5 Year Mark

I knew the statistics! I helped make the statistics in my younger years! I wanted to break the statistic! It is a known fact that the average youth pastor stays in his position between 6 months to a year and half.

Coming to Green Bay; I committed not only to break that but stay at least 3-5 years. After all, it takes 3-5 years to build a student ministry. It is sort of like a football team and a new coach; it takes time. Here I am: the FIVE YEAR MARK!

It really is surreal to be in one location, one city, one church, one position for 5 years. Prior to this position; I held a boarding school position for 1 & 1/2 years. In which; I helped to start, was a director and was one of the best experiences of my life! The boarding school, at the time, was the longest ministry position I held.

I can't say that it has been easy and there were not times I wanted to throw the towel in. It has been challenging. I mean I was ready for youth ministry; children's ministry not so much. Children's ministry has stretched me time and time again. Living in the North has it's sets of challenges; people here go to church because they want to or they are Catholic. Then there is the cold; wow, those negative temps can take the breath right out of you. Then there is coming up with new ideas, writing curriculum, learning to say no when there are too many irons in the fire, and waiting to see your students develop leadership. I could say more. Ministry takes time.

I wasn't sure when August 8, 2015 came; what feelings I would have. In five years, we have developed a well-rounded student ministry. We have added many more children ministry programs and events. We took Harvest Fest from a year of 60 church members to the 5th year having 420 people (most of them unchurched)! VBS went from averaging 20 kids a night to 50 kids a night (80 percent of kids outside the church). I have had the busiest year of my life. I've been involved in the community, sometimes, even more than church events itself. Which I have grown to love and realize we need to be out there with those that need to hear about Jesus. The last few years; I have played major roles at BLBA camp, coordinator of Green Bay Youth Pastors, a leader of the Called Out Conference, developed Study Bibles for Inmates and led worship services for the juveniles, working with middle schoolers through YMCA programs, a frequent radio guest, and just co-planned a youth mission trip in 2 and 1/2 weeks. I guess those would be just a few highlights.

August 8th has come and has gone. Looking back, for most it was just a Saturday. Granted, a Saturday that I knew meant big things for me. 5 YEARS! What a monumental moment...I was thankful that Amber recognized me the day before on Facebook, Becky game me a hug and a small gift, Pastor Rick recognized me in the service and I received a handshake from a church attender. I've never been a person that likes recognition; I'd rather it was given to my leaders or my teens. Cake, food, gifts, words, handshakes, a pat on the back, a simple congrats; I don't need them, but they would have contributed to make me feel like I made a difference in the last five years. I have no doubt that I have impacted the kids, teens, and the community. I know that my call is from God and what He wants me to do; and it means more to me than recognition. If there is one thing I have learned: is that in ministry you need to continue to move forward without recognition and keep recognizing your leaders when they enter important milestones...these are just my bold but honest thoughts from the past few days

Prayer in the strangest places

I have been convicted lately of my lack of quiet times with the Father! Going into this year; I was solid and my prayer life was developing into a strong area of my life. Then 2015 happened; my busiest year yet and my first born is not even here yet!

Now I should mention that the quiet time I am talking about is the time in the mornings that I spend with God. My prayer life throughout the day and spending time with Him is great. At the same time; having both, the block of time in the morning and a day spent with God, is the best way to go. I have spent my time over the last two years reading books on prayer, focusing on passages of Scripture that emphasizes prayer, and placing myself around people of prayer. Prayer is huge! Sort of like oxogen is needed to live; prayer is needed to survive as a Christian!

I spent some time reading E. M. Bounds and Henry Blackaby books today; while focusing my thoughts on a prayer life and refocusing to get back where I was. Blackaby was talking about when we pray; we shouldn't bring up our agenda but rather fine tune into God's agenda. I read this while sitting in my office "Starbucks." As I kept reading; I tuned into the conversation beside me of two men. I heard the phrase something like "well, I believe that there is a God and Jesus..." and a few other words. Bam, it connected! God's agenda is so much bigger than me; He is working everywhere! At that moment, I put the book down and prayed over both men. I prayed for the man that seemed to be open to the belief that there was a God and Jesus. I also prayed over the words of the man talking with him. I was right where I needed to be today; I just needed to tune in where God was working so that I could be part of what He was doing!

Then the men left; and then I knew I wasn't supposed to stop there. I started praying over the Starbucks employees, customers ordering, those sitting around me. Praying for the volunteer fireman worker, the nurse/doctor in scrubs, the girl studying, the couples, young and old. How is God working in their lives; I couldn't answer but He is!

So here is my challenge to you:

While you're are enjoying coffee at your favorite coffee stop...
While you're sitting in your office with all your co-workers around you...
While you're attending in school, because you have to...
While you're standing in line at the DMV...
While you're waiting in the movie theater for the Minions movie to start...
While you're...

Pray for those around you, pray that they will be able to see God's love, pray that the people He placed in their lives would have the courage to share His love, and always pray for an opportunity to rep Jesus in those locations as well!!!  

Meet Christian the Lion

I am excited to introduce our new mascot, Christian the Lion! He will play vital roles in our student and children's ministry. He is booked for our youth lock-in, VBS Journey off the Map, Summer Blast, and Harvest Fest. You will have a chance to meet him here soon!

Christian's Bio:

First Name: Christian
Last Name: the Lion
Age: Unknown
Gender: Boy
Height: 6 foot on two legs
Favorite Food: Pizza
What is he afraid of: Packer Fans...They sometimes mistake him for the Detroit Lions Mascot
If he could talk: He would tell you that he loves Jesus!

Why a mascot suit?

Well, a couple of things sparked this idea. When I was an intern in the Washington D.C. area, one of my responsibilities as an intern was to play the church mascot! Then, our student ministry has been watching a lot of Dude Perfect. Dude Perfect is a group of guys who do trick shots with basketballs, frisbees, footballs, etc. and then post the videos on YouTube. They even have a Panda mascot, which the teenagers love and who does his own trick shots! I decided we would do our own video at our upcoming church lock-in and call it Youth Perfect. The only problem, we don't have a mascot! Lastly, I started thing of this year's VBS and who would be our new "Rocket Pack Jack" character for this year and relate well with the theme Journey off the Map. That's when I saw a lion mascot suit!

Everything clicked for me! If I buy a lion mascot suit, I can:

1. Have a mascot suit for our lock-in and the student can make a Youth Perfect video!

2. Have a mascot suit to be used in a variety of ways for VBS. Being part of the opening and closing of VBS, have photo shoots with Christian and the kids, promoting VBS, and other things

3.  Have a mascot suit for Harvest Fest, an event that is on Halloween and has lots of costumes! Christian will be the greeter and welcome families

4. Free advertisement for your church! Make a jersey with your church name on the front and Christian's name on the back. Imagine a church booth at a local fair; in comes Christian the Lion. Kids and families flock to meet him, high five, and take pictures. With the invention of the smart phone and social media; that's what I call free advertisement! Your church name will be plastered on Facebook

Problem Solving

We lost our children's leader for about three months and there was a need! Last year, we had a period of time like this and it took a long time to find leaders for that time. This time, I decided to do some problem solving and create a great environment. 

I could teach, but what about the youth ministry? I decided to move the youth to Sunday nights, this way I could lead. My next step was to create a kids ministry program. I took our kids ministry name and added one word to it; Graceway Kids Midweek! It would be a night of games, music, message, and small groups. Now I need leaders! I got it! I will use my teens that I have been investing in for five years. This is how I created a new teen program called Student Leaders. I now had a perfect plan drawn out; now I just needed to draw out the little details.

Last night was the first night of my two programs that was formed into a hybrid plan. 

When the kids got there, they signed in and put their names in our game bucket. Then they were allowed to play ping pong, fooseball, air hockey, pool, or jump in the bounce house. With the end of our Midweek countdown; all the kids found their seats. We started with our game, Game On, and used the game bucket to determine our players. Through a PowerPoint game chooser; Blow Darts was the game they played. Using Nerf darts, the players tried to knock down more targets then the other. The winner received a prize! Then we went into our worship time with 4 PowerPoint worship songs and then our message was delivered by Life Church video curriculum. Closing the night off, we broke the kids up into small groups. We had a craft object lesson, small group questions, application, and prayer. Night complete!

When the teens got there, they grabbed their name badges and were assigned to areas to play and invest in the kids till we started. Then I used them for setup, during, and clean up of the game. They participated during the music part with the kids. During the message video, I took them to another room and left two adults in charge of the kids. This time was designed specifically for them, leadership training. Our first session was "What is Leadership?" There was an activity, training, development of leadership statements, and so much more. My goal was not to just have "volunteer unpaid babysitters," but to create leadership opportunities while providing leadership training. After this, the teens were divided up and helped lead in the small groups. 

This is what true leadership is about! Seeing a need, taking the initiative, casting vision, creating a gameplan, and asking others to come along and lead with you!

Leadership starts with “i”

Student Leaders is a program designed for students to become stronger leaders! Sometimes we see a need; the question is will you be the “i” that steps up to meet that need? Leadership starts with “i”

How did it start? It all started with a need for someone to run the children’s program on Wednesday nights. With no leadership, there would be no children’s program! We made a few changes: moved youth group to Sunday nights, formed a children’s program called Graceway Kids Midweek, and developed a Student Leaders program for teens. The teens are the primary leaders for games, music, and small group for the kids on Wednesday nights. Then during the message time for the kids; the teenager have their own leadership training with a healthy balance of Bible and leadership driven concepts! This whole situation is awesome because many of those kids look up to the teenagers and it presented a win-win for both kids and teens. We didn’t lose a kids program; we actually gained a teen program in the process!

The student leaders program doesn’t stop there. The students will be challenged to lead in a variety of ways. On Sunday mornings, they have the opportunity to lead in the nursery, Graceway Kids, Ushering, Sound and Video, and choir. Then there is also leading at Snow Blast, Summer Blast, Vacation Bible School, Harvest Fest, Service Projects, Mission Trips, and so much more. Imagine the possibilities of student leaders affecting the church today; and then in the future when these teens are the main leaders of the church!