Last Monday we talked about how to connect God’s Word with students who appear disconnected, apathetic, and distracted. Our featured guests was E.J. Swanson, a speaker who travels the country speaking to teens at camps, retreats, and conferences. His wisdom and experience where very helpful for speaking into this issue.

Some of the things we talked about:

• How passion subconsciously teaches kids
• What NOT to share from your personal life when teaching
• Creating community around your teaching
• Number of kids a full-time youth worker can adequately invest into
• Having your voice heard among many negative voices
• And a whole lot more…

You can listen to the whole conversation below or grab it in iTunes.

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Next Monday’s discussion

February 1: Join us for LIVE YM Talk again this Monday! We’re discussing, “The need for theological questioning in youth ministry.” Our guest will be Jake Bouma. We’d love to have you join us! The live conversation starts at 2:00 PM eastern time! See our LIVE YM Talk page for details.

Join our next LIVE Youth Ministry Conversation!

Time Out (by Jerry Schmoyer)

Gaining recognition is fairly easy in life and ministry. What isn’t easy is succeeding in the things that really matter. We can all find some way to achieve in some area – but unless it is what God wants it isn’t really success at all. There is way too much to do in life and ministry to do it all. Therefore we must focus on doing what really is important. No one sits around bored because there is nothing to do. We all are making decisions, large and small, about how to use our time. The key is to make the choices God would have you make. Here are some principles to help determine godly priorities.

Praying is more important than preaching/teaching. Guard your time for prayer even more than you guard your time for lesson preparation and study. When forced to choose between them, make prayer your top priority. As has been said, prayer is not preparation for the work, prayer is the work.

Preaching/teaching is more important than administration. Its so easy to get bogged down in administrative details that the real important things in ministry get set aside. While it is necessary to be organized, its very easy to put off difficult tasks while spending a whole morning taking care of minor details.

The family is more important than the youth group. Our number one responsibility is to shepherd our mate and family. We will have more impact on them than on anyone else. Those are the sheep with the first priority for our time and attention. While the youth group may feed your ego more and you may struggle with relationships at home, don’t hide behind “ministry” and use it to avoid meeting the needs of your family. That can mean making some hard, but very important choices.

Faithfulness is more important than competition. Don’t compare yourself to others in the ministry. That is always very dangerous and a sure set-up for feelings of failure. The grass always seems greener on the other side of the fence. Be faithful to the best of your ability where God put you and leave the rest up to Him.

Love is more important than ability. You’ve heard it said that your teens don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. That’s true. Paul himself said that having all the best gifts in the world isn’t anything if we don’t have love. Even the best teaching and the finest program won’t change lives if it isn’t filtered through a personality filled with love.

Scripture
1 Corinthians 13:1-3, “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.”

Reflect

• Which of the above do you think God would say you have the most success with?
• Which of the above do you think God would say you have the most problem with?
• What can you do about that, starting today? (Write down a plan, be specific.)
• Pray for your senior pastor and others on the staff, that these would be true of them as well.

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Jerry Schmoyer has been a minister in Pennsylvania for over 25 years and has worked with teenagers for 15 years, ever since I became one myself. He authors the weekly Time Out series here at Life in Student Ministry in hopes to spiritually refresh your soul as you continually pour so much of yourself into students. God bless!

Rick Smith joined us last Monday to talk about communicating God’s Word effectively to teenagers. Rick is a youth minister who love speaking at camps, conferences and retreats. It’s from his experience that he shared some insightful thoughts about teaching teenager the Bible.

Unfortunately, we were plagued with technical difficulties throughout the conversation: the conference call’s host service had some hardware failures along with my microphone working incorrectly, so everyone was having some issues. I’ve doctored up the audio the best I could, but it’s still pretty rough.

Some of the things we talked about:

• Allowing the Holy Spirit to teach through you
• Teaching scripture to the apathetic kids
• How our personal walk impacts our teaching
• How big of a deal it is to teach God’s Word
• And a lot more…

You can listen to the whole conversation below or grab it in iTunes.

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Today’s discussion

October 19: Today’s guest is Matt Brown, formerly with the Billy Graham Association, who will lead us in a discussion about, “Mobilizing your students to share their faith.” At 2:00 PM eastern time, call (724) 444-7444 and enter ID 19105#, or use the link on the LIVE YM Talk page to listen online and join the chat room.

Join our next LIVE Youth Ministry Conversation!

Mark Matlock joined us today to talk about Open Space Technology, a strategy for harnessing the collective wisdom of a group to self-teach and learn rather than depending on the traditional role of a teacher, i.e. the expect that knows it all and instructs everyone else.

It’s very intriguing to hear Mark Matlock talk about how Open Space Technology works for both small groups and larger groups and how we can use the “technique” in our own ministries. If you get a chance to listen to this podcast, as a ministry worker, it will be well worth your time.

Some of the things we talked about:

• What Open Space Technology is and isn’t
• The process a group goes through together
• How it creates energy and solutions for a problem/topic
• Lots of questions and answers from callers and chatters
• And a lot more…

You can listen to the whole conversation below or grab it in iTunes.

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Next week’s discussion

September 25: Next week LIVE YM Talk is with guest, Brandon Riley, who will lead us in a discussion about unleashing student artists. We’ll discuss ways you can use the artistic teens in your ministry as well as how you can mentor them in video, photography, and other artistic ventures. You may even pick up some video and photography tips yourself!

Join our next LIVE Youth Ministry Conversation!

In some churches, when the Sunday morning worship service is over, the pastor stands at the back door and shakes everyone’s hand as they leave. Most people typically thank the pastor and tell him how wonderful the sermon was. Personally, I have a hard time with that.

Last week I “preached” twice: once at our community’s high school baccalaureate service and again at all three church services for Graduation Sunday. After each time, people tell me, “Tim, you did a great job!” Sometimes I feel they’re just saying that because they’re not sure how else to start a conversation with me after I was just on stage in front of everyone. Other times I sense that they truly are genuinely thankful for the message. But either way, I’ve found that I really wish I could remove myself from too much praise or criticism right after teaching. In fact, despite wanting to hang around after the baccalaureate service and talk with seniors, I left right away.

My buddy, Tony Myles, wrote something several years ago that has stuck with me. He said:

“I am most vulnerable to criticism right after a sermon, and tend to take [criticism] too deeply in that moment. Likewise, it’s the worst time for me to hear affirmation because then my ego just gets bigger.”

That is so totally true for me. After the baccalaureate I really had to distance myself from all the praise because I was hearing it too much. So I left. Preaching at church last weekend felt somewhat similar. Moments after I finish teaching, I’m way too emotionally attached to the message and vulnerable to really hear anything objectively, whether praise or criticism. I really need about a day to pass before I can respond to feedback with a level head. Otherwise I get too cocky or hurt, depressed, or defensive.

While attending Dallas Theological Seminary, one of my professors, Howard Hendricks, called “sermon praise” the “glorification of the worm.” I am, in fact, a lowly worm, a very inadequate vessel for communicating God’s Word. Anything good that comes as a result of anything I say is solely a work of the Holy Spirit, not me. I’m so thankful that He chooses to work in spite of me, never because of me.

Today in our LIVE YM Talk, Mike King talked with us about adolescent development and some of the implications for that when we teach to teens and how they learn. Mike has done a lot of extensive research in this area and brings a lot of wisdom to the field of youth ministry with his expertise, some of which he shared with us today.

Some of the things we talked about:

• Why do churches have youth ministry in the first place?
• What’s the best approach to youth ministry?
• Some interesting studies on adolescence.
• Both practical and theological implications.
• And a lot more…

You can listen to the whole conversation below or grab it in iTunes.

Download this episode

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Next week’s discussion

June 5: Jeff Borton recently wrote a book titled, “Simple Student Ministry”, and will talk with us about some of the concepts he explains about bringing our ministry into clarity, movement, alignment and focus. See the LIVE YM Talk page for details on how to join us.

Join our next LIVE Youth Ministry Conversation!

In a couple weeks I’m preaching for Graduation Sunday when we recognize all the high school seniors in church services. I’m also the speaker for our town’s high school baccalaureate service, so I’ve got a couple significant speaking engagements coming up.

As I was thinking through a little of what I’ll be teaching at both events, a couple things came to mind about what makes someone a good presenter on a stage. I am definitely no expert, but I do watch people when they present and see a couple common traits among the ones that I appreciate most. Here’s what I’ve learned from them:

1. Know your content and know it well. I don’t mean memorize a script because people can tell when you’re just reciting something no matter how much emotion you try to infuse into it. Know your main ideas, the direction of your message, and be able to talk as if it’s a one-sided conversation, not a school report.

2. Be passionate about what you’re teaching. Passion isn’t something you can fake or muster up. Passion isn’t necessarily a loud voice or an energetic stage presence. It’s something that everyone can sense, but no one can quite put their finger on it because they can see it in your eyes and hear it in your voice because it’s obvious that you’ve put your lesson into practice in your own life long before you delivered it to them.

3. Use God’s Word to point out sin and weaknesses in people’s lives. Communicate God’s Word clearly and let Him convict. I learned this over the past several years by listening to my favorite podcast preachers: Craig Grochel, Perry Noble and Mark Driscol. People, including myself, are tired of watered-down messages that remind them of something they need to do or change without pushing them to do it in ways that might otherwise be offensive.

4. Use God’s Word to encourage people in their spiritual walk. The best messages I remember are the ones that both convict me and encourage me. If it’s all conviction every time I listen to someone teach, I feel depressed and unmotivated. But when it’s coupled with encouragement, the conviction can sink in without wallowing in it.

5. Be vulnerable. I know most teachers don’t think of themselves as the expert, so be intentional about communicating that. Let your audience see windows into your failures, your weaknesses and your struggles, and how the Lord is working or has worked in you through those areas so it encourages others. Plus, people respect what you have to say when they know you’re being real with them.

6. Saturate your messages in prayer. Need I say more?

7. As you prepare your messages, approach God’s Word with fear, trembling, and deep respect. The old adage is true, “Familiarity breeds contentment.” This is God’s-breathed Word, not just spiritual Mother Goose rhymes. Don’t take it lightly. It’s a huge privilege and responsibility that will incur a stricter judgment upon yourself (James 3:1).

What else do you see in certain pastors that makes them good teachers from a stage?

I think Brett Hetherington has contributed more to our Freebie Fridays over the past couple years than anyone else. The best part is, his stuff is always quality material. Besides serving as one of the Youth Ministry Mentors, he’s contributed seven other youth teaching series’ and resources here in the past, and today’s series is no different. Visit his site and let him know how much you appreciate his generosity in equipping your ministry with great resources time and time again!

The End…
If your teens are anything like the rest of America, they want to know all about the book of Revelation. What is it about? Why is it so confusing? If I understand it will I know when Jesus is coming back? Do you find your inbox, cell phone and other methods of communication storage filled to overflowing with these questions and more? No? Me either, but once one student asked if I would lead a series on the seven signs of the apocalypse, it triggered a landslide of interest in Revelation. The End… is the result.

The End… is a three part teaching series in Revelation that attempts to give a balanced look at some of the major themes and symbols at play in Revelation. Numbers, the Rapture, Apocalyptic Prophecy and more are all covered within this study, as well as the four major viewpoints that Revelation can be interpreted from. Yup, Left Behind is not the only way to interpret Revelation. This series takes years of study and research, and boils it down to 3 fairly understandable and manageable interactive lessons. You could even break them up and make it 6 parts! Please use what you can and feel free to contact me with any questions that come up. This study should answer your teens’ questions about Revelation, and inspire all-new questions that you cannot answer.

Included in this series you will find:

• WORD and PDF formatted scripts for all three lessons
• PowerPoints for the first 2 lessons
• Images of the PowerPoint slides that can be used in another program if you do not have PowerPoint
• Publisher and PDF formatted blank notes pages for students who want to take notes
• Quicktime and Windows Media Video (WMV) formatted promotional videos
• Quicktime and Windows Media Video (WMV) formatted intro bumps
• Photoshop file of the logo for the series
• JPEG images of the logo to use for advertising
• Additional documents in WORD and PDF format detailing Hebrew Numerology and an overview of the 4 main methods of interpreting Revelation
• PDF and WORD document with links to the font used to the series and full-length videos of the Original Sessions

Download “The End…” youth lesson series

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Join us at 2:00 PM EST this afternoon in our LIVE YM Talk as we talk with Ryan Neilson about collaborating with other youth pastors/ministries. See the
LIVE YM Talk page for details.