Volume 8 | Issue 3 | March 2006   Ministry to teenagers exploded onto the scene in the 60�s and 70�s. By the 1980�s the role of a youth pastor became more common in the local church but it was still seen as a stepping stone to being a �real pastor.� By the 1990�s youth ministry became an actual career choice and was more socially acceptable in the church world as a life long occupation. The fads of our culture change daily but many of the core values of impacting a teenager�s life stay the same. Last month we took a look at the first six unchangeables of youth ministry. (Click here to read last month�s Part One.) This month we will dive into six more. 7. Relationships are critical. �They don�t care how much you know until they know how much you care.� This is a statement that still holds true with teenagers. Another great quote is, �Rules without relationship results in rebellion. Granted as the senior leader you cannot expect to have a personal relationship with every student if you have a large group. But it is vital to establish and train a team of leaders to be genuine, authentic, and touchable to your student population. 8. Keep it fun! Be careful to not get so spiritual that you lose touch with the world the teenagers live in. Hey, I�m 44 years old and can still get BORED sitting in church services. We have the most incredible gift of life to share with people but we can sometimes make it seem like a death march to follow Christ. One of my favorite activities is an extreme all-night party (although this can seem like a death march to a 44-year old J). I love to show kids how to really party without ever touching a bottle, climbing in a back seat, or experimenting with the latest drug. 9. Get on their turf. We need to get out of our church bubbles and get on teenager�s campuses, go to their games, and hang out where they hang out. Why? Partially because it will inspire your sermon topics for the next six months. Every time I would be on a high school campus I got new inspiration on how to teach and equip them for the challenges they faced on a daily basis. 10. Apply the basics! PRAYER has to be a vital part of your life and ministry. It takes constant FAITH to believe that you and God�s Word are having an effect on a teenager�s life. Most of the time they will not give you any sign that God is working in their life. Youth ministry is FAITH ministry. LOVE people unconditionally. Love everyone of every race, background, culture, financial status, and look. Be quick to forgive and quick to apologize. BE LED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT. What do you say to a kid who just found out their parents are getting a divorce? How do you tell a 13 year old his dad has died? What�s the best way to tell a mother that her daughter has an eating disorder? Follow the incredible guidance system that is built into you. . . the Holy Spirit that indwells you. 11. Never stop learning. Always be teachable. Watch the parents around you. Take notes from your pastor. Glean wisdom form those that are further down the road of life. Read books constantly�Christian authors, parenting books, leadership books, and secular business and management books. I hope to be reading and learning right up to the day I meet Jesus face to face. The more I learn the more useful and better equipped I become for the Master�s use. 12. Trust Teenagers. Wow, this one can be hard at times, but it is so vital to their success in life. Once we have trained them we must empower them to step out and do things on their own. What a mother bird must feel inside when she pushes her babies out of the nest and forces them to fly on their own. It is so easy to just say, �I�ll do it for them.� Or �Here let me help you.� Yes, they are going to make mistakes. But we all do. Trust them! Bill Gates gave a speech at a high school about 11 things they did not and will not learn in school. He talks about how feel-good, politically correct teachings created a generation of kids with no concept of reality and how this concept set them up for failure in the real world. Rule 1: Life is not fair - get used to it! Rule 2: The world won't care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself. Rule 3: You will NOT make $60,000 a year right out of high school. Rule 4: If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss. Rule 5: Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your grandparents had a different word for burger flipping: they called it opportunity. Rule 6: If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault, so don't whine about your mistakes, learn from them. Rule 7: Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you were. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent's generation, try delousing the closet in your own room. Rule 8: Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life HAS NOT. In some schools, they have abolished failing grades and they'll give you as MANY TIMES as you want to get the right answer. This doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life. Rule 9: Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you FIND YOURSELF. Do that on your own time. Rule 10: Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs. Rule 11: Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.

Volume 8 | Issue 3 | March 2006   What do you do that only you can do? What part of your job comes so easy and natural for you that it seems effortless? What things are you doing that feel like pulling teeth with a pair of pliers from the garage? Too often as ministers we feel like we must be a professional at everything and we end up playing pee wee level ball. We excel at nothing. It is important that we discover our strengths and our weaknesses. We must find out what �position� we play best and stick to it. When we attempt to do everything it weakens the strength of our team because we are �ball hogging.� We get out of position and try to cover other areas of ministry that others are well able of handling. Then we wonder why we are tired and exhausted? Maybe you look around and there is no one else on the ministry court with you so you feel forced to do it all. Start recruiting now. Start delegating some of the small insignificant task that others can easily do. When they show themselves faithful give them greater responsibilities. One of the best things we can do for our churches is to focus our energy on those areas of strength. God has given you obvious gifts. When you use them to their fullest potential you will see the greatest return and effectiveness. Choose your top 3-5 areas to pour yourself into and watch how the fruit in your ministry will increase. Let me give you an example. One of my strong points or gifts is the ability to communicate and connect with a crowd. It comes very natural to me. It would be easy for me to coast and rely on that natural ability so I could spend more time doing other ministry things. Yet, I have found that if I will give MORE time to my preparation, the result is more fruit and higher results in my ministry and church. I continually push myself as a speaker. I practice, rewrite my notes several times, study extra, and pull more creative ideas and illustrations to deliver the best gospel presentation. When I stick to the areas I am gifted and get my staff to stick to theirs then we are playing with a starting line up of quality ministry. Pray, search, and evaluate your life and ministry. Ask your spouse for their input. Then identify the areas you need to spend more time and the areas of ministry you need to hand off to someone else. Quench the thirst of a generation!     Actual notes written by parents in a (state withheld to eliminate embarrassment) school district; spelling has been left intact. 1. My son is under a doctor's care and should not take PE today. Please execute him. 2. Please exkuce lisa for being absent she was sick and i had her shot. 3. Dear school: please ecsc's john being absent on jan. 28, 29, 30, 31,32 and also 33. 4. Please excuse gloria from jim today. She is administrating. 5. Please excuse roland from p.e. for a few days. Yesterday he fell out of a tree and misplaced his hip. 6. John has been absent because he had two teeth taken out of his face. 7. Carlos was absent yesterday because he was playing football. He was hurt in the growing part. 8. Megan could not come to school today because she has been bothered by very close veins. 9. Chris will not be in school cus he has an acre in his side. 10. Please excuse ray friday from school. He has very loose vowels. 12. Please excuse tommy for being absent yesterday. He had diarrhea, and his boots leak. 13. Please excuse jimmy for being. It was his father's fault. 14. My daughter was absent yesterday because she was tired. She spent a weekend with the marines. 15. Please excuse jason for being absent yesterday. He had a cold and could not breed well. 16. Please excuse mary for being absent yesterday. She was in bed with gramps. 17. Tanya was absent yesterday as she was having a gangover.