This past Tuesday, I realized I had made a big mistake. Every week, I work with middle school students through an organization called Campus Thrive. It’s an incredible ministry and we’ve seen significant fruit this year, but I still needed to fix something.

I had forgotten to consistently cast vision for my students on why they do Thrive.

As humans, we need a purpose. While our great purpose is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever, we still need a vision for the specific events in our lives. We need to be constantly reminded of this vision as well, otherwise we’ll forget why we do things and either stop doing them or get burnt out.

Here is one of the BEST videos I’ve ever seen about casting vision for leaders. It is entertaining, interesting, and extremely insightful. You really need to watch it, and I promise it will be worth your time.

Now that you’ve seen the video, what vision are you casting for your leaders?

We recently spent some time learning from 3DM Ministries. They’re an incredible group with very clear language who are dedicated to seeing Biblical discipleship fill our churches.

One thing we appreciated was the “leadership pipeline.” It is a very helpful tool for developing leaders, and has given us a lot to think about. I want to share the pipeline with you, share where we are need improvement, and challenge you to think through improvements you can make as well.

The Leadership Pipeline:

The Pipeline has 4 Phases:

1) Recruit: If you want to train leaders, you must first get leaders! This is actually something we do really well,  and I say this because we rarely have a shortage of volunteers. If you are struggling with finding volunteers, here are some practical tips from our awesome volunteer coordinator, Anita.

2) Train: While this step seems obvious, it can be very tempting to skip it and move volunteers onto step 3. As youth ministers, discipling or teaching students can be rather natural. We don’t think about how we lead, we just lead. The problem is, most leaders (both students and adults) are not necessarily naturals. We must take the time to invest in them so that they can become confidant in their leadership abilities. I would give us a 6/10 on this, because we do have some training in place and provide good resources, however we need to grow in our ability to train leaders throughout the year in a more relational way.

3) Deploy: Nothing is more discouraging for a volunteer than never having anything to do. Imagine asking to help with something, being told “absolutely!” and then never getting to actually help! It is essential that every volunteer has a place and gets placed somewhere they can succeed. Sometimes we’re afraid to deploy because we want control or because we cannot trust others to do the job right. But that is why step 2 is so important! If we have spent time training them, know their skill set, and recognize their love for the Lord we can deploy them and trust them to do the job right. Deployment is another strength of ours, because we have hundreds of volunteers doing hands on ministry every week. If anything, we deploy too quickly and need to spend more time training.

4) Review: Often times, we think we’re done training leaders once they’ve been deployed, but this is not Jesus’s way. When the disciples went out on mission, they always came back to discuss how things went. Through review, we are able to determine how our leaders are doing and know what further training they need. Review requires relationship, and the step is essential for continual growth and encouragement. If you don’t review, you can lose leaders who have been frustrated for months, and you may not have even known they were frustrated! This is easily our weakest area when it comes to leadership development, and we really need to review better. We’re taking steps though, and hope that by the end of the semester we will be much better at review (we’ll let you know when we do).

What does your leadership pipeline look like? What are your strengths? Weaknesses?

This morning I was feeling a bit discouraged when I arrived at Campus Thrive club. I was tired, had a headache, and was feeling frustrated about my day. Towards the end of Thrive, a 7th grade girl stood up and shared her testimony.

It blew me away.

She was incredibly articulate, and spoke straight from the heart about her struggles in life. She used to be angry at God for them, but after coming to Thrive and worshipping with the other students her heart was changed. God has been healing her, and she wants other students to feel the same way.

She finished with this: “The other day I was raking up leaves and putting them in a bag. I realized the last bag I was using had a hole in it. I went inside, grabbed some tape and scissors, and fixed the bag so it could hold leaves again. God does this for us, without him we would be empty. But he comes in and fixes the holes in our lives so we can be full again. He’s done this for me and I know He’ll keep doing it, and he can do it for you.”

Has a student ever encouraged you? How so?

Do you find time to rest? I mean, really rest.

I find that most of the time my resting isn’t really resting because work is still involved. Maybe I’m watching a football game (resting) but checking e-mails and working on announcement slides at the same time. In theory, this is a good idea because I “maximize” my time, but after years of testing this theory, I think I am totally wrong.

I think I could rest here

Here’s the problem, when I work and rest at the same time, I don’t actually feel rested when I’m done. My work takes longer, and I’m usually cranky because I’m doing work instead of focusing on the football game. In other words, things take more time and are done poorly. This quickly leads to burn out and dissatisfaction with life.

So here is my goal for the Spring semester. When I work, I work. I focus on the work, do my best, get it done efficiently, and have time to be proud of it when it is done. But when I rest, I really rest. I avoid work e-mails, I engage with my wife, and do things that I know will recharge me. When I’m done I want to feel rested and be ready to focus in on work again.

Rest is essential for doing excellent work and ministering to people. If our tank is not filled up, we cannot expect to pour out into others. It’s going to be tough for me, because I naturally want to get things done as quickly as possible, but I must remember to rest!

So here is the big question of the day, How do you rest?

We’re proud to release a new semester of Leader’s guides! This series includes 11 weeks that explore 3 Wisdom books of the Old Testament. 4 weeks are given to Job, 3 weeks to Proverbs, and 4 weeks to Psalms. We love this series and believe it will help students recognize the benefits of a life committed to Christ.

It will help them answer three questions: What if God is here? What if God knows best? and What if God is good? Obviously, the answer to all of them is OF COURSE! God is here, He knows best, and He is good, but sometimes we forget to ask how that impacts our lives. This series seeks to help students process the hard questions of life and respond by worshipping the Sovereign one.

If you are interested in using these leader’s guides, they’re yours free! Just click here to check them out and learn more!

Promoting your youth events is rather important. If no one knows about it, no one is coming! Here are our primary methods of promotion and the timing we use for each event. Timing does fluctuate, however, with larger events and retreats getting a little more press than small parties and such. Please leave a comment if you have any great promo ideas you want to share!

Church Bulletin:  The church bulletin is most likely going to be read by parents, this means info needs to be in their early because parents, unlike most students, actually care about calendars and need more than 5 minutes notice.

Mail Chimp: Mail Chimp is an excellent e-mail service that is free for up to 500 people. It has amazing statistics and can look very professional. We communicate upcoming events to both parents and students (you can also create sub groups and only e-mail parents or leaders or students) at least 3 weeks in advance.

Live Announcements: Some people just want to hear things and not read. Start going live 2-3 weeks out.

Announcement Slides: For both the websites and the powerpoints. Created about 3-4 weeks out.

Promotional Video: Sometimes, we make a promo video. This can be played at our student gatherings, linked in mailchimp, posted on youtube, facebook, or the websites. Premiers 2-3 weeks out.

Facebook Events: Students get all the details and can join the event with their friends. We post these about 1.5 weeks away, because otherwise students forget or cannot commit so far in advance.

Facebook Status Updates: These are last minute pump up posts of events. For our Christmas party tonight, for instance, we posted this to our High School facebook page: “SCHOOL IS OUT!!! Celebrate it with your closest friends at the Tacky Christmas Dance Party! (link to the facebook event with details).” These go live 0-3 days before the event and are connected to our twitter account so they also post to twitter. You can update multiple times for each event.

Mass Text Messages: We use Simply Youth Ministries texting service. It allows you to send a text to many people at the same time. Teenagers today love texts, and are likely to make decisions last minute. We send out texts the day of the gathering to remind them and persuade them to come to whatever it is we are doing.

Word of Mouth: The most persuasive form of promotion is word of mouth. A direct invitation to a student will go much further than a facebook event for that individual. This does not mean the facebook/text/live announcements are not important or important, but word of mouth is essential!

Have any questions or suggestions?

1 Thessalonians 5:11 “Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.”

Last year I read a simple, interesting book called “How Full is Your Bucket.”

I didn’t realize it at the time, but the book was extremely influential on me. Even now, rarely does a week go by where I do not think of the book’s simple message and see it’s usefulness in real life.

The Argument:

Despite being based in decades of scientific research, the concept is so simple it could be in a kid’s book (actually, it is in a kid’s book). Everybody has an imaginary “bucket” and “ladle.” When you say something encouraging or positive to another person, you fill their bucket. Most of us realize this, but we fail to notice that filling another person’s bucket also fills our own bucket.

Conversely, when we say something degrading or negative to another person, we dip out of their bucket. Again, when we dip out of someone’s bucket, we also dip out of our own bucket. It’s ironic, because most people who say condescending things are trying to feel better about themselves, but ultimately it makes them feel worse.

Negativity breeds negativity, and positivity creates positivity. The book had several fascinating case studies. Businesses around the country with negative work environments or negative employees lose billions of dollars every year compared to those in positive environments. They also predicted marriage success rates incredibly accurately after observing couples positive and negative interactions for merely 15 minutes.

It is seriously insane how much of a difference negativity or positivity can make in your life and the lives of others, but no case study stuck out to me more than the following:

The Korean War

Did you know that more Americans died in Korean Prisoner of War (POW) camps than in any other POW camp from any other war? They never even touched the soldiers physically, they simply destroyed them through negativity.

They had several methods for destroying hope. First, they had group “therapy” sessions where men had to share about all of their regrets, but were never allowed to talk about success. Second, they encouraged men to be snitches and tell on others by offering rewards. Third, they withheld all encouraging mail (love letters, prayer letters, etc) and only delivered the negative mail (past due bills, wives who gave up, etc).

There were other methods of course, but their goal was to make the men feel isolated and alone, without hope. It worked. Countless men simply curled up in bed and refused to move until they died from hopelessness. I never knew the destructive power of negativity could be so strong, but it is.

Negativity Today

Somehow, we excuse negativity in today’s culture. People say horrible things on the internet and behind each other’s backs, but somehow we justify it by saying it quickly or adding “bless his heart” at the end.

If we continue to be negative, it is going to continue to hurt others and ourselves. We’ll hate our jobs, more marriages will fail, and we’ll even lose hope in mankind. The effects of bullying has been in the news a lot over the last few years, and its quite clear that the effects of negativity are not changing.

Here’s my challenge to youth ministers:

Are you creating an encouraging work environment? Or do you spend too much focussing on the failures of your co-workers and student leaders? While people need to be held accountable for their mistakes, if we only focus on this we will kill their productivity.

Think of a creative way to demonstrate your appreciation to your volunteers and student leaders. Figure out what will help them the most and then fill their bucket!

Encourage your students to be more uplifting as well. The best way to do this is through example. Encouragement is contagious, and it can create an incredible culture of ministry.

Although it is not a Christian book, it is a quick and fascinating read. You can find it on Amazon right here: How Full is your Bucket?

When did someone say something encouraging to you? How did it impact you?

One of our favorite organizations is called Peace of Thread. They are a for-profit business that specializes in unique, high quality bags.

Here is their story (from their website):

• A woman named Denise goes to the Middle East for 7 years, learns Arabic, works with a non-profit, and falls in love with the culture and people.
• Meanwhile, stateside, a group of people called Generation Salaam (Arabic word for “peace”) are developing friendships with Iraqi refugees in Clarkston, Ga. Over the course of our friendships, it surfaces that their biggest need is jobs.
• Denise comes home and meets one of these women and gives her an old sewing machine. This woman is thrilled and the story begins.
• Shortly thereafter Generation Salaam does our annual summer camp for the kids and while the camp is happening, Denise and some other “Threaders” teach the women how to sew.
• The women love it and want to continue beyond just the summer camp week.
• We audaciously think we can start a business and give it a go.
• After months of training, getting connected to fabric distributers, finding wonderful designers, and rounding up more volunteers – we find ourselves at the beginning of an adventure!

One of our favorite ministries we work with is called “Thrive.” Thrive is a campus ministry that teaches students how to be leaders for Christ on their school campus. It is incredibly effective and incredibly simple.

Thrive clubs have two different meeting times every week. Adult leaders meet with the student leadership and teach them spiritual and leadership principles. The students also plan out their second meeting time of the week, which takes place on the school’s campus. During the campus meeting, students lead worship, do games, perform a skit, teach a lesson, and share a testimony.

Student Super Heroes on their campus

We love Thrive for the following reasons:

1) The Gospel is being taught by students at their schools!

2) We get to teach students how to be better leaders.

3) The students love it.

4) Middle School students can pull it off and do a great job!!

5) Through Thrive we get to connect and work with other youth pastors in the area.

6) Since students lead, it is completely legal.

7) Thrive has free curriculum the students can use as lesson guides!

If you still need more proof, check out this 7th grade student’s thoughts on Thrive:

“I have wanted to become a Thrive Leader since I was in third grade. My older brother was in middle school at the time and he was a leader. They got to meet at Chick-fil-a every Monday morning. He said that it was really fun, and I thought well of course it is, you eat Chick-fil-a!

But as I got older and closer to God I started to understand why he enjoyed it so much. I realized that Thrive wasn’t about the chicken biscuits they got or even hanging out with their friends.

Now that I am a Thrive Leader myself, I understand that Thrive is so much fun because of God. You get to praise the Lord, share the scripture, and your faith with everyone at your school. Not only do you feel Jesus Christ moving through you but you can feel him working through your school and friends. Helping others get closer to God is something that you can’t even begin to explain.

Being a middle school has its up and downs, but knowing that God is there for you is a feeling like no other. You really begin to notice that God is there to catch you when you fall down.”

There you have it! We believe that Campus Ministry is essential here. We have seen incredible fruit and growth through efforts in the schools. Are you involved on your local school’s campus? What has been successful? What has been unsuccessful?

In this short video, Brian Burchik, High School Pastor at GSM, shares about where we should find our identity. We often seek to find value in numbers, students, volunteers, sermon compliments, and more. This can feel encouraging at times, but what happens when someone comes along who has much more than us? As ministers, we need a better system for finding value. Watch this video for more!