Campus Ministry Update

It’s been a couple of weeks since we began meeting weekly at a local middle school, King-Chavez Academy of Excellence, for an after school character club and things have been going great. The momentum has begun and students are showing up and we are packing out the library we are using as our meeting space. One of the teachers has also volunteered to help and committed to keeping the club covered in prayer. On an interesting note, we have been given permission to have students serve their detention time with us. If that isn't awesome enough, just this past Tuesday we were granted access to Grossmont high school and we will now be a weekly presence there supporting, coaching, teaching and encouraging students during their lunch time Bible club. The club was started about a year ago and the students are passionate about God and desire to impact their campus. We briefly discussed some of the ideas they have come up with and we look forward to returning next week and seeing what God has in store.

                All of this has come two years after God put in my heart to begin ministering on campuses. There have been times I wondered if I heard God correctly and wondered why it was taking so long, but when it’s in God’s timing He opens the door and we can walk in with His favor and authority. It’s been an amazing process and after 15 years in youth ministry He is still teaching me. Here’s a few thing I’ve learned in all this.

·         Patience: God teaches patience by making us be patient. If He has spoken to you or promised you something you can be sure He will see it through. He doesn’t make mistakes and two words you will never hear God say is “uh oh”.

·         Preparation: Ephesians 4:1-4 is one of my favorite passages of scripture. Here Paul encourages us to “live worthy of the calling you have received.” What that means is even though you may not be in the position or location God has called you to, you should be doing everything possible to prepare yourself for the day God opens that door. During the two years we were waiting we prepared by encouraging students to support their bible clubs and look for opportunities to serve on campus. They know what we are doing on campuses in our area and are supporting and serving.

·         Trust: I had to learn to leave it in God’s hands until it was time when he placed it in mine to be the steward of it. It’s a hard thing to do and many times I was tempted to give up, but seeing God move in the administration staff of both campuses and how they literally opened the doors and welcomed us in was amazing.

·         His sovereignty: God is the one in ultimate control of the situation and sometimes we don’t realize that until after and we look back and begin to see how His hand and presence was there the whole time. Understanding the sovereignty of God brings confidence in knowing He is ultimately in control even when the situation seems hopeless. One of His greatest promises is that He will always be with us and never forget about us.

Building the Kingdom or Empires

“Are we building the Kingdom or our own empire?” This is a question I have learned to ask myself and my team to help evaluate where our motives are in ministry. One of my personal fears is being that guy standing before the Lord and claiming to have done many things in His name and yet being rejected. The temptation to build one’s own empire in ministry in the “name of the Lord” can be great. Whether it’s trying to keep up with the ministry down the street or keeping the Board happy, sometimes our success is measured in attendance rosters and relevance rather than the spiritual growth of students, whom we only have for a few years. The demand for return can often switch our focus from building the Kingdom of God to building our own ministry empire. From the outside they may appear the same, growth in attendance and activities, but from the inside it can all be in vain. Here is a check list I created for myself and my team. Feel free to add or change any and apply it to your specific situation.

Are we building the Kingdom?

·         Are we keeping the big picture in perspective?

·         Are we being inclusive or exclusive?

·         Are we maintaining a humble or prideful attitude?

·         Are we teachable or arrogant?

·         Are we searching for opportunities to build or boast?

·         Are we encouraging or discouraging others to grow?

·         Are we preparing to pass the baton or holding on to it?

 

 

Thrive Girlz Fundraising

In an earlier post (Joys of event planning) I wrote about us being the host church for this year’s San Diego Acquire the Fire event to be held in March. Part of our responsibilities will be serving roughly 600 meals over that weekend to staff and VIP’s. Yesterday the girls in our group sold cupcakes, cookies, brownies and other tasty treats to sell in order to raise funds. They literally baked hundreds of sweets. These young ladies have an amazing talent and I’m proud of the work they have done and what will come out of their efforts. All of their creations were a hit.







Thrive Girlz

Teaming Up: Partnering with other Youth Ministries

In the past I was asked to be a part of a group of youth pastors, from the same denomination, who were to represent their churches and help plan a couple of youth events where students could fellowship with one another. It never happened. The goal was to have 3 to 4 gatherings a year, but after the first two it became apparent some were only interested in personal agendas. That experience left me frustrated and a little hurt. Even today to see those repeating the same mistake hurts me because the ones affected the most are the students. Instead of defining my outlook on fellowshipping with other churches that experience forced me to be wise when taking the opportunity into consideration. Here are some of my thoughts on the subject.

·        Its Fellowship not Marriage: Unless it’s part of your job description to fellowship with other churches remember it’s a voluntary thing. We all have calendars and events and it may not be beneficial to fellowship during certain times of the year. The purpose of fellowshipping with other Youth ministries should be student and leader fellowship not mandated programming.

·       Find like-minded youth pastors/workers: They may not necessarily be from your denomination, but who cares. Find those who have similar visions. Last year I received a call from a youth pastor whose church is in close proximity to ours. He was inviting our worship team and I to participate in a late night event they were having. At first I was a little bit hesitant because of the bad experiences I mentioned but, after talking on the phone with him for a while I could hear where his heart was and the vision he had for this event. Needless to say we had an amazing time and after speaking with the youth pastor and listening to him share his heart I was greatly humbled.

·       Combine and Conquer: This is especially advantageous for smaller groups. You can lower the cost of events when you team up with other youth ministries. Not only can it be cost effective, but teaming up for camps, conventions or other trips can be a great opportunity for students to fellowship with one another.

·       Be Picky: Students deserve it. As their leader it’s my responsibility to expose them to things that will benefit them spiritually and not discourage them. Teaming up with unorganized events or leadership can have a negative influence on students and our ministries reputation.

Empowering Students

Over the last couple of Sundays I have been paying attention to some of the other ministries in our church and seeing how students are ingrained and contributing. They are involved in praise and worship, multimedia and sound, children’s ministry and more. I get a sense of pride when I see them ministering knowing I had a hand in their development. I am also very proud of the fact that our church leadership is very open to the integration of youth into ministry. I see it as a vital role in the development of our ministries and future of our church. Here are some observations and suggestions I have.

It’s Youth Ministry not the Youth Pastors Ministry

Because it’s youth ministry the youth should be ministering. We believe in putting our students to work and giving them the opportunity to get involved in ministries within the church and outside its walls. When I first started I worked with the belief that our leadership team and I had to do everything. But once we began letting go of the reigns a little and allowed students to take more ownership of their ministry it just snowballed. It took some time but students have taken full ownership of the youth ministry and they participate in all aspects of our service from opening to closing. This also created a sort of cascading effect. Our young adults or college students reach down to our high school students. Our High school students reach down to the middle school students. We are currently talking about ways for middle school to reach down to the elementary students. The point of youth ministry should be preparing youth to minister.

Give them the Opportunity to Succeed and Fail

This is a tough one for me. By nature I am controlling and like things done a certain way. Handing over responsibilities to even mature students left me in cold sweats sometimes. But what I learned is some students thrive on the opportunities and rise to the occasions when tasked with a responsibility. They may not have always met my expectations but seeing the faith and maturity of a student grow before my eyes is rewarding as a youth pastor. Even when they fail it creates an awesome opportunity for coaching and mentoring. Once you start to delegate responsibilities to students you become aware of other opportunities for them. Then you begin to wonder, “Why didn’t I think of this before?” Just think about this for a moment. Students are taking on huge projects and assignments at school all the time and they understand responsibilities and deadlines. Granted they might not be good at keeping deadlines, but you’ll never know unless you try. And who knows, in all of this you might just be preparing your successor.

Put ‘em to Work

Currently students in our ministry lead worship, operate audio and media, open services, give announcements and occasionally share testimonies during services. We also integrate students into ministry during our main church services. You will always see youth on stage singing or playing with the praise and worship team and many of our older students teach Sunday school classes or assist teachers. Others set up and break down tables and chairs for our welcome areas. As you begin to examine everything it takes to run a church ministry you will find opportunities to put students to work. They have the time, energy and when it comes to things like technology they usually have the upper hand. Besides some of the obvious ministry opportunities I listed here’s a quick list of some responsibilities I give students…even when they don’t realize what I’m doing.

·         When a student has an idea for an outing or fundraiser, instead of them verbally telling their suggestion to me I have them write down all the information on paper. This makes them think through what it would take to pull it off. I’ll then use that student to help spearhead the project.

·         Text a student and have them forward it out to the others. Getting an encouraging text or invite from a peer can sometimes have more impact.

·         Have them hold the keys to the rental/church van during a trip. Nobody wants to be the reason everyone is stranded.

·         Have students help you plan your message or service. Give them the title and theme and have them find illustrations, testimonies or design a stage set. I currently do this with our youth worship team. I give them the title and theme of my message and I allow them to come up with the song list.

·       Include random students when planning events. Get their feedback and ideas. These students will usually be the ones encouraging others to attend.