Here’s what Matt wrote:

“I’ve accepted an exciting responsibility from my senior pastor—probably the biggest project I’ve ever worked on!

My calling is to identify, challenge, and help develop the next generation of great leaders: people who will plant churches, become pastors at our regional campuses, or lead large ministries within Mariners Church.

The person that I’m looking to hire will need to fill the following general position: reach out to lost high school (or junior high) students, help them develop their faith, and identify students who will serve as leaders. Would this type of ministry excite you? Might you be the kind of leader we need?

For you, does influence come naturally? When you walk into a room, no one wonders if you are a leader. You’re not insecure, you don’t have to be the center of attention. Instead, your confidence and convictions move you to motivate others.

Do you have a message that you’re bursting to share? You have the ability and the need to teach others. To quench this expression of your gifts would be to deny who God has called you to be.

You are looking for opportunities to leverage. Failure isn’t an option, it’s inevitable because you’re constantly trying new things. This is a secret to your success.

For most people, rules are a wonderful necessity. But for you, rules are mere suggestions and the only way to discover a good rule is to break it. If you’re not given latitude, you’ll take it.

You’ll have plenty of time to hesitate and second-guess when you’re in a nursing home. Until then, life is all about TAKING ACTION. PROVOKING assumptions. INTERRUPTING the ruts. It’s all about making a massive impact for the Kingdom of God.

You aren’t just a self-starter, you have the ability to motivate others to become self-starters. You’re able to set things in motion for the kingdom.

YEAH, I KNOW: THE BAR IS HIGH.

Everyone can lead, because everyone can serve. This is, of course, is what Jesus taught. However, this position isn’t for everyone. I’m looking for leaders who lead leaders. This isn’t just BUZZspeak.

Our church is committed to developing leaders for the next generation and I’m looking for the right people.

Interested?

The next step is to fill out an application at http://www.marinerschurch.org/job-openings.

There you go! If you watch our podcast, you know that Matt has STRONG convictions. If you’re interested… go for it. If not, I’d understand that too. But, I’m a lot nicer than Matt (he’d think you were just “mentally weak”…which is a favorite McGillspeak.)

Question: What do you like, not like about Matt’s letter? Share your thoughts here.


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It’s the highlight of my week to be with some of my best friends and amazing youth workers (Matt McGill, Josh Griffin & Katie Edwards). These friends also have great ministry experience and incredible insight.

On our weekly podcast we answer youth worker’s questions, we give away prizes from our sponsors, and we laugh a lot! We have some very loyal followers (and some who are called “rewind members“…which means they went back to episode 00 and caught up) and we’ve made some good friends.

Today, we had a special guest visit by Mark Matlock–executive director of Youth Specialities (in photo below). He did a great job! He fit right in and made a great contribution.

We are extremely grateful for our primary sponsor: Youth Specialties.

We’ve also have 4 other great sponsors: Azusa Pacific University, YM360, LeaderTreks, and RemedyLive.

In addition to all we do on the podcast, we also take some of the questions and move them to the YMGarage Blog where the community of youth workers weigh-in and answer questions.

Question: What podcasts do you listen to? Share them here.


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Having been a 30+ year youth pastor, I definitely understand and appreciated the one below (thanks to Craig Adams/Green Forest, Arkansas).

Over the years, I’ve learned that “perception is fact” in the eyes of those who are looking-in on your job/performance.

While these collages are made with good intentions, I think they raise questions of perception.

Question: What do you find that you have to do to change the perception others have of your job? Share here and let’s learn from one another. Also, share links to other ones like this.


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Her battle made worldwide headlines and many of her friends met Jesus as a result of journey home.

This is short note that Jessie’s dad wrote me today:

Cancer sucks! Now that my 12 year old daughter Jessie has lost her courageous battle with two inoperable brain tumors I’m so convinced that something has to be done. Change has to be made. Kids need us now. Join me on Facebook. Erik (jessie’s daddy) www.facebook.com/jessicajoyrees

A donor has offered to give $25,000 to Jessie’s foundation if they can add an additional 100,000 likes on her Facebook page.

I can’t do much to help my friend Erik, but this is something I can do. I can use the platform of this blog to ask you to (1) “like” Jessie’s page, (2) use your influence to ask those within your circle of influence to “like” Jessie’s page, (3) ask your Facebook friends if they would “like” this page too.

Can you help? Seems like a very easy, doable ask!

Thanks for considering it.

For more of Jessie’s amazing story, GO HERE.

O.C. inspiration, 12, loses fight with cancer
Jessie Rees…Fighting Brain Cancer at 12 & Caring For Others Fighting Too
O.C. Community Foundation Fills JoyJars

The same is true when I think about and spend time with ministry leaders. If you’re a ministry leader, and your marriage suffers, it will leak into your ministry. Your ministry and its impact will suffer too.

This Friday and Saturday my friend, and author of many marriage books, Jim Burns and I will be hosting a marriage seminar at Azusa Pacific University. Over 300 couples will be joining us as we talk marriage (communication, conflict, spiritual growth, romance & intimacy, etc…). I am so excited about this weekend!

If you’re within driving distance of the LA area and want to join us, there’s still room.

After this weekend Jim and I will “box up” this experience and make it available to other locations/church/universities around the country. If you have any interest in bringing Jim/I into your area, email judy@homeword.com.

Question: Do you normally experience any type of training/learning/seminars to improve the condition of your marriage? If so, share it with us.


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I have several verbal regrets. I’ve said things to people I wish I could take back. Misguided words that have stung and wounded others… and I feel terrible about those moments that I can’t take back.

But I have no regrets in my life over listening!

I’ve never thought, “Why did I pay such good attention to that person? Why was I so patient and empathetic in showing them respect?”

Why? Because listening does not lead to regret!

Are you a world-class listener or are you normally doing all the talking?

Maybe you’re like me and need a little self-assessment that can be assisted by asking a spouse or friend: “Am I better listener or talker? Do I have a problem with that?”

* If you interrupt the person before they answer, you may have a problem with listening.
* If you don’t allow people to finish their sentence… that may help you answer the question.
* If you’re forming a sentence and response while the other person is talking, you need a little help.

The goal here is not to jump into the game Outburst while others are talking. The goal is to listen.

If you have a pattern of talking too much and not listening you are violating intimacy, community and depth of relationship. That needs to be fixed.

If that’s you, why do you talk so much? What’s behind all the words that violate the power of listening?

Listening is the language of love. Listening creates value. Listening is a skill to learn. A craft to master. A gift to give. A way to draw close and minister to others.

No regrets.

Question: Why is “listening” so attractive? How does it make you feel? Share your thoughts here.


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This week, my blog has been focused on Student Leadership and I’m obviously trying to bring attention to our Student Leadership Conference that we’re doing in partnership with Youth Specialties in Southern CA (July 6-8) and also in Philadelphia (July 10-12) this summer. In addition, I want to direct youth workers to a great opportunity that came from that day of dreaming a few years back.

It’s called “The Big Day of Serving”

The Big Day of Serving is a one-day service event designed to bring transformational change to a neighborhood. Big Day brings 500-1,000 students and adults together to serve a community in need. This event is designed to make it super easy for a youth worker to get their group engaged in service. It’s only $29 per person and includes lunch, a t-shirt, an inspirational Kick-Off Rally, all the materials/supplies needed for projects, and a Block Party to close out the afternoon. It really is a “just add kids” service opportunity.

It’s a great way to engage your students in service in a community near where you live.

The Spring 2012 Dates and 11 locations are:

April 21: St. Louis, MO | Medina, OH

April 28: Denver, CO | West Palm Beach, FL | Lynchburg, VA

May 5: Chicago, IL | Minneapolis, MN | Manassas, VA | Dubuque, IA

May 12: Nashville, TN

May 19: Nashua, NH

There’s a lot of ways to develop student leaders, but giving kids an opportunity to serve, watching them, talking about it afterwards, and casting vision for servant leadership is a great way to begin.

If you don’t see your community on the above list… why don’t you and some of your students take the lead to host it? Do you live somewhere that has neighborhoods in real need of change? Imagine what 500-1,000 people serving to do in one day! The Big Day team is ready to work with those who want to see true transformational change to a neighborhood in your community (if you’re interested contact Geoff Frahm at gfrahm@thebigdayofserving.com).

Question: How have you seen serving others inspire leadership in your youth ministry? Share your thoughts here.

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GUEST POST by Jonathan McKee. Jonathan has become a regular guest blogger on this site! He is the author of numerous books including the brand new Candid Confessions of an Imperfect Parent, as well as youth ministry books like Connect: Real Relationships in a World of Isolation. You can find his excellent blog here.

Student Leaders, Student Leadership Team, Student Leadership Conference… youth workers have heard the term “student leaders” so many times that we’re numb to it.

But what do students hear?

Take Keri, for example. Keri is a junior in high school and she’s as shy as they come. She has an amazing relationship with the Lord, and she’s one of the most hospitable students I’ve ever met. Only one problem: she doesn’t see herself as a “leader.”

No, it’s not poor self-esteem, it’s not a lack of faith… it’s semantics. When Keri hears the word “leader” she thinks of the person who rises up in front of the group and casts vision and direction. After all, that’s how her dad, a successful executive in the business world, defines it.

Keri isn’t alone. What about Anthony? Anthony put his trust in Christ a few years ago and has been disciple by an amazing youth worker who has encouraged Anthony in his gifts. Anthony loves anything technical. He does computer editing, sound mixing… you name a skill with something electronic and he probably can do it. He’s right out of the sitcom, The Big Bang Theory (minus the sleeping with a girl across the hall).

But Anthony doesn’t consider himself a “leader.” The last thing Anthony wants to do is stand up in front of the group and speak or lead a Bible Study. That’s how Anthony sees “leading.”

Have we been doing something wrong?

Not at all. This is simple semantics. Both Anthony and Keri both want to use their gifts to do ministry. They’d both love to serve on that team in their church where students serve and use their gifts. It just so happens that we typically call that the “student leadership team.”

Perhaps we should rethink how we present this opportunity for teenagers to do ministry. Some of our students won’t necessarily sign up for our “student leadership team.” We need to affirm them and personally invite them to help us “do ministry.”

My friend David and I have wrestled with this more than you can imagine. A couple of years ago we tackled writing the next “student leadership” book for Youth Specialties. The only problem? We didn’t really want to call it “student leadership.” Why?

Keri and Anthony.

David and I just wanted to provide youth workers with some practical ideas and some detailed “how to’s” to develop teenagers with a passion for ministry. We wanted youth workers to be able to help kids like Keri and Anthony grow in their faith, discover their God-given strengths and use them for ministry. We call that, Ministry By Teenagers.

Call it what you want to… I don’t think it matters that much. Just make sure you don’t miss the potential in the Keri’s and Anthony’s in your group.

Question: How do you define “student leader?” Share your thoughts here.

If you like this article, you’ll love Jonathan’s book, Ministry By Teenagers.

Also, if you’re interested in joining us for our Student Leadership Conference this summer…go here. We’re looking for kids like Keri & Anthony. We don’t want your whole youth group to come…just the ones you choose.


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Probably a lot more than you’d imagine! I was one of those guys (and it’s not because of the 70′s perm)!

Everyone wants to be invited somewhere? No one wants to be left alone?

Please know that I realize developing young leaders is not as simple or formulaic as I will lay out (below), but it’s exactly what my youth pastor did to me when I was in 9th grade, and it’s what I’ve tried to do with many others over the last 30 years.

These are some general actions:

1. Develop relationships. It all starts here.

2. Spend a little extra time with those who express interest/promise/potential.

3. Invite them into your world of ministry and ask them to help/participate with something you’re doing. Could be an activity, a conference, a Bible study, a task, etc…

4. Assign a specific job for them to meet within your ministry (basically, invite them to ‘take on a responsibility.’)

5. Debrief and evaluate their [job] performance as well as their feelings connected to the serving opportunity. Follow-up is essential.

6. Expose and connect them with other leaders (young and old).

7. Dream with them (“What are some needs/causes/interests that you’re especially drawn toward?”). Obviously this requires more time together.

8. Challenge them to move toward an area of interest/passion.

9. Watch them.

10. Set them loose to see a need and meet it.

Again, developing young leaders is not a science nor even following this 10-step process (I just know that people like to practical action-steps to consider)… developing leaders is more of an art–a relational art.

I’m less concerned about you taking specific steps and more concerned that you don’t allow kids to sit on the sideline. Invite them off the bench and into the game. Give them opportunities to serve, seek significance, and invest in stuff that matters.

Bottom line: Invite kids to something bigger than themselves. Give kids a chance!

Invite them out of apathy. Be specific. Call them by name. Believe in them. Convince them that they’ve got something to offer. Help them see that they’re not ‘excess human baggage.’

I’m so glad that Jim Burns took these steps with me in the late 70’s and offered me an opportunity to “taste” ministry. I did. I’ve never been the same.

That’s just one of the many reasons I’m so excited for the opportunity to teach some of your kids about Student Leadership. Why don’t you invite a few kids to join you this summer at our leadership conference in either Southern CA (July 6-8) or Philadelphia (July 11-13). I’d love to see you!

Someone is waiting for you to believe in them.

Questions: What am I missing that is a regular part of what you’re doing to develop young leaders? Share it here.


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I hope you’ll consider bringing one or some of your key and potential student leaders to this event. It really is life-changing.

Here’s just one story:

“One of the best parts of being a youth pastor is having a front row seat to life change. The type of life change that is only possible through the gospel of Jesus Christ. The type of life change that displays the resurrection power of Jesus Christ in all it’s glory. The type of life change that takes someone dead and makes them ALIVE.

The video below contains Evan’s story. It’s a story of life-change. And although Jesus will always get the glory for orchestrating this story, I want to thank Doug and the entire Student Leadership team for being the catalyst God used to change the trajectory of his life. The time at the Student Leadership Conference last summer impacted eternity. Thanks for the great seat!”

Rory Eldridge
Student Ministries Pastor
Overlake Christian Church

PS: See you in July!!!

Evan’s Story:

[If the video is visible in RSS, click here]

Question: What do you do to raise up and train student leaders during the summer? Share it here.


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