What's Being Going On - Part 1

I know, I know, it has been a long time since I have blogged on this site.  My life has been super crazy and I just haven't felt the need to write anything.  I have a ton of ideas saved up and I am hoping to take another crack at this blogging thing.

I wanted to use this first blog to catch people up on what has been going on in my life.  This will probably take a few blogs, so please be patient.  The focus of this blog will probably change also.  I will talk more about that later.


So what has been going on....

Over the last 18 months the life of our family has been a very crazy roller coaster.  In March of 2011 we resigned from our position from Platte Woods UMC after almost 5 years of ministry.  This is a decision that we felt God was asking us to make and after some needed push we did it.  In our arrogance, we thought finding another position would be simple, unfortunately it wasn't.  We looked for 7 months before we made the move to Newburgh and accepted a position at Newburgh UMC.  

We were super excited about this move because we believed the church and staff were a good fit for us.  We saw huge potential in the youth group and knew that this could be a long term position for us.  Unfortunately, after just 3 months we were asked to resign for what was told us as "chemistry" between the leaders and I.  I was floored.  I had no idea this was coming and never expected it from this church.  We knew that 3 months isn't long enough to get started much less make any significant progress but we accepted the reality of it and decided to move on.


So once again, less than a year later, we were on the look out for a new position.  Again we thought there would be a quick resolution and we had a few bites right off the bat, but nothing came of it.  We looked for youth ministry positions as well as secular work because we weren't sure that we wanted to move our kids after being here only 4 months.

We began to question God and how he could move us to a new location only to lose our job in 3 months.  We had no idea what the plan was or where we would end up.  The idea of moving again scared us because we had no financial means of doing it.  We had already uprooted our family once that year and didn't want to do it again.  We had no idea what God was wanting from us...

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

Landing in Newburgh, IN

As I start this new blog with a new identity.  I figured I would take some time to let all the readers know where I am at in this youth ministry process.  I am sure that some people will land here having never met me or even heard of me.  I am not famous nor do I have any books written.  I am just a youth pastor trying to reach students for Christ.

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.