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 | Jonathan’s Resource Ezine |
Weekly Resources, Ideas and Articles from The Source for Youth Ministry
Tuesday, March 16, 2004
| In This Issue |
- Featured Article: Moving Students to the Right … Developing Student Leaders
- A Resource You’ll Want: Student Leadership Resources Offered Exclusively from “The Source.”
- Our Annual Hideous Heap Contest: Rewarding You for Being a Poor Youth Worker
- Register now for Jonathan’s “Understanding & Reaching The Unchurched” Training in Tampa, Western PA, or Southern CA!
| If you aren’t a subscriber of this EZINE and would like to subscribe – it’s free – just pop on www.TheSource4YM.com and sign up in the upper right hand corner. |
| Featured Article: Moving Students to the Right … Developing Student Leaders |
March 16, 2004
Ever thought about what would happen to your ministry if you left tomorrow? Would it still have a pulse?
This email is something I hear a lot:
Dear Jonathan,
I thought I was doing a good job with my youth ministry. But then someone asked me for the names of some good leaders who had graduated from my group. I thought about it for a while. I thought of some neat kids, some great babysitters, some kids that came to Bible study every week … but leaders?
My group just exists. I do the basics every week, but kids just don’t seem to be going anywhere. They don’t bring their friends often, and if they do, they’re terrible examples. They love fun events, but aren’t serious about digging into the Word. What am I doing wrong!
Help! -Mark
Mark isn’t alone. Many of us ask similar questions. Am I really making a difference? Am I really developing students with a passion for Christ? Where will these students be in five years?
Try something.
Take a blank peice of paper and make three columns. On the top of the left column write CASUAL KIDS. On the top of the middle column write CURIOUS KIDS. On the top of the right column write COMMITTED KIDS.Years ago, Ray Johnston, a board member here at The Source for Youth Ministry, wrote a curriculum for Youth Specialties’ National Resource Seminar. In this workshop he outlined three types of kids: Casual, Curious, and Committed.
- Casual Kids: These students may be visiting for the first time or may be attending regularly. They may be churched or unchurched. These kids may be there because your outreach ministry attracted them or because their parents have bribed (or forced) them. These are kids who have not yet become followers of Jesus. They might be at all the fun events, but the minute they sense a Bible study coming, they dissappear in a flash. If you have a bunch of these kids, don’t let it get you down. The great thing is that they are there!
Curious Kids: These are the students who have started a relationship with Christ and are interested (maybe just a little bit, but still interested) in spiritual growth. They may not be thrilled about a Bible study, but they are curious about what a relationship with God looks like on a day to day basis. They are curious how to live out this life of faith in today’s R-rated world, although they don’t always show it.
Committed Kids: Committed students are the ones who are not only serious about their faith, they’re ready to make a difference in those around them. They are interested in leadership roles and they want to reach out to their friends.
Now. Which column is the most full?
If the center column is the most full, then you’re not alone. Your group is like the average youth group in America right now. A bunch of kids who’ve made a decision at one time in their life, but aren’t that committed. It would be great if we could move these kids to the right!
Some of you might have a number of students in the left column. That’s great. I love those kids. But wouldn’t it be cool to share Christ with them and move them to the right!
And some of you might have some right column kids – committed kids. Let me ask you: Are you providing opportunities for them to develop their leadership skills and reach out to others?
Whatever the case, the answer you might be looking for is a student leadership program.
Let’s look at the average youth group in America – tons of students in the middle column. We would like to move these kids to the right. We’d like them to start using their spiritual gifts, reaching out to others and taking leadership roles. How can we move them right unless we have somewhere for them to move? A student leadership program could be just the thing.
What if you have a bunch of kids in the left hand column – Casual kids. Outreach kids. How do you reach them? Well, what’s one of the most effective ways to reach students? OTHER STUDENTS! That’s right. Students reaching students.
There’s only one of you – and maybe a handful of staff. But how many students do you have? What if each of your students was reaching out to the students next to them in math class, next door to them, or at the locker next to theirs? Think of the outreach potential!
Saddleback’s Kurt Johnston describes it like this in my interview with him last year: (CLICK HERE FOR THE ENTIRE INTERVIEW)
- “The reason I believe so strongly in Friendship Evangelism … as flawed as it is … is because I think big ongoing outreach programs handicap our students in the long run. I don’t want them to rely on me, the church, our budget, our facilities, etc. to reach their friends. I want them to see early on that a program doesn’t change a life, but a relationship does. If a kid leaves Saddleback and goes to a tiny little church in the mid-west with two students and no outreach program, I want that student to have the understanding that HE is the outreach program. It may not click right now while they’re in a big, happening environment, but I’m hoping that we’re planting seeds of maturity in their hearts that will reap results when it matters most.”
CHECK OUT OUR RESOURCES BELOW.
Jonathan McKee is president of TheSourceForYouthMinistry.com and author of the new book “Do They Run When They See You Coming? Reaching Out to Unchurched Teenagers.”
(CLICK HERE FOR THE BOOK) Jonathan speaks and trains across the country and provides free online resources, training, & ideas for youth workers at www.TheSource4YM.com | A Resource You’ll Want: Student Leadership Resources Offered Exclusively from THE SOURCE |
| 1. Developing Student Leaders, by Ray Johnston You may be sitting on an untapped gold mine of leadership for your youth group – the kids! Ray Johnston outlines a step by step strategy on how you can help your kids tap into their leadership potential. PLUS- this book includes a complete 5 Week Student Leadership Training Course and a reproducible Spiritual Gifts Test! Just $13.98 Only at THE SOURCE. |  EMAIL US AND TELL US IF YOU’D LIKE TO BUY THIS BOOK! |
| 2. Developing Spiritual Growth in Junior High Students, by Ray Johnston Tap in to the leadership potential of your junior high students. Yes … your junior high students! Developing Spiritual Growth in junior high students gives you all you need to build a growing, healthy, spiritually-alive junior high group. This is the book where Ray introduces the casual, the curious and the committed kid, and what to do with each of them! Just $13.98 Only at THE SOURCE. |  EMAIL US AND TELL US IF YOU’D LIKE TO BUY THIS BOOK! |
| 3. The Top 12 Resources That Youth Workers Want, by Jonathan McKee Get the book that Fuller Seminary’s Chap Clark calls “The best single volume on pragmatic programming I have ever seen … a must on every youthworker’s shelf!” Enjoy not only an entire chapter on developing a student leadership program but also the best of Jonathan’s games, video clip ideas, and weekly curriculum. And the basics in programming, small groups, and building an effective team of volunteers. Recommended by Jim Burns, Chap Clark, Kurt Johnston, Fred Lynch, Laurie Polich, Wayne Rice, and more! Just $13.98 Only at THE SOURCE. |  CLICK HERE TO BUY! |
| Our Annual Hideous Heap Contest: Rewarding You for Being a Poor Youth Worker |
Don’t miss our annual HIDEOUS HEAP CONTEST, A FREE contest where you can earn some great prizes just for being a youth worker and driving a hideous heap!This year Youth Specialties has kicked in the grand-daddy of cool prizes … paid admission to their national youth workers convention in one of three U.S. cities. (A $350 value!) I’ll be speaking at all three conventions this year, so I’ll be looking forward to meeting the winner in person!
Second place will win YS IDEAS CD-ROM 2.0, and third place will win the YS Worship Image Gallery. We’ll also be giving away a few honorable mention prizes. Cool stuff!
It’s simple. You just submit a picture of your car with a description of what a heap it is, and we’ll be choosing the winner April 15th.
| Jonathan’s “Understanding & Reaching The Unchurched” Training |
Jonathan’s new book “Reaching Unchurched Kids,” published by YS, is coming out late this year. Don’t wait for the book, get this training now!This training workshop will be coming to Tampa on April 24th, Southern CA on May 1st, and Western PA on May 22nd. See below for registration information for each city:
TAMPA, FL
April 24, Jonathan is doing a Saturday workshop (9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.) for youth workers in the greater Tampa area. If you’re a youth worker, barely paid or a volunteer, this is for you!
Here’s the details:
WHEN:
- Saturday April 24th , 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
- University Church of God
10948 Central Avenue
Tampa, Fl. 33612
- Two choices:
- $20 at the door (includes lunch)
ONLY $15 if you pre-register by April 19th (includes lunch)
- Jeff Yale
(813) 243-2333 or (813) 243-2242
jeff@prodigalmusic.org
VENTURA, CA
May 1st, Jonathan is doing a Saturday workshop (9AM to 3PM) for youth workers in the greater Ventura County area. If you’re a youth worker, barely paid or a volunteer, this is for you!
Here’s the details:
WHEN:
- Saturday May 1st, 9AM to 3PM
- Trinity Presbyterian Church
2304 Antonio Ave, Camarillo CA 93010
www.trinitycamarillo.org
- Two choices:
- $15 after April 24th or at the door (includes lunch)
ONLY $10 if you pre-register by April 24th (includes lunch)
- CONTACT Jeff Kempton at (805) 484-0530
WESTERN PA
May 22nd, Jonathan is doing a Saturday workshop (9AM to 3PM) for youth workers in New Castle, PA. If you’re a youth worker in the area, don’t miss this opportunity to train and equip your youth ministry staff and volunteers.
WHEN:
- May 22nd, 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
- New Castle, PA (Western PA). Specific Location coming soon.
- About an hour North of Pittsburgh
- About 15 minutes East of Youngstown, Ohio
- FREE- but you need to pre-register
- Call Todd Smith at Knox Student Ministries: (724) 946-3035
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Copyright ?2004 The Source for Youth Ministry
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Jonathan McKee
Jonathan McKee is the author of over twenty books including the brand new The Guy's Guide to FOUR BATTLES Every Young Man Must Face; The Teen’s Guide to Social Media & Mobile Devices; If I Had a Parenting Do Over; and the Amazon Best Seller - The Guy's Guide to God, Girls and the Phone in Your Pocket. He speaks to parents and leaders worldwide, all while providing free resources for youth workers on TheSource4YM.com. Jonathan, his wife Lori, and their three kids live in California.