Not A Mega Church?

The Youth & V.B.S. at work – Days 4 & 5

Tom — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 10:38:55 +0000

Background info:

In June I posted about how V.B.S. is a great service opportunity for youth during the summer. In case you missed it, you can read that post here. In it, I highlighted 5 reasons why this should be a very viable option for your youth program to help out with.

Well, this week is V.B.S. week at Cedar Run and because of this I am going to give some give real-time examples of how the 5 reasons really shine through. On Tuesday I talked about how helping out with another V.B.S. is a positive way to support another ministry in your Church. You can read it here. On Wednesday I posted about how it serves as a local mission trip. Yesterday I focused on how students bond during V.B.S.. Today is Reasons #4 & 5.

Reason 4: Opportunity for youth to serve the Church

In my June blog about this, I said:

As an advocate for youth being actively involved in the life of the church, having youth serve at V.B.S. is a great opportunity for the rest of the church body to see youth playing an active role. It shows that you do not have to be an adult to serve in some sort of ministry position. You can serve and be effective at a very young age. These young children look up to the youth so much and lasting mentorships may be developed because of this opportunity.

Obviously by the youth and young adults helping out at V.B.S., they are serving within the church. HOWEVER, this is only just 1 instance, but there are countless other ways for youth and young adults to serve within the church. They can help out and serve in areas such as acolytes, scriptures readers, worship team members, testimony sharers, ushers, greeters, work days, nursery help and many other opportunities. When you have youth serving in various areas throughout the church, people can see that the younger generation are actively apart of the church and that there can be a role for them as well.

Reason #5: Another opportunity for YOU to bond with students.

In my June blog, I said:

During the summer months students vanish. You see them one week, the next week they are on vacation or at camp or someplace else. The consistency of student involvement during the summer is just not there. But I know that every day during V.B.S., I can go in the Church from 9 am - 12 pm and see students, interact with them and encourage them in Christ. It really is one of the best non-camp contact work opportunities youth ministers get every year.

This was completely evident in the amount of students who came to help out. We had 22 youth and young adults help out at V.B.S. which means that I had a chance everyday to interact with all 22 of them. How great is that? I have bonded with them in different ways that I would not have been able to regularly. Our impromptu BK break runs and many other small things have provided great memories and good bonding moments for me with them all.

To sum of the week, having the youth and young adults team up together to help out with V.B.S. provided so many benefits to them and the church. It is my hope that you got to see these reasons why flushed out with some real examples. AND, it is my hope that next year both the Children's Ministry Director and you, the Youth Director, can team up to use youth in V.B.S. and see how the Lord uses it to be a ministry to them, you all and the church.

Thoughts, questions, comments? Post them so we can get a good discussion and all of us can benefit.

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The Youth & V.B.S. at work – Day 3

Tom — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 10:09:14 +0000

Background info:

Well, this week is V.B.S. week at Cedar Run and because of this I am going to give some give real-time examples of how the 5 reasons really shine through. On Tuesday I talked about how helping out with another V.B.S. is a positive way to support another ministry in your Church. You can read it here. Yesterday I posted about how it serves as a local mission trip. Today is Reason #3.

Reason 3: Students bond.

In my June blog about this, I said:

Being apart of the V.B.S. Team allows students who do not normally socialize together bond. Sure they are apart of the "youth group" and they may go to the same school, but that doesn't meant they socialize or interact together. When they help out with V.B.S., they have interactions and experiences together that they may never have had before. Which again, helps builds friendships and bonds that may last eternity.

This is how I have seen this flushed out this week. My team (we are the Game Crew) consists of 5 youth. Usually the day is very structured as new groups come to our game time every 20 minutes. However, as the scheduled worked out, our team has a 40 minute break every day. So, after Monday, we decided that we would use this break as a time to go to Burger King for something to eat or drink. BK is just across the street so it wasn't impossible to do. For, the past 2 days we have gone to BK as a group, talking and socializing the whole time. It has been a great experience since not everyone on my team were friends at first. Sure they "knew" each other but they didn't really "know" one another. So this time together working as a team and then going over to BK has been a really rewarding time together.

Other youth and young adults working may not have the break my team has but they have bonded with each other as well as they team up for teaching or crafts or music. They have been able to start and begin to foster some new friendships with each other. It is my hope that these friendships they are now developing will continue over the course of the school year and beyond.

Why should the Youth and Young Adults help out at V.B.S.? Because they bond together which will hopefully last a lifetime.

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The Youth & V.B.S. at work – Day 2

Tom — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 10:23:14 +0000

Background info:

Well, this week is V.B.S. week at Cedar Run and because of this I am going to give some give real-time examples of how the 5 reasons really shine through. Yesterday I talked about how helping out with another V.B.S. is a positive way to support another ministry in your Church. You can read it here. Today is Reason #2.

Reason 2: It's a local Mission Trip!

In my June blog about this, I said:

Having the youth help out and work with the Children's ministry was a perfect opportunity to add another type of service during the summer. Every year, our church offers 2 mission trips - one international (open to the whole church) and another to a domestic location (youth only trip). Even though scholarship is available to help students go on these trips, helping out at V.B.S. provides a local, free option that students can have while still feel like they are giving to others and serving.

Here is how this was flushed out at this year's V.B.S.. Of the 22 youth and young adults who are helping at V.B.S., 13 of them were not, for some reason or another, able to go on either of our 2 other "mission" trips. Therefore, without helping out at V.B.S., they would not have had an experience to give and serve in this capacity all summer. What a great opportunity for them and a great opportunity for these children.

What I believe makes this just a little bit better than a typical mission trip is that these youth and young adults are ministering to and building relationships with young children in their own church. What a great model of investing in the younger generations and seeing children grow up to be teens and young adults having relationships with an older generation. Tons of mentorship possibilities abound because of the investment being made during events like V.B.S.

So, when you are looking at service opportunities for your youth next year or even during the year, partner up with the Children's Ministry and see how small little investments not only benefit the children but also the youth and young adults as well.

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The Youth & V.B.S. at work – Day 1

Tom — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 10:10:13 +0000

Well, this week is V.B.S. week at Cedar Run and because of this I am going to show some give real-time examples of how the 5 reasons really shine through. I will post these examples over the course of the week 1 per day.

Reason 1: You are supporting another ministry at your church.

In my June blog about this, I said:

Too many times in church world, I have seen Ministry Department Heads get territorial and want to do what is best for their ministry only. They don't care what happens in the other departments, just as long as their needs are being met. I'm sorry but that is NOT an effective way to do ministry. Ministries within the church need to partner together and work to bring all people, young and old, into a relationship with Christ. By having the youth support the children's ministry, you are supporting the church. As a youth minister you are saying that you value another ministry just as much as yours and that want to support what they are doing to further the kingdom of heaven. It is a great model.

Here is how I saw this flushed out on Monday. Of the 57 volunteers helping out daily this week, 22 of them were youth or young adults! That is amazing. The youth and young adults were definitely supporting the children's department this week. In fact Carolyn, our Children's Ministry Director said that without them helping, V.B.S. would not be possible. How great is that?! The youth and young adults are actively contributing to another ministry and serving them in so many different ways. They are game leaders, teachers, teacher assistants, toddler helpers, sound board workers, craft leaders, and snack helpers. It was very evident that everywhere you turned, the youth and young adults were helping another ministry and it was benefiting the Church.

This is a great example of how ministries can help each other and should be helping each other. After all, it is all for the glory of the Lord anyways, therefore we should be working together, especially on big events such as V.B.S..

2 of our youth participating at this year's V.B.S.

Some of our youth playing games with some of the children at this year's V.B.S.

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GUEST POST: Beyond our Sandbox

Tom — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 11:59:24 +0000

This GUEST POST comes from Mark Seager. Mark is the Associate Pastor at Cedar Run Community Church in Herndon, VA. He is a very gifted communicator as his passion for the Lord and people to come to know him is evident in all he does. Secretly, I've been trying to get him to blog & write more often, but no such luck yet

When the Israelites assembled on the bank of the Jordan River posed to enter the Promised Land they were exhorted to Dwell on God’s Word, trust God recklessly and remember their fellow countrymen. Much ink and breath has been expended in expounding the first two points, but it was the third point that stood out to me in Joshua 1:12-15 (NLT):

¹²Then Joshua called together the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh. He told them, ¹³“Remember what Moses, the servant of the Lord, commanded you: ‘The Lord your God is giving you a place of rest. He has given you this land.’
¹⁴Your wives, children, and livestock may remain here in the land Moses assigned to you on the east side of the Jordan River. But your strong warriors, fully armed, must lead the other tribes across the Jordan to help them conquer their territory. Stay with them ¹⁵until the Lord gives them rest, as he has given you rest, and until they, too, possess the land the Lord your God is giving them. Only then may you return and settle here on the east side of the Jordan River in the land that Moses, the servant of the Lord, assigned to you.”

The three tribes allocated land east of the Jordan were told that even though they may have settled in their territories, the job was not finished until their compatriots wer in their lands. This is an important concept for any team to remember. Most organizations are staffed with people operating with different job descriptions. Each team member has (or should have!) their own set of duties, tasks, and responsibilities. (Good organizations place people where they’re competent.) Job descriptions define our role on the team and remind me of sandboxes. Have you ever seen 2-year olds play in sandboxes? They’re usually territorial and don’t want to give up any of “their” turf to another. Sadly in many teams don’t function as teams — everyone stays in their sandbox. Jealously guarding budget dollars and our sense of self worth. But the warriors of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh (the Eastern dudes) were told not to be content with staying in their sandboxes. Instead, they were to help the other players to get their territories. Real teamwork means thinking beyond our own sandboxes and looking to the overarching mission of the larger team. In this case it was not enough to conquer the territories east of the Jordan; the Eastern dudes had to help the rest of the team. The job is not done once our job is done.

In churchworld, we must remember that we are part of a bigger effort to advance the Kingdom that spills beyond our sandbox. Our “Promised Land”, our mission is develping mature Christians through evangelism and discipleship. This mandate is huge so we try the divide-and-conquer approach; separating ministry by affinity group (e.g. children, singles, boomers, etc.) and style of ministry (e.g. small group, music, etc.). While there’s some benefits to breaking our mission into bite size chunks, we lose out when we confine ourselves to our sandboxes. Its important to see ourselves as Joshua addressed the tribes — parts of a bigger picture.

Having said that, it is annoying when others who are not experts on the matters of our sandboxes jump in with their opinions and suggestions. So how do we play in eachother’s sandboxes without invading them? After discussing this at our staff meeting, some things popped to mind:

Remember there’s more to our mission than just our sandbox

Humility in giving and receiving advice

Informed prayer: This only flows from trusting relationships on the team.

Recognize that ministries ebb and flow — don’t develp a culture of comparison and competition within the team.

Ask other teammates how things are goin in their sandbox. Anything you can do or pray for them?

Let’s learn from the example of Joshua 1 and think beyond our sandboxes. God’s work is far bigger than each of our job description. We must be willing and available to play in eachothers’ sandboxes (without being unwanted sandbox invaders) for the cause of our main mission; developing mature Christians for the glory of God!

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2 Lessons Learned from Sandy Koufax

Tom — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 10:02:35 +0000

Late in June, I got an issue of Investor's Business Daily. When I was looking through newspaper, I saw an interesting article about Sandy Koufax. Being the baseball enthusiast that I am, I was quickly drawn to it. You can read the IBD article here.

Reading the article, I was shocked to read that Sandy Koufax was close to quitting baseball after the first 6 years of his professional career as he was struggling hard. His record after those 6 seasons was 36-40! Considering that Sandy is a Hall-of-Famer who is viewed by many as one of the best pitchers every to play major league baseball, this was very surprising. I had no idea! I thought he was great from the moment he stepped on the mound for the first time. Despite this rough start, he did not quit and ended up with a record of 165-87, going 129-47 from 1961 on.

So what made the difference? How did he go from an bad to Hall-of-Famer? He did 2 things during the offseason that changed everything. He:

worked out. Never before had he worked out and took care of his body. So he started running in hopes to better equip his body to find out exactly how good he could be a a pitcher.
started listening to advice. People within the Dodger organization had always tried to give Sandy advice but he never listened. It was during the offseason a Dodger Scout found an issue with his pitching mechanics. Once he corrected it, he was better able to see the target. Also, Sandy started listening to his catcher, Norm Sherry. Norm told Sandy to throwing more curveballs and change-ups to keep the opposing batters guessing. Even though Sandy had heard this before, he never applied it. This time he did and it really helped!

Ultimately, the bottom line is that what made Sandy Koufax a Hall-of-Fame pitcher and living legend was his willingness to adapt and change. Too often in ministry we can be set in our ways and do the same things all the time. Why? Because that is how we always did things. Well, that just isn't acceptable. If we are to stay in ministry long term (especially youth and other "transition year" ministries like children's, college and young adult work), then we HAVE to be willing to adapt and change. This age range changes all the time so our attempts to minister to them needs to change. The ideas, events, lessons that used to work all the time do not necessarily work now.

The problem is, how do you know what you need to do to change unless you have an effective way of evaluating yourself? Sure, you may have a general idea of where you need to adapt or what you need to change, but it is always great to have an "outsiders" perspective.

So right now, TAKE A MINUTE and set up a plan to evaluate your ministry. Here's just 1 way you can get a good evaluation:

Contact a parent whom you trust and respect or another youth minister from another ministry or church. Ask them to come by and evaluate an upcoming ministry event (i.e., "youth group" or a social function). The key here is to have someone you know and trust while being honest with you at the same time.
When they arrive to evaluate, give that person(s) a set of 2-3 goals you hope to accomplish during the meeting. You can also tell them what principles you value highly as a leadership team (You can look at what we value here as an example). Therefore, they will know what you are striving for and what you view as important so they will be able to discern whether or not you are hitting your mark.
Give them a few days to collect their thoughts and/or write them down on paper. Then set up a meeting with them and your volunteer leaders to go through the evaluation together. That way you can all hear how it went, unfiltered.
Lastly, pray through what you all heard, process and start implementing change where needed.

Evaluation and self-examination is not always easy or fun. But it is necessary to build a lasting ministry. Had Sandy Koufax not taken a hard look at himself, we may have never heard of him and he would probably have always lived in a state of "what if". Let's be like Sandy and evaluate, adapt and change where needed.

Got a comment or thought? Post it so we may all benefit and grow as followers of Christ and ministers.

Thanks to my Sources:

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YM DEVO: Missions around You

Tom — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 10:52:12 +0000

As I prepared for a message to some college and young adults this past week, I was challenged to look at the mission field a bit differently. So often I (and I am sure many others) view missions as something you go out and do in other towns or countries around the world. But, as I looked at Christ's life (and that of Philip), I remembered that my mission field is right in front of me. In fact, it is wherever God leads me. Let me explain.

Read Acts 8:26-38.

Where was Philip going?
Who directed him?
How did God use Philip?

In the often repeated scripture Matthew 28:19-20, Christ proclaims to his disciples to "go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you." Christ has told us all to go and make disciples. How do we do that? By teach them everything we know and baptizing them.

Using these 3 passages, I was convicted that it is my job as a follower of Christ to:

Teach all people (not just my ministry focus of youth and young adults or those in other cities or countries) about Christ. Whether it is my daughter or my neighbor or a friend I come into contact with, I cannot withhold the love, grace and peace of Christ that has impacted my life for the better. I need to share Him to others. I can't just keep him compartmentalized to my "ministry job". If Christ has impacted me in my life (which He has), then I need to share Him at all times during the day.
Christ told His disciples to teach others everything He has commanded them. Well, for those 11 remaining disciples, they spent 3 years with Christ. Do you think they had a lot to teach others? As Sarah Palin would say, "You betcha". In the same way, whether you have been with Christ for many years or for just a bit, you have something to be sharing about Christ. You don't have to be a "minister" to be able to share. All you have to have is a life changed by God to share with others. How will you know when to share? Look at the next point.
I will know when to share when the Lord directs me. It doesn't mean you have to be to another state or country to share about Christ. It can be to someone right next to you. As we see with Philip, he was told/directed twice (v. 26 & 29) to go take action that led to the Ethiopian eunuch coming to know the Lord as his savior. Philip just didn't look on the map and say I'm going here and I will do this. No, the Lord directed him. Because of this example, I realized I need to be in communion with the Lord for Him to direct me. Philip knew where to go because he knew the voice of the Lord. He knew what the Lord sounded like. I need to be able to discern the voice of the Lord and the only way I can do that is if I spend time with Him regularly.

TAKE A MINUTE right now and review the 2 passages and the 3 points. What is God telling you in regard to that. Are you missing an opportunity to share right in front of you? As Carolyn Covert (Cedar Run's Children's Ministry Director) said, "we're on a 'mission trip' every time we step foot outside our front door". That is a key concept to know and understand. Regarding missions it is important that we don't have to travel to another city, state or country to make an impact. The impact we can have is waiting right outside our door. May God bless your endeavors!

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Mission Trip Debacle

Tom — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 09:55:41 +0000

I submitted this for Kurt Johnson's upcoming ministry book. I don't believe it was taken as I never heard back from them. The assignment was for every youth minister to share about an experience entitled, "I hate it when that happens". My submission centers around a mission trip that went wrong. Here is what I wrote. I hope you laugh a little while you read it.

I drove out of the parking lot with a ton of excitement and lots of expectations of a great mission trip ahead. This was my first mission trip that I planned myself and I was determined to prove that I could plan a good trip and that lives would be eternally impacted. Even though our group was smaller than years past, I definitely thought that this was going to be a trip that we would talk about for years. We still talk about it, but unfortunately not in the way I had thought.

Our trip started in Tennessee for a two-day training that preceded our actual mission work in Atlanta. My excitement and expectations quickly took a u-turn as soon as we drove into the training facility. The training facility looked more like a cult compound than anything else. It was fenced in with trailers all over and a big warehouse building. As soon as we drove in, I got the eerie feeling that I was going to meet a David Koresh type figure. Although that did not happen, our time in Tennessee just continued to get weirder by the moment.

I knew that the organization I choose to link up with was a little bit more charismatic than our Church was used to, but I thought our group could handle it. After all, I had been exposed to some very charismatic churches in the past and it did not affect me one way or another - and I'm a pretty conservative guy. However, as soon as our training meetings started with dancing, jumping around and speaking in tongues, I began to see the horror on my students faces and I knew we had a problem. Students were immediately on their phones calling parents begging them to send in a S.W.A.T. team to break us out. Although I settled everyone down, things at the "compound" came to an ultimate climax when the organization did a reenactment of the trial and death of Christ. Not only did it look real (bravo for doing an excellent job), but they literally tied a man up on the cross in an open field as the final scene. It was more than a little weird. In hindsight, I wished I had a camera with me; I could have made serious cash from a tabloid with some of those pictures.

After we finished our training, we went to Atlanta to begin our mission experience. When we got to Atlanta, I was hoping that things would improve. How worse could it get? Things improved a little, but the mission work we did was ill-prepared, not well thought out and lasted for just about 4 hours a day. In addition, our lodging accommodations weren't exactly "roughing it". We got to stay in a plush youth house of a local church that was equipped with Cable TV, video games, a security booth (yes really) and a coffee house environment. The youth house was bigger than my current church size! We were not roughing it in the least bit.

To cap this mission trip off, on our 10 hour return trip, our van’s AC stopped working so we had to drive windows down most of the time in some very hot weather.

Needless to say, I hate it when these things happen.

The Lesson Learned for me during this trip was to thoroughly do my homework on picking an organization that works for my group. It is good to stretch my students, but had I picked a better organization that lined up more with my ministry philosophy, this trip could have easily stretched them while giving them a great experience at the same time. This trip did neither and I learned a lot from it. Thankfully we have found an organization and area that fits our purposes quite well now.

So what about you all? Have you had a mission trip experience that was a debacle? It is fun to look at these things now and kinda laugh them off a bit, but they can also be very frustrating. TAKE A MINUTE and share about an experience that you had on a mission trip that didn't turn out so well. AND, what was the lesson(s) learned from it so we can all learn from each other?

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An Argument for Domestic over International Mission Trips

Tom — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 10:09:44 +0000

I'm a big fan of mission trips. My life was changed when I went on a mission trip right before my senior year in high school. Because of that experience, I believe everyone should have the opportunity to go on a mission trip - domestic or international. As a minister, I have led both International and domestic mission trips before and I see the value of both. However, for ARGUMENTS SAKE, I'm taking the position that more people should go on domestic mission trips over international ones. Here is why:

My case for domestic trips:

Christ's mission strategy starts domestically. In Acts 1:8, Christ tells his disciples that they will be His witnesses in Jerusalem, all of Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. At this point the disciples main stopping ground was Jerusalem and the sounding area. So with Christ challenging them to be His witnesses, He didn't say "go to the ends of the earth to be my witnesses". No, He said that they will be His witness from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth. That means that we need to be doing missions locally and domestically, not just international trips.
They are cheaper. International mission trips are often over $1,000 (mainly because of the airplane tickets). I have done many domestic mission trips for just over $300. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that this alone increases the ability for more people to go on these life changing trips. And that is a HUGE, especially in such an economic downturn our nation has had over the past few years. What also hurts is that if families with multiple people wanting to go on the same trip. You could send 3 of your family members for the cost of just 1 international trip! What good is it to have these great, life changing trips, if they can't afford to go on them? Too many people will miss out and that is unacceptable.
They show you that Americans are hurting too. It is great to do an international trip and help people in poor countries or areas that are in desperate need. The only problem is that there so are many people here, in America, that are in desperate need as well. I'll never forget seeing teenagers and young adults in our West VA and Western PA trips riding bikes to and from places (whereas some of my youth were driving BMWs at the time), wearing the same clothes for most of the week (where some of my youth changed outfits twice a day during our trip) and infected with lice, living in rat infested, condemned housing. These were Americans, who looked just like me and my team and who, realistically, could have been any one of us. I LOVE these domestic trips because it shows our youth that their fellow Americans are struggling too.
They are just as impacting. Serving God and serving others anywhere impacts lives. Every year I come back from these domestic mission trips and our leaders and students alike are just as impacted as the people from our church who come back from Nicaragua. Serving the Lord anywhere, with the right heart, can impact anyone.

Again, I see the value of both domestic and international mission trips and hope that in your life you are able to go on both. But too often I believe that we limit ourselves to think that unless we go to Haiti or Nicaragua or some other international destination, we didn't really go on a mission trip. So these are simple 4 primary reasons why I am passionate about domestic mission trips.

What do you think? TAKE A MINUTE and thoughtful process my argument for domestic trips. Did I miss something or am I inaccurate somewhere? I'd love to have a great dialogue going about this so post a comment so that others may be challenged and encouraged.

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POLL: What makes up a successful event?

Tom — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 11:46:54 +0000

Yesterday we had another fellowship dinner for our college and young adults. As I have been trying to build relationships and a program for this demographic at our church this summer, I have learned many lessons as I know that it will take time for this to get started and fully developed the way I feel like the Lord wants it.

Our dinner consisted of a meal together, a game a catch-phrase and some teaching and discussion. I tried to create a good environment with some nice comfortable chairs placed around the dinner tables for people to lounge around in before and after the meal. I also had music playing in the background.

As Mark, my supervisor and Associate Pastor, and I processed the night, it made me think about what I considered to be a successful ministry event. What has to happen for it to be pleasing and acceptable for my standards? Overall, I viewed the night as a success. Even though there were not as many college and young adults as I would have liked (my goal was 20 and we got 12), I was pleased. The reason why I was please was because people had fun together, we had 2 new young adults come out and they connected with others pretty seamlessly and Christ was proclaimed.

What about you? What makes up a successful event for you? Take the poll and post a comment.

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