I have a confession to make: I am a huge movie fan…I love going to the movies! In fact, there is hardly a month that goes by that me and a group of friends aren’t going out to the theater to catch a new flick. Last week I re-watched one of my all time favorite movies, Back To The Future! Seriously, this movie should go down in history as one of the greatest flicks in the world, it’s just a ton of fun. 

In the movie, Doc Brown (a very eccentric and genius scientist) has invented a time machine and he invites his young protege Marty McFly (a young teenage goof ball) to witness his invention firsthand. In a series of crazy and random events, Marty McFly is transported back to 1955 (from 1985). and spends the rest of the movie trying to figure out how to get back to the future. 

While I was watching this movie, a scene that I’ve seen many times jumped out to me in a brand new way. At one point Mary McFly runs into the Doc Brown from 1955 (a younger version of the scientist) and insists his help to get back to the future. There is a famous movie scene where Doc and Marty are bantering back and forth and working together to try and figure out how they can power the time machine with enough energy (1.21 Jigawatz of electricity) to get back to 1985. The only problem is, the materials necessary to accomplish this task aren’t going to be invented for another 30 years! Finally by talking it out together, Marty and Doc discover the solution, which happens to be harnessing the power of a lighting bolt into the flux capacitor (which makes time travel possible). If you have no idea what I’m talking about…seriously, you need to watch this movie!

Here is the point: In this scene, independent of each other, neither Marty or Doc have the answer they need…they are clueless! It isn’t until the both begin to brainstorm together that they are able to come up with a solution that will work. The same is true in our youth ministries! Sometimes, on our own, we just don’t know the answer to our problems. As youth workers we might not have all the answers we need such as: 

-How can we get new volunteers?

-How can we effectively reach out to new students?

-Why do our students seem to be falling through the cracks? 

-How can we make this youth ministry event a success?

The truth is that most of the time we need the power of other people working together, brainstorming ideas, to come up with the solutions that will work. In terms of brainstorming there is power in numbers! In our ministry our volunteers get together every other week to plan our weekend services and upcoming events. The reason we do it together as a team is because as the lead youth worker I understand that I don’t have all the answers. I need the thoughts and ideas of other youth workers (and students) to come up with the concepts and programs that really work with our students. 

Maybe you are trying to figure everything out on your own in your ministry setting. Don’t do it alone! Grab a team and start brainstorming together. When it comes to finding the answers, youth workers are better together. So what are you waiting for? Start brainstorming today and see what happens! Brainstorming together…it’s what makes youth ministry possible!