by Chase | Leadership
One of the most dangerous traps a church can fall into is a state of apathy. How does a body of believers who gather each week to celebrate the risen Savior get sucked into a state of apathy? Maybe it is because of stress. Perhaps it stems from years of pain that has happened within the organization. Or it might emanate from the congregation’s comfort.
Regardless of the source, apathy causes churches and individuals to lose interest, concern, emotion, passion, and excitement for obeying God. Apathy removes our urgency for the Gospel and replaces it with indifference.
It keeps us content with that we are doing, when we do it, and how we have always done it. Many see the opportunity for growth, depth, and new disciplines but that realization doesn’t translate into motivation.
Apathy is often the root of our lack of service.
But the truth is that we are plenty busy. Our calendars are jammed with appointments, ball games, deadlines, and meetings. Apathy, as it relates to serving, if often a reflection of misaligned priorities. Gandhi said, “Action expresses priorities.” He is right. You can say serving God is important to you, but your actions will prove if it really is a priority.
How do we make the things of God important to us? How do we create excitement, joy, and passion?
Those attributes are fruits of the Spirit and the only way to possess them is to be growing in Christ. Apathy is a spiritual problem that needs to be addressed by prayer. Praying for God to remove our apathy and give us the faith to take steps of obedience brings us out of the passionless existence.
Here are 5 Ways Prayer Removes Apathy
Prayer Gives Us Hope
We need to rest in God’s provision. This isn’t merely financial provisions, but His promises to love, correct, empower, and equip us.
Prayer Mends Your Brokenness
The Holy Spirit helps us communicate our needs with God. God is not absent from our lives.
Prayer Creates Excitement when God Answers Prayer
When God moves in and around our lives it causes us to celebrate Him!
Prayer Shifts Our Priorities
As we commit ourselves to prayer we often see that our priorities are not the priorities God would have for our day.
Prayer Emboldens Us To Move
Seeing God’s faithfulness builds our own faith in Him. When we commit ourselves to journey with Jesus, the Holy Spirit will embolden us for what lies ahead.
by Chase | Leadership
No one wants to embrace awkwardness. In fact, most of us wish we could remove our most embarrassing moments from our memories.
But Sammy Rhodes has a different thought: he believes that we should embrace our awkwardness because it leads to a vulnerability that God uses for His glory.
In This Is Awkward: How Life’s Uncomfortable Moments Open the Door to Intimacy and Connection
, Rhodes lets readers know that God’s glory shines through the awkward moments. He uses life stories to open up about topics like pornography, insecurity, weight loss, divorce, and depression to shine light on the fact that we all have gaps and are not as put together as we claim to be. The message is simple: Don’t waste your awkwardness.
I enjoyed working through the book. Rhodes writing style is extremely conversational, blunt, and transparent. It was refreshing to read a book from an author who is willing to discuss his faults and struggles in an effort to inspire others to depend on the forgiveness and grace of Jesus.
This is a worthwhile read that will open up avenues of conversation about taboo topics in many church cultures.
Top Quotes from This Is Awkward:
- “What awkward moments (and people) do is simply shine the spotlight on the gap, revealing the cracks in our humanity, no matter how shiny and cool we may seem on the outside.”
- “God’s love is the only love that can sustain a marriage because it is the only love that can promise it’s never going anywhere.”
- “The Lord loves to love people out of their lust in ways that begin to transform them from the inside out.”
- “He’s (Jesus) with me in the darkness and he’s for me through the darkness.”
- “The Lord doesn’t promise to never take us into the wilderness. This is the bad news. The good news is that even the wilderness is his, and he is there.”
(Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookLook Bloggers book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.)
by Chase | How To, Student Min
Summer in youth ministry is an incredible time to see God work through relational ministry. A student’s flexible summer schedule lends its self to impromptu hangouts, deep conversations, and opportunities to develop spiritual disciplines.
Summer is a pivotal time where transformation can happen in student’s lives. If you want an awesome fall semester you need to invest relationally during the summer months.
I know what you are thinking; your summer is already too busy. While summer is supposed to be a vacation, we all know that the summer can be busier than other seasons! Youth pastors are traveling to and from camps, leading mission trips, helping out with church-wide events, and planning for an incredible fall schedule. Yes there are a ton of events, camps, and holidays, but don’t overlook the flexible opportunities you have to minister.
You need to maximize your time this summer to make sure your team is building a relational foundation that will catapult you into the fall.
Here are six tips to keep in mind as you enter the summer rush.
- Organize Your Calendar For Relational Ministry
Your students will be bored out of their minds by July. Plan to add in some time getting coffee with leaders and grab a burger with a few students. Utilize your flexible schedule and meet up with parents and students throughout your day.
The summer is a great time to spend time with your students, but it is not your job to provide childcare. You still have a job to do so don’t feel the pressure to over program your summer schedule. If you are exhausted heading into September you will likely stay tired until Christmas.
- Provide Opportunities For Your Students To Serve
Summer is an awesome time to get students serving. Try to get them plugged into the things already happening around the church (vacation bible school, men’s and women’s events, kids ministry, etc.) that way you are not adding additional events and projects to your calendar. Serving as a small group is the best option because you can utilize smaller groups to serve when it is convenient for them.
- Offer Creative Bible Studies
This is the perfect time of year for you to add a short bible study with your students. This can be a small group of 8-10 students, or a focused group of 2-3. I’m aiming to start a high school guys bible study group in the mornings where we work out to P90x then study God’s Word. Students love these opportunities.
- Reduce Your Student Worship To Small Groups
Our band is lead by college students who head back to their hometowns during the summer. Instead of stressing about the lack of worship leaders we decided to set up round tables and walk through a couple video-based small group lessons in a large group setting. This helps when I have to miss for events I can hand the prepared material to another volunteer to lead.
- Invite Students Or Leaders Over For A Cookout
If you are able, invite some students to come hang out and eat some hamburgers. You can invite a specific bible study group or have a leader’s cookout. Encourage your small group leaders to host a cookout for their bible study group. Back them with the student ministry budget to take some financial stress off of them cooking for 15-20 students.
Summer is the perfect time to build relationships with students, parents, and leaders.
What are you doing this summer to build community in your student ministry?
by Chase | Kid Min, Student Min
Is there anything better than going to camp?
Camps and retreats are a vital part of every family ministry’s discipleship strategy.
Before stepping into my role as a family pastor at a local church, I lived on the grounds of a Christian camp (Camp Ba Yo Ca) in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. I know, I know, someone has to suffer for Jesus!
During my 10 year involvement in camping ministry I saw more than 60,000 people come through our facilities. Most of these people were student and kids ministry groups who were taking a spiritual retreat over a weekend.
There are definitely some stellar examples of pastors hitting the ball out of the park, but there were also some nightmare groups that we were praying would simply make it to the end of their two-day retreat!
As you prepare for your upcoming retreat or camp here are a few things camp directors and their staff wish ministry leaders knew before coming to camp.
7 Things You Should Know Before Your Next Retreat
1. Ultimately, the camp staff is in charge
Camps have insurance policies just like your church does. The camp director gets the final say as to what activities or games you get to participate in and the safety guidelines. The more conversations you have on the front end with the camp about the specifies you are planning, the better experience you will have.
2. The camp staffers are not your maids
Be courteous and clean up. If the senior adults left your student center upside down after a luncheon in your room, you would be irate. While your retreat is meant to be fun, please ensure your people clean up their messes in their bunks and around the grounds. Almost all camps are understaffed so any additional cleaning that your group of 50 highly caffeinated middle schoolers can do helps.
3. Submit your schedule a week before
Typically, you will not be the only church renting the facilities that week or weekend. One of the biggest helps to the camp staff is when a pastor submits the retreat schedule. Also, special requests may not be possible if told last minute — so make sure you schedule the late-night campfire.
4. We think about your retreat as much as you do
The staffers spend weeks preparing for your retreat and at least a coupe days cleaning and following up with your church. We pray for transformation to happen. Our desire is to enable you to connect your students and kids with Jesus.
5. Don’t complain about the small things
You know that one person in your church who complains about the air conditioning being too cold one week and then too hot the next Sunday? Yeah, don’t be that person during your retreat. There is a difference between notifying a staffer of a need or problem and complaining about the small things.
6. We are ministry partners, not a hotel
Camps and retreat facilities are para-church organizations — meaning we want to work alongside the church to help her fulfill the Great Commission. If you wanted a bed and breakfast, you should stay at a hotel. Camp staffs are focused on helping you share the Gospel.
7. We want be a catalyst for discipleship
Since camps are para-church organizations, we understand that discipleship will happen during the other 51 weeks in the year. We hope your group experiences God in a real way and we are praying that you will continue to stoke that fire once you return home.
Now What?
How can you cultivate the partnership between your church and your camp?
by Chase | Kid Min, Student Min
Your best leader could be on his way out of your ministry.
How do I know? Because they are susceptible to burn out like the rest of us.
Everyone’s schedules are too packed and stretched too thin. If you are not overwhelmed you might be a toddler — even middle school students are overwhelmed with sports and homework.
And if you are not careful, your leaders and staff might walk out on your ministry because of burnout.
Growing up, my dad worked in retail overseeing many employees and hiring.
I remember a nugget of wisdom he told me when I was in high school:
Your best employees are the ones who quit. Your uninvested employees are the ones who are fired.
He went on to explain that your best employees are the ones you give the most important tasks and responsibilities because you know that they will get them done. They will work longer hours, take on more stress, and endure hardships to ensure the job gets done.
As a supervisor, you NEED these people. Sure you are concerned with your employee’s well being, but after all you have deadlines and quotas to hit like everyone else.
So you pile the responsibility on your best workers.
– Your less invested leaders are happy because they have less work.
– Your key contributors are slowly dying because of the unrealistic demands.
– Your great workers will continue with a large portion of the responsibility for a while, but they eventually move on to a better opportunity.
This has always stuck with me.
The principle isn’t a universal truth, but a problem we must analyze as church leaders:
Your best leaders have the greatest potential to leave your ministry.
And it could partially be your fault.
While we do not sell a product, a church’s mission is of eternal importance.
Church leaders feel the pressure of school and family schedules, innovative events, and managing volunteers. Eternity is on the line!
As we attempt to do more ministry with less resources (finances, time, and leaders) we put a large load of ministry on the few we know will get it done.
There are certain people who will naturally be more productive than others. Not to say your other leaders are evil, but during different seasons people’s schedules shift.
My leaders who are teachers have more time in the summer to help out and almost none during the school year. I have to realize this and ensure that they are not overwhelmed by the expectations I place on them.
Here are 4 steps to retain your top leaders:
1. Recruit more leaders
If your ministry is growing, make sure you are adding new leaders throughout the school year. Few people love volunteer management, but it is a necessary part of church ministry. If you fail to recruit new volunteers, your seasoned leaders will burnout from the growing demands of ministry.
Pray for them.
Engage them.
Screen them.
Train them.
Send them out to serve.
2. Remove some leaders
Do you have a few leaders who are under-committed, uninvested, or disengaged? — Let them go.
This does not have to be negative. Everyone needs a vacation and break from time to time.
An offer for someone to take a break is normally received as a welcomed gift. Why would you want to keep them on a team that they are not invested in?
3. Refuel your leaders
Your leaders need fuel throughout the year. This goes beyond encouraging cards and recognition during worship services, you must invest spiritually in your leader’s hearts and souls. Jesus will comfort and energize them more than you could ever imagine. Prayer, encouragement, and communication are the three tanks that fuel your leaders.
4. Restructure your ministry
Is your communication strategy flawed? Do you have a ton of pointless meetings that could have happened via email? Are your events pointing to your church’s mission/vision or are you simply doing what you have always done? Have the leader responsibilities effectively been communicated?
Planning ahead will help eliminate last minute problems that are often put on your leader’s shoulders.
Side note: When you do forget and something is last minute, you take the hit and complete that task. As my mom has always said- Your lack of planning is not another person’s emergency.
Your best leaders are the ones with the greatest potential of leaving your ministry.
What are you doing to protect your leaders and ensure that they are not running out of fuel?
