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The Truth about Youth Group...

This was too funny and true not to pass on.  There are a lot more video by Blimey Cow if you liked this one.  There are a limitless number of ways I can think of on how I could use them.

Games Ideas for Youth Ministry

Our last YPA gathering in Nashville was a lot of fun because we all brought a couple of simple games to share that we do with our ministries.  The goal was simple, cheap, and not cheesy.  Here are a few that we shared:

DICE GAME
Materials: 6 sided dice, notecards or small pieces of paper, pen

Directions: Divide students into groups of 3-8.  Give each student an index card and have them sit in a circle (around a table or on the floor).  Place one pen and one die in the middle of the circle.  Each person takes a turn rolling the die, going clockwise.  If it lands on 6, that person picks up the pen and begins writing numbers, from 1 to 50 on the card (1,2,3,4,5…).  Meanwhile, the next person continues to roll, and so on until another 6 is rolled.  At that point, the person writing has to give the pen to the person who just rolled the 6.  Play continues until someone reaches 50 and wins ... $1,000!  (we Baptists have a big games budget)

SPIKEBALL
Go to Spikeball.com for all the info and to order.

QUARTER GAME

Materials: quarter or other coin, table and chairs

Directions: 3 or 4 people on either side of a long table; the people on the same side are on the same team.  One team has the quarter and passes it between each others under the table.  When the other team calls, “Hands Up;” The team with the quarter has to hold their hands up with hands closed (the quarter in one of them), then the team with the quarter counts 3,2,1 and then at the same time, slams their hands flat on the table with the quarter under one of them.  Then the team without the quarter has to guess which hand the quarter is under.  They have two guesses and then the quarter goes to the other team and repeat.

Keys

Materials: chairs and set of keys

Directions: Circle of chairs; one person in middle without a seat holds the keys; this person begins a line by walking around the circle picking up a boy or girl and it alternates; then the person who was just pick gets up and locks hands with the person with the keys, and then they pick the next one to add to the chain. Make the line as long or short as you want; the first one who started is holding the keys, and when they are ready, they drop the keys & everyone scatters for a chair; the person left standing must start the next line.

SCATTERBALL

Materials: Larger area, a gym or field is great. One Dodgeball

Directions: This is basically individual dodgeball with one ball.  Everyone starts gathered up together in the middle and the ball is thrown up, and every scatters.  Whoever get the ball has two steps, and tries to hit someone with the ball (dodgeball rules apply, head doesn’t count, if the person being thrown at catches it, the one throwing it out, etc).  When someone get out, they sit down right where they are, because you are never fully out.  They can still get the ball and hit other people from their seat.  Everyone person for themselves, and it continues until one is left.  Then start again.  It can work where people roll or bounce the ball to each other if they want to pass it without getting out.  Those who are seated normally work together to help get everyone else out.

AMBASSADORS
Materials: list of clues

Directions: This game is like team charades.  The leader or ambassador with make a list of items (it might be a good thing to do with a specific topics and use words that relate) to be used.  You'll want to separate into two teams into two different areas (different rooms or even different floors work well.)  The ambassador needs to be located equally distant from both teams.  The first person from each team will go to get their first word at the same time.  They then return to their teams and act out the word, just like in charades (no talking or sounds).  Once someone in the group guesses the word, the person that guessed the word must race over to the ambassador and give them the word that was just guessed so that the ambassador knows which word to give them next.  If at any time a team gets stumped the actor can say pass and another member of the group can go to the ambassador to get that same word.  The person who passed is not allowed to guess in that round.  The team that gets through the entire list first wins the round.
Hint:  It helps to have an adult volunteer supervise each group to make sure there is no cheating. The list can be made by the youth leader, volunteers or even the youth themselves.

Time to Rethink the Youth Retreat

I don’t know about you, but I am seriously rethinking the youth retreat…maybe we all should be? After spending nearly a week being sick after a youth retreat weekend, I have had some time to reflect on the whole youth retreat idea.

The world has changed a lot on the past 20, 10, 5, and really even 1 year; and how we approach ministry for the most part has not. 

In the past, youth retreats made a lot of sense:

1. They provide a time away to focus on God.

2. They create a time of group bonding that doesn’t just happen in an hour.

3. They give youth and leaders a shared experience that they could fall back on.

4. They give youth an opportunity of fun that they would not otherwise have.

5. They were an atmosphere of exhaustion/emotion to bring a certain response.

6. They give youth the opportunity to stay up late, if not all night, for a change.

All of this sounds great on paper until you factor in youth culture. 

Youth today are more connected with the world than ever before.  Through social media and technology, they can talk to, communicate with, and access anything and anyone in the world whenever they want.  Technology is great for bringing people who are far away, together; but it is also great at taking people who are close together and pushing them far away. So to have them get away and focus on God, you have to tear them away from the technology that runs their lives.

Secondly, youth have more entertainment thrown at them in one day than they did in a month 10 years ago.  Everyone is trying to gain the attention of the youth through entertainment, and if they church thinks that we can win that battle, we are in for a very harsh awakening.  

Finally, youth today get less deep sleep than any generation ever.  This sounds like a crazy claim, but think about it.  Since youth feel that they always have to be connected, night and day; throughout the night if they receive a Facebook or text at any hour of the night or day, they feel an anxiety that they must answer it; and so they do.  All of this leads to a lack of full sleep cycles, less hours of sleep, and eventually completely exhausted teens.  And the last thing they need is another excuse not to sleep.

If the church can be anything, it needs to be “Holy” meaning set apart from the world.  So then why do we jump in on the newest whatever thinking that is what we are supposed to do?

All this brings us full circle to me typing this while being on antibiotics after a three day youth retreat.  It wasn’t just me; over half of our group and other groups as well have all crashed in one way or another, several coming down sick.

Is this the Gospel?  Is this what we are called to be as the Church?

What if the Church found its identity as a place of Sabbath?  Relationships where you connect on a deep, meaningful level gathering together to refuel, recharge, and rest; knowing God is God and we don’t have to be.

So is the youth retreat dead?

Maybe.  But more importantly, we as the church need to revision and live out Sabbath.

What if church was not another thing you had to get up and go to, but rather it was where you came when you were worn out?

What if church wasn’t a place for people to tell you what to do, but rather a place we shared life together?

What if church wasn’t a place you hid from when life was hard, but rather a place you ran to when you had nothing left?

What if Sabbath wasn’t a day a week or a place you went, but rather time spent with people of God doing the things that brings you and others life?

I don’t know about you, but I am seriously rethinking the youth retreat…maybe we all should be?

Thank you…

As Youth Pastors, there are some many things that we do that are overlooked and underappreciated.  Often times, teens and their families forget to or don’t know to say “thank you.”  It is amazing to me how deeply touching a simple heartfelt thank you means.  So, as today is National Thank A Youth Worker Day (check out more about this at thankayouthworkerday.com), we at Youth Pastors Anonymous wanted to say thank you.  So hear these “thank yous” as if they are from your youth and their families…

Thank you for answering your call from God to go back to help those who are in high school and middle school; even if those were terrible years for you, we need help and you provide.  Thank you.

Thank you for all the times you stay up praying and struggling to find a way to help me understand faith and why it matters in my life.  Thank you.

Thank you for all the boring church meetings you sit through so that you can be a voice for us. Thank you.

Thank you for showing up to my games, concerts, plays, speeches, recitals, and so many other things; it shows you care beyond the walls of the church.  Thank you.

Thank you for all the notes you write, they really do mean so much to me and always seem to come at the right time. Thank you.

Thank you for bringing me cookies, ice cream, coffee, anything while I was recovering.  It reminded me about truly being the church to each other.  Thank you.

Thank you for planning, scheduling, setting up, running, and cleaning up for retreats and events.  I cannot image how much time you spent on this just so we can experience God in a deep and real way.  Thank you.

Thank you for spend hours preparing a lesson that I can relate to so I can learn what it means to be a disciple of Christ. Thank you.

Thank you for being with me when my world fell apart and I had nothing to live for and you were there present with me reminding me how God is with me. Thank you.

Thank you for asking me hard questions and caring about my soul, it challenges me to look beyond the shallows to the depths.  Thank you.

Thank you for being one of the few people who asks “How are you?” and stays around to listen to a real answer.  Thank you.

Thank you for always being there, week after week, and consistently showing up in my life.  Even if I seem like it doesn’t matter, it does; a lot.  Thank you.

Thank you for pointing out where God is at work in my messy life, sometimes it is so hard for me to believe that God cares; but you are a constant reminder that God does. Thank you.

Most of all, thank you for the fact that you live out faith in such a way that it makes me excited to be a Christian and one of the greatest gifts that you have given me.  Thank you.

Thank you for being such an amazing youth worker!
Chris and Joanna Cummings

Are you walking? - A reflection from Modern Family

I love the show Modern Family!  Often times is night be the funniest show out there, mostly because it brings up things that we have all seen in one way or another in our own family.  A recent episode, Phil on Wire (Season 3: Episode 3), was one that stuck out for me as a youth worker as well.

 

One part of the “Modern Family” is made up of a husband, wife, senior and freshman in high school daughters, and a preteen boy.  In this episode, they are addressing how do we teach our children how to handle life choices well, a topic they cover all the time.  The thing that stuck out to me as a youth worker in this episode was how the mom and dad tried to teach a lesson to their children.

The mom, on several occasions, is telling her daughters how they should handle getting along with each other and other people.  While she is doing this, we see the mom getting frustrated with the parking lot cop as the school.

Phil, the dad, and his son are seen in wonder of a movie about tightrope walkers.  Phil then decides that he must do this.  And he and his son spend the rest of the show trying to do get Phil to successfully tightrope walk across the yard.

(Spoiler) By the end, the mom is being arrested by the parking lot cop all while still trying to teach her girls about making good choices, while the dad is walking on a tightrope.

What stood out to me was this: 
How often do we as youth workers keep telling teens how to be a follower of Christ, all the while not living it out ourselves?

Think about the last time you as you, and not as a youth worker (not just because it was part of your job), but when was the last time you served because you were living out your faith… when was the last time?

I know for me, if I am honest and look back on a given week, I spend most of my time planning how to communicate how to be a follower of Christ or complaining about how some part of the church is limiting me to do so.  Instead of living out what it means to be a follower of Christ and asking others to join in. 

There are two inspiring points to leave you with from the episode that I hope challenge and encourage you:

The son challenges Phil, who was trying to tightrope 6 inches off the ground and failing: “Maybe that’s the problem, maybe you keep falling is because part of you knows you can fall; maybe if the wire was much, much higher you wouldn’t fall…”

After this, the mom and daughters come home to the son cheering on dad, as he walks a much higher rope, and the mom reflects: “All week long I have been telling my girls how to act instead of showing them. But not Phil, Phil could have said Alex relax don’t take everything so seriously or Hailey challenge yourself, don’t give up so easily.  But instead of talking the talk, Phil walked the walk (literally).  And isn’t that what we are supposed to do for the people we love?”

May we stop spending so much of our lives talking about faith, and raise the wire for how we live out our faith, so that those watching might be inspired to join in on the greatest story ever…

Leadership...

Last gathering of YPA, we discussed Youth Leadership: What do we do to train, equip, and let youth be leaders in our churches and groups? The range of answers was from "nothing, it is easier to do myself" to "we let them have enough leadership that they might fail from time to time."

I got me thinking, not just about youth leadership though, but about who is helping to lead us as youth pastors.

I know that in the perfect world everyone would get along great with their pastors and they would guide us in leadership and faith, but let's face it; this just isn't always the case.  And even if you do have a great relationship, the pastor is so busy with the other staff and rest of the church; the focus on you is minimal.

So I ask: Who is helping you develop into a leader of student and adult leaders?

It seems like often times we just wing it, it might work and it might not.  But what if we could have other leaders come along side us and help give us guidance, encouragement, and challenge our thinking and practice to make us better at what we do?

If we are honest, we all need people in our live who will help push us to keep growing. Sometimes this happens naturally, sometimes you need to create it.  

For me, I am currently part of a program Center for Youth Ministry Training, in which thier four priciples are Classroom, Church, Coaching, and Cohort.  Essentially pairing a seminary student with a church while support both with a coach to guide the youth worker and provide a place for thier peers to gather and grow.

I believe that YPA can help provide the cohort aspect in any context, but you must seek out mentors, coaches, in you life.  Mentors who will challenge you to become the leader you were created to be!

Be inspired today that the mentors are out there, you just need to be active in finding them and setting out time to meet.

Who are you going to sit down to coffee with?

Who is pouring into you...

We had a great YPA gathering this month!  It was amazing to be back together after taking the summer off.  I cannot describe how uplifting it is to be together with the community!  We spent the time sharing stories of how we witnessed God working this summer, one by one we shared great stories of how we saw God at work in our teens, through our teens, and even in us.  They were all amazing storied, but there was one story that got me thinking...

The story was about how she was invited to go on a mission trip with some people from her church, and although there were youth on the trip, she was not really expected to lead in any way; and they were paying for her to go.  

Through the trip she was able to experience again what it is like to go on a mission trip and experience God at work, without needing to worry about the next thing or what that kid is doing over there.

She described it as a truly refreshing and refueling.  She then described, how many of us feel, that it seems like she was always giving...giving...giving, and never being pour into herself, and she looked up and said to the group of youth ministers: "Do you every feel like that? Where you are always pouring out and no one is pouring into you?"

And you could see on everyone's face, including my own, that we all felt that way in one way or another.

It does seem like we find ourselves in this place more often than not, if we are honest.  As ministers, too often we find that no one is there or even thinks of ministering to us.  And we know that it is not just some devotional that is going to fill us.

For me, at each church I have been at as a youth pastor, I have always found a family or two who recognizes this and in their own way pours into our life and is there for us, without trying to push an agenda. And second, it is relationships with peers, fellow youth pastors, those in the same boat, that I also find refueling in.  It is these relationships that you can find refueling, rest, and God.

May you find these kind of relationships in your context, so that you may find rest...

A letter to student's parents...

Click here for a letter written by a former youth minister who now works with youth pastors, Brian Abby from YouthMark.

I like the things that he says in the letter, but here the question:
Have you ever had "the look?"  Do you now?
I know for me, often times I can feel alone on an island, as a minister.  I can't talk to anyone in church because it could come back to bite me. I can't always share with others on staff; friends don't understand.  I feel alone.

I have seen too many great youth ministers be beaten by the system, the church, and because they felt alone walked away from youth ministry. This brings me so much sadness to me.

I want you to know you are not alone, and I encourage you in these moments...before these moments; find other youth workers, others in your shoes and build a community you can turn to.

If you can't find anyone, contact me.

You are not alone!

Sabbath for Pastors...

There was a new article out in the United Methodist Portal about the struggle of pastors trying to find Sabbath. It obviously works well for all those in full or part-time ministry as well.

Here is the Link

Epic Fail Pastors Conference...

I stumbled upon this and was excited there was at least something out there for pastors.  Looks interesting.

Find out more here


Epic Fail Pastors Conference from Epic Fail Pastors Conference on Vimeo.

A safe place for us as ministers...

Hi, I’m Chris and I’m a Youth Pastor…

We often joke that YPA is a support group for youth pastors, but the more we build community and relationships, the more and more it is true.  YPA is a support group, and perhaps it is exactly what we as ministers need. 

I have been reading “In the Name of Jesus” by Henri Nouwen - If you have not ever read Nouwen you need too!  Anyway, Nouwen was a priest who after years in ministry ended up moving to a community of people with special needs called L’Arche.  He writes out of the wisdom he gains from this community that truly shares life, pain, joys, hopes…everything. 

In one part of his book “In the Name of Jesus,” Nouwen shares his wisdom about a communal ministry as opposed to individual super star ministry.  He shares about how before he moved to this community, he did ministry alone.  He put on a show, and hoped people applauded, and how his new community made him realize it.

“Living in a community with very wounded people, I came to see that I had lived most of my life as a tightrope artist trying to walk on a high, thin cable from one tower to another, always waiting for the applause when I had not fallen and broken my leg.”

I know I feel like a circus performer…more than I would like to admit; walking the thin line, between entertaining enough that people come and pay attention and then maybe sharing God.  Between what the parents want, the youth want, the church wants, the pastor wants, the random lady who tells me what I am doing wrong wants, and the other random guy who thinks that youth should do this this and this wants …I am just trying to walk on the wire.

 

“Jesus refused to be a stunt man.  He did not come to walk on hot coals, swallow fire, or put his head in the lion’s mouth to demonstrate that he had something worthwhile to say.”

Sounds like youth ministry – we must have brightest lights, newest media, nicest hippest threads ...yes hippest, and messiest games.  My temptation in all this is to show how good I am at walking the tightrope.  To show all of them, I can do it.  I can be perfect in the eye of everyone…and all the while hoping that it ends in applause.  But it seems like it almost never does…so I try harder, walking on a thinner line while carrying more things…

I know deep within me this isn’t how it is supposed to be.  It can’t be. We were all created to live, worship, and be in community with God and others.  Yes, even those in the ministry.  As Nouwen points out, it is in us honestly sharing life together that we are truly ministers; but too often we as ministers don’t do this.  We keep a safe distance from those we minister to just to make sure they don’t know we mess up too.  We know that our churches demand perfection from imperfect people, so we just don’t share that side with them…

“But how can we lay down our life for those with whom we are not even allowed to enter into deep personal relationship?  Laying down your life means making your own faith and doubt, hope and despair, joy and sadness, courage and fear available to others as ways of getting in touch with the Lord of life.”

We are called be willing to share our pains, hurts, and brokenness as an example to our churches.  Through it we teach them that God calls the broken into healing, the hurt into comfort, and the empty into fullness. 

One last point Nouwen makes is that he prays that ministers all find safe places for them to be broken. I don’t think that he is under the disillusion that our churches are the perfect place for all of this; we need to be vulnerable with our churches, but maybe not completely. 

“I am convinced that priests and ministers, especially those who relate to many anguishing people, need a truly safe place for themselves.  They need a place where they can share their deep pain and struggles with people who do not need them, but who can guide them even deeper into the mystery of God’s love.”

For Nouwen L’Arche was this place for him.   I know that YPA has become this place for me and many others.  It is a place where I can be open about struggles in my call and ministry, knowing everyone in the room has or will be in this same place at some time.  I can be vulnerable because I know they don’t depend on me, we depend on the community of ministers.  We must be have those we rely on and they on us, just like an archway each needing the others help. 

If you work in ministry, I pray that you have or find a community like this.  May this website help you create one if there is nothing like this around you… not because we have all the answers, but maybe it will make it easier to start.

I will leave you with one last hope from Nouwen, a passionate plea to God and us.

“Would that all priests and ministers could have such a safe place for themselves.”

YPA Webinar Video

Untitled from YoungPeople'sMinistries on Vimeo.

Rights of Passage...Milestone Ministry

At our last YPA gathering, we discussed what were some memory makers or traditions that our groups had that really helped bring youth to God.  I will add more about what we talked about soon, but one of the things I thought was interesting that we discussed we the idea of implementing "rights of passage" or "a milestone ministry."  The idea is simple, when a youth or group of youth attain a certain goal, achievement, or big life milestone; we celebrate it and honor it.

As my wife, Joanna, is a children's minister; I have heard her talk about this a lot as a place that it looks like children's ministry may try to really go to.  I think in many ways it could be a good thing where we help celebrate our children as the continue on their faith journey into adolescence.

So the question came up "What faith/life stages happen that would we would be able to celebrate within a youth ministry?"
Some of what we came up with:
Getting your drivers license
Birthdays 
Graduation
Baptism
Confirmation

I think what I really got thinking about was "Bibles."  How does the church encourage its young people throughout children's ministry to adulthood to read, breath, and live the scriptures? Does it?

At our church right now, we present the first Bibles to children in 3rd grade because they can now read well enough to be able to read it on their own.
The second time we present Bibles is for confirmation which happens around the 6th or 7th grade year.
The final time we present Bibles is for high school graduation.
I think that this can be a good flow to help them always have a relevant Bible for their age level.

At our YPA gathering, the idea was brought up: Is it better for the church or the parents to give the Bible?
I think that this is a great question because we want the home to be a place that encourages faith, but we also want the church to be a place for that as well.  Could somehow both give it?

My wife, in her great wisdom, this past year had the church buy Bibles for the 3rd graders, but she had everyone on staff go through each Bible and highlight and sign by their favorite verse(s), she also had the parents write a note in the front of the Bible for their child and highlight their own favorite scripture verse(s).  I think it is something that would be great to do at every milestone.

What if we could pick a few mile markers to celebrate with young people in our church? And what if we figured out how to have the church and home work together in that celebration?  How would it help the youth, the home, and the church?

Thoughts?

YPA Webinar! This Thursday!

 

February 24, 2011
Youth Pastors Anonymous
Join Hank Hilliard in conversation with Chris Cummings the founder of Youth Pastors Anonymous.  YPA is a ecumenical group of youth pastors in the Nashville area that meets monthly for support, encouragement, and to be challenged to grow in their faith and ministry.  Chris says the power of YPA lies in the sharing of our lives and stories.  This is not group counseling, but a community of co-journeyers.  YPA enables relationships and fellowship to expand way beyond the monthly meetings.  Come hear the story of YPA, be encouraged, and discover how you might find or start your own group.

Click here to register for the webinar.

Great moment in Youth Ministry...

A couple of YPA gatherings ago, we shared our great moments in youth ministry, the ones that keep us all going. 

The one that I shared was one that happened very recently.
I have been at my church for about a year and a half and we have a family who has a high school daughter who has physical handicaps.  Josie is an amazing girl, but she is unable to walk very far so she is usually in a wheel chair, and she struggles to communicate only with her eyes and smile, because she is also unable to talk.

Since, we have been at this church, my wife and I have been trying hard to make it possible for them to feel comfortable for Josie to come to youth.  She had stopped coming because it was too hard. 

She now comes to youth once a week during our Wednesday night programming, but I don't think I remember her ever being at church on Sunday mornings because it is just too hard to get her ready in time. 

But the other day, when it was time for communion at our Sunday morning worship, Josie's family and Josie came up!  She was walking the whole way up and took communion!!!

I have to say, it was one of the most amazing visuals of redemption!

I think that in sharing our stories or great moments in youth ministry, we can all be encouraged and healed from the many times we are beaten down and broken from all the small things that add up.

So hear this story as yours.... and add your own!

The Chair...by The Skit Guys

Here is a great encouragement video we showed last gathering. I hope it will encourage you as a youth pastor or anyone in ministry.

Spiritual Self-Care as Youth Pastor

About little over a month ago, the topic of our YPA meeting was Spiritual Self Care; simply how do we tend to our own souls. (warning this is long, but worth the read. I added pics to help)

This is something that is hard when your job is to tend to everyone else’s soul, and often your gets forgotten.  Unfortunately, the local church has rarely done a good job of helping, often times it just makes it worse; and after sometime we find ourselves drained. One even shared, “I had to realize that the church wasn’t going to be the place where we get fed.”

So, we discussed and shared as a group what are some ways we have each found and use to keep filling our own souls so that we might be able to tend to others because if we have nothing, we have nothing to give too.

Here is a summation of the ideas, we hope if nothing else this might help give you some ideas to try out.

We will start with the easier ones:

PODCASTS –
often times just hearing a different communicator helps to inspire us in our own context.  Here are a few that we shared that are worth listening to, but it is by no means an exhaustive list:
Andy Stanly, Mars Hill (Rob Bell), Grander Community Church, Louie Giglio, Princeton Youth Culture, Fuller Institute, Cornerstone Church in Semi Valley (Francis Chan), Doug Fields, Youth Hacks, Alistair Begg, James McDonald, Walk in the Word.

NOOMAS-
These are short DVD sermonettes with great illustrations by Rob Bell.  I have a pastor friend who starts his day sometimes with watching and meditating on one of these as his devotional. You can find them at www.nooma.com

GOOD READING -
Often times we can all be inspired by the great of past and the voices of the present, especially in scripture, but also in other writings. Here are just a few suggestions:
-C.S. Lewis (yes Narnia, but also his other greats like Mere Christianity and the Great Divorce and the Problem of Pain)
-Henri Nouwen (Anything his writes, make sure to check out his bio too)
-Richard Foster (Celebration of Disciplines, Prayer)
-Philip Yancey (Rumors of Another World, his book on prayer)
-Gordon MacDonald (Who Stole My Church)
-Anne Jackson (Made Church Disease, Permission to Speak Freely)
-Brian McLaren (New Kind of Christianity, A New Kind of Christian, almost anything by him)

CONFERENCES -
Another way that we can find ourselves being fed is to get away for a few days and go to conferences.  Often we think of just going to youth ministry conferences, which are great; but as one pointed out we need to also try leader and pastor conferences where we are fed too, not just learning the next new idea. Here are a few we have been to:
-National Youth Workers Convention
-Simply Youth Ministry
-Catalyst
-RESTORE (Student Life puts on a conference for just for Youth Pastors and it is FREE!)
-Princeton Forum on Youth Ministry
 

PERSONAL STUDY –
We get this backwards a lot, myself included.  We study to teach lessons, but what is we study to grow in love of God and neighbor, and out of that our lesson flowed? Here are a few things you could try:
-Read scripture you don’t often read
-Try reading a whole book in one sitting as a story, the Message version is good for this.
-Try reading the Bible in a year

PERSONAL MISSION-
I have to admit, this was not one I had ever thought of, but just like personal study, we often only do missions when we schedule it for our youth.  We are called to live missionally every day, what if we did? Find something you are passionate about and start serving, not planning a trip, but just you show up and serve.  Once again let this lifestyle flow from your own to the youth, not the other way around.

SAY NO-

I have heard it said and it really rings true now that I am married, but it was even true before that: “When you say YES to something, you have just said NO to something else.”  We have to learn to say NO as youth pastors.  Yes we have random skill and gifts that help the whole church, and this is not a ploy to say stop helping, it is just to say CHECK YOURSELF.  What am I saying NO to when I say yes to this?  If someone approaches you with an idea for the youth to do, ask them to head it up, and if they won’t then let them know you won’t be able to either.  

SABBATH –
We are called to a place of rest, a time of rest, all of us.  Often in ministry, this Sabbath isn’t Sunday but we fail to admit that.  Sabbath should be a set away time hopefully day a week where we participate in whatever puts us in a space where God can fill back and heal our souls.  This is a great need in all of our lives, and if we as pastors fail to exemplify this in our own lives, how can we expect our youth and churches to live it out? Remember the Sabbath is different from vacation, vacations is just getting away, Sabbath is getting away to be with God.  My challenge to you is to try this for 4 weeks, pick a day each week and go and be, and see what happens.  Here are a few ideas on what you can do and other ways to experience Sabbath.

-Take a night away where you are disconnected from all things electronic including clocks.
-Take a day and spend it just being in God’s creation. Go lay in a pile of leave or a field of flowers.
-My wife and I are both in ministry in the same church, when we take Sabbath it is on Fridays, and the best ones have been when we have taken mornings to ourselves with God and then came back together later in the day for a romantic day night.
-Start simple, don’t answer or check your phone or email for one day a week.
-Take the day after a retreat for Sabbath, whatever day of the week it is.
-Take a few Sundays off a year and don’t go to church anywhere.
-One shared a ways of Sabbath living as 1 hour a day, 1 day a week, 1 night away a month, and I would add one week a year all for Sabbath.
- Take a 3 days retreat to an Abby, Monastery, and join them for set hours of prayer, nothing else.
- Find Prayer Practices that fill you! Labyrinths, Journaling, Music, Prayer beads ,whatever!
-Each night, I have found to just turn my brain off often a great TV show or movie or other activity like sports helps to get away.
-Create a Rhythmic Week that lay out when you plan to do everything you need to do each week just having a general guideline will help really organize you week.
-Finally, find someone else who is going to check up and make sure you are keeping Sabbath, not because you should, but because without Sabbath we eventually die inside.

We hope this was not overwhelming, but inspiring.  DO NOT TRY ALL OF THIS AT THE SAME TIME! Try one, if it doesn’t connect you and God, try again.  Be creative mix some together and make sure to tend to your soul!

Comment and leave your ideas!!