(Back To The Future Car pic is brought to you by destino2003)

The movie Back to the Future is one of my favorites.  Two of my favorite parts of the movie are:

1) When Marty McFly plays Johnny B. Good on the electric guitar

Click here to view the embedded video.

and

2)  The sweet Back to the Future car aka DeLorean DMC-12

So the other day I was thinking about what if I could travel back in time to my first youth ministry job??  And I continued my thought by asking the questions of:

I wonder what I would do differently in youth ministry in light of what I know now?

What are some of the mistakes I made early on that I could share with other rookie youth pastors?

What have I learned over my youth ministry career that I would und0 and redo?

How cool would it be to travel back to that church youth group and implement everything I have learned?

So I typed out what I wish I could redo if I traveled back to my first youth ministry job:

Develop a relationship with the senior leadership:  I didn’t want anything to do with the senior leadership of the church.  I wanted them to mind their own business and let me do it all on my own.  They didn’t trust me nor did I trust them, which made my first church experience as a professional Christian youth worker pretty painful.  The senior leadership didn’t give a rip about what we were doing in youth ministry, so I didn’t give a rip about what they were doing on Sunday morning.  I would actually make fun of the Sunday morning service and some of the senior leadership.  I wish I would have befriend a few of the elders and senior pastor and just learned their stories, hearts and why they do ministry the way they do.

Abandon my theological arrogance:  The downside of not growing up in church is that I didn’t know any doctrine or Scripture.  So I had to learn fast, so I went to seminary.  I went from zero to 60.  I was able to read koine greek and do exegesis like it was going out of sytle, which made me prideful in my “theological ability”.  I become so obsessed with theology that I started looking for theological fights for fun– especially if you were a Calvinist.  I thought I had it all theologically figured out and I had the bookshelf to prove it.  Somewhere along the line, I realized that debating theology is not productive nor helpful when leading a youth ministry.  I really wish I would have shut my mouth, displayed a theology of humility and not showboated my theological education.  Arguing over minor theological issues is not worth it.

Get youth ministry mentors:  Early on, I decided not surround myself with wise-experienced youth ministry people.  I wanted to be a maverick, which only lead me to dark and lonely places (this was one of the main driving forces why I started blogging–I was so lonely that I needed to connect with other youth workers)   Honestly, not getting a youth ministry mentor is one of my biggest regrets.  I wish I would have got a mentor that I respected who would have whipped me into shape.  This mentor could have saved a lot of my youth ministry trainwrecks.  I thought getting a mentor was not only a big waste of time but a huge hinderance to my youth ministry experimentation because the mentor would teach me how to play it safe.

Involve Parents:  I had so many solid parents at my finger tips that I didn’t use.  I wanted to really utilize my youth ministry staff to do the work of the ministry, which alienated parents.  Essentially I stiffed arm any parents that wanted to help because I was intimated.  Involving parents is so huge because they are not only super reliable but they are the primary spiritual leaders in their students life.  I thought by not including them in the mission of the youth ministry I was doing them a favor by saving them time since they were already so busy.

Find a balance between outreach and discipleship:  When I first started youth ministry, I was soooooo amped to reached the unchurched.  I was bent towards unchurch kids.  I did some crazy events in order to attract unchurch teens who were never step into a church building.  Yes I got some gnarly kids to church, but the youth ministry was not able to assimulate them into the larger church body.  I was just too focused on outreach and I intentionally neglected church kids.  The parents hated me because of my favoritism towards the fringe kids.  Looking back, I wish I would have done more to cater to the Christian kid crowd.

Implement small groups immediately: Getting students into small groups was not a priority.  I thought the real “teaching” happened through the youth group sermons.  Small groups are great because students get another adult to pour into them and they get a positive group of peers that can come alongside them in their walk with Christ.  If I was going to redo something I would build a youth ministry solely on small groups– way more sustainable and healthy.  The best teaching moments happen organically in small group and not from the stage.

Recruit more leaders and expect more out of them:  I hated asking other adults to help.  I thought that I would bother, annoy or overwhelm other adults if I asked them to “help”.  It was my job to do the work of the youth ministry, not others, right?  In fact I set the bar pretty low for the leaders who were serving in youth ministry.  I was very happy if they just showed up.  HOWEVER, I found that when recruiting adults to work with this next generation they do not see it as an annoyance but rather see it is a gift.  Getting an adult to pour into the next generation is a great opportunity and it is perfectly okay to have high expectation of them as they lead and mentor students in their faith with Jesus.  I was just scared to ask when I started out in youth ministry.  I was under the assumption that no one else really “enjoyed” working with teens.  Now I will ask any adult if they want to join the incredible opportunity to work with the next generation.

Develop a 12 month teaching plan:  I ain’t going to lie to kick it—-I prepared my youth group talks the day of youth group.  I didn’t have a plan for what was being taught in youth group.  I had one leader sit me down saying that my youth group talks were not only very disorganized  but never made sense.  I really wish I had a plan or just a strategy on what and when I was teaching my students.  I simply just relied on my “funny” stories and for the Spirit to lead me.  And we as youth workers only really have about 3-5 talks in us and anything after that becomes repetitive.  This fly by the seat of your pants method does not work in the educational system nor does it work in youth ministry.

Delay seminary:  If I was going to redo my youth ministry career all over again, I would go to seminary towards the middle of my ministry career and not in the beginning.  I went to seminary when I was 21.  I basically went from the frat house to seminary– probably not the best idea– I was way young and still really immature.  I should have saved money to pay for seminary.  Instead I am still paying my seminary loans off.  Also I am still processing many of my seminary notes and lectures.  At the time I was so concern to finish my MDIV fast that I never really took the time to internalize the theological education and content.  Still to this day I frequently go back to my seminary notes.   Seminary is intense and you have to be pretty mature to make it through the rigorous academics, especially if your bent is more towards ministry practitioner.

Thankfully:

-  I got multiple diverse church experiences that taught me ministry is tough, complex and you will need help.

-  I married a rockstar who had no problem correcting my flawed thinking and behaviors which helped me become a youth pastor.

-  I had opportunities to talk to theological sages who taught me about what really matters– Love God and People.

-  I found some really great youth ministry friends that challenged my ideology

-  I realized more and more that God is always working on my heart and that He is sovereign.

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So if I placed you into the car time machine; and you were able to re-do your first youth ministry job, what would you do differently?   

(pic:  Some rights reserved by ADHD CENTER)

If you are anything like me, I perform my best when I am doing a ton of different projects at a time.  Any given time, I will typically have 6-12 windows open on my computer.  

I have self diagnosed myself as having ADHD.

I don’t know if this ADHD thing  is a byproduct from hanging out with a teenage generation who is constantly distracted or a chemical imbalance in my brain?  But serving in the trenches of youth ministry, I have somehow adapted and become a very distracted 30 year old.

The issue is that we (youth pastors) are subjects to multiple streams of digital information that is always demanding attention and time.   The constant overflow of information is overwhelming which causes us youth workers not to focus.   21^st century media theorist, Katherine Hayles (Duke professor), is noticing a cultural shift  from deep focus (spend a lot of time on a few things) towards hyper attention (spend shorter time on a lot of things).  The ditigal age moves fast and if you cannot keep up you will be in trouble.

Thus, in the digital age, those who can effectively manage multiple information streams will win.  Those that can masterly and rapidly switch focus between different tasks will become the Rulers of the digital age.

Why?  Because these hyper attention peeps are not only quickly processing information but are able to quickly retain and store it and move on.  And I believe that youth workers will need to lead the way by teaching other adults how to function in the distracted digital age.

-  create high stimuli and aesthetic work environments.  my point:  change the stimulation when changing tasks.  your work space needs to consider your sensory or else you are going to become bored and unproductive.  what you listen to, see and feel in your work space will help or hinder your hyper attention.   for me  i use noise canceling headphones when I need to focus.  when i need to be creative i put myself in a space that has motion and music the moves me to create.

-  use energy stimulants to help focus.  i have no problems using (legal) stimulants to increase mental productivity.  i.e. coffee, energy drinks (with no sugar), green tea, Vitamin B, BSN N.O. Xplode 2.0, Ginseng root, Diet Coke and Basil and Peppermint Oil

-  schedule times in the day and in the week where you are offline.  i try my best to go offline for a few hours after lunch and on Sundays.

-  utilize online storage to manage the high streams of content and info.  the goal is find great info/media and store it so you can not only go back to it but use it later.  I.E Sugarsync, Mypcbackup,  ADrive, Just Cloud, iCloud, MobileMe, dropbox and Evernote

-  carry around a little notebook and write stuff down.  it is all about documenting your thoughts.  when your brain and computer screens are randomly firing ideas, you need a place to capture the thought.  carry a notebook, notecard and/or post-it-notes with you at all times.

-  get a tablet/ipad.  i fought the temptation of getting a mobile tablet for a long time but holy smokes….. it wonderfully captures and stores every ounce of info/medium/thought that i come across.  in fact, i have integrated my entire pastor’s library all on my tablet.  i can do exegesis, look at previous book notes, watch a movie, read or pull a youth group talk in a matter of seconds.

-  use reminders. use calendars alerts, people, alarms and post-it-notes that let you know you need to get a single task done immediately.

-  locate your sweet spots in the day.  find the times in the day where you are most alert, focused and cleared minded.  for me it is the morning.  for some of my friends it is the late night hours.  find those times and get stuff done—fast.

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Do you agree with Katherine Hayles that culture is moving from focus to hyper attention?  Why or why not.  Give examples.

Do you think the majority of youth workers struggle with ADHD? Or am I just generalizing too much?

What are some ways that youth workers can focus while keeping true to their ADHD tendencies?

(cute pet pic brought to you by:  Some rights reserved by Apogee Photography)

I will never forget a particular prayer request I received once at the end of a middle school youth group.  An 8th grade guy nervously raised his hand, requesting that we pray for him because his cat had died earlier that day.  As he was sharing his request, he started crying–very intensely.  I could sense that this 8th grade student was literally destroyed because his little cat had died.  He wanted God to not only heal is pain, but also to know if he would ever see his cat again.  I was so moved by his sincerity that I couldn’t help but get a little emotional as well.

And then, 3 weeks later…

We had a question and answer night during youth group and guess what was the most frequently asked question was?

Do animals go to heaven?

After these 2 episodes, I was determined to explore why teens care so much for animals.  Here are a few of my brief observations as to why animals/pets have such a huge impact on teens:

-  pets unconditionally love, accept and play with their teenage owners even if the teens are awkward and smelly.
- many animated movies use animals to connect with early adolescents.  For example:  Finding Nemo, Lady and the Tramp, Ratatouille, Bolt, Jungle Book, Dumbo, 101 Dalmatians, Bambi, The Fox and the Hound, Lion King, Open Season and Lion, Witch and The Wardrobe (the list goes on and on).  So, the desire to care for and connect with animals has been engrained in the minds of children and adolescents in our culture through movies.
- pets have grown up with their teenager owners. Essentially the pets have journeyed with them through the good, bad and awkward years.  So the pets represent consistency, safety and unconditional companionship.

My theological answer: Your pet, because it doesn’t have a soul, does not go to heaven but……………  I feel like there is more of an ethical piece that early to mid adolescents are wanting to explore.  My middle school students wanted to know how they could protect animals here and now so I had to do a bit of research to figure out how other Christian scholars would address this question without being insensitive or inhumane.  So who do I turn to?

CS LEWIS.

Lewis had such a huge love for animals.

Wheaton scholar, Dr. Jerry Root , investigates a lot of Lewis’s work to make a case for human responsibility for animals.  Root concludes that Lewis does not believe animals exhibit signs of possessing a soul or self consciousness, therefore they cannot experience eternal life.  Although Lewis always stressed a very serious attention to the matter of sharing life with animals on this planet and the human responsibility to care for and love them.   Lewis had the same affinity for animals as today’s teenagers.  Today’s teens are wanting to know that God cares for animals just as much as they do.

My point:  It is undeniable that early adolescents have a natural affinity for animals.  Teens care for and are deeply compassionate towards animals.  So it may be wise for youth groups to capitalize on this opportunity.  In fact, I have been  corresponding with The Humane Society of the United States asking how youth groups can empower teens to care for animals.  The Humane Society of the United States has faith outreach programs that guide and educate the next generation to develop and foster humane attitudes and behavior toward animals.  To find out more about these programs provided by the Humane Society of the United States click here.  And feel free to email the HSUS faith outreach if you have any questions.    The HSUS is really helpful and want youth workers to understand the connection between teens and animals.

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Have you observed the same affinity between teens and their pets in your youth group?

Why do you think teens immediately connect with animals?

Have you ever been asked by your students if animals go to heaven?  If so, how have you answered this question?

See, there is a reason why I call this website an experiment lab for youth pastors.  I thoroughly enjoy looking at the laws of physics and intersecting them with youth ministry.  Granted God engineered these systems (Psalm 19.1)  so I think it is fair to say there is overlap between physics and youth ministry.

My hypothesis:  For the postmodern teen I believe putting them in unfamilar and uncomfortable environments “to do hands on” ministry will greatly test their spiritual maturity.

The Law of Inertia states:  Unless acted upon by an outside force, a body at rest stays at rest and a body in motion stays in motion.

How the Law of Inertia can create spiritual growth in our teens: a student’s faith will remain the same unless acted upon an external force.

Our students’ spiritual life tends to quickly move to “idleness” real fast.  They get saved, they get baptized, they go to church, they follow Jesus’ commandments, then what?  They hit the autopilot button until they graduate.

Many of our students leave our youth group without having a crisis of faith or even having to demonstrate their faith.  I almost think we should manufacture mini-crisis situations that force students to act.  I know this may seem dark and counter-productive, but students are leaving youth group with the same faith they had when they were in 7th grade.  Our students need to be put in environments that apply external force which forces them to test drive their faith.

I think Sir Isaac Newton law of inertia has many corollaries to the spiritual development of a teen.  If Newton was a youth pastor you could almost bet he would apply disruptions in order to produce spiritual growth.  In order to get something to move you have to apply pressure or the spiritual life of a teen will plateau— very quickly.

Applying external force on students’ spirituality requires them to:

- pray to God immediately

- ask God to reveal Himself to them right now

-  test God and see if He will use them

-  heavily rely on God asap

-  exit out of the “comfortable” zone and enter the uncomfortable zone

Applying force puts an urgency on the teen to make a decision of:  Do I really believe this so much that I will act for God?

In Luke 10.1-10, Jesus send out 72 of his followers and said go serve, bless and pray for others in the community.  It is going to be uncomfortable but this is what it means to be the Kingdom of God here and now.

So what are some ways youth pastors create mini external forces that challenge student to act for God?

-  Take your students to apologetic debates between a Christian and an Atheist.  Look at your local colleges or university philosophy departments and see if they have debates happening.  Sometimes they will sponsor religion departments.  Or visit the Stand To Reason website here.  The Stand To Reason guys and gals are from Biola who do the debate thing really well.

-  Take your students on a gnarly 3rd world international mission trip.  My top three picks:  Belize, Haiti and Nicaragua.

-  Invite your students to fast together as a group for more than 30 hours.  The go to event is the 30 hour famine.

-  Randomly start asking students to share their testimony in youth group.  Giving students to talk to other students why Jesus changed their life is so important.

-  Once a quarter randomly select a few nights where you invite your students to go out to the local community and pray for people.  

-  Start practicing hour long solitude times during youth group programming.  Awkward silence creates such an opportunity for the students to search their hearts and the scriptures while asking God what He is doing in and through their life.

-  Visit other churches that are completely opposite in style.  The goal is to find churches that are so different than yours that make you uncomfortable.

-  Invite students to pray out loud in multiple settings at multiple times.  And no I am not talking about asking a student to pray for the meal.  During pray request time, ask a student to immediately pray out load for any student’s request.

-  Find areas of need in your community and serve them.  After the serving encourage students to pray for them.

If you are wanting to apply the law of inertia in your youth ministry, here are some guidelines:

(1) Youth pastor must brief and debrief with the students.  It is important to always walk students through what to do and what just happend.  It is going to be uncomfortable for them to move in a new spiritual direction, so make sure to explain why and how and allow room for them to process out loud.

(2)  Document everything.  Record (both audio and visual), take pictures and write everything down on what happen and how it happened.

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Is it ludicrous to import the law of inertia into our youth group programmatic structure?  Why or why not.

What are other practical ways the law of inertia can help the spiritual life of teens?

(Board game pic brought to you by:   All rights reserved by dennoir)

I know this post may seem elementary and that youth group is NOT about games.   But I need to share why I had so much success using these 5 board games.  By using these 5 board games you can build instant community and fun in youth group in a matter of minutes.

In years past I have had to really work hard at blending different type of student clusters in order to make youth group manageable.  Some student clusters would not talk with other student clusters, so it was very difficult to have a productive time– talking about God’s love in youth group when some youth group students didn’t necessary love the other students.

So how did I “break the awkward ice” and get skater Andrew’s peer group to mingle with homeschooler Tom’s peer group?

BOARD GAMES!!!!!!!  That is right.  No one is to cool for board games.

These top 5 board games have been tried and tested in the most awkward youth group environments especially when the youth pastor is dealing with a diverse group of students who hate each other.  I have found that these board games can be greatly utilized in smaller youth ministries and in small group ministries.  Basically board games are great when trying to cultivate more relational, communal environments.

Trust me… I would wandered the board games aisles in Walmart and Target trying to find the perfect game that was fun, engaging and inclusive.  Here are my findings:

(5)  Spoons:  Spoons is a game that requires alertness and fast muscle reflexes.  The goal of Spoons is to 1) collect  4 cards of one a kind, 2)  get rid of all your cards by collecting all the one of a kinds  (4 queens, 4- 5, 4- kings) and placing them down before anyone else, 3)  not be the last one without a spoon once someone in the circle has no more cards.  You will need 3-5 deck of cards and plastic spoons.   To read a full description of how to play spoons click here 

(4)  Twister:  There are so many variations of twister it is ridiculous.  My favorite twister variation is taping the twister board on the wall and making the students play by the same rules.  Getting students that don’t like each other to get really close to each other is pretty funny to watch.  You can buy the game here

(3)  Scene It?:  This game is a blast.  It keeps the students engaged and challenges their pop culture IQ.  All you need to do is get a TV, DVD player and anyone of the Scene It? versions.  My favorite versions are:  Scene It?  The DVD Movie Trivia Game  Scene It?  TV DVD edition  Trivial Pursuit:  DVD Pop Culture

(2)  Family Feud:  This DVD board game is based off of the game show FAMILY FEUD.  This game really challenges your group of students to rally together as two families.  The answers the students come up with are always hilarious and the students get sooooo into it.  All you need is a TV and DVD player.  Make sure to check out this game here

(1)  Catch Phrase:  Okay I will admit that I had two catch phrase devices in my office at all times.  This game gets the kids talking very fast as one student is given a word or a phrase and then rattles off clues to help get their teammates to guess the word/phrase.  Catch Phrase was my go to game.  Catch Phrase never flops unless you don’t edit the inappropriate words/phrases on the word cards.  Yes I have had some pretty inappropriate words slip through my radar Needless to say: Go buy this game  here now.

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Do you agree or disagree that board games are helpful in building community?  Why or why not.

If so, what board games have you had success with?  Please share.