Jeff ThompsonMore Posts A new devotional for your teenagers

Our friends at Simply Youth Ministry have created a great new resource for your students. I wanted to share it with you. Imagine empowering your students to spend just a few minutes each day discovering a life-shaping, thought-provoking, Jesus-centered truth that can transform them into the kind of people God crafted them to be.

Sounds like a worthwhile investment, doesn’t it?

The Simple Truth Bible features 366 daily devotionals—each one a tasty, bite-size morsel that powerfully reveals what it means to deeply love and trust God, to lead a Jesus-centered life, and to lean on Scripture for guidance and wisdom.

Teenagers will discover how to experience hope in the middle of tough times, how God deeply and passionately loves them, how to build an authentic friendship with Jesus, and how they were created to lead a life of impact in this world and for eternity.

Each devotion includes:

Thoughts on a specific passage of Scripture and how it relates to students’ lives
Insights to help teenagers turn their thoughts into prayers as they spend time with God
Ideas to follow if students want to spend more than a few minutes each day with God
Perspective on how that day’s passage fits into the big picture of the Bible

Add Comment January 25, 2013

Jeff ThompsonMore Posts I have been able to draw closer to Christ

We’ve been posting several quotes from students around the country who have had their lives transformed by a mission trip experience this summer. This next quote is another good example of how a mission trip can bring true life-change.

“This week has been a time of renewal for me, as I have once again been able to draw closer to Christ in an intimate way. God has truly cleared from my mind certain anxieties and nagging thoughts because he has promised to make everything new and now I realize that. This week I have come to appreciate more the gift of fellowship as I was able to connect through Christ with my fellow trip members.” John age 18

Add Comment August 28, 2012

Jeff ThompsonMore Posts A Whole New Take on Things in Life

Another “WOW” story from a student.

“Wow, where to start. This week has been life changing for me. I can honestly say that God has shown me he is real and he is amazing. Before this trip, God was kind of missing in my life and I feel that he brought me on this trip for a reason. That is that God is always with you. He is always showing you in some of the simplest ways that he loves you. This trip has been an emotional rollercoaster for me. I cried, I laughed, I loved and much more. But I did all of those things because God was really becoming clear to me for the first time in my life. He has brought me so many new things from great friendships to a whole new take on things in life.” Gianna age 15

Add Comment August 25, 2012

Jeff ThompsonMore Posts My List of Heroes…

Jim Liebelt wrote this blog post for Homeword, Jim Burn’s ministry, and it’s about one of the volunteers that has served with our Workcamp program for years. Jim is a good friend of our ministry and used to help lead the worship programs at Workcamps. Thought you’d enjoy reading a story of servanthood and dedication.

Keep on Serving!

Add Comment July 11, 2012

Jeff ThompsonMore Posts “Hey! Look!” – a mission trip devotion

I hope this is something you might be able to use during your mission trip this summer. This devotion is inspired by one our crew devotions this summer at Group Mission Trips.

Say: Today’s verse starts with the work “Look!” – which is something like when someone yells “Hey!” at you. How you react to that may depend on the person who’s doing the yelling. If you weren’t expecting it and your parents yelled “Hey!” – what would your first thought be?

How about…

A teacher
The police
Your youth leader/pastor
Your best friend

Say: What if God yelled “Hey!” to you – so clear you could hear it? What would you think? Something good, bad, curious, scary, or what?

Say: Can someone read our verse for today? It’s Revelation 21:5 New Living Translation. (have a volunteer read the verse, and then continue)

Say: Sometimes we can assume that God is always going to talk to us like a police officer, or give us bad news, or yell at us about doing something wrong. But this verse doesn’t sound anything like that. Jesus is getting our attention so that we can see the amazing, wonderful, life-changing, miraculous NEW things he is doing. That’s good news. This week, as Jesus is trying to get your and my attention, he is doing it so we hear good news and see him doing good work. Jesus is making everything new. That’s great news!

Think about and answer this question for a minute: What is Jesus already doing in this mission trip to make things new?

(Pause to allow everyone time to think about the question)

Close in prayer asking God to help you see how Jesus will be working for the rest of the week making everything new.

Add Comment July 10, 2012

Jeff ThompsonMore Posts From Bad to… Way Better!

I received an email response to my recent blog post about Youth Worker’s Pain. It came from a youth worker that has been in ministry for several years now and she wanted to let me know what she thought of my post…

“First of all- read your blog post the other day about the biggest pain for youth workers. And I’m going to go ahead and concur with all of them. BUT – we probably all agree on a lot of the biggest joys of youth workers too, like students growing in their faith, watching students serve, getting to spend significant time building relationships with them… conveniently, all things that happen when you go on a Group Mission Trip!”

Here’s what I love about her comment. She easily and quickly turned an article about negative pain points for Youth Workers into the positive reasons all of us do what we do. It’s all about relationships, engaging students, growing in their faith, and helping them understand a relationship with Jesus. I love that we can move from the stuff that is hard, difficult, and painful to the true reasons why we do what we do.

It’s something like (but nothing truly like) the truth of Friday transformed into the Brilliance on Sunday that we celebrate Easter Weekend. God is in the business of turning negative into positive.

God bless all of you and your ministries this Easter Weekend!

Add Comment April 6, 2012

Jeff ThompsonMore Posts FREEBIE – Preparing to Serve

This is a quick, easy, simple meeting you can use anytime you want to get your group ready for a service event. Maybe you’re planning a day serving your community this Spring. Or maybe you’re beginning a new service aspect to your entire youth ministry. This is a very direct way to get your students thinking about service. We use this meeting with all The Big Day of Serving churches that chose to serve at a Big Day event

Ready, Set… Go! Meeting

Add Comment February 7, 2012

Jeff ThompsonMore Posts Mission Trips a Waste of Time… REALLY?!?!?!?!

This is an article with the title “Why Most Mission Trips are a Waste of Time.”

I’ve met the author of this article, Noel Becchetti. I like him. I believe he’s passionate about mission trips. I know he’s planned, organized, and led youth mission trips. I also believe he’s genuinely trying to help. But I just don’t agree with the basic premise of the article.

I encounter this type of thinking all the time now. Mission trips are doing more harm than good. Why do we even do missions? Shouldn’t we just send money?

My problem with this type of thinking is that it completely discounts those attending a mission trip. It feels like the participants are simply ignored. But I can’t ignore them. The work that God does in the lives of youth that attend mission trips is life altering. It can change the course of eternity. The relationship a student can form with Jesus in the context of a mission trip simply cannot be cast aside.

I believe that a youth mission trip is Both/And. It is about who we are serving. Each of us that organize, plan and take kids on mission trips need to ensure that the service we “do” on any trip genuinely helps those in need. But you need to plan and organize the spiritual growth opportunities as well. When will you worship during the trip? How much time can you dedicate to devotional thoughts? Do you give opportunity to debrief/examine the events of a day in context of the work God is doing?

Are youth mission trips a waste of time? I’d say almost never. As long as you prepare just as much for your student’s growth in their relationship with Jesus as you prepare for the service.

Add Comment January 26, 2012

Jeff ThompsonMore Posts What have I missed?

I attended a good breakfast meeting with leaders of our organization today. Good food, good conversation, good times…

But the best, the intriguing part was a devotion that one of our senior leaders took us through. We were given the opportunity to take a walk for about 20 minutes and watch for and listen to God. I chose to head to a spot I knew that overlooked a creek. Serveral interesting things happened…

The first thing was being surprized by ducks. Yes, ducks… As I walked the narrow path to my chosen spot I was concentrating so hard on the ground in front of me that I missed three ducks right below me in the water. That is until 2 of them flew away at the sound of me drawing near. It was the 1st hint that I wasn’t aware… eventhough I was supposed to be on a walk – listening and looking.

As I sat there looking around… watching the creek… viewing the mountains – the 2nd thing happened. I began to wonder if there were fish in the creek. What was down there? I began to look. And… it took nearly 10 minutes for my eyes to adjust and be able to pick out the fact that there were actually about 6 or 7 fish right below me the entire time. It took that long for my eyes and my brain to adjust to “see” what I was looking for.

Wow, how is that like my life and my relationship with Jesus? How much is going on around me I’m not aware of? How much is God doing and saying around me all day, every day and I’m not “looking” and “hearing’ what God is doing or saying? If it took me 10 minutes too see fish, how long do I need “find” God?

I think all of us involved in youth ministry would like to be tuned in to God. We would love for quick and easy access to God’s work and words. But are we taking the time to look and listen?