Brandon Shanks {dot} com

5 Essentials - Part 4 - Keep it Real

 (Welcome to our youth staff meeting. For more info about the 5 Essentials click here.) 

 

    Today is the day that students gather together at school flagpoles across America to pray.  See You At the Pole is a great annual event.  As I went to bed last night I was reminded of a See You At the Pole event from about 6 years ago. 

    I had not been a Youth Pastor for very long.  I had been working very hard that school year to develop relationships with some teachers in a local high school.  I had challenged our students to get involved in their schools like never before and some rose to the challenge.

    A couple of the students really took it to heart and actually organized the SYATP event at that school.     This was a great thing.  I was so excited.  The students from our youth group asked for me to speak and also to bring my guitar to help lead worship that morning.  I was so excited.  This was our first big opportunity to make an impact on this school campus.  

    I can remember going to bed the night before excited about the upcoming day, then you know what happened next....  

I overslept.  

    I woke up and looked at my clock which was blinking 7:40, 7:40, 7:40, 7:40.  

I had slept through the alarm that morning and had completely missed the See You At The Pole event. When I woke up the students were already in school.

    Of all days to oversleep!  I felt horrible.  I had missed a great opportunity to make a difference on a high school campus.  And most of all, I had let the students down.  I felt like a failure.  I was so disappointed in myself. The chances are, if you have been in ministry more than 5 minutes, you know that feeling.  

    You know what it feels like to make a mistake along the way.  I am not talking about sin.  I am talking about the times we have not been the greatest leaders.  The times we have not fulfilled commitments. The times we have missed opportunities.  The times we have let students down along the way.  The times we have slept in. This speaks to the reality that we are all human.  There will be times when we make mistakes.  

So, what do we do?  We keep be real!

Be real when you make a mistake.  Be real when you let yourself and others down.  This is one of our key essentials to leading students because it is all about authenticity. The greatest way we lead students is not through our perfection, but rather through our authenticity.When we are real we allow students to see themselves in us.  Saying, "I am sorry" is not a bad thing.  Telling a student, "I don't know" is not a sign of failure, but of honesty and vulnerability.  When your students see you being open like this, they will be more likely to do the same.

 

Here are some principles to keep in mind:

 

1. When you mess up...fess up - Sometimes you have to make the hard phone call like I had to that day  to students that were counting on me.  I told them that I was so sorry and that I felt so bad.  Sure, I was the leader, and I really did not "have" to give them an explination, but I wanted to be real with them and say that I was sorry.  Through being real with them and showing my sincerity they gladly forgave me and we saw God do great things on that campus that school year! 

 

2. Share your life...appropriately - Give students permission to be who they are by being comfortable in your own skin.  Share the stories from your life with them.  Share mistakes and miracles; sadness and success.  However, do not dump the dirt of your life on students.  Make sure you share appropriately in a way that is edifying to students.  Don't continually talk about things that you used to do before you came to Christ in such a way that it appears you are proud of what you used to be.  Remember, we are dealing with students that are very impressionable.  We must be sure to obey 1 Timothy 1:4 and not minister questions to students.  Seek to share your life in a way that students gain answers and not just more questions.

 

So, let's keep it real.  Some days we do accidentally oversleep. Just keep going. Don't be discouraged. Be encouraged.  Just set your alarm again and keep it real!

 

 

5 Essentials - Part 3 - Fill-Up First

(Welcome to our youth staff meeting. For more info about the 5 Essentials click here.) 

When I first started driving I had an innate fear.  I was terrified of running out of gas.  So, in an effort to always stay full, I would stop by the gas station near my house anytime my tank got below 3/4 of a tank.  The idea of getting close to "E" scared me.  I can proudly say that I have never ran out of gas.  However, things have changed since then.  Now, my car hardly ever sees 3/4 of gas in the tank.  I know this is not normal, but I hardly ever really get a full tank of gas.  I usually just stop and get $20 worth or $30 worth after my car tells me that I have "0 Miles to empty."  

There are two reasons that I usually drive on empty: 

#1 - I don't want to pay the price - gas is expensive as all of you know, and I hate the idea of dropping $80 to fill up my Jeep. 

#2 - I am too busy - It seems that I always need to fill up with gas at the most inconvenient times.  Life is busy and I am never excited about detouring from what I am doing to fill-up.

I think it is the same in my spiritual walk.  When I first felt the call of God on my life I was so terrified about running out of gas and I did whatever it took to make sure that my spiritual tank stayed full.   However, as years go by, it is very easy to grow comfortable just living our spiritual lives on "E."  Two things get in our way.  We don't want to pay the price, and we allow the busy lives to crowd out our relationship with Jesus.

I want us to do an inventory of our hearts and see if we are living our spiritual lives too close to empty.  Understand, we can't give students what we don't have.  We can't take students where we have not been. We reproduce what we are, not what we want to be.  We must lead others from the overflow of what God is doing in our own hearts and lives.  

It is easy to allow our WORK for God to replace our WALK with God.  When we allow our work to replace our walk then we are out of order.

Mark 12:28-31 
28 Then one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, perceiving that He had answered them well, asked Him, "Which is the first commandment of all?" 29 Jesus answered him, "The first of all the commandments is: 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.'This is the first commandment. 31 And the second, like it, is this: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these."

Jesus says that the two greatest commandments are: #1 to love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.  #2 To love your neighbor as yourself.  Notice their order again.  The first commandment is to love God, then we love people.  When we love people first we are in danger of having a ministry-centered life instead of a God-centered life. 

As Doug Fields says, "We are called to love God and like students."  

John 15:5
5 I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. 

Understand that without being connected to God we can do NOTHING of eternal value.  We can do nothing that truly matters.  If we are going to be effective in working with students understand the foundation is not our creativity, ingenuity, or our superb ability to relate to students.  If we are going to have fruit that remains from our work in student ministry our foundation is our connection with God.  In John 15 Jesus goes on to say that he wants us to go from a servant to a friend relationship.  In other words, he wants us to be more than just task-oriented servants, he wants us to be relationship-oriented friends.  We must develop an intimacy with God that is not dependant with him using us in ministry.

Low-Fuel Indicators

1. You have extended periods when you do not spend time with God alone.
2. You only spend time in prayer and study of the word when you are preparing to minister.

Ways to Fill-Up

1. Set aside specific times to connect with God through prayer.
2. Have a daily diet of scritpure not consumed for the purpose of teaching.
3. Place God's abiding Word in your heart through memorizing the scriptures.
4. Practice the discipline of fasting.
5. Utilize marginal time in your life to fill-up.  (Spend time during your daily commute to listen to the Bible or a message.)

The warning from John 15 is clear.  Without staying connected to Jesus we can truly do nothing.  However, the promise is clear as well.  When we do choose to abide in Him and allow His word to abide in us then we will bear much fruit.  Let's choose to pay the price and set aside the business of our lives so that we can stay full of the Holy Ghost.  

 

5 Essentials - Part 2 - Time on their Turf

(Welcome to our youth staff meeting. For more info about the 5 Essentials click here.)

1 Thessalonians 2:8
We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us.

In this passage, Paul shares with us his heart toward the church at Thessalonica.  Paul loved the people so much that he shared both his life and the gospel with the people.  I pray that we too can have this same love for the students Jesus has called us to serve.  May we too share both the gospel and our lives.  To truly share our lives with students we must spend time with them beyond our youth services.  We must spend time on their turf.

The principle of time on their turf is simple. The ultimate relevance is relationship.  We are going to do our best to have the most welcoming and excellent student enviornments here at the church.  However, we must be like Paul, we must share life with the students.  Our ministry must extend beyond what heppens on Wednesdays and Sundays.

When we spend time on the turf of a student we connect with them outside the church enviornment.  This could be attending an event at their school or attending a birthday party.  This could be meeting them at T-Bell or hosting an X-Box night.  

Spending time on their turf is powerful.

1. Time on Their Turf Changes Students:

There are some students that I would never have influence with unless I spent time on their turf.  It is amazing how some students respond in church enviornments after I have spent some time on their turf. In these times we become real to them.  It is one thing for us to be in front of them teaching on Wednesday nights, and it is another thing for them to know who we are on a personal level.  Also, when we spend time on their turf students have a chance to ask us real questions about their life and faith.  We, in turn, also have the opportunity to ask them about their faith and relationships.  It makes all the difference.

2. Time on Their Turf Changes You:

Just as much as spending time on a student's turf changes them, it changes us too.  Spending time with students causes me to have compassion.  I see their stories.  I hear the things that they are dealing with and my heart goes out to them.  Burden is a byproduct of exposure.  If you do not have a burden for students, you probably need to spend more time on their turf.  Time on their turf causes me to have faith for the future.  When I spend time with students I see their potential in Christ.  It is easy to believe in students when you spend time with them because you are able to clealy see the fingerprint of God on their lives.  Time on their turf makes us more effective because we know those that we serve.  Ministry becomes personal when we spend time on their turf.

Some things to keep in mind:

- Share everyday life - You do not have to have a big event to spend time with students.  Simply involve them in your daily life.  Look at your schedule this week and see if there is any thing you are doing that you could ask a couple students to tag along with you.  Are you going to the mall or to the grocery?  Involve students in your everyday life.

- Establish boundries - Sharing life with students does not mean that you spend time with them 24/7.  If you do we may need to get you a straitjacket for your birthday.  You must establish boundries to make sure spending time with students does not encroach on your time with family and other priorities.  Also, you must establish boundries to you don't allow time with students to replace your time with God.  We can't allow our work for God to replace our walk with God.  You cannot give someone what you do not have. 

- Two final principles - When we spend time with students outside of church we must have the permission of the parents.  Make sure you communicate with the parents of the students that you are spending time with.  Don't let the parents hear it from the students.  Talk to them and ask their permission.  We are called to partner with parents (Another essential we will talk about in another meeting).  Also, guys do not need to spend time alone with girl students and neither do ladies need to spend time alone with our guy students.  These are boundries that are non negotiable.

Each of you do a great job at spending time on the turf of students.  I am encouraged as I hear the stories week after week of the impact that you are having.  May we continue to share both the gospel and our very lives with these students for the glory of God!

 

(For more thoughts about relational student ministry check out these other posts here & here.)

 

5 Essentials - Part 1 - It's a Journey

(Welcome to our youth staff meeting. For more info about the 5 Essentials click here.)

Hebrews 12:1-2

1 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us layaside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience therace that is set before us, 2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for thejoy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the righthand of the throne of God.

I want to start by asking you a question.  What is the longest trip that you have ever taken?  The longest trip that I have ever taken was to Africa.  It was a very long trip.  I had to drive to Atlanta.  Then I had to fly 19 hours to Johannesburg, South Africa.  My trip was absolutely unnerving at times.  When we got on the plane they gave us a personal hygiene packet.  In the packet was a toothbrush and dental floss, along with mouthwash and blinders for your eyes.  I understood all of that.  However, in the packet there was also a pair of fluorescent green socks.  They were absolutely hideous.  Some people chose right from the beginning of the flight to put those socks on.  I thought to myself, “I will never put those socks on.”  I think the socks were a social experiment, because about 10 hours into the trip I started thinking to myself, “Everyone is wearing those socks.  I wonder why everyone is wearing them.  I bet those socks are comfortable.”  And when I stepped off that plane 19 hours later, I too was wearing the green socks.  

That is kind of the way student ministry is.  Not the green socks, but the journey.  The destination is not reached in a moment.  It takes time.  Youth ministry is more like a road trip than it is a flight.  It would be nice if you could just ease back in your seat and sip on some cran-apple juice, while watching a rerun of the Office and looking at a SkyMall magazine.  However, ministry does not run on autopilot.  As a matter of fact, ministry is more like a marathon than it is a road trip.  There is no cruise control in ministry.  

If you are going to be a successful leader of students you must realize that IT’S A JOURNEY.  Ministry is not a day-trip.  Ministry is not a one mile sprint.  Ministry is a marathon.  It takes time if we are going to be effective as youth leaders.  Sometimes we ask the common question, “Are we there yet?” When it comes to ministry.  You deal with that troubled student and you ask, “Are we there yet?”  

I want to encourage you to not give up in the middle of the journey.  I understand that there are seasons in our life and God directs us to serve in different capacities.  I think it is totally fine that some feel a change in ministry.  I totally understand that. However, there is a difference between being weary from the journey, and feeling a change in your calling to student ministry.  

I want to let you know that the longer you work with students the easier it becomes because you develop deeper influence with them.  Students do not need anymore “short-term” adults in their lives.  They need people who are committed to them for the long haul.

Through being with students for the long-haul you will have lasting impact on their lives.  You will be “that person” to them.  All of us have had “that person” in our lives.  The one that we get strength from.  The one that inspires us.  The person that we go to for advice.  The person that is our rock.  This does not mean that we are perfect.  That is actually the point.  Students see us in all of our glory, or lack thereof. And through that process they realize that they too can live for God.

How do you make sure that you don’t “Burn out” in student ministry?  I think the answer is in our "Pace."  Pace is vitally important in any race.  I can run fast, but not for very long.  If I am going to cross the finish line on the “Marathon of Ministry” then I have to make sure I have the right pace.  What is the right pace?

 

Pacesetter 1: Time with God

There is no way around this one.  You must spend intimate time with God if you’re going to last in ministry.  Ministering to students can be overwhelming at times and you must expend a lot of energy and effort to work with them.  You must spend time  with God alone by yourself.  You must develop an intimacy with God that is not dependent on him using you in ministry.  This means that you must take time to pray and read God’s word when you are not preparing to teach.  You must have worship times in your life when you are not responsible for others.  

 

1 Corinthians 9:24-27
24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Runin such a way as to get the prize. 25 Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.26 Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air.27 No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.

 

Pacesetter 2: Manage your Commitments

This may seem strange to hear, but you are not called or expected to give 100% to working with students all the time.  There are times when you have commitments that you must tend to.  Do not sacrifice your family on the altar of ministry!  Everyone has seasons of life when things are stressful and problems arise.  If you are going to survive ministry for the long haul you must be honest about your commitments.  I understand that there will be times when you can’t be at everything.  I only ask that you are upfront and communicate.  If you can’t be at youth service or a meeting, please be up front and let me know about it.  I want each of you to be in ministry for the long haul.  I want to partner with you and with your family.

 

Pacesetter 3: Don’t take it Personal

1 Samuel 8:5-8
5 They said to him, "You are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways; now appoint a king to lead us, such as all the other nations have." 6 But when they said, "Give us a king to lead us," this displeased Samuel; so he prayed to the LORD. 7 And the LORD told him: "Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king.8 As they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are doing to you.

If you are going to survive for the journey you have to learn to not take everything personal.  This is much easier said than done.  For you WILL be hurt.  There WILL be times when people offend you.  But understand this, it is not about you!  Do not take your work in ministry so personal.  We are working at the request of Jesus Christ.  This would be like the mailman quitting his job because someone got mad at him for delivering a bill to their house.  He is just delivering the mail.  It is the same for us.  You will have to forgive students.  You will have to forgive parents.  You will have to forgive other youth staff members.  You will have to forgive me.  

This also comes down to a principle I call, BELIEVE THE BEST.  If you are going to survive in ministry you must be willing to believe the best in people, instead of consistently assuming the worst.  With life it is easy to assume the worst about people and situations.  However, if you are going to last then you must be willing to believe the best in others.  

Effective ministry is a marathon, not a spint.  It is a journey, but it is not a journey we must travel alone.  I am thankful that we have each other to work with and walk alongside on this journey.  I am thankful for each of you and am excited about taking this trip together. I believe that together God will use us to be part of impacting this generation for his glory!  

Let us not forget that "It's a Journey."

The 5 Essentials

When I was a Senior in High School I had the opportunity to begin training to get my private pilot's license.  It was a dream come true.  I had always wanted to fly.  I found this place out in the country where the lessons were half the price from the airport in the town that I lived in.  The airport had a grass landing strip.  You could only land and take off one way.  You also had to beware of the cows that would cross the runway at times.  Fun times.  

I had invisioned what it would be like to fly.  I just thought I would step into the airplane, turn on the engine, and then get flying.  Boy was I wrong.  There was this thing in the cockpit that had to be checked before we would ever take off in the plane.  It was our checklist.  The checklist included checking the alerons and the elevators.  We made sure our instruments were working properly and that the engine had the proper amount of oil.  We used this checklist EVERYTIME.  

My instructor also used this checklist everytime he would fly.  Eventhough he had been flying for over 40 years and had been a fighter pilot in Vietnam and flew commercial jets.  He would say that you must never take off without first going over the checklist.  Every time we landed we would go through the checklist again before we flew again.  The checklist was vital because it helped us to remember fundamental elements of the task ahead.

I want to share with you our youth staff's pre-flight checklist.  Every time our youth staff gets together for a meeting we go over this checklist to ensure that we do not forget the fundamentals of the task ahead of us.  We call them our "5 Essentials."  They were adopted from the student ministry of Northpoint Church.  We have made them our own and seek, as a youth staff, to infuse these 5 Essentials into the culture of our studennt ministry.

 

Our 5 Essentials are:

1. It's a Journey

2. Time on their Turf

3. Fill-Up First

4. Keep it Real

5. Partner with Parents

 

Each youth staff meeting we go over one of these principles in depth.  For the next couple posts I invite you to step into one of our youth staff meetings as we go through the different elements of our checklist together.

 

The Disciple Whom Jesus Loved

I was reminded yesterday about an interesting statement found in the book of John.  When John writes his book he takes the liberty to keep inserting the line, "The disciple whom Jesus loved." He uses this to describe one of the many disciples following the Master.

Which one you may ask?  Himself.

He calls himself, "The disciple whom Jesus loved." (John 13:23, 19:26, 20:2)

What a statement.  

I find it interesting because God also used John's hands to pen the passage that speaks to God's great love for all, "For God so loved the world..."  (3:16)

So John was not unaware of the love of Christ toward all others.  However, at the same time, John lived his life feeling the love of Jesus toward him personally.  To John, God was more than just universal; he was personal.  

I grew up across the road from my Grandparents.  And as a kid I would go over to their house nearly everyday.  When I would go over my Grandparents house they always had a unique ability to make me feel as if I was everything to them, even though I knew that I wasn't their only grandchild.

God has that kind of ability.  

In ministry, we live our lives showing others the great love of Jesus toward them.  But let us never forget the greatest expression of his love was shown to us personally!

When I look around I see God's love for others, however, the most powerful expression I have of God's love is not found in the life of anyone else.  It is what he has done in my life that is most powerful to me.  

I am "The disciple whom Jesus Loved."

And so are you.

So, as we put the pen to our page of life today, may we join John and see ourselves as the one who is most loved by the master. 

"The disciple whom Jesus Loved."

 

It's Wednesday again!

"In a couple hours I will be standing before a group of students."  That's the first thing that went through my head this morning after I silenced my alarm (which sounds like it could be on a nucular reactor somewhere warning the townspeople of an imminent meltdown).  

Wednesday is here.  For most of us in a couple hours we will be participating in our various youth ministry programs.  For a moment students will come to our churches, far from their schools, and far from what happens in their world.  They are seeking affirmation.  They are trying to fit in.  They are searching.  Some are excited to be there.  Some of them were made to come by their parents.  There will be some students that we will meet for the first time tonight.  There are some that are asking real questions about faith.  There are others that you think may not be interested at all, but on the inside they are really looking for answers.  Some will go back home to parents that are fighting.  Some have been invited to a party on Friday by some friends....and the list goes on and on.

It's Wednesday again.  And I am faced with the reality that I do not have what it takes to be able to reach all of the students that I will stand in front of.  And the reality is that you do not have it either.  We all need the help of God tonight as we seek to share the love of Christ with students.  And the awesome reality is that  "God loves the students that we will stand before more than we could ever imagine."  

Luke 6:19 says ... the whole multitude sought to touch him: for there went virtue out of him, and healed them all.

That is what I pray we youth workers experience tonight.  That we see students, with a diversity of needs, come to a place where the virtue of Jesus is present.  In that place of His presence, ALL of them can be touched and changed!  

God is with us!

We were created for this!

It's Wednesday again!

Think Fundamentals Not Flash

"What are you doing in your student ministry that will outlast you?"

That is the statement God used from this book to wreck my thinking. 

In working with students it is so easy to spend your time, energy, and efforts focusing on things that are flashy but not fundamental.  Things that are good but not essential.  Things that are relevant, but not lasting.

For me, I love creativity.  I love things being fresh and new and all that.  I love sermon series with nice graphics and videos that challenge students to think about and respond God like never before.  I realize, that we are living in a media-driven generation whose attention must be captivated by any means necessary.  I understand all that.  I think we should have all that.  I think we should speak the gospel in the language of students today.  There is nothing wrong with that.  That is incarnational student ministry.  That is what Jesus did, he was not content just being a booming voice from a mountain, he wanted to come into the world so people could touch God.

I love all this, and if you came to reverb this past Wednesday, you would have seen all of the above.  Flash, I use it.  And I think you should use it too, but never at the expense of the fundamentals.

 

Prayer.  That's fundamental. 

Having a move of God.  That's fundamental.

Reading the Bible.  That is fundamental.

Being Holy.  That's fundamental.

Preaching doctrine.  That's fundamental.

Challenging students to share their faith.  That's fundamental....

 

It is so easy for me to spend hours upon hours preparing flash for our student ministry and neglect the fundamentals.  There is something wrong if I spend more time preparing flash for a youth service than I do in prayer and study for that same youth service.  We cannot substitue the fundamentals.  

I grew up hearing my Pastor make this statement,
"What God blesses as a supplement, he will curse when it becomes a substitute."

I want to put something in the lives of students that will outlast me.  I want to see students making a difference in their world for Jesus, not just while they are in High School, but for the rest of their lives.

I want to think fundamentals, not flash.

Think Relationship Not Role

“Leadership is influence.”  -Maxwell

If leadership is all about influence, then the real question is, “How do we gain influence?”  I have found that influence with students is born out of the relationships you have with them.  

Remember the story of Philip and Nathaniel? (John 1) Philip had a life-changing experience with Jesus and he wanted Nathaniel to have the same experience.  So Philip tells Nathaniel about Jesus.  Then Nathaniel, like many students that we serve, had some doubts.  “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?” he said.  To Nathaniel’s doubts, Philip simply says, “Come and see.”  Notice, Philip’s appeal is to the relationship that he has developed with with Nathaniel. 

This is what we want.  We want to see students have a life-changing encounter with Jesus.  However, most students will not come to Jesus if we haven’t first developed a relationship with them so that they trust us when we say, “Come and see.”  Come and see what Jesus made you for.  Come and see how Jesus has called you to live.  Come and see your purpose. 

I have found that the ultimate relevance is relationship, and that “I Care” trumps “I’m Cool” every time.

Over and over, the moments that students say have impacted their lives have not been about the things that I had associated with my role.  I haven’t heard one talk yet about the messages I’ve so carefully crafted, or the cool invitations I spent hours designing.  

The things they said impacted their lives were all about relationships.  A conversation over lunch after school.  Taking them home from their basketball practice.  A trip to the mall.  Things that I honestly do not remember.  However, it meant the world to them.  It was those things, the relationship stuff, that caused them to respond when I asked them to “Come and see” in a youth service.  It was those things that opened the door for me to speak truth into their lives.  Because our lives are the greatest message we will ever preach.

This is what this generation is looking for.  They are not looking for the coolest Youth Pastor on the planet.  They are not looking for you to melt their faces off with the most powerful exegesis of the book of Nahum.  They are just simply looking for a youth worker who cares.  They are looking for someone that will be there for them through it all.  They are looking for someone to talk to when their parents are fighting.  They are looking for someone to talk to when they have doubts about God.  

Think about it...you are where you are today as a youth worker because somebody somewhere thought it was cool to care about you.  What if we became that kind of youth worker to a student today.

Are our roles important?  Absolutely.  This is what we are.  We have responsibilities that go with our roles in student ministry.  However, what God has been challenging me about is to not think that I am influencing students just because my business card says “Student Pastor.” 

I want to think relationship, not role.

 

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Changing My Mind

Thoughts are powerful.  Everything began with a thought.  The creative thought of God (John 1).  Being made in His image, God has given us creative power though our thoughts.  The chair you sit in was first someone’s thought before you ever had the chance to buy it.  It’s color, it’s shape, all were ideas in someone’s mind.  Now, you are enjoying the end result of that initial thought.  Thoughts are powerful.  They shape the future. They change the world.

This is why it is so important that we have the right thinking as youth workers.  Our thoughts affect the next generation. 

Listen to what Paul said about the importance of our thinking:

Romans 12:2 (NLT)
Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will know what God wants you to do, and you will know how good and pleasing and perfect his will really is.

The way that we are transformed is by changing the way that we think.  I feel that God is continually challenging and transforming my thinking.  Constantly renovating my mind; replacing old ways of thinking with new ways.  

This week, I want share with you some of the ways that God has challenged and is challenging my thinking in Student Ministry.   

But first a quesion:

How are some ways that God has been transforming your thinking?

I want to have the mind of Christ.  
I want God to change my mind.