Category Archives: Youth Ministry

6 things every parent should know about Mariners JHM

6 things every parent should know about Mariners JHM.
Justin Herman
Jr. High Pastor, Mariners Church
We Are About Jesus – Every service our students can count on 3 things.
1. Student lead worship preparing hearts to receive God’s message.
2. Leaders and teachers with a heart for God and a strong understanding how to apply God’s word to Junior High Students.
3. Response time- after our message we take time to reflex what God is saying to us. Through worship, group prayer, prayer walls and sometime alone time. We give our students time to reflex on how God is speaking to them.
Sign Up For The Parent Email
We are a team and we love our parents! To better partner with us I encourage you to get on the “Parent Email”. You will receive an email every Thursday afternoon with past stories and upcoming information. You can forward to friends and family with links to our website and our podcast. Be informed and sign up today.
New “Check In” Process
Your child will check themselves in this year. This is a big change for you and your child. We suggest talking with them before you separate and make a plan to where they can meet you after service. Some kids like to hang out at the Student Center and parents meet them there. Some meet at the café or worship center. We do encourage you to walk in with your child for the first couple of weeks until they get comfortable with the new surroundings and staff. Our staff will be there to help with the process. We are excited to have them!
Do Not Try To Do It All
We know that life is busy and that your child will not make all events. Please prioritize. Weekend services are a must. We have 3 services to choose from 1 Saturday evening and 2 Sunday morning. Worship, teaching and friendships are formed in our services. After Sunday service there are service projects, small groups, and student leadership. We encourage you to find one of these areas that will best fit your child and help them grow spiritually. We will be happy to give you more information about these opportunities. Our ministry also has many ideas and events we can recommend for families to grow closer to Jesus together.
You Are Always Welcome
We have an open door. Please, as parents join us in our services we would love to have you. Stop by for one of our services or become one of our leaders. Contact me at any time. You know your student best and you hear the feedback from our services. You are a big part of my vision for the future of JHM and I welcome your comments. I am easy to get a hold of either by email or phone. I am available to pray with you or just talk about your student any time. I love getting to know our families and do make time to have lunches and dinners with families. My schedule gets tight so I cant always fit everyone in. So every month we have a coffee with the pastor time that any parent can swing by and meet with me, info for that in on our website.
What We Teach
Our church leaders meet each week to discuss what the message will be for the week. My team and I then meet to pray, go over scripture and put together a message that Jr High students can understand and apply to their lives. Our hope is that this will create great family discussions and that you will grow in your faith together as a family.

For more info check us out online at MarinersChurch.org

13 things to try when your in a Teaching Funk

Have you ever been in a teaching funk?  Most teachers have, and it feels like I’m in one now! I love teaching God’s word and I am fortunate enough to be the primary teacher in our Jr. High ministry.  Like most Pastors, I am critical of my own teaching; not because I want to be perfect- there was only one guy that was perfect, Jesus, and we don’t need another.  I am critical because I really love what I am teaching and I know I am not teaching moral living or the thoughts of a good teacher.  I am teaching lessons from God himself.  His eternal plan for a fallen world is one that we need to share, not keep quiet or be jealous over- like Jonah.  God’s word is serious, life-changing stuff.  It is not a joke, it is not a part time thing, and it is not a stepping stone to something better.  Taking on the role of teacher is something that we will be judged very harshly on.  Instead of running from that truth, I press into it in order to improve.  You may be same as me, always striving to get better and connect the truth of Jesus to people.

Because of the funk I am in right now, I am looking at thirteen different things to help get me out of it.

1.  Admit you have a problem.  Well, maybe it’s not a problem, but if you are feeling like
you’re in a struggling season, talk to some one about it.  Talk to your supervisor,
other pastors in town, or people that you network with and have community with.
Don’t sit in your office and stress over it, but instead reach out to others who can
encourage you and help.

2. Mentors.  Do you have one?  Do you have someone who has gone through the
same things as you?  This is not just a teaching thing, this is a leader thing.  Every
good leader has to be mentored by someone with more time, experience, and
wisdom.

3. Time alone with God.  Are you getting filled up or are you just pouring out into
others?  Are you connecting with your Savior or just teaching about Him?  This may
sound like a soft question, but it’s not.  If you’re not with God, then you can’t know
God.  If you don’t know Him, you can’t teach others about Him. You can fake it for
awhile, but that will eventually fail.

4. Content.  Do you believe in what you are teaching?  Whether it be curriculum that
you are teaching, or following the church teaching schedule.  Are you being told
what to write or writing your own content?  Think over if you’re having a writers block
or if you need better prep.  In the end, if you don’t believe in the content than
something needs to change

5. Prayer and Fasting.  When was the last time you did this?  Take a day and worry
about one thing- connecting with Jesus. Go to Jesus in a few different ways and
really connect with His heart as your God, His heart for you as a teacher, and as His
son or daughter.

6. Read a book.  Someone suggested that I read a book on teaching, I have to be
honest- I have been in the same books for a while, and I haven’t read anything new.
I am going to get a new book this week to read from a different voice.  Great idea
and one we don’t think of that often.

7. Take a break.  If you have the ability to take a few weeks off of teaching to re-focus,
get your passion back in some ways, get your head and heart right with God, then
do it!  Some love being the upfront guy too much to take a break, but unless you
have people you are equipping to be a great teachers too, you are not doing the
best for your ministry

8.  Your writing process.  How are you writing and preparing for a lesson?  Do you use
an outline that you learned in college?  Did you steal the style of a pastor you like?
Really think over the process that you use, how you write, and where you could
tweak it to get new outcomes.

9.In a routine.  There are good routines and there are bad ones- ones that limit you,
hold you back and squelch creativity.  These are routines that you may want to re-
think.  Ask around for what works for other pastors and see if you can make some
changes to your own routine.  There is NOTHING wrong with a good routine, but
when you are shackled by it, then it’s time to re-assess

10. Try something new.  Maybe for you, trying something new means getting off of the
stage and breaking that barrier.  Maybe you will pull some students in to share their
testimony and let students hear from other students.  Whatever it is, try something
different.  Shake it up, and see new results.

11. Trust in the Holy Spirit.  When you are down on yourself know this, the Holy Spirit
will move.  Anything that our students get out of our lessons is because the Holy
Spirit is at work, so take heart! Our best prepared lessons can fall on deaf ears, and
the Holy Spirit can use our worst prepared messages for amazing things.

12. Ask others.  Record your lessons, and ask others listen and give you feedback.  Invite them to your room when you are teaching so they can give great feedback too.  Don’t feel it’s week to ask others, don’t think that they are really thinking in their mind how much better they are than you, because they won’t be.  Just get others who are willing to hear and speak quality into your life.

13. Don’t compare. When I was at Catalyst West, Jon Acuff said “Don’t compare your beginning to someone else’s middle”.  I get the opportunity to work at a great influential church with many world class pastors and teachers.  It makes easy to compare yourself to others, you try to do your ministry while imitating other pastor styles and try to emulate their ministry.  “Be you” is the lesson I got from Evan Gratz, one of the Pastors on staff.  Just be you.  That is a lesson that I am still learning, but I know it is one we as pastors share.  This is a little clip from Matt Chandler that really brings this point out.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhFOkuQ3uvA.

I want to hear your ideas.  Connect with me and share or leave a comment at the bottom of this blog.

Teaching is important and we can all get better together.

Networking when you not wired as a Networker

This is me being honest, i feel i was born to network.  I remember on summer i was all about collecting bottles and going to the convenient store to turn them in and get candy.  Those were some of my best memories.  I started to see something, i was only getting a small amount of bottles and small of candy.  So i started pulling in boys down the street to pool bottles for money to get better candy to share.   I was always using networking as a tool to do more together.  On thing i have found after talking to countless rookie pastor and even some veteran ones that in their community networking is not a a “big thing”.

I get that is not always easy though, we all get busy right?  With our programs, our small groups, our outreach stuff, our camps and while we do it all to the glory of God we also for the most part are all doing the same stuff.  the method might be different but the parts are all the same.
When i started looking at my local churches i saw one thing, that just like when i was a kid if you pull people together there is more we can do together.  And again networking is the tool to get this done.

So here are some quick easy steps to network when your not a networker.
1-Check you motives to network- is your goal to brag on yourself or to encourage others.  Its not a contest but a race we are running together.
2-Get out a map- Look at the 4 or 5 churches closest to you and start there.  Don’t worry about denominations, just that they love jesus and love students.
3-Be willing to make the first move-  Sometimes the other person wont call you, so like asking the girl to prom you may have to buck up and cold call your pastor from another pasture down the street.  You be willing and God will do the heavy lifting.
4-We all eat lunch right- Food is the best open door there is, and every one eats lunch even the most busy youth pastors in America go to Chipotle or five guys.  Go with and have great conversation.
5-Have a goal- do you want to plan events together, vent, share local strategies, have a local in the trenches prayer partner.  Know you goal going in and make it known.  and saying you just want to hang out is a great goal to have.
6-There are more ideas- There are many more ways and paths to networking with others, ask people that do it, try stuff out on your own.  but whatever you do, don’t do nothing.

GUEST POST: Community vs. Social Media

Video first: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUGmcb3mhLM

 

This commercial is funny because it’s true.

The irony within the youth culture is that they are so socially connected through social media that they don’t actually know anyone.

It’s a façade that many teenagers fall in to thinking that the more friends they have on facebook the more popular they really are… until they realize that they are sitting in their room alone.

Don’t get me wrong I am not here to bash social media. I use social media, I think it’s great, but like anything it can be perverted. Unfortunately this is a perversion of real relationships.

Real relationships start with meeting face-to-face.

And the younger generation is beginning to lose the ability to hold face-to-face conversations.

Everything is being funneled through a computer like product. Another irony within this is that we are closer to people than ever before and yet we are so far apart. What I mean by that is I can chat to someone in China in a split second but I have never been a part of his or her life.

“Being a part of” will soon cease to exist at the rate we are going with technology in this world.

People naturally desire to have real, authentic relationships. It’s built in us because we are created in the image of God.

God is relational and so are we.

Community is the relational setting that we long for.

Today like never before we need to strive as a community of people to really desire to have face-to-face relationships.

Real, authentic relationships can only come if Jesus is at the center of someone’s life.

As youth leaders, pastors, parents, friends, family, we need to see the value in real face-to-face relationships. We need to strive to be in community with each other, not online, but in real life, with Jesus at the center.

By Sean Kappauf, Jr. High Pastor at the Crossing Church in Costa Mesa California.

http://www.facebook.com/seankappauf

Snow when I wake up

So I woke up today to something I have not seen in a long time, SNOW.
Now don’t get me wrong, I love snow. Snow balls, snow angels, snow fights and don’t forget yellow snow. I realized that I have a bunch of snow waiting for me in Buffalo most likely. That doesn’t put a big smile on my face. But I downloaded a new book and plan to relax knowing what is waiting for me.

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SYMC Day 2

This day was wild, so many new people, new ministry ideas, I really feel like I’m on overload.  Well not to overwhelmed I can still deal and have fun.  But that is what i like about these conferences, you get all like minded people in the same spot, fun happens.

From XXX church to John Acuff (which I was first in line to meet him by accident) it was a great day of training for me.

I grabbed on to 3 things that I loved.

-One, during the afternoon Jr. High mega track we were talking about training for leaders.  I am always getting down on my self cause I feel I can do more.  All the Youth pastors and leaders were there and shared some of their ideas for it.  The stuff that they are doing across america is not that different from me.  It was a good thing to hear that.  I got to talk about the training book i use, and got to hear about what they do… Loved it.

-Two, I got the chance to sit down and have a private convo with Les Christie who is a guy that is all about games fun and loving Jesus and telling students about Jesus in a serious way.  He told me many many things that i will not soon forget.  But I asked him ” one big thing, “if he could give me one thought at 27 that could give me that kind of longevity in ministry what would it be?”  He told me, “its basic, Love God and Love Students.”  After thinking of Matt Mcgills blog ( http://lovegodlovestudents.com/) i realize how basic yet forgetful it was some times.

-Three, This pearl was from John Acuff ( http://www.jonacuff.com/stuffchristianslike/ ), he talked about the voices inside of us that tell us we can’t do thing, that were not good enough, that were not the leaders others are, that we don’t have the numbers.  All things i have said to my self or still feel some times.  How we will remember the one bad things and forget the 100 great things.  How was all have a voice inside of us that will do that, and we can’t let it win.

BEST DAY 2 EVER…

 

Top 3 for SYMC

Here it comes, study leave 2012 and I can’t wait to get me “some learning” in Kentucky with the good people from Simply Youth Ministry.  Getting moments like this for youth pastors is very important.  Being together, recharging together, people that get the ministry.  We can all encourage each other, learn from each other, cry with each other (I’ve done it) and worship with each other.

Every time I go to any conference I have a short list of things that I really want to hammer out.  Learn more about, bounce ideas off others and Lord willing come back refreshed with some answers.   At the very least something to get my leaders fired up by recasting some vision in a specific area.

For me this year I want focus on 3 things:

3) I want to get exposed to new resources and tools for students ministry.  Some stuff for leaders so they can keep fulfilling their passion better.  Looking online is different that seeing and touching in person.  Asking real questions and getting real answers from either staff or other youth pastors who use it.  From curriculum to new hot new book my eyes are open.  Seeing new is always fun.

2) Since I’m traveling alone I want to try to have coffee from voices I don’t hear from all the time.  Yes main stage people sure are fun, but guess what; i believe that there is a youth pastor in iowa who is coming to SYMC thats in the same shoes I am.  I want to connect with them, Who ever they are….I want to bounce ideas with you and just let you know we are not alone.

1) The number one thing.  Guidance in my girls ministry.  Im a single youth pastor who is great with the guys and good with the girls and don’t want my ministry to be a boys club.  I have great female leaders, but vision and leadership leaks from the top, so how i am leading them matters.  I hear this same thing from other single Youth Pastors in my shoes so I know I’m not alone.  My ears are wide open,  I’m ready to hear ideas for making sure every students has repeated opportunities to hear who jesus is, that he loves them and wants to be in relationship with them.  Thats done by first agreeing “I don’t have every answer.”

So what are the 3 things you want to accomplish this year at the SYMC?