Most students entering college for the first time this fall were born in 1991.

1. For these students, Martha Graham, Pan American Airways, Michael Landon, Dr. Seuss, Miles Davis, The Dallas Times Herald, Gene Roddenberry, and Freddie Mercury have always been dead.
2. Dan Rostenkowski, Jack Kevorkian, and Mike Tyson have always been felons.
3. The Green Giant has always been Shrek, not the big guy picking vegetables.
4. They have never used a card catalog to find a book.
5. Margaret Thatcher has always been a former prime minister.
6. Salsa has always outsold ketchup.
7. Earvin "Magic" Johnson has always been HIV-positive.
8. Tattoos have always been very chic and highly visible.
9. They have been preparing for the arrival of HDTV all their lives.
10. Rap music has always been main stream.
11. Chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream has always been a flavor choice.
12. Someone has always been building something taller than the Willis (née Sears) Tower in Chicago.
13. The KGB has never officially existed.
14. Text has always been hyper.
15. They never saw the “Scud Stud” (but there have always been electromagnetic stud finders.)
16. Babies have always had a Social Security Number.
17. They have never had to “shake down” an oral thermometer.
18. Bungee jumping has always been socially acceptable.
19. They have never understood the meaning of R.S.V.P.
20. American students have always lived anxiously with high-stakes educational testing.
21. Except for the present incumbent, the President has never inhaled.
22. State abbreviations in addresses have never had periods.
23. The European Union has always existed.
24. McDonald's has always been serving Happy Meals in China.
25. Condoms have always been advertised on television.
26. Cable television systems have always offered telephone service and vice versa.
27. Christopher Columbus has always been getting a bad rap.
28. The American health care system has always been in critical condition.
29. Bobby Cox has always managed the Atlanta Braves.
30. Desperate smokers have always been able to turn to Nicoderm skin patches.
31. There has always been a Cartoon Network.
32. The nation’s key economic indicator has always been the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
33. Their folks could always reach for a Zoloft.
34. They have always been able to read books on an electronic screen.
35. Women have always outnumbered men in college.
36. We have always watched wars, coups, and police arrests unfold on television in real time.
37. Amateur radio operators have never needed to know Morse code.
38. Belarus, Moldova, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Armenia, Latvia, Georgia, Lithuania, and Estonia have always been independent nations.
39. It's always been official: President Zachary Taylor did not die of arsenic poisoning.
40. Madonna’s perspective on Sex has always been well documented.
41. Phil Jackson has always been coaching championship basketball.
42. Ozzy Osbourne has always been coming back.
43. Kevin Costner has always been Dancing with Wolves, especially on cable.
44. There have always been flat screen televisions.
45. They have always eaten Berry Berry Kix.
46. Disney’s Fantasia has always been available on video, and It’s a Wonderful Life has always been on Moscow television.
47. Smokers have never been promoted as an economic force that deserves respect.
48. Elite American colleges have never been able to fix the price of tuition.
49. Nobody has been able to make a deposit in the Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI).
50. Everyone has always known what the evening news was before the Evening News came on.
51. Britney Spears has always been heard on classic rock stations.
52. They have never been Saved by the Bell
53. Someone has always been asking: “Was Iraq worth a war?”
54. Most communities have always had a mega-church.
55. Natalie Cole has always been singing with her father.
56. The status of gays in the military has always been a topic of political debate.
57. Elizabeth Taylor has always reeked of White Diamonds.
58. There has always been a Planet Hollywood.
59. For one reason or another, California’s future has always been in doubt.
60. Agent Starling has always feared the Silence of the Lambs.
61. “Womyn” and “waitperson” have always been in the dictionary.
62. Members of Congress have always had to keep their checkbooks balanced since the closing of the House Bank.
63. There has always been a computer in the Oval Office.
64. CDs have never been sold in cardboard packaging.
65. Avon has always been “calling” in a catalog.
66. NATO has always been looking for a role.
67. Two Koreas have always been members of the UN.
68. Official racial classifications in South Africa have always been outlawed.
69. The NBC Today Show has always been seen on weekends.
70. Vice presidents of the United States have always had real power.
71. Conflict in Northern Ireland has always been slowly winding down.
72. Migration of once independent media like radio, TV, videos and compact discs to the computer has never amazed them.
73. Nobody has ever responded to “Help, I’ve fallen and I can’t get up.”
74. Congress could never give itself a mid-term raise.
75. There has always been blue Jell-O.

When asked about one of his players turning pro, against his advice, Coach Pitino said: “It’s the strangest thing, and as a parent I can tell you this. And dealing with other parents who have had children, the one thing is, you’ll take a father, a Jerry West an Oscar Robertson, you’ll sometime meet people of that stature, who’ll say to me, coach will you do me a favor. Can you speak to my son, and give him a little guidance; he’s not listening to me.  Well you’re Jerry West, you’re Oscar Robertson, not just singling those two out, and there have been others, ‘If they’re not going to listen to you, why are they going to listen to me’. It’s the same way in the game of life.  I was always trying to get my oldest in shape when he was young, I’d say why don’t we do this or why don’t we do that, no dad I’m not going to do it, then all of a sudden, he met Short Brown our strength coach or Rock Oliver, and he said oh, I’m definitely going to do it. I said, I’ve been trying to get you to do it for years Michael and you wouldn’t listen to me. And he said oh no, but the strength coach told me to do it. So it’s often it happens in this game of life, who people listen to isn’t necessarily the person with the most wisdom, but the person that is somebody different in their life.”

And that is the phrase that hit home: “who people listen to isn’t necessarily the person with the most wisdom, but the person that is somebody different in their life”. So it got me to thinking about the somebodies different in my life.  And maybe that has more to do with the fact that two of them passed away this past month than with what Coach Pitino said.

One of them I never met.  Dana Key was the lead singer and guitarist for the Christian Band DeGarmo & Key.  Their rich lyrics that were spiritually challenging and their musical style that spoke my heart language provided for me endless hours of soul searching as to what I was to be as a Christian young man.  Their call to not be a “Casual Christian” and a myriad of other songs challenged me in my faith and drew me to scripture. 

The other was Jabe Cravens.  Jabe and his wife Alohana were youth sponsors at Little Flock.  He was a man’s man, a pipe fitter by trade that couldn’t wear a long sleeve shirt because his arms were too big for the sleeves.  Two of their three sons, Butch and Mike were older than me, their youngest Todd was younger.  Jabe had a zest for life, which showed every day. From the softball field to youth events at their house, he loved life and he loved us students.

As a youth minister, I have had the chance to be the somebody different in the lives of students. As a parent I have had the privilege of seeing other adults be the somebody different in the lives of my kids. I have watched my dad, who has been scoutmaster of Boy Scout Troop 20 for over 40 ye ars be that somebody different in the lives of countless young men. The church and our communities are full of teenagers that need somebody different to speak into their lives.

Let us do our part as a church to facilitate putting men and women of integrity in the lives of our students, men and women who maybe can be that “somebody different” in their lives.                       

The first was, Steve Coleman, the Minister of Students at First Baptist Church in Richmond. As I watched Steve and that chest length goatee walk across the stage, I thought of the sacrifices he and Sula made so he could go back to school. When asked about what made him decide to go back, Steve said, “as a lifelong learner,” having “read books on youth ministry, culture, and studies on scriptures.” And “being a veteran youth worker, there was very little that I haven't dealt with over the years. However, as I read about many things, I realized that I knew much of these subject matters but felt I may be missing something in the biblical texts and studies.”

Coleman continued, “I wasn't sure that I could do school and still be involved in ministry, home, and all the other activities that I was involved in but I tried it to see. My first class was on Monday morning at 8am in Louisville, a 3 hour drive away and I lost an hour! I had not gone to school in over 25 years! I wasn't sure I could do it. I was afraid and not sure if I could pull it off. My wife was so supportive and just knew that I could do it. She helped me in so many ways. There were things around the house that I normally did and she did it in my place. The sacrifices that she made while I was reading, studying, writing or researching were priceless. When I was down, unsure, and wanting to throw in the towel, she was the one that came along side to help get me back on track. I am not sure that I could have done it without her!~ Once the first semester was over and I had read lots of books, written several papers, taken mid-terms and final exams I had my first grade report on the screen and I had passed both classes. I was on my way.”

The second was Nick Stamps, Associate Pastor at Post Oak Baptist in Russellville. When asked about his experience Stamps said, “my first inclination was that I was “out of my mind” to think that a guy in his late thirties (38), with a wife and three daughters, and a full-time ministry position could even think about going back to school.  I mean, it had been over 16 years since I had even had to take notes, much more take a test in a classroom setting”.  

But Stamps continued, “Throughout this whole process my wife and our three girls have been absolutely incredible.  They have been the ones who have sacrificed the most, but also been the most supportive and unbelievably understanding.  I am so thankful for them.  There were many, many times that I just wanted to give up and quit, but Julia was always there to encourage me, support me, love me, and yes even check the grammar of most all of the papers I wrote.  She has truly been my “help mate and I thank God for bringing such an incredible lady into my life.”

Stamps concluded, “While attending, I was so blessed to walk through that experience with five other guys who have become some of my dearest and closest friends.  We actually called ourselves the “Seminary Six,” and it has been such a blessing and honor to travel this road with them.  So, if I could encourage anyone considering seminary or additional education I would tell them to fi nd a friend to walk with them, make friends while there (some o f the best friends you will ever find), and don&r squo;t travel this road alone.”

Congratulations you two.  You are trailblazers. May your tribe increase.

A few years ago I was talking to a senior pastor about youth ministry. In a moment of honesty he said something like this.

“I don’t get it. Tell me why you want to work with high school students your whole life. You’re qualified to be a senior pastor. You have all the qualities people look for in a senior pastor. And your teaching style moves high school students to a type of faith that most churches would love. Plus, you could be the boss and you’d make a lot more money. What don’t I see?”

The truth was that it took by surprise because I’d never been asked that question. I’ve only been asked it’s annoying cousin, “When are you going to be a “real” pastor?”

Here’s a summary of what I told him:

• I love the process. In the 5-6 years that you have a student in your ministry you see them go from squirrelly middle schooler to mostly grown up.
• I love that adolescents are moldable. The reason you can teach them radical truths and they will respond is pretty amazing. You just don’t see many adults looking for truth to move them.
• I love the fun factor. When was the last time you’ve preached to adults and illustrated something by covering a kid in shaving cream or dunking for oreos in chocolate syrup. Like never. There’s a middle schooler in me that is highly amused by this kinesthetic goofy learning stuff. Adults just don’t go for it.
• I love that it doesn’t end unless you want it to. Seriously, this is a beautiful time of year. I love the longitudinal factor of youth ministry. And I love the fact that you can chose to continue investing in some students while having a perfectly good excuse to move them out of your life. You can’t do that as a senior pastor, can you?

How would you have answered this question?

This is a summary list of reasons high school seniors stay involved in a local church.  "involved" is more than just attending on Sunday Morning. It means involved in mid-week youth worship services, youth camps, youth mission trips, etc..  These reason were secured from current high school juniors and seniors and current college students and youth/student leaders of NAMB, IMB, Lifeway and our SBC State Conventions.  These reasons are not listed in any particular order. Juniors and Seniors may stay involved for a primary reason. For most it is a combination of reasons.

1. Relationship with a youth minister.
2. Relationship with and example of Christian living by parents or grandparents.
3. Strong personal relationship with Christ.
4. Missions activities and involvement.
5. Personal ownership of youth ministry and the church. Opportunities to serve as a leader in the youth ministry or other ministries of the church.
6. Strong Christian example of a peer in the youth ministry.
7. Presenting of a spiritual challenge by the student minister which grows with the students abilities. Stair step ministry.
8. Dedication to the youth group. The sense of feeling needed.
9. Connection to a senior pastor or other staff member other than the youth minister.
10. Connection to an adult youth leader or leaders.
11. A strong Biblical Foundation.

As always your comments are welcome......

 

]]> http://www.kybaptist.org/kbc/blogs/yb.nsf/dxcomments/05192010030443PMWEBQDH.htm http://www.kybaptist.org/kbc/blogs/yb.nsf/dx/05192010030443PMWEBQDH.htm?opendocument&comments Wed, 12 May 2010 09:58:00 -0400 http://www.kybaptist.org/kbc/blogs/yb.nsf/trackback?open&id=05122010100428AMWEBJHU.htm http://www.kybaptist.org/kbc/blogs/yb.nsf/dx/05122010100428AMWEBJHU.htm Western Recorder Joe Ball http://www.kybaptist.org/kbc/blogs/yb.nsf/dx/05122010100428AMWEBJHU.htm?opendocument&comments http://www.kybaptist.org/kbc/blogs/yb.nsf/dx/05122010100428AMWEBJHU.htm I still remember the summer I spent in Alaska in 1983. I was 20 years old, had just finished my first year at Campbellsville College (after two years of Community College) I was going to win the world with the Gospel, or at least all of Homer, Alaska.  The lessons I learned there that summer about me and about ministry have shaped me and my ministry from then on out.

That is why this May, when I usually write about saying good bye to our seniors and taking steps to help transition them to college, I want to offer a deeper challenge.  Don’t misunderstand me it is still very important that we have a plan and people in place to walk our students through this time of transition.  Because we do lose track of students between the last year of youth group and their first year of being adults in the congregation, and we do need to do a lot better job helping them to transition.

But this year let’s begin the process of challenging our students to, after they graduate high school and before they start college, spend between six months and a year in service to God.  Go overseas, work in an orphanage in Africa, or with an IMB missionary in Greece, move to a different part of our country and work in a community center, or work alongside a church planter.  But get out and go.  Richard Ross, Professor of Student Ministry at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary calls this a gap year. It is a year to refine who you are, to serve God and man selflessly, to give more than you take, and to discover more of who you are in Christ.

Why now and not later?  One reason is the boldness of teenagers at this age.   Another is, they aren’t afraid of much of anything and many all ready have enough self confidence to conquer the world.  And yet another is there are less financial obligations that students have at this age than at any other time in their life.  No college loans, no mortgage payment or household expenses.  Yeah, it may tax us as parents, to have to carry the loan on their car, or not to have them down the hall for a little while longer. But they are ready.

Through the armed forces we train 18 year olds in 8 weeks to protect our countries freedom at places all over the world.  At 18 we allow them to vote and help to determine the political future of our nation and also hold them legally accountable for their own actions.  But as a church and as parents we a reluctant to let them lead or serve or do.

I have heard Dr. Ross call for a gap year for a while now, and maybe it hits home a little more this summer than in the past because this month our daughter Karen heads off to Alaska.  It’s a different stage of life for her than I am proposing, and life obligations have presented some challenges for her to deal with that would have been there 5 years ago when she graduated high school.  It isn’t her first journey either; she started giving up her summers after her junior year of high school.  She has been on camp staff for Kentucky WMU at Cedar Crest, working with GA’s and Acteens, spent a summer in Slovenia, and two summers as a youth and children’s intern in KY.  But for in many ways this is her gap time. She’s not coming home on the weekends or working with people I all ready knew and maybe it’s the one way ticket we purchased with no return date in mind. 

Maybe t he biggest hurdle in this gap year idea is our parents.  The idea of letting our sons and daughters take off for a year.  We have scholarships offers we may lose, or they will get behind their peers who go straight to college, or a thousand other reasons it’s not a good idea.  Not everyone will take us up on it and the initial reactions maybe mixed at best.  But it “only takes a spark to get a fire going”.

 

]]> http://www.kybaptist.org/kbc/blogs/yb.nsf/dxcomments/05122010100428AMWEBJHU.htm http://www.kybaptist.org/kbc/blogs/yb.nsf/dx/05122010100428AMWEBJHU.htm?opendocument&comments Thu, 6 May 2010 21:13:00 -0400 http://www.kybaptist.org/kbc/blogs/yb.nsf/trackback?open&id=retaining-14-16-year-olds.htm http://www.kybaptist.org/kbc/blogs/yb.nsf/dx/retaining-14-16-year-olds.htm culture Joe Ball http://www.kybaptist.org/kbc/blogs/yb.nsf/dx/retaining-14-16-year-olds.htm?opendocument&comments http://www.kybaptist.org/kbc/blogs/yb.nsf/dx/retaining-14-16-year-olds.htm From the May 4, 2010 Edition of the Western Recorder

By Drew Nichter
News Director
Mays Lick—The topic of how to keep 16 to 19 year olds in church has been a hot one since Joe Ball graduated high school.
“Here we are 30 years later and it’s still an issue,” said Ball, the Kentucky Baptist Convention’s youth strategist. Only now, “we realize maybe there’s something we can do about it.”
It was a topic youth leaders tackled at a recent stop on the KBC’s Growing Ministries Tour at May’s Lick Baptist Church.
It’s no secret that many students “check out” of church once they reach a certain age. There are a number of reasons for this, Ball said, but no one clear-cut solution for how to prevent it from happening.
In researching the book “Already Gone,” Answers in Genesis founder Ken Ham asked 20-somethings who grew up in evangelical churches why they walked away.
The No. 1 response given was only mentioned by 12 percent of respondents, and only seven percentage points separated No. 1 from No. 10.
At the top of the list: “boring services” and “legalism.”
Those responses were followed by “hypocrisy of leaders” (11 percent); “too political” (10 percent); “self-righteous people” (9 percent); “distance from home” (7 percent); “not relevant to personal growth” (6 percent); “God would not condemn me to hell” (6 percent); “Bible not relevant/not practical” (5 percent); and “couldn’t find my preferred denomination in the area” (5 percent).
Ball said he was surprised by the results.
“This would be easy if the No. 1 answer was, ‘85 percent of the people said this is the reason why they left.’ It’d be easy to fix it,” he noted. But the low percentages merely reaffirmed “there’s not one issue.”
Ball mentioned a pastor friend of his who “can look at a student at (age) 13 and tell you, within about an 85 percent accuracy, if they’ll still be (in church) at 20 or 30—and it’s all based on their parents.”
Ball expressed concern about the generation of parents raising today’s teenagers. He said the parenting style has become to pay others to teach children what they need to know.
Unfortunately, he noted, that also has extended into the church.
“We abdicated our biblical role as parents to disciple our own kids,” Ball said. “We turned everything involved with the student ministry over to (the youth minister). … We have 60 years of a track record that says, ‘This has not worked.’
In order to correct that, the old pardigm of the student to student minister relationship must change, Ball insisted.
The new paradigm must more closely resemble a wheel with the student in the middle, connected to not only a student minister, but parents, a small-group leader, a one-on-three discipler and a prayer warrior.
The key to making the new paradigm work, Ball said, is getting—and keeping—parents involved as the primary disciplers.
While parents who do participate at church can disciple their children, those parents who are not in church are unable to do that.
However, Ball pointed out that the reason many parents do not disciple their children is the embarrassment factor.
“It’s like the sex talk: No parent wants to have it. It’s uncomfortable,” he said. “It’s the same thing with spiritual (conversations): They may ask a questions that you don’t think you can answer.”
But as Ball noted, that is what discipleship is all about, “being able to say, ‘I don’t know. Let’s see if we can find an answer.’” ]]> http://www.kybaptist.org/kbc/blogs/yb.nsf/dxcomments/retaining-14-16-year-olds.htm http://www.kybaptist.org/kbc/blogs/yb.nsf/dx/retaining-14-16-year-olds.htm?opendocument&comments Wed, 7 Apr 2010 11:46:00 -0400 http://www.kybaptist.org/kbc/blogs/yb.nsf/trackback?open&id=Spring Cleaning http://www.kybaptist.org/kbc/blogs/yb.nsf/dx/Spring-Cleaning Western Recorder Joe Ball http://www.kybaptist.org/kbc/blogs/yb.nsf/dx/Spring-Cleaning?opendocument&comments http://www.kybaptist.org/kbc/blogs/yb.nsf/dx/Spring-Cleaning It must be spring because all the newspaper and television ads are for cleaning products.  Even the comics I get emailed to me everyday are having references to spring cleaning.  With that I began to think about how that relates to youth ministry. That isn’t unusual; I can usually relate most everything to youth ministry.  So from the home office in Zoneton KY here are the top 10 ways I related spring cleaning to youth ministry.

1.       Clean your office.  Now if you know me and have been to my office you are now busting out laughing. At Edgewood I cleaned the week before dnow, and anytime I knew my parents were visiting, at KBC it is the week before the Mission Board meets. It has to be done, so why not now?  Throw away the camp and mission trip brochures (deadlines to sign up have all ready passed), file the papers; dig the candy wrappers out of the love seat in the office, file the paper work, get the stuff off the floor.

2.       Back up your computer files. It’s gonna crash sometime, why not go ahead and back up your files now, and take the backup off site. That way when it does crash, you won’t be out of 5 years worth of work.

3.       Clean out your car. I know it’s your mobile office, but the Diet Mountain Dew bottles rolling around under the seats are crying out for help.  Get the ski trip and winter retreat stuff out of the trunk.  You know you’re going to need that room for your softball equipment and your golf clubs anyway.

4.       Update your contact list.  Johnny’s parents email changed nine months ago and every time you email something to all the parents, that one always bounces back.  Every month you say, you know I really need to change that one, now’s the time.

5.       Clean the youth space.  Last year’s camp poster was a great way to promote camp last summer, but it has served its purpose. Same with last quarter’s Sunday School pictures.  Keep looking; there is probable old Sunday School quarterlies, and handouts from last month’s Wednesday night teaching time as well as signup sheets for events long since held.  Don’t forget the CD player that doesn’t work, and all those cd’s without their cases.  It’s okay, they  have served their purpose.

6.       Take the borrowed stuff back.  The direct box you borrowed for the band, the hymnal from the choir room, the hul-a-hoop from the children department, the towels from the baptistery, the broom from the custodians closet, the markers from the preschool department, the chair from the senior ladies class, the half inch wrench from the bus garage, they all need to go back.  They are missed by their owners.

7.       Clean the closets.  That game with half the pieces missing, the old flashlight batteries you just laid down when you put the new ones in, the set from the drama 10 years ago that found its way to the youth storage area, the dried up markers, and the random things left by the students at camp and retreats, it can all go.

8.       Make a trip to Goodwill.  The old dnow, retreat, camp, youth group t-shirts, they can all go.  So can the clothes and sleeping bags that don’t belong to anybody but was left on the bus after youth trips.

9.       Wash the inside of your coffee cup.  I know there is nothing like coffee out of your favorite cup, and most days you rinse out yesterdays coffee with hot water before you put today’s coffee in it, but its time.  There’s a fungus in there that not even the scientist at Harvard can identify.

10.   Renew your spirit.  Spring brings a time of refreshing to the world. Take some time to renew your soul.  Go take a hike, fly a kite, throw a baseball, or take a nap in a hammock.  Do something to renew your soul. Summers coming and we need to get ready.

]]> http://www.kybaptist.org/kbc/blogs/yb.nsf/dxcomments/Spring-Cleaning http://www.kybaptist.org/kbc/blogs/yb.nsf/dx/Spring-Cleaning?opendocument&comments Thu, 1 Apr 2010 10:19:00 -0400 http://www.kybaptist.org/kbc/blogs/yb.nsf/trackback?open&id=want-a-successful-youth-ministry.htm http://www.kybaptist.org/kbc/blogs/yb.nsf/dx/want-a-successful-youth-ministry.htm leadership development Joe Ball http://www.kybaptist.org/kbc/blogs/yb.nsf/dx/want-a-successful-youth-ministry.htm?opendocument&comments http://www.kybaptist.org/kbc/blogs/yb.nsf/dx/want-a-successful-youth-ministry.htm This was posted April 1st at PerryNoble.com

Hey Pastor, Want A Successful Youth Ministry?

Brad Cooper is our student pastor here at NewSpring Church…and is one of the most gifted/anointed leaders on the planet.  Since he has been with us our student ministry has grown from about 125 to over 1,000 kids every weekend…and the number of committed, sold out volunteers has multiplied dramatically.

Anytime people hear about what is going on in our student ministry they always ask me, “So, what did you do?”  It’s pretty simple…

#1 – I hired a leader, someone I could trust, someone I would not have to stand beside and make decisions for.  (Some pastors won’t do this because they need to be needed!)  AND…I made sure he was able to assemble the team he wanted around him…I did not hire for him!

#2 – I made sure he was resourced.  We don’t do car washes or bake sales…and we never have.  I’ve read that over 85% of the decisions to follow Christ happen before the age of 18…if THAT ISN’T a ripe mission field then I don’t know what is.  Churches don’t make the senior adults do a bake sale if they want to go somewhere…why in the heck do they make the students do it?  (By the way…it’s ALWAYS been this way, so please don’t email me with, “What did you guys do when you were small?”  We took care of our students…period!)

#3 – I make sure he understands the vision of our church.  I spend time with him…we go to lunch, he sends me texts that encourage the heck out of me.  If he ever has a question about vision…he asks me.

#4 – I spend time with the students.  Every year I am our “camp speaker” for The Gauntlet…and it is SO refreshing for me to get to spend that time with the students…it is literally one of my favorite weeks EVERY YEAR!

#5 – I don’t try to do youth ministry!  When I did youth ministry it was SO cool to play DC Talk, Carman and Degarmo & Key…for those that may not have figured this out yet…those days are GONE!  I am NOT the expert in youth ministry…and I don’t try to be!!!

#6 – I ask our student ministry staff lots of questions!  BECAUSE, like it or not…what they are doing right now is going to be what the church is doing in the next 10 to 15 years!

#7 – I give him permission to fail…as long as he fails by trying great things then I don’t have a problem with it!

Those are just a few things that “I’ve” done…which hopefully you see isn’t much!!!  Hope that helps!

]]> http://www.kybaptist.org/kbc/blogs/yb.nsf/dxcomments/want-a-successful-youth-ministry.htm http://www.kybaptist.org/kbc/blogs/yb.nsf/dx/want-a-successful-youth-ministry.htm?opendocument&comments Tue, 9 Mar 2010 17:01:00 -0400 http://www.kybaptist.org/kbc/blogs/yb.nsf/trackback?open&id=03092010050345PMWEBTVE.htm http://www.kybaptist.org/kbc/blogs/yb.nsf/dx/03092010050345PMWEBTVE.htm Western Recorder Joe Ball http://www.kybaptist.org/kbc/blogs/yb.nsf/dx/03092010050345PMWEBTVE.htm?opendocument&comments http://www.kybaptist.org/kbc/blogs/yb.nsf/dx/03092010050345PMWEBTVE.htm As I sat the other night at Zaxby’s in Bowling Green having dinner with Jordan, our youngest child, who is a freshman at WKU, I began to think through stages of family life and how as youth ministers we need to be careful to navigate each of these transitions to make them as smooth as possible, and we need to think ahead to the next stage of family life and how that will affect how we do ministry. 

Stage One-The Bachelor/Bachelorette.  A lot of youth ministers get their start in ministry while in college.  We stay up late, come and go as we please and live off leftover pizza and Big K cola from the youth events.  We think nothing of working late into the night, hanging out at school events, spending money as we want, being gone 6 nights a week and surviving on little or no sleep.  As God places in our life a spouse to walk through life with, we need to evaluate this insane schedule and realize that we now have to pay attention to doing ministry together.  Trusting God to speak truths into their heart that we may need to hear, and from the beginning making date nights (without students) part of our weekly routine.

Stage two-Romper Room. The change from being young and married to married with preschoolers is a huge transition that catches most youth ministry families off guard.  Our spouse, who may be used to accompanying us at youth events, teaching Bible studies and hanging out with students regularly, suddenly may find themselves having to stay behind and parent while we are off “doing ministry.   A lot of good student ministers are lost at this stage because we didn’t prepare for the changes that come at this stage of life.

 

Stage three- Married with children. Elementary age children want to come to youth events. They like hanging out with the older students and going all the fun places (amusement parks, skiing, hiking, concerts) that make up youth ministry.  And there may be ways to incorporate them into some of these activities.  Each family has to navigate this stage on their own. In making our choices here care should be taken at this stage not to spoil the youth ministry experience of our children.  Here is what I mean.  There ought to be some things that you cannot do until you’re old enough to do them.  We need to weigh carefully how much fun stuff we incorporate our children into, how many concerts, retreats, ballgames they attend so it doesn’t become passé and lose its excitement before they get their chance to be official participants.

Stage four-Parent trap.  Probably my favorite stage to this point was this one, the stage where our children were a part of the youth group.  I got the privilege of being Karen’s youth pastor for all 7 years of her youth ministry experience, and for the first three of Jordan’s.  It is tricky to navigate.  Karen would find it amusing that how on youth trips she would have to yell “Joe” for me to hear her.  It was what the other students called me and “daddy” didn’t seem to get heard in the noise of youth ministry.  I had to be careful to not be their parent on youth trips (after all I didn’t give any other student money or carry their stuff) and to give them freedom to be teens.  Gina and I also decided that some events ought to be optional for our kids.  Everyone else’s children got to choose if they went on the retreat, to the concert or skiing, why shouldn’t ours.  After all the ability to make wis e choices is a sign of maturity. In some ways they got short changed, they couldn’t come to the youth minister at their church and complain about how rotten their dad was, we were blessed that others in our church and our youth ministry network stepped up to speak into their lives as well,  ; and church “business” kept me out some. But I wouldn’t trade those years of seeing my own flesh and blood encounter God for anything.

Stage 5-Empty Nest.  Stayed tuned, we’re still learning what this one is all about.

]]> http://www.kybaptist.org/kbc/blogs/yb.nsf/dxcomments/03092010050345PMWEBTVE.htm http://www.kybaptist.org/kbc/blogs/yb.nsf/dx/03092010050345PMWEBTVE.htm?opendocument&comments Tue, 2 Mar 2010 11:39:00 -0400 http://www.kybaptist.org/kbc/blogs/yb.nsf/trackback?open&id=03022010114228AMWEBMLL.htm http://www.kybaptist.org/kbc/blogs/yb.nsf/dx/03022010114228AMWEBMLL.htm Culture Joe Ball http://www.kybaptist.org/kbc/blogs/yb.nsf/dx/03022010114228AMWEBMLL.htm?opendocument&comments http://www.kybaptist.org/kbc/blogs/yb.nsf/dx/03022010114228AMWEBMLL.htm I have become hooked on the new television show “Undercover Boss”.  The whole premise of the show is that the CEO’s of major corporations go undercover to find out what is really going on and what it is really like to work in and for their companies.

A couple of random thoughts circulate through my head as I watch this show.  One, I wonder how many of us as ministers really know what it is like to live the life of our church members? I think of Wednesday’s in particular. 8+ hours at work, rush home get the family ready for church, interruption of homework schedules and what to do about supper….Then drive to church, go 3 or more different directions as families and then have to rush home and, get ready for bed and the next day. It is probably a 16 hour non-stop day.  WOW, make me tired just thinking about it.  And that’s just Wednesday.  It doesn’t count for the Monday committee meeting and Tuesday visitation and Saturday morning breakfast and then the marathon that Sunday’s have become.

The second thought is this. Do I as a staff member have any idea what it is like to work in the nursery on Sunday morning?  What it’s like to have to go into “overtime” because the service ran long again? Or I may wonder why some of the young adult families always head out the back during the invitation, and cringe, but it may be they are trying to beat the line to pick up their children. Do I know what it is like to be the janitor on Monday or Thursday that has to clean up after us?  Or how about those who have to walk from the hither lands of parking lot because the staff got all the prime spots by the entrance doors? Or the Van/Bus driver that gets there early drives the routes to pick up students for church only to be lambasted (again) because those kids need to learn to behave?

I could go on and on, but I think we get the point.  Let’s be proactive and take some time and look at how we do things, how it affects the volunteers we have and then do our best to make their investment worthwhile.

 

]]> http://www.kybaptist.org/kbc/blogs/yb.nsf/dxcomments/03022010114228AMWEBMLL.htm http://www.kybaptist.org/kbc/blogs/yb.nsf/dx/03022010114228AMWEBMLL.htm?opendocument&comments Thu, 25 Feb 2010 15:22:00 -0400 http://www.kybaptist.org/kbc/blogs/yb.nsf/trackback?open&id=02252010032449PMWEBRXK.htm http://www.kybaptist.org/kbc/blogs/yb.nsf/dx/02252010032449PMWEBRXK.htm news Joe Ball http://www.kybaptist.org/kbc/blogs/yb.nsf/dx/02252010032449PMWEBRXK.htm?opendocument&comments http://www.kybaptist.org/kbc/blogs/yb.nsf/dx/02252010032449PMWEBRXK.htm Youth Worker Training at Six Locations of the Growing Ministries Tour

Are you seeking improvement in the overall health of your church? Desiring to grow strategic ministries in your church?

Pastors, church staff, and leaders/workers in the areas of Stewardship, Discipleship, Assimilation, Sunday School, Youth Ministry and Preschool/Children Ministry are invited to come together to be challenged and better equipped for sharpening the effectiveness of these key ministries. Sessions include (Sunday School training is highlighted:

SESSION ONE:

• Meeting the Resource Challenge Through a Stewardship Strategy
• The Velcro Church
• Sunday School Momentum: Six Steps Forward This Year - Move attendance and attitude from stagnant to growing by addressing prayer, enrollment, prospects, contacts, workers, planning and training.
• Discipleship from the Inside Out
• Retaining 16-19 Year-Olds
• Transforming Preschoolers and Children

SESSION TWO:

• Evaluating the Effectiveness of Our Stewardship Ministry
• The Velcro Church
• Sunday School Multiplication: Three Critical Issues - Reach, care for, andmobilize more people as new teachers, leaders, and classes are launched.
• Discipleship from the Inside Out
• Retaining 16-19 Year-Olds
• Empowering Parents

The schedule for each location begins at 6:30 PM local time and concludes at 9:00 PM.  Participants will be able to choose one of the six conferences to attend for each session. The cost for the training is $10 per person or $50 maximum per church.

Click your prefered date/location below for more information and to register:

• April 12, 2010 in the Oldham-Trimble Association
  LaGrange Baptist Church
  1139 Commerce Pkwy, LaGrange
• April 13, 2010 in the Bracken Association
  Mayslick Baptist Church
  5105 Main St, Mayslick
• April 20, 2010 in the Wayne Association
  First Baptist Church, Monticello
  2124 E Highway 90, Monticello
• April 22, 2010 in the Blackford-Breckinridge Association
  Hawesville Baptist Church
  125 Jefferson St, Hawesville
• April 27, 2010 in the South District Association
  First Baptist Church, Danville
  1570 North Danville Bypass Danville, Kentucky
• May 10, 2010 in the Caldwell-Lyon Association
  First Baptist Church, Eddyville
  216 Jenkins Rd, Eddyville

Add this to your schedule. Plan to bring a group from your church. Bring a van load! See you there!

]]> http://www.kybaptist.org/kbc/blogs/yb.nsf/dxcomments/02252010032449PMWEBRXK.htm http://www.kybaptist.org/kbc/blogs/yb.nsf/dx/02252010032449PMWEBRXK.htm?opendocument&comments Tue, 2 Feb 2010 13:56:00 -0400 http://www.kybaptist.org/kbc/blogs/yb.nsf/trackback?open&id=Survining-the-interim-period.htm http://www.kybaptist.org/kbc/blogs/yb.nsf/dx/Survining-the-interim-period.htm leadership development Joe Ball http://www.kybaptist.org/kbc/blogs/yb.nsf/dx/Survining-the-interim-period.htm?opendocument&comments http://www.kybaptist.org/kbc/blogs/yb.nsf/dx/Survining-the-interim-period.htm Westport Road Baptist Church here in Louisville. It is always a humbling experience to be trusted with a group of students, if even for a short period of time.  As interims go this one has gone really smooth, and has been a blessing to do. The staff, volunteers and students are fantastic. But it also got me thinking about steps churches can take to have a good interim period.

Have realistic time expectations-As the interim minister I am not at the church 40-50 hours a week like the minister I replaced.  At Westport and at Cedar Creek, my agreement is/was be here Sunday’s and Wednesday’s and make staff meeting as much as you can.  I can do that.  But I probably won’t have time to attend ballgames, dance recitals or make hospital visits.  It’s not that I don’t want to do these, they are part of the ministry that I really enjoy, I honestly just don’t have the time.  

Event planning-I love events, in youth ministry you learn to plan events or you’re not in ministry for long.  But know that I am not going to do things just like the last minister did, nor do I need to.  Part of my job as the interim is to prepare you for who is coming next.  And I can almost guarantee you that they are not going to do things the way the last minister did.  So part of my job is to keep things similar enough to be familiar, but different enough to make the next step an okay one.  But, I may not have the time to make the event as big or as fancy as the last minister, (see step one).

Use volunteers as much as possible.  Don’t get me wrong, I do believe there is a time and place to hire and interim, but I not sure that every vacancy needs to hire someone from outside.  The ideal would be to put together lead teams made up of volunteers, parents and students that can see to the ministry during the transition period.  You may also need to appoint someone to speak for the ministry at staff, committee and business meetings; and you probably also need someone to serve as interim leader, but that could be a volunteer as well.  Volunteers are the key to successful youth ministry.
 
Don’t settle for holding things together-To many times I think this is the attitude we take during the interim times.  I have had this conversation with churches whose mindset is “we just want to be able to hold things together until the new youth minister gets here”.  Why?  There is no reason to think the ministry will have to suffer.  Sure there isn’t just one person giving attention to the ministry, but there also isn’t just one person giving attention to the ministry.  Dividing responsibilities can allow each person to take a small piece of the ministry and make it the best it can be and that can lead to growth in the ministry during the interim period.

Process-as much as possible keep the workers and the students “in the know” as to how the process for a replacement is going.  There isn’t a need for names and current ministry placements of the ministers you are looking at.  But just a general sense of where you are: receiving resumes, narrowing the search, asking for more information, talking to a couple of people, etc.  It just lets those involved in leadership and the students in the ministry know that you are being diligent in your duties and will help to calm the uneasiness the students may be feeling.  

Pray. Involve the students and the leaders in praying for the search committee and for the next minister. As they pray and ask for God’s guidance the Spirit will begin to turn their hearts towards who is next. I’m not sure there has ever been a time when someone has said, “I wish I hadn’t prayed so much” over that decision. &nb sp; ]]> http://www.kybaptist.org/kbc/blogs/yb.nsf/dxcomments/Survining-the-interim-period.htm http://www.kybaptist.org/kbc/blogs/yb.nsf/dx/Survining-the-interim-period.htm?opendocument&comments Tue, 19 Jan 2010 10:25:00 -0400 http://www.kybaptist.org/kbc/blogs/yb.nsf/trackback?open&id=01192010103128AMWEBL88.htm http://www.kybaptist.org/kbc/blogs/yb.nsf/dx/01192010103128AMWEBL88.htm Culture Joe Ball http://www.kybaptist.org/kbc/blogs/yb.nsf/dx/01192010103128AMWEBL88.htm?opendocument&comments http://www.kybaptist.org/kbc/blogs/yb.nsf/dx/01192010103128AMWEBL88.htm A recent blog post from Connect with Kids, talks about how students are dropping out of organized sports at age 13.  

A few highlighgts from the post:

• According to the National Alliance for Youth Sports, 73 percent of kids drop organized sports by age 13.
• They practiced every day and had games every weekend. In the end they had little time for anything else. Dr. Richard Winer, a psychiatrist in metro-Atlanta says, "The pressure really becomes too much, and after a while they really become disillusioned with the entire sports scene, and get tired of it and finally say, 'That's it for me.'"

• So what should you do if your child wants to quit the team? Dr. Winer says, "One of the things that you might want to look at is a different sport. Sometimes kids just get burned out on one sport."

• Laura says, "If it wasn't as much of a time commitment it would still be really awesome if you could do some sort of recreational league, if it was an hour a week, or one game per week or something."

 

I wonder if there are some things we can learn about why teens are dropping out of church as well?

]]> http://www.kybaptist.org/kbc/blogs/yb.nsf/dxcomments/01192010103128AMWEBL88.htm http://www.kybaptist.org/kbc/blogs/yb.nsf/dx/01192010103128AMWEBL88.htm?opendocument&comments Tue, 12 Jan 2010 12:00:00 -0400 http://www.kybaptist.org/kbc/blogs/yb.nsf/trackback?open&id=starting-right.htm http://www.kybaptist.org/kbc/blogs/yb.nsf/dx/starting-right.htm resolutions Joe Ball http://www.kybaptist.org/kbc/blogs/yb.nsf/dx/starting-right.htm?opendocument&comments http://www.kybaptist.org/kbc/blogs/yb.nsf/dx/starting-right.htm
So in the time of reflection this year several things keep coming into my mind and I want to share them as we begin 2010.

Family Time is non-negotiable.  Maybe it is the stage of life that I am in, the oldest child graduating college and the youngest beginning, but time with your family can not be overlooked or made up for later.  I am blessed by the younger youth ministers that I know that “have gotten” this concept.  It is refreshing to see pictures on facebook of family vacations, school functions and sporting events. Youth Ministers that are intentionally carving out family time in their schedules are refreshing and are also modeling for their students how families should be a priority in life.  May their tribe increase.

In the words of Dave Ramsey, “Debt is dumb”. I wish I had realized that sooner, maybe I still wouldn’t be paying for the microwave we bought 24 years ago.  And while I know that youth ministers tend to be the least paid member of the church staff that is no excuse for us not to be good stewards of the money we have been entrusted with.  And while we all like to have the latest tech gadgets and such we must figure out how to live within our means.  Not only that we must teach it to our students.  

My personal relationship with God must be priority one.  We spend our lives telling this to students, but I fear that in the living of life this gets lost in the shuffle.  Time preparing for teaching and preaching is not a substitute for personal time with God.  When our well is dry it is hard to teach from the overflow of what God is doing in our lives.  

It is OK to say NO.  Probably the hardest lesson for me to learn has been this, and I am still learning it.  No is OK.  It allows me to stay focused on the task at hand, stay true to the vision God has given me, and to make sure that those things that I say I value get the attention they deserve.  

Evaluate your ministry.  It gets easier to do youth ministry the longer you are in a place.  Having served 12+ years at Edgewood, I understand some of the nuisances of longevity.  The students, adult leaders and parents know what to expect.  Disciple Now weekend is done this way, every New Years Eve brings a lock-in, camp is always the third week of June, every February is our True Love Waits emphasis. It almost gets to a point where we can do this in our sleep, and my fear is often times we do.  Making the determination between has my ministry gotten stale and needs to be refreshed and have I done all I can do here and it is time to move on may just be one of the hardest things to do.  Find some people you trust to help with the evaluation process.

As we begin this new decade (or is it the last year of the old decade?), let us take time to reflect on what it is God has called us to do, and then get about doing it. ]]> http://www.kybaptist.org/kbc/blogs/yb.nsf/dxcomments/starting-right.htm http://www.kybaptist.org/kbc/blogs/yb.nsf/dx/starting-right.htm?opendocument&comments Fri, 8 Jan 2010 15:40:00 -0400 http://www.kybaptist.org/kbc/blogs/yb.nsf/trackback?open&id=01082010040417PMWEBSQ9.htm http://www.kybaptist.org/kbc/blogs/yb.nsf/dx/01082010040417PMWEBSQ9.htm youth Rooms Joe Ball http://www.kybaptist.org/kbc/blogs/yb.nsf/dx/01082010040417PMWEBSQ9.htm?opendocument&comments http://www.kybaptist.org/kbc/blogs/yb.nsf/dx/01082010040417PMWEBSQ9.htm Traveling around the state as I do, I have had plenty of opportunities to see churches youth spaces.  Most everybody like to show theirs off, and I enjoy seeing them.  There are certain things that seem to be standard in a lot of them: posters, loud colors, projectors or BIG tv's, an eating area and pictures of youth group trips.  Some have lights and a sound system and couches, others are simple and more reflective.  The beauty is even in their sameness each is unique.  Tailored to the group that is present, to the "type" of students that are attending or that they are trying to attract.

As I was preparing to teach the other night at Westport Road I watched the students scurry for the seats next to the outlets so they could plug their phones into recharge. (And now that I have an iphone I understand why).  And in that process of watching students I had this thought about youth space in the future.  Just as today's youth space is filled with Big screens and sound the next will have banks of outlets to recharge laptops and phones and wireless internet service will be a must as well.

And just as I was about to say, put your phones away, or at least turn the ringer off, I had another thought. This one hit a little closer to home.  I ask myself, would you go into a foriegn country and ask them to not speak their language, or to a deaf congregation and ask them not to sign?  If the perfered communication method of today's students is technolgy related then what am I doing to reach them through their perferred style of communications?  Like I said, this hit closer to home.  It is easy to ask students to put their phones away and pay attention when I speak.  But do they really hear me? I tell churches all the time that this generation is charactized by the ability to multi-task. But am I willing to allow them to?

So I guess I am asking, are we embracing the culture of our students, or fighting it off?

]]> http://www.kybaptist.org/kbc/blogs/yb.nsf/dxcomments/01082010040417PMWEBSQ9.htm http://www.kybaptist.org/kbc/blogs/yb.nsf/dx/01082010040417PMWEBSQ9.htm?opendocument&comments Tue, 8 Dec 2009 09:42:00 -0400 http://www.kybaptist.org/kbc/blogs/yb.nsf/trackback?open&id=12082009095535AMWEBKHT.htm http://www.kybaptist.org/kbc/blogs/yb.nsf/dx/12082009095535AMWEBKHT.htm Western Recorder Joe Ball http://www.kybaptist.org/kbc/blogs/yb.nsf/dx/12082009095535AMWEBKHT.htm?opendocument&comments http://www.kybaptist.org/kbc/blogs/yb.nsf/dx/12082009095535AMWEBKHT.htm Lottie Moon Christmas Offering and getting them involved in helping support our missionaries that are taking the message of Christmas all around the world.  So I ask. I emailed several youth ministers from across Kentucky and ask them this question: How are your students involved in giving to and promoting the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering?

 

The responses were mixed.  About half of those that responded (and probably most of those that didn’t) did not involve their students at all in giving or promoting the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering.One said “We don't really do anything”, another said, we “haven't done much with students regarding the Lottie Moon offering.  We give towards it, but haven't connected students to it very well.”

 

Now, before we all get discouraged and going running to our youth ministers’ office with promotional materials for the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering let’s note that all of those responded are in churches that give to and support Lottie.  It is just that they didn’t do anything special with their students.

 

I was encouraged by what some of the youth minister were doing and want to share a few of them with you.

 

Rob Marquess, youth minister at Ashby Lane Baptist Church in Louisville said: “Our ladies have a tea to raise money for the Lottie Moon offering and two of our youth girls are sponsoring a table at the tea.” He went on to say, “And most years several of our guys volunteer to serve at the tea.  Yea and we're all real cute in our white shirts and red bow ties and aprons.”

 

Tree Akers, Minister to Students at Northside Baptist Church in Elizabethtown replied: “we have a few students that assist with physical illustrations and representations in the Sunday morning services for December.”  Also, “one of our ladies comes up with the different things we can pray for, and frequently, she will have students assist” her in this.  Also, “our church does a Lottie Moon Christmas post office.  Cards that go to various church members, are placed in the "church post office" and are sorted and sometimes delivered by the youth.”   To help raise money toward the churches goal “We do ask for a suggested donation per card”. 

 

At First Baptist Church in Richmond, were Steve Coleman is the minister to students they “are stressing Lottie Moon as a way to give a gift to Jesus for the Christmas season.  Everyone else gets a present on Christmas so how can you give Jesus a gift?” they ask their students.  The answer Steve tells them is, “give to Lottie Moon so that missions can be carried out all over the world.  Cash works best; you can put it into a Christmas card and place it on the altar or the remembrance table the last Sunday before Christmas.”

 

“We talk about Lottie Moon with our students and encourage giving to the main offering that our church takes up”, said John Beach, Minister of Students at Bowling Green First Baptist Church, “and recently we were at SBTS and took a little time to show them the desk display they have in the Honeycutt Center and talk about her life and ministry a little while we had the opportunity.”
 
While I was at Edgewood each year we would, as a church do the International Missions Study that was provided by our church’s WMU.  We would teach the youth study and use that as on opportunity to teach how the monies from the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering were spent.
Let us all do our part to find ways to involve our students in giving to and promoting the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering. ]]> http://www.kybaptist.org/kbc/blogs/yb.nsf/dxcomments/12082009095535AMWEBKHT.htm http://www.kybaptist.org/kbc/blogs/yb.nsf/dx/12082009095535AMWEBKHT.htm?opendocument&comments