Salt & Light: Interactive Stations

This past Sunday we used some prayer stations in our Sunday School program that could translate well into your own ministry context. They are based out of Matthew 5.13-17, which speaks mostly about being salt and light. They can stand alone as their own experience (with debriefing), or as a support to a message (as we used them). Give the video a whirl, and see what you think…

The video runs about 6 and a half minutes in length, and is filled with movement as I walked around our room with the camera.

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Star Trek – Is It Discussion Worthy?

I finally got a chance to see Star Trek last weekend. Toby was born just 3 days before the movie opened, and I have not had the chance until now to get to the theater. So Kelly and I took advantage of having extra hands to watch Abigail and Tobias (mom and dad were out for the weekend) and purchased our tickets. I have to say as a lifelong Trekkie (and the one who got Kelly hooked on two of the 5 series), I really like what JJ Abrams has done with the Star Trek story. I posted a review of it over on Redemptively Reviewed. Here is a snippet:

Now, I don’t want to give away too many spoilers for the 4 people who have not seen the movie yet (I myself did not see it until 2 months after it was released in theaters), so allow me to speak in generalities. The movie is good. Quite good. The visual effects are unbelievable, the score (though weak in a couple spots) supports the story quite well, and the acting is exceptional (especially Karl Urban who plays Leonard “Bones” McCoy). From a story perspective, it is a good, solid story of heroism, sacrifice, and triumph over vengeance. The comedy is great, and at times caused many in my theater to burst out in laughter.

For the full review, and to answer the question of whether or not you can utilize it in your ministry, go here.

HeadlyVision on iTunes

I have been trying to figure out why my HeadlyVision podcast was not showing up in iTunes when I serached for it, so a quick e-mail to blip.tv’s tech services department, a few clicks and approvals, and BAM! It’s live on iTunes! It’s just fun for me. So if you follow HeadlyVision at all through the blip site, you can now find it directly through iTunes by searching for “headlyvision.” This summer I am being lax in uploading content (I will upload some here and there) but come fall there should be weekly uploads. So please, let me know in the comments if you follow HeadlyVision at all, either via blip or iTunes.

Student Ministry Tip: Calendars

I find myself working on our fall calendar this week (actually it is for September through May. Never to early to get a jump on the calendar), and thought I would pass along some helps to you for when you put your calendars together. These are little items I have picked up over the years, and some may go over better than others in your ministry.

• Look at Other Calendars – Before scheduling anything, I looked over our local Middle/High Schools Academic, Athletic and Arts calendars. Most schools will publish these in some form for you to find. Some use their website, some publish and send it out in the local newspaper. However you find those calendars, make sure you use them.
• Be Flexible - Remember that parents oftentimes are paying for the sports, bands, or trips that these calendars showcase. Try to work around the major items.
• Be Fair – You will not be able to program around everything, so keep that in mind when scheduling. Try (if you can) to avoid canceling out one or two activities all the time (for instance, always planning around the football calendar, but ignoring the band contests).
• Be Vocal – Run the calendar before your leadership team, elder board, Senior Pastor… whomever makes decisions in your ministry. Get their input on the calendar before publishing it. Who knows, maybe they know of something that is not on the published calendars.
• Communicate it to Parents – Make sure that parents know of the calendar’s existence. In fact, try to get a few months of calendar to them in advance. We have a four-month calendar setup on our bulletin board in our church’s Narthex, and I plan on getting hard copies (as well as digital copies) into our parents’ hands before School starts.
• Communicate it to Students - Duh. They’re the ones you’re putting this together for.
• Don’t Forget the Church Calendar – Another Duh moment, but oftentimes we find ourselves slipping into a mode where the Student Ministry Program is the primary program of the church… at least we find ourselves thinking that. Our program is a part of the church, and we should watch out for possible conflicts before they happen. Case in point: I know that there is one Friday in November that we will not be able to use the church building for our Friday Night Flood program due to the Women’s Retreat. We will plan accordingly.

There you have it. Some tips and helps along the way. Remember that we should work with other calenders, but remember that you will not be able to satisfy everyone completely. What other Calendar planning thoughts might you have?

What to Do With a Plywood Cow

We have a plywood cow left over from a 30 Hour Famine fundrasier. So what do we do with it? Watch the video below for an idea or three…

Alive and Learning: Bringing It All Home

This summer, our Student Ministry program made the trek to Canal Fulton, Ohio for Alive 2009. Alive is a 4-day “Christian Music” Festival that involves popular CCM musicians and bands, speakers, workshops, seminars, camping, swimming and the opportunity to purchase nearly any popular “Christian Media” you could desire. This post is part of a series aimed at sharing my experiences during the week and what I learned through the process so that you might learn from our successes and failures.

Here we are at the end. Over the past 7 posts in this series I shared a lot of information that should prove useful to you in your own journeys to music festivals. If there are three pieces of advice I can leave you with, let these three be it:

• Pray - Bathe your trip in prayer before you leave, start every day in prayer, end each day the same. Include your students in prayer. Model for them a life of prayer. I am convinced that we took so long to get out of the muck and mire on our last day there because we were not leaning on God in prayer from the start. And He reminded me of this while I was sitting in the stuck 15 passenger van awaiting a tow rope to pull us out. Do not try to do anything on your trip without bathing it in prayer first.
• Don’t forget sunscreen and bug spray - Seriously, your body will thank you for it at the end of the week.
• Appoint someone else to document the week - I am a video guy. Really, I love taking video, editing it at home and sharing it with others. Last year we gave everyone on the trip a memory DVD with tons of video on it. But this year with my attention elsewhere (and the rain interfering), I did not capture much video at all (other than the update videos on my Qik site). So before your trip, identify one or two people (teens or adults) who have some skill at handling a video camera and a still camera, and assign them the task of capturing the week for you. I did have one teen who was very committed to using the handycam I gave him, and I have a fair amount of video to sift through on that. But still images? Not so much.

And there you have it. Oh, and for that rant about “Christian Music?” There really is no such thing as “Christian Entertainment.” Christian is a title for one who follows Christ, a “little Christ” if you will. Music cannot follow because it is not a person. Music can be made by a Christian, but cannot be Christian by itself. Music itself cannot even be classified as un-Biblical or against Christ’s teaching anyway. That lies in the lyrics.

It might sound like splitting hairs, but it is what it is. Thanks for reading.

Other Posts in This Series:
Alive & Learning: Going With the Flow
Alive & Learning: Connecting With Parents
Alive & Learning: Connecting With Students
Alive & Learning: Schedules & Discipline
Alive & Learning: Isn’t Everyone Here a Christian?
Alive & Learning: Touching Base With Your Group
Alive & Learning: If You Aren’t Offended Yet…

Alive and Learning: If You’re Not Offended Yet…

This summer, our Student Ministry program made the trek to Canal Fulton, Ohio for Alive 2009. Alive is a 4-day “Christian Music” Festival that involves popular CCM musicians and bands, speakers, workshops, seminars, camping, swimming and the opportunity to purchase nearly any popular “Christian Media” you could desire. This post is part of a series aimed at sharing my experiences during the week and what I learned through the process so that you might learn from our successes and failures.

This is my opportunity to rant. I already shared that there will be people at your music festival who are not at the same level of maturity or spot in the journey that you find yourself. There is some discernment to figure out who those people are. But there will be people there who will simply tick you off and you should be upset about these situations.

Alive has a midway of sorts where vendors are set up to sell food to people who are hungry or thirsty. While they are charging an arm and a leg for what you are getting, it is such a part of the fabric of society that I am not ruffled too much by that (other than the restaurant chains who have booths there that are charging nearly double what they would in their restaurant). What really got my blood boiling was the mascot for Quaker Steak wandering around on the hill by the main stage trying to get people to buy from their booth during the evening speaker! Honestly, if you want to walk around hawking your wares during concerts, fine, but during what is essentially a sermon from some really phenomenal people who are pouring out their hearts to share what they have learned about Christ with the crowd? Simply disappointing to say the least. (And sure, you could argue that everyone there is doing the same thing, and that not everyone would be reached by a sermon anyway, and you would be right to a point. It still reeks of commercialism overtaking ministry).

The other item that really cheesed me off was walking through the vendor’s tent. This is a staple at nearly every festival. People who have nothing to do with the festival are selling their merchandise, shoving t-shirts with corny cliches on the crowd. And they buy it. I think the worst item I saw was a zippered hoodie that was being sold for $50. Not a signed hoodie, not the booth that donated an identical shirt to a third-world orphanage for every purchase. Simply wanting to be paid $50 for their hoodie (they were also selling hats for $20 that I can find anywhere else for $10). And don’t get me started on the “it’s a gift for the ministry” argument. I hate that logic.

You will encounter offensive marketing and disgusting materialism and merchandising. Some of these people are only here to make a living. Some are genuinely trying to be honest, others are merely trying to rip you off. Try to discern what you should be offended by and react accordingly. And did I make any purchases? Yes. I walked away with a CD for myself, my wife and my daughter and spent less than $25. But did I buy any pathetic t-shirts or waste my money on something that had nothing to do with the festival? Nope.

Other Posts in This Series:
Alive & Learning: Going With the Flow
Alive & Learning: Connecting With Parents
Alive & Learning: Connecting With Students
Alive & Learning: Schedules & Discipline
Alive & Learning: Isn’t Everyone Here a Christian?
Alive & Learning: Touching Base With Your Group
Alive & Learning: Bringing It All Home

Alive and Learning: Touching Base With Your Group

This summer, our Student Ministry program made the trek to Canal Fulton, Ohio for Alive 2009. Alive is a 4-day “Christian Music” Festival that involves popular CCM musicians and bands, speakers, workshops, seminars, camping, swimming and the opportunity to purchase nearly any popular “Christian Media” you could desire. This post is part of a series aimed at sharing my experiences during the week and what I learned through the process so that you might learn from our successes and failures.

During the week of a music festival, you will find many opportunities to get frustrated with your teens who do not want to be at the campsite, or even sit with the group while listening to the evening speaker. They have their list of bands that they want to see, or maybe don’t particularly like some of the other group members. They may just want a good spot for the evening concert. But if you are looking at your music festival experience as a community or relationship building opportunity, you will need to build in some sort of check-in time with the whole group.

We used a check-in with our teens that we typically see in Sunday School. It is very simple. We sit in a circle (or a close approximation) and ask each teen to share three things with the group. Their high point of the day, their low point of the day and how they saw God at work today (week in Sunday School). It allows teens to share in the life of the group things that have been important to them, as well as allows them to peer into the minds and hearts of the rest of the group. And while we did not get to do this very often with the entire group (I think we really only had the entire group there for this twice), those times that we were able to include the whole group were great. We got to hear a little bit about what they experienced and got a glimpse of where their heart was with God. A lot of them had a hard time of wrapping their brain around how to see God at work in the world around them.

So check in with your teens. If I could change one thing about it, I would find a better way to implement this check-in at least twice each day (which is a big part of why our breakfast and dinners were supposed to be mandatory times together).

Other Posts in This Series:
Alive & Learning: Going With the Flow
Alive & Learning: Connecting With Parents
Alive & Learning: Connecting With Students
Alive & Learning: Schedules & Discipline
Alive & Learning: Isn’t Everyone Here a Christian?
Alive & Learning: If You’re Not Offended Yet…
Alive & Learning: Bringing It All Home

Psalm 1

I filled in for out Senior Pastor a couple weeks back, sharing some thoughts from Psalm 1. Want to hear it? Then mosey on down this post to download a copy for yourself, and possibly hear a perspective you have never thought about on this passage. It’s not heretical, don’t worry. But hopefully it will make you think.

Alive and Learning: Isn’t Everyone Here a Christian?

This summer, our Student Ministry program made the trek to Canal Fulton, Ohio for Alive 2009. Alive is a 4-day “Christian Music” Festival that involves popular CCM musicians and bands, speakers, workshops, seminars, camping, swimming and the opportunity to purchase nearly any popular “Christian Media” you could desire. This post is part of a series aimed at sharing my experiences during the week and what I learned through the process so that you might learn from our successes and failures.

One of the things that I found myself repeating over and over this year at Alive was the mantra “They’re not all Christians. They’re not all Christians.” And perhaps you will find yourself repeating the same mantra on your trip to a music festival in the future.

Music festivals can be a great atmosphere to introduce teens to Christ because it is so easy. Virtually every musician, speaker or entertainer will offer up a basic Gospel presentation, and a lot of them will present altar calls (whomever was the evening speaker on the main stage at Alive offered a call each night). There is virtually no work there for you to do other than sit back and observe. Or is there? A lot of people bring students (or adults) to music festivals in the hopes that they will encounter Christ. Last year one of our teens was not in a relationship with Christ, but by the end of the week he responded to an altar call and entered into a relationship with Jesus.

Now, on a tangent, pleasepleaseplease do not take teens and expect someone else to do the work of introducing teens to Christ for you. The teen who responded last year did so largely because our group had loved him and welcomed him in for several months before the trip. Had we not, he would not have been on the trip. So please, don’t view festivals as a time for you to relax and do no work at introducing your teens to Christ. Okay, I’m done on the soapbox.

Most of my frustrations came from behavioral issues. People having loud discussions during prayer times, being disrespectful to each other during times when a speaker was making a phenomenal point, dropping a… “colorful metaphor” simply because they stepped into a puddle in front of our campsite. These types of things. (Seriously, if you’re going to swear in public, at least let it be something that could even remotely warrant it. As wet as the week was, it could not have been that unexpected!) So remember that not everyone coming is a professing Christian.

But by the same token, even those who are there that are Christians are not all on the same level. Our faith is a journey, and some of us are further along than others. Perhaps those who are being rude or disrespectful of the people around them are merely infants when it comes to Christianity. Or perhaps they simply don’t grasp that there are times for carousing and times for silence. Maybe they come from a program that is only fun stuff with no time for reflection, so the concept is alien to them. Perhaps they are not so worried about their language as they are about other areas of their faith.

So let the small stuff slide. Seriously, pick your battles with the people around you. I can’t remember once where I told anyone off this week about their behavior (that was not from our group, and even that was limited). Remember (even when you get back home) that we are not all at the same level and that we need to model grace and love in all areas of our life. But on the other side of the coin, don’t be afraid to teach. Just because they are not at the same spot in their journey does not mean that you should leave them there…

Other Posts in This Series:
Alive & Learning: Going With the Flow
Alive & Learning: Connecting With Parents
Alive & Learning: Connecting With Students
Alive & Learning: Schedules & Discipline
Alive & Learning: Touching Base With Your Group
Alive & Learning: If You’re Not Offended Yet…
Alive & Learning: Bringing It All Home