Is It Really A Team

Many churches, and I could also add in businesses, say there is a team when it comes to staff. Unfortunately, when you look from the outside in...that isn't what you see.

You don't see a group coming together to collaborate.
You don't see a group working together.

Sometimes you see a group of people running around trying to do what the head person wants and tells them to do.

Many times you see a bunch of people that when they leave work, they all run to their separate corners (homes) never to interact together.

I'm sorry to tell you...just because you are a pastor and you hire a bunch of people and you get them to do what you want...it doesn't mean you have team

I would have to say that a true team....works together, collaborates together, envisions together, enjoys each other, brings out the best in each other, lives in community, pushes each other to more, prays, sweats and bleeds together...when one is down they all rally around and lift them up....shall I say more. That's probably why I enjoy being where I am right now.

TEAM....is that what "YOU" call it.

Summer Slump

I'm not saying it doesn't happen. I'm not even sure of the reason why. I could give you my thoughts on it. Maybe you've even gotten to the place where you are wondering what you can do. But the fact is...I'M NOT BUYING IT!!!

What I'm talking about is the idea that church growth doesn't happen in the summer. This is especially an excuse I hear in youth ministry circles. "Summer's coming and our numbers are usually low."

Maybe it's just me...WHO IN THE WORLD MADE THAT RULE!!!

And why are any of us buying it. If you really want to make it happen you will. And you won't let anything get in your way.

Can it happen? Sure it can. In 2006, we saw the youth ministry we led grow from an average of 35 to 50.

Are there any other stories of summer growth so we can start squashing this????

Prepare and Pray

When it comes to ministry there is no way to get around not believing God for big things. Whether you need property or volunteers you must trust God to provide you with everything you need.

Here is the catch. Planning and preparation enables you to be ready when God provides for your prayers.

Let's say you are a children's pastor and are praying for "x" amount of volunteers. If they all showed up and said they are ready to get involved would you be prepared? Would you be able to plug them in and they know what to do? One way to be ready is by writing out all your volunteer positions with a job description. Once that is done then begin to pray those big prayers as you are now prepared for God to move.

Maybe you're launching a new church. Up to now you have been praying for God to provide the finances, but do you have a plan? Have you researched everything you need to launch? List out all the equipment, salaries, lease, and anything you would possibly need to for the first year. Now that you know what you need release those God-sized prayers.

Prepare and Pray for God to do something big.

We are praying some big prayers right now on our campus launch. We are believing for $30,000 to get each of our campuses off the ground.

What Big Prayers Are You Praying Right Now?

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[Photo Credit Flickr.com]

The Madness Of Ministry 4

One challenge that people sometimes don't realize when beginning ministry is that your life is now lived out in a fish bowl.

So you want to be the man in charge? Welcome to the show. Welcome to the scrutiny. Welcome to every detail of your life being put on display for everyone.

OH AND GUESS WHAT? The larger you get, the bigger the magnifying glass.

So how can you handle the madness that is the fishbowl syndrome:

Teach Your People That You're A Person Too
Now this doesn't guarentee that you won't be on display but I feel that the people you lead have to have a balance in realizing that just because you are a Pastor doesn't make you perfect. You are like many of them...only you have been called to a different position and office.

Set Boundaries
I'm not a big believer in separtation like other pastors may be. There is a line of thought that says keep your staff and people separted from you. I think to a high degree though that the people you lead, especially your staff, should be friends with you. Here is the catch though sometimes leading people who are friends can be difficult. It can come back to bite you if you don't have boundaries in place. Also realize that you need to spend uninteruppted time with your family.

Define Your Role
You can either be a big part of something small or a small part of something big. Everyone must be challenged to their place and as the pastor you cannot do and be everything. The sooner you turn things over the sooner all the focus comes off of you.

How have you been able to be sane in the spotlight?

Don't miss any part of this series:
Part 1 - The Intro
Part 2 - Time Management
Part 3 - Leading People
Part 4 - The Fishbowl Syndrome
Part 5 - The Pressure To Produce

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The Madness Of Ministry 1

With one of my favorite times of the year looming on us, that being March Madness, I thought it would be pertinent this week to talk a little about some of the pressures of ministry. (For those that live under a rock, March Madness is the college basketball playoff time.)

I'm not sure if I'm the only one or this applies to everyone else that reads, but I tend to put a lot of pressure on myself to produce when it comes to ministry. I feel what we have is the greatest product/message in the world. On top of that is what Christ did for me in my life. Jumble all that together with my personality and what you got is this mad rush to do the absolute best that I can to represent and spread this message across our community and the world.

Let me give you, as an example an average week when I was a youth pastor. Now I have to preface this by saying I never let not having a budget stand in my way of doing something.

Weekly Basis:

• Prepare A Message
• Develop or Find Creative Elements For Message - Example 1
• Edit Video For Video Announcements
• Create PowerPoint For Message
• Create Note Handouts For Students
• Invites Weekly through Myspace, Text Message, E-mails
• Send Out A Weekly E-Mail Newsletter To Students/Parents
• Record Talk Show Podcast
• Edit Podcast And Upload
• Pray, Read, Study
• Prepare For Sunday School - The Pastor felt I should do one each Sunday even though I thought it was an area to get leaders involved.

On A Monthly Basis:

• Create Series Graphics, Marketing Materials For Students
• Create A Monthly Pre-Service/Promo Video...we changed it every month for variety...it included announcement slides, countdown, and then a monthly promo video
• Create A Series Promo Video
• Upload Files To Internet
• Contact Students
• Visioneer
• Prep, Prepare Leadership Lesson, Have Leadership Meeting
• Recruit Leaders, Prep Existing Leaders, Check On Tasks Assigned
  

Should I even go into more? This is not even an exhaustive list.

Needless to say I put a lot of pressure on myself to do things well even when we had no budget. I have always been the type to produce something from nothing.

In the coming days, we are going to talk about time management, leading people, leading with everyone looking at you, and just the pressure in general. I hope you jump in the conversation with some comments on the madness you may feel there is, as well as some of the solutions.

What are some of the pressures you have in ministry???

Don't miss any part of this series:

• Part 1 - The Intro
• Part 2 - Time Management
• Part 3 - Leading People
• Part 4 - The Fishbowl Syndrome
• Part 5 - The Pressure To Produce

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What To Do With Your Creative Team

You have recruited, assigned, designated your creative team...NOW WHAT??

Remember in a past post called "How To Develop A Creative Team" we gave several examples of how you can build a team. No matter what size of church or even as a sub-ministry you can have a creative team that will help take your content and creativity to a higher level.

With this post I want to give you some specific ways you can work with your creative team. I have seen different churches use them for different things.

• Message Development
• Service Creative Elements
• Facility Set Design
• Creating Content
• Debrief & Download

Working With Your Creative Team
So you can see that having a creative team can really help what you are doing. Let me give you several things you can do with your team to make it more successful

• Define The Roles - It is important going in to your team with them knowing what their role is supposed to be. Remember those points above that we gave you. Sit with your team and specifically tell them the role that the creative team is going to take.


• Create Job Descriptions - Everyone on the team should have a specific job description that lays out the role, how often you will meet, what the team does when they are not in the meeting, expectations, etc... Be as specific as possible so your team will know what is expected.


• Take Time To Create - Your team should meet weekly if possible. Use that time in a variety of ways as well. There can be future brainstorming, debriefing of the previous weekend services, content creation, set and stage design, etc... Again the possibilities are only defined by what it is you as the leader needs or wants.


• Use Any Method Possible - As we said in our previous post don't let size of church or budget stop you. Your team can meet and communicate on all types of levels. You can utilize tools like Google Notebook or Documents where several people can collaborate on messages and/or series ideas. Those tools are great to be able to bring together a lot of heads. Your team could then work at home to gather content and brainstorm at anytime of the day. Oovoo is another free resource where you can meet with your team through the computer as it provides up to six people to video conference together at one time.

What are some things you are doing with your creative team?

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Advice To A Young Communicator

I love the passion that many young leaders have in ministry. I have also seen many struggle in the area of communicating because no one was there to mentor them.

Whether you call it preaching or teaching it can be intimidating standing up in front of others. I spent many years winging it and learning to be a communicator.

Here are a few tips for anyone starting out in ministry:

1) Learn to be you - early on you may emulate others as you gain experience...eventually you just need to be you.

2) Talk about one thing - Don't flood your audience with lots of material. Talk on one point, give stories and scripture to back it up.

3) Treat it as a craft - Teaching is a high calling and it takes working on to be better. Seek as many opportunities as you can. Study great communicators and books on communicating.

4) Be real - Don't try to be something you aren't. People will connect because they can relate to you.

5) Have fun - Take the pressure off and relax. Some of my greatest and memorable times come from behind a podium. It is ok to have fun up there.

Creative Message Content

I'm not a big proponent of always "using others messages" in ministry, at least not in their entirety. But I do believe that you can use the creativity as well as creative content from many churches.

For great ideas or just to stir the pot of your creativity I would advise you spend time online looking at some of the top creative churches when it comes to Sunday morning material.

For a small church that does not have the staff or equipment the following churches offer their content free. One great idea is to use their graphics and even some of the video content while you design your own message.

Here is a list of five churches that are offering free online resources:

• LifeChurch.tv Open -- LifeChurch.tv (Edmond, OK)
• CrazyChurch.com -- Crossroads Community Church (Cincinnati, OH); Kensington Community Church (Detroit, MI); Crossroads Community Church (Atlanta, GA); Gateway Community Church (Austin, TX)
• NewSpring Ministries -- NewSpring Church (Anderson, SC)
• Seacoast All Access -- Seacoast Church (Mount Pleasant, SC)
• Vine Resources -- Southeast Christian Church (Louisville, KY)

If you know of any others please feel free to leave a comment with the link.

Sparks In Ministry

Whether it is business, church, ministry departments, family, marriage, or any other area dealing with people relating to each other:

"When iron sharpens iron...there's always a lot of sparks."

What are your thoughts?

Increase Your Signal

How can your church increase the signal and reduce the noise?

Maybe you could decrease all the subtle messages that go out. Did you know that in an average Sunday morning, a family coming to church can be hit almost 100 different ideas?

Instead focus on one major theme or idea and let it permeate your environments.

Maybe people aren't growing because there is so much noise.

Narrow your focus and you increase the signal you are trying to get out.

How are you increasing the signal?

Triple Your Youth Ministry In One Year Bonus

Nitty gritty time with this bonus post on this series.

No matter how we did ministry with the bells and whistles, our ministry was about 1) powerful praise and worship....the music we did was all worship music, 2) Strong teaching based on applying the Word of God to your life, 3) Having a call to salvation, and 4) Being led by God.

The rest of the stuff was the icing on the cake. We never were about icing though. But we weren't all cake either.

You can have all icing and there will only be a superficial youth ministry. You can honestly have all cake and it could be the lamest thing around. I know that is tough to swallow for some pastors. We all think that if we just go in and open up the "Word", it is and will be enough. Sound great right.

Listen people that is not the culture we live in. You can pretend it is. You can wish it was. But it's not.

I can also tell you that if you have all the "stuff", and if it isn't bathed in prayer and the Holy Spirits leading...it means nothing.

Vice-versa...I've seen some well meaning people who pray and open the "Word" and are led by God but never see any results.

Why is it???? Is it about personality??? NOPE. Is it about money??? NOPE. Truth is I don't think they are called or have "worked on" their ministry.

Work like it depends on you, and pray like it depends on God.

God will send you people when He knows you can handle the growth and when He knows they are going to be saved and discipled. Whether you have all the frill stuff is irrelevant.

Bottom line....if God ain't in it, it ain't gonna happen.

Triple Your Youth Ministry In One Year Part 7

For the last post of this "Triple Your Youth Ministry In One Year" series, I will have to admit that the topic is one that I am most passionate about and feel it is the main reason we grew.

It's About Lives Being Saved And Making Disciples

When it comes down to the money in the bank....this is it. We have always had a passion for creating an experience that reaches beyond our walls. One part of the culture or DNA we have sought to create is one that is oriented to seekers.

It is one of the reasons that I believe God has blessed us with growth. Jesus' mission as stated by him was to "seek and save that which was lost." His prime motivation was to restore mankind to a proper relationship with God.

When you take the focus that you are going to reach the lost in youth ministry, you are partnering with God to fulfill His mission. I believe you get in a divine mission alignment. That is you are aligned with God's mission thus you are operating on a higher level of impact.

How you can put this in effect:

• Call To Salvation - Every week the most important time of the night for us was at the end when we gave a call to salvation. We always gave one. We would ask for two things: 1) Those that have never had a relationship with God and 2) Those that followed God once but felt they were off track. We also called those forward to the stage to lead them through a prayer.
• Follow Up - After our call we had team leaders who would take these teens to another room and counsel them through what was going on, give them a bible and reading info to help them get started, and take down any info so we could follow up.
• Evangelistic Series - Do a whole series on this topic. We did one called Lost that went through Philippians 4:13. We took kids through the process of how people rely on their selves and end up lost to totally relying on God. Many time our series had some type of evangelistic theme.

The other aspect that you must not forget is that it is not just about getting them "saved". It is about making disciples. God didn't call us to make Christians...He called us to make disciples.

You need to determine what being a disciple means in your context. Sit down with your team and ask the question - What does a fully devoted follower of Christ mean for our ministry? Get their input. And then organize your ministry around that. If your goal is, "taking someone who is far from God and developing them into a fully devoted follower of Christ". Then that should be reflected in your process.

If you are a youth pastor what impact have you had in your ministry?

If this series has been helpful to you or you think it could be helpful in ministry for someone you know feel free to put a referral link to it on your site. Part 1 has a list of all parts to this series.

Triple Your Youth Ministry In One Year Part 6

Last week we started a series called "Triple Your Youth Ministry In One Year". There is so much in this topic. I have to say that there are many factors that can go into this. There are seven parts to this whole series.

To get caught up make sure you check out Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, and Part 5.

I'm really excited about the last part of this series which will be on one of the main reasons we do ministry, we'll be getting to that after this one. But today I want to talk about an issue that I see a lot of ministries getting caught up in.

Today is about "a cool youth room will get them there but love will keep them".

There is such a trend today of having all the latest "toys" for your youth room. In fact, it is almost taught that in order to have growth in your youth ministry you have to have a game room and game time so that teens can come and have a great time.

Honestly, from my perspective, that is not true at all.

In fact I don't think you have to have a game room at all to have growth. Now I'm sure that many of you reading this would not expect to hear that, but in our first ministry all we had was just a youth room and remember we tripled our ministry in one year there.

What I do believe is that your youth room should be relatable to teens.

Basic Elements In A Youth Room

• Stage - Believe it or not some don't.
• Lights & Fog - The reality is you don't have to use a lot of money for this. We wired our youth room up with shop lights with colored bulbs and ran extensions wired to light switches. With about 16 you could run 4 colors and change the stage dynamics. Use colors for the back stage and walls and whites for lighting.
• Projector or TV's with Computer - Hooking this up adds a graphic appeal to the room.
• Sound System - Again you don't have to put a lot of money...with about $2,500 you can get a great starter system with 12 channels. You should work to eventually have sub woofers with a 24 channel board.
• Fresh Paint - Honestly, with lighting, dark colored walls work the best.
• White Spandex Geometric Shapes For Rear Stage - The white will pick up the colors of the light.
• Theme - Go back and read Part 4. If you don't do it by series, you could create a theme for the whole year. Keep it fresh.

We were very technical with all we did.

We had countdown video's with music, opening promo videos, live worship band with lighting and smoke, video announcements, series with theme decorations, and used movie clips in our messages. We even created our own 5 part reality game show called "The D Factor". We had a podcast with a weekly talk show. We went all out using everything and method possible.

Here is the twist though...

ALL OF THAT STUFF DOESN'T MATTER...IF THERE IS NO LOVE.

You can have the coolest youth room possible and if you don't love teens and that runs through the core of your team then they aren't going to stay.

Tripling you youth ministry isn't just about numbers...it isn't just about getting them in the door. It is about keeping them there and developing them into disciples of Christ.

You and your team must have a core value of loving teens and wanting to help get them to where God wants them.

Numbers without disciples means nothing. You can have a cool room but if their is no love there it means nothing and they aren't going to be staying for long.

Triple Your Youth Ministry In One Year Part 5

Who really is responsible to make the youth ministry grow?

This might be surprising to you but I will say...it is your teens.

One of the reasons that we have always had growth is the fact that we have always pushed our teens to be missional. By missional I mean it is their responsibility as Christians to reach out to their generation. When you get right down to it, they are the ones that are right in the mission field with their friends on a daily basis. They are the ones that God has placed in that position of influence. They can go where no youth pastor can go.

I believe that God holds us all accountable to reach our generation. Truth is...it's a cop out for them to give any excuse as to why they are not reaching out to their friends.

I'll tell you though that as a leader I do make sure that I have my ducks in a row. I think that is my responsibility. Ultimately I would never blame them if I haven't done my part in equipping and motivating them to ministry. Personally, we have put many of the things in place in this series so that we could take away any excuses there might be.

Cast Vision
There isn't anyway around it. To get them involved it starts with painting them a picture of what could be and inspiring them to go get it.

Set Ministry Goals As A Group
Gather the core of your youth together at the beginning of this year and set some goals. Get them in on the process so they don't just feel like it is totally you pushing it. Make them feel the ownership.

Speak Their Language
Now that doesn't mean that you have to speak their slang or by just saying crap or suck you are being culturally relevant. What it does mean is that if you go around speaking Christianeze you could very well be the one that is keeping them from coming.

In my classroom I was over-hearing a conversation of three girls who were talking about a Christian lady who they thought was weird because of all the Christian talk. These were unchurched kids who were turned off to church by the weirdness of how some Christians talk.

Just be real and be relatable

Hold Them Accountable
It is imperative that you are holding them accountable. And that does go back again to casting vision. It is about holding them accountable to what God's Word does say on the matter. You have to plan time in your teaching to get this point across and not just once. You need to find ways to slip this in often. You could even plan a whole series around it.

How do you inspire the teens in your church?

Spread The Love

Before you start thinking that this is only a youth ministry blog...let me assure you that the purpose of Making Difference Makers is about developing and influencing others to make a difference in their world.

Since I am a pastor this may lean more to the church ministry side. This series, Triple Your Youth Ministry really is about leaving something behind for all the youth pastors out there.

I know there are many youth pastors out there that have a dream about making some maximum kingdom impact. If you have a youth ministry blog or are a pastor...please feel free to give this series a link in your blog.

Here is the link for the whole series:
http://jaycurlee.blogspot.com/2007/12/triple-your-youth-ministry-in-one-year.html

Whether you feel it is for you or not it may help someone out there reach this next generation.

Spread the link love.

Much thanks to Terrace for spreading the word already. If you are a youth pastor out there...make sure to check out his blog.

Triple Your Youth Ministry In One Year Part 4

If we are going to talk about tripling your youth ministry then we have to talk about momentum.

Momentum is something that is continually built upon with each smaller success. To be honest this has to be set in motion before the year ever starts.

I like to think of momentum almost like a train taking off. Did you know you can stop a train from starting with only a wooden block? Because of the sheer weight involved, a train starts slowly and uses a tremendous about of energy to get going. But once it's momentum is going it takes less energy to keep it going.

The same is true with youth ministry. You have to begin to establish momentum that will catapult you to reaching more teens.

Two ways we did that was through SERIES and BIG DAYS.

Do Your Teaching In Series
We saw a lot of success by teaching in series. With our series we would center them around one main point and build that point each week. Not only was our teaching a lot better but it created a great hook for teens to reach out to their friends.

If we were starting a new series in February this is how the process would look like as we went through it. I'll take you through our Elev8flix series promotional. Click on the links throughout for the pictures.

• Two weeks out finish promotional graphics, power point teaser graphic, business card size handouts, and video trailers. We would begin with announcing the new series in our youth meetings and encourage our teens to invite their friends.
• One week out we would give out business card size handouts that would promote the series. This size is an easy convenient way for teens to pass out at their school. Click [here] for an example. We encouraged our teens to use every method of technology to invite their friends: txt, myspace, facebook, handouts, youtube videos, email, etc...
  
• Weekend before we would decorate our youth room to coincide with the series. With Elev8flix we made two giant size popcorn boxes with white and yellow balloons as the popcorn and then put up reels on the wall. View [here], [here], [here], and [here]. I wanted to do a red carpet down the isles but that wasn't in my budget. Really your imagination is your only limit.
• 3 days out we send text messages, emails and leave graphic invites on our teens myspace comments.
  
• The first week of a series is really an intro and doesn't get to the meat so those who come usually come back to hear more.
  

Host A Big Day Every Quarter
Another thing that really built up our momentum was utilizing big days. We would do a back-to-school blast and a schools-out blast. To tag on these big events we would launch a series. This proved for some to continue to return to hear more. We would utilize all of the above promotion but the day of the event would be a little different.

• One hour before meeting time we would open up our parking lot with inflatables and basketball goals for teens to hang out and have fun. We would also have extra video games on hand for teens to play. If your youth ministry already has a game room go even extra with some new stuff. [Here], [here], and [here] for pictures.
  
• We would then have our normal youth meeting that would end 15 minutes early that would culminate in a school versus school competition. Ideas for this: hamburger or hot dog eating contest. Highest school weight. We like school versus school because it is a great reason for teens to reach into their schools. At one event we had 12 different schools represented.
• The after event would be a concert with a band.
  

Now before you think these were just about kicking up our number average you have to realize that at every youth meeting we had a call to salvation. These were events that teens would really go all out to invite their friends. You also can't do these events unless you have a great plan and team in place. You also have to read this full series to get an idea of how all of these worked in conjunction of each other.

Big key here is don't think you have to go all out. Start small. If you aren't used to teaching in series, plan maybe 4 or 5 for this year. Add one big day to coincide with one of the series and use some of the ideas in marketing your event. As you get comfortable do more. There really are no tried and true rules. Just Go For It!!!

Make sure you check out Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 of this series.

Triple Your Youth Ministry In One Year Part 3

“If I have seen further than others,
it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants.”
Isaac Newton

One of the greatest players who ever played basketball was Michael Jordan. One of the things that made him good was when he needed to rise to the occasion and win a basketball game, he could take his team on his shoulders and do it. What I think made him great though is that he understood the value of a team and that he couldn't do it without them.

If you spend anytime taking the advice I laid down in Part 2 of this series you will soon come to understand that youth ministry and ministry of any kind takes....TEAMWORK. You can't do it alone. Well, let me take that back. You could technically do a lot by yourself but you would never get the growth you desire unless you are willing to take people along with you on the journey.

Let me give you a few reasons why people don't implement more teamwork:

• They love the lime-light. They get in a position that most have never been in. All the sudden people are looking up to them and they are the center of attention. Don't fall into this trap. It is a sure-fire reason for failure.
• It is hard. Teamwork takes work. It takes working with others, bringing out the best in them. It takes communicating to people more concisely and consistently.
• Lack of knowledge. Sometimes people can't do it cause they don't know how or where to start.
• Afraid to give up something. Sometimes that something is control.
  

No matter what the reasons are, if you don't implement a team oriented system you cannot grow your ministry. The growth of your ministry will be in direct proportion to the number of volunteers you get involved.

Three types of team members in your church to get involved:

1. Parents - I know some students bar their parents from going. That's ok. There are many ways you can get parents involved from internet to mailers...graphics...prayer teams...etc. Parents can have a lot of buy-in since they have a teen involved.
2. Church Members - There are many people that may not have teens but have a passion for reaching out to them.
3. Teens - It is your responsibility to be training teens to do the work of the ministry. Getting them involved creates a greater level of buy-in for them. They can probably do a lot more than you think.

As you launch out into this next year let me give you a little practical advice to start building your team.

Make A List
List out every position that you could possibly have for your youth ministry. Create a flow chart for it all. This will be a target to help you get started. Here is an excel file of my last one to help you get started - Youth Ministry Flowchart

Pray
Sounds simple but it is effective. Take your list and begin praying specifically for God to bring you someone. You have to realize that you must pray like it totally depends on God to make it happen...cause it does.

Recruit
Truth is if you don't have a team its because you haven't asked. Remember it is one step at a time. Don't look at the flowchart and think you have to fill it all. Get as many on board as you possibly can. You need to recruit like it depends on you to make it happen.

Develop The Ones You Have
This is something you must be very intentional about. One reason we retained so many volunteers over the years is that we poured into them. Create job descriptions so they know what they are responsible for. Set up training events to help them be successful. Develop them to lead others. You must create a leadership development system. If you don't take care of the team that you have you won't have one for long.

How do you put value into your team?

Triple Your Youth Ministry In One Year Part 2

During this series, "Triple Your Youth Ministry", it is my hope that you don't look at this as a prescription. You know, do A. B. C. or 1. 2. 3. and you will be guaranteed that your youth ministry will triple. I am sorry to disappoint you but it won't happen.

Your youth ministry (or any ministry/church/business) will grow in proportion to the size of its leader.

Now before you all go hit the buffet lines I'm not talking about your waist size. I am talking specifically about the size of your vision and your leadership. This is what I alluded to in Part 1 that this might not be a one year project. If you are not ready or are not able to lead your ministry at the level you want it to be...it won't happen.

Let me give you some bible examples:

• Moses wasn't just some hick off the backside of the desert. Moses was strategically raised in Pharaoh's court. He was given the best of educations and was raised to be a leader.
• Daniel was educated in the finest of schools in.
• Nehemiah was skilled enough to be within the kings inner circle.
• David was brought in as an armor bearer to the king and was given responsibility after responsibility to grow.

I could go on and on with other examples but the point is that for you to see growth of the magnitude we are talking about it is going to come only after you grow yourself. Don't dismiss these examples. God strategically placed them where they needed to be and utilized their backgrounds in the dimension He wanted to use them.

These men were raised to be leaders and their success was in direct proportion to not just God...but their being able to lead.

Begin this year to prepare for the growth God desires for your ministry.

• Read some books that will give you the knowledge you need.
• Read blogs of churches and pastors who are seeing big things happen. Listen to their messages to catch some of that vision.
  
• Put yourself in another arena to sharpen your skills.
• Visit a larger youth ministry in your area and connect with their youth pastor to increase your vision.
• Listen to some leadership podcasts that will continually feed your leadership.
• Go to a larger youth ministry conference that will expand your vision.
• Get started with these videos on Developing Yourself As A Leader.

Set a plan in motion today to begin your growth. Start down this path today and you will see that vision begin to happen.

What are some resources you could use to grow yourself?

Triple Your Youth Ministry In One Year Part 1

All this week I want to give some practical approaches to growing a youth ministry. I want to help any youth pastor out there triple their youth ministry in one year.

Can it happen? You bet.

In fact, we did it twice in two different churches. In both, we were able to not just double, but triple our youth ministry in one year's time.

These series of posts are going to be written for those youth pastor's out there that dream of doing something big for God. It is about those of you who want to make incredible community impact.

Make no mistake...growth is biblical and I believe God wants to grow your youth ministry. I believe He has a heart for the teens in your community and is waiting for someone to step up to the plate and swing for the fences.

Before we get going this week, I'll be very upfront in saying this is not a debate about whether a small or large youth ministry is God's will. This is not whether we are focused on "numbers" only. It is not about "depth" of the ministry although I hope to cover it. I'm also not going to go into a lot of detail. Most of it is going to be short and sweet. I've thought about writing a lot of this into the form of an e-book, but one of my goals in life is to be able to get practical tools into the hands of ministry at little or no cost.

I can also promise you that if you are not ready for growth it probably won't happen over the next year. Some of what I'll cover will deal with that.

For a little background, in the first church our youth ministry went from averaging 30 in July to 90 by May of the next year. In the second, our youth ministry went from averaging 24 to averaging 75 in one years time. These are monthly averages of our weekly attendance. These were also both in small churches...at least small by my standards. Both averaged between 300 to 500 in attendance at the time of our growth. The first was in a community of 25,000. The other was in a city of 275,000. Our growth was also in no way attributed to the church growing through that season as both churches attendance over the year stayed pretty much flat. Reason I know is I counted.

Here is a sample of what we will be covering:

• Grow Yourself
• Can't Do It Alone
• Use Big Days and Series For Momentum
• Put The Responsibility Of Growth On The Teens
• A Cool Environment Will Get Them There But Love Will Keep 'Em
  
• It's About Lives Being Saved And Making Disciples
• Bonus - Being Led By God
  

So strap in as I'm ready to help you grow your youth ministry!!!

Personal Growth Part 4

All week we have been talking about personal growth. Today, I want to give you some elements that you could include in your personal growth plan as well as a document that can help you get started..

If you need to get caught up on this series check out Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.

It is important to remember as you launch out on this journey of personal development that you to not get trapped into a one-dimensional mindset. You can't just emphasize one area for the sake of other areas.

There are four dimensions to your own personal growth that I see should be emphasized:

1. Spiritual Development
2. Leadership Development
3. Relationship Development
4. Career Development

As you begin to develop yourself you must work to be well-rounded. One thing I believe is that development leaks. That means one area leaks into other areas. Developing your leadership capacity will flow into your relationships and career. You must work on developing your whole life. True life success will be gained when you have a congruency of all areas.

A document that will help you in putting together your plan that I created is Your Life Plan.

You can also read more in my post "Components of a Life Plan" and "Life Plan Recap"

What do you see as vital to include in a personal growth plan?