If you work with students, you really should consider joining us for SYMC in Chicago in February! Advanced registration closes in two weeks, and you don’t want to miss the action.

In addition to the fabulous general sessions, the great conversations and opportunities to make some new friends, I (along with Scott Rubin, Katie Edwards and Johnny Scott) will be hosting a total of almost 16 hours worth of junior high ministry stuff! We have a one-day “pre conference” junior high ministry seminar, a 4-hour intro to junior high ministry track and a 4-hour advanced junior high ministry track.

Register, grab a parka, and join us in Chicago!

As a friend of Marko, I was devastated when he left Youth Specialties. I was sad for him and wondered what the future held for an organization that has helped lead the charge of youth ministry for so many of us for so many years.

Today I learned that Tic Long has returned to YS as its new Executive Director, and I must say that I am thrilled! In recent months I have said in several conversations that I believe the youth ministry world needs “a vibrant Youth Specialties”.  As a guy who has been around for a little while, I owe a large debt of gratitude to Youth Specialties and I am excited that Tic is at the helm as it heads into this new season.

 I’m super excited about two brand new resources available at Simply Junior High!  We’ve created a “Smart Stuff” small group video curriculum as well as a “Smart Stuff” 10-minute moment book for your students.  Each resource takes a look God’s wisdom found in the book of Proverbs.

Because I love our planet (it’s a pretty good place to call home, for now.) and want to be a good steward of what God has created for us, I have slowly become more interested in the discussions concerning global warming; specifically mankind’s role….or lack of role.

To be fair…I’m only interested, I’m not overly concerned about or consumed by the subject and I really haven’t been a student of it. But I recently ran across this organization and thought it had some interesting insights.

NOTE: I am not endorsing thier views or trying to get people to sign their petition (which I wouldn’t do myself)….just passing along something I found.

EXTRA NOTE:  I am also posting this because I don’t have much “junior high ministry stuff” going on in my head today!

WEEKEND WRAP UP: Our first weekend of the new year was suprisingly strong. Attendance was high, energy was high, volunteer involvement was high, and the lesson was strong. Our topic was an uncreative “How to Have a Great Year”, but the lesson itself was really fun. The main point was simply DECIDE THAT GOOD ENOUGH ISN’T GOOD ENOUGH. We talked about the various areas that junior highers tend to settle for “Good Enough” and ways to avoid that temptation. All in all, it was a great weekend.

A BUSY SEASON:I feel like I am heading into one of the busiest seasons in a long, long time. A couple of writing projects, several speaking/training engagements, and beginning the process of a fairly radical “re-tooling” of some crucial aspects of our student ministries program at Saddleback. I’m not much of a list maker, but I am in the process of creating a fairly lengthy one to help me keep my priorities on track.

DENVER BRONCOS: Still too sad to comment.

WHAT I AM READING: I am currently reading “The Guinea Pig Diaries” by my A.J. Jacobs.

LOOKING FORWARD TO: Ditching church this Saturday night to take my 12-year-old son, Cole, to Supercross.

Wishing everybody a Merry Christmas. I hope you find time to slow down, enjoy family and friends and celebrate our savior.

No blogging for me until the new year.

See ya in 2010.

Our junior high ministry has lots of strengths, and more than its fair share of weaknesses! One of the things we seem to do best is get kids connected in a small group with about 10 peers and an adult leader or two.  We have a fairly defined purpose/goal for our small groups, but I often wonder if a “narrow focus” for our small group ministry as a whole is the right way to go, or if we would be wiser to loosen up a bit and let individual small groups take on their own feel and personality….in essence becoming a custom-made small group for the kids in that particular group.

CURRENTLY: Our small groups all meet on Tuesday or Wednesday night, they are expected to choose curriculum from a pre-approved “menu”, We create the calendar of meetings and events for them, they are all same grade/gender with no mixing of other “tribes”, they all meet for the primary purpose of “fellowship” with a strong dose of “discipleship”.

BUT WHAT IT: We loosened it up? what if groups could form however they want and meet whenever they want for whatever purpose they want? What if we trained and empowered our leaders to decide what the spiritual pace of their group is and pick their own curriculum…or have no curriculum at all!  I know things would get a bit squishy, hard to define, hard to measure and hard to control…but things would also get very interesting in a hurry.

We have probably all heard [...]

Continue Reading “Small Group Questions”

- As I type this, there is a 30-something guy in Starbucks spending time with a high school student…which is awesome. In the middle of what seemed to be pretty intense “mentoring” the guy’s phone rang and he took the call.  it TOTALLY ruined the moment.  May those of us who work with students be willing to be fully engaged (Kurt, preaching to himself).

-  Saw “Brothers” the other night. It’s rated R, so some may choose to avoid it but I found it quite compelling, disturbing, encouraging all at the same time. It is a little cliche, but a good story overall.

- I am swimming about 4 days a week and loving it. However, I have discovered that I am extremely hungry after swimming….WAY more so than after any other form of exercise. Any swimmers or health professionals out there that can explain this?

- Spent about 2 hours yesterday afternoon with Josh Griffin, our high school pastor, talking about youth ministry…specifically the future of ours. I think the next 5 years will take us on an incredible ride, and I’m thrilled he’s helping to lead the way.

- …Almost ten minutes later, and “30 something mentor/cell phone guy” is still yapping away while the high schooler is twiddling his thumbs…literally!  Uugghhhh!

The team I lead is in the early stages of some significant change,  and I’m learning something interesting about myself along the way: Even though I am the one who has initiated this, I may also be the one holding it back the most!

Here is my initial list of “why leaders who want to implement change  sometimes struggle to do so”.  Some of these I have seen in myself, and others came to mind while I was chewing on the subject. I would love to hear your additional thoughts.

-  Very few people “bleed” the ministry like the leader does, so he/she usually has more history with the status quo and has probably invested the most into it. In short, it’s often very hard for the leader to actually make the changes he/she knows need to be made.

- If the changes don’t go well, everybody else gets to hide behind the leader and say, “It was his idea!”.  The leader has no place to hide.

- The leader has to defend/sell/propose the changes to those higher up the food chain…which isn’t always an easy sell. Many leaders don’t have the political pull, the trust of sr. leadership, the “fight” etc. to go to bat on behalf of the changes they want to implement.

- Oftentimes, a leader will point to roadblocks (tradition, budget, resources, climate of the church etc.) as an excuse to not make the change. While all of these things must factor into change, they can easily become the reason change is never implemented.

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Continue Reading “The Biggest Hindrance To Change May Be You!”