Monthly Archives: March 2012

03.30.12
by

Free Easter Lesson from @ym360

My friends over at youthministry360 have put together this great free lesson for Easter. Easter is an excellent opportunity to share the love of Christ with your students and the people in your community, and youthministry360 have put together a helpful lesson for you. This free lesson comes with sermon outline, handouts, and a PowerPoint presentation. This lesson shows the importance and thread of God’s redeeming love and how it reached you and I through Christ’s birth, His death, and most of all, His glorious resurrection.

Click here to download this FREE lesson and explore other great resources that youthministry360 has to offer you.

I also highly encourage you to like them on facebook here and follow them on twitter here.

 

03.29.12
by

How to handle students who are intimidating

Have you ever had a student in your ministry who is just flat out intimidating? You might want to just hand over the ministry to this student, because you honestly feel in your heart that they could handle the role as good as you? Well, the student at least thinks and makes that known to the rest of the ministry. We all have students who are like this. It may even be the knowledge that a student may have that intimidates you as the youth leader, or it could be the toughness or drive of the student. We all have some students who intimidate us, and we must know how to handle these students. Here are a few helpful suggestions on handling students who are intimidating:

  1. Establish up front who the leader is- Now, this is not going on a power trip, but rather establishing leadership which is part of your job description by the way. Every student in your ministry must know up front who the leader is.
  2. Do not be afraid to correct the student who is intimidating- This is personally where I struggle. If a student or family intimidates me, the natural reaction is to allow them to get what they want, but this only makes the matter worse. In order to make this better, you cannot be afraid to correct the student when they do wrong.
  3. Be confident in God’s calling on your life- Remember who has called you! it is not this student, their family, or anyone else, but God Himself. Always place your confidence in Him and His call on your life. This will give you more power and confidence, not in you, but in Him who called you!
  4. Limit the responsibility you give to this student- I am not saying that you do not give them any responsibility whatsoever, but be careful not to give them incredible amounts of it, because this can go to their head and their intimidating nature can increase.
  5. Always use this as a teaching tool- Some students are naturally confident in who they are. You can use this to increase humility in the student’s life. Do not shy away from students like this, but embrace it, and use it as a teaching tool.

These are a few things that I have personally learned from working with students like this. I hope that this is a blessing to you.

03.28.12
by

Bible Study: Man’s continued rebellion

Revelation 20:7-9

Think about the literal 1,000 year reign of Christ. That is a long time of peace, prosperity, good health, joy, comfort. Christ will reign on earth for that amount of time. Now, it is important as we go further to note that all who enter the Millennial Reign of Christ will be saved. This includes those who endured the tribulation period, and accepted Jesus gift of Salvation. During the Millennial Reign, the Christians will have babies, and they will still be born with depravity. Now, the earth will be ruled and reigned by Jesus during this time. All those people born during the Millennial Reign of Christ will still need to trust Christ as Savior

David said in Psalm 51:5, “…In sin, did my mother conceive me.”

So, Satan is loosed, and we see a final rebellion after an incredible 1,000 years. Now, mankind has had a history of rebelling after given chance after chance. It is their choice to do right or wrong, and I want to remind you tonight that it is your choice whether you do right or wrong!

        I.            Mankind’s first rebellion

  1. The test Genesis 2:17. The test was that they could not eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. That is the only restriction that they were given.
  2. The failure Genesis 3:6. Now, did they fail or succeed? They failed. They were deceived by satan by having her doubt and question God. Satan made her believe what made sense to her rather than what the Word says.
  3. The judgment Genesis 3:22-24. They were expelled from the Garden of Eden. They faced death now at some point, because if they had of not sinned, they would have lived on earth forever. Sin now passed upon all men Romans 5:12

      II.            Mankind’s continued rebellion

  1. The test. Throughout history from Adam until now, we have seen many people walk the face of the earth, and everyone has been given a chance to accept Jesus into their lives. Everyone in the Grove has been a test of accepting or rejecting Jesus. Even after the test of Salvation, you are given a test of living for Jesus or not living for Jesus.
  2. The failure. Yet, many people have rejected Jesus. Some of you have rejected Him over and over again, and some Christians have accepted Him for Salvation, but are not living for Him, and we fail!
  3. The judgment. Hell is the judgment for unbelievers.

    III.            Mankind’s final rebellion Revelation 20:7-9

  1. The test. Everyone in the Millennial Reign of Christ knows about life with Christ, but yet some will choose to reject and rebel against Him when Satan is loosed. Satan deceives many at this final rebellion. So many that it likens the number to the sand of the sea.
  2. The failure. We see that a huge number of people fail and follow the deceptive lies of Satan.
  3. The judgment. God calls fire from Heaven, and it consumes the enemies of Him. They all will be cast into the lake of fire.

From the beginning of time, God has asked man to obey Him. Man has consistently chosen not too, because of the sin nature that we are all born with, but ultimately it is your choice. What is your choice today? Will you choose to obey God or to reject Him?

03.26.12
by

Orange Conference Ticket FREE giveaways

I love attending conferences. I do not get to attend very often, but when I do, it is always a very refreshing time, training time, connecting time, and restful time. I love going to conferences to receive training about leadership and student ministry. One conference that I have never been too, but I would love to go someday is the Orange Conference in Atlanta, Georgia. I wanted to share a couple of different ways that you can register to receive a FREE ticket to the Orange Conference:
Here are some important details about the Orange Conference:
Date: April 25-27, 2012
Location: Gwinnett Arena, Atlanta, Georgia
Website:  http://www.whatisorange.org/orangeconference/

Here are two different places to enter for a chance to win a FREE ticket to the Orange Conference 2012:

Youthmin.org is giving away a FREE ticket to the Orange Conference. This is a $319 value! It does not include lodging or airfare, but that still is an incredible deal! You cannot beat it. I encourage you to register for this chance to win. You will be able to earn points by tweeting, facebooking, and connecting further with the guys over at youthmin.org.
You can click here to enter to win a ticket to the Orange Conference through youthmin.org.

Terrace Crawford is giving away a FREE ticket to the Orange Conference as well. Terrace is a good friend of mine. We have connected through social networking, and this is a genuine guy. You can enter to win this ticket by doing a few steps and sharing the event on some popular social networking sites.
You can click here to enter to win a ticket to the Orange Conference through Terrace Crawford.

Please click here to learn more about the Orange Conference!

03.25.12
by

Gossip Lesson Video

One of the biggest problems in student ministry is gossip, but you very rarely see it addressed. We address the “large” issues so regularly, but gossip is something that in church life just gets by, and is not dealt with. I encourage you to deal with it in your student ministry. The Grove put together a video about gossip that can help your teaching on this subject. Please feel free to download and use this video in your ministry:

03.22.12
by

7 Ways to connect with your small group students

Do you ever feel like you are not connecting with your small group students? Sometimes, I can hang with some students, and suddenly feel so disconnected to them, and feel that our relationship is not healthy or strong. How can we build stronger relationships and connect more deeply with the students in our small groups?

  1. Visit them at their house- This seems old-fashioned, but it works. It not only allows you to get into their comfort zone, but you get the opportunity to connect and get to know their parents. If you are a small group leader, and do not even know where your students live, that is not a good thing. Visit them about once every month at their home.
  2. Text them weekly- You should text them during the week to encourage them. Let them know that you were thinking of them and praying for them.
  3. Attend events that they are involved in- If they are involved in drama, attend their dramas. If they are involved in sports, attend their sporting events. This shows that you care.
  4. Invite them over to your house- If you get into their comfort zone, allow them to get into yours. Invite your small group over for pizza and to watch something on television. It gets them talking.
  5. Eat lunch with your students- Now, many schools have outlawed this, but some still allow it. If your school allows it, take advantage of it.
  6. Start a facebook group for your small group only- Post to this regularly with weekly prayer requests and thoughts. Also, post discussion questions for them to answer.
  7. Take them out for pizza and an activity- Take your entire group to the movies if you find a good and fitting movie. You could take them to ride go karts or just to hang at the mall.

These are just a few of the many ways that you can better connect with your small group students. I encourage you to be creative and show your group that you care. If you have something that you have done with your group at some point in time, and would like to share, please feel free to comment below:

03.20.12
by

Guest Post: 10 Ways to Lose a Teen’s attention

Quick post—the top ten ways to completely bore and disconnect with those you teach:

1. Say something not worth hearing—This is basic, but if you want people to listen, start by saying something worth hearing. The number one reason we lose the attention of those we teach is that we’re not convincing them that what we have to say is important. Since there is nothing more important than teaching young people God’s Word, we’d better make it worth hearing.

2. Say something with no passion—Have you ever heard someone teach with no voice inflection, no dynamic—nothing but monotone droning. It’s miserably hypnotic. If you’re not passionate about what you teach, don’t expect anyone else to care about it either.

3. Talk down to them—Make your listeners think that you believe they are completely stupid. Come across like you are gracing them with your brilliance and you can’t believe they don’t already know this stuff. Insult them with sharp sarcasm, personal jabs, and harshness. This will shut them down for sure.

4. Yell or scream at them—There’s a difference between preaching with passion and just raising your voice out of sheer frustration, and teens can tell the difference immediately. Preaching will stir them, but plain old yelling will just irritate them.

5. Teach outside of their context—Have you ever heard someone teach truth in a way that had no practical connection to your life whatsoever? The connection between truth and real life is not always as obvious as we would like it to be. Keeping attention requires that we constantly ask of truth: “Why do you matter to real life?!”

6. Shoot from the hip—When we don’t prayerfully prepare substantive, biblical material, we shoot from the hip—speak off the cuff—frankly, RAMBLE. If you really want to shut teens down, just start rambling and come across like you have nothing to say that was worth premeditation.

7. Use no illustrations or personal insights—Jesus was a great story-teller. He connected truth to tangible application and real life situations. Listeners need to connect with the teacher or preacher in tangible ways, and nothing can kill a great truth better than failing to give it a personal, real-life connection.

8. Talk about nothing but yourself—Have you ever heard someone tell you how great they were for 45 minutes and call it a Sunday School lesson or a sermon? Sometimes we could title our lessons, “If You Would Do What I Do, You Would Be Great Too!” Personal illustrations are helpful, but teens shut down when we cross over into bragging and self-exaltation.

9. Speak with lots of distracting idiosyncrasies—You can completely derail your listeners every time you speak if you will just develop some nervous twitches, odd phrasing, annoying postures, or awkward gestures—like frantic pacing or ill-timed arm waving. Everybody in your youth group will be able to impersonate you, but they will never remember a single thing you teach. If you want a good litmus test on this—just ask someone to impersonate you. If they have a tough time, then you’ve probably done a good job at minimizing your idiosyncrasies.

10. Have no relationship with them beyond your platform—Never personally interact or develop a relationship with those you teach. Just be a distant, platform figure with no presence or concern for real people. Remember, the health and quality of your personal relationship with your listeners is what gives you the right to be heard in the first place.

BONUS—Make it NO FUN whatsoever! Have you ever known someone who was gifted at draining every ounce of fun right out of a room as soon as they stepped in? Guaranteed—if your listeners aren’t enjoying listening, they will quickly find something else more enjoyable to think about—it’s just human nature.

It’s pretty painful to try to listen to a lesson from a speaker that didn’t work to gain and maintain your attention! It’s even more painful to be that speaker! (Yes, I know this from far too much personal experience.) Let’s work to make God’s Word come alive to those we teach!

All right, now it’s your turn! How has someone else lost your attention over the years?

Cary Schmidt is the youth pastor at Lancaster Baptist Church in Lancaster, CA. He is blessed with a wife, and 3 children. Cary is an author, a sought after speaker, and an avid blogger. You can learn more about Cary through his blog at http://www.caryschmidt.com/

03.19.12
by

Does your church/student ministry need social networking sites?

If you were to ask what is the best way to share information quickly with the largest amount of people. most people will emphatically suggest facebook or twitter. You see I can tweet right now, and immediately send what I am thinking to hundreds of people. I can post something on facebook and immediately get hundreds of people’s attention as well. The question that I want to ask is does your church or student ministry really need social networking sites to be effective? Here are some thoughts on the subject:

  1. Social media does not change lives Do not get too wrapped up in your social networking platform that you forget that the Gospel is really what changes lives. We need to always keep the main thing the main thing, and not get too concerned about the program or the fads that we forget to focus on what really matters.
  2. Social Media sites can be used to share the Gospel- The key is that social networking sites can be used as a tool to share the Gospel. It is not Gospel, but it is a great way to share the Gospel. What I mean by that is too many student pastors focus on how cool they can make their facebook, but in reality, they neglect sharing the Gospel.
  3. Social Media is a quick way to share information about events- I use our twitter and facebook accounts for events. I schedule many posts to go out each week with important information regarding upcoming student ministry events. Use your sites to get information out quick. Students, parents, and leaders may not respond to your posts regularly, but you will be surprised how many people actually see what is going on in your student ministry through these sites.
  4. Social media can be used to evangelize. Use hashtags and invite others to become a fan of your page on facebook. This is a great way to get new people informed about what you are doing in the community. It can open up many ways to share the Gospel with someone.
  5. Social media can help you build relationships- This is the way that students and most adults are communicating these days. You have to connect with them where they are, and social networking sites is where they are. Use your sites to connect with your students and their families. When you have a visitor, add them on facebook and get to know more about them. Now, do not stalk them, but connect and build relationships with them through these social sites. You can read and comment on their posts, send messages, and even chat with them.

So, does your church need social networking? I would say, yes. It is a great tool that can be used to share the Gospel with others, evangelize your community, and even connect the people you already have. If you have any further thoughts, please feel free to comment.

03.18.12
by

Video on the Importance of Purity

Here is a video that our student ministry produced on purity recently, and I have not shared it on the blog. It is a great video that could be used for your ministry on the importance of staying pure until marriage. Check it out, and feel free to download it and use it for your ministry:

03.16.12
by

Freebie Friday- Student Ministry Lesson on Sex/Dating W/ PowerPoint

This week, I want to provide you with a lesson on sex and dating. This can be used with students, and I have taught this lesson before. Hope this helps you to communicate the truth of Scripture to your students.

Download the powerpoint here: True Love Waits

I Corinthians 6:9-18; I Thessalonians 4:3-8

Introduction: This evening, I want you to be honest with you and with God about the idea of sex and dating. The thought that I would like for you to get a hold of tonight is, “True Love Waits.” I want to answer a few questions that you may have about dating and about sex. I also want to leave you with some principles that can help you avoid falling into sexual sin. By age 20, 81% of unmarried males have had sex. Some statements to begin with:

  • The primary purpose of dating is to prepare yourself and discover who your future spouse is.
  • It is a natural desire to be attracted to the opposite sex!
  • God created sex. Sex is a good thing if it in the realm of what God created it for.
  • God created sex for the marriage relationship of one man and one woman.

Quote: Andy Stanley said, “When you participate in sex outside of marriage, you forfeit the opportunity to become uniquely one physically with their future husband or wife.”

If I told you that you could have $1 now and $1,000,000 10 years from now, which one would you choose? All of us would wait for the 1,000,000 if we were honest. That just makes sense. Well, it is similar to your future spouse. What if I was to tell you that you could have sex now, but wait for the perfect time in the realm of God’s Will later. All of us would probably say, we would wait, but why does so many students fall into sexual sin? They choose to take what is supposed to come later right now, and they cannot patiently wait for God’s perfect timing.

What does the Bible say? I Corinthians 6:9-18

Here in this passage, the Apostle Paul writes to two churches where this was an issue. The church at Corinth and the church at Thessalonica. The word, fornication mentioned here simply means any illegitimate sex act outside of marriage. It comes from the Greek word, pornea, where we get the word, pornography. So, the Apostle Paul is stating through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit that fornication is wrong, and against the will of God for your life! It is sin.

How Far is too Far?

Live with this principle: “How far would I want my future spouse to go with the guy she was with right before she met me?” Josh McDowell said, “This is the standard that I adopted  before I married: I will treat a woman on a date the same way I want some other man to treat the woman I will someday marry.”

  1. The further you go, the faster you go
  2. The further you go, the further you want to go.
  3. The further you go, the harder it is for you to go back

What about Culture?

Here are some thoughts on what culture is telling our generation:

  1. We are planning on getting married
  2. Everybody is having sex
  3. Sex is a natural part of a loving relationship
  4. “We love each other!”
  5. Sex is part of growing up

Culture drills into society that sex is one of the things that makes boys become men, and this is far from the truth! It actually makes more of a man to wait than it does not go ahead and have sex before marriage.

Fire is awesome in the fireplace but fire is not awesome on the carpet. It has the potential to burn down the entire house. Sex is like fire. It is good in the rounds of marriage, but it has the potential to burn your relationships or your future marriage if it goes outside the realm of marriage.

So, how can I protect myself?

        I.            A strong relationship with God is the best Spiritual protection

Make sure God is first in your life and make a commitment to keep Him there. The moment you mess up sexually, God has been removed from the throne of your life.

If you’re dating relationship lessons your walk with God, you should get out of the relationship until you have your relationship with God where it needs to be.

Learn to find your contentment in just you and God!

      II.            Learn how to honor and respect the women God has already placed in your life

How you treat your mom is the way you will treat your future spouse!

You can learn how to be a good husband by learning how to be a good son or brother!

    III.            Don’t put yourself in a position to be tempted

Don’t find yourself alone in the house with the opposite sex

It opens you up to temptation, and the flesh to take over.

54% of teens that messed up sexually messed up at their house or their partner’s.

   IV.            Be cautious with the computer or television screen

     V.            Set very high standards in dating

All of you need to have some standards in dating. If you do not, you are not ready to date.

One student who messed up sexually said, “set your standards of what you would or would not do on a date and stick by them!”

“You must determine where you want to end before you begin!”
Have a list of standards first.

Where you set your standard will dictate your next temptation. For instance, if I set the standard as just kissing, and no further, I have already set the temptation of what is next. That is why we need to set high standards!

I encourage you to “set aside the physical and focus in on building a relationship!”

   VI.            Be accountable

Write down your standards and give them to an accountability partner who will help you keep your standards!

What if I have already messed up?

I John 1:9: This verse keeps me going. I can go to Jesus knowing that He will forgive me every time for my wrongdoing. He can forgive you right now, but allow His power in you to strengthen you not to make the same mistake again!

God’s grace and forgiveness is available to you right now!

Download the powerpoint presentation: True Love Waits