5 posts tagged “youth ministry”

Last night we kicked off Gr8ness, our summer youth group, and it was awesome!  Here are some quick thoughts about the night:

I recently found this link and thought it was very interesting: Learning to Speak Like Generation Millennial

The last five days were incredible!  I just got back last night from our annual youth leadership beach retreat in Fort Morgan, Alabama.  Each year we like to say "Thank You" to each of our youth leaders who have served over the past semester or who will be serving over the upcoming summer by taking a few days to the beach.  It was so much fun and a much needed break for me.  Here are some final thoughts about this year's trip:

• The "Beach Castle" was awesome!  The view from the house each night with the moon lighting up the entire ocean was breathtaking.  Psalm 19 was so evident.
  

  Beach Castle
• Erin:  Your administrative ability is incredible! 
  
• Matty:  The hole was awesome, but the old lady wasn't.
  
• Cade: "You may want to try some aloe.  It works well."
• Chase:  aka "Bacon King of the World"
• Jess:  I hope your new cell phone comes in handy.
• Abby:  You are such an awesome mom!  Seriously, everyday I watch you interact with Samantha I'm amazed!
• Jonathan:  When you think your muscles are bigger than all of ours, never forget who won the "Small Football Throwing Championships."
• Amy:  You're going to be a great mom one day.  I constantly saw you putting yourself second to help Abby with Samantha!
• Samantha:  She captures the attention of a college guy faster than any other girl alive.
• Erika:  Dont' forget that sunscreen will work on your legs too.
• Palmer:  There is no way any quarterback in the NFL has your accuracy.
• Kelli:  Funfetti balls = awesomeness!
• Emily:  Thanks for your putt-putt patience!  You were a trooper!
• Jared:  I seriously thought you were going to take on the battleship by yourself at Ft. Morgan.
• Kyle:  Sweetest sunburn ever!
• Andrea:  The phrase "You throw like a girl" does not apply to you.
  
• David:  I knew you were a Clemson fan deep down inside.
  

For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. (Eph. 3:14-21)

 Many of you know that this has been my prayer for the youth ministry the entire semester.  As I look back at the past month, I’m blown away at how faithful God has been to answer this prayer and so many more that have been lifted up by each of you.  God has blessed us tremendously!  Nevertheless, we must always remember why God chooses to bless us:  God has a desire to bless us, so His glory, passion, and Word will be known among the nations.  The central focus of the youth ministry is God’s glory.  Every decision that is made, every word that is taught, and every relationship that is established is done with the glory of God in mind.  Our motivation for ministry comes from a pursuit of God’s glory.  The ways our programs are run reflect God’s glory.  And the results of these programs celebrate God’s glory. 

The advancement of the kingdom of God and His glory is taking place in the youth ministry right now.  As a result, the enemy is working harder than ever to destroy what God is doing.  Satan’s first scheme is to destroy the unity among the youth leadership.  He wants us to question each other, fight each other, gossip, be frustrated, and be angry.  When we begin doing these things, Satan has successfully taken our minds off of God’s glory and replaced that glory with an unhealthy desire to glorify ourselves.  A battle is raging in the youth ministry right now, but it’s not the battle many of you think it is.  Paul writes, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Ephesians 6:12).  The battle is not among us.  It’s a war that goes well beyond anything we can see.  Satan wants nothing more than to steal the glory of God.

So how do we fight this battle as youth leaders?  Thankfully, Paul not only tells us about the enemy but gives us the battle plan too: 

Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.  Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with her readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.  In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.  Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.  And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.  With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints (Eph. 6:13-18).

             For some of you, this may be your first experience with spiritual warfare.  It’s real.  Satan is real.  God is real, and more importantly, God has already won the battle!  I’ll leave you with a thought from David Crowder.  In the song “We Win,” Crowder encourages believers and hits Satan in the mouth with the following words: 

18 We Win!

Because we’ve already won
And You don’t have a chance
Yeah we’ve already won
No you don’t have a chance
It’s already done
And you don’t have a chance
Because we’ve already won!
We have already won!

             Youth leaders, Satan has already lost!  God has already won!  Strap on your armor,  remain unified as a team and fight for the glory of our King!

    As a youth pastor, I'm often faced with the question, "Hey Michael, how do I know what God wants me to do in this situation?"  One of the responses I always give goes something like this:  "God has no desire to keep His will from you.  He wants to make it clear to you.  It's not some secret encoded message."  I do provide a much more in-depth answer than this in most circumstances, but I think this simple advice helps in most cases.  Oftentimes, we view God's voice as jibberish that can't be understand by us.  Why would God want his voice unclear for us?  To see how much faith we have?  I doubt it.  In certain circumstances it would probably be easier if God was unclear.  Those circumstances would include moving from Williamston, SC to New Orleans, LA, going to seminary when you just finished your undergrad, and taking on a full-time position as a youth pastor while continuing to be a seminary student in Louisiana all at the same time.  If God would have been unclear, I (if you didn't already know those circumstances are my personal experiences) could have stayed at home, been close to family and friends, been done with school, and worked at an amazing church.  As I reflect on the past, I'm grateful that God spoke clearly to me in those situations.  He really has no desire to hide His plan from us.  In fact, He is constantly speaking clearly, and it's simply up to us to clear out our ears and hearts to hear Him.
    I actually had an example of this today:  God has been speaking to me about gratitude the entire day.  First, God spoke to me through my friend David.  However, in that moment, I needed some spiritual q-tips to listen to God's clear voice.  I didn't want to hear what God was saying through David.  I was angry, bitter, and even admitted to David that I had a bad attitude.  God's words through David were something along these lines of, "We always have the ability to control our attitudes."  I'm sorry if I misquoted you David!  If I would have stepped back and listened to that, I could have realized how blessed I was to be doing what I was doing.  I simply needed to grateful for life in the midst of a less-than-ideal situation.  At this point, I didn't hear God's clear voice.  It took me all day, several conversations, and finally a book to help me listen.  I've been reading the book  The Return of the Prodigal Son by Henri Nouwen.  Nouwen is quickly climbing to the top of my favorite authors list.  I'll probably write a lot about this book in the future.  God has spoken to me over and over through it.  Anyway, back to God's clear voice...As I read tonight about the oldest son in the parable of the prodigal son, many of Nouwen's words stuck out to me.  But the following words were more than Nouwen's...they were God speaking clearly to me through Nouwen.  The words were,
   
    "Gratitude, however, goes beyond the "mine" and "thine" and claims the truth that all of life is a pure gift.  In the         past I always thought of gratitude as a spontaneous response to the awareness of gifts received, but now I realize        that gratitude can also be lived as a discipline.  The discipline of gratitude is the explicit effort to acknowledge that     all I am and have is given to me as a gift of love, a gift to be celebrated with joy." 

    Wow!  Am I simply grateful when I receive gifts?  Or am I grateful for the gifts that God gives me every moment of every day.  God couldn't have been more clear today.  In the midst of tough circumstances and a bad attitude, God wanted me to celebrate the gift of love that He consistently pours out on me. Are you practicing the discipline of gratitude?  Are you hearing God's voice clearly?  Do you need to clean out the clutter that may be preventing you from hearing God's clear voice?  He does speak clearly.  He wants us to be a part of His plan.  It's simply up to us to slow down long enough and be willing to receive that crystal clear voice of our Father.