Blog Archives
Thoughts From The Past Thursday: Mission Trip Information Meeting Checklist
This next week is going to be a mission trip themed week. We will kick this theme of posts off with the info meeting checklist that I originally posted on January 28th, 2012.
As I prepare for our first mission trip informational meeting this weekend for our summer trip I thought I would pass on to you everything I present at this meeting. If you have done all your work up to this point you should have most of this down already, but now it is going public, so gather it all together and make it as clear as possible. When you do your initial meeting make sure you include these things in your presentation:
1. When and Where
This is number one because it is the first question everyone has. Make it big and bold and right at the top of your handout.
2. Price
This is number two because, well, it is the second question everyone has. Make sure you include everything in this price; on the ground cost, transportation (include hotel stays if need be), food, activities, project money, team shirt, and some misc. extra dollars. If in doubt about this figure round up, people react a lot better to paying less than being asked for more later. My goal is that everyone could come on the trip without a dime in their pocket and be taken care of the entire trip. I don’t include souvenirs or “blow money” in this amount.
3. Why you chose what you did
Don’t be afraid to play the emotional card or the spiritual card here. Hopefully you prayed a lot about where to go and be honest that this is what you feel God wants for your group this year.
4. Main projects
People want to know that making the sacrifices needed to go are worth it and that they will make a difference. If possible have at least a few different projects, some people are not good at physical labor so having a different option helps get people excited. If you are going with an organization you might not know your specific projects yet, so give their website for further info.
5. Trip Schedule
This is more for the parents than for the students. Parents like details, so give as many as you can and show how your time will be best spent. Everyone involved wants to know what they are committing to, and seeing that this isn’t going to just be a vacation is important for everyone to know.
6. Pre-trip schedule
This should include your non-refundable deposit to sign up, your trip payment dates, late fees, fundraisers, and pre-trip meetings. Again, the more details the better. Make your late fees are enough to motivate people to pay on time. If they pay late it creates a huge headache for you, so make them pay for your Tylenol.
7. Fundraising options
These don’t have to be set in stone, but at least have a few tentative ideas and possible dates down. If you can, try and coincide fundraisers with your payment schedule as much as possible.
8. Fun day
It is ok to be a tourist for part of the time you are gone. This obviously shouldn’t be the point or the reason someone goes, but including an amusement park or a day at the beach is a huge relationship building opportunity. Plus we serve a God that likes us to have fun, so don’t feel bad about including some fun.
9. Q and A time
If you present everything above chance are there won’t be many questions, but this is a good way for you to know if you clearly communicated everything. Don’t be afraid to answer “I am not sure, let me find out and get back to you.”
10. Pictures or Promo Video
Get some pictures if possible, or an organization promo video, or whatever you can show to get people excited. The more excited they are now the better chance they will make their payments and other requirements on time.
If you don’t have all of this information ready to present, then you aren’t ready to have your first meeting. If you don’t have it all together it is not too late…yet, but get to work soon. Have a great meeting!
Thoughts From the Past Thursday: Lead by Example…Really
I have found myself using this phrase and talking about it a few times in the last week, so I want to share this with you. This post was originally posted August 19th, 2011.
There is a phrase I have used since day one as a full time youth worker.
“Never ask a student to do something you aren’t willing to do yourself.”
This is a concept that I have tried hard to live by. It is a concept I have tried hard to instill into my volunteer youth staff. It is a concept I hope the students at our church see modeled. During the process of becoming a youth staff member we discuss this concept. I have always said “this applies to everything we do, from doing daily devotions to scrubbing a toilet on a retreat to playing a gross nasty game, don’t ask them to do it if you wont do it.”
Over my many years of serving teenagers, there have been few times I have struggled to live up to this concept. But on our recent mission trip toPuerto Rico, it happened. Jobs were being delegated out at our dorm facility when the next job offered was guys toilet duty. I looked at the other two guys still left to get a job, and they looked at me. Before I really knew what was happening, I heard the words come out of my mouth; “I will do it.”
I grabbed the cleaning supplies offered, and the rubber gloves, and headed off to my doom. As I went from stall to stall, scrubbing away at all eight toilets and four urinals, I kept thinking over and over again in my mind “never ask a student to do something you aren’t willing to do yourself.” (I also repeated the name of the cleaner over and over again, “fabuloso”, just because it was fun to say.)
I see two major reasons why this concept needs to be forefront in the mind of every youth worker.
1. It is the Biblical standard of leadership
Jesus certainly led this way. He asked the disciples to feed the 5,000 before he did it himself. He sent them off to cast out demons and do miracles only after they watched Him do it. He asked Peter, James, and John to pray in the garden of Gethsemane while he himself prayed. The apostle Paul instructed the people of Corinth to “follow my example as I follow the example of Christ.” (1 Corinthians 11:1)
2. People (especially teenagers) can easily spot a fake
No one likes to be dictated to. Don’t delve out all the cleaning jobs then sit down and drink coffee. No one likes a hypocrite. If you expect students to turn off their cell phones during an event, you better not get a text message half way through your message. (that one was kind of a confession for me…) No one likes to be tortured. If you force a student to eat a live gold fish in the name of entertainment, keep room in your own belly for one. Almost everyone learns by example. If you teach a lesson on ACTS prayer, close that meeting by praying Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, and Supplication more sincerely than ever before.
As I reflect on this concept, I don’t remember who instilled it in me or who I stole it from. I do know that living out this concept has been one of the keys to my success. I had to live up to my own words a few weeks ago by cleaning toilets, and I am completely O.K. with it. Are you living up to your own words? I hope so.
THE List!
This is a fun contest for the youth ministry blogging world. As I have looked through and read several of the posts on this year’s list I am amazed at how much wisdom, encouragement, and training is available for FREE! This list is packed full of amazing people and great writers, from hugely published people to writing rookies this list covers the entire spectrum.
Some of the people on this list I consider good friends, and many others I have never met, but I have enjoyed reading through these posts. I have not read them all yet, but I plan to. I encourage you to click here and read these great posts along with me.
Once you read through them, make sure you vote for your favorite, the first round of voting ends December 11th. Yes, I somehow made this list (thank you to whoever nominated me!), but vote for your favorite, even if it isn’t mine.
Click here to vote!
The post I was nominated for is Do What You Did at First
If for some unforeseen reason I make it to the next round, I will let you know…but no matter what go and cast your vote and invite your friends to do the same!
Church FAMILY Camp
This weekend we had our church family camp. It is a Labor Day tradition at our church, and I look forward to it every year. I love to go hand out in the mountains, stay right on the lake, and have someone else cook for us all weekend. I love meeting new people in our church, deepening relationships with those I do know, and just hanging out and playing games with everyone.
For the most part, this is a weekend off as a youth worker. However, I realized this weekend how valuable it truly is for our youth ministry. Since it is family camp, the parents are responsible for their own teenager, not me or the other youth leaders that attend. There are three reasons why having no programs is a huge boost for our youth ministry.
1. It gives us a chance to hang out with students as friends.
Sure, we hang out with these same students basically every week. This year especially, we knew every teenager at camp fairly well. But things are different when it isn’t a formal program or a scheduled hang out time. They are different, and so am I. It is not on my shoulders that they have a good time, and they know I am not in charge, so we both can relax and have fun.
2. We see them interact with their families
These are church families we see on a regular basis, but we all know people put on a show when they are at church. It is impossible to keep up the fake show the entire weekend. As I observe how the students interact with their parents, what they do or don’t do to their siblings, what “drama” they participate in, and who they hang out with and what they decide to do really shows a lot about what Spiritual guidance they need.
3. We interact with parents a lot
I get to spend some time with youth group parents, and they spend time with me. We can get to know each other with no expectations. I see how they parent and interact with their teenagers. They see how I parent and how I interact with THEIR teenagers. These are all good things that help us truly be on the same team.
Church family camp is always a fun weekend, and a good time for our church as we jump into fall. It is also a great chance to sit back a bit as a youth worker and learn.
The People on my Bus
This week I attended a conference at Group Publishing headquarters, while there Mark Devries and Jeff Dunn-Rankin talked about their book The Indispensable Youth Pastor. They had a lot of good things to talk about, but there was one session that spoke to me the most.
Mark described the concept of your emotional bus. The people on your bus are all of the voices you have picked up along life’s journey that “speak” into your life. Some of them are positive, and some of them are negative. Some of them talk louder (and influence you more) than other voices. Whenever you face a stressful time, or an important decision, or even just walk through your every day routine these people are the inner dialogue that happens within yourself. The challenge he gave us was to name all of the people on our bus, because once you acknowledge their voice you can balance their influence. The names are not significant, the opinion or perspective that comes from them, which we try to live up to, is very significant. The only rule we were given is we couldn’t put Jesus on our bus, because we would all put him on our bus (since it was a room full of youth workers that definitely would have happened).
These are the people on my bus:
An Oompa Loompa
take my commands, get it done for them just because they asked so they are pleased with me being around
Doug Fields
I need to build and create, I have a lot of ideas trying to get out, I get bored maintaining
The rich young ruler (Luke 18)
I know I should leave stuff behind and care about God more, but I really don’t want to
Adam Sandler
forget about what anyone thinks or accomplishing anything significant and just have fun
The butler in Mr. Deeds
know it all, arrogant, sneaky, has everything figured out, and secretly wants to be in charge
Lewis or Clark
explorer, push forward, battle through the challenges, dredge through the unknown, might leave a few people behind – but it’s worth it if we reach our destination
My 2nd grade Teacher
She embarrassed me in front of the class which has made me scared to put myself out there, so when I do I tend to “over do it” with too many words or too much passion
With all of these voices going on inside my head sometimes I get pretty conflicted as I drive through life. Obviously a few of these personalities don’t agree with other people on the bus. But admitting who is on my bus will hopefully help me get a bit more sleep, because instead of ignoring them I can deal with them, maybe even just tell them to be quiet.
Who are the people on your bus? Do their “conversations” keep you up at night? Are you telling the right people to be quiet? Who do you need to ask to speak up? Who are you letting drive?
Perfect Youth Worker? I Think Not…
I hope you have had one of these weeks; a week with both an extreme failure and an extreme victory; then sprinkled with a little bit of everything in between. As I reflect back over this week I can’t help but ask myself why I am in the position I am in. What is my motivation, what is my goal, and how do I define for myself what success is. Am I working to be the ‘perfect youth worker’; or for something else?
The problem with the idea of ‘the perfect youth worker’ is this, there is no such thing! That’s the problem, it’s just an idea, and everyone has their own opinion of what the perfect youth worker is. Your senior pastor has their idea, each church lay leader has their idea, parents have another idea, each student could offer their opinion, and even the church janitor would give another view. As I think about all these different expectations and the effort and time it would take to even come close to meeting half of them, I am tempted to start writing my resignation letter instead of this article. And I haven’t even started to look at the expectations I have put on myself.
Wow, I am exhausted just writing about it, not to mention trying to live up to it. I realize though how easy it is to fall into this thinking. Just today in a matter of hours I went from dealing with parents crying because their student has entered quickly into the ‘I am 18 and ruining my life as fast as I can’ phase and asking me to fix it. To a few hours later sitting in Starbucks with a leadership student and helping them lead a friend to Christ they have been praying for for years. Youth ministry can be a crazy roller coaster ride of ups and downs. And if my goal is to hit my expectation, or someone else’s expectation of the perfect youth pastor, I want off of this ride sooner than later.
But, as I look at the greatest commandments and the great commission, I can see God’s expectation of what success is. Success for me is being faithful to the call God has placed on my life. I can not make every student in our youth group make the right decision every time, I can not make someone open their life to God, I can not do any of these things. I can not claim the failure as mine, and I can not claim the victory as mine either. Only God can give someone salvation, only the student can make the decision for their life. As a youth worker, my job is to be a faithful servant of God, follow His leading, and then let Him work.
2 Timothy 4:2 – 5 (NIV) 2Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. 3For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. 4They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. 5But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.
No matter how much the expectations of me change; God’s word remains constant. As long as I stay faithful to God, His purposes, and His calling on my life, I know I can meet His expectation of faithful servant, which is much easier to accomplish than perfect youth pastor!
You Need Friends!
Every time I hear the phrase “Youth Ministry Veteran” I have to give a little chuckle. By most conventional definitions I qualify as a youth ministry veteran, which is exactly why it is funny to me. I don’t feel like I know youth ministry, or how to successfully do it well enough to bear the title veteran; perhaps to have that title you need to do more than just last more than 10 years. I do feel I have a few ideas on what has helped me be successful, I have just as many ideas on what has lead to my failures, but most of all I know I still have a lot to learn.
One of the biggest things that has kept me a youth worker for more than ten years, and continues to help me last today is my connections, relationships, and friendships with other youth workers. Honestly that is what I look forward to the most when I go to a conference; meeting more youth ministry friends.
In recent weeks, I have realized how many significant relationships with other youth workers I have been blessed with in my life. I have connected with several of them through chat on the computer, phone calls, personal meetings, coffee shop conversations, and social networking a lot lately. The amazing thing to me is realizing how much each of them has poured their own lives and ministries into me, and how much that has helped me. I hope they feel it has gone both ways.
Hebrews 12:1 (NLT) Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.
There are two things described in this verse that will destroy you as a youth worker:
Sin that trips you up
We all know of many wonderful Christian leaders that are on the “major moral failure” list. Hopefully I or you never get on that list. But the fact remains we are sinners, and we will be tempted, and we all desperately need good accountability in our lives. Long before anyone ends up on that list, smaller sins started to creep into their lives. Especially as a youth worker or pastor it can be hard to find a person that you can be completely open with, but who better than another youth worker? They understand the pressures you face, they understand your attitude toward “that” student or “that” parent, and they don’t know anyone that goes to your church!
Weight that slows you down
It could be a sinful attitude, it could be the busy summer calendar, it could be the stress of balancing church and family life. The possibilities are virtually endless of what might be weighing you down, but if you are lonely the weight will only get worse. A lot of youth workers are lonely. Obviously relationship is the key to combating loneliness. I mean true relationship, not 800 twitter followers, but face to face, life on life, real person relationship with someone that understands the life you lead as a youth worker. No one understands better than another youth worker.
One of the main reasons I am still “running the race” of youth ministry is because of the crowd of other youth workers I have had significant relationships with. No matter whether you are a “veteran” youth worker or just getting started, you need these types of relationships with other youth workers.
Do whatever you have to do to make them happen. Go to http://www.youthworkers.net and find a NNYM local network, attend one of the great youth conferences out there, reconnect with college friends, even call through your phone book to find other youth workers in your area. Do whatever it takes to make these relationships start, and then stick with them. It will take some work and lots of prayer, but it is most definitely worth it all!
Lead by Example…Really
There is a phrase I have used since day one as a full time youth worker.
“Never ask a student to do something you aren’t willing to do yourself.”
This is a concept that I have tried hard to live by. It is a concept I have tried hard to instill into my volunteer youth staff. It is a concept I hope the students at our church see modeled. During the process of becoming a youth staff member we discuss this concept. I have always said “this applies to everything we do, from doing daily devotions to scrubbing a toilet on a retreat to playing a gross nasty game, don’t ask them to do it if you wont do it.”
Over my many years of serving teenagers, there have been few times I have struggled to live up to this concept. But on our recent mission trip toPuerto Rico, it happened. Jobs were being delegated out at our dorm facility when the next job offered was guys toilet duty. I looked at the other two guys still left to get a job, and they looked at me. Before I really knew what was happening, I heard the words come out of my mouth; “I will do it.”
I grabbed the cleaning supplies offered, and the rubber gloves, and headed off to my doom. As I went from stall to stall, scrubbing away at all eight toilets and four urinals, I kept thinking over and over again in my mind “never ask a student to do something you aren’t willing to do yourself.” (I also repeated the name of the cleaner over and over again, “fabuloso”, just because it was fun to say.)
I see two major reasons why this concept needs to be forefront in the mind of every youth worker.
1. It is the Biblical standard of leadership
Jesus certainly led this way. He asked the disciples to feed the 5,000 before he did it himself. He sent them off to cast out demons and do miracles only after they watched Him do it. He asked Peter, James, and John to pray in the garden of Gethsemane while he himself prayed. The apostle Paul instructed the people of Corinth to “follow my example as I follow the example of Christ.” (1 Corinthians 11:1)
2. People (especially teenagers) can easily spot a fake
No one likes to be dictated to. Don’t delve out all the cleaning jobs then sit down and drink coffee. No one likes a hypocrite. If you expect students to turn off their cell phones during an event, you better not get a text message half way through your message. (that one was kind of a confession for me…) No one likes to be tortured. If you force a student to eat a live gold fish in the name of entertainment, keep room in your own belly for one. Almost everyone learns by example. If you teach a lesson on ACTS prayer, close that meeting by praying Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, and Supplication more sincerely than ever before.
As I reflect on this concept, I don’t remember who instilled it in me or who I stole it from. I do know that living out this concept has been one of the keys to my success. I had to live up to my own words a few weeks ago by cleaning toilets, and I am completely O.K. with it. Are you living up to your own words? I hope so.
