Pastor Annette - AYM Signet 2010

Well I kind of warned you all that this day was coming.  haha  1 Corinthians 9 says...

24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. 25 Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. 26 Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. 27 No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.

To me, this verse speaks of being INTENTIONAL in our spiritual growth! We can't just sit back and hope it happens. We must PURSUE Jesus Christ and His work in our lives! My desire for each of you, as we work together in youth ministry, is that we don't just run aimlessly. That we're not just showing up on Wednesday nights and "beating the air" - just following what's on the schedule. My desire is that we are seeking supernatural intervention in every service! That we follow God's leading in how to minister to the students we've been entrusted with...and what we need to do in order to bring other students to Christ. We all know that doesn't happen by accident!

Let me ask you a couple of questions.  (I'm asking myself these very questions.)

1. What are you doing right now to grow in your knowledge of God's Word - to STUDY it?
2. How much quality time are you devoting to intercession and soaking in God's presence?
3. Can you look back at the last 6 months and identify areas of your life in which you made specific effort to grow?

These are really pointed questions.  And I'm not necessarily very proud of my answers.  To be "realistic", I know that we cannot continuously strive, and wrestle, and struggle...we would burn out pretty quickly. But we should be able to identify some things that we are doing to GROW OUT LOUD and on purpose!

So in January, we are going to begin our very own AYM Signet group. It will last one year. I am going to open it to the adult volunteers that help with AYM, but it will be voluntary for them. I'm thinking about opening it to student leaders as well (also voluntary), but I haven't decided yet. (Let me know what you think about that idea.) For sponsors, it is required. Here are some of the details:

1. The purpose of this leadership development group is to grow as Christian leaders and increase our level of influence in the areas we lead.
2. We will read 2 books during the year together. I'm working on selecting those books right now and I will develop a reading schedule.
3. You will be asked to blog about the reading once a month. For those who are not "computer savvy", you can email your thoughts to me (or call me, or keep a journal of notes and give it to me) and I will post them on the blog for you. Just because I get wordy in my blogs, you are not required to have a certain number of words or anything. :o) I am just asking for at least a couple of thoughtful sentences about what you read...why it was significant to you, if you think it will change your spiritual life in any way, if you disagreed with anything you read, etc.  The purpose for blogging is two-fold: accountability and to stretch one another! Proverbs 27:17 says "As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another."
4. You will be asked to set a 3 month goal (obviously 4 times a year). The goal should be focused on your own personal growth and your growth in leadership.  I will give some examples when the time comes. The goal should be measurable and provide action steps for how you will work on it.
5. We will have a Signet conference every 3 months. I have not decided the best way to do this yet. We could possibly do a conference call, and those who are in Yankton could just meet me at my office. I'm open to suggestions there too. At the conference, we will discuss the book in more detail, we will talk about how we're living the values of Hunger, Humility, and Excellence, and we will give an update on our goals.

Why “Signet?” (copied from the District Signet blog)

At the end of Haggai, the Lord speaks directly to Zerubbable and says “I will make you my signet ring.” I believe he says this for three reasons.

• A Mark of Envelopment: Having the signet ring meant you knew who you worked for. You belonged to the king and represented him when he was not visible. Lest we forget that we are representatives of the Most High, we are enveloped in His purpose for our life and ministry.
• A Method of Encouragement: To know you are the “signature of God” is encouraging. Many leaders today simply need encouragement. Participants of Signet may be challenged and stretched, but we are here to encourage each other in leadership development.
• A Means of Empowerment: Having the “signet ring” meant power or authority. Signet should provide a sense of empowerment that says to each leader “I can do this.” As we grow together we should become more confident of leadership abilities that we are developing. (Thanks Pastor Mark.)

Well, by now, you're probably either feeling envigorated for the challenge...or overwhelmed. I truly do not intend this to cause you stress, but it will be inconvenient at times. Growth always is. I guess I don't apologize for that. When I look back on the years I spent as a volunteer, I can definitely say I was under-challenged. There were very few opportunities available to develop my leadership life. It's just something most people either do on their own, or they don't, and they end up stuck in the same spot for years. So I present this opportunity to you...it will be good for you. And it will probably be hard sometimes. But I look forward to the sharpening process! Prayerfully prepare yourself...this is gonna be quite a ride. :o)

September reading

It's so cool that this section was focused on parent involvement...since we're having Parents Night in a couple weeks! I definitely think being a parent of a teenager helps my perspective. Maybe you didn't think about it this way, but the reason I try to have Bible Studies and EP end at 5:00 or shortly thereafter, is because the evening is FAMILY TIME. We don't want to compete with that. I'm also aware of bogging our calendar down with events because of the pressure I feel in my own house.

Here are some of the other ideas that I'm definitely going to mention at Parents Night:

1. We already have this mentality...but I strongly agree that parents are NOT the competition for time. I got a huge kick out of his statement about his boot camp mentality. "Give me your kids in junior high...I'll have them converted, baptized, educated, sancitified, dry-cleaned and ready for pick up at 18." HAHAHAHA Although I think there are some parents who would take us up on that kind of offer!! :o)
2. Our role in students' spiritual development is helpful, but parents is CRUCIAL! I definitely want to remind them of that. But that we ARE here to help in any way we can.
3. He did mention those that come from unchurched families - we definitely have a greater role then. For those students, I don't mind competing for their time a little bit. I will never disrespect a parent's wishes, but I wouldn't feel bad trying to convince the student to get deeply involved in every possible program we offer. Their life depends on knowing Christ!
4. We are not here to teach them how to parent. We offer support, reinforcement of values, and advice if asked.
5. I am going to ask parents a few questions. What are their fears? How do they view our role? What are their highest priorities when it comes to time available? Are there topics that they would like to see addressed in AYM?
6. I do communicate regularly with parents. I'm still finding the best way to do this. I could schedule a quarterly parents email. So far, I've just been sending them on an "as needed" basis. I'd love to hear some feedback about that. Quarterly would probably be better. We could do some of the student features that we've talked about in the past. ???
7. He mentioned offering family resources. I have a limited library, but I've seen it used already! I'd like to build this for the future.
8. As you know, we're definitely inviting parents to volunteer at various levels of youth ministry. I think this is going to be a great addition!
9. In 1GR, we have very short weekly assignments. It's either a "DO", "ASK", or "WRITE". The ASK involves a specific question that they must ask someone else. Usually it's a parent - and it involves some kind of spiritual matter. So that creates a great opportunity for discussion! (The DO is a challenge to go do something related to the topic we're covering, and the WRITE is to write a journal entry about something specific.)

Also, regarding the Appendices...there's some GREAT stuff there that I'm definitely going to imitate in my youth ministry manual! Thank you Doug Fields for sharing your wisdom AND your practical tools to carry out ministry!

PDYM - August reading - Kristie

Well I am finally ‘caught up’ with my PDYM reading - thanks to the revised reading schedule. :-) It seems like in my reading the last few weeks it has covered a wide range and is somewhat overwhelming. So I will just touch on a few of the ‘highlights’ that hit home with me.

Doug Fields wrote “Nurturing students means faithfully helping them grow in their relationship with God.” I love this statement! This is why I am involved in youth ministry; to help these teens so they are not out floundering in the world. But yet I couldn’t really put into words what nurture meant so I went to dictionary.com and this is what it said: 1. to feed and protect; 2. to support and encourage during a time of training and development; and 3. to bring up, train, educate. The first definition was ‘eye opening’ to me; we need to feed and protect these teens, and to do this adequately we have to be healthy Christians. These teens are in a critical training/development time in their lives. Soon they will be thrust out into the real world of jobs, college, etc, and be expected to have it figured out so they can survive their christian walk on their own.

Of all my reading the last few weeks this chapter on small groups is what seemed to be the most influential on me. I like what Doug wrote about small groups: ‘that in small groups we share our lives with one another.’ I have started thinking differently about our life groups (alias small group); it is not a time for other adult leaders to lead but it needs to be an opportunity for us to nurture the teens and share life with them - theirs and ours - and learn how to do it God’s way together. As Doug said a group of nurtured students in an environment of love will experience a depth of ministry never reached by someone being up front and running the show. I think for myself when leading a ‘small group’ it was just that; I was leading instead of letting it be a group involvement. Those quiet times, those unasked questions, and even the questions which we have been unable to answer are all vital to the teenagers growth; even though it may be an uncomfortable time for the ‘leader’. I also think that through life groups as we develop them more will be able to tweak them to target a certain group, whether it is a core group, a committed group, or a congregation group.

I also liked the chapter on committed students and the H.A.B.I.T.S. The take home journals and studies. Somehow we need to get these young adults to start digging into God’s word and petitioning Him through prayer in their own prayer closets.

I feel like I have somewhat rambled but I have to admit that is the way some of it is in my head; seems like I have read through so many good ideas and statements that I can’t blog about it all. So I wanted to get some of this on paper now, as I review what I have read and as we begin to put it in practice I know that it will become even more clearer. Again it comes down to health not numbers. Because when we are healthy (individually as well as a youth ministry) then the growth in numbers will come. We have to first be faithful with the ones we have been given to feed and protect.

Annette's April Blog

Well once again, Doug Fields proposes some amazing ministry concepts - he's a great communicator. The idea of identifying the various commitment levels of students is so simple, but SO useful!! I really related to the five circles of the potential audience as they define them. I think those five circles totally fit our situation here too. I think it would be an interesting exercise to sit down with our list of typical students that attend, and classify them. I think it's good to identify where they are now so that we can be intentional about how we're going to help them move to the next phase. What do you think?

I think we would also benefit by doing some of those tables with our programs or program ideas (page 95). This is definitely an exercise that we will do at our staff meeting (that I'm still hoping to have the end of this month). That will TOTALLY help me with what I've been struggling with in our Wednesday services. I feel like we need to do a better job to engage our students where they're at and help them grow!

I agreed completely with the chapter about Evangelism. I think we're working on developing an evangelistic attitude. I was thinking of doing something similar to their Friendship Evangelism Challenge, but I was going to relate it to CMs. I haven't thought it completely through yet, but I thought we'd kick it off in the fall when school starts again. This statement really stuck out to me...

"If our group doesn't grow, we are sending a message to our non-Christian friends to go to hell." (page 110)

Wow. That is painful but true. That is the reason we care about growth. It means we're truly affecting our community for Christ!

Loving this book...I think it's SO applicable!

Revised Purpose Statement

Ardent Youth Ministry exists to be a place where students know they BELONG, will be challenged to PURSUE Jesus Christ, will learn to WORSHIP with their life, will find their place to SERVE, and ultimately become an INFLUENCE for Christ in their world.

Purpose Statement

So after reading these chapters and letting the concepts bounce around in my heart and spirit, here's my first shot at a purpose statement for Ardent YM...

"Ardent Youth Ministry exists to be a place where students know they BELONG, will be challenged to PURSUE Jesus Christ, will learn to WORSHIP with their life, will find their place to SERVE, and ultimately become a supernatural INFLUENCE in their world."
I think this statement covers all the purposes, but also shows a progression that I believe will typically happen in the lives of students.

FELLOWSHIP: It starts with just being a place that is safe and welcoming. And as students keep coming back, they realize that it really is a place they can belong...and it might be the only place for some. It will be the love of Christ through us that causes that to happen.

DISCIPLESHIP: Then we begin to challenge them to not only sit and listen to what's being said, but also to PURSUE a vibrant relationship with Jesus and knowledge of the Word of God. That means they will have to engage in that process...not just sit while we do all the work.

WORSHIP: We will teach them by example, through the Word, and through repetition that worship is a way of living their life. Prayer, obedience, church, service...these are all forms of worship, and we want to make sure that students understand this principle!

MINISTRY: Every believer has been given talents and abilities from God. We need to find an effective way to help students discover those giftings and then find an opportunity to use them in service for the Kingdom of God. In many cases, they will get connected with ministries outside Ardent.

EVANGELISM: As we know, evangelism is more than door-to-door witnessing - although that is a valuable experience for Christians! We also want to equip students to recognize the powerful INFLUENCE that their daily lives have on those around them. A genuine, transparent relationship with Jesus and other Christians can truly impact their world.

I've asked Pastor Jeff to give me some feedback about this purpose statement, but I also want to hear from you! Please let me know what you think or if you have any suggestions for better wording.

March Reading

There where a couple of sentences that really stood out to me in this chapter.
"Evangelism is not a responsiblity, but also a privilege."
"Student ministers won't graduate from their faith when they graduate from the youth ministry."
As much as these two sentences really struck me they also made me pause and wonder if I believed these concepts and also if I see this taking place amongst our youth group. I believe that we are just at the very beginning steps to these two concepts. With Impact Yankton I believe it will be a bit easier to get more into the area of evangelism for our youth. Through discipleship we will begin to help grow our student ministers.

I thought the questions where good also, it really got me thinking. I don't think that I differ much on the words to define our 5 purposes but I did have a few different ones.

• Worship- is simple and to the point and this is a term that we emphasis well with the teens so I think they are understanding this concept more.
• Ministry- "overflow" I believe is just such an awesome visual concept that it helps to relate it to ministry-mindedness.
• Evangelism- reach
• Fellowship- unify
• Discipleship- grow

Here are the grades I would give:

Evangelism: D- (I think we can improve on this with Impact Yankton)

Fellowship: C (I think we all could be stretched in this area more)

Discipleship: B- (Mentorship and Grey Area)

Ministry: C- (I agree with Annette, it's something we are learning more about)

Worship: B (I see the teens getting better at this)

I believe that there have already been inprovements in each of these areas and as we as a team become more unified we will see more of a balance across the board.

Annette's March Blog

Wow this was a great chapter too. We've talked about writing our Mission Statement - and this is why we haven't done it yet. Chapters 2 and 3 are about how to do that. So here are some thoughts.

We've heard a lot about the five-fold purposes. It is scripture, and to me, there's no reason to deviate from that when trying to formulate a statement about your purpose! It's the ultimate wisdom! But we can find a way to express it so that it's in our words.

There were a couple of the discussion questions that I thought were awesome and I would love to hear your thoughts too... I liked the exercise about putting the 5 purposes in your own words. This is only my first shot at it - I think if we took more time, we could think of other words.

• Worship - I like "Worship" :o) It's to the point.
• Ministry - "Overflow" (I think this principle makes so much sense now and will in the future as well)
• Evangelism - "Reach"
• Fellowship - "Belong"
• Discipleship - "Grow" (I love the growing out loud reference)

I think the area that we spend most of our time is on discipleship. Here are the grades I gave us - see if you agree.

• Worship - B (overall, I think it's pretty good, but we need more boldness and consistency in our worship life as a group...it's coming, especially after Boot Camp)
• Ministry - C- (I would have graded this a D but I think it's improving because of Overflow)
• Evangelism - D- (I could almost put an F, but we do talk about it at least; we just don't DO much of anything yet)
• Fellowship - C (this may surprise you...we're good at fun events but I don't think we're doing a very good job of helping our new people acclimate to being a part of us)
• Discipleship - B+ (we provide opportunities for growth, mentorship is a big part of this one, we definitely cover this in Wednesday services, always room for improvement)

The question that was the most difficult to me is "What will it take to do all five?" If I knew that, I wouldn't need to read this book! LOL So I really look forward to ideas and suggestions of how to strengthen these areas. I think we're on the right track with fellowship/visitors, and I think that God is really working on some evangelism opportunities for us...it's coming. But I do worry about keeping a healthy balance. And I do feel we definitely need some more sponsors to truly do a good job of balance.

February reading - Kristie

Reading the Purpose Driven Youth Ministry book does not scare me in fact I am excited to become a better youth sponsor. But, this is what scares me - the blogging - putting my thoughts, fears, weaknesses and lessons learned into type. It is the ‘letting myself be transparent and exposed’. Sharing my fears -we all have fears it is part of being human but do we really know each others and do we want others to know our fears; or sharing my faults and weaknesses, again we all have them; but once you write them down they become ‘in your face fact’ and a lot harder to ignore. I have never been one of many words and even less so when it comes to writing or journaling. However, I pray that God helps me to be transparent in this adventure so that I may become a better servant for Him. If the rest of this book knocks on my heart like this first chapter did, then I have a long way to go and many tears to shed. But I am willing so that the end result is a better me.

• “In the long run, health is more attractive than hype.” When I read this statement; I agreed with it. It only makes sense, it is obvious. But yet this statement tugged at my heart and thoughts. Because I have to admit I tend to lean towards hype over health. It is the doing what ‘I’ can do, instead of what God wants us to do. Thinking about games, concerts, lock-ins, camps and conventions. Do I try to keep busy doing the work of God instead of being a woman of God first and foremost? I naturally want to say no; but, I know that I don’t spend time in the Word like I should and I don’t find myself in a ‘prayer closet’ like I should be. And even as I write this my mind wanders to the upcoming lock-in. So this chapter has been one of self-evaluation.
• I consider myself to have a servants heart and I (especially if I lived in Yankton) would be at every youth event we had - the xtreme study halls, mentoring, drama practice, game and movie nights - making myself more available to the youth and PR. Sometimes I find myself discouraged because I am not at more of the events. So when I read Doug Fields’ personal message (pg 37) “… Kristie, you can never do enough….Don’t allow the work of God to come at the expense of being God’s person.” This hit home, again am I the person God wants me to be? Am I so full of Him that He spills over on those I am in contact with? Am I that living model of a woman passionate about my faith? Is my faith contagious? Do students want what I have or is it even evident that I have something that they should want? I know we need to keep striving to have more of God but I must admit that I am not maxed out.
• Two statements that keep resonating in my mind is 1: Doing God’s work isn’t as important as being God’s person; and 2: It is truly humbling to think about the awesome privilege and responsibility of being used by God.

My prayer is that I may be a healthy woman of God so that He can use me.

February reading

I had to be really honest with myself when it came to reading this book. Part of me felt like I just don't have time to read another book (which lasted like 5 seconds) because I then realized that this isn't about reading a book it's about being a part of something greater. I then had to ask myself if I was willing to be stretched or if I was "ok" with the level I am currently at. I'll admit that I question what I bring to this youth ministry because I don't believe my gifts are physically tangle as that of Annettte (amazing voice) or Jordan (drama). Then in the reading Doug Fields put out the warning about comparing ourselves to others, shouldn't this have been something I already knew???? Oh well, all I can say is that this helped me put things in proper perspective and is giving me a new energy. So now I want to answer some of the questions that Annette posted for us to answer.

• I do believe that we represent Christ to the youth. I know that this is a continual work and there have been moments that I, myself, haven't represented Christ as well as I should have. I believe this is something that we as sponsors could help eachother out with.
• I feel that we do set prayer as a priority with the youth. This is another area that we all will continue to grow in. I think it's been a great addition to our beforehand prayer time by handing the mic off to the students.

There is one more thing that I read in the book that really stood out to me. "I regularly submit to God all that I am and all that I have to offer because I don't have the knowledge, the natural energy, and the ability to relate to teenagers like I did twenty years ago." Wow, I realized that I haven't been good at submitting my leadership as a youth sponsor to the Lord so that He can give me more knowledge and energy to do His work with these teenagers. I need to submit to Him so that His work can be revealed. So with that I would like to end with thanking Annette for asking us to participate with this book and to all of you for your obedience to serve in Ardent Youth Ministry.

February Reading - Annette

I'm super excited to read this book together! The reason I chose it is because Doug Fields has had a looooong running successful youth ministry. He even admits in Chapter 1 that he's out of touch in many ways with youth culture. But that has not made his influence irrelevant. He knows that God has directed him to minister to youth, so he continues to be obedient!

Here are some of the statements that really stuck out to me...

• "A true dynasty is stronger than its one great player." Many churches look for one "great player" - the youth pastor is supposed to be this super Christian who can attract a massive crowd. I'm so glad that our leadership does not think like that. As I've said before - I don't think youth ministry can be done by one person unless your goal is to have a group of about 12 and never grow.
• "Where there is health, there is eventual growth." A HEALTHY youth ministry is my goal! We have to trust God for the growth, and sometimes it doesn't happen as quickly as we'd like. But I think that is because we aren't healthy enough to properly handle all the extra people that come with growth! As leaders, we need to be healthy and reproducing ourselves so that when the growth does come - we're ready and have the capacity to handle it!
• "I don't want to direct programs; I want to disciple students." This is just such a great statement! This is my heart 100% and it should be yours as well. When I get to heaven, I just don't think I'm going to hear "Hey - great lock-in in 2009! Good job!" :o)
• "...a healthy youth ministry doesn't begin with ideas, but with spiritual leaders." Wow - remember the empty cup?? Don't come with ideas - build spiritual leaders!
• "...I would rather have one godly volunteer than ten skilled volunteers who don't rely on God." This is exactly where I'm at! We can find talented people that will impress and attract students. But I want to work alongside someone who relies on the supernatural move of God to reach students! That is a limitless opportunity!

This last point is really where the power was at for me. He talked about being a living model - passionate about your faith. That seems so simple and common sense...but I don't think we can say that we're all maxing out in this area! What do you think about that? Do you agree? We're all believers, and I know you love Christ. But are we living the ARDENT example every day?
At the end of the chapter, he said "good leaders are avid learners". That's awesome! That's why we're doing this! So someone answer some or all of these questions from your perspective...

1. Do your students sense that the youth ministry leaders are men and women of God?
2. What role does prayer play in your ministry?
3. How can we encourage spirituality among the leadership?
4. Where is God's power evident in our youth ministry?

Welcome

Welcome to the pursuit of excellence! I'm praying that this experience will help all of us to be more aware of the giftings that God has placed within us, and stretch us so that we use those giftings to their fullest potential. I believe 100% in each one of you! God has brought us together for this time and for a specific reason. Sometimes it's hard to see what He's doing because we're so close to it. But as we journal about our growth, we will be able to look back and see the awesome things that God has done through our submission to Him. Thank you so much for joining me on this journey. I am absolutely excited about what He is going to do!!!