We’re almost a month into the new year.  This is the perfect time to start focusing on stuff that will be happening in your ministry this year.  For many of us, that means starting all the preparations for a summer mission trip.  By now you’ve selected the date and location of your trip.  If you haven’t already, you’ll be finalizing the youth and adults that will be going on the trip.  All of these those are important steps in the process.  Once these are done, you can begin the pre-trip process.

Depending on your mission provider or if you are organizing your own trip, there should be pre-trip meetings that help to get everyone going on the trip get ready and be prepared for serving those in need.  But… you still won’t know how everyone will come together.  Will everyone “gel”?  Will they learn to work together?  Will something difficult or unforeseen derail the trip?  Will your adults lead and be, well, adults?  These are incredibly important questions. Questions that often can’t be answered until you’re on your trip.

But, what if you could get a glimpse of how these questions will be answered?  What if you could know how your group will work together?  What if you knew that your adults would lead?  What if you could get a preview of how the team will come together?

Well… you can.

Get your group involved in a service experience before your trip.  A one-day service event is a great time to help everyone in your group gain a little experience before your trip.  Witnessing your group serve others, even for just 6 to 8 hours, will give you great insight into how the group is coming together.  You’ll be able to get a great idea about areas you can help your group improve in before your trip.  You’ll know some coaching you can give your adults so they are ready for the trip this summer.

Just one day of serving together and you’ll have a great preview of this summer.  There’s still time to plan a day like this and add it to your pre-trip preparations.

Just attended the National Youth Workers Convention in Atlanta.  What a great time with great youth workers from all over the country.  Also had an awesome time connecting with good friends in the youth missions and youth ministry world.  These are people I love and respect in ministry.  Folks like Eric Iverson from Youthworks/Youth Specialties, Doug Franklin from LeaderTreks, Mark Orr from NNYM,  Jake Kircher from We Love Our Youth Worker.  These folks are simply some of the best people supporting youth leaders out there.  Each with their own gifts and roles to play.  Some are national and some very specific.  Some of these guys work directly in the youth mission world and some just love youth leaders and try to support you in your ministry.  What a great couple days…

These events are awesome for this kind of interaction.  I love how many ministries are represented here.  Showing how much support a youth leader truly has.  Just look at the names of the ministries represented above.  Youthworks/Youth Specialties – dedicated to getting students serving and supporting youth workers with a convention and resources.  LeaderTreks – completely about helping youth leaders develop leadership skills in students.  National Network of Youth Ministry (NNYM) – they just want to network youth workers so they know that are not alone.  We Love Our Youth Worker – a brand new ministry that helps churches better serve and support their youth leader.  How cool is that.  4 different ministries.  4 different purposes.  All about youth ministry.  I love these relationships.  I love these four people.  And there were dozens of other ministries there that I don’t even know.

I hope you know that if you serve the students of your church.  You are loved and supported.  And if you ever get a chance to attend a conference like NWYC or Simply Youth Ministry Conference, please go.  You are not alone…  You need to know that.

Parents can be upset by any number of things.  Mission trips are definitely one of them.  “Why did you put my son in that situation?”  “My daughter didn’t feel safe.”  “Why are you an hour late returning home?”

Kurt Johnston and Josh Griffin share some great thoughts on this topic in the Simply Youth Ministry Today and at youthministry.com.

Please join the conversation.  What do you think?

Check out this post at SimplyInsider.

Mark Oestreicher and some friends are organizing this event just for you – if you work with Middle School students.  It’s gonna be a great time. Let’s be honest about this:  it’s not every adult who wakes up thinking, “How can I spend some time with 13 year-olds today, and influence them for Jesus?”

That calling, that wiring, is extremely unique and wonderful.  And our wise and wonderful God, who cares so passionately about the young teens in your church, chose YOU!  You are truly one of the few, one of the unique; and you are God’s plan for showing love to middle schoolers.

But this ministry is difficult, and sometimes lonely.  You need to be surrounded by others who understand you, who share your calling. That’s why we created the Middle School Ministry Campference.

Check here for more info.   Toby and I will be there as well…

If you work with junior high or middle school students, you owe it to your self to at least check out this event.

http://middleschoolministrycampference.com/

We had a great time at lunch yesterday with some super cool youth workers.  It’s always fun to hang out with folks who live life ministering to and for teenagers.  They tend to be some of the greatest people I know.

But the conversations and comments also brought reality to life for me… again.  Life in youth ministry is interesting, very real, and sometimes hard.   Here’s some of the comments and life issues form yesterday.

- youth worker who “works” for their father, who is the senior pastor

- a senior pastor telling the youth worker they make too much money

-a youth worker who is struggling in their church because they are the only person in the church between17 and 50.  Where do they fit in?

-a youth worker “starting” a brand new ministry within the context of a relatively new church plant

Issues and concerns shared from the heart like that are powerful.  I’ve been in youth ministry at a more “national” level now for almost 9 years.  It’s easy for me to forget how “real” the life of a youth worker is.  There are hurts and pains and frustrations and joys and…

If you serve the church of Jesus by working for and on behalf of teenagers.  God bless you.  We love you!

What a great day on Saturday!  Over 500 people served in the College Hill neighborhood.  Here’s some highlights…

We started the day at Imagine Academy – a local school that generously allowed us the use of their building beginning Friday night.

This is what greeted 1 By Youth as they arrived.

Everyone  gathered in the gym at Imagine Academy on Saturday morning.  This is what almost 500 people waiting for an amazing day of service to start looks like…

Waiting for the Kick-Off Rally to begin...

It was really a great day of service.  We cleaned empty lots, cleared sidewalks, painted buildings, improved parks – whatever we could to help the people of College Hill.  One of the most meaningful projects was planting a landscape garden at the base of one of the original water towers in the neighborhood.  This is the last picture I took as I was leaving College Hill at the end of the day.

Bringing beaty to one of the most important places in all of College Hill.

Thanks again to everyone who served.  You made a real difference.  The residents of College Hill are very appreciative and hope we come back next year.  See you in 2012!

Over the next several weeks, I’m going to go over aspects of what we call our “Approach.”  These are ideas that are essentially our core values.  What makes us who we are as an organization, as a ministry…

In our mission trips we’ve take that old saying to heart.  One aspect of our Approach that we teach all our staff is “We Assume Nothing.”  This idea may seem very simple but it is a very important idea.

When we talk about not assuming things it’s more than just making sure we understand what is said or asking good questions.  It is a deep desire to make sure everything associated with our mission tips is known as excellent.  So we just don’t assume that things are organized.  We double-check.  Sometimes, for our ministry partners and new staff, this is hard to get used to.  We follow-up with each other.  We double-check each others work.  And we don’t get offended when someone double-checks our work.  That takes some getting used to.  And occasionally it’s just too hard for people…

I want to be sure and clarify something.  This can sound arrogant.  Maybe sound like bragging.  Please know that it is not.  It’s a lot of hard work.  It flows from our desire to serve our God and those God gives us to partner with in ministry.  I had professor in college who taught us that “good is better than great.”  My professor took that idea from the creation account in Genesis.  God said His work was good.  I’ve taken that to heart and see that idea at work in our desire to not assume things are good.  We make sure and double-check…

How might this apply in your ministry?  You can make sure that you don’t assume things are ready for your mid-week meeting, for your week-end retreat, for your mission trip.  Let’s face it.  Many of us in ministry aren’t exactly rock stars when it comes to details.  Find someone who will double-check your work.  They can become your biggest asset.  Just don’t get offended when they do what you asked them to do…

Toby Rowe and I had lunch with a couple in ministry last week.  They were looking for advice.  One of them serves as the youth leader of a local church and had been given a poor “performance review.”  The lead pastor of the church wanted to see the youth group double in size in less than 1/2 of a school year.  The inference was that the youth leader would loose the role of youth leader if this didn’t happen.  There were a lot of other issue but this was the one that stood out to me.  This “demand” didn’t take into consideration the spiritual growth of the students, the development of leaders, people discovering a relationship with Jesus… just numbers.  Double it or else…

Doug Fields had a post a couple weeks ago on the same topic.  PAID vs. VOLUNTEER: the pressure for numbers.

Toby and I both felt that this situation was incredibly difficult.  We told the couple that if they chose to leave that ministry – we would support and understand that decision.  When it becomes all about numbers… it’s hard.  I think Doug said it best…

Even when I was successful in not thinking about it, the numbers’ pressure was always looming. I knew that the decision-makers, who would never investigate the health of our youth ministry, were the same ones who judged our ministry by our numbers. That pressure is always looming…conscious or unconscious.

Several weeks ago I had the chance, along with Thom Schultz, to go to Conroe, TX and join St. James Episcopal Church in their celebration of 30 consecutive years of mission trips.  30 years…  Statistically that’s longer than most people’s careers and even marriages.  The  coolest part of this church’s story is that there is a man that has been on all 30 trips.  Wow…

As I sat there that night and listened to the tributes and stories, watched the slide shows, and talked to members of the church – I became aware of this under-current of grace that permeated this church’s ministry.  The stories were about lives touched, the ministry to those in need, and God’s working in each and every person.  They are a youth ministry and so there were stories of jokes and laughter and pranks but those didn’t dominate the conversation.  The work of God and Grace was the dominant theme.

How I wish that for each of our ministries.  Stories of grace…

There is a lasting image in my mind from that night.  After the dinner and the speeches and the large group photo – small groups of people began to gather together.  I could tell by dress and age that they must have been in youth group together at the same time.  I saw a young single mom talking to friends.  I saw married couples laughing together and remembering.  I saw older adults, who must have been adult chaperones, congratulating each other for surviving.  I saw Grace…  30 years of Grace.

30 Years of Saint James Youth Mission Trips

I was having lunch with a member of our team this past week.  We were celebrating another year of her serving on the team.  While we were trying to remember how many years we’ve been doing this, it dawned on us that this is our 9th season serving on the team.  It just doesn’t seem possible that I’ve been at this for 9 summers.  And that got me thinking about the rest of our team – we have folks who have served for well over 10 years and even one member of our staff who has served our ministry for over 20 years.  The best thing about those “facts” – we still absolutely love what we do.  We love creating experiences that God uses to change people’s lives.  We’re honored that God allows us to be a part of what He is doing.

What about your ministry?  How long have some of the members of your team been serving?  Do all of you still love what you are doing?

I pray you can answer yes.  I pray that God blesses all the ministries that He has called us to.