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.::How Much Faith? vs. What Do They Have Their Faith In?

Posted in adolescence, church, Life, Ministry, Teaching, Theology, youth ministry on December 1, 2011 by Walter

Last week at Youth Specialties National Youth Workers Convention, Reggie Joiner got me thinking about this idea that I wanted to tease out a bit more.  There are two distinct ways of looking at the outcome of our youth ministries:

One is “How much faith do our students have when they graduate?”  The way many of our ministries measure this generally looks like this:

  • Did they graduate without getting drunk (too much)?
  • Are they still virgins?
  • Have they been immersed for the forgiveness of their sins in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit?
  • Did they go to camp, retreats, Wednesday night, etc. Enough?
  • Do they vote for the correct political party?

Now don’t hear me saying there things are unimportant.  What I am saying is that these things are not accurate measuring sticks for the success or failure of our youth ministry, parenting or church.

Unfortunately what happens with many of our students as some of the best research shows is that these measuring sticks for faithing only breed contempt and stress in our young people.

The other way to is to ask, “What do our students have their faith in when they graduate?”  Here are just a few of the ways that this might be measured:

  • Do we graduate students whose hearts beat for what God’s beat for?
  • Do they choose a college, job, career, city to live in, life choice based on what they have heard God tell them to do and not on a glossy slick promotional brochure?
  • Do we celebrate our student’s choice of a major that is dependent on a calling from God and not a calculated choice that is based on the level of income they expect to receive?
  • Have we created a culture where our students have been given space to voice doubt and witnessed other adults taking risk for the Kingdom of God?
  • Are they generous to a fault?
  • Would they stop and help the beaten up traveller on the side of the road?
  • Do they work on loving their enemies?
  • Are they dispensers of grace? And mercy?
  • When people describe them, do words like patient, humble, joy, peace, and kind come immediately to mind rather than successful, accomplished, good looking, etc.?
Think abou the ways we could really encourage this kind of development.  Instead of looking at outcome based methods, we are able to encourage and affirm deep, spiritual, holy developmental characteristics that are being formed with in them INSTEAD of creating arbitrary hoops for them to jump through in order to gain approval.

What might a student who has their faith in the right thing look like?  Chime in in the comments…

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.::Life Is Good pt. II

Posted in church, disciplines, Life, Ministry, Teaching, Theology, youth ministry with tags , , on November 29, 2011 by Walter

Colossians 3:17 is one of my life verses. Its one of those verses that I try to live my life by. It is one of those verses that have camped out in my heart and I can’t seem to let it go. Paul teaches, “And Whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” (Col 3:16).

As you can see this is one of the “Life is Good” verses. It describes a life that is really dialed in to the fact that Life is Good. I used to think that Col 3:17 was all about the little things. I used to teach that it was about brushing your teeth and taking out the trash. While Paul probably includes those daily mundane tasks in those activities, I think it is a much deeper passage than that. What Paul is really doing here is defining a lifestyle. He is cross-referencing his passage where he describes us as ambassadors of Christ. When one is truly in tune with the fact that God is the Creator and Sustainer of Life, Jesus is the Savior of All, and the Spirit is the Comforter of all our grief, one can do everything in the name of the Lord and do it with thanksgiving. That is an amazing lifestyle that God offers for all of us. It frees us from the tyranny of worry, grief, anger, jealousy, envy, hatred, etc. We no longer are slaves to those forces when we understand God is on control.

Paul is prescribing that we do EVERYTHING in the name of the Lord. Yes it is the teeth brushing and the garbage taking, but it is also facing the plummeting GPA, the girlfriend who just broke up with you, the extra stress that your after school job is giving you, your SAT scores that can’t get you in to the school you want, the checkbook balance that reads red, it is that pinging noise coming from the engine compartment of the ailing mini-van, it’s the recently emptied cubicle next to you wondering if yours is next. It’s the late payment slips, struggling marriage, a torn relationship with your teen. But one living Colossians 3:17 looks at those things not as problems, but as God’s crazy, inexplicable, unintelligible at times, provision. Yes provision.

Colossians 3:17 is all about “Life is Good” living. It is realizing that while not everything is great, or easy, or fun, or without pain or problems, the overarching umbrella that God covers our lives with is GOOD. Yes there are struggles, but god is still GOOD. Yes there is pain, but God is still GOOD. No that may not help you right this very moment, but the more you are able to live out Colossians 3:17, the better life will be. The higher your lows will become. So take today and meditate on Colossians 3:17. Here are a few different translations to help you:

The Message
Let every detail in your lives—words, actions, whatever—be done in the name of the Master, Jesus, thanking God the Father every step of the way.

New Living Translation
And whatever you do or say, let it be as a representative of the Lord Jesus, all the while giving thanks through him to God the Father.

Amplified Bible
And whatever you do [no matter what it is] in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus and in [dependence upon] His Person, giving praise to God the Father through Him.

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.::Recruit a Lipscomb Student for Your Summer Internship

Posted in church, Life, Ministry, spiritual disciplines, Theology, youth ministry with tags , , , , on November 14, 2011 by Walter

Join us for the Lipscomb University

Youth Ministry Intern Recruiting Event.

Now is the time to register!  Student sign-ups begin soon.  As you register, an interview sheet will be available in our office.  Register now so your sign-up sheet will be available from the moment the rush to sign up begins.

REGISTRATION for this event is required.
Join us for a day of recruiting and fellowship on the LU campus.
This event will allow you to meet candidates interested in youth and children’s ministry internships.
Date: December 6th
Time: First interview begins at 1:30 p.m. The event will last until 4:30 p.m.
Where: Hall of Fame Room immediately following Youth Ministry luncheon with Steve Davidson

Event format is similar to “speed interviewing”. Before the 6th, students will sign up for interview slots with the churches that interest them. You will arrive on the 6th to an interview table for your congregation.  You will interview candidates during the 3 hour event.  Interview slots will be a standard 20 minutes with 5 minutes between so students can find the table for their interview during the following time slot.

CLICK HERE to register your church.

We’re proud of our students and look forward to working with you as you’re introduced to them!
The Career Development Staff

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.::LIPSCOMB STUDENTS: Be a Youth Ministry Intern

Posted in adolescence, church, Life, Ministry, Teaching, Theology, What is Technology Doing to Our Souls?, youth ministry with tags , , , , , on November 14, 2011 by Walter

 

  • Don’t know what you want to do with your summer?
  • Want to make an impact in the lives of young people?
  • Want to have a ton of fun?
  • What to have your life changed in immeasurable ways?

Then a YOUTH MINISTRY INTERNSHIP may be for you.

I want you to consider serving this next summer being a youth ministry intern for a local church. This is a GREAT way to spend your summer and make a difference in the kingdom of God.

ON Tuesday, December 6th, Lipscomb University’s College of Bible & Ministry is hosting a Summer Youth Ministry Intern Fair where you can where you can interview with over 15 different churches from all over the Southeast. These internships come with a weekly salary (Usually around $300-$500/week) and include housing and expenses. There are a number of internships for both males and females.

WHAT DO DO NOW?
1. Let Dr. Surdacki Know Send a quick e-mail so I have you on my radar. (surdackiwf@lipscomb.edu)
1. PRAY ABOUT IT: Don‘t think this is for you? I challenge you to pray about it first… God might change your mind.
2. Get a resume together: Go to the Career Development Center and let them help you put together a resume between NOW and the end of the T-giving break.
3. TELL A FRIEND: You probably have a friend who might want to do something like this too…please forward this e-mail to them NOW.
4. RSVP on the Facebook Event Page: Go to http://goo.gl/R1qCT This way you’ll get the most up to date info.
5. SIGN UP FOR INTERVIEW SLOTS: AFTER the T-giving break, go by Career Development Center and sign up for the churches you want to interview with.

Summer Intern Fair
Tuesday December 6th
1:30-4:30pm
Hall of Fame Room Allen Arena

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.::What is Technology Doing to Our Souls?: No Cell Zone

Posted in adolescence, church, disciplines, Life, rant, spiritual disciplines, Tech, Technology, Theology, What is Technology Doing to Our Souls?, what matters, youth ministry with tags , , , , , , on November 11, 2011 by Walter

Several years back I had a really interesting conversation with a mom in my youth group.  She came up to me and said, “I am so tired of my daughter getting woken up in the middle of the night with her friend’s texting her.”

I replied, “Why don’t you have her charge her phone downstairs in the kitchen?”

“But it’s her alarm clock.” She said.

I thought, “If only there was some magical device you could purchase that would make a noise at a predetermined time of day . . . “

What does it do to the soul to have ourselves connected to our phones 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year, year after year?

According to Time Magazine Online,  ”35% of Android and iPhone owners in the U.S. fire up mobile apps before getting out of bed, according to a survey by Ericsson ConsumerLab.”  Maybe this points to the fact that we are overconnected?  Do you feel like you and your students are TOO connected?  Is there a time when you or your teens is not able to be reached by the outside world?  Didn’t Jesus have to get away from everyone just so he could listen to his Father?

We haven’t set up barriers that tell technology to keep out.  This is “Me” Time or “We” Time.  I remember only having a landline in our home and having dinner together as a family, whenever the phone rang during dinner, mom would proclaim, “Let it ring! This is family time.”  Which begs the question:  Do we even still have a time like this when we just let it ring?  Do we have family time?

What if your family had a no cell phone zone?  For your fmaily it might be the dinner table, or the living room when you are all watching TV together.  For some of you it might be the bedroom.  Have the entire family charge their phones far away from their bedrooms so they can sleep without being interrupted.  Might this become a solitary place like Jesus often needed in order to refocus.

“But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.”

Luke 5:16

Over and over we see time when Jesus gets away from the frenetic pace of life so He can just LISTEN.  Is it possible that our cell phones actually keep us from LISTENING?  Might the Verizon mantra, “Can you hear me now?” have been a prophetic voice warning us that these shiny little devices would actually KEEP us from listening to God’s voice?

What other places might be Cell Free Zones for you?  Church? Restaurants? Movie Theaters? Friends homes?

What I mean is that you might still have your phone on you at these places, but you might actually turn them OFF so that you aren’t unnecessarily interrupted when you are at these places.  Simply power it back up when you are leaving and resume your connection to the rest of the world.

So I challenge you to find ONE PLACE that will be a Cell Free Zone in your world this week.  

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.::Three Stories of YM

Posted in adolescence, church, Life, Ministry, story, Teaching, youth ministry with tags , , , , , , , on November 10, 2011 by Walter

Mark your calendars for an exciting event that Lipscomb University’s College of Bible & Ministry is hosting, March 1, 2012 Titled, “The Three Stories of Youth Ministry.”  We will have three nationally-recognized speaker in for this tremendous event:

  • Teaching THE Story of God:  Mark Novelli, author of Shaped by the Story, an expert in teaching the Bible narratively.  He will give you tools that you will be able to use to teach your students the Biblical story in an engaging and exciting way.
  • MY Story with God:  Rachel Held Evans, author of Evolving in Monkeytown, will help us see how our upbringing and our biases shape our worldview, our faith and our ministry.
  • OUR Story with God:  David Hutchens, author of A Slice of Trust, is an expert in helping organizations like Coca-Cola, Kroger and Wal-Mart define their organization’s story and how it shapes, helps and hinders their culture.  David will help you define your ministry’s and your church’s story and ethos.
Trust me, you won’t be disappointed in this day’s presentations and training.  Plan on bringing a few people from your team.  For every three people from the same church, the fourth comes free!

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>::Cutting Edge Graduate Studies in Student Ministry

Posted in adolescence, church, disciplines, Life, Ministry, Teaching, Theology, youth ministry on November 9, 2011 by Walter

I am excited to talk about a program Lipscomb University’s Hazelip School of Theology is starting to help train and equip the youth minister, youth volunteer, youth deacon, parent of teen, and all else who love the next generation of Christian.  We have developed a Graduate Certificate in Student Ministry that educates students with the most cutting edge research on adolescence as well as equips them with the practical tools to address their own contexts effectively.

The first class is only $500 for 3 hours of graduate credit. If you are part of another Masters Program and need three hours of elective or ministry credit, you should check it out.  CLICK HERE for more info.

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.:Dirt Community

Posted in adolescence, church, Ministry, Theology, youth ministry with tags , , , , , on November 7, 2011 by Walter

Community is the fertile soil in which we can experience grace.

Confession time: I have far too often in my ministry leant too far on the side of truth. What I mean is that I have really wanted to get to the depth of ministry, faith, study and worship and felt little inclination to focus too much on the community side. I have a fear that I have far too little time with students that I want to cram all the important things in in the few hours I get with them a week. I think that if we spent 15 minutes just, “hanging out” that we are wasting time. But that isn’t true.

Community is the fertile soil in which we can experience grace.

If there is no community, then our students don’t feel that safe haven. . . That refuge. . .That sanctuary. . . Where they can be themselves. A place where they feel like they don’t have to put on a façade to impress or fit in with others. Without this culture of community and safety, then the message of the gospel falls on deaf ears. Belonging precedes grace.

Look at Jesus. Jesus offered belonging far before he expected them to behave in certain ways. I believe this is to fertilize the soil of community and belonging so that those He encounters can truly experience the grace and love and mercy He offers.

We have to remember that one of the main tasks of adolescence is to find a place of belonging. To know where they fit in. This is one of the markers of adulthood. In other words, as an adult I know I don’t have to act a certain way in order for people to get to like me.

So I look to the ten to fifteen minutes we spend before youth group “hanging out” and “wasting time” as an integral part of our programming.

But there is a warning we have to heed, for the opposite is also true. Bad community is toxic soil that that can kill a student’s opportunity to experience grace.

I imagine a junior high girl trying to find a peer to just give her the time of day before a youth group class. Ten minutes of getting ignored feels like an hour to her. By the time her class starts, she will spend the remainder of class doubting herself, wondering what is wrong with her, questioning her worth instead of experiencing God’s grace that is being proclaimed. Furthermore, she may also actually DOUBT that God’s grace with worth ANYTHING if she hasn’t experienced community in those ten minutes before class.  Therefore, we must have a corps of volunteers who are vigilant to look out and make sure EVERY student is being draw into community.  If we simply rely on her peers, chance are, they will fail her.  Therefore we MUST have an army of other adults who have the sensitivity to reach out as well as be available to students.  These adults must be drawn from a variety of backgrounds, age groups, genders, socio-economic demographics, skin colors, etc. in order for every student to have a few options to go to.  In other words, lets not just draw from the twenty something hipsters in our churches.  We need spiritual moms, dads, aunts, uncles, grandparents as well as big brothers and big sisters who will till the soil of community and create a fertile garden for grace to grow.

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.::Performance-Based Youth Ministry

Posted in adolescence, church, Ministry, rant, Theology, youth ministry on September 21, 2011 by Walter

If I am completely honest, much of what I did in youth ministry focused on a students ability to perform well.  If a student showed up regularly, participated, behaved, and dressed right, then they fit in.  Parents were happy.  Elders left me alone.  Life was good. . . . or was it?

The number one question students are trying to answer (and many adults) when it comes to life is “Who Am I?”  This is a question that haunts us for much of our lives.

Think about these three ways that many seek out in an attempt to answer that question:
  • “I am what I DO”
  • “I am what I CONTROL“
  • “I am what OTHERS SAY ABOUT ME”
According to Henri Nouwen, each of these responses is inadequate, and even destructive for both us and the students in our ministry.  If I am honest I have called kids to be defined by those as well.  For example:
  • “I am what I do”=Do more youth group things to be a better Christian.  Sports are good, but youth group is better. I think of those students in my ministry that define themselves through the multitude of activities they participate in.
  • “I am what I control”=If you keep your head above water morally and emotionally than you are a better Christian. I think our churches send the message to students that as long as they got through youth group with passing grades, didn’t get pregnant or high (too often) then they are alright.  I also see student who go after extracurricular after extracurricular in order to define themselves through being able to control their identity this way.  I also think of the overachieving academic student who defines themselves this way through his or her grades and transcripts.  
  • “I am what others say about me”=If everyone likes me than I am a better Christian.  We see this in all areas of adolescence as kids seek approval from peers in a variety of ways, looks, compliments, relationships, number of Facebook friends, etc.
For Henri Nouwen, the answer to the single most important questions affecting all of humanity, “Who am I?” is the message of Jesus and the Bible.  Our students have been created, redeemed and called to live as God’s precious and beloved child.  I heard another author put it this way, “I can’t follow Jesus any other way than as me.”  
Beneath all of their gifts, talents and abilities, each and every child is more than the sum of their abilities and personality.  At their core, each is the beloved child of God.  But that would take some radical restructuring on our parts in our ministries and our families.
  • It would mean that it is alright for a student to miss youth group in order to go to a family event celebrating an Aunt’s birthday.
  • It would mean that my daughter doesn’t have to get good grades in order to get my FULL approval of her effort on her academic work.  (After all, don’t we feign total approval many times when a B or C or D  shows up?)
  • It would mean that we are proactively looking to see the DIFFERENT and UNIQUE ways that students express their faith and we begin to LEARN from THEM!  (Could I actually learn something from my daughters music choices instead of insisting that she love U2 as much as I do?)
  • It would mean creating space for students who don’t fit into our demographic molds at church to feel just as welcome and a sense of belonging as the next student.  It MIGHT even mean helping them feel MORE at home than the student who has always been a part of your ministry.  (Didn’t someone once talk about leaving the 99 to go find one sheep?)
  • It might mean that it is fine for a kid to have purple hair, countless piercings and body art for doesn’t God love that student too?  (If not, than that isn’t God at all)
  • It might mean trashing the gold starts we are so fond of using in children’s classes.  (I hear the whispers of “heretic,” but aren’t gold stars just a Sunday School version of Shamu’s sardines?)
  • Maybe it means we stop counting people who show up to church and stop publishing the attendance numbers or contribution?
  • Maybe we stop giving out trophies for Bible memorizations, memory verses, Bible Bowl, etc.
I get that I have gone off the deep end.  But what if we starting looking at each individual student as God does.  What else might we have to change?  Please comment away . . .

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.::Identity pt. I

Posted in church, Ministry, spiritual disciplines, Theology, youth ministry with tags , , , , on July 9, 2010 by Walter

One of the main questions the task of adolescence answers for a teen is the question of “Identity.”  In other words, until a teen can answer the question, “Who am I?” they haven’t successfully navigated themselves to adulthood.

It is a painful process at time to watch individuals attempt to answer this question in some meaningless and often shallow ways.  Some students try to answer that with a girl friend or boy friend.  You know that person who went from relationship to relationship in high school.  It always seemed as if they couldn’t go two weeks without a significant other hanging off their arm.  It was as if they were trying to have that relationship as the marker of who they were.  Chances are that relationship was their attempt at trying to answer, “Who am I?”

Other students try to answer that question with outside achievements such as sports, drama, band, speech, etc.  I have witnessed students being shipped from one activity to the next without ever having two seconds of down time in order to put two thoughts together (or even eat a decent meal WITH their family.)  Coincidentally, I overheard two high school girls today talking about all the different activities they are involved in from track, half marathons, band, summer reading, soccer and more.  Sadly, they were lamenting the fact that they don’t get to see each other enough (I wonder why?)  Again, these hectic schedules to gain  trophies, letterman jackets, leading roles, first chairs, etc. are likely attempts to define who they were.

Students also try other external means to try to clothe themselves with a persona, literally.  I tried this my junior year in high school.  I was cursed with straight, straight hair that had no body whatsoever.  I longed for hair you could do SOMETHING with–so I tried a perm.  (I know it is difficult for many of you to even imagine me with ANY hair, not to mention a curly Barry Mannilow-esuqe frock that I donned for my unfortunate senior picture.  Cest la vie.  I was trying to be something that I wasn’t.  We all try on some persona from time to time to try to figure out what fits and what doesn’t.

THIS IS NORMAL?!?!?

Definitely.  These varied attempts to answer the important question of Identity is one of the main keys of the adolescent journey.  While we are all created in the image of God, we don’t all know what that image IS exactly, especially as we enter adolescence.

Just look at Madison Avenue’s complete onslaught on the adolescent psyche and its nefarious attacks at their fragile self-confident and malleable souls.  Billions are spent each year to target that precious 14-18 year old demographic.  They know how much disposable income teens possess and they know exactly what their weaknesses are and the advertising firms use pinpoint accuracy to target those weaknesses so that teens lessen their grip on those dollars.  The next time you see an advertisement that you don’t get, ask yourself, “What age group are they targeting?”  Chance are your answer will be 14-18 year old females.  Because Madison Ave., Hollister Co. Abercrombie, (Insert the store in the Mall you don’t Get here), Aeropostale, etc. all want to answer the question of Identity for the adolescent.  I remember feeling like I was somebody when I had a little green alligator on the left side of my chest.

The bottom line of that identity quest for an adolescent is that there are countless factors that go in to deciding who and what will answer that question for the teens you know.  Friends will undoubtedly have some influence, but not the overpowering master control many adults think that peers possess (more on that later in this series).  Ad firms will have some power.

My conclusion: Parents and Mentors perhaps have the most power in helping a student navigate the identity quest of adolescence.  Unfortunately, we haven’t done a good enough job of 1.  Being models and Persons WORTH emulating.  and 2. Speaking more boldly into the lives of young people and AFFIRMING their specific giftedness.  I will unpack HOW we can do this later in this series as well . . . so stay tuned.

COMING IN THE SERIES:

  • A Theology of Identity and the Teenager
  • More Theology of Identity and the Adolescent
  • Becoming a Guardian of the Adolescent Soul
  • What is a Parent to do? Practical Suggestions of Affirming the Identity of the teens in my life.

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