Catching Up...

So, it has been and while and I could make excuses, the bottom line is that I just haven't felt like blogging. I think about it and the different articles I could write but I just don't do it. I am not going to promise to write more but I am going to try my best.

I want to use this post to just catch people up on what is going on with me. I am working at Epworth UMC and Walmart. I am doing ministry but in a different way. I am Director of Family Ministries and kind of an associate without the title. I am happy there and look forward to doing more ministry. I am also working at Walmart full time as Department Manager of Infants as Children's. I am excited about this position as it is a move up and full time. It is funny to think that I didn't have a full time job for a whole year.

I believe God is leading me a place I haven't thought about before or maybe moving back to something I once was. I am not thrilled about doing bi-vocational ministry but I am seeing what God is doing.

Our family is doing well. We have had some major and minor bumps along the way but God has been faithful to USAF we are thankful. We couldn't and can't do it without him. We have adjusted our lifestyle to the lack of funds and find that we can live without a lot.

I am looking forward to what is in our future. I know it is different and maybe a little scary by I know God is there...

Tools I Use In Ministry: Social Media

Staying connected to other people has always been a priority for humans.  Hand signals, written symbols, smoke signals, cups & strings, morse code, the telephone, internet and cell phones are all used to help us feel connected to other people.  Cell phones provide internet access to even the remote places in the world.  Social Media has grabbed the world over and many of us are addicted to it.

Tools I Use In Ministry: Google

I remember many years ago, I was frustrated with the emails programs that were out there. I had a Hotmail, Yahoo and even created my own pop email program. I was very annoyed because they were slow, full of Ads and I would get tons of spam. I was talking to friends and found out that Google had created a email program that was way different than everything out there. I got excited and began begging for an invite into their private beta. I ended up buying my invite into Gmail and the $.99 was well worth it. I have never looked back.

Tools I Use In Ministry: iPad, iPhone & iOS Apps

This tool is probably one that gets me a lot of grief from my other youth pastor friends.  I have had an iPhone since version 3G and I got an iPad a couple months after they came out.  I know that most youth pastors cannot necessarily afford either of these tools but this is what I use.  I use many programs that have PC/Mac versions, so you can take those ideas and apply them how you see.

Tools I Use In Ministry: MinistryTracker.com

I remember back in mid 90's doing youth ministry at a small church in Hollywood, Fl.  I was working there that summer and loving it.  I created fliers using an old clip art book and black&white copier.  I thought I was cool stuff using "hip" clip art.  When I wanted to talk to students, I called them or they called me.  Thinking back to then and comparing it to now, is amazing to think about.  I don't have books of clip art, I just use Google Images.  I don't use an old copier but a very nice color laser printer.  I contact students using Social Media and texting.  The tools of the youth pastor have changed a lot in the last decade or so.  We use tools that make our work easier and more productive.  This week I will be highlighting some of the tools that I use in ministry.

My friend Neely McQueen over at MorethanGoship.com always has some great advice on girl ministries and more.  I really liked this post because it always hurts when a students leaves, especially a student we have invested in.

"It’s bound to happen the longer you are in youth ministry…a student that you have invested in will stop showing up. They might slowly disengage from you and the ministry or maybe it happens suddenly. It can be heartbreaking, right?

What can you do?

I am strong believer in a follow up plan. Facebook, email, text, snail mail…a phone call. It’s important to make contact. The point is to follow up on the student – to provide care for them…but it’s easy to make it about their absence from our programs. I believe students can tell if we care about them or if we just care about the attendance."

Read the rest of the blog here

Giving Away Ownership

I read a ton of blogs from other youth pastors.  Many of them I have met face-to-face, some I have never talked to.  All of them have great advice.  I think on the weekends, I will repost blog posts from my friends.  


My friend Jay Highman has a blog at jayhighman.com where he talks about giving your adult leaders ownership of the ministry as a way to build the ministry to be more sustainable.  He writes...


"Tip: Let Them Own It; Leaders.
I am trying something new. This past summer, we made a number of significant changes to our programming. One of the major changes was introducing a redesigned small group ministry. In the redesign, we have handed over the leadership of the small group to the adult leader and the group. What that means is, I am allowing the adult leader to take ownership of what I hope becomes their ministry. As a group, we plan, lead, and love on students together. But in small groups, this becomes the role and responsibility of the leader..."


Read the rest here

Divided the Movie - A Review

Over the last few weeks I kept seeing links to this movie coming from my youth pastor friends.  I blew it off for a while and then decided to watch it.  I think the movie was well done for what it was but I believe the message is off.


Here is the overview from the website: DIVIDED follows young Christian filmmaker Philip Leclerc on a revealing journey as he seeks answers to what has led his generation away from the church. Traveling across the country conducting research and interviewing church kids, youth ministry experts, evangelists, statisticians, social commentators, and pastors, Philip discovers the shockingly sinister roots of modern, age-segregated church programs, and the equally shocking evidence that the pattern in the Bible for training future generations is at odds with modern church practices. He also discovers a growing number of churches that are abandoning age-segregated Sunday school and youth ministry to embrace the discipleship model that God prescribes in His Word.

Faith in God, more than words

I sat in the Sunday morning service of Tiffany Fellowship, knowing the we were predestined to be there. You see, the pastor was speaking about worrying and using the reference from Luke 12:22-31 plus a few other verses. The pastor's point was that if we worry about what is going to happen, then our faith isn't faith at all. As I sat there, I couldn't believe it. This was exactly what I needed to hear. You see, just that week we had been devastated at hearing from a few churches that we thought we were good candidates for. We were excited that our search process would be quick and painless. We had interviewed with some great churches and we thought we were in the running. Unfortunately, they didn't pan out. We had become frustrated and disappointed.

As I sat there in that service, it hit me like a ton of bricks. I cannot say I have faith in God but then question how He does things in my life. We had given this search to God. We knew He would put us in a great place, He had done it before. I was ashamed, especially after the pastor used the term "Practical Athiest" for me. I was someone who believed in God but didn't have faith in Him or I was good as saying but not as good as doing. I was ashamed. I knew better. I knew that God would take care of us. I became like most people and thought it would happen in my time.

Since that Sunday morning, I have thought a lot about what the pastor talked about. I have thought and prayed about how I was and how I was feeling. In the two weeks that have followed, we have talked to a few more churches. We have been turned down by a couple and we have a couple who seem really excited about us. Each day we have remembered that sermon and this verse, Matthew 6:34 "Therefore do not worry about to or row, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own". I cannot say I have faith and not trust God to do His will. I have to continued to trust Him with my entire life, not just what I have control over.

I have to keep reminding myself that worrying isn't going to help me get a position. I must continue to put my faith in God. How about you?

My Process of Looking for a Ministry Position

Most of my world knows that a couple weeks ago, I stepped down as youth pastor at Platte Woods UMC. I have begun the process of looking for a new position. I have done this once before, so I kind of "think" I know what I am doing. I know that many of my other youth pastor friends are looking, so I figured I would share how I am looking for a new job with the blog world.


First and foremost, I have been praying about this for a while. Even before we told people we were leaving, we have been praying. No matter what I am looking for, God has a place for me.  We know that all our decisions are what He wants from us, so we have put this whole process in His hands.

What Am I Looking For?
I am a youth pastor. I know this totally, so I am looking for a youth pastor position. I am open to varying this to include young adults or maybe some family ministry but I am sticking mainly with youth ministry.  I am looking for a position that will help me to continue to use the gifts that God has given me to build a youth ministry and the church.


The church I would like to be a part of will be serious about missions, its vision and reaching the lost. l want a church that is fluid in its processes, meaning willing to change what needs to be changed. I want to be a part of a staff that is relational and willing to help each other. I would like to be in a church larger than 800 in worship, but that isn't a big deal.  Size has never really mattered to me.  I just want a church that I can fit into.


How Am I Looking?
I really don't like looking for a new job.  I don't know that anyone really loves it.  I started this search off with having my resume professionally evaluated by an HR Manager.  I also had several of my friends look at it to make sure that I was presenting myself correctly.  I am happy with how my resume reads and what I have accomplished.  I also created a default email that I use as a guideline when sending to churches.  I try to change it up by focusing on what the church is looking for.


The church world is a small world and big combined.  There are tons of churches and different denominations but if you know a group of people, your reach can be pretty big.  I am connected with other youth pastors and churches through the UMC and Nazarene churches.  I have have contacts through the NNYM and my involvement with SYMC as an Inside Track Team member.  I have feelers out everywhere.


I am staying on top of the different job boards out there.  There a few youth ministry specific lists out there, some ministry lists and then the denominational classified listings.  I will list some of the main boards below...


Youth Specialties
Simply Tools
Youth Ministry Architects
Church Staffing


Where Am I Looking?
Moving to Missouri wasn't a big part of our plan when I was looking for a job last time.  God had plans to bring me here and we are happy we did.  This time we are kind of focusing our search on an seven hour driving radius around Nashville (where our families kind of live) and parts of Florida.   We are open to move outside of this range but we would really like to be closer to family.  This search includes the following states: Florida, Tennessee, Mississippi, Arkansas, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia.


I am excited about the idea of moving to somewhere new.  I know that God has a plan for us and I am glad I get to be a part.  He did some amazing things while we were at Platte Woods.  Platte Woods was my first full-time ministry position and I learned a ton.  I am excited about being able to take what I learned and apply it to another ministry setting.

SYMC Conference - Day 3

The second day of the Simply Youth Ministry Conference was a great time of wrap up. We had some amazing worship in the general session with Shane & Shane, Tim Timmons, OC Supertones and Gungor. I loved it and almost lost my voice.


The second half of the Indispensable Youth Pastor was about keeping and loving your job. We started off the second day with a quote from Andy Stanley talking about mediocrity. "Momentum is never created by tweaking something old... get new choir robes. You can't tweak yourself into momentum. New triggers momentum. New is expensive and risky, so we default to tweak tweak tweak. Minor improvements doesn't create momentum. It just takes what's mediocre and makes it a little better." I think this says a lot about how some ministries and churches try to just change up the little rather than taking the big steps needed to reach people.

SYMC Conference - Day 2

This post was started at the Conference but finished a couple weeks later.


This continues my first couple thoughts on the Simply Youth Ministry Conference.


Day two of SYMC was incredible. I started with worship and then moved into my Deeper Learning Track. I was really struggling with what to take and on the advice of a friend, I choose Mark DeVries teaching "The Indispensable Youth Pastor".


This learning track focus on Locating, Landing and Loving your youth ministry position. The first section was focused on the Locating and Landing pieces. Mark and Jeff talked about the following:

• Find a church that is the right match. This means knowing what you are looking for in a church.
• The Interview. Once you found that church, how do you make yourself look good on paper and in real life. (I will cover this in another blog series)
• Making the Move. How will this affect your family? How much time will you need to commit to the church vs your family? What are some things you can do to start the ministry right.

When the track started, I wasn't sure I need to be there and almost left. Even though we had decided to leave, my brain wasn't computer it. I am glad I stayed. I learned some stuff that is going to come in handy as I begin to look for another position.


I day was filled with 4 hours of deep conversation about becoming an indispensable youth pastor. The following awesome points that Mark made that I think really show how to become indispensable.


Moving Toward indispensability:

1. Your job is to do your job: You were hired to do a job, you need to do it. The youth pastor can sometimes become more than the youth pastor because we normally have other various skills but we need to focus on our job first. You can't complain about others not doing what they should, if you yourself aren't doing your job.
2. Steward the Church's vision: We all have an idea of how the church should run but you weren't hired to change the church. You need to champion the vision of the church and that pastor. If you try to push your own vision, then only friction will occur.
3. Kiss the Victim Goodbye: When you are employee, you have to do things you don't want to do. Mark talked about paying the rents in ministry. There are things that NEED to be done to be effective and by doing them and not worrying whether you agree or not is best. Paying these rents are about building trust and enthusiasm in the ministry you are trying to build.
4. Get More than our Job Done: You need to go beyond what is expected of you. Mark told a story of a Pastor who knew the names of the majority of his congregation the first day he was there because he studied their faces and names. We need to reach out to the parents, leadership and congregation and help them be successful.
5. Focus on Making Other People Successful: When you make other people in the church successful, you build up more rents. This also makes your ministry stronger by weaving the ministry throughout the church. Encourage your students to get involved and be successful in other ministries in the church. Volunteer your group to help when other ministries need it.
6. Creativity can be learned: Don't limit yourself. All of us are creative. God created us to be creative. We need to stop worrying about coming up with bad ideas and just let the creativity flow.
7. Tell the Stories -- Transform the Culture: Make sure others know of your success in ministry. Find ways to tell the good stories of what is happening in your ministry. You can use these stories to show others the excitement in your ministry and it will become contagious.

As I thought through these ideas, I began to think about the good things I did in our ministry and some of the rents that I didn't pay. If you are in ministry, are you paying your rents or playing the victim?