2 years and counting...

"Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up."

Galatians 6:9

Last week my two year anniversary as the Youth and Family Minister at Rose Hill church of Christ quietly passed (March 3). Each year, I like to reflect on the past year and look at the changes and growth that our ministry experienced, as well as, that I personally experienced. Youth Ministry can be a frustrating and discouraging job. It requires lots of patience, gentleness, kindness, understanding, and self-control (Galatians 2:22-23). You will go through many ups and downs in ministry. However, what keeps me going is that the ups in ministry always ALWAYS outweigh the downs. You're affecting people's lives and affecting them for the better. There's a lot of gratification in counting your blessings and cheering on the small victories in life. 

Personally, I read Galatians and it speaks to me personally in so many ways. Paul, a patient man, writes to the people in Galatia - some who sought to destroy his character and authority. He writes anyways. Particularly in Chapter 5 Paul encourages the Christians there to serve one another in love (5:13) and cautioned against a temper, which if indulged, would hinder us from showing the mutual love and servitude in which he recommended (5:16). I read Chapter 5 and I ask myself, "Why youth ministry?" It's simple - a love for others, particularly our youth, to teach and show them what a mighty God we serve. Yet, my shortcoming is wearing my emotions on the outside and having an easy face to read. Something that Paul specifically cautions against because it will hurt our ministry. In a way, it is good when people can see my passion for ministry. The negativity is when something goes wrong and disappointment floods into my emotions while spilling out into the public. What a balance it is to be able to serve in love and to control your emotions for the sake of not damaging your ministry. It's something I feel like I am constantly working on - a thorn in my flesh. 

Then, I read Galatians 6. This speaks directly to me and the ministry I am a blessed to lead. 

• Keep watch on yourself, lest you be tempted (v. 1). A lot of people have a notion that Youth Minister's do not have struggles. How can we when we are teaching others about overcoming sin, right? However, some of our lessons are more personal than you know. We/I must avoid placing myself on the pedestal of not having struggles; otherwise, that's when temptation will become the greatest.   
• Bear one another's burdens (v.2). Sometimes it is a lot to bear, but there's no doubt that you will feel some satisfaction when helping to carry someones burdens and sharing in that together. Isn't that what being a part of a Christian family is all about?
• If anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, deceives himself (v.3). Wow! That is so true. If we ever begin to think that what we do is ministry is all about us - watch out! I am only able to do what I do because of the grace of God and nothing else! I simply plant but God provides the increase. I pray that I will never forget that.

I could go on and on about the verses leading up to verse 9. This one really hits me. "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up." (6:9) Let us not become weary... Wow! Is that possible? Tiredness seems to be a natural occurrence of what I do. When I read this, I translate it to mean - Let's not become so tired that we experience burnout and leave the work because at the time of God's choosing we will be rewarded for our work if we do not give up. Yes, I do experience weariness but the desire to do the will of God gives me life and energy to keep pursuing the harvest. 

Once we have understood v. 9, we can move to v. 10 - "Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially those in the household of faith." Don't go weary, you will be rewarded for not giving up; therefore, we need to seek opportunities to do good to all people when we have a chance, especially Christians. What a summation of ministry: Let's not grow weary and let's do good for all people. In other words, "Go into all the world..." seeking people we can minister. That includes our youth group, families, strangers, friends, etc. 

And here we are at the 2 year mark... What's the assessment? God has plenty of work that still needs to be done. I will continue pursuing the work, ministering to the needs of the students and families, and will count my blessings (big and small) along the way. I will continue to pray for strength to overcome my shortcomings and count it all joy (James 1:2) when I do encounter less than pleasant times because I know it will help us to be a stronger ministry by going through trials and various things. 

To God be the Glory!

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Mission Orlando - Day 4

Opening each day with our prayer partners was a refreshing way to start the day. I encouraged each team of partners to be very specific in their prayers to the point where they would ask God for no rain between 3pm-5pm. This helped to be more open and more specific with our requests that we made known to God. This was designed to even help our mission team continue to be specific and deeper with God in prayer and not just the surface level prayers we can get in a routine of doing.

After breakfast and meeting with our prayer partners, we were off to Concord Street for the day. This morning we would be working with Second Harvest Food Bank and what an interesting day this would be!

A little about Second Harvest Food Bank first. It's a private, nonprofit organization that collects, stores and distributes donated food to more than 550 feeding partners in six Central Florida counties: Brevard, Lake, Orange, Osceola, Seminole and Volusia. There mission is to fight hunger in Central Florida by: Providing access to food and other grocery products in order to meet the need, Promoting and supporting the development of our partner agencies’ ability to fulfill their missions, Mobilizing leaders and communities by bringing visibility to the invisible problem of hunger and poverty, and Developing more holistic and county-specific solutions to hunger in Central Florida. (Source: www.foodbankcentralflorida.org)

Columbus, GA also has a Second Harvest Food Bank that distributes food out to regions in Georgia, so it was neat to see the food bank in action in a different part of our country that was trying to curve hunger within our country.

We arrived at the food bank to sign-in to find out that myself and 3 other adults had not been listening when we were told we would need to wear closed-toe shoes; therefore, forming the Open Toe Shoes Club. So, we waited out in the lobby while the others went inside the warehouse to sort through packaged and expired meat. (I truly believe that God was watching over me that day when I wore the wrong shoes after hearing the stories of the meat they had to sort through)

Eventually, a worker would come out and ask us to help them build a display stand for literature and material they wanted to display. So, we were glad to do that in order to feel like we helped in some small way.

After leaving the food bank, it was time for lunch and to rest/prepare for the second day of bible school.

It was time to share with the kids about the beauty of Esther and her selfish ways. We felt it was important to share with them about an amazing woman of the bible considering most of their homes are single parent homes with just the mother. This day we focused on helping others and putting others above our self.

Once again, we had kids waiting for us as the bus arrived in the neighborhood. We arrived earlier today, so we could setup and be ready to go by 3:30pm. The kids kept coming and come from everywhere, with over 60 kids being a part of our bible school when it was all said and done. Some kids arrived with flips (frozen kool-aid) that was made by a lady in the neighborhood... more on that later.

We had a beautiful afternoon and once again those acting in the skits, our station leaders, and tour guides all did a wonderful job. You could really tell that we were all becoming very comfortable within this setting and understanding what our jobs were. Once bible school had ended, we hung around for a little while and some of the guys played basketball with the kids, the girls played around with some of the other kids on the grass and playground, while the adults watched our kids continue in their growth. What a wonderful sight that was!

After we were done it was back to Concord Street for dinner and back to the hotel for devotional and bed.

Aaron Cole led our devotional and directed our thoughts on anger. This was appropriate at this particular point in the week because some of us had begun to be frustrated with the trouble kids (the ones who wouldn't listen or refused to participate or simply had a bad attitude). He helped to understand we should look for the positive even when we find ourselves getting angry or frustrated. Those kids, as much trouble as some caused, were there and were learning about God through it all.

It was off to bed because we had another early morning and long day the next day.

God is good... All the time!

Mission Orlando - Day 3

"Where have you seen God today?"

This was a question that I asked each night. There was a two-fold reasoning behind asking this question: 1.) In our ministry we are trying to produce disciples of Christ who seek after God and 2.) I was curious to hear where they had seen God especially in the places where I had not noticed.

Each night the discussion revolved around the kids we came in contact with, the volunteers we worked with at the different organizations, and among our own group. I hope to share with you some of the answers when we give a report about our mission trip on August 31st at Rose Hill Church of Christ.

This is a question that I contemplate in my day to day life. It is easy to see God during mission trips, camps, campaigns, workcamps, service projects, etc. but can you still find and seek after God when things get rough or in your normal day-to-day life. Usually when I ask the question, "Where have you see God today?" during a regular week, I am met with silence because when our mind is not geared towards doing spiritual things we often forget to look for God in the most routine places.

Monday we began with our prayer partner time before heading to Concord Street Church of Christ for the day. This day was going to be unique because we were finally going to see what all this talk about "Clean the World" was all about! We had talked about it, read about, and held a soap drive at Rose Hill for it. Now, we were going to see it in action.

Clean the World distributes hygiene products to impoverished people in the United States and developing countries through NGO partnerships, such as World Vision, Feeding America, Harvest Time International, Children’s International and The Floating Doctors. Since inception, Clean the World has collected and distributed over 340 tons of soap, shampoo and other hotel amenities to dozens of countries worldwide including Haiti, Zimbabwe, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Swaziland, Mali, Mongolia, Uganda, Honduras, and Romania. Clean the World is a natural disaster First Responder. Through Haiti Earthquake Relief efforts, we collected and distributed over 180 tons of hygiene products, medical supplies, water, and other essentials.
Clean the World has sent soap to 96 different countries and distributed over 17 million bars of soap around the world. Clean the world partners with hotels in the Orlando, FL area. When housekeeping comes to clean after guests have checked out, they will save the bars of soap, shampoo, conditioner, lotion, body wash, and anything else in a bottle. It will be then be given to Clean the World to sort through, sanitize, and redistribute. For the bars of soap they melt each bar down, slice it up, and re-mold it. For the rest of the hygiene products, if the bottle is 80% full, they re-use them for hygiene bags that are distributed here in the United States, the rest go into a recycling program.

Our job at clean the world was to sort through all the bottles and soap. We had to check and make sure the bottles were 80% full and place them in the right container. All soaps were placed in an individual container to be sent through the sanitation process.

While we (probably) won't ever see the "fruits of our labor" from this project, we all realized the kind of impact we were making not only in our own country but all around the world just by offering hygiene products to those who do not have. Children have been dying all over the world due to diseases that could have been prevented with proper hygiene. We helped to be a part of the solution.

In everything that we did in Orlando, FL during our mission trip we were constantly reminded of one verse from I Corinthians 3:6 when Paul says, "I have planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase." We may never know the impact we made on the lives of people around the world and in the Lake Mann Community, but we planted the seed for someone to water and for God to give the increase. I truly believe that.

Monday afternoon we were off to Day 1 of our Neighborhood Bible School in the Lake Mann Community (a housing project in Orlando, FL). As we arrived, we already had kids who were waiting for the bus, eager and ready to learn about David and Goliath. Sometimes we take for granted that kids know the stories we were taught growing up, but for some of these kids it was their first time hearing about David and Goliath. They were so excited for bible school!

We were a little overwhelmed at the beginning due to arriving right on time, but some of our youth took the kids to the playground to play while we setup for the afternoon. Let me brag on our students for a minute, like I said in my previous post, a lot of our students had not been on a mission trip before, so they did not know what to expect when they arrived. However, you would have thought that our students were veterans with the way they handled themselves, not only with door knocking, but with the kids during bible school. Yes, some had a wide-eyed look on their face and you could tell they were reaching uncomfortable levels, but they settled in nicely and had a great week.

Everyone did a fantastic job with the skits. This was probably most difficult for some because they had to memorize their lines in the skit. If you haven't been around theatre, you may not have developed a technique to memorize your lines, but everyone did a great job!!

We had somewhere close to 50 kids the first day and it would only grow from there!

After we finished, we headed back to Concord Street for supper and then back to the hotel for our nightly devotional.

Sutton Smith gave the devotional on Monday night and did an excellent job talking to us about "Think the Thought". He emphasized that when we are frustrated and negative thoughts run through our head, we should quickly get rid of them before they turn sour. This is something, as a mission team, we needed to hear because there was going to be times where we were frustrated, times were things would not go the way we planned, etc., but it was important to get rid of those thoughts so they did not affect the work we were doing. Each guy on the trip showed a lot of maturity with the topic they chose to share with us each night. I am particularly proud of Sutton, because this was his first time delivering a devotional thought.

Off to bed we went for another jam-packed filled day of doing the Lord's work!

"And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father." - Colossians 3:17

How do we raise kids who serve?

                If I asked your kids, what would they say is at the heart of what it means to be part of your family? In other words, how would your kids finish this sentence: “Our family is….”

                I grew up with a very strong sense of what it meant to be a Thompson. We wore our family name with pride, after all, the motto on our family crest was “Nosce teipsum” or translated, “know thyself.” We would never do anything to tarnish the family name, because early on it was instilled in me what being a Thompson meant. Both by their example and by their words, my parents instilled in me that being a part of the Thompson family meant you were hardworking and looked for ways to humbly serve others. Our family is hard-working servants.

                Joy and I hope to instill the same values in our children, one day… a few years down the road. We pray that our family will be leaders and learners, people of gentle strength, content risk-takes, and folks who love and serve God and others. Do we have all the answers? No, and if you are honest with yourself, you don’t have all the answers even now, as a parent or when you did have children.

                A question you may find yourself asking is, “How can we be parents who love and serve God and others, and who raise kids who do likewise?” How can we plant a vision for kingdom service so deeply in our kids that they can’t help but offer love and hope to those in need? Words and Actions.

                I read about a family that shares this longing that their kids have a heart for service. They have made a commitment, as a family, to help folks who are homeless not by giving them money but by buying them a bag of groceries instead. As their three daughters were growing up, the parents explained, “Our family does not give money when we are approached on the street. We buy food instead.” When approached by someone who was homeless, the parents would run into a nearby supermarket and buy a bag of groceries for the person in need, often with their daughters in tow.

                Recently, their seventeen-year-old daughter was heading alone into a grocery store when she was approached by a homeless man who asked her for money. Even though Kristen was alone, she repeated the family mantra to him: “Our family does not give money. We buy food instead.” She walked into the grocery store and spent $17 of her own money to buy groceries. When she returned home, she never asked her parents to reimburse her.

                 Want your kids to grow up and be servants, to love the Lord, and be a productive part of society? Show them. Show your children how to be servants. Show your children that you love the Lord. It’s all about words and actions, and it all starts with you, the parents, in your own home. After all, when your kids grow up, they will be a reflection of you. If you are inconsistent in your spiritual walk, it’s safe to assume your children will be, as well. If you don’t value God, church, and family as a priority in your life, study shows that neither will your children. Live your life in the same way you want your children to live theirs, and you will see a child who loves God and serves others. “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.” –Proverbs 22:6

Parent Driven Church: Part 3

We continue with the series on the Parent Driven Church. Our society is moving more and more towards being dependent on ministers and forgetting the groundwork that should be laid in the home so the Youth Minister can supplement that teaching. We need to get back to having a Parent Driven Church and I hope this blog will help you find ways to do exactly that. You can find Part 1 and Part 2 by clicking the link. 

"Parents are usually the most important influence in their kids' lives" - Chapter 6 Stick Family Relationships, Sticky Faith: A Leader's Guide

Did you read that carefully? Parents are an important influence for their kids. As a youth minister, it is sometimes exhausting thinking about the responsibility that I have for the students in our ministry and for their faith (and sometimes lack thereof).While adult role models are important and should be a factor on youth ministry, there is nothing more important when it comes to Faith than the Parents.

Let me provide you with some research. Sociologist, Dr. Christian Smith from the University of Notre Dame conducted a nationwide telephone survey of more than 3,000 teens and their parents, as well as, 267 in-depth interviews and he concluded: "Most teenagers and their parents may not realize it, but a lot of research of sociology of religion suggests that the most important social influence in shaping young people's religious lives is the religious life models and taught to them by their parents."

Yes, there are exceptions but think about it this way. How many hours, on average, does a youth minister spend with your child compared to the hours parents are spending with their children? There is a vast difference in time there. Parents are most certainly the launching pad of their child's faith and because of time spent with them, Parents help to shape, guide, and mold their faith. Don't misunderstand, a Youth Minister's job is very important, as well, the point is Parents need to do a better job at home helping to mold their kids faith.

According to Search Institutes's nationwide study of 11,000 teenagers from 561 congregations, 12% of you have a regular dialogue with their mom on faith/life kids. In other words 1 out of 8 kids talk to their mom about faith. With dads, it is 1 out of 20, or 5%. Approximately 9% of teenagers engage in regular reading of the bible and devotions with their families. Not even 1 out of 10 teenagers are looking at scriptures with their parents.

When you do engage your children in dialogue about their faith, what questions are you asking? Is it the standard, "What did you talk about in church today?" "How was youth group?" "What did you think of the sermon?" and I think we already know the answers to the questions that our teens will respond with. According to Fuller Youth Institute, asking these questions can pay off, but what is really is important is that parents also share about their own faith. It is important that we are not only living out our faith, but talking to our kids about our faith, as well.

There are certain taboo issues that need to addressed and discussed that parents tend to shy away from, and even let the youth minister handle those issues (sometimes with it coming a little too late). For example, according to Kara Powell of FYI, she says, "Two different sets of data indicate that the more important religion (not just Christianity, but also other religions) is to parents, the more difficult it is for those same parents to talk with their kids bout sex." That's pretty disappointing. We have to find a way to have these conversations with our kids in a healthy, balanced, and scriptural way. These conversations help to guide, shape, and mold their faith.

Want to know how we can have a Parent Driven Church? Have a faith driven family that isn't afraid to share or talk about their faith with their kids. Don't avoid taboo conversations and encourage your kids to live out their faith.

*Research found in Chapter 6, "Sticky Family Relationships", in the book Sticky Faith: Everyday ideas to build lasting faith in your kids. Dr. Kara E. Powell and Chap Clark, PhD. 

Evangelism

Every Thursday we have a youth bible study in our home using the Hashtag Video Series "For His Glory" as our material. This week we viewed the video on evangelism and discussed how we can evangelize.

For a 26 year old youth minister, I made the assumption that everyone knew this word "evangelism"; however, to a not yet Christian 6th grader, this word was foreign. So, the question, "What is evangelism?" came up before we even started the video, which was a perfect place to jump in to our discussion. We started from the beginning, defined the term, and talked about how we can use it to reach others before watching the video.

However, this exchange made me think - Are we failing our youth when they do not know what evangelism is? Am I taking their knowledge for granted and skipping over basic things that need to be reinforced? Are they ready for such a topic as Evangelism when they are still growing in their knowledge of who God is and what He does? These questions flooded my mind, then I came up with a simple answer. You are never too young to hear about how we should share God's love with other people, and we are never too old to stop wanting to share God's love with others. There is no age limit on evangelism and yet, we sometimes just skip right over and take it for granted that people understand this concept.

What is our mission? One of the things we focus on in our student ministry is simply the word "Go" which is a concept Jesus used in His ministry and reminds us to do the same.

• GO make disciples of all nations. (Matt. 28:19)

• GO baptize them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. (Matt. 28:19)

• GO out quickly to the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor and crippled and blind and lame. (Luke 14:21)

• GO out to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in, that my house may be filled. (Luke 14:23)

• GO proclaim repentance and forgiveness of sins to all nations. (Luke 24:27)

• GO be witnesses of these things. (Luke 24:28)

• I chose you and appointed you that you should GO and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide. (John 15:16)

I want our students to have a heart for missions and evangelism, a heart that reaches out to the hurting, a heart that is concerned for the spiritual well-being of others, but we sometimes become so focused on those outside the church that we lose focus on the ones inside the church. We have students in our youth ministry we need to reach out to, parents who are hurting, and adults who are wavering. What are we doing to reach out to them? I challenged our group on Thursday night with this question, "What are you doing to reach out to others in our youth ministry?" The response: silence. No one had ever challenged them to reach out to our own, they had never thought of ways to reach out to them, and they certainly didn't have an answer when they were asked what they were doing. I could see the look in their eyes. It was a look of nervousness because they knew they should be wanting to do more, they just simply have not been doing it. I tossed some numbers at them concerning our ministry and the youth who are a part of it. They were simply astonished realizing that we were not reaching our full potential as a ministry. 

Evangelizing is a 365 day effort, not just an every now and then thing. It sometimes takes the smallest of tasks like simply inviting someone to worship with us, asking them to fellowship with us at an event, asking someone how they are doing, or telling someone they've been missed. Sometimes it simply takes a "Hello" on our part to welcome a visitor. There are a couple of conferences for our young people that specifically focus on evangelism. One in Montgomery, AL at the end of the summer, Southern Evangelism Conference (SEC) and one in South Carolina in November, East Coast Evangelism Conference (ECEC). It is my goal and my aim to take our youth to one of these every year to re-emphasize the importance of evangelism. For 3 days out of the year our youth receive training for 362 days of evangelism!

Let me share with you some tips and encouragement from the ECEC twitter page:

Pray every morning that God will bring someone hungry for the Gospel into your life. Study so you'll be ready when He does! #362evangelism

Going into school is going into one of the biggest mission fields in the world. Are u making a difference? #362evangelism

Invite those u eat lunch with to pray with u to bless ur food. #362evangelism

So, my question to you is simply this, "What are you doing to reach out to others in your school, your family, your church family, your workplace, or your community?"

In 2014...

Sunday I met with my youth committee, which helps me to successfully define our ministry and who we want to be, what we want to see, and what we can improve on. I enjoy the times we have together discussing the future because I am always looking ahead to what's next. Planning and preparing is something I enjoy doing (even though I fail at times) it is enjoyable and to a degree even relaxing for me. I look forward to the future!

However, sometimes God has different plans in store for us and our ministry. I constantly ask Him to show me the way that He wants us to go, to guide my steps, and to give me wisdom in making decisions when it comes to our ministry. I believe our focus always needs to be God-centered. Sometimes we lose that focus in the planning and executing of the plans even if it does involve something spiritual in nature. Are we doing event because we truly believe in the power it will have to help spiritually develop our students? Sometimes I worry that I lose sight in what God truly wants and that I am just filling the calendar with things just to have events. I pray that God is truly at work and giving me the wisdom to plan what is necessary for our student ministry. I also ask God to bring my ministry to the point where we aren't just focused on the students anymore but it is helping families to keep the conversation going at home and we are several working and moving parts, but together as a unit. 

In 2014 I want to be a better minister and husband. I want God to truly direct my steps and to remove any selfish ambition that is in the way of the ministry that God has laid before me. In 2014, I want to be able to touch the heart of each student and their families to supplement their spiritual development. In 2014, I want to see us take a more active approach in the outreach in our communities and make a direct impact on those people. In 2014, I want others to know God by showing them His love through my life. These are things that I desire. However, I want to do what God desires for me, in 2014.