iheartyouthministry.com- Youth Ministry Blog

Watch the newest episode if the IHeartYouthMinistry Podcast now with Dennis Beckner, Nikkie Schuster, Heather Ann Ham and Robert Ham. This weeks show is all about student small groups! :D next week we celebrate hitting our 10th episode! Be sure to join us live next week at 12PM (PST).

Check out the newest episode of the I heart youth ministryPodcast with Nathan Wells, Nikkie Schuster, Robert Ham and special guest Greg Bragg. In this week’s episode we chat about speaking to teenagers and how we can best communicate to the students in our ministry. Watch it now and then subscribe to our Podcast on iTunes! 


High-res Leading with Integrity Many times it can become easy to rely on the positional title status we hold to be the launch board from which we lead. But if you we want to be a leader worth following we need to lead from a launch board of integrity. As we become seasoned in our leadership, the goal of maintaining our character of integrity doesn’t get easier and in fact becomes much hard. With new opportunities comes added temptation. One of the biggest reasons we find leaders today sacrificing their character of integrity is because the direct path to success is often not a moral one. It is important to hit pause and ask yourself am I willing to take the longer path to reach my goal so that I can preserve my morals? Many times we see leaders who sacrifice their integrity moving forward faster. But there is no correlation between talent and maturity – talent and integrity. When we assume that there is a correlation I call this the Enron strategy. When we lead with integrity, our integrity should enhance the talents we have and not the other way around. Progress will, at some point, demand compromise. As a leader it is most important to continually re-evaluate and know that our morals and character are not items we are willing to sacrifice in a compromise. These seem the easiest for us to sacrifice and often times see to be the most minor; the “no big deal” sacrifices we make. But even a small compromise in our integrity can have disastrous results. I think a picture that comes to mind on this is that of a boat. When a boat lack’s integrity in the water, from the outside it may look like a boat but the inside looks considerably different. Rather then being able to take us somewhere, the hull which lacks integrity begins to sink itself and eventually stalls from being able to move forward. In some cases the lack of integrity, which started small, over takes the boat and it sinks. Don’t let the walls of integrity in your life cause you to stall and destroy your ability to lead. A tweet I saw this morning from @RickWarren: ‘Integrity trumps popularity: “You make yourself look good in people’s eyes but God knows your heart” Luke 16:15 TEV’ THIS GUEST POST WAS WRITTEN BY NATHAN WELLS OF www.nothingworthreading.com 

Leading with Integrity

Many times it can become easy to rely on the positional title status we hold to be the launch board from which we lead. But if you we want to be a leader worth following we need to lead from a launch board of integrity.

As we become seasoned in our leadership, the goal of maintaining our character of integrity doesn’t get easier and in fact becomes much hard. With new opportunities comes added temptation. One of the biggest reasons we find leaders today sacrificing their character of integrity is because the direct path to success is often not a moral one. It is important to hit pause and ask yourself am I willing to take the longer path to reach my goal so that I can preserve my morals?

Many times we see leaders who sacrifice their integrity moving forward faster. But there is no correlation between talent and maturity – talent and integrity. When we assume that there is a correlation I call this the Enron strategy. When we lead with integrity, our integrity should enhance the talents we have and not the other way around.

Progress will, at some point, demand compromise. As a leader it is most important to continually re-evaluate and know that our morals and character are not items we are willing to sacrifice in a compromise. These seem the easiest for us to sacrifice and often times see to be the most minor; the “no big deal” sacrifices we make. But even a small compromise in our integrity can have disastrous results.

I think a picture that comes to mind on this is that of a boat. When a boat lack’s integrity in the water, from the outside it may look like a boat but the inside looks considerably different. Rather then being able to take us somewhere, the hull which lacks integrity begins to sink itself and eventually stalls from being able to move forward. In some cases the lack of integrity, which started small, over takes the boat and it sinks. Don’t let the walls of integrity in your life cause you to stall and destroy your ability to lead.

A tweet I saw this morning from @RickWarren: ‘Integrity trumps popularity: “You make yourself look good in people’s eyes but God knows your heart” Luke 16:15 TEV’

THIS GUEST POST WAS WRITTEN BY NATHAN WELLS OF www.nothingworthreading.com 

Yesterday on the IHeartYouthMinistry Podcast, Nikkie, Peter, Andy and I discussed the topic of building a “God-Centered” Youth Ministry by focusing on theology (the study of who God is) and then secondarily focusing on Anthropology (the study of people). If you would like to read further about this topic, you can read this blog post, or you can check out the book “Getting Rid Of Gimmicks: Reclaiming  Youth Ministry From An Entertainment Culture” which we highlighted on yesterday’s show. Let me know your thoughts in the comments section below! :D

Yesterday on the IHeartYouthMinistry Podcast, Nikkie, Peter, Andy and I discussed the topic of building a “God-Centered” Youth Ministry by focusing on theology (the study of who God is) and then secondarily focusing on Anthropology (the study of people). If you would like to read further about this topic, you can read this blog post, or you can check out the book “Getting Rid Of Gimmicks: Reclaiming  Youth Ministry From An Entertainment Culture” which we highlighted on yesterday’s show. Let me know your thoughts in the comments section below! :D

High-res WHAT’S LURKING IN YOUR YOUTH MINISTRY? This morning we finished up our summer jr. High guy’s lock-in. We had a great (and exhausting) time, but the most exciting part of the night was making a new friend…with a possum! Actually, we found out that a possum had been living in our student ministry room for the past week. Last Tuesday I noticed some things moved around messed with in our youth building and don’t think anything of it. Finally, one morning my staff and I found some…um…”droppings”…and we just assumed that an animal had snuck in, did its business and left. Little did we know that our friend the possum had took up shop right in our building! So last night one of our volunteers was rummaging through our youth ministry closet and saw what they thought was a stuffed animal. But they were wrong! In fact it was a gross,creepy possum wreaking havoc in our youth ministry room. This funny/gross encounter sparked a thought: WHAT IS LURKING IN YOUR YOUTH MINISTRY? What program needs to be cut that isn’t contributing to the ultimate purpose of your youth Minsitry? Perhaps you have a volunteer that is causing dissension with your leaders and needs to be asked to leave. Maybe you are doing something in your youth ministry just because “we’ve always done it that way” and it is time for a change. This is a really good question to ponder during the summer. Remember that while the God’s purposes never change in student ministry, our programs and strategies can change! Maybe it’s time to kill a program, start a program or start from scratch. This summer ask yourself the question: what is lurking in my youth ministry that needs to be gotten rid of or changed. Leave your thoughts in the comments section below!

WHAT’S LURKING IN YOUR YOUTH MINISTRY?

This morning we finished up our summer jr. High guy’s lock-in. We had a great (and exhausting) time, but the most exciting part of the night was making a new friend…with a possum! Actually, we found out that a possum had been living in our student ministry room for the past week.

Last Tuesday I noticed some things moved around messed with in our youth building and don’t think anything of it. Finally, one morning my staff and I found some…um…”droppings”…and we just assumed that an animal had snuck in, did its business and left. Little did we know that our friend the possum had took up shop right in our building! So last night one of our volunteers was rummaging through our youth ministry closet and saw what they thought was a stuffed animal. But they were wrong! In fact it was a gross,creepy possum wreaking havoc in our youth ministry room.

This funny/gross encounter sparked a thought: WHAT IS LURKING IN YOUR YOUTH MINISTRY? What program needs to be cut that isn’t contributing to the ultimate purpose of your youth Minsitry? Perhaps you have a volunteer that is causing dissension with your leaders and needs to be asked to leave. Maybe you are doing something in your youth ministry just because “we’ve always done it that way” and it is time for a change. This is a really good question to ponder during the summer. Remember that while the God’s purposes never change in student ministry, our programs and strategies can change!

Maybe it’s time to kill a program, start a program or start from scratch. This summer ask yourself the question: what is lurking in my youth ministry that needs to be gotten rid of or changed. Leave your thoughts in the comments section below!