim@studentministry.org (Tim Schmoyer) — Fri, 14 May 2010 16:52:25 +0000

Usually when I write Bible study lessons for my youth group I scratch it down in notes that are rarely usable by anyone other than me. I know the direction I want to take and the points I want to make in my head as I study a passage, so my notes are usually random words or sentences to keep me on track, remind me of questions I want to ask, cross-references I want to address, or a transition I want to get just right. Because of that, it takes a lot more time for me to format my lessons in a way that’s usable for other people. But I had so much fun studying the book of Haggai that I thought I’d write it so you guys could use it, too.

The lessons aren’t perfectly written out, but it’s good enough that you could hopefully use your knowledge of Haggai to teach through the book with the direction provided in these lessons.

Each lesson contains:

Lesson notes in Word format
Handouts ready to print
Some of the lessons include a slideshow presentation in PowerPoint and KeyNote.

Download the 4 Week Lessons Series on Haggai

IMPORTANT: As with any lesson, please make sure you study the book of Haggai on your own before you teach it to students. Internalize it first so you teach from your heart, not from a lesson plan. You must apply it to your own life before teaching it to others if you expect teens to follow your example. Otherwise, this is nothing more than time-filler for your youth group meeting, which is extremely disrespectful to the Word of God because it’s meant to be so much more than that.

Group Project: Share your youth ministry tips and advice on video

tim@studentministry.org (Tim Schmoyer) — Thu, 13 May 2010 04:32:42 +0000

Let’s start a little group project to help us identify some helpful youth ministry tips and advice. It involves you guys recording your best youth ministry tips and advice on video and sharing them with the wider youth ministry community.

Here’s how it will work:

Record a short video (under 2 minutes if you can) that contains your best youth ministry tip or advice.
Upload it to your YouTube account. You’re welcome to use other video sites, but it needs to be embeddable for me to feature it here.
Tag your video ‘youthministrytip’.
Leave a link to the video in comments below.
I’ll feature some (or maybe all, depending how many there are) in the coming weeks here on Life In Student Ministry.
Try to record a tip or give advice that might be a bit different from others to make it a little unique. Also, in the video, feel free to share your blog’s URL so we can check it out and your Twitter name so we can follow you.

My hope is that this project will do a number of things:

It’ll get you thinking about something that has helped you in your ministry.
It will help others to learn something that will help them improve their ministry.
It will help us to get to know each other a little more as we see and hear each others voices.

I’m really looking forward to seeing what you come up with on this! Please submit your videos in the next 7 days and I’ll pull something together to feature them next week here at Life In Student Ministry. Thanks everyone!

Challenge: Write your own job description

tim@studentministry.org (Tim Schmoyer) — Wed, 12 May 2010 04:59:07 +0000

My church is going through a lot of transitions right now. One pastor is retiring, another is being sent to plant a church in our community, and various administrative staff are moving away and stepping down. It’s all very positive and I’m excited for how God is leading each individual, but with all the staff changes in such a short amount of time I can’t help but wonder where God is taking us in the very near future.

My Sr. Pastor and I have spent some time vision casting, dreaming, and talking through our church’s future ministry and direction. They’ve been very healthy discussions. My Sr. Pastor knows that our vision and direction needs to be clearly defined before we start to bring new staff members on board to help us move in that direction, which I wholeheartedly agree.

As we’re evaluating all the different areas of ministry in our church, the youth ministry included, and revisiting things like job descriptions, I thought I’d pull out my church’s old job description because it’s been a long time since I last looked at it. Here it is:

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What this person is:
A person called by God to further the mission of the Evangelical Covenant Church as we experience and express the life and love of God through Jesus Christ. This person will reflect God’s heart for people and our commitment to Jesus’ Great Commandment and Great Commission, with a special focus on targeting middle school students through college age students.

What purpose this person commits to:
To provide an atmosphere where youth feel accepted, God’s love is revealed, and where all can grow in their desire to serve and honor God. In light of that purpose, this person will seek to reach out to uninterested students helping them get connected with Christ and other Christians and challenge interested students to grow in their faith.

What this person does:
Nurture a Spirit-filled relationship with God and Jesus Christ through the spiritual disciplines of the Christian faith.

Partner with the Youth Ministry Team and pastoral staff in ministering to youth and families. Participate in weekly staff meetings and regular Youth Ministry Team meetings.

Partner with parents in student’s spiritual development.

Develop a relational style ministry that includes:

Connecting with students in their culture.

Identifying and equipping volunteer adult leaders.

Establishing and maintaining small groups.

Training adult leaders for student ministry.

Developing student leadership within the youth group.

Communicate and promote youth ministry to the broader congregation.

Keep good records of activities and programs.

Keep financial records and manage student ministry checkbook.

Work in conjunction with other churches in city wide youth events.

Work in conjunction with the Northwest Conference and Evangelical Covenant Church in the area of youth ministries.

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I’m glad to see that it is still a fairly accurate reflection of my role in the youth ministry, but there are some things I’d like to add, emphasize, and specifically address that aren’t reflected as clearly as they should be.

Here’s a challenge I’m going to take and I want you to do it with me:

If you could write your own youth ministry job description, what would it say? I’m going to write mine and review it with my Sr. Pastor as an exercise that will probably facilitate some good discussion. I’ll share my self-written job description with you later after we’ve had that discussion.

In the meantime, write your own job descriptions and share in the comments below. Take this seriously, not just some general “help kids grow spiritually” statement or something.

What’s your vision for youth ministry?
What roles and responsibilities should be yours and not yours?
What degree of supervision and accountability should you have?
How much of your job is doing youth ministry and how much of it is supporting and encouraging others (i.e. parents, youth leaders, and teens) to do youth ministry?

A whole new look and feel to StudentMinistry.org

tim@studentministry.org (Tim Schmoyer) — Tue, 11 May 2010 03:18:14 +0000

Two and a half years ago I overhauled this site with a premium template I purchased from a site. It was definitely an upgrade from what I was using before, but it was still just a skin I forced to work with my content. It didn’t take long for it to become cluttered and confusing to navigate.

After saving and saving for months, I hired Tyler Shick and Jeff Smith of Five Ninety Labs to completely redesign and rebrand my site, this time building around my content instead of trying to make my content fit in someone else’s design.

Some of you noticed the new design when it went live a couple weeks ago, but we were still working out some kinks and minor design issues until last week. Now’s it’s all finished! Check it out at www.StudentMinistry.org!

Discipling teens through summer missions trips [podcast]

tim@studentministry.org (Tim Schmoyer) — Sat, 08 May 2010 08:15:10 +0000

Last Monday Jake Dudley and Julio Nieves joined us to talk about using summer missions trip as a discipleship opportunity. Both Jake and Julio were with me during my last to Haiti last week and together we saw a lot of pretty intense discipleship taking place between each other and the students who were with us.

Some of the things we talked about:

Some sample debriefing questions that lead toward discipleship
How to teach students to “test” their experiences
Difference between a missions trip and a work project
5 things to implement into your next missions trip
And a lot more…

You can listen to the whole conversation below or grab it in iTunes.

Play this episode

Subscribe to LIVE YM Conversations in iTunes

Next LIVE YM Talk

April 26:There is no LIVE YM Talk this Monday while Tim is in Haiti.

Join our next LIVE Youth Ministry Conversation!

Freebie Friday 176: Photo scavenger hunt list

tim@studentministry.org (Tim Schmoyer) — Fri, 07 May 2010 08:15:19 +0000

Last Wednesday our junior high small groups raced around our community to earn as many points as possible by taking pictures of themselves in certain locations or doing certain things. It was a great time for the small groups to bond and have fun together. Here are some of the pictures.

Below is our list you can download in Word, PDF, and Pages format. I created it in Pages, so if you’re on a Mac, that’s what you’re gonna want to edit the sheet for your group. The Word version is just an export from Pages and lost some formatting along the way, but is still much easier to edit than the PDF copy.

Have fun!

Download the Photo Scavenger Hunt list

Need your input on a web resource for youth workers

tim@studentministry.org (Tim Schmoyer) — Thu, 06 May 2010 14:12:56 +0000

Tomorrow I will be joining a couple other youth workers and content providers in a round-table discussion about how we can best serve youth workers online. Since we’ll be talking about you, it only seems fitting that we get your input before we head into the conversation.

Could you take a minute or two to answer these questions in the comments below?

The best web-based resource for youth workers and all those interested in the spiritual formation of adolescents must have components/options/features such as _______________.
When it comes to curriculum, youth workers are looking for content that is ____________________.
When it comes to the look and design, I think it is important for a resource site to ____________________.
If we were going to build a subscription based web solution for youth workers from scratch it would look like ________________.
I am surprised that youth ministry resourcing companies are not already providing _________________.

Thanks for your input!

My take on Haiti’s “Devil Pact” and the earthquake

tim@studentministry.org (Tim Schmoyer) — Wed, 05 May 2010 05:32:21 +0000

During my first trip to Haiti last February I became a little skeptical that the earthquake that shook the nation’s capital was nothing more than a natural disaster. There seemed to be too many spiritual ramifications to attribute it to a random act of nature, but yet I was still unsure.

During my second trip to Haiti last week I had many conversations with Haitian believers about God’s work in their country, Voodooism, and saw first-hand just how incredibly active the spiritual realm is there. Since that trip I’m certain that the earthquake was a physical manifestation of something huge that took place in the spiritual realm.

I could go into great detail about a lot of this, but I’ll try to give just an overview, 35,000 foot perspective.

The story you’ve heard about the people of Haiti and their pact with the Devil is true. Every Haitian confirms it. They sold themselves to the Devil for a duration of 200 years in exchange for their freedom from France. While they were freed from France, their spiritual bondage since then has been incredibly oppressive on all the people. Voodoo controlled almost everyone and everything, including some aspects of the physical creation around them. They lived their lives serving the evil spirits, spirits that manifest themselves in very real and tangible ways — not like ghosts or black smoke or something.

I’m told by many people who lived in Haiti and visited the country prior to the earthquake that there was a spiritual darkness over the entire country that was so heavy you could feel it. Some American pastors went to Haiti intending to serve for a week, but 24 hours later rescheduled their flights and left because it was so weighty. One Haitian told me that the Voodoo high priest of South Africa visited their country prior to the earthquake to learn a secret from one of the devils that resides there. When he flew in, the priest said he could physically see that the country was covered in a darkness of evil spirits unlike he’s ever seen before. He’s reported as saying that Haiti is the largest stronghold for Voodooism in the world.

That pact was made with the Devil 205 years ago, so last November about 250 Haitian pastors started meeting to pray for their country. They told God that the 200 year pact was complete and asked Him to do whatever was necessary to deliver them from the Devil. Two months later, the earthquake shook Port-au-Prince, the nation’s capital, and instantly the heavy darkness was lifted. Haitians immediately cried out to God to save them and He did, both spiritually and physically. One teenage boy I met during the first trip said he was alone in his house when the earthquake hit. He looked up, saw the ceiling collapsing on top of him and knew he was going to die. In that moment he heard someone cry out to Jesus and he told me he instantly knew he needed Jesus to save him not only physically, but spiritually. He cried out to Jesus and immediately he said he felt something pick him up and move him safely out into the middle of the street facing his house where he watched it crumble in front of him. Many other Haitians have similar stories.

Since the earthquake, everyone who was in Haiti prior to the disaster says that heavy darkness is totally gone. Instead, it’s replaced by hope, joy, and Jesus! I know I certainly saw the joy, hope and love these people have for Jesus both times I was there. Last week more Haitians asked us for Bibles than they did for food, water or tarps! There’s a hunger there that is far more desperate for spiritual food than for physical food.

Voodooism, while still very real and present in Haiti, is rapidly declining. Many Voodoo priests have turned to Jesus. Most of the others have lost the control they used to have because they can’t cast evil spirits into people who are possessed by the Holy Spirit. They can still do their best to have the evil spirits physically harm and oppress the believers, but they can’t kill them and it still doesn’t take away their joy.

The church in Haiti has exploded since the earthquake. Churches are so full they can no longer meet in their buildings. Instead, they gather anywhere they can: in fields, on rubble, in streets, sometimes even shutting down traffic! The spiritual climate of Haiti did an instant 180 degree turn when the earthquake shook.

During the earthquake, it seems that the Lord protected many of the pastors when everything else around them crumbled. It’s not uncommon to walk by a community of buildings that are all flat except one in the middle. When I ask, “Who’s house is that?” the answer is usually, “Oh, that’s Pastor so-and-so’s house.” The house we stayed at last week is a perfect example: every building in his community crumbled except his. Not only is his house still standing, but it doesn’t have a single cracked wall, damaged ceiling or even a broken mirror. When you see it, it reminds you exactly of Jesus’ story about the man who built his house on the rock (Matthew 7:24-27).

Scripture points to the possibility of the earth physically responding to it’s Creator (Romans 8:19-21; Psalm 18:6-7; Psalm 114:7; Psalm 77:16-18; Jeremiah 10:10; Nahum 1:5 just to name a few). I think this earthquake was one of those times.

I know none of this is conclusive evidence that the earthquake was a physical manifestation of something that took place in the spiritual realm, but it does seem to be enough spiritual “coincidences” to point to it’s likelihood for me anyway. Many people in Haiti and some who have traveled there with me also agree. It’s possible that a 200-year spiritual darkness just coincidentally happened to lift at the exact same time that the earthquake hit, and I suppose it’s even possible that a massive revival could break out due to nothing more than the desperation of their tremendous loss (although that seems very unlikely). But even if that were the case, their joy and hope would be short-lived and not genuine, neither of which is happening.

God is working in Haiti and I am blessed to be a small part of it.

Tips for your summer youth group missions trip

tim@studentministry.org (Tim Schmoyer) — Tue, 04 May 2010 14:10:05 +0000

Surrender is not an option [Time Out]

tim@studentministry.org (Tim Schmoyer) — Mon, 03 May 2010 16:14:34 +0000

Time Out: Weekly quiet times for the youth worker’s soul.
(by Jerry Schmoyer)

When the Jews crossed the Red Sea God opened the waters and they walked through on dried land, but after they matured in the faith God expected more from them. When they got to the Jordan they had to rush down the hill and step into the water while it was still there, trusting God would move it when their feet hit the water. He did and again they walked through on dry land.

If you are in Christian ministry you have probably been a believer for awhile and therefore you are no longer at the Red Sea. You’ve grown beyond that. Now God wants you to commit to obedience no matter what, to step into the rushing water trusting He’ll be with you. If you wait for the waters to part first you’ll never move. Commit to move ahead no matter what – even if it kills you. God allows us to be stretched so our faith muscles will grow.

God uses the attacks of the enemy to give us opportunities for our faith to grow. Some times God allows it, as He did with Job, for our growth and His glory. Other time sin or past events in our lives have given Satan’s forces an opening to attack us. In either case we must move ahead in faith, depending on His power for victory.

Where do we get this kind of strength to withstand whatever we face in life? We can only be strong in Jesus’ strength and power (Ephesians 6:10-18). We are strong “IN” Jesus (Ephesians 6:10-18), not just “from” Jesus. Strength only comes from a close personal relationship and dependence on Him. This is because Jesus has defeated Satan (Eph. 1:20-22; Philippians 2:9-11; Col. 2:15; Heb. 2:14; I John 3:8; Luke 4:18).

In Jesus we have both power (dunamis – Luke 9:1; 24:49; Acts 1:8; 4:33; 6:8 Ephesians 1:18-23; Hebrews 2:14-15) and authority (exousia – Luke 10:1,17-20; Matthew 10:1,8; Mark 3:15; 6:7; I John 4:4). Power comes from the Holy Spirit within (Acts 1:8), authority comes from our relationship as a child of Jesus (John 1:12). A policeman has both authority (badge) and power (gun or club). Both come from a source outside himself, as do ours (Colossians 12:9-10). Satan also has power (Luke 10:19; I Corinthians 15:24; I Peter 3:22) and authority (Luke 4:6; Acts 26:10; I Corinthians 15:24; Ephesians 1:21; 2:2; 3:10; 6:12). Satan and demons have these, also (Revelation 9:3,10,19; Colossians 1:16; 2:10; I Peter 3:22). God’s power and authority is superior to that which Satan and the demons have. Men without Jesus do not have power or authority anywhere near to Satan and his demons, though.

In all areas it is Jesus’ strength, not ours, that gives us victory (Philippians 4:13). God uses opposition and temptation to strengthen and mature our faith. We learn to have victory in Him. God promises to give us power (II Timothy 1:7; II Thessalonians 3:2-3). God is faithful to keep His promise to strengthen us (Numbers 23:19; Philippians 1:4-6; Hebrews 10:22-23). Our part is to use His strength. We are to fight, but in His strength. We must put on the armor God provides and stand in His strength (Ephesians 6:10-18). We are promised what when we resist Satan in God’s strength that Satan will flee (James 4:7; I Peter 5:8-9). Victory is assured when we fight in His might (I Corinthians 15:57; II Corinthians 2:14; I John 5:5). French Painter Emile Ranouf, in a painting called “A Helping Hand,” depicted an old man dressed in fisherman’s garb, seated in boat with little girl beside him. Both have hands on an oar. He is looking down fondly and admiringly at her. Apparently he has told her that she may assist him in rowing the boat, and she feels she is doing a great share of the task. It is easy to see it is his strong, muscular arm doing the work. That’s how it is with us and Jesus! It’s all by His grace!

Therefore we need not fear Satan or his forces (Joshua 1:9; 10:8; 23:9-11; Leviticus 26:8; Exodus 14:13; I Samuel 17:45-47; II Samuel 22:33-35,40-41). They must have God’s approval for all they do (Job 1:6-12; 2:1-7; Luke 4:35). God protects His people (Luke 10:19; II Thessalonians 3:3; Revelation 9:4; I Samuel 18:10-11; 19:9-10). Nothing can get us away from God (Romans 8:38; John 10:29). When we ask, God will put a hedge around us or those we are praying for (Job 1:10; 3:23; Isaiah 5:5). God’s power is greater than Satan’s (Exodus 7:12; 8:18; I Jn 4:4).

Victory over the attacks of the enemy isn’t a once-and-done thing. It is a process, like peeling layers off of an onion. Sometimes progress is very slow. It may seem no progress is being made at all. Then, too, it is certainly possible to loose what you have gained (through sin allowing the openings to be used again). Satan’s forces don’t quit easily, and just because they are defeated or weakened once doesn’t mean it is all over. Often the battle gets worse for awhile. The more they tried to obey and stay close to God, the more opposition and battles the Jews faced when conquering the land. Paul’s thorn in the flesh is an example of this (II Corinthians 12:7-10).

Another example is Nehemiah. When the walls of Jerusalem were in disrepair and no one was making any effort to rebuild them there was calm. But when Nehemiah started encouraging the people to rebuild there was much opposition. Some was external, other internal. Externally Nehemiah faced ridicule (2:19), anger (4:1), criticism (4:2), mockery (4:3), threat of war (4:8), compromise (6:2), and lies being told about him (6:6). The stronger attacks were internal. Satan attacked him within with discouragement (4:10), wanting to quit (4:10), greed (5:1,3,5), and fear (6:10). Nehemiah persevered despite it all and finally the work was completed (6:15) and the enemies of God defeated (6:16).

We, too, will face much resistance and continuing opposition. When we fight against Satan’s kingdom of darkness by being true to God’s kingdom, we must realize the enemy will fight back. Darkness hates the light. But God’s power within us is greater than the enemy’s power against us! Trust Him!

Scripture
2 Corinthians 2:11, “…in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes.”

1 John 4:4, “You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.”

Reflect

What difference does it make when you think of your current troubles as attacks of the enemy instead of seeing them just as daily frustrations and difficulties?
How should you be applying Jesus’ delegated authority and power to your current circumstances?
How will it help for your to see what you are going through as opportunities to trust God and learn to better fight for victory?

(For more information on this subject contact jerry@schmoyer.net for a free Spiritual Warfare Handbook)

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Jerry Schmoyer has been a minister in Pennsylvania for over 25 years and has worked with teenagers for 15 years, ever since I became one myself. He authors the weekly Time Out series here at Life in Student Ministry in hopes to spiritually refresh your soul as you continually pour so much of yourself into students. God bless!

Freebie Friday 175: Two free PowerPoint games

tim@studentministry.org (Tim Schmoyer) — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 07:30:56 +0000

One of the Youth Ministry Mentors, Adam Wormann, contributes this week’s Freebie Friday.

Below are two PowerPoint games to use with your youth group.

One game asks students to guess if certain names are nation capitals in the world or if it’s the last name of a hockey player on the Capitals team.

The other game asks students to guess if certain names are a Ben and Jerry’s ice cream flavor or a band on MySpace.

Answers are included in each slideshow.

Have fun!

Download the two PowerPoint games

4 tips for communicating youth group news

tim@studentministry.org (Tim Schmoyer) — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 07:10:57 +0000

Here’s a pretty common question that shows up in my Inbox:

How do you schedule where, when and how frequently you will advertise a particular event and keep all the different advertising needs straight? One of my biggest dilemmas is how to manage advertising needs week to week. Sometimes Wednesday comes and I’m trying to figure out how to share something that’s happening on Sunday. Being only a few days ahead does not leave me much time to be able to find, drag and drop advertising into all of the possible vehicles they can go to.

If you’re starting to push things on Wednesday that are happening on Sunday, I can see why you would feel a little frustrated. For some things that may work, like to mention what next week’s topic is or something, but most things need much more time than that. You need to be planning these things much further in advance and give yourself sufficient time to spread the word.

That said, you can use mass text messaging (I use txtsignal.com and love them!) or a youth group Facebook Page (not group) to post quick little updates about things, and that works pretty well for us, but we use those avenues mostly as reminders of info they’ve already heard other places.

The other piece in this is how you train people to receive your information. There’s a part that says you need to put the information where the people are, but there’s a bigger part that says you also need to train your people where to get your information. For example, posting something on a website or Facebook is pointless if people aren’t trained to look there for it. Same with email, bulletin inserts, or anything else. If someone comes to you and says, “Hey, we didn’t know about this or that and didn’t get any info,” part of that may be your fault, but the other part is that you need to gently remind them, “Well, it’s posted on our website, it’s in bulletin inserts, and we have info sheets available at the youth kiosk every week, and we put it on facebook 5 weeks ago. I’m sorry you missed it, but for the future, those are the places where you can find info.” You can put it out there, but people need to take some sort of responsibility for finding it, too, right?

So, a couple suggestions:

1. Decide where and how you’re going to communicate. Remember that more is not always better. Pick a couple places that will work best for you guys and stick to it. There’s nothing that says you have to stand up in front of kids and give announcements, hand out flyers or anything like that if it’s not working for you guys.

2. Put information in those places with a sufficient amount of time for people to receive it and do whatever they need to do. For example, a trip to Planet Wisdom student conference requires more time because people need to gather money, check calendar conflicts, you need to work out transportation, etc. However, a quick announcement about a hangout at your house may only need a week’s notice.

3. Stick with it and be consistent. Continually remind people where to find information. Push them to those avenues all the time. Train them to find your news, announcements, and updates in those places. It will take a while, especially if they’re new means of communication, but stick with it long-term. Don’t keep constantly changing it and communicating news in a different way through different avenues every other week.

4. Be consistent with your communication. Do your best to make new information available on the same day of the week. Tuesdays are that day for me. People know to start expecting my news email on those days, so it becomes a part of their weekly routine.

Also check out these 5 reminders for communicating youth group news and announcements with parents and teens.

How to turn your summer photos into a slick movie

tim@studentministry.org (Tim Schmoyer) — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 07:08:20 +0000

This summer you’ll be taking a lot of pictures on your missions trips, camps, VBS, and more. Some programs like iPhoto and Picasa let you turn those pictures into video slideshows, but nothing does it the way Animoto.com does.

I’ve been using Animoto.com for a while. It’s super simple to upload a bunch of pictures, add your audio track or select from their decent selection of Christian songs, choose a pace for your video, and let it turn your photos into a video.

Recently Animoto added the ability to add short video clips to the slideshows, too, which creates a really incredible dynamic.

Check out this Animoto video I made of some of our high schoolers who went to Minneapolis to help clean an inner-city school.

Animoto has a free version which is pretty limited, so you’ll probably want to upgrade. The $30/year subscription gives you unlimited full-length movies and video downloads. Or, you can pay $3 per video if you just wanna try it out a couple times.

[ FULL DISCLOSURE: This post contains affiliate links for Animoto.com. Thanks for your support! ]

Warning: ministry can hinder your ministry

tim@studentministry.org (Tim Schmoyer) — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 07:10:23 +0000

I’m sure we all agree that Jesus had a pretty incredible ministry. He came to earth with a specific mission from His Father and nothing deterred Him from it. Along the journey of fulfilling the mission, He ministered to many people. He healed people, encouraged people, challenged people, and taught people. Tens of thousands were impacted by His ministry.

But yet, for as many people as He helped, even more people were left unhealed, unchallenged, and untaught. Almost every day He traveled by communities that were full of of people who could’ve been blessed by His time and attention.

Not even Jesus tried to do it all.

Neither should your ministry.

Most of us will read this and intellectually agree, but far too many of us are acting like we’re greater than Jesus while leading ministries that are trying to out-perform Him.

Whether self-inflicted or not, relieve yourself of the pressure to lead your ministry in a lot of directions. Determine the vision God’s equipped your ministry to peruse the best. Know that mission. Focus on it. Let nothing deter you from it, not even other ministry opportunities.

Youth ministry in a religiously diverse world [podcast]

tim@studentministry.org (Tim Schmoyer) — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 07:30:30 +0000

Last Monday Jeremy Zach joined us to talk about the religious diversity he’s been experiencing in his youth ministry. How do you teach Biblical truth when students put it on the same level as other religious texts, like the Book of Mormon, the Koran, and others?

This is one of those conversations that left me with more questions than I had going into the conversation.

Some of the things we talked about:

All the different religions and value systems are students are considering
How emotions cause us to gravitate toward different religious systems
Teaching Biblical doctrine vs teaching Biblical experiences
Why we need to personally studying other world religions for our kids’ sake
And a lot more…

You can listen to the whole conversation below or grab it in iTunes.

Play this episode

Subscribe to LIVE YM Conversations in iTunes

Next LIVE YM Talk

April 26:There is no LIVE YM Talk this Monday while Tim is in Haiti.

Join our next LIVE Youth Ministry Conversation!

Freebie Friday 174: Download “Christian Atheist” ebook

tim@studentministry.org (Tim Schmoyer) — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 07:40:54 +0000

For a limited time, you can download a free copy of Craig Groeschel’s new book, Christian Atheist: Believing in God but Living As If He Doesn’t Exist, from Sermon Central. You’ll have to give them your email address, though, and sign up for the Sermon Central email newsletter. The download link is available right after you submit your address.

If you haven’t visited Sermon Central for a while, you should see a pop-over ad appear where you can submit your address for the free download. Otherwise, use the subscription box at the top of the right sidebar.

Visit SermonCentral.com for the Christian Atheist download

[ht to PJ for the tip!]

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This Monday, April 26, there is no LIVE YM Talk while Tim is serving in Haiti. See our LIVE YM Talk page for details.

I go back to Haiti tomorrow. Pray for me!

tim@studentministry.org (Tim Schmoyer) — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 04:49:59 +0000

Last month I shared about how I’m going back to Haiti. Well, the time has come! In a time span of only about 6 or 7 weeks, a team of 18 other people joined me, most of them from my church, 4 of them are people I know from other churches.

With only one day left to pack, many things are going through my mind. My wife shared her feelings on her blog. Here are mine:

My pregnant wife feels like God is calling her to come on this trip. I sure hope she’s right because I’m super-nervous about her bringing our unborn baby to Haiti.
It’ll be tough to leave our 8-month girl behind for so long, so far away. She’ll be in good hands, but still… I’ll miss her like crazy.
It’ll be fun to have my brother with me on this trip. My sister-in-law is coming, too!
My last experience of leading an international missions trip two summers ago was an absolute nightmare for me. That makes me a little apprehensive about leading this one.
I’m expecting this experience in Haiti to be totally different from my last trip. I’m not really sure why — I just do.
I’m excited to see my teammates’ faith stretched and to be a part of that growth in everyone’s lives.
I really pray that there will be no complaining or poor attitudes on the trip. I don’t anticipate that there will be, but I know I have a low tolerance for moods like that on trips like this.
I’m busting out my guitar for the first time in 3 years for this trip. My fingers are so wussy now!
I’m really proud of a lot of the people on this team. Many of them are taking some very significant steps of faith to make this trip possible.
I hope we’re able to give and serve more than we receive.
I committed to this trip knowing God would take care of the finances for me and Dana, and He did!

Please pray for me and the rest of my teammates on this trip. Pray also for our Adventures In Missions team leader, Deb White. I anticipate that this will be a spiritually and emotionally taxing experience just like last time. Pray for our health, safety, morale, servant hearts, interpersonal relationships and, most of all, that God would ultimately be glorified through us.

Follow our trip online

There’s a 50/50 chance that I will have limited access to an Internet connection while we’re there. If I end up being on the right side of the 50% chance, I’ll occasionally post updates, prayer requests, pictures and maybe even short video clips while we’re there. Just follow me on Twitter or become a fan of my Facebook page. Also, our Adventures In Missions team leader, Deb White, will be posting updates on AIM’s website here.

Thanks for your prayers, everyone!

Storytelling tips with Daren Streblow

tim@studentministry.org (Tim Schmoyer) — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 01:50:08 +0000

How do you get youth leaders to show up at leader meetings?

tim@studentministry.org (Tim Schmoyer) — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 03:59:45 +0000

Last Sunday I tweeted that we were having our youth leader meeting. Several people asked for an overview of what we do at our meetings/trainings, so here ya go.

First, I should mention that the purpose of our meetings is not to cover a lot of business items and make decisions — with an adult team of 60-some leaders, that would take forever and isn’t a good use of everyone’s time. Instead, we have a smaller Youth Ministry Executive team of long-term, committed, experienced youth leaders from each major area of our ministry that takes care of business items. That allows us to use the larger leader meetings like last Sunday to encourage, support, equip and unify our team. We found that without these meetings, leaders tend to get tunnel-vision about their specific area of ministry, focused so intensely on their small corner of the larger youth ministry that they sometimes loose sight of the bigger picture. The meetings let us re-group, get to know each other (some leaders don’t known other leaders on our team), hear what God’s doing in the ministry as a whole, and refocus on our ministry’s vision together.

We do the meetings every-other-month because the Exec Team figured it is better to have more people at fewer meetings than it is to have few people at frequent meetings. We provide lunch for the team right after our last Sunday morning service and we try to keep the meetings no longer than an hour and 15 minutes long, hour and a half max.

But even though we try to make it as easy as possible for people to attend, we still usually end up with only about 10 leaders or so at each meeting, which is honestly a bit frustrating and kind of defeats the unity purpose of the meeting. One of our associate pastors told me I should make the meetings an understood expectation from the very beginning of the recruitment stage, which is good input I’ll be using. It’s still difficult to make anything required for volunteers, though, otherwise I’d make the Simply Youth Ministry Conference mandatory for them all.

This is a typical agenda use for these meetings, although last Sunday the discussion went a bit differently than I planned due to some people sharing some pretty significant God-stories and struggles that we talked about instead, which is definitely more important than my agenda.

1. Introductions: Your name, area of ministry, what you like best about serving teenagers. (15 minutes)

2. Share God sightings, encouraging stories, things that excite you about what you see taking place with students. (15 minutes)

3. Share struggles, receive advice (15 minutes)

4. Briefly announce business items/decisions (5 minutes)

5. Training: Important training notes from the Simply Youth Ministry Conference led by 4 leaders who attended the conference (20 minutes)

6. Thank you for serving these teens and the body of Christ! (2 minutes)

7. Pray for the ministry and for teenagers (5 minutes)

How do you all get leaders to show up at your meetings? How often do you meet? What do you try to accomplish with your meetings? Please share in the comments below.

Being on God’s side means you’re in a war [Time Out]

tim@studentministry.org (Tim Schmoyer) — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 16:55:43 +0000

Time Out: Weekly quiet times for the youth worker’s soul.
(by Jerry Schmoyer)

One day a young man was out for a walk. As he went along the street he saw a sign that invited him to sign up to see the world for free. Food, lodging, everything would be provided. In fact, he would be paid a salary, too. It sounded fine, too fine to pass up. So he went in and signed his name. To his surprise he was handed a rifle and military equipment. He soon found out there was a whole army of soldiers who now were his enemy and whose sworn purpose was to destroy him. It wasn’t what he expected.

There are many Christians today who, when they placed their faith in Christ, were surprised to find they, too had an enemy. Perhaps they expected life to be perfect and fine, all settled with no more problems. Salvation, though, doesn’t end the battle. In many ways it is just the start of it!

You see, when you accept Jesus as your Savior you also accept Satan as your enemy. You deserted Satan’s army to join his enemy’s army, God’s army. He opposes God, but can only get at God by attacking His people — you and me!

So now you find yourself in the middle of a war you didn’t want, don’t like, can’t understand, and seem unable to win. What do you do? Where can you find a quick training program for spiritual warfare?

Actually, this idea of war following salvation is nothing new. We see the same thing happening to the Jews in the Old Testament. Satan has been opposing God from the beginning, but getting nowhere. When he started attacking God through His creatures he made much more progress. First there was Adam and Eve in Eden, then Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph. God’s people ended up in Egyptian slavery for 400 years until God delivered them. He did it all: provided the innocent blood and the power to protect them from the angel of death as well as deliver them unharmed through the Red Sea. They did nothing but accept His salvation. Then the battles started for them: the Amalekites attacked, then the Canaanites, and on it went. The Jews had to learn to fight. When they learned to fight behind their leader Joshua (“Jesus” in Greek) they conquered and settled the land God had meant all along for them to have. When we learn to fight behind our general, Jesus, we, too, can have victory in life.

First of all, what are the weapons this enemy uses against you? The Bible says they are three-fold, “the world the flesh and the devil.” The world refers to the organized system of ideas, people, activities, purposes, goals, motives, priorities and values that are based on Satan’s system (I John 2:15; John 15:19). The “world” does not refer to nature, but to Satan’s substitute for God’s way. Peer pressure, rejection, persecution, problems getting along with people, pride, desire for popularity and success, etc., all these things are ways Satan attacks us through the world (Matthew 4:8-10; 12:26).

While these attacks are from without, we also have an enemy within — our own flesh. By “flesh” we mean our old sin nature, that tendency in us to be naturally self-centered, sinful, prideful, willful and immature (Romans 7:15-25; Galatians 5:19-20). Even the “good” we do in the flesh is like filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6). This results in our sinning. Sin is thinking or doing wrong things, doing good things for the wrong reason/motive, or not doing good things that should be done. Temptations to worry, fear, get angry, be greedy, fulfill our lusts, think only of ourselves, feel self-sufficient or self-righteous, be jealous, gossip or criticize, etc. come from or through the flesh (Ephesians 4:22-27).

The third direction the attacks come from, though, are sometimes ignored by Christians today. Satan himself attacks us. We need to know how to counter these attacks as well. Paul tells us to make sure we aren’t ignorant of Satan’s devices (2 Corinthians 2:5-11). We are to understand and use these resources which He has provided.

The Bible commands us to use spiritual warfare (Ephesians 6:10-12; 2 Cor 2:11; Luke 14:31). Jesus Himself is our example. Jesus talked about Satan and demons more than anyone in Bible. He cast out demons. He taught and commanded His disciples to fight Satan and cast out demons (Matthew 10:8; Luke 10:1, 17-20). He was disappointed when they were unable to deliver a demonized boy without Him (Mark 9:14-29). The religious rulers accused Jesus (Mark 3:22) and John the Baptizer (Luke 7:33) of being demonized.

The good news, no, make that great news, is that we have victory through Jesus. The next blogs will help show how to attain it.

Scripture
1 Corinthians 9:25-27, “Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.”

Ephesians 6:10-12, “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”

Reflect

What difference does remembering you are in a war make in how you view the difficulties and obstacles you face?
As you look at your life, what are some of the more common ways you are attacked? How successful are you in resisting these these attacks?
Remembering you are in a battle, what can you do to better defend yourself when attacked?
Spend some time praying, putting on your armor for battle (Ephesians 6:10-20) and drawing strength from the Lord to enable you to be victorious in the conflict.

(For more information on this subject contact jerry@schmoyer.net for a free Spiritual Warfare Handbook.)

Leadership when your last name is not Stanley, Hybels or Groeschel [podcast]

tim@studentministry.org (Tim Schmoyer) — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 22:05:32 +0000

We had the tremendous privilege of talking with Mark Riddle of The Riddle Group again today about leadership. It’s great that the church has great leaders like Andy Stanley, Bill Hybels and Craig Groeschel, but too often church leaders spend too much time trying to imitate someone else rather than being the leader God’s created them to be.

Some of the things we talked about:

Different kinds of leaders in the church we often overlook
Discovering what kind of a leader God’s created you to be
How to learn from others but still be yourself
How our leadership often hinders leadership in our adult youth leaders
And a lot more…

You can listen to the whole conversation below or grab it in iTunes.

Play this episode

Subscribe to LIVE YM Conversations in iTunes

Next LIVE YM Talk

April 19: Join us again next week for LIVE YM Talk. Jeremy Zach will lead us in a discussion about, “Christianity and youth ministry in a religiously diverse world.”

Join our next LIVE Youth Ministry Conversation!

Unifying a youth group, sending off graduates, youth group vs church, and more [podcast]

tim@studentministry.org (Tim Schmoyer) — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 22:02:35 +0000

Every once in a while we like to just kick back and talk about youth ministry with no specific agenda in mind. This is how LIVE YM Talk first got started, so it’s fun to return to our roots. We share stories, ask for advice, pray for each other, encourage each other, ask questions, whatever.

Here are some of the questions that came up in our discussion. It was a really great conversation!

Some of the things we talked about:

Does a church youth group of 4 smaller youth groups need to come together as a large group? Is it segregation or affinity?
What does your church or youth group do to send graduating seniors off to college?
How do you stay in touch with graduates after they move to college?
Why do we call it “big church?”
Is it okay for teens to only go to youth group and not to church services?
Why aren’t teens connecting to “church” after graduation?

You can listen to the whole conversation below or grab it in iTunes.

Play this episode

Subscribe to LIVE YM Conversations in iTunes

Join our next LIVE Youth Ministry Conversation!

Team building in youth ministry [podcast]

tim@studentministry.org (Tim Schmoyer) — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 21:59:33 +0000

One of the Youth Ministry Mentors, Aaron Giesler, joined us to talk about some of the team building he’s been doing lately with his youth ministry’s adult leaders. He shares from over a decade of youth ministry experience about forming unity as a team of leaders.

Some of the things we talked about:

How we operate in individual silos of ministry at our churches
Discovering your leaders’ passion and using it in ministry
How student leaders can best fit into your ministry
How programming and people best work together
And a lot more…

You can listen to the whole conversation below or grab it in iTunes.

Play this episode

Subscribe to LIVE YM Conversations in iTunes

Join our next LIVE Youth Ministry Conversation!

Freebie Friday 173: “Minute To Win It” youth group games

tim@studentministry.org (Tim Schmoyer) — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 04:27:52 +0000

Tony Mannon tipped me off to this on Facebook and sent me the link. Thanks, Tony!

I haven’t seen the new game show called Minute To Win It, but apparently it’s full of a lot of challenges that must be completed within one minute.

NBC has taken some of those games and posted them online along with a video tutorial, official rules, and list of supplies needed for each game. Most of them make great youth group games! So far there are 63 different games listed on their site.

Check out their site and let us know in the comments which ones you’ll be trying at youth group. Personally, I think I’m gonna go for Bucket Head this week.

63 Minute To Win It Games

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Join us this Monday, April 18, for LIVE YM Talk! The live conversation starts at 2:00 PM eastern time! Jeremy Zach will lead us in a discussion, “Christianity and youth ministry in a religiously diverse world.” See our LIVE YM Talk page for details.

Turning church consumers into ministry servants

tim@studentministry.org (Tim Schmoyer) — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 03:30:29 +0000

Generally speaking, there are two types of people in our churches: consumers and servants.

The consumers say:
• I want a church that ___________.
• I want a place where I can _________.
• The church is supposed to do ________ for me.

Servants ask:
• How can I help this church be _________?
• How can I make this a place where people can ________?
• How can I give _________ to others?

We all want to help move the consumers toward servanthood, but when we give in to the pressure to provide more services, do more events, and raise the quality of existing programs to unrealistic levels, we are enabling the people to stay exactly where they are in their discontentment and consumerism. They think pastors are the ones who are supposed to serve them instead of them seeing the body of Christ for what it’s supposed to be: a community of believers that serve each other and the world around them with pastors who are there to lead and guide the process.

Instead, we must give consumers what they need instead of what they want. What they need are people who will push them to serve instead of allowing them to tell the pastors to do certain things for them. For example, when a high school parent tells me that they want a time where their kid can hang out in the gym every week with other high schoolers, I say, “Sure, stop by the church office to schedule a time. They’ll be happy to give you a key so you can make it happen.” The blank stares I get are thinking, “No, I want you to do it for us.” The smile I return is thinking, “I know you won’t do it because you think it’s my job to do provide social times and events for your kid. If it’s really that important to you, you’ll make it happen.”

Most of the time the consumers will either get upset and talk to other people about what they don’t like about the youth ministry, or the gracious ones will just walk away. However, in those rare moments when someone voices an issue of discontentment and they actually respond to your challenge of servanthood, that’s when real spiritual growth and Christlikeness can start to take place in that person’s life.

Philippians 2:4-7 (NIV)
“Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
but made himself nothing,
taking the very nature of a servant…”

As a postscript, remember that it’s better to do a few things will than many things mediocre. As one of my youth group’s seniors said so well, keeping kids busy with youth events does not necessarily equate to spiritual growth — it just means you’re keeping kids busy. Of course, saying no to certain programs and events is a lot easier when you have a clear vision and direction for your ministry.

And remember that the way we run our youth ministries now will influence a teenager’s perspective and view of church into their adulthood. Are you pushing students to be servants in the church and their community or are you primarily providing a service for teens and families to consume? Do your adults leaders serve mostly to help you in what they perceive as your ministry or because they feel ownership that it’s their ministry?

Creating church consumers will easily happen very unintentionally, but creating ministry servants takes a lot of intentionality and often resistance.

2 things we often forget about teaching

tim@studentministry.org (Tim Schmoyer) — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 14:48:41 +0000

After yesterday’s post on 10 reasons why you should do lesson prep early, here’s a follow-up on two things we often forget about teaching God’s Word.

1. Passion trumps eloquence. Passion communicates something deeper on a subconscious level than what we can fake on a stage. Hyping up more energy and excitement doesn’t equate passion — it just makes you look goofy as you flail your arms and talk loudly. When you’re genuinely passionate, there’s something subliminal that’s very intriguing when you talk. Even if your audience doesn’t care about the subject matter, they can’t help but listen. Conversely, rarely are people engaged when messages contain great content but no passion.

2. You are not the Holy Spirit. Teach God’s Word, but relieve yourself of the expectation to transform lives. Resist the pressure to apply every lesson to teenagers’ lives in every relevant situation you can think of. That’s the job of the Holy Spirit to convict, prompt and teach as you communicate God’s Word. Partner with Him, don’t try to do His job. You do your part while He does His. Life-change is not ultimately your responsibility. That’s between the individual and God.

What other things do we often forget about teaching scripture? Share in the comments below.

10 reasons why you should do lesson prep early

tim@studentministry.org (Tim Schmoyer) — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 04:34:21 +0000

We’ve all done it: driving to youth group, flipping through the Bible at every red light, hoping for some spiritual inspiration to hit us before we enter a room of teenagers (and probably church elders) who are expecting us to bring some mind-blowing truth from God’s Word. It rarely works, and even when it does, you leave youth group feeling inside that you could’ve been a better steward of the time and attention that was entrusted to you.

A couple years ago I said that my life is the best small group curriculum I have, and, while that’s still often true, it’s never an excuse to come ill-prepared to a place where God wants to use you to communicate His divine message to students.

Here’s just a couple reasons off the top of my head why it’s best to do your lesson preparation early.

1. You’ll have time to meditate on the lesson so the Holy Spirit can help you tweak it.

2. There’s less of a chance that you’ll hit a mental block.

3. It gives you more time and ability to be creative.

4. You need the time to put the lesson into practice in your own life first before you expect others to do it. Then you’ll teach from your heart instead of from your notes.

5. Teens can tell if you’re prepared or not. When you are, it communicates to them that they’re valuable and they will respect you more for it.

6. Teens will take your Bible study time more seriously if they see that you take it seriously first.

7. Parents and students will be more likely to trust your leadership in other areas of the ministry when you prove to be faithful and consistent in this very significant area of ministry.

8. It’s easier to flow off-script with the Holy Spirit’s promptings when you have a clear understanding of your message as a whole.

9. There’s time to promote the lesson and plug it both during private conversations and in public mass communication.

10. It communicates to everyone that God’s Word is important to you and that teaching it is not a privilege you take half-heartedly.

Using the spiritual tool of fasting to draw close to God [Time Out]

tim@studentministry.org (Tim Schmoyer) — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 14:59:09 +0000

Time Out: Weekly quiet times for the youth worker’s soul.
(by Jerry Schmoyer)

This will be a fast blog. That doesn’t mean it will be short, but that it is about fasting. I know this isn’t the most popular subject around today, but it is something God has put on my heart about which to blog so here goes.

Many years ago our family went camping at a gospel concert. I wanted to put up a tarp over the door of our VW pop-up camper. I had the tarp, poles, tent pegs and rope. What I didn’t have was a hammer to secure the pegs into the hard ground. I tried using my shoe but have very limited success. A kindly neighbor saw my predicament and gave me his hammer to use. How much different it is when we have the right tool to do a job!

Likewise God gives us spiritual tools to help us through our journey of life on this earth. They are only good for earth, but they are absolutely essential to obtain all God has for us in this life. If we don’t have a full tool box we won’t be able to be and do all He wants. Our tools include such things as prayer, praise, fellowship with others, Bible study and memory, confession of sin and fasting. Each tool has its own function and must be used just for that purpose.

One important reason to use the tool of fasting is to draw closer to God. Fasting enables the believer to feast on God. You “eat the Lord” – craving, desiring him, wanting him, receiving him, enjoying him. God is the most desirable being in the whole universe. He is good, merciful, compassionate, forgiving, saving, restoring, healing, providing, strengthening, rebuilding, renewing, reversing our fortune from horrible to the best, fun, creative, wonderful, incredibly amazing, awesome, great to be with, life, joy, peace. Every time your stomach growls, you are reminded how hungry you are for God. Every time food-thoughts attack your mind; you are reminded of God-thoughts. “I am hungry, but I am hungrier for you. I love the taste of food; but your love tastes better. I prefer you, Lord, over anything.” We sometimes settle for just a little bit of God.

If you desire to draw closer to God but have been having a hard time doing so, get out the tool of fasting and apply it to the situation. You’ll be amazed how well the right tool can get the job done!

In a culture where the landscape is dotted with shrines to the Golden Arches and an assortment of Pizza Temples, fasting seems out of place and out of step with the times. It doesn’t get much attention among Christians today, but it is an important tool in our tool-box of weapons which God provides to enable us to live a victorious and abundant Christian life. Because we don’t use this tool we miss many benefits which it can bring. Using the right tool for the right job is crucial. Fasting is a tool we must better learn to use.

Fasting doesn’t inspire or provoke God to love us more – He can’t possibly love us any more than He does (Malachi 3:17). Neither is it a get rich quick scheme to become instantly holy. Fasting doesn’t earn forgiveness or pay for our sins and failures. It isn’t to be used for self punishment for Jesus has taken care of all that (Romans 8:1).

We don’t fast to get God to set His heart towards us, but rather because God has already set His heart toward us and we want to experience His grace more deeply. Because He is so indescribably lovely, we want to give ourselves over to Him more fully.

So what benefits do come from fasting? For one thing, fasting increases our sense of humility and dependence on God. It accomplishes this by showing us just how little strength we actually possess and how much we need the Lord (See Philippians 4:13). It helps us be broken in His presence so He can fill and use us for His glory.

In a practical way, fasting increases the amount of time we spend in prayer. Instead of eating or being involved in whatever activity it is we are turning from we have extra time to devote to prayer and Bible study. Try combining prayer and Bible study by praying through Bible passages as you read them. Make a list of others you can pray for. God’s Spirit will put names in your mind and prompt you as to how to pray for them.

Another result of fasting is that it reminds us that we must put Christ first in everything. Additionally, it is a good exercise in self-discipline. It strengthens us to be able to refrain from other things such as sinful temptations as we learn to control our appetites and lusts. Food is our greatest legitimate need after breathing, so learning to deny that drive helps us have victory over other drives which are sinful. This is especially true of learning to gain victory over lust for food, immorality or things. Even as athletes train their bodies for physical contests, fasting trains our spirits for spiritual battles.

Such a fast is called for in situations where you or I face a sin that constantly ensnares us. If we are willing to pay the price of fasting and praying, we can know deliverance from that sin, and the joy that follows! A decision to fast in such a situation demonstrates to God that we are truly serious about our repentance, that we sincerely long for new life in that area, and that we are willing to pay any price to have victory over the sin.

Scripture
Matthew 6:16-18, “When [not ‘if’] you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to men that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”

Ezra 8:21-23, “There, by the Ahava Canal, I proclaimed a fast, so that we might humble ourselves before our God and ask him for a safe journey for us and our children, with all our possessions… So we fasted and petitioned our God about this, and he answered our prayer.”

Reflect

When is the last time you fasted?
When could it benefit you?
When could it benefit those you minister to?
If you are struggling with a decision, an issue, a sin in your life or with your relationship with Jesus fasting might be in order. Ask Him if He wants you to fast and listen for His answer.

Spiritual Growth: shifting my approach to youth ministry

Freebie Friday #75: eBook teaching tool about pornography

How new technology develops into a ministry tool

Freebie Friday 172: Heaven and Hell youth bible study series

tim@studentministry.org (Tim Schmoyer) — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 03:52:29 +0000

Brett Hetherington has contributed more to our Freebie Fridays over the past couple years than anyone else. The best part is, his stuff is always quality material. Besides serving as one of the Youth Ministry Mentors, he’s contributed 10+ other youth teaching series’ and resources here in the past, and today’s series is no different. Visit his site and let him know how much you appreciate his generosity in equipping your ministry with great resources time and time again!

Over the years we as Christians have been taught some rather interesting, and sometimes contradictory stuff about what happens to us after we die. Add into that what friends, popular media and other faith systems teach, and you have a huge mess to try and untangle. Do your teens ask you to clarify this mess at all? I had one who flat out told me that the Bible says nothing about heaven or hell.

So we created this two-part series that explores in depth what the Bible has to say about Heaven and Hell.

Week one focuses on hell. In it we looked at multiple scriptures that show just how often hell shows up in Scripture, each of the 4 words it is translated from (and how each word is a little bit different), and how knowing more about hell should impact our lives.

Week two explores heaven. We looked at more scripture about heaven, what it takes to get there, and even debunked some myths about what it will be like (there are a few of those floating around out there).

We started with hell so that any decisions students made would not be made out of fear of hell, rather they would be made out of a desire to spend eternity with God.

In this series you will find:

WORD and PDF files of each lesson

PowerPoint presentations for each lesson

JPEG images of the PowerPoint slides to use in other presentation software.

Download the “Heaven and Hell Teaching Series”

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Join us this Monday, April 12, for LIVE YM Talk! The live conversation starts at 2:00 PM eastern time! See our LIVE YM Talk page for details.

Related posts:
Freebie Friday #98: “Wii > Mii” 4-week youth Bible study series

Freebie Friday 182: 5-week “back to school” Bible lesson series

Freebie Friday #50: God of Wrath bible study

How to push a spiritually apathetic teen to be spiritually passionate

tim@studentministry.org (Tim Schmoyer) — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 02:27:15 +0000

In yesterday’s video about evaluating ministry by journey or destination, I posed the question of how we help move students from being spiritually apathetic to being spiritually passionate. A youth worker named Jeff Boose was browsing my site, reading about the Deep & Wide ministry values that my youth ministry is based on, also asked the same question. If you’re not familiar with Deep & Wide, there’s a more detailed document about it at Dare 2 Share’s website. Also check out the LIVE YM Talk we did with Jason Lamb about Deep & Wide youth ministry.

Jeff asked a very important question:

What are the steps you take to get students from apathetic to passionate?

I think the arrow on the chart that moves kids from apathetic to passionate could be titled “obedience.” It follows the role and responsibility Jesus gave to us teachers in Matthew 28, “…teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you…”

The best term I can come up with that explains this is “pushing them toward obedience.” A lot of people don’t like pushing kids spiritually because they’re afraid the teens will rebel against it or be turned off, but I see kids who are being pushed in every area of their life except their spirituality. Their athletic coaches push them hard physically, their teachers push them academically, their jobs push them to perform, etc.

When it comes to pushing a teenager spiritually, that first hump from apathetic to interested is the hardest. That takes a lot of pushing. It’s where we come along side the teenager and say, “Hey, I know you may not care about this spiritual truth, but just try it. See if it works. See what might happen if you just obey what God says whether your like it or not.” If the teen does try it in obedience because of your persistance and they see the spiritual principle they’re experimenting with work out as the Holy Spirit guides the process, they become a bit more interested because they see that this God stuff isn’t just a bunch of ideas in an old book Pushing them to obey in the next area of life is a bit easier because they’ve already seen how God’s Word works when they follow Him. When they do it again, they start to become a bit excited about scripture, and soon they’re passionate about following and obeying the Lord in other areas of their life, as well.

Here’s the kicker: Someone who is genuinely passionate about something cannot help but share it with the people around them. I hear a lot of men talk very passionately about fishing, hunting, and car engines. It’s like they wrap their entire identity around those activities. Although I care nothing for any of those things, I can’t help but be a bit intrigued to listen to them talk about it just because they’re so obviously passionate about them.

When someone is truly passionate about obediently following the Lord, when they wrap their entire identities around Him, they contagiously share it with the people around them. This is one way that going deep into God’s Word fits hand-in-hand with going wide.

For me personally, the hump that pushed me from being apathetic to interested was sharing my faith with my peers in high school. I didn’t care to share Him at all, but when I was more-or-less forced to do it by an adult youth leader, I was pushed to obey the Lord’s command to share my faith. When I did so, I saw how following Him in obedience, whether I wanted to or not, really worked in my life and the life of others around me. I couldn’t help but become a bit more interested. The more I shared my faith, the more spiritually excited and passionate I became.

The deep and wide values work hand in hand. They cannot be separated as so many ministries do (i.e. small groups for discipleship, big events for outreach), but that’s another topic for another day.

Related posts:
Questions about Deep and Wide Youth Ministry

An idea for creating a spiritually influential student ministry

Deep and Wide Youth Ministry Q&A [podcast]

Evaluating ministry by journey vs destination [video]

tim@studentministry.org (Tim Schmoyer) — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 17:41:53 +0000

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