Lost Friends

Those of you that know me know that I often get frustrated with Christian pop culture. A great example of this is my news feed on Facebook. It seems like a single hour cannot go by without at least one picture popping up that tells me I'm not a "real Christian" if I don't repost. My Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter feeds are filled with photos like this day in and day out. I normally just ignore them and continue wasting my time on social media. I know that my faithfulness to Jesus is not measured by how many inspirational photos I share. God, in His grace and love, has made me righteous in Christ through His work on the cross and for that I will always be thankful.

But this morning was a little different. This morning one of those photos came across my screen that stopped me mid-scroll. It was a snapshot of 5 simple words but it was convicting and powerful as I read it to myself. This is what is said: Pray For Your Lost Friends.

Wow. As I read this statement over and over again I was reminded of how powerful pryer actually is. I thought back to times in my life and in the lives of others when God has worked mightily through the prayers of His people. The book of James says very clearly that the prayers of righteous people are powerful and effective.(James 5:15) When I looked at my computer screen this morning, it was as if God was reminding me of how important it is to be in prayer for those who do not know Him. This photo was one I was willing to share, it was something I could get on board with. 

If you are like me, prayer can become routine and stale. I hope this isn't the case for you. I hope that your prayer life is always healthy and leaves you with the desire to spend every possible moment with the Lord. Today I am going to take the words of the apostle Paul from 1 Thessalonians 5:16-17 to heart: Rejoice always, pray without ceasing. I am going to make prayer for my lost friends a priority. And yes, I want you to do the same as well. I am convinced that when we begin to pray, God will continue to move and will do incredible things in the world around us!

Bold In The Small Things

This past week I began reading in the book of Daniel during my daily devotion time. I try to swap back and forth between Old and New Testament books of the bible. My Sunday school class has been studying in Daniel for a few weeks and I wanted to get a more in-depth picture of it. When God spoke to me while reading Daniel Chapter 3, I was amazed.

I have heard the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego many times. I remember hearing this story as a kid in church and I’m pretty sure I’ve seen the Veggie Tales version of it a few times as well.  Honestly, when I sat down to read Daniel 3, I was expecting to hear a familiar story and be reminded of familiar themes. But God had a different plan. God wanted me to see it with fresh eyes and in a new way.

After reading the chapter, I realized that believers in my culture are not threatened with a furnace. We get to openly worship and pray to our God day in and day out.  I won’t deny that there are some public restrictions to our expression of faith but overall, we get to worship freely and openly. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego did not have this luxury. They were literally being persecuted because of their commitment to the one true God.

You see, its easy for us to make a stand for Christ in public. Unlike these 3 men, our lives are not threatened because of our beliefs. We can boldly tell the world who we worship and how amazing it is to know Him. But what about in the small things? What about when no one is looking? Do we make a stand then? Are we just as keen to stand on our beliefs when no one has any idea what is going on? Its in these moments that we are threatened. Our pleasure is threatened. Our ability to be in control is threatened and its in these moments where being bold is difficult.

You know the moments I’m talking about. It’s when you’re typing the latest piece of gossip into a text message to your friends. It’s when you’re deciding what movies to rent, what songs to buy, and what websites to visit. Sometimes its as simple as deciding between more sleep and spending time with our Lord. It’s in these moments where we are truly tested. It’s these situations that call for us to be bold. And when we are bold, there will be no applause. No one will see or write a story about it. But we can be sure of one thing; we are bringing honor and glory to Jesus. We are letting Him know that His sacrifice means something to us and we are committed to following Him even when no one is looking.  Ask God for the strength to be bold today, even in the small things.

Ambassadors For...

During the first 2 years of her college career, Emilee (my amazing wife) worked as a student ambassador for the school. It was her job to show prospective students around campus and encourage them to choose to enroll. She was a representative and she represented our school quite well. There was a uniform involved and certain time commitments as well. In short, everyone knew Emilee was an ambassador because she looked and played the part well. Her brains and beauty made the school look good and that's why she was selected to represent them.

As as young boy, I was very involved with the Royal Ambassador program at my church. Each Sunday night we would meet and discover what it meant to represent Jesus by living on mission. But it wasn't until I was much older that I realized that everyone is an ambassador for something. Just like Emilee was an ambassador for our school and I was encouraged to represent Jesus to my friends, we all choose to stand behind something. Everyday, we make the choice of who or what we are gong to represent as we go about our lives. 

In 2 Corinthians 5:20, the apostle Paul tells the believers in Corinth that their lives should be committed to pointing others to Christ:

Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ; certain that God is appealing through us, we plead on Christ's behalf, "Be reconciled to God."

I came across this verse the other day and read it in a new light. I was amazed at the fact that God chooses to use us as His ambassadors. Paul says that we are to "plead on Christ's behalf, "Be reconciled to God." If you are a believer, you are an ambassador of Jesus Christ. You are His representation in the world. I am blown away that God would not only redeem us, but also let us play a part in His mission. As Christ followers, when we wake up everyday we should remind ourselves that we are God's representatives in the world. 

So let's represent Him well. Let's love one another in ways that don't make sense to the world around us. Let's make it a point to share the gospel. Instead of representing the latest trend or selfish desires, let's be ambassadors for Christ. If you are like me, maybe you need to take a moment and ask yourself "What or who am I an ambassador for?" My hope is that we can call grasp the fact that we have a purpose, and that purpose is to show Christ to the world in everything we do. Let's live our lives on purpose today. We are ambassadors for Christ.

Crying Out

Have you ever been in a place where you are desperate to see God at work? A place where you feel alone and helpless? If you are like me, then you have. There have been seasons of your life that seemed to have no end; weeks where each day gets a little harder to fight through.

It's during these times when we cry out to God. We call to Him in our need without fail. But, if truth be told, I don't think we are honest enough with our Heavenly Father. I think we are afraid to show God exactly how much we need Him. We've been told our entire lives that "God will take care of you in His timing" and that "Maybe God is answering your prayer and you just can't see it". These things are very true. After all, God is sovereign and He does answer our prayers in ways that we don't always like or understand. But I think we have let these truths affect how honest we are with God as we call out to Him in our time of need. I think it hinders us from truly crying out; from calling out to our creator with everything that we have.

The bible is full of instances when God's people cried out to Him in sincerity. The psalms are packed full of honest pleas before the Lord. Take for instance Psalm 143. This is a Psalm of King David and it is honest, real, and sincere. Verses 7-8 say this:

Answer me quickly, Lord; my spirit fails. Don't hide Your face from me, or I will be like those going down to the pit Let me experience Your faithful love in the morning, for I trust in You. Reveal to me the way I should go, because I long for you.

In the verses above, David doesn't just ask God to hear him. he asks God answer him quickly. He is honest. In verse 8 he says that he needs to feel God's faithful love; he feels alone and helpless. But the key is in the last sentence. David wants to hear from God and see God move because he wants to follow his Lord as faithfully as possible. David wants to know God's plan for his life and he longs to see Him at work. He doesn't cry out just to get what he wants or even what he needs. David cries out because he wants to be closer to his Lord.

So the next time you are in a season of life that calls for crying out, Cry out like David. Don't be afraid to be sincere and honest. Ask God to answer you quickly; ask to feel His love in a new and refreshing way.  But only ask if it's because you long for your Lord and to know His ways.

Transitions...

Transitions can sometimes be good. Like a couple of months ago when I transitioned into a new vehicle because the previous one was costing way too much in gas each month. They can sometimes be difficult as well. Like when I transitioned back into another semester of balancing a full time seminary course load with my full time ministry back in in August. And then there are those transitions that are right in the middle. The kind of changes that you know are good but at the same time are difficult to handle. This post is about one of those transitions.

Our pastor has sensed God's call to lead another church and will be moving into that position in the coming month. So, here I find myself in the midst of a transition. And it's one of those transitions that are bittersweet. My wife and I will miss his family. I will always treasure the months and years I had to serve alongside of him as well as all of the wisdom that he has given to me. I've learned a lot over these past 2 1/2 years and I am grateful each and every day that I have been able to serve the wonderful people at Springhill with him. And at the same time, I am still excited about ministry. I'm looking forward to what God has in store for our church in the coming days. I know God is at work in this and that He has awesome plans for Springhill baptist as we deal with this. This transition is bittersweet.

We've been here before. Emilee and I served as the only staff members at our previous church while they were also in transition. We learned some things during that time and hopefully we will learn some things through this process as well. Maybe you're in this same spot. Maybe you are part of a church that is in transition. Well I haven't been in ministry for a super long time but I do know the emotions and fears that come along with this. This next list are just a few things that we have figured out to be helpful during times like these. Please pray for us as we navigate these waters.

1. Pray for your church
Some of your people are hurting, some are confused, but all are worried. There will be fears that the next leader won't be as good. Pray that God might reveal Himself to your church in a big way. Pray that they will be more committed to His plan than anything else.

2.Pray for your future pastor
Pray that he is aware that God is arranging things for him to come serve. Pray that he is excited about what God is doing in his life and that he is committed to serve God with all he has once he is on the ground.

3. Let your people know that you Love them
Take every opportunity you have to tell your church how much you care for them. Don't overkill yourself, but let them know that you are committed to doing whatever has to be done in order for things to keep running smoothly. Stay committed to where God has called you.

The coming months are likely to be difficult for us. Pray that Emilee and I will be able to do all of the things above with ease. And if you have any suggestion, please, comment and encourage us. God is sovereign, God is good, and we are His people. I am confident that He will work anything that happens in this situation for our good and for His glory.

Friday is for Blogging

To answer your first question: Yes, I do know that I'm posting this on a Thursday. I try to post at least once a week and it usually gets pushed back to Friday though because my weeks get so busy.

I've been thinking about why my weeks are so busy. Yes, I do have a full time job and am a full time student at the same time. But really, what fills my time in the office? This post is more of a confession. I, like many of you, love to read blogs. I love to find out the next best tip for making your ministry more kingdom focused. Specifically this week I've been researching blog posts about the pros and cons of Super Bowl parties in student ministry. Blogs are helpful, insightful, and a lot of the time a great way to spend my time.

But I've been wandering this week if it's the BEST use of my time. For the past 2 years we have taken our students to a winter retreat in the East TN mountains over New Years. This year one of the speakers made a point that not only spoke to our students but also resonated with me. This is what he said: "There is no substitute for spending time with Jesus." Read that again: "There is no substitute for spending time with Jesus." This phrase really convicted me. I spend time reading the word of God and in prayer everyday. I make it a point to. And then as soon as I say "amen" I'm scouring the web to read all of the important blogs. I check them several times throughout the day to make sure I don't miss a new post.

If I were honest, I would have to say that more days than not I spend more time with blogs than with Jesus. This breaks my heart. While blogs are good they are certainly no substitute for time spent with my Savior. This post isn't trying to deter you from ever reading a blog again. If that were so then it would have to be my last post. But it I hope it will challenge you. Do you, like me, have days where you spend more time reading the hottest ministry blogs than you do spending time with Christ? If so, I encourage you to make that phrase a theme in your life this year. Paul knew what he was talking about in Philippians 4 when he said "Don't worry about anything, instead, pray about everything." Dedicate your life to following Christ completely and He will make sure everything else falls in to place. Even your ministry.

3 Things

If you are a youth worker and you do not make it a point to watch the Simply Youth Ministry Show then you are missing out. The 10-15 minute show is hosted by Jason Carson and Kurt Johnston and it always proves to be at least entertaining and very often helpful.

In this week's episode Kurt and Jason take some time to give practical teaching tips. In doing this they stress the importance of scripture and also the fact that teaching is a high calling. One of the questions they asked each other was: "If you could only teach on 3 subjects for the rest of your ministry  what would they be?" I posted the link below and I hope you will take some time to hear their responses.

That question is a tough one. After thinking about it for a few minutes here is my answer.
1. The Promises of God from the Old Testament
2. The Life of Christ
3. The Purpose of the Church

Maybe you completely disagree with me. That's okay! What about you? What 3 subjects would you teach on for the rest of your ministry?

http://show.simplyyouthministry.com/2013/01/sym-show-happy-birthday-to-kurt/

Office Hours

It's been a while since we've posted a blog here. Ok, you're right, it's been much longer than a while. It seems like it's been forever. Today I wanted to to focus on one of the aspects of student ministry that differs in nearly every church setting: Office Hours. Some churches require their staff members to put in a full 40 hours each week, other churches just want to make sure that you are there most of the week and putting in good work time, and then there are churches who really don't care about office hours as long as you show up on Wednesday and Sunday.

I have no idea what your office hour situation is. But, I do know that nearly all of us have those slower office days. Days where no one else is around and things are quiet. They are often frustrating and can drive you stir crazy. I want to point out a few tips for using our time effectively during office down time.

1. PRAY
I can't stress enough how important it is to pray for our ministries. I often overlook this during the busy seasons of student ministry and I often regret it as well. When you have a a few minutes of down time in the office try praying for your students, volunteers, and their families instead of scrolling through your Facebook news feed again. If it's a week day, pray for students while they're st school. They need it; they are all on the front lines facing temptation and trying to live for Jesus in this crazy world. Pray for your volunteers. They are just like you, trying their best to minister to students in today's culture. You know how hard that is and how you covet the prayers of others yourself. Don't forget to pray for your own family as well. Ministry is demanding and they need to know you are first and foremost concerned with ministering to them. Anyway you look at it, prayer always trumps wasting time.

2.PREPARE
So you've already got the mid-week worship service planned? Your volunteers are ready to teach on Sunday morning? This month's large group activity is nailed down? Don't stop there. Don't be afraid to look at your calendar and sketch out what you're plans are for then next 3 months or even for the entire year. Just because you have everything at hand prepared doesn't mean you can't continue. Not only will it keep you from wasting your time away but it will also provide you with a framework for executing your ministry goals over a long period of time. You might find doing this will reap more benefits than you could ever imagine because honestly, you can never be too prepared.

3.PURSUE
This last point is the most tangible of the 3. If you've got the time, get outside of the church walls and pursue those you minister to. When students are in school, drive around the campus and pray for then. If your school system allows, eat lunch with them a few times a month. If you can't get to your students then don't give up. Meet a volunteer or a student's parents for coffee. Go eat lunch with a deacon or elder and ask them for advice. Basically, let your people know you care by pursuing them. Also, it's great to get out of the office with other staff members. Strengthen your relationship with the rest of your church staff so that you can minister to your people better.

These are just a few ideas to keep us from wasting time. What about you? How do you effectively use any down time you might have in the office?

What I Often Forget

There are tons of things that I often forget in my life. Just ask my wife. I forget my keys, I forget to swap out the laundry on lunch, I forget to throw trash in my vehicle away and so much more. I could probably write at least 3 blogs about things that I forget. But in this blog, I want to focus on something I often forget in ministry. Prayer.
This week one of the deacons and most beloved members of our congregation passed away. His grandson is in our student ministry; this is going to be a tough time in his life. He was super close to his grandfather and he will miss him like crazy. So this week I took time out of our normal Wednesday night schedule to pray for him. We must teach our students to pray for one another. It's biblical. James 5: 16 says "Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working."
 All too often I forget to remind our students how powerful prayer is. God works through the prayers of his people and when a group of students truly grasp this and begin to pray for one another a beautiful thing happens. A community is born. Students need to know that the guy or girl sitting next to them every week truly cares for them and will be there for them in their time of need. Yes, asking students to have a dedicated time of prayer is awkward. They don't like to pray out loud and many of them won't. But, we need them to see how important it is to the life of the church.
How do you teach them this? You lead by example. Take time everyday to pray for your students. Pray for them by name if you have the time to. Lift up the ones you know need it the most. Ask God to foster a spirit of prayer within them as well. Don't be afraid to ask students to pray with you. Find the key leaders in your group and teach them how to pray for others by example. Prayer is not just important, it is vital.
This week I encourage all of you small town youth pastors to set aside time to specifically and purposefully pray for your students. Yes, there are other things that have to get done. Yes, it might be difficult to carve out this time. But make the time. Pray for your kids and teach them how to pray for one another!

Advice

This post is for all of our young and emerging pastors out there. This link is to an article by Mark Driscoll and  gives a little advice for new pastors. There is some great information and advice here. What do you guys think? Was this article helpful for you? Here'e the link!

Suggestions for Young Pastors

Movement and Growth

When Emilee and I moved to serve where we are a little over a year go, we really had no idea what to expect. With this being my first full time ministry position we had little to go on. Plus, we were moving from a decent sized city to a smaller town. And on top of that our church is in a very rural location, super rural. Not only was this not where we expected to be, it was the last setting we had even considered being in.
But, God's calling was so obvious that there was nothing we could do but surrender to it. So we got married (my favorite part of the story!), packed up, and moved. You spend your whole college career expecting to get the dream job as soon as you graduate and you even think you know what it will look like. But for many of us in ministry, we have no idea what it looks like. I definitely didn't expect it to be an average size rural church just 2 hours from my hometown. Honestly though, serving here with Emilee is my dream job.
There is a beauty about serving average/small local churches. It's much easier to see movement and growth. I know when our students are growing spiritually because I have a close relationship with most all of them. And I know when we are growing numerically because I can look out from behind the podium and see it. We have had an unusual amount of first time visitors to our church this past month and it's been obvious. I know who they are and I have the opportunity to connect with them.
It's also much easier to see movement. In our small town context, our congregation is able to serve the church so easily. When things are getting done you can see it. You can see forward motion when committees get together and work, when Sunday School classes are serving together in the community, and when business meetings are full of conversation about ways to improve our worship.
So, if you are a small town church leader today. Thank God for your calling! Thank Him that you get to personally interact with and see your people move and grow. It's an exciting thing to watch and an important thing to be a part of. God's people are at work all over the world. They are moving and growing in awesome ways. And they are doing it to bring Him glory and honor. Small churches, big churches, churches that are ancient and churches that are new are filled with the growth and movement of the Kingdom of God. Wherever He has placed you, be there! Get in and get your hands dirty serving with your church family!

Seasons

I haven't been in full time ministry for a super long time. But, I have noticed that ministry is one of those things where you always hit the ground running. Either you are the one ahead sprinting with everyone else behind you, or you are in the back sprinting to catch up with everyone else. What I mean is that we are either giving all we have to lead our churches in the direction God is showing us, or we are behind trying to catch up and learn exactly how our churches have handled certain situations in the past. Now, I know the latter really only applies to us who serve in established congregations but I've really been thinking about that for a while.
When I began to serve where I am now it didn't take long for me to figure out that there are certain events and practices that our church does every year, no matter what. That is a good thing! It is wonderful to be called into a church where fellowship and ties run deep. As I've looked back over the last year I can see that our church operates in definite seasons. If you think about it, I'm sure your churches and ministries operate the same way.
Right now we are in what I like to call the Harvest season at our church. It is a super busy and exciting season for us actually. We have a Harvest Day celebration, a High Attendance Sunday, an annual church-wide Hayride, and a huge community outreach event that we call Operation Pumpkin Outreach. All of that is packed in two 2 months and doesn't even include our normal activities.
For whatever reason, our students love Harvest season at church. Attendance is always up and the students all seem glad to be here. So, I capitalize on that. I make sure that I plan extra fun events and intense Bible study during this season. I give an extra effort to make sure that everything our student ministry does during this season is over the top. We're a small church with a small budget but I use a large portion of it during this season. It's when I promote big events that will happen later on in the year. It's when I plan extra events that are sure to draw non-churched kids in. I make sure our Bible study time is clear and focused. I make sure they understand everything I'm trying to get across because I may not see some of these students again until next fall.
What are the seasons at your church? Do you know? What season seem to be more successful than others? I encourage you to look at the big picture and figure out where to concentrate your efforts. This may sound small and insignificant but it will help you plan your year out in advance and it prepares you for that season when things are fast and furious. Pay attention, make observations, and focus on the season where God is obviously moving within your ministry!

He Said, She Said

Alright, this is sort of an impromptu informational/humorous post. Sometimes we start worship a little early on Wednesday nights. That means we finish early sometimes too. Last night we finished with a little time left so we played a very simple game. He said She said. If you've never tried this game with your group before then you should. If you have a large group, I'd say more than 12 even, it works best to split your group up into smaller teams of 6 or so. Give each person a piece of paper and pen and ask them to write the beginning sentence of a story. They get to choose the sentence but that's all they can write. Once everyone has written something down make them pass their papers to the left or right. That person gets to write the next sentence and so on. So by then end of the game you have several stories that everyone has contributed to and they get pretty funny. This is a great simple time filling game to try because all the supplies you need are pen and paper.

All that to say, we played this game last night and I told our kids I would pick what I thought was the best story and post it here in the blog. So, here goes. By the way, this should be read in a British accent. 

One day, I got a new pet llama.

His name was Mr. Nibbles.

He had 6 legs and 4 eyes.

And he had giant wings and laser vision.

One day, Mr Nibbles got lost in the dark and ran into a trap. 

Mr Nibbles got up and ran into the woods and got attacked.

He was attacked by a giant, scary, very funny, mean beast of a basketball star named Bob.

Mr. Nibbles kicked Bob and got out of the woods.

He was very clumsy because he had 6 legs so he wasn't running very fast.

He died,,,,,

The end.

So you can see how crazy this can get, the students love it and it is a ton of fun. Anyone else ever used this activity? If you have, I would love to hear some of your funny stories!

It Worked!!

Ok, I know what you're thinking. What a slacker, this guy promised a follow up post and it's been over 2 weeks! I know, and I apologize. But you guys know how ministry is. It's busy and many times things come up that we have no control over. My encouragement to you is to keep on trucking and make ministering to your people the main goal of your ministry. Even when you need to blog.....

I'm sure by this point the suspense is killing you so bad that you can't take it. You want to know how our worship kick off went. It went great! And 2 weeks in to doing worship with our students it's only getting better. Here's how we introduced it:

I knew I had to start off in a neutral location. I had to create a new environment for my students to step in to. Trying to introduce worship without changing anything at all could have been a bust. Our current youth space is a large room with plenty of space for us. But when I first came to serve here, I created a monster. Because the students had never had anyone take time to help them take identity of their room, I came in and tried to spruce it up a bit without much thought. What we ended up with was a large room with a ton of activity space and small bible study area crammed in a corner. We had game tables and a futon, and a large open area for games. This atmosphere was just not conducive to worship. So, the first week we took it outside. We created an intimate environment with candles and tiki torches. We led them to this area blindfolded and then revealed to them the new way we were doing Wednesday nights. We sang just 2 familiar songs and I delivered a lesson reminding them of why we gather together each week. To experience God and grow closer to God. I also reminded them that this wasn't the end of fellowship and fun. I wanted them to realize that we need a balance of true worship and authentic fellowship. Numbers were low that week and I was tempted to be discouraged, but I knew God had brought the students there that he wanted there.

The following week I knew I had to change our youth space in order for this to continue down a helpful path. Things have changed and our environment needed to be inviting and also helpful for our new direction with worship. So I simply rearranged our room. Instead of lots of space for games and a little for bible study it became a large worship area with a little room for activity. It completely changed the attitudes of our students as they walked in the door. We lowered lights and lit candles again. We took distracting things out of the room such as game tables and food. And more students showed up and they sang even louder. It really went great! This did not cost much money. We didn't have to paint or build a stage. We simply changed the focus of our room and it made all of the difference.

I'm thankful that God laid all of this out before me. I had no idea how to introduce worship and God made it work. I give Him all of the credit for this and most importantly I am glad tat our students are finally experiencing what it means to worship Jesus for what he has done for them. Week in and week out we will worship Christ because He deserves every bit of it!

How to do a Fall Retreat for Cheap (I hope).

Its Tuesday. I sit in my extremely cluttered office, trying to decide whether I should continue to work on my lesson for tomorrow night, clean my desk, or do some planning for my upcoming fall retreat.  Strangely, posting a blog won out.  So in order to justify blog posting I am going to write about my fall retreat planning thus far.
As I mentioned before, my background is in larger church ministry.  When we planned retreats we often spent as much money on one retreat for a couple hundred students as my entire youth budget for the year.  So trying to provide what I know a fall retreat can be for my students now, on the small amount of money that I have alloted to me is a daunting task.
(Let me note here that I have only been in my current position for a few months.  This being said, I did not plan this year's budget, and so no monies have been previously set aside for this retreat. . . )
The first thing I had to do in planning this retreat was to decide what I felt like God was showing me the purpose should be.  Fellowship, yes. Awesomeness, yes. Food, yes. Worship, yes.  All of those things are a giving.  But what would the driving force be? What would my students walk away with? I felt like it needed to be so much more than just fun memories and full bellies.  They needed to walk away with life change and knowledge.
And so, after much prayer, I have decided that this retreat will focus on Biblical manhood and womanhood.  I made this decision because I know that it would be nearly impossible for me to cover these topics in our weekly worship setting, and I also know that I want my students to have a good concept of what the Bible teaches about being a man of God and woman of God. I think its essential actually. 
The Girly Burly Retreat has been born! 
The next step was finding lodging.  Do I want to have a retreat out of town (a town where there is a whole lot of nothing to do)? Do I want to host in at the church lock-in style? (I will post later about my passionate dislike of lock-ins). Do guys and girls stay co-ed? Should they be in completely different locations? How can I give my students a place to sleep for cheap? Here is what I came up with:
        1. Girls like sleepovers. Girls like showers.
        2. Guys don't really care.
In our area we are blessed to have a Baptist District Office that has lodging available for missionaries.  By lodging I mean a giant room where people could crash on air mattresses, a kitchen, and a few showers.  Best of all, to churches who want to use it, this space is free.  That's right, FREE! So decision made, my ladies will be staying sleepover style in the district office, for free.
In our area we are blessed to have farmers.  With farmers comes a lot of land. With land comes camping.  Guys love camping! So decision made, my gentlemen will be camping out in one of our church member's field.  And we can borrow tents, air mattresses, sleeping bags, and firewood from other church members (our church member LOVE our students. HUGE BLESSING). Again, FREE.
I have a speaker lined up to come in and lead talks with our girls.  She is friend from college who is passionate about seeing girls come to recognize themselves as a creation of God and what that means.  And since she is friend, I will pay her gas and a little $ and be good to go.  
I still need to figure out a speaker for my guys. And I need to plan some activities and meals.  But that is where I stand in the planning process as of this morning. 
This retreat may not be the biggest and best retreat to ever hit student ministry. In fact in may fail terribly.  But my prayer is that my students will love it, that they will be challenged to take a deeper ownership of their walks with God as young men and women, and that they will be excited about it again next year. 
What are some things that you have done to plan retreats for cheap? I would love some of your pointers!

Prayers and Ideas..

I have been serving at the church where I am currently at for a little over a year now. The whole time here I have been fighting a specific mindset amongst our students. That attitude is: “We have always been and will always be a small church.” Our students honestly have no idea what student ministry looks like in most other churches. Here is an example of this. This year in February we had a Disciple Now Weekend. I know, not the latest or hottest idea to his student ministry. I even recall DNOW’s being lame when I was still in high school. But our kids had never heard of it. They had no idea what I was talking about when I started promoting the event. All they have ever known is one youth conference per year and short 15 minute devotions on Wednesday nights. They honestly have no clue that other churches do more than this. And if they do by chance know that, they assume we are too small of a church to do anything different.

Well, I have decided to put an end to this way of thinking amongst our students. I’ve been doing this gradually throughout the past year by adding events and making our Bible study times more intense and focused. But this week I am taking the plunge. We are starting worship on Wednesday nights. WHOA!!! Do you feel the gravity that statement carries? Seriously, I am going to ask all 15-20 of them to stand and sing along before we enter our study time this week.

I know many of you have been doing this forever but this is a brand new concept for our students. We are adding a brand new element that is hopefully going to enhance our Wednesday night gathering. I know I can’t rush into this. We are going to start out slow. And as a good friend once told me “when you’re in the bush you’ve got to use what you have.” So I am going to lead worship. It’s not ideal and my goal was to wait until we found someone to step up and take this role whether they be student or adult leader. But the fact is, it’s time. And God hasn’t revealed that person to us yet. I already lead worship on Sunday mornings at church so it is a context our students are familiar seeing me in. I know this sounds like we are way behind the times but this is seriously a huge step for our student ministry.

So, this Wednesday I covet your prayers! Pray that it isn’t awkward and pray that our students understand that they are getting the opportunity to worship their heavenly Father. I want to hear your ideas on this too? Have you introduced worship to a student group before? How did it go? What worked and what didn’t? I would love to hear your thoughts and ideas on how to make this successful and meaningful. I’ll be posting a debrief blog on Thursday to let all of our faithful readers know how it went!

Connections. . .

I feel like a bit of a slacker seeing that Josh has already posted twice on here, and I have only posted once. But I do have a great excuse - and I want to write about it today.
Today I want to talk about connections in ministry.  By this I mean the relationships you have with other minister and members in different churches.  I don't mean networking, which is something I learned a lot about in college.  Networking involves meeting people from different companies to either build business or get a better job.  What I mean is making connections in order to build your relationship with God, challenge you in ministry, and have some sort of accountability.
One great connection that I have is with my host family from a previous church that I worked at.  This weekend I went back to visit them, and I can't even explain how refreshing that was for me.  The thing that I love about this family is that they know me, love me, and expect certain things out of me without demanding them.  They hold me to a certain standard. They support me 100% and give me advice - even when I don't ask for it!
The most awesome thing about this family though is that not a single one of them are in "ministry".  They don't go to a church day in and day out for their job.  No, they are out there in the real world, working daily with people who are not Christians.  They see their jobs as ministry, and that is what blows my mind.  Even more awesome, they love each other unconditionally.  Knowing this family, and seeing them live out their lives, in good times and bad, has challenged me more than any fellow minister ever has.  If we all had a love for God like this family has a love for each other - even when one member makes another beyond angry - we would rarely struggle in putting Him first.
I think that connections in ministry are extremely important. The families that I have built relationships with, pastors and fellow minister who have poured into me, and individuals that I have seen work out their salvation with fear and trembling have done more for me and my walk with God than anything else, other than studying the Word.  So here is my question for you: how are you connected with the members of your church? Members of other churches?  Is there anyone older than you that you are allowing to pour into your life?  Is there a family that you are looking to as a guide to your marriage and love for God?  
All of these things and more are important to have as we live out our relationships with God and our ministries.  As you serve, whether it be at a small church or a large church, you need to be filled up while you are pouring out.  It is impossible to overflow into your students if you cup is getting empty, and one of the ways to refill it is through connections.  I challenge you to go out and make a new one today.

Fridays

So, there is kind of an unspoken assumption in ministry. At least this is something I've experienced while serving in Tennessee. It goes like this: Smaller Churches have fewer students therefore there is less work for student pastors to do. Now, anyone who has been around the church for a while will know this just isn't true. I've experienced the exact opposite actually. Larger churches are blessed with the ability to hire interns and a more extensive staff. It isn't uncommon for a larger church to have up to 10 people on a student ministry staff alone. It isn't like that serving in a smaller context and that isn't necessarily a bad thing. Yes, that means that I am involved in every single aspect of our ministry but I honestly love it. I see it as an opportunity to learn and and grow.

This brings me to Fridays. Many pastors take Fridays off because Sunday is considered a work day. I  encourage all student ministers who have this opportunity to do it but sometimes it isn't so easy in a small church is it? When we are blessed to be responsible for the entire ministry there are some weeks when Friday rolls around and there is still work to be done. Take heart! Don't be discouraged during these weeks. It is so easy to get overwhelmed with it all. But I find if I remind myself of my calling it makes those Fridays easier. God is allowing me to be a part of His work in the church! Wow, what a blessing that is.

But this Friday has been a little different itself. This Friday I have had the privilege to serve in my calling in a way that goes above and beyond working in my office at church. I have had the amazing opportunity to serve and take care of my wife Emilee. She just happens to be out of school today. (she's a kindergarten teacher) And she also so happens to be sick. The being sick part is a bummer. But it has set the scene for spending the entire day with her and that is something I love more than anything else. Yes, I do have things to do at the office. Lots of them actually. But, as married pastors our first ministry is to our family. Our families come before the church. Now I've only been doing this married and full time ministry thing for a little over a year but I have learned this: Giving my wife more time than the church makes it easier for us to serve together. Because being a student pastor is, at times, demanding. But when she is at my side serving with me it makes it that much more fulfilling.

What about you? What do your Fridays look like? Do you find it hard balancing time between your family and ministry? I pray that today you will take time to serve your family and to thank God for calling you to work in His church. Even when your weekend is just Saturday!!

Intro #2

For my first blog post I find myself playing a rousing game of spoons while on a mission trip.  I find that a good game of cards, whether it be spoons, sock and shoe, or go fish, can bring together a group of people in amazing ways.  That is one of the things that I love about ministry, it brings tons of different people, from different backgrounds and walks of life, together for one cause.
I'm Daniel, and I serve as a student minister in the same small town as Josh.  I also won't tell you the name of our town for a lot of the same reasons that Josh won't.  But, I will say that we do have a pretty sweet tower at one of the parks here. 
I am pretty new to this whole small town ministry thing.  I did grow up in a small town in east Tennessee, but didn't start serving in ministry until college, which was in a large town at a large church.  I moved to this town in July after being called as the student minster at a local church here. Before, I was serving as an associate middle school minister at a church in middle Tennessee. Before that I had served as an intern at another church in east Tennessee.   Those areas were completely different than the area that I currently live in, and because of the differences, ministry is done differently. Completely different.  I am under a huge learning curve here. Everything that I have learned in ministry is challenged everyday and it is both exciting and tough.  
That is why I wanted to start this blog.  I came into this situation thinking that I had it all figured out, and I will admit, some of my ideas have taken off with flying colors.  But I have also learned that some of the things that go on in much larger areas in much larger churches with much larger budgets are just not feasible, or sensible here.  However, my ministry to these students will have the same eternal impact on my students as my ministry in those churches did.  Therefore it is just as important. Just as Josh said, even though we serve in a small town with a small budget does not mean that our ministries are small.  The numbers may not be that same, but the impact is, and that is something that should not be taken for granted.
So here I am.  I want this blog to be a resource for all those minister out there, whether they be student minister or not, who find themselves in my place.  As Josh said, I want to give advice on things that do work and that don't work on our shoestring budget.  I want to talk about things that go awesomely, and things that flop.  I will try to give some advice on curriculum, events, mentoring, fellowship, and speaking.  I want to be open and honest about my struggles in ministry.  My hope is that you will find this blog helpful.  I hope that you will post comments, suggestions, and questions that you have for us.  
We plan on posting daily, whether it be the two of us or just one of us. Thank you for stopping by. Let us know what you think.

Intro No.1

I'm sitting here this morning staring out my office window at the rain that is pouring down. I mean it is really coming down! Much like it was last night when we were tearing down after our annual See You After the Pole event. We had a great night! Some things happened that we didn't see coming and some things went just as planned. God moved in the hearts of the students and it was an awesome time of worship.

I'm Josh and I serve as a student pastor in a small town in rural west TN. I won't tell you the name of the town for one reason: I don't want hundreds of fans knocking on my door each day after they've read this blog! Just kidding. Seriously though, I really don't want people knocking on my door after the curriculum I suggested didn't go over well with their students or the band I recommended didn't show up on time. (Because we all know up and coming worship bands love to be "fashionably" late...) But, for those of you who love fried food, you just might see me hanging out with students at the World's Biggest Fish Fry.....

A great friend (I'll let him introduce himself later) and I decided to start this blog in order to encourage and help other student pastors who serve in a similar context as us. My goal (once again, I'll let him explain his later) is to hopefully help student pastors in small towns understand that they can still have BIG ministries. Hints the name of the blog. Because God is the same God everywhere right? I mean we say that all the time but we complain that we don't see the same growth as larger churches in more populated areas. If we truly believe that God is the same everywhere then we must also believe He can move in our small town ministries as much as He can move anywhere else.

Through this blog I hope to be able to share things that have helped our ministries as well as things that didn't help so much. We'll be doing things like reviewing curriculum and debriefing events that we did on shoestring budgets. We'll be sharing the joys and frustrations of working in the local church as a student minister. And anything else you would like us to do! All in all I'm hoping we will have the opportunity to network, share ideas, pray for, and encourage all of you other Small Town student ministers who desire a Big Ministry!

p.s.
If any worship bands read this, I'm a worship leader too. And it is kind of cool to be late sometimes! Ha!