Engaging youth through social media

There is no doubt that getting a teen's attention is hard enough, but trying to do it in a social media frenzied world is even tougher. There is also no doubt that social media can be utilized to enhance a student ministry's effectiveness.

Some of the tips from this report are:
• Clarity. Many student ministry sites are not clear what it is that they are trying to accomplish. Is there a clearly defined reason for having a presence on the www?
• Many Small Niches. This is huge. In our massive world, we have grown extremely small. The world is merely a mouse click away. We can chat with a missionary, real time, on the other side of the world. How can student ministry sites provide avenues to connect with many small niche elements?

These seem like opposites, but I wonder if they actually play off of each other to enhance the usefulness of the site. Read the rest of the tips here. I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Engaging Youth Through Social & Mobile Media

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Rockin out

I've been home just long enough to update my wife on some of the wins from our U-Rock event tonight. Because our group is called United and we were featuring our new RockBand 2 game our leaders liked the name. To go on record... I had NO idea! We had just about half of the students participate in the RB2 contest and they were very into it.  Students arrived early for the night and started right in on the RB2 and didn't stop... ever! That would be great, but we had about 22 other game systems there. We had a PS3, some Wii systems, 360's, and then the old skool... super NES & N64. All in all it was a great night. 

I am so proud of our team doing so great tonight. Chris totally went above and beyond! He seriously hooked us up tonight.

Some of my favorite moments:

• getting a song dedicated to me.
• seeing some very creative costumes.
• rocking out to some talented students performing RB2 songs.
• Freshman guy with chocolate on his face after consuming LOTS of candy saying ... "dude, it's like a five o'clock shadow... with chocolate".
• seeing new students getting connected with new friends.
• connecting with parents and seeing them love what their kids are doing.
• scaring kids as we were cleaning up.
• the guy that said that there needed to be more groups like ours around.
• a guest of a volunteer that loved it and just may give church another chance.
• our leaders that did SO great.
• coming home exhausted after knowing I gave my all today.

I'm sure there are more... hopefully I can post a picture or two soon...

go BIG or go home

Go big or go home... I believe that at the core of this saying is a biblical principle.

Urban Dictionary defines "gbgh" as an expression the speaker says to the listener to encourage the listener to be extravagant, to go all the way, and do whatever you are doing to its fullest - and not flake out. A phrase describing a Champion's lifestyle. A way of life. An attitude.

To be extravagant... to go all the way... to do what you are doing to the fullest. A champion's way of life. Kind of sounds like an Urban Dictionary take on some bible stories.

It is my belief that God desires that we go all in on whatever we do. A lot of people have described this as the willingness to risk. Yes, risk is involved. Going big might mean stripping away the excellence to be authentic or being excellent in all you do. It might mean stepping out in faith and believing God's promise in your life.

Too many churches and Christians would rather go home than go big. When we go big we run the risk of missing the mark. But is the mark the goal? When God called people in the bible to go big the mark wasn't the goal, but the willingness to go all in and go big. When we take a step out the end result might not live up to our hopes, but in no way does it make the step a failure.

Tonight is an exciting night. We are baptizing students. Even if it was only one student that would be great, but as of right now we have about 50 students confirmed to get baptized. Who knows how many more will step up and go all in tonight. I love these moments!

It's time to go all in. I feel like there is more to say on this, but it's still stuck in my head. Hopefully it will get worked out soon.

Probably one of the best posts I have read. Not enough people shoot straight. Not only does Perry say it like it is, he is right on the money! This is a difficult subject to speak truthfully and speak conviction in love. Most people and denominations err on the side of legalism.

My favorite line that seems to sum up the post is...

"It’s SO SAD when pastors will talk about how bad it was that Esau sold his birthright for a bowl of soup…and then they will turn around and sell their ministry for an orgasm!"

My guess is that this post ticked a lot of people off and that's probably a good thing. This topic isn't spoken in love enough. Stuff like this needs to be openly discussed with pastors, church leaders, board members, men in the church... The question isn't if, it's a question of when and will you be ready for it?

I'd love to hear your thoughts... read the post and let me know what you think.

Simple Leadership

I love meeting with leaders. This past Sunday started a new chapter. We hosted our first leaders meeting at our home. As we sat down to start the meeting, it seemed like time slowed down and I processed through all of what was taking place and some things that needed to happen for the meeting to be a win. Here's some thoughts on making a leader's meeting a win:

• Do it... what's stopping you? Why you do what you do won't and can't be transfered in quick passing moments. Leades on the team need to be invested into... they must be invested into or they will find somewhere else to go. Leaders on the team need just that to know who they serve with. Planning that first meeting is tough, just do it.
• Location... be intentional about the location where you host your meeting. I always prefer to meet in my home. The home is a warm and inviting environment. Meetings in my home have always felt more open and relaxed.
  
• Define the terms... why are you meeting? What are you trying to accomplish? Is the meeting going to focus on group discussion? Are you only interested in transferring information? In the meeting I hosted my focus was on discussion so I had to frame it correctly to invite discussion to happen.
• Safe... this is especially important for a meeting focused on discussion. Help the team understand that the topics that will be discussed are open for discussion and that you value their input on the topic.
• Don't assume. Never assume that people understand what you are trying to do. It is always better to explain yourself than to just assume that people understand.

That's it for now... still working on this. I am sure there's more to this. Thankfully these simple leadership points helped our kick off meeting to go great.

Five Hundred

A quick post as I get ready to jump into an all team celebration. This past weekend our 3 campuses joined together and did a huge baptism service. It was an unreal day. The energy in the place was off the charts. At my campus we had 34 people signed up to be baptized, which alone is awesome, but during the service the invitation was given for anyone that wanted to join in and be baptized to just jump in line. When it was all over we baptized 99 people on Sunday.

Yesterday as the numbers came in the total for all three campuses came to 500 baptisms. The stories of life change are so amazing. I love the fact that we are getting ready to celebrate what God has done and look ahead to what God is going to do out of this.

Unscripted!

There seems to be a ministry trend where we put a lot of effort into programming out a service down to the last drop. Programming is great and good planning is important but it's not everything. The programming doesn't own the service. With all of the programming we can miss the unscripted moments. The unscripted moments seem to end up leaving people most changed. God often uses our unscripted moments... those moments where I often cringe and think "ouch... that's gonna leave a mark".

Have you had an unscripted moment lately that made you cringe and think ouch? Those are actually great moments. They are moments to be fully aware of because some of the best things can happen in the unscripted moments.

I have been thinking about this past week of ministry. My unscripted moment of the week was using slingbox at our student service to interact between our campuses during a Q & A. We had a six second delay. If you know programming, six seconds is an eternity. At every delay, yes there were more than one, I would cringe because the transitions were so off. In reality the students loved the unscripted feel and totally engaged in the questions. I am blown away with the awesome questions from our students.

It's super easy, as a leader to get wrapped up in the moments that are unscripted and make us cringe and loose sight of the big win. Overall the night was a big win. The questions spurred on great discussion and led the students to grow relationally and spiritually.

My prayer is that I can be aware of the unscripted moments and celebrate those rather than cringe.

Truth

One of my new favorite shirts is from the Jedidiah Hope Series. I picked it up a couple of months ago. I am a huge Jedidiah fan. I still remember my first Jedidiah Risk shirt almost 6 years ago. My new shirt features a phrase about truth that sealed the deal that this shirt would be coming home with me that day. It reads...

Truth Fears Nothing

The phrase has stuck with me. Does truth really fear nothing? Do people believe that? Do we live that? What about the church and truth? Sadly, it's just the opposite, people fear truth?

Why is truth feared? truth hurts... truth is messy... truth is hard to do in love.

Even still I am afraid that we fear the truth all too much. What's worse this fear seems to be prevalent especially in the church. We talk a good game; we are all about truth, but in the words of Jack... "you can't handle the truth". We'd rather fake a good game then have to deal with the harsh reality that we don't have it together. No wonder that authentic relationships are hard to find and so desired. Young leaders crave someone that is authentic and willing to, in truth, fear nothing.

There are a couple areas that this "truth-avoidance" sticks out the most.
• Church leadership... when the truth gets too personal it's rejected.
• Sacred cows... when the truth affects my ministry then I don't want it.
• Perceived truths... perception is everything. In many churches perception and appearance seem to be more important than heart condition.

Craig posted about the power of truth. It got me thinking about truth... how warmly do we welcome truth in our lives and in our ministries? It's been my experience that it's not too warm, maybe more like a cold shoulder. I value people that can speak the truth in love and receive it in love also. Just one of the many reasons I love the authenticity of the place we are in right now!

I like the truth. The bible actually says that it will set you free. Do we really believe it?

Your church is...

How would people in your community finish this phrase?

Is the message you think you are sending the same message your audience is hearing? Our intended message isn't always what is heard. Many times our best attempt at being culturally relevant sends "our" message with an outcome that falls short of what we had hoped. I am a student of how people view the "Church" and the local church; even more specifically, my church. Pop Goes the Church has a chapter in it titled Molly Your Church Sucks. How many times has this phrase been used? Probably too often...

I love the collision that happens when God's timeless truth is communicated through culture. It is a life's goal of mine to do the best I can to arrange these collisions and celebrate what God does as real people encounter God in a real way.

There are plenty of ways to get your community buzzing about your church. I'll give the benefit of the doubt and assume that we all desire that the buzz is positive, but there are times it doesn't go too well. So far the buzz on this one isn't so positive. Negative buzz is so hard to recover from. I'd really be interested in understanding the intention behind this church sign.

"We meant that as a loving warning to teens. … The Scriptures tell us that you should not do what the song tells you to do. The Scriptures are not ambiguous on this issue." - a church in Ohio

There is an intended message and then there is the message that is being heard.















How can we influence a positive buzz? Can't we do better?
Thanks to places like this that help make a positive buzz.

Deadly Viper

Deadly Viper is a great site... check it out. It's all about integrity.

Wake up!

Successful people are busy people that wake up in the morning with an agenda... a God-honoring agenda.

Check this out from T.D. Jakes...

Years of mediocrity is what causes people to be bitter. If you want to be around bitter and complaining people get around people that are not seeing much activity. They are bitter, they are complaining, they are jealous because nothing is happening. If you want to be around less gossip and less jealousy, get around successful, busy people. Busy people don't have time to care what's going on in your life. I have no need to investigate what's going on in your life; I have so much going on in my own life, that I'm not interested in what I heard, that they said, that you thought, that if I thought what you said that I didn't mean if I heard it.

The only people that have time for that is people who aren't doing anything and they watch your life like it's a soap opera. They are living their life vicariously through you. What is going on in your life intrigues them because nothing is going in their life. If you want to stop that from happening to you, then get up out of the bed with an agenda.

what if?

Ever have an idea that is so big you just don't know how it's gonna happen? Dave Ferguson was talkin about rapid reproduction, great stuff!

How to know that your church is reproducing rapidly:
• When your church seeks the lost more than the found.
• When you love the edge more than the center.
• When you start to prefer the going more than the staying.

Big dreams change things…
• Big dreams change the questions you ask.
• The bigger the dream the more profound the questions you have to ask.
• Big dreams change our prayer life.
• Big dreams change others that are around you.
• Big dreams draw people to you.
• Big dreams change the way you see the world.

Some BIG questions Dave asked:
• How do we create movement that moves at the speed of God's spirit?
• What is it going to take to see rapid reproduction in my church?
• How can can churches be structured to help make rapid reproduction happen?
• What BIG calling is God doing in your life that you haven't had the guts to share with anyone?

are you called?

Have you ever felt God's calling you to follow Him in some way? Side note: if you aren't, you might not be listening. There was a statement made concerning whether or not you are called...

• Affinity: are you drawn to what you are being called to? Does it excite you thinking about what God might be calling you to?
• Ability: has someone confirmed your abilities to do what God is calling you to? Do your abilities match your calling?
• Opportunity: is there an opportunity available for you to put this calling into action?

If so, GO FOR IT!

the gospel or relevant?

Ed Stetzer just seriously threw down. My fingers are smoking from typing so fast. Here is a quick list of some of the things that he talked about. I am going to try to make up for lost time. I still need to post some of the great stuff from yesterday.

Ed asked the posed the question/challenge that in some church circles we have compromised the gospel for the sake of being relevant to the culture. Here is a list of being able to see if there has been a compromise. He asked, "How do we express a loss of confidence in the gospel?"

So, what happens when relevance is the goal not the tool:
• When we focus on personal transformation, not gospel transformation.
• When sermons are so practical they lack the gospel.
• When we talk more about practical more than we talk about biblical.
• When your outreach demeans others that preach the gospel.
• When your approach makes you the hero not Jesus.
• When personal evangelism is an oxymoron at your church.
• When “invest and invite” never leads to evangelism.
• When attendance is the biggest voice in the church
• When the cross gets less focus than the church

Decoding Culture

An interesting post from Mark's evotional. What are we going to do with the shift in culture around us. Up to this point it seems like the Church is expecting people to de-culturize (if that is a word) before they come to church. How will churches thrive in the future of where this world and culture is headed? Maybe all the finger pointing in church fighting over programs or methods is a big, huge, fat waste of time and just ends up ruining potentially good things. I am looking forward to moving into uncharted territory, doing exciting new things for the cause of Christ. Not because someone has given a "stamp of approval" or because it worked somewhere else, but because God is there. I am afraid too many pastors/churches have chosen routes where God isn't because it is "easier this way".

A few excerpts from decoding culture... read more here.

The church no longer enjoys a cultural monopoly. We are the minority in post-Christian America. And the significance of that is this: we can't afford to do church the way it's always been done. Our tactics must change.

Don't get me wrong: the message is sacred. But methods are not. And the moment we anoint our methods as sacred, we stop creating the future and start repeating the past.

Too many pastors are getting As in Biblical exegesis and Ds in cultural exegesis. We know Scripture, but we're out of touch with the times. The end result is a gap between theology and reality called irrelevance. We're out of touch with the very people we're trying to reach--the unchurched and dechurched. We've got to exegete our culture so we can close the gap.

Top Ten ways a core group can kill a church

I ran across this in some blog reading. Kind of a scary thought that people are actually able to put their own interests above the interest of the church; even putting their own interests before God's plans. People never cease to amaze me...

Ben posted some kingdom-killers that loom over every church:

1. Talk about how much you love your church because it's so small and personable.
2. If your church doesn't have a particular ministry, start attending it at another church, rather than starting one where you are.
3. Don't forgive anyone for hurting you or offending you.
4. Instead of telling the pastor about your frustrations, hold out in silence as long as you can, getting angrier and angrier until you can finally leave in one, unforseen blaze of flaming glory.
5. Go to church for what you get out of it.
6. Don't invite anyone.
7. Forget faith ~ that's the pastor's job. Sit back and wait to see what happens, rather than becoming personally invested.
8. Use "prayer" as a conversational piece rather than a spiritual discipline (as in: "I'll be praying for you," or "Let me pray about that.")
9. Do frequent "polling" in hallway conversations to see if other people have the same concerns about the church as you.
10. Meditate on how wonderful the church would be if it weren't for the pastor.

A Gut Check for Growing Churches

Mark Batterson shares ten reminders for growing churches... They are personal reflections from his journey @ NCC.

The more we grow...

1) ...the greater the PRIVILEGE

I never want myself or anyone on our staff to have a sense of entitlement. We're only servants--I Cor. 3:5.

2) ...the more COMPLICATED things get

Sin complicates your life in negative ways. Growth complicates your life in positive ways. Learn to thank God for complications!

3) ...the harder it is to maintain UNITY

Vision is the key to unity! The larger you get the more frequently you need to cast vision. Unity doesn't happen by default--Eph 4:3.

4) ...the better STEWARDS we need to be

Growth raises the stakes. With greater responsibility comes greater accountability.

5) ...the more ABOVE REPROACH we need to be

I Corinthians 10:23 says, "Everything is permissible but not everything is beneficial." As our leadership expands, there can be an unhealthy and unholy tendency toward the permissible end of the spectrum! Guard against it. As our influence expands, leaders need to move toward the beneficial end of that spectrum!

6) ...the easier it is to exist for those who ALREADY BELONG

As a church grows it is very easy to give in to centripetal force--we become inward-focused and ingrown. The Great Commission is centrifugal--go into all the world.

7) ...the easier it is to do ministry out of MEMORY instead of ministry out of IMAGINATION

The beginning of the end for every entrepreneurial organization is the moment they stop doing what got them to where they are! You need to keep making mistakes. You need to keeping experimenting. Don't repeat the past. Create the future!

8) ...the more we have to remind ourselves of WHY we're doing what we're doing and WHO we're doing it for

There is a fine line between building Thy Kingdom and My Kingdom. As your circle of influence grows, you need to stay Christ-centered.

9) ...the more you have to guard your heart

As you grow, so does the target on your back. Leaders need to keep a pure heart in the midst of criticism and temptation. The blessings of God backfire when they produce pride. Stay humble.

10) ...the bigger our DREAMS need to get

The size of our dreams is one of the best barometers of spiritual maturity. People with a big God have big dreams!

Final day of classes

What a great day. 1 early morning + 2 classes of teaching on small groups + 2 classes of teaching on staff relationships + 1 chapel service with the lady from Jesus Camp + 1 authentic lunch at La Hacienda with Moses + 1 meeting with Dr. Anderson = 1 great big day.

A couple of pictures from the staff relationships class. One of the coolest things this week was getting the opportunity to reconnect with so many NCU students that I have known. I got to see a few kids from our first ministry in WI. There was a student that I knew from the church we were at in ND. Then there was another student that I knew from IL youth conventions. The best part about it was seeing how many students are preparing for ministry.


Here are some of the notes from today:

Small groups... are all about relationships.

Small groups are all about growth... deeper relationships, closer to God, larger small groups.

A key to small groups is… To go one step deeper than a surface level relationship.

Some qualities of a relationship that will make the relationships last… authenticity • openness • honesty • love • compassion • caring…

Small groups aren’t just a program; they should teach how to interact in healthy, God-honoring, respectful relationships.
Small groups should be a safe place.

Proverbs 27:17 as iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another
If we can sharpen someone, then can the opposite be true also?

Small groups done right have the potential to build healthy relationships.
Small groups done wrong have the potential to severely damage relationships.

Staff Relationships
• Your relationship with all of the staff is going to be different.
• Make the first step to initiate relationship; don’t wait for someone else to reach out to you.
• Interview the members of a potential staff.
•Define the expectations of the different staff relationships.
What do you expect from them and what do they expect from you?

Define how a staff operates in the areas of:
- Accountability
- Loyalty
- Trust

Tips for being your best in a staff position…
- Honor God in everything you do.
- Respond never react.
- Deal with others with integrity.
- Choose to find a common ground in the missional cause of Christ.
- Choose to find the value in each team member.
- You are a part of the team.
- Set relational goals.

• A church and staff will fight over the dumbest things.
• Force yourself to have fun together. It will never be convenient.
• Do things with the staff outside of ministry elements.

It is such an honor to be able to speak into the lives of future ministers. Never underestimate the person you are speaking with, they will be doing great things someday.

Mentoring and memories

Mentoring
Today was the first day of teaching classes. What a great time. I taught three sociology of American youth classes. The topic of the day was mentoring, which I loved the fact that I was able to share about mentoring. Some of the main points:

Mentoring is a new experience for most. Mentoring is not something that has been modeled by older generations. This is an area of ministry that current generations have been lacking. There have been no healthy examples of mentoring. Ministry seems to be especially "self" focused. It is not an excuse to not mentor others if you have not been mentored yourself. Mentoring has to be a value, even if it hasn't been valued by others before you.

Society is mentoring: the Donald, P. Diddy, Eminem... if we don't they will.

Mentoring is reproducing your life in someone else. The good and bad are reproduced. You cannot reproduce what you don't have.

Mentoring WILL hurt. On the flip side, mentoring WILL be the most rewarding thing you've ever done.

Push through the pain to the point of growth. Be willing to deal with the tough stuff. Care enough to give "real-time" feedback.

You won't have all the answers. Mentoring is not about being some "Plato" philosopher, it is about being willing to go through life together.

Memories
I had the opportunity to visit with the senior pastor of the church that I did my internship at. It was great to get to visit with him and see how well they are doing. It is amazing that it was almost 10 years ago that I was doing my internship and getting ready to get married. I remember, as interns, Alan and I making a "paintball" video dipping tennis balls in cans of paint and throw them at each other... walking out of the cableguy and getting our money back... hangin out at the Mall of America. It has been fun to remember all of the good times associated with Minneapolis and NCU. I remember our first apartment and the crazy landlord (early morning phone calls). I remember the good life in Minnetonka. It was so much fun starting married life here. Glenda, you are the BEST! It has also been great to have God remind me of some dreams of ministry. It is fun to see the pure dream of ministry again. It is so easy to get jaded and hurt as you enter the "church-world". College is such a little world of it's own, a safe place to dream and believe that ministry will be great. I believe that it can be great again. I am so glad to begin to close this last chapter of ministry; I am also excited to start a new chapter. God's ways are higher. I want to live in those ways.

First day of classes

Today was my first time being back in classes at NCU since I graduated (almost 10 years). I am so amazed at how nice the rooms are. I was just observing today, but we did an impromptu forum in the ministry of the youth pastor class. We discussed teams: developing a team, recruiting a team, the health of your team, all stuff about youth ministry teams.

Some highlighted discussion:

Q: How do you motivate your team? Won't they be discouraged if they don't get paid and the youth pastor does? A: No amount of money will make you feel encouraged about doing ministry... and if you are doing it to get paid you are in the wrong profession.

Q: How do you recruit a team? A: Any and every way you can. People want to give back, but they need to be invited to join a healthy team.

The best method of recruiting is a healthy leadership team. Positive leaders will bring in more leaders better than any "method" of leadership recruiting.

It takes a team to grow a ministry. Pastors have an unhealthy need to be needed. If we truly want to grow we must invest into a ministry team. God won't bless a ministry with more people to care for until the people presently there are being ministered to.

Team ministry is the most fun.

Team ministry has the greatest rewards.

Team ministry doesn't focus on one age group. A tendency of youth ministry is to focus on just the young, hip, cool people that have the appearance that they will be good at ministry. The best team is made up of all ages, races, and ministry giftings.

There is no doubt that teams are the future of church ministry.

Q: How do you get your volunteers to get "it" (your heart for ministry). A: DNA. You have to transmit your ministry DNA to your leaders. Does their ministry focus match yours? Why not? A pastor must have leaders that know the heart for the ministry. Which relates to a healthy ownership from the volunteers.

That is all I can remember. I know I am missing a few good points, but I will post them later.

On a side note, yes, I think the bullets look like flowers (thanks J). If anyone knows how to change that let me know. Flowers don't belong here. I give flowers to my wife; I don't post them on my blog.