A couple of days ago I blogged about the challenge to get students on board with a message idea. For many of us over 22 and out of college will find that students see us as being old and ‘out of touch’. However, when we ‘sit at the steps of their world’, we will find that our ability to connect increases.  Today I want to quickly look at an effective way to connect with students in our messages. This is nothing brand new or out of this world, but this principle is easy to forget and overlook… How can you and I can help students find life in THEIR stories…

When we sit at the steps of their world and discover who are they, we are taking time to discover their stories. In other words, we are discovering a small part of their ongoing testimony. It is these stories that can often be used powerfully to share how God is working and has worked in their lives. Often we spend hours trying to figure out how to connect with students, when in fact, the quickest (and sometimes best) ways are to have students share their story…

Last Sunday, I saw the power and impact by applying this principle to my high school ministry program. One of my seniors shared her story of how God brought healing to her life after a challenging time. I gave her ‘interview questions’ and walked through the questions a week before. The interview took about 20 minutes in total, and I sandwiched it with two verses from 2 Corinthians. It was very simple, but very powerful. Perhaps more powerful than a message I could have given… The feedback I received from my small group leaders afterward was very good. They shared how impacted and connected students were… It was a good lesson to see that students find life in stories… THEIR stories!

This is not something we do every week, but I think that every other series we do, should have a life story included. Try and see how it works for you?

A couple of weeks ago my friend Jeremy was sharing  how he wished he could have a default button in his life, just like there is on a computer when you have to restore it after an error.

Have you ever had to do that after your computer crashed, or unrequested programs got added into your computer and created errors?  I have, unfortunately! It’s at these times we have click, “restore to default” or something like that. The goal is to restore the computer back to the way it was before the crash or the problem. 

If you are like myself or my friend, I wish I had a default button in my life that would allow me to back to the ways things were before the ‘error’. An error could be many things for each of us, but for today I want to take a look at how we need healthy defaults when our lives get over extended and out of balance. Specifically, how our ministry schedules can often lead to a ‘crash’ and how we need constant  ’defaults’ along the way to bring and keep balance. 

Here’s just a few ways that I try to keep healthy defaults in my life: 

1) Date night every two weeks. We are currently doing ‘ABC’ dates. (click here for a post on this)
2) Monday night family plan. Monday is my day off. Every Monday, we have dinner and plan out two, maybe three fun activities to do as a family for that week, (we ask our little girl what would be fun to do – ideas have ranged from getting ice-cream to playing ‘memory’ or doing puzzles… If it’s fun for her, it’s fun for us. We also plan meals for the week to make our shopping trip easier…
3) Eat Lunch at home as often as possible. Being in a church plant situation, I often find myself at coffee shops working. Therefore, wherever possible, I try to stay close to home and get home for lunch as often as I can. 
4) Work longer days on tues, weds, thurs, and be home on Friday by 2pm. The afternoon is for family, naps, shopping or whatever we need to do. 

Simple ideas, but powerful in our busy schedules. How are you doing with your healthy defaults? How can you restore your balance this week? What healthy defaults can you put in place that become consistent and help you avoid crashes?

Here’s the promo for the National Youth Ministry Conference I am heading to next week. I love this conference! Last year was my first time. It is highly connectional, deeply inspirational, and highly humorous!

If you want proof that youthworkers are just as crazy and creative in the UK as they are here in the States, check out this video my buddy Alan Witchalls made a few years ago for my wedding! There’s a few inside jokes, but you will get the basic premise of what is going on. Click on the link below and check out the video on his website: 

http://witchalls.co.uk/other-videos/30-bachelors-in-the-united-kingdom

One of the goals I have this new year is to be networkworking with other youthworkers in my area.

A lot of the time we don’t make time, (or feel like we have time). Sometimes, if we are honest, we don’t want to network with the bigger churches or the ‘competing churches’. Sometimes if we are honest, we don’t want to have to meet with other denominations or get into ‘those discussions’. Here’s why I believe every youthworker needs to network: 

1) It’s about the Kingdom: If we think that it’s all about our church, we are mistaken. God’s plan and purposes are much grander than ours. I beleve God wants us to embrace and enjoy the differences between churches. The fact is, there are so many different kinds of students out there who are not all going to like my youth program. There’s often going to be a church down the road that they will like better… It’s not personal… that’s life! I have to honestly ask myself if my insecurity allows me to stop networking? If I am confident in what I am doing, and I know that I care well for kids, I shoud be secure that kids will keep coming… 

2) It’s about Support: I speak to so many youthworkers who feel lost and alone in ministry. Just this morning I met with a local youthworker friend to encourage each other. It’s these meetings that will often keep us encouraged and seeing the big picture of ministry… 

3) It’s about stealing, (I mean, using) good ideas. I wish I could say that I have lots of creative ideas, but the truth is I don’t. Some of my best ideas come from others. When we meet with other youthworkers, we often get ideas and inspiration. 

4) It’s about Collaboration: If you live in a small town or have a smaller program, sometimes working with others allows you to provide larger events with greater resources. Even if you are in a larger church or city, we should still consider ways to collaborate. In fact, I would challenge us larger ministries to consider our responsibilities to help and support smaller not so well resourced ministries… that’s another way we can be Kingdom minded… 

Who needs to be on your email/phone call list this week? 

Today  I read a great article from the PDYM Community blog titled ‘What really matters’. Take a look at it and be inspired:

‘What Really Matters’

I can’t believe it. I am amazed. Check out this blog:  insidenspire.com. Now youth assistant  can take your kids fingerprints and from then on they can check in at your youth program by placing their finger on a scanner… How amazing is that? 

I don’t think I will be using it for a while, but it sure is advanced. WOW!

Phil <><