The “Hot” Five



1. The “Thinking Through the Inconspicuous but Critical Issues in

Student Leadership” section provides a quick, but comprehensive set of principles to be implemented in student leadership.

* Giving students true authority, clarifying the role of adults,

creating the right environment, going beyond information giving, encouraging gift-based passion-driven ministry, and helping students live out their leadership in practical ways is critical in creating a faithful and effective student leadership team!



2. The overall variety of material makes this a practical resource

to youth workers in almost any context.

* As all curriculum does, this handbook needs plenty of tweaking

and customizing, but it does address a lot of foundational issues and topics to build on in the areas of influence and leadership.



3. The topics included in the “Life of a Leader” create a good

teaching structure for a 3-month leadership series within almost any discipleship oriented program.

* It’s so much more effective to bring a focus and direction to

your teaching. I used the first 14 session topics as the basis of a Sunday School curriculum designed to motivate all of my “regular students” to understand and use their influence as ambassadors for Christ. Our “U of I” series helped create an interest among the students to be involved in a formal student leadership program.



4. There are several good tools that can be adjusted or used “as

is” for a variety of student leadership and youth ministry purposes.



* Some I found most helpful were -Year-End Wrap up Evaluations,

Prayer Retreat Ideas, Student Leader Applications, and Reaching Friends Where They Are. I find it difficult to be creative enough to create this type of stuff from scratch. It’s nice to have the resources to get you started. The key to creativity is how well you expound on other people’s ideas, right?



5. The general lay-out of each session creates a good community

building atmosphere and appeals to a variety of learning styles while meeting training and discipleship objectives.



* Despite the idealistic nature of the time associated to each,

including elements of unity, group sharing & study, and prayer are good key structural ingredients to use. I often felt like “Team Huddle” and “Team Study” could be combined and more “up front” teaching could be provided by the leader.



The “Cold” Five



1. The length of the sessions are too long and idealistic.

* The allotment of 90 minutes per session suggested on page 34

is unrealistic in my opinion. It would take an entire school year meeting once a week for an hour and a half to get student leaders through the entire curriculum. Although the communists may disagree I think that is too much too ask. I want them “out there” doing & impacting just as much if not more than they are “in here” learning how to do it. I suppose four years of 1 ½ hour monthly meetings could get you through the book.



2. Many of the team huddle and team study questions are too

elementary to be the meat of the day.



* Using 30 minutes on these “look up the verses” and “answer

these questions” exercises is too long, simply because the material isn’t that deep. For many sessions I felt like I was reading upper elementary–early middle school level discussion guides, not exactly the material that will challenge high school student leaders.



3. It may seem petty, but I hate/despise/loathe cheesy designs used in 90% of youth ministry curriculum-unfortunately this handbook is no exception.



* It’s nice of the writers to authorize the reproduction of the

suggested handouts, but really, who would want to? In attempts to make stuff look “cool” or “cutting edge” it looks cheesy, and is a design disaster. Okay, so I married a graphic designer and fine artist…but, she’s right!



4. Considering the emphasis placed on teaching & empowering

students to use their gifts in the introduction, I found the two sessions on spiritual gifts to be some of the weakest teaching I’ve seen on the subject.

* Unleashing the potential of students by helping them discover

and serve according to their passion, using their gift and personality mix should be one of the most empowering and exciting things we share with our leaders. These sessions came up short. It felt like they were included because the subject “needed” included.



5. The sheer volume of content is almost a little much to flip

through and find what you’re looking for.



* Although I like the variety, something, maybe the lay out more

than the amount of content, makes its “user-friendly” rating come up a little short.

Light Force was pretty good last night. Despite the crankiness at the top, the middle and lower parts of the group were out in force. It definitely helps to have fall sports over with. This will be a nice growth time for the winter.

As far as the crankiness issue goes, there is going to be a family meeting with all those parties involved so we can come to an agreement. The krankenmeister said she got my e-mail and wants to resolve the whole thing. Phew! God in action.

I’ve got a busy morning with a breakfast meeting at 9:30 and lunches at the school from 10:30 – 12:45. Have I mentioned how great RHS is to allow me to do this lately? It really is incredible that they let me come on campus to encourage my students. My students seem to benefit greatly and it gives them some strength. In Light Force speak, it’s good that PA sees your squares.

The mission trip decision is looming heavy on my mind. It’s a huge deal to have the first international mission trip in the history of the church approved and moving forward. My prayer is that this will be a rallying point for he whole body and turn a massive corner for Light Force. I have a secret favorite but I’m doing my best to keep it that way!

One debate I listen to and even participate in all the time is “what’s more important, that you are called or that you are educated?”

I think the answer is simply yes to both fronts. But overwhelmingly I can speak from experience that it is vital that you back your calling up with formal education. Not just any education… But the best you can get your hands around.

Not to toot my own horn, but this is why I feel prepared for the task I am doing here in Romeo. At Moody, I was able to sit under the feet of someone I see as “a great practitioner of youth ministry,” Dr. Bob MacRae. Bob has more experience in church-based ministry than anyone I’ve ever met. If I come across something I need help on, he’s been there, done that, and talked to 200 people who’ve gone through the same thing. He’s never been a prolific author for this reason, so a lot of people have never heard of him. Then, with my masters, I feel I am studying under one of the “great minds in youth ministry” Dr. Dave Rahn. He is a prolific and recognized name in the YM academic world. Between the two of these, I feel and can see that I am being prepared fantasically for the ministry task well into the future.

To not seek any formalized education is plain dumb. I don’t understand and have no notion for the laziness and short-sideness of rushing into the ministry task unprepared. Of course, if you are a nice guy and have a pleasant and submissive personality a church will hire you. I’ve met enough full time idiots to know that churches will hire anyone with a pulse and a smile. But they are rarely good at what they do.

I was just re-examing so parts of the book Youth Ministry that Transforms and I was fascinated to see that those who ran the largest groups were not the ones with the greatest amount of education. Hmmm… Could this be that when people get a good grasp of their task of correctly dividing the word of God that they are less interested in building a crowd as they are of building a healthy community? I don’t know.

But in my opinion… As strongly as I can state. Formal education is the best way to enter the profession of student ministry. It is the best entry point. (The second entry point being internship.)

Well, I’ve got a better finger on what’s going on then I did yesterday. It seems that my problem with the guy dating another girl is all related to the crankiness I’ve been seeing from all the main girls in the youth group. Sometimes I just need to get hit in the head with the truth before I see it. (I talked to the boys parents about the relationship… We are all on the same page… phew!)

One girl used to like the boy and seems to be POed that he’s seeing someone now and it isn’t her. Then it spread. So I’ve spent a long day trying to put my nose somewhere where it doesn’t want to go. Every once in a while I get a glimpse of just how intense adolescent emotions are! How could I have forgotten?

This made for a pretty interesting worship team practice! We almost had one of those big sit down type family meetings. But in the end I decided to take care of it privately.

I picked this up off the Youth Specialties Forums today. I thought it was worth passing along.

I’ve been on the back wall. In fact I spent over a year there. The back wall is a dark and lonely place. It’s a place that you really don’t know how to get away from…but you know it’s not where you’re supposed to be.I started out working with the youth in my church much like everyone else does. I thought I could help out. I thought I could make a difference. I thought it would be pretty easy. I thought I would jump in the first day…the kids would all like me and it would be a magical experience for all of us. What I thought and what really happened were worlds apart. The first time I went into our Wed. night youth program I found myself surrounded by kids but I was standing there by myself…completely out of place. I found myself being drawn to the safety of the back wall. I thought to myself, that was just the first night…it will get better. That first year I went to almost every Wed. night and it never got better. I stood on the back wall wondering what I was doing there. It wasn’t that the kids disliked me…they just didn’t even know I was there. I would see other adult workers talking with the kids and having fun with the kids and I would wonder how they got there? How did they get off the wall? About half way through my second year I was at a turning point. I was either going to get out or I was going to get off that wall. This is when Satan stepped in…he wanted me to quit. He started whispering in my ear…you don’t know how to talk to those kids…they don’t want you around…your too old…you need to get out now before you get hurt.God knew I needed some help. He sent an angel to put me back on track. One night I was at the church and out of nowhere one of the Sophomore girls from youth group comes up behind me…pinches the back of my arm (really hard)…and runs away laughing. She was the first one to give me a chance. It was that one connection that changed my heart…changed my life. I got off the back wall and I started out by just talking to the kids. It’s kind of uncomfortable at first but you have to be where they are…doing what they’re doing. The more you are around them the more natural it becomes. I won’t lie and tell you that it was all easy after that. It takes time with them…and being honest with them…and loving them. I found out that I do know how to talk to youth…they do want me around…I’m not too old…and I can make a difference. I realize now that the difference I can make is for eternity. As for the back wall…it doesn’t hold any comfort for me anymore. I love being with the kids too much to ever go back.

This is an interesting thread on the YS forums today. It’s got me thinking…

Since students in Romeo seem so confused about denominational differences, why isn’t the church making an effort to “come to the table” with a united front. Case in point: Last year I was hanging out at the high school at lunch and a student said to me, “you’re a Christian? Yeah me too, well I go to the Lutheran church so I guess I’m a Lutheran.” This led to a nice discussion about sheep and goats. You’re one or the other… That’s it!

So, to mock Rodney King “Why can’t we all just get along?”

1. We’re all afraid to share sheep even though the sheep go to different places all the time!
2. We’re so busy with our own little world and politics that we rarely see the “church” from 4,000 feet.
3. We all think we are right and they are wrong. Even if we don’t say this… We think it.
4. We’re only concerned with building our little kingdom instead of God’s Kingdom.
5. We are stuck on stupid boundaries that are artificial and ultimately sinful.
6. We allow 5% to separate instead of 95% to bind us together.
7. We can’t agree on the money part of it.
8. We think our programs are meant to compete with their programs instead of each being amplified.
9. We don’t want to face ourselves, our fears, or any kind of scrutiny.
10. We “hate being separated” but are too lazy to do anything about it.

As far as this exact problem in the thread on the link. I feel they are dealing with militant fundamentalists who probably don’t think that these other people are believers. Sad, but true. Stay tuned.

This is the text that will appear in this years annual report due out in December.

“Be wise in the way you act towards outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.” Colossians 5: 5-6

With this as our goal, this years Light Force emphasis is equipping our Christian students to minister to their peers. Our vision for Light Force is that we desire to love God and love others by intentionally modeling a life devoted to becoming disciples of Jesus Christ.

For the year to come, here are some areas of concentration that we have either launched already or will launch soon. We call them Key Result Areas:

Adults/student leaders intentionally modeling

Priority of prayer partners

Involvement in Home Bible Studies (Inductive methodology)

Amplified adult leader contact ministry

Worship arts development

Begin equipping students for peer-to-peer ministry.

I have the tremendous benefit of a loving, thoughtful, and dedicated group of adult leaders. Without them, we would not exist. Robert Bonetti, Fran Dashe, Kristen McLane, and Dave Whitten have all been responsible for making Sunday school relevant and fresh for our students. On Wednesday nights, Barb Brinker, Fran Dashe, Beth Fisher, Kristen McLane, Gary Shell, Dawn Wrobleski, and Dave Whitten not only serve the youth group and make Light Force happen but each one also invests in the lives of our students outside of the walls of the church. I praise God for them and consider it a pleasure to work alongside each one of them.

There were many highlights to the past 12 months. Some of them include a Chicago Mission trip, a whitewater rafting trip to West Virginia, the Word of Life Superbowl, attending the EQUIP conference in Sarnia, ON, and college visits to Cornerstone University, Moody Bible Institute, and Wheaton College.

The true measure of student ministry comes with two questions. Are lives being changed currently? Are students faithful to the Lord as they enter adulthood? I could spend lots of time sharing stories of changed lives. Let’s sum it up by saying; many students have grown greatly in the past year as we’ve instructed them from Scripture. [Not my work, but God’s work through me!] God’s work is alive and active in our midst. As for the second question, this is what drives us to daily challenge our students.

Personally, three things have made this a fun and challenging year.

Without a senior pastor, I have been involved in areas of church ministry that are new to me. I’ve made some mistakes and I’ve learned a lot. I don’t regret this time as it has only galvanized my long-term desire to continue to serve here at Romeo.

I’ve just completed my second year as a volunteer assistant golf coach at Romeo High School. It is a pleasure to serve our community in a way that fits so well with my natural talents and hobby! It was an awesome season of investing in the lives of students whom we normally wouldn’t have contact with.

This fall I’ve begun my Masters degree in Youth Ministry at Huntington College’s Graduate School of Christian Ministry in Huntington, Indiana. This is an exciting opportunity for me as I am studying under one of the great minds in the field. It is an honor to be a part of the program there and it is already paying dividends in my ministry at Romeo.

Respectfully submitted

You will notice a new skin on all blogs. Overall, I think it’s a cleaner look. Let me highlight a couple of other changes. (Blogger has been ultra-funny today… Since I’m having problems getting on to gmail too, I’m wondering if google’s servers are getting attacked.)

1. Fewer ads!
2. More links on the sidebars.

Feedback is always appreciated.

p.s. The problem with the small blogger navbar has nothing to do with my code. The best I can tell that code comes from blogger directly… I can’t edit it. I’m thinking it has something to do with all this google slow down.

p.p.s. I’ll be updated the ad color scheme to match the new look in a few days. I’m having problems even logging on to Google Adsense right now. 🙁

I received a rather odd comment in an e-mail the other day. One which I am contemplating addressing since it’s a potentially divisive issue.

A student wrote:

So, its not as bad as my last email made it sound, but sometimes I still do feel like Adam doesn’t like me, and its quite obvious that he has his favorites (x,x, x, and especially x) but its not always that I feel this way, I mean I know that x and x and x and x are his favorites, but that doesn’t always bug me.

A few thoughts along these lines.

1. Is it OK for a pastor to play favorites?
2. If yes, then aren’t I responsible to find someone to play favorites with the other students? Or is it OK that some people just don’t have someone who is their favorite… afterall there is no way that every personality or individual can be “special.”
3. If no, then how are you supposed to respond to people who you genuinely like being around and who are responsible to your leading them. People like to bring up this comment, but they also fail to look in the mirror long enough to see that those people who are “favorites of Adam” are actually the most dedicated and reliable people.
4. Didn’t the disciples play this game? The disciples were often upset that Jesus invested in John the most… Especially Peter who wanted to be the favorite. In Mark 10:41 Jesus deals with a little jealousy about John and James. “When the ten heard about this, they were indignant with James and John.” His answer to this cry was a call to the others to be like John and James, servants.
5. Is this just a result of students developmental stage? The writer of this e-mail is in the middle of my “inside group.” To everyone else, she would be one of my favorites. But her insinuation tells me a lot about where she is developmentally. Doesn’t she see that I’m invested in a lot of people who aren’t her? Do young adolescent students have any ability to see beyond their nose and look at life from the perspective of others?
6. What role is this just hormones? I mean, we are talking about a high school female! They have more ups and downs than a Lions game.
7. From my perspective I’m not showing favorites so much as I’m purposefully investing in students who have expressed interest in growing to become multiplying disciples. It’s only natural for it to look like I’m favoring

At the end of this whole bit of frustration I am happy to see that a 15 year old girl can still make me think so much! Even though I am tired of dealing with stuff like this it does reaffirm that I actually like dealing with it. Is that an oxymoron comment or am I some kind of masochist?

An interesting map was sent to me the other day. This is a county by county break down of the election last week.