Archives For You and God

Is your life your message?

May 8, 2013 — 6 Comments

My life is my message.

I love this quote from Ghandi. It’s the more poetic form of the well know saying that actions speak louder than words. Don’t get me wrong: we need words, absolutely. I’m not a big fan of the quote that’s often attributed to Fransiscus of Assisi that we should preach the Gospel at all times and use words when necessary. We always need words, because you cannot explain the Gospel without words. You cannot teach the Bible without words. Jesus Himself used words to explain the Kingdom of God.

But words alone are not enough.

Our lives are our message, more than any words we speak. If we preach love, but don’t love people ourselves, our words are useless. If we teach forgiveness, but are bitter ourselves, our teaching is dead. If we say Jesus is our number one, but are slaves to our particular brand of sin, what we say doesn’t matter.

People will look to our lives first, before listening to our words.

Is your life the same message you preach?

Ghandi

In Leadership, You and God
permalink

How to stop worrying

April 25, 2013 — Leave a comment

Worrying always overwhelms you just when you don’t need it. You want to go to sleep, but worrying keeps you awake. You need to prepare your youth sermon, but worrying keeps distracting you. You want to really ‘be’ in the conversation and listen, but worrying keeps drawing your thoughts elsewhere.

Worries about your youth ministry.

Worries about your financial situation.

Worries about your marriage, your family, your friends.

Worries about students, your small group members.

Worries about the future.

While we all have our worry moments every now and then, there can be times in your life when your worries really seem to take over. If you feel your life is being dominated by worries, here’s what to do.

worry

Continue Reading…

In Personal growth, You and God , ,
permalink

Reading and teaching the Bible as more than soundbites

April 18, 2013 — Leave a comment

This video shows why N.T. Wright is such an influential theologian at the moment. In just seven minutes he explains how you should read the Bible: as a whole, not as a collection of soundbites. His analogy of listening to only a part of a symphony instead of the whole thing is as brilliant as it is understandable. I also love that he especially wants to challenge students to read the whole Bible, whole books and not just verses and soundbites.

NT-WRIGHT

N.T. Wright on How to read the Bible

(embedding was disable for this video, so you’ll have to watch it on YouTube)

Continue Reading…

In Discipleship, You and God , ,
permalink

How real are the sins of your small group?

March 14, 2013 — Leave a comment

Jon Acuff told a fantastic story at the Simply Youth Ministry Conference about a boy who had bought an ice cream. He wanted to put sauce on it or sprinkles or something, I don’t quite remember, but he picked the wrong dispenser and put mustard on it. Instead of acknowledging this, he tried stirring in the mustard to ‘fix it’. He was even offered a new ice cream, but refused, insisting that he was okay.

I think this is a perfect illustration for how many of us, but also many of our students, deal with sin. Instead of owning up to our mistakes and asking for renewal (the new ice cream), we try to hide it and fix it, ending up with really bad tasting ice cream.

The safe sin phenomenon

There’s a mechanism Jon Acuff called the ‘safe sin’ phenomenon. It’s when people start confessing their sins and all stay on the safe sins, the ones that are technically sins but really not that bad. For a student, that could be disrespecting his parents, or not praying the whole week, or forgetting his sister’s birthday. You know what I’m talking about, it’s the ‘accepted sins’, the stuff that we all consider not too bad.

The problem is that when others come up with sins like that, the next in line isn’t gonna confess watching porn online, or being drunk at a party, or having sex with her boyfriend. The safe sin mechanism makes us hide our sins, because we don’t feel accepted and safe enough to bring them into the open.

The 'safe sin' phenomenon results in students only confessing to relatively small sins, not the ones that are really impacting their lives.

The ‘safe sin’ phenomenon results in students only confessing to relatively small sins, not the ones that are really impacting their lives.

Continue Reading…

In Small groups, You and God
permalink

Why youth ministry is (extra) stressful

February 6, 2013 — 4 Comments

In the previous post on The Stress that is Youth Ministry, we saw some shocking statistics about pastors and stress. But let’s face it, even though the scope of responsibility may differ, being a youth pastor isn’t that different from being a pastor. Especially in bigger churches, leading the youth ministry can be a lot like leading a church. Which means that those statistics may very well be or become a reality for youth pastors as well.

For many youth pastors, stress is a reality.

For many youth pastors, stress is a reality.

Continue Reading…

In Personal growth, You and God , ,
permalink

Why God’s promises can cover a multitude of our sins in teaching

January 29, 2013 — 2 Comments

God’s Word never returns empty. It’s a great promise and an encouragement for youth leaders who are trying to reach students with God’s words. In yesterday’s guest post, youth pastor Phillip Allen encouraged youth leaders to trust in God’s promises when they feel they aren’t making a difference. And I agree.

It’s just that I feel that the promise that God’s Word will never return empty is one of those promises that can cover a multitude of sins. Our sins in bad, lazy teaching for instance. Our sins in not building deep and true relationships with the students we minister to. Or our sins in a failing to apply what we teach in our own lives.

God's promises are all true. But trusting His promises can also cover a multitude of our sins in teaching.

God’s promises are all true. But trusting His promises can also cover a multitude of our sins in teaching.

Continue Reading…

In Preaching and speaking, You and God , ,
permalink

Guest post: Trusting God’s promises

January 28, 2013 — Leave a comment

Being in youth ministry is tough! I know that is the understatement of the year.  It doesn’t even need to be youth ministry, it could just be ministry, but it can be especially tough in youth ministry.

It is tough being a leader, a pastor, a volunteer – someone who is responsible for seeing God’s word planted and watered in a student’s life. Week in and week out you pour your heart, soul, strength, and emotions into students.  You are there on the good days and you are there on the not so good days. You seek to persevere, to see the change that you believe that God can bring about in these students.

Do we trust God's promise that His Word will not return empty, just like the rain always has a purpose?

Do we trust God’s promise that His Word will not return empty, just like the rain always has a purpose?

Continue Reading…

In Personal growth, You and God
permalink

Preparing for spiritual warfare in youth ministry

July 3, 2012 — 2 Comments

There’s a saying I came across years ago and I’ve always remembered it. It’s a quote by a famous Indian diplomat named Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit and it goes like this:

The more we sweat in peace, the less we bleed in war

As Christians, we don’t often speak in terms of war and military actions. This despite the fact that at several points in the Bible, it becomes very clear that there is indeed a war going on. It’s an invisible war waged between forces and powers we can’t see for the most parts, but we do feel and experience the effects.

The great news is that the final outcome of this battle, this spiritual warfare, has already been decided. Jesus defeated the great accuser, the father of lies, the angel of darkness when He died and rose again. Satan will get his final comeuppance at the end of times and it won’t be pretty.

But in the meantime, this spiritual battle is causing big problems for us in our ministries and our lives. It manifests itself in conflicts, setbacks, attacks, discouragement, etc. It can make us angry, confused, deeply sad and at times so frustrated we just want to walk away from it all and quit.

The more we sweat in peace, the less we bleed in war. Do we realize this holds true for the spiritual battle we face in youth ministry as well? (photo: Rotorhead via Stock.xchng)

Continue Reading…

In Personal growth, You and God ,
permalink

Why reputation matters in youth ministry

April 30, 2012 — 2 Comments

When I was in college, I once got some advice from my small group leader regarding my relationship with my then boyfriend (now husband). She said I had to protect my reputation vigilantly and told me to avoid even the outward appearance of improper behavior between the two of us. I didn’t get the importance of what she was saying at that time and I told her so. Who cared what people were saying or thinking, as long as I knew and God knew I was in the right? Wasn’t what God thought more important than idle gossip?

When I became actively involved in youth ministry I came to see the depth of her wisdom. Your reputation matters in youth ministry (or any ministry). It matters an awful lot actually. Even when the facts would clear you from any wrong doing, the sheer matter that there was any ground for speculation can cost you dearly. You won’t be the first (or the last) one in youth ministry to get into problems because of outward appearances, rather than factual wrong doings.

The Bible states the importance of a good name, a good reputation clearly:

“A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, loving favor rather than silver and gold.” (Proverbs 22:1 NKJV)

A good reputation matters in youth ministry. What people see matters, not just what you actually do or don't do.

Continue Reading…

In Leadership, Personal growth, You and God ,
permalink

Creative ideas for memorizing Scripture

April 17, 2012 — 6 Comments

In the church I grew up in, we spent quite some time memorizing Bible verses. We always had vacation Bible weeks for kids where we were taught one or more verses, we did the same every Sunday in Sunday school and even the teen ministry gave it a shot.

But after that, I didn’t devote much attention or time to memorizing Scripture. In the last few years however, I’ve become more and more convinced of the importance of knowing verses, passages and maybe even whole chapters or books from the Bible by head.

If you want to know the many benefits of memorizing Scripture, I refer you to this excellent post (with very inspiring quotes) by John Piper and a more recent one from Sermon Central. I’m convinced that memorizing Scripture is a very important part of discipling our young people and I’d love to do more of this in youth ministry.

Memorizing Scripture is a powerful discipling tool in youth ministry.

Continue Reading…

In Discipleship, Small groups, You and God , ,
permalink