I’ve noticed this among the students in my Life Group, who all seem to be involved in at least one sport (often more). As a result, they’re left with very little free time. They’re harder to communicate with, they have less time to meet at Starbucks or Taco Bell and they sometimes feel overwhelmed by it all.

I don’t know all the implications of this, but the biggest thing seems to be a lack of free time. It’s easier for a student to play off the “church stuff” for something “more important.” It’s also harder for us to get them to part with their precious free time to spend it with God or by serving others. The challenge I’ve seen this year is getting them to use their time to communicate with their leaders. There’s always something they can be doing, and our job is to help them realize where their time needs to be prioritized.

We need the same time after a busy season of ministry. Whether it’s summer, a season of small group or a rough time with a particular student, we need to take time not not only rest, but reset our brains. We need those times to recharge and reset after a particularly busy time, that way we’re ready to go for the next crazy season. We all need to find our FIFA 13 and be willing to go there, rather than going full throttle all year long.

Matt: I saw a car commercial the other night for the Nissan Leaf. it’s not a hybrid car, it’s a total electric car. There is a scene of the car in the garage with the owner plugging it in. It made me think, sometimes to recharge your batteries you need to just stop and plug in and do nothing. Well nothing of substance that is. For me one of my escapes is to cook. I love everything about cooking. The planning of a menu, the shopping, the prep work and then the actually cooking. Although to some it might seem like work, to me it’s relaxing and a way that I de-stress. It’s a way for me to totally lose myself and forgot a busy season or a problem I’ve just been through.

Finding time to stop and do something you can get lost in and forget about what’s going on around you might look different to each of us but it should have the same result. The result being when I’ve finished my batteries are recharged, I’m mentally ready to move on and charge the next hill and my energy level has been restored. This is especially true for me in student ministry, it keeps me from burning out, it keeps me focused and it makes me ready for the next challenge.

One of the problems we have is getting students to move on from a ministry they love, especially your “core” kids. The ones that are at every service and event you have. I think they have a big problem making the move for several reasons. First off they are going from a ministry where everyone knows them to one where they are unknown.  They go from being the big fish in the small pond to being the small fish in the big pond. They are stepping out of their comfort zone. If you have a student who hates change more than the Amish this is really a problem.

We need to get students plugged into college ministry programs before they get out of high school. If your student small group is composed of all seniors, get them signed up as a college small group so they can get to know the small group leaders for college ministry and the college ministry leaders can get to know them.

We need to get college ministry leaders to attend summer camps and begin building relationships with outgoing high school seniors. I almost think we need a separate summer camp just for this!

If you have students moving out of the area to go to school, help them find a church close to their college. Don’t wait for them to leave and do it on their own, chances are unless they are really strong in their walk with God they won’t follow through. Spend some time helping them research the area and the churches there so you can find one that closely follows your beliefs. If you know of previous students in that area, connect the students together so they can know someone there before they move away.

Follow up! Keep in contact, make sure they know you’re there to help and advise them and pray like crazy for them.

I want to finish the school year strong. I want to know that students in my group are making some major steps in their spiritual life and that they are continuing to grow. I don’t want them to think its okay to build this great relationship with Jesus during the school year and then during the summer I just kind of put Jesus in the background and I’ll get back to him in September. If you have eight graders about to make the transition to high school or high school seniors about to head off to college you really need to make sure you’re doing everything you can to transition them off to the next stage of their life. I’m going to blog more about that later this week but for today I wanted to list some things to help your students finish the school year:

• Consider meeting over the summer. Traditionally student small groups stop meeting during the summer. People go on vacation, and there are a lot of distractions but I still meet during the summer. I know that not every student will be there each week but at least they have an option.
• Keep in contact with them over the summer. Text them, have lunch with them; do a movie day or a beach day.
• If you have students who are struggling in a particular area keep holding them accountable and make sure they are keeping in contact with their accountability partners. Keep encouraging them over the summer.
• If your church has a summer camp, encourage your students to go. I can’t say enough about camp. This will be my fifth year as a camp leader and I’ve seen so many students have a life changing experience at camp. 

Last night our High School Ministry had all of the high school small groups meet together and before hand the leaders were treated to dinner as a way of saying thanks. It was good to see and talk with leaders that I had not seen since summer camp last year. As I looked around the room it dawned on me…there were three young leaders there who I have had in my past small groups. It was a cool feeling to realize that three guys who I had a small part of pouring into their lives are now pouring into the lives of students in their own small groups.

I think I’ve reached the stage of life where maybe God needs me more as a mentor and teacher than a small group leader. Don’t get me wrong I love the guys in my high school small group and I look forward to seeing them each week and talking with them and watching them grow in the faith and seeing God do great things in their lives. But I feel more and more I’m being called into more of a mentoring and “teach the teacher” arena. I’m always honored when other leaders come to me for help with a problem student, or how to handle a situation. I feel blessed that God has given me the gift of relating and communicating with teens and young adults.

I could write on and on about knowing and feeling God’s call in your life and when you’re entering a new season. I think it’s different for all of us. But I know for myself I feel more and more that God is moving me in a new direction in student ministry. It’s something I’ve been praying about daily and I think last night was God really showing me something. I can influence a few students being a small group leader, but I can influence a ton of students by mentoring and training leaders. I’ll keep praying on this and either way, I’m excited to see how God uses me next!

Her thoughts about conviction got me thinking a lot about the role it plays in my students. If I look at the guys who seem to have the strongest relationship with God–the ones who really get it–I see a stronger sense of conviction. They’re convicted to read their Bibles more, pray more, do things that are outside their comfort zone to grow in God. So where does this sense of conviction come from in them?

As I’ve looked more into this Christian use of the word “conviction,” I’ve found that it comes partly from the Greek word for “faith.” That would lead me to believe that conviction and faith go hand in hand. You can’t have conviction without first having faith. In those students I was talking about above, they have a faith that is strong and growing. Because of this, they also seem to have a stronger sense of conviction.

I know that’s just one idea that plays into the idea of conviction, so now I turn it to you. In your experience, where does conviction come from? Is it something that can be instilled in someone, or does it have to come about organically through a basis of faith?

The next day I thought about how I’ve learned over time how to use a night like this to the best advantage. When I was first starting out in student ministry, I would have used time on the drive to the stadium to have a conversation about some stuff going on with him. I more than likely would have forced the issue before he was ready to talk. I’ve learned to use a night like this for fun. Just some time to sit back and relax and let him see me as a human and not the guy teaching Bible lessons and telling him how he should live his life. As it turned out, he brought up the subject I wanted to talk with him about; I didn’t have to say anything.

We’ve written in the past about how valuable one-one-time can be with a student. Just remember to use that time wisely. I want students to look forward to that time instead of when I asked to spend some time with them, have them think, “Oh no, now what did I do?” During one-on-one time, be intentional. Don’t check e-mail and spend time answering and sending text messages. Don’t avoid the tough conversations but save it for the right time. If a student is not ready to talk don’t get discouraged, just wait for the time to be right. And more than anything have fun! Just be a kid for the night. Sometimes there is no better way to bond with a student than just having fun laughing and talking.

Check out the first part of Justin’s post, then head over to his blog for more.

It is in my nature to want to make student feel welcome. I want to invite them in. This last year there has been a few students who joined my small group, which is amazing. These students were invited by friends, they were coming consistently  they were engaging in conversation, they were “in”… then one day he was gone. The student disappeared. Just stopped coming. Gone. Not really, cause I still saw him via social media and such, but just not coming to group anymore. The others in the group still invited him to come, I pursued him. Nothing.

What do we do? What happens when students just stop showing up?

Starting a conversation with a teenager can be a chore especially when it’s a teen that has been brought to a church service by their parents and they can think of a hundred other places they would rather be. I remember when I first was starting out volunteering in student ministry I was afraid I wouldn’t know what to say or I’d say the wrong thing. Now it just comes easy to me. Here’s what I do to start a conversation:

• Pray. I ask God to help me be able to see a student who is trying to blend into the woodwork and to be able to start up a conversation with them.
• Be yourself. Nothing is more creepy to a student than an adult trying to act cool…and you’re not. Just talk natural. Limit your use of these two words, “dude” and “totally”.
• Tell them your name and THEN ask theirs. If you do it the other way around you come off like a creeper.
• Keep current in stuff that teens keep current in their world. I’m not a big rap or hip hop fan but I know enough to know names, I know who the latest celebrity crushes are, what sport teams are in the lead and what the latest stupid thing that Justin Bieber has done.
• Ask the right questions. Don’t just be superficial. If you ask how a student is doing and they say “okay” but you sense something is wrong ask “No, really how are you, can I help you with anything?”
• If it’s a student new to your ministry try to hold back having them accept Jesus, get baptized and sign up for a mission trip all on their first visit to your church. Don’t rush it or you’ll scare them away.

Then the next week totally falls flat.

This is a pattern that follows through almost every single time we have a great small group night. So, what the heck is causing it and how can I avoid it?

I think the biggest reason this happens is because there aren’t that many weeks that can be absolutely awesome. When one of those nights does happen, it stands so high above the rest that even if you compare a “good” night to it, the good night is going to be a letdown right after a great week.

Another reason could be that students recognize when a great week happens, so they don’t feel as much pressure to do the same thing the next week. They are the most critical factor in this whole process, so if they don’t participate as much, your next week isn’t going to be as awesome.

So how do we avoid the 2nd week letdown? I don’t know that it is completely avoidable. One of the things I had to do recently is go into the second week knowing that it probably wouldn’t be as great as the week before, and learn to accept that. Another thing is pray that the second week would be great despite an awesome week before. And last is prepare for the second week as if it will be as great as the week before.

What do you do to prepare for the week after an amazing week of ministry?