Encouraging Words from Cary Schmidt » student ministry

Introducing—Higher Call Student Summits

caryschmidt — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 17:00:20 +0000

If you are a student ministry leader or worker, we invite you to participate in the Higher Call Student Summits in 2012!

Beginning in February, Bryan Samms and I have the privilege of partnering with four churches in four regions of the country for the Higher Call Student Summits. These meetings are two-day events hosted by a church in conjunction with West Coast Baptist College. They will feature Bible preaching and teaching for students, as well as practical training and encouragement for leaders.

These events are free for your youth groups, and take place on Friday evenings and Saturday mornings. You can find out more specific details about dates, locations, schedule, etc. if you visit www.wcbc.edu/highercall.

Every hour of the Student Summits has been planned with prayer—for the purpose of challenging young people to rise above culture and commit to the call of Jesus Christ, and to encourage and equip youth leaders in student ministry.

I’m thankful for the privilege to have part in these meetings, and am looking forward to the fellowship we will have with youth groups and leaders! It would be a great honor to meet you and host your group, if you live within driving distance.

The summits will be held near four major regions in 2012—West Florida (February 24-25), Memphis, TN (March 30-31), Atlanta, GA (September 7-8), and Dallas, TX (November 2-3).

Registration is free and simple. Just visit the web site and submit your basic information and the approximate number of students you would bring. Also, we will be happy to send you brochures to distribute to your youth group if you request them when you register.

We hope to see you at one of the summits! Let me know if you have questions!

United—Fighting for the Next Generation

caryschmidt — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 16:48:18 +0000

The contemporary church is seeing a mass exodus of young adults walking away from their faith in their late teens and early twenties. Some studies say the percentage is around 80% while others estimate it to be much higher. The statistic highlights major failures in many contemporary church ministry on a number of levels, but not all churches are seeing this lack of fruit.

While we are never content to see even one young life walk away from the faith, God has seen fit to bless biblical principles in the ministry of Lancaster Baptist Church. He has blessed the application of His Word across all ages of ministry. And over the past 25 years we’ve seen approximately 80% of our graduates stay faithful to the Lord. We’re not seeing the mass exodus in this church that many churches are seeing. And often we are asked “why?” What is God blessing?

In the next few paragraphs, I would like to share a concise summary of Bible principles that God is using to help young people grow up at Lancaster Baptist with a real faith that sustains into adulthood.

A Local Church Focus—simply put, while our church may have classes and groups of many ages and life context, we are one local church with one purpose and heart. The youngest to the oldest members of our church are a family. We grow together, pray together, serve together, worship together, and function as a church body.

God’s institution for reaching the world, changing lives, and carrying out His work on earth is the local church. Christ died for the church and the New Testament pattern for establishing others in the faith of Christ (of any age) is the New Testament Church. Our student ministry has never been an entity unto itself. It has always been integrally a part of our local church body. Our students may graduate from the youth group, but they never graduate from the local church.

“…that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.” 1 Timothy 3:15

A Family-Orientated Ministry—the first “institution” that God ever established was the home—the biblical family. And throughout His Word, He gives clear instructions to parents to teach, disciple, and nurture their children in the ways of the Lord. Many families have adopted a bit of a secular approach to the faith education of their children. They have essentially handed off the responsibility of Bible training to the church—considering themselves either too busy, or inadequate to the task. The problem is not that the church is teaching the Word, but that the parents are not.

Nothing could be more dangerous to our children spiritually. No local church entity can out-influence a parent. And God never intended for us parents to abdicate our responsibility simply because we place our children in a “spiritual environment.” It’s not either or, it’s both and! For twenty-five years our children’s and youth ministries have partnered with families, equipped families, and strengthened families in developing faith and discipling young people. While some youth ministries are structured to separate the family in spiritual contexts, ours has always been structured to unite the family. Together, the church youth ministry stands united with parents to fight for the next generation.

“And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.” Ephesians 6:4

A Father-Led Philosophy—my first morning on staff at Lancaster Baptist Church included a 7 a.m. men’s prayer meeting. I will never forget meeting in Pastor Chappell’s office with a group of men that came in early to pray. This was not a staff meeting. It was a group of laymen. That morning we prayed around the room for over an hour, and one by one I heard young Christian men—recently saved husbands and fathers—on their knees, pouring out their hearts to God. They prayed for their children, their marriages, their pastor, their church, and for lost souls.

That meeting is forever etched into my memory. I knew that morning that God was going to do something great at Lancaster Baptist. Here was a pastor dedicating himself to building and discipling men to be godly fathers and leaders both at home and in the church. And since that time, God has continued to honor Pastor Chappell’s commitment to disciple faithful men.

“And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.” 2 Timothy 2:2

An Age-Based, Biblical Education Effort—every now and then someone will ask me, “…is youth ministry in the Bible? Is age-graded education really a biblical concept?” The answer is a simple yes—when done biblically! While the title of “children’s pastor” or “youth pastor” isn’t found in the Bible, there are several passages that very clearly promote the concept of the church bringing order to age-based education.

First, in Titus 1:5, the Apostle Paul commands Titus to “set in order” the things that are wanting. This is a broad command that gave Pastor Titus a directive to establish structure and order in ministry. Then, later in Titus 2, the Apostle Paul gives a clear pattern for older men and women (not just parents) to teach younger men and women. Titus 2 is a key Bible passage for establishing a biblical ministry to youth and young adults.

He begins by telling us to teach sound doctrine, then proceeds to give a longer, more detailed list that older Christians (men and women) in the congregation should impart to younger Christians.

Finally, Galatians 4:2 gives fathers permission to appoint tutors and governors in their children’s lives to assist in instruction and education.

God has blessed these simple but powerful principles at Lancaster Baptist. In ministry to young people, we focus on faith-building, Bible teaching and training. Student ministry isn’t about entertainment. It’s about meat—content—prepared, delivered, and applied to young lives, just as the Apostle Paul did by addressing different age groups and life-contexts in his letters. (See Ephesians 5 and 6)

“But speak thou the things which become sound doctrine: That the aged men be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, in charity, in patience. The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things; That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed. Young men likewise exhort to be sober minded.” Titus 2:1-6

A Biblical Student Ministry—the contemporary church has missed the mark in modern student ministry, and the statistics prove it. And movements that are “anti-student ministry” or “anti-local church” are also missing the mark. Biblical student ministry is all of the things above, but it is first and foremost about the Bible!

Somewhere over the past few decades, many churches began to believe that young people couldn’t be serious about faith or truly interested in a personal relationship with Christ. This errant assumption led to a “dumb it down” mentality—an attempt to sort of sneak up on kids with spiritual things by masking it in fun and flippancy. The false assumption was that “Christ is not attractive enough, so we need to make the faith attractive by making it entertaining or humorous.”

Don’t misunderstand me. We have lots of fun with our young people. We laugh—that’s biblical. We enjoy and rejoice in the faith and with each other—that’s biblical. We love living life for Christ—that’s biblical. But we have never felt a need to mask the sober things of Scripture or the doctrines of God’s Word with the “icing” of the world. We don’t lower God to their level. We would rather, by His grace and Word, lift them into His presence.

Guess what?! They get it! They understand the truth. They appreciate it. And more importantly, they fall in love with God—not merely with a program or an entertaining activity. And when they grow older, when they out-grow juvenility, they won’t out-grow their Saviour.

“For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe.” 1 Thessalonians 2:13

A Personal Mentoring Commitment—developing faith in young lives at our church has never been merely a group proposition. It has always been a personal, relational process. In addition to our group teaching times, it has always been about an older man or an older woman from within the church family investing into a younger man or younger woman spiritually. This happens in coffee shops, McDonalds booths, and living rooms every week all across our city. And this personal ministry gives the public teaching context an even greater depth and effectiveness.

When I read or hear of someone questioning the validity of youth ministry, or when I hear someone say, “Youth ministry or age-based ministry isn’t in the Bible…” I wonder how young Timothy would feel about that. Long before he was a pastor or a minister in training, he was a lost youth without a Christian father, who was reached and discipled by the Apostle Paul.

In ministry to children, youth, or young adults, we can’t take the parent’s place in training the child, but thanks to local church and biblical principles, we can stand united with them—striving together for the faith in young lives. Parents should never hand off the baton of faith-training. But there’s certainly nothing wrong with being in the same boat (the local church) together and grabbing an oar!

I challenge you—parents, pastors, youth workers, children’s workers, and local church family—stand united in fighting for the next generation. God’s pattern—the local church and the family laboring together to build faith in young lives—still works, if we will commit to it!

“…that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel;” Philippians 1:27

A Man, a Boy, and a Bible…

caryschmidt — Thu, 26 May 2011 17:53:38 +0000

I love the way God shows up in ways we least expect. This morning is another McDonald’s morning. As my system is coming out of chemo effects, the stomach was asking for pancakes and my heart longed for some quiet time with the Lord. (Funny thing is, before cancer I was no fan of pancakes.) Both of my normal seats in McDonald’s were taken, so I was forced to sit in a booth behind a teenage boy. He was sitting across the table from middle-aged man, and the two seemed to be engaged in a very focused conversation.

My first thought was, that looks like me! I can’t count how many times I’ve sat in McDonald’s with a teenage boy trying to mentor, encourage, minister, or mend. As I sat down, I wasn’t exactly eavesdropping, but I couldn’t help but overhear parts of the conversation. The experience was surreal.

The man took out a Bible, opened it, and began sharing various verses and principles of wisdom. He was saying things like, “You can recover from this…” “God wants to help you change these character flaws if you will trust Him…” “Don’t wait until later in life, like I did…” The boy, perhaps sixteen or seventeen, was guarded, a bit resistant, but not completely hardened against the selfless love that was being manifested toward him. At one point he looked at the man and said, “I’m just tired of being good.” This was an all too familiar response!

At this point I realized, God is giving me an outside perspective of what I’ve tried to do hundreds of times.

I felt for the man, who probably sat there feeling utterly helpless and insufficient to the moment—grabbing and desperate for words that he felt were falling on a hardened heart. In the moment I’m sure he felt as if he were losing the battle and was accomplishing very little. Silently I was cheering him on and praying for him.

I felt for the boy who was obviously in a very foggy place in his teenage life. His body language was not that of a scorner, but perhaps more of a desperate, frustrated, sceptic—someone who was dealing with a troubled situation and not sure how to respond. I’m not sure if he had done something wrong or experienced some recent trial. I know he was in a precarious moment of evaluating whether the faith and way of Jesus Christ was really his answer for life’s big stuff or not. I imagined that ten or twenty years from now, these few moments in this McDonald’s booth would prove to be pivotal either for good or bad.

I’m not sure if the man was the boy’s dad, his step-dad, a pastor, or a youth pastor. I’m certain of one thing—he loved that boy. He poured his heart out in compassionate tones. He opened the Word of God and shared timeless truth. He gave his morning to sit in a plastic booth with a needy young man. The picture of ministry and Christ-like love was powerful.

Over the forty-five minutes that they sat there, the boy gradually softened. I doubt all the problems were solved. I doubt the man felt successful. But seeds were planted. A heart was definitely turned. God’s Spirit used God’s Word in the hands of a compassionate leader to show Christ’s love and patience.

I sat there and prayed for the man and boy. Part of me wanted to interrupt and tell this boy how much this man loved him. Part of me wanted to tell this man that he was winning the battle, even though he couldn’t see it yet. Part of me wanted to just thank the Lord for people that I don’t even know who are doing the work of Christ in all sorts of quiet, unnoticed places.

Then, the conversation wrapped up. The boy walked away first and the man followed. As he did, I caught his eye, gave him a thumbs up, and whispered, “I’m a youth pastor… I know where you’re at.” He smiled with a bit of uncertainty and said, “Hey, I’ll pray for you if you’ll pray for me.” I answered, “I have been…” We both smiled and he walked out. Part of me wanted to sit with him and share war stories.

There are a lot of take-aways from this experience, but just one that I will leave here for the sake of brevity.

In real ministry, we all find ourselves in these moments when we are sharing God’s Word, talking our hearts out to someone that we are desperate to help. In those moments, we struggle for words and fight for every bit of wisdom we can possibly call on. We never feel like we did God’s Word or God’s truth justice. We never feel like we had enough wisdom or enough “right words.” We leave these moments wondering if we made a difference at all—and we really won’t know for about a decade.

But as I sat there watching this scene, the Holy Spirit reminded me—yes, the words of the man are vital and necessary, but there’s something more powerful than the verbal art of talking or persuasion. Ten or twenty years from now, there’s little chance that this boy will remember the words this man is saying in this moment. But he will NEVER forget this moment. He will never forget the heart. He will never forget that a man loved him enough, during a difficult and confusing moment, to take him to McDonald’s one morning and encourage him with a Bible. He will never forget the selfless love expressed in the sacrifice of time, the investment of relationship, and the opening of the Word of God.

The boy may not remember the lecture, but he will never forget the love. He may not remember the conversation, but he will never forget the compassion. He will forever remember the day that a Christ-like man took a timeless Bible and pointed him the right direction in life.

What a great picture of ministry! For the rest of my life, I want to spend my life taking God’s Word, opening it with confused people, and compassionately pointing them the right direction. How about you?

Boundaries in Student Ministry Part 3

caryschmidt — Sat, 21 May 2011 17:57:00 +0000

This is the third and final post in this series. You can read part one here, and part two here. Before we begin, I want to clearly state that I am not LEGAL COUNSEL. Laws changes, and circumstances vary, so with this general information, I strongly suggest you obtain legal counsel when dealing with criminal matters in student ministry.

Sadly, if you serve in student ministry for long, and at any depth, you’re most certainly going to have a teenager approach you at some point with an accusation of abuse. In some cases this is verbal abuse, in others physical, and in others sexual. The accusations will range from parents, to close family, to extended family, to teachers and others. In my 21 years of experience, I’ve dealt with dozens of these situations. Unfortunately, usually the accusations are true, but not always. I have dealt with numbers of occasions where the accusations were false and proven to be so over time.

It is vital that you have a zero tolerance policy for criminal or abusive situations. It is vital that you understand your responsibility to protect victims and help them find legal and spiritual help. It is vital that you fully cooperate with all legal authorities. And it is also vital that you handle the accusations appropriately so that authorities can determine their truthfulness and full extent. Here are some thoughts:

In Relation to Abusive Situations and Mandatory Reporting:

Involve only the people that are a part of the problem or the solution.
Inform the pastor and other key ministry leaders whenever an abusive situation is being handled.
Do not approach or inform the accused. This is for legal authorities to handle.
Obtain legal counsel and do exactly as you are told in handling abuse.
Always report sexual abuse or criminal abuse immediately to legal authorities.
Keep careful documentation of sensitive or sexual matters, counseling sessions, and how you reported abuse.
Keep records of who you spoke with when you reported abuse.
Be familiar with your insurance company’s reporting guidelines and submit necessary reports.
Have the phone number for Child Protective Services and Local Law Enforcement accessible.
If law enforcement is unresponsive, call your contact and ask about response.
Be available to spiritually support, pray with, and encourage the victim and family involved. (Not the abuser)
Stay out of the legal investigation and don’t communicate with any one in a way that could hinder it.
Understand who are considered mandatory reporters: pastors, teachers, adult authorities, etc.
Always cooperate fully with the legal authorities and never try to protect a potential criminal.
Never wait to report physical or sexual abuse or other criminal activity.
Never wait for someone else to report criminal activity. If you know, you are required to report.
Never allow a person who has been accused of previous abuse to work with young people.
Never allow a person to be a child worker without a background check.

These situations are among the most difficult in all of ministry. Helping an abused victim is a heart-wrenching process. Reporting an abuser is never enjoyable. Watching a family torn apart by dreadful crimes committed in secrecy is a horrible thing. And yet, we are called to love, serve, and help to the best of our abilities, even in these terrible types of circumstances. Doing the right thing is always ultimately blessed by God, and you will see some victories over time.

It’s a joy to serve families! But it’s impossible to do so for very long without running into some sensitive and dangerous situations. You must employ these and similar boundaries to insure that you can continue ministering for the long term with integrity and protection. You may not be able to help everybody, but these boundaries will enable you to help a lot more people for a lot longer.

Boundaries in Student Ministry Part 2

caryschmidt — Mon, 16 May 2011 04:15:29 +0000

Developing a Long-Term Ministry of Integrity

We’re talking about boundaries in student ministry. In our first post we discussed boundaries with the opposite gender. Now we move on to understanding and protecting boundaries regarding parents and disciplinary situations. Here are a few thoughts:

Appropriate Boundaries with Parents of Teens or Young Adults:

Always defer to their position of authority in every area—these kids belong to them.
Honor parents and thank them for allowing you to have influence—display genuine humility in this.
Prefer family time over youth ministry time—time with parents is far more vital than youth group.
Be accessible and approachable by parents—don’t be intimidated by their questions.
Have a servant’s heart toward the whole family and encourage parents—they get discouraged too.
Support family decisions even when you disagree on matters of preference—never express disagreement to their kids.
Support parents to kids always, no matter what your desire would be—teach them honor.
Support parents educational decisions and convictions—even if you disagree.
Teach kids the Bible, that’s your primary responsibility—stay focused on it.
Always involve parents in discipline issues, preferably before you deal with the teen—the teen will often misrepresent you.
Always contact the parents as early as possible in discipline or areas of concern—they must know your heart and actions.
When possible deal with discipline with the parents present—this allows every one to understand the situation.
Never look at students private messages, cell-phones, emails, etc. without parental permission.

Appropriate Boundaries Related to Disciplinary Matters:

Never publicly embarrass or humiliate a student over a private discipline issue.
Never insinuate guilt or problems merely based on your own suspicion or cynicism.
Never make your private suspicion a public matter—meet with the student personally.
Never accuse, but simply compassionately ask—accusations harden the will but questions stimulate the conscience.
Never attack or disrepect other authorities in their lives—ie: “some of your parents…”
Never go fault-finding or digging, let God bring a problem to the surface—we aren’t pharisees.
Never allow a past discipline situation to affect your spirit towards a teen in the future.
Never put punitive action before restorative action—be a shepherd, not a sentencing judge.
Grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace, grace— ’nuff said.

You can’t defer to parental authority and the institution of the home too much. And you can’t show too much grace. Too often we step out of bounds in these areas. In part three we’ll discuss matters of abuse and cooperation with authorities.

This is a short list, so please add to it if you can.

Click here to read part three…

Boundaries in Student Ministry Part 1

caryschmidt — Sat, 14 May 2011 15:53:07 +0000

Establishing a Long-Term Ministry of Integrity

This is going to be a series of posts in which I want to discuss the establishment of appropriate boundaries in student ministry. I’ve dealt with my share of situations over the years where men and women crossed lines, hurt people, usurped authority, and in some cases even committed crimes that changed the whole course of their lives.

It’s easy to forget that God has given us structures of authority and limitations to our roles. It’s easy to be unwise in our attempts to “help” people. It’s possible for a well-meaning minister to step out of bounds. And in some cases, the behavior of some “so-called” youth workers becomes criminal. Abuse and impropriety is tragic, no matter where it happens—whether at a place of business or an athletic team, but it is especially hurtful to the testimony of Christ when it happens in ministry environments.

God’s Word clearly commands us to be “blameless”:

“A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach;” 1 Timothy 3:2

“And let these also first be proved; then let them use the office of a deacon, being found blameless.” 1 Timothy 3:10

“And these things give in charge, that they may be blameless.” 1 Timothy 5:7

“If any be blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children not accused of riot or unruly. For a bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God; not selfwilled, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre;” Titus 1:6, 7

“Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.” 2 Peter 3:14

Hopefully this series of posts will prove to be preventative for you. Frankly, following these boundaries could keep you out of jail. At the very least, they will help you avoid false accusation for the duration of your ministry. In this first post I want to focus on boundaries when ministering to the opposite gender. And this goes both ways—men with girls, and ladies with boys.

Boundaries When Ministering to the Opposite Gender:

Have a “no touch” policy with the opposite gender—this is always a safe position.
Never be in a room alone behind closed door—always door opened, people nearby.
Never be behind a locked door—this is actually against the law, and why would you ever need to?
Never pull someone into private conversation that others could not hear—danger zone of accusation.
Never deal with sensitive or sexual situations without a witness and preferably a parent present—and get parental permission if at all possible.
Never have ongoing, repeat counseling meetings with the same person—let someone of the same gender handle this.
Never be excessively or intimately complimentary—eg: “You have the most beautiful eyes.”
Never emotionally endear a young person to yourself—endear them to the Lord and other authorities.
Always be plural in your approach to personal comments—eg: We love you, my wife and I are proud of you!
Always keep messaging or digital communication limited, public, and very general in nature—where parents and spouses can see/read.
Always include both families in personal notes/letters/communication—my spouse, your parents, our pastor.
Always be where other people are nearby, never alone or isolated—open spaces with others.
Always resist responding to an obvious attraction or intrigue from a young person—teen girls/guys get crushes.
Always let ladies deal with dress or modesty problems—men, never personally mention a dress concern to a girl.
Always let ladies handle ongoing female counseling problems—or don’t solve the problem.
Always immediately involve parents in all sensitive situations—phone calls, appointments, letters, etc.
Never promise a teen that you will not talk or share information—you are required to talk to those who can help.

These boundaries are safe and will allow you many fruitful, blameless years of appropriate ministry with young people.

Every now and then, I will counsel a young lady in my office. Her first notion is to shut the door, but I always say, “Please leave that open.” That often evokes a bit of resistance, “But this is private!” (She’s referencing the fact that secretaries are sitting just outside my office and people are walking by. “If you want to meet with me, that door has to stay open.” That’s usually all it takes. The meeting proceeds and the boundaries are protected.

This has just been the first post, in the coming posts we will discuss cooperation with legal authorities, parents, and many other scenarios. I hope you will stick with me.

One final thing, this list could probably be longer, so please add your thoughts. What boundaries have you established to protect your testimony and others as you minister to young people?

Click here to read part two…

Click here to read part three…

Life Quest Curriculum Available!

caryschmidt — Sat, 30 Apr 2011 18:45:39 +0000

A new curriculum for Senior High and Single Adult ministry is now available from Striving Together Publications! Life Quest features 13 weeks of lessons taken from the book by the same name. The lessons are focused on helping an older teen or a twenty-something young adult to move forward in a culture that continues to prevent them from embracing adulthood.

This series is designed to combat the cultural trend for twenty-something young adults to avoid maturity and responsibility. It will equip them to make wise choices and to pursue the will of God for the future. It will challenge their faith and help them chart a course for wisdom, purpose, and passion for God. The curriculum comes with a teacher’s edition as well as student guides.

Click here for more information or to order!

Managing Behavior or Mentoring Hearts?

caryschmidt — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 14:56:46 +0000

If you had to quantify your ministry or parenting focus with the following words, which two would be the most accurate?

Managing Behavior… OR

Mentoring Hearts

It’s easy to default to the “Managing Behavior” position—in both ministry and parenting. Why? Because managing behavior is easier. It simply requires a strong hand of authority and a list of expected behaviors. It’s also more visibly rewarding—you can point to “how good” everybody looks and behaves. Scary thing is—behavior changes when you’re not around to manage it.

Uh-oh… that’s where merely managing behavior becomes a horrible waste of life and an utterly futile philosophy of ministry. Managing behavior is like babysitting—it’s only concerned with the short term. It doesn’t successfully transfer the faith of Christ to another life.

“Mentoring Hearts”—this is the philosophy of ministry that creates HUGE long-term fruit. But mentoring the heart takes time, training, teaching, investment, and sacrifice. It requires that you practice the truth, and make the truth practical. It’s much more difficult, less visible, less measurable, and less tangible than managing behavior. The results take longer, but they last a lifetime!

If you are called to ministry, or called to parenting—manage behavior when necessary, but don’t stop there and don’t let behavior be your only gauge of success. Dig deeper and get below the surface.

If you wish to grow real faith in young lives for the long term—you must focus on the heart. Young people see through behaviorism. They learn the game. They learn how to keep everybody “off their backs.” They go through the motions. They mistake “the motions” for the real Christian life—and eventually they walk away from the game.

And in so doing, they never truly fall in love with God. And that’s the greatest commandment—love God with your whole heart!

Young lives that fall in love with God, rarely run from Him.

Stay focused on the heart—that’s the center of the target!

OK—your turn! What are some ways YOU minister to the hearts of those you lead?

A Wrap Up to the “Saddest Letter”

caryschmidt — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 05:54:03 +0000

Several days ago I called the young lady who sent me the letter. We had a great talk and I was encouraged by her spirit. We talked for 40 minutes. (She also commented today on my last response.) One of the most surprising aspects of her letter, to me, has been the tendency of a small percentage of readers to jump to unreasonable conclusions—blaming church, pastors, or personal standards of living. The vast majority of readers understood the heart of the letter—family and spiritual disconnect.

As a wrap up, I wanted readers of the letter to know a few things for certain:

1. The young lady who wrote the letter was not blaming parents, church, or a lifestyle becoming of the Gospel. She personally told me she’s thankful for her church, her parents, her spiritual foundation, and even most of the personal standards that she was taught. In the letter, she was pointing out what was missing from the mix of her upbringing—not disparaging what was good and right about it.

2. The heart of her burden was a relational disconnect with her parents and with the Lord. She loves her parents and appreciates the right things they did. She simply saw a major blind spot—one that exists in many families—and is burdened for others coming behind her with the same experiences.

3. And the best part—she is preparing to serve God with her life! I love it! She personally told me she wants to teach in a Christian school. Regardless of what was wrong about her upbringing, there must have been a lot right for her to be in this present place spiritually! Not only is she NOT angry, vengeful, and spiteful towards biblical Christianity and godly living, she is eager to complete Bible college and get into ministry. This encouraged my heart!

I am proud of this young lady for seeing and sensing what was missing, and for responding with maturity, personal responsibility, and spirituality. She is developing her heart for the Lord and walking with Him, and that will set her on a wonderful path for the rest of her life.

Thanks for reading and for sharing your thoughts as well!

Response #3 to the Saddest Letter

caryschmidt — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 00:37:25 +0000

I’ve been late in this final post—thanks for your patience. On top of that, I’m sure it will be too long. Several days ago I had a very good 40-minute conversation with the young lady who wrote the letter. Her heart is tender to the Lord and I will share some of that in a “wrap up” post tomorrow.

As for this third response, here are the primary things I would say to the young lady who wrote the letter:

1. Pursue God and Loving Jesus with All of Your Heart and Future. Ephesians 6:6 reminds us to do the will of God from the heart. God tells us His first command is that we love Him with all of our hearts. Regardless of your past, or who failed you (and we all have people who failed us) it’s now up to you to keep your Christian life real, from the heart.

Externals are just that—externals. They are to be the product of a right heart, not a replacement or cover for it. Whatever outward service or standards you have in life, let them flow from a fervent, heart-based love for Jesus Christ. Let your life flow from the inside out. The externals of the Christian life—the preaching, teaching, worship, service, standards—only make sense if you have a real heart walk. If you don’t, you will only end up resenting the externals, as many Christians do. Nobody but you can make sure that your heart and love for Jesus are strong.

2. It’s Time to Prove Your Own Beliefs and Biblical Standards. Some would counsel you to abandon the outward evidences of Christianity that you have been taught—I’m glad that is not your heart. That would be a mistake. Externals do not produce spirituality, but a truly spiritual heart will always “shew forth” externally. You can’t hide godliness beneath a carnal exterior. Now is the time to dig deep, embrace not only the biblical externals, but the solid foundation of belief that you have been given. Now is the time to prove and establish your own personal convictions based upon the Word of God. Titus 2:11-12 states that the grace of God teaches us to deny ungodliness. God’s Word is clear that our conversation (lifestyle) is to be as becometh the Gospel (Philippians 2:17). We are commanded to shew forth the praises of Him… (1 Peter 2:9).

3. The Passing of Time Will Change Your Perspective. Over the coming decade, and longer, you will gradually become more and more thankful for what your parents did right, and more forgiving of their blind spots. You will become more and more grateful that they stayed married, kept you in church, gave you a solid foundation, and protected you from sin. Don’t be too hard on them. When you are a parent, you too will have blind spots that you will need your children to forgive.

4. Don’t Mistake Parental Blind Spots for Flaws in the Faith or Way of Jesus Christ. There is no perfect earthly authority. One of my great prayer requests is that my own children and those I influence would stay faithful to the Lord—in spite of my imperfections. Human flaws don’t indicate that the truth is flawed or that the ways of Christ are flawed. They simply reveal that we all struggle at this thing of the Christian walk. I’m glad to know that you haven’t hardened your heart to church, to preaching, to teaching, or to other right things in your life.

5. Don’t Mistake Institutional Structure for Personal Holiness. A school, a college, or any institution must have structure. In Christian environments, often that structure is mistaken as some ultimate standard of personal holiness. For instance, it’s not a sin to chew gum, but most Christian educational institutions don’t allow it. Every school must draw boundaries of appropriate dress, behavior, etc. It’s a huge mistake to assume that the school’s boundaries should be the standard of holiness for every Christian. Personal holiness cannot be that legislated and institutionalized. Be thankful for institutions that raise the standard high. But develop your own walk with Christ and your own personal standards of holiness.

6. Deal with the Bitterness and Forgive. There’s only one option regarding those who have failed you. Forgive them, as Christ has forgiven you, and refuse to become bitter. Stop and think about the ways you’ve failed those same people. Consider all that they have done for you. If you become bitter, your life and future will become a reaction to the failure of others. Don’t let that happen.

7. Build on the Right Foundation that Your Parents Gave You. There isn’t a parent alive that doesn’t hope their kids will grow up and do things better than they did. We all do our best, make our mistakes, and hope that we gave our children the tools to do better. I promise, your parents feel the same. These experiences place you in the position to determine that you will do things differently with your own kids. So build on what your parents gave you, and decide now that you will build the relationships that you missed. Don’t repeat history. Determine to provide for your children the balance that you missed.

8. Ask the Lord for the Right Opportunity to Talk to Your Parents. The coming years will probably afford you a good opportunity to develop what you missed out on. Ask the Lord to give you the grace, the wisdom, and the love to pursue that closeness that you haven’t had yet. There’s still a chance to have it.

9. Be Ready for Some Teens and Those to Whom You Minister to Reject Your Message. By far, most of the young people I’ve known over the past 20 years have stayed faithful to the Lord. But each one has a free will, and even in a perfect environment, some young adults would still grow up and reject truth. This is the price of being in ministry—your message, and more importantly, your Saviour will be rejected. Some who reject will return! So don’t ever lose hope or reject them. Always have open arms to welcome them back.

10. Decide to Be an Open, Approachable Parent. When you have kids, welcome questions. The bottom line is this: the Christian life makes sense. A holy life makes sense! When I read of or meet Christians who reject holy living, I wouldn’t want their life. I wouldn’t trade places with them. Right living is worth it. When our kids reject right living, they are deceived. Make sure your kids can come to you with “why…” and “how come…” and “but what about…” and give them solid, biblical, logical answers. Be real, be a joyful Christian, and help others make sense of the ways of Christ.

There’s a lot more to say, but those are the things that your letter put on my heart. Thank you for writing to me! Keep growing in God’s grace and walking personally with Him! There’s nothing better in all of life!

Response #1 to The Saddest Letter

caryschmidt — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 18:23:22 +0000

Wow! The “Saddest Letter” post provoked a lot of interesting discussion! Since I received it a week ago, I too have been pondering my response, and in many ways, those who commented touched on many of the things that have been on my heart. For reasons of length and direction, I think my response will break down into three posts. The first will be a general response to the broader issues. The second, a response to parents and spiritual authorities. The third, a personal response to the young lady who wrote the letter, and to her generation.

As a side note, let me first say, the letter is real. A few people have expressed doubt that perhaps I wrote the letter. I don’t operate that way. I wouldn’t deliberately post a lie on this blog. If I was writing fiction for the sake of illustration, I would just say so. The young lady who wrote the letter gave us her cell phone and we contacted her personally about using her letter. It jolted me as much as it did you.

So on with my general response. I want to draw a few key and critical points from a big picture perspective:

1. The letter and the problems articulated are not about finding blame. I did not read a spirit of blame in this letter, so much as a sincere and honest cry for help. She acknowledged imbalances that she experienced growing up, sensed that others experience the same, and simply asked that someone try to address these imbalances. Nobody grows up in a perfect home, and yes everybody is ultimately responsible for making their own spiritual choices—but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t address these patterns of imbalance that are prevalent in many homes.

2. The problems described in her letter are universal—they are present in every group, not just one or two. This is not a set of problems that flow from a certain type of church or home. They are foundational problems that could be present in any home. Neglectful parents, fragmented families, and bitter children are the norm for our culture and society. It’s impossible to point at any particular brand of Christianity and say, “That’s the source!”

3. There truly are some fantastic resources for parents and families that address the very problems this young lady described. And I believe there is a growing generation of parents (one which this young lady will probably soon be a part of) that desperately want to fight these problems biblically and with godly compassion. The two books that come to mind that every parents should read multiple times are both written by Tedd Tripp—Shepherding a Child’s Heart and Instructing a Child’s Heart. These books excellently detail a biblical approach to parenting that will resolve the problems described in the letter.

4. Rules are not the problem, lack of relationship is the problem. (I’m talking about biblical, well principled rules.) I’ve often seen families and teens toss aside all “rules” under the guise of “legalism”—a word often misused and misunderstood. Tossing rules aside doesn’t help. But I agree strongly that the presence of rules without a strong relationship simply breeds rebellion. Any strong relationship will have boundaries. It’s that simple. My marriage, to be strong, must have boundaries. The boundaries are not standards of legalism, they are merely rules of conduct that protect the relationship. If I love the relationship—the person—there are certain things I will do and will not do—if only to PLEASE the other person. Such is our relationship with God. The behavior, the “faith in action,” along with the rules, should flow from a heart that is deeply in love and close to Him. Loving Him is the only real and lasting motivation for living a godly lifestyle. And the Bible is very clear about God’s desire for us to live godly lives—holy, distinct, separated from the world. But those “rules” or “standards” or “boundaries” are designed not to create mere performance or outward appearance, they are to flow from and facilitate a continued strong personal relationship with the Lord.

I recently taught our senior high an entire lesson on this entitled “Avoiding the Trap of Impersonal Christianity”—the point being that God would rather us put away all of our religiosity if our hearts are far from Him. He desires our hearts first, and then our lifestyle to reflect that heart. In practicality, my own children don’t have a problem with my rules as long as my heart is closely knit to theirs and as long as I am directing their hearts to the Lord. (This lesson will probably post soon on our SM127 podcast on iTunes.)

5. Everybody writes from their own paradigm. I noticed in the comments we all had pretty strong opinions about various aspects of her letter. Some are of the opinion that every church (of a certain type) is this way, or most families (of certain affiliations) are this way. It’s impossible to throw that large of a blanket over Christendom or any one segment of Christianity. For instance, I grew up in several churches. One was well balanced in these matters and trained my parents and me to put relationships first. We did, and as a new Christian family we were greatly helped. One church was exactly the opposite—total surface, appearance driven, and very political in nature. Everything was about externals—if you looked good and conformed well, that’s all that mattered. The vast majority of young people from that church have wandered away from God in their adult years, many into very deep sin. My present church is the one I have served in for 21 years.

Philosophically, we have done our best to be balanced and biblically focused on relationships, but also keep the restraint right by setting the right boundaries. I’m sure we have failed at times. But, we have seen, on average, about 80% of our young people stay faithful to God into their adult years. That’s not good enough, but we are doing our best to fight the battle biblically. Point being, don’t allow your narrow paradigm to cause you to paint with a broad brush over any one segment of Christianity. For instance, if everybody you know is doing it wrong, that doesn’t represent the whole.

6. There are a lot of churches and homes doing it right. Through our teen-parent meetings, family counseling, and fellowship at Lancaster Baptist, it has been my joy to get to know hundreds, perhaps thousands, of parents and families over the years. In addition to this, I’ve been exposed to hundreds of churches and pastors through our ministry, and I want to say, there are a lot of people—pastors, parents, youth pastors—who understand this problem, grew up with this problem, and are fighting to break out of and avoid this trend. Some are those who grew up like the young lady who wrote the letter. Others simply came through ministries where they experienced the imbalance. Others grow up with a good model and are perpetuating it. And yet others are simply godly people who have a very biblical focus in life. But I am encouraged with what I see in Bible-believing churches with whom I fellowship. I am encouraged with the families that I see at Lancaster Baptist and the parents who are diligently attempting to get it right.

7. Kids who grow up in the best of environments can still grow up and choose sin, reject God, and experience deep problems. I guess the ultimate proof of this is that people will choose to reject Christ at the end of the millennial reign! Imagine growing up in the millennial reign of Jesus Christ in the perfect world. Even then, Satan will be able to deceive many and mount an army against Christ. At some point it becomes, not a matter of how I grew up, but where I will decide to go in the future and how I will respond to my past.

8. Finally, the problems revealed in the letter are generational in nature. We’re not dealing with new problems. For the most part, today’s neglectful and disconnected parents are children of the same, and often their grandparents are too. Satan has been hard at work on the American family for many generations. It’s been a long time since healthy families were the norm. It’s been a long time since many people have seen a good model of family life—especially a biblical one.

For instance, just last week I had an appointment with a father who has never talked to his teenage son about sexual matters—this is true of most fathers (and grandfathers). He was asking for help in how to do so. He said his father had never talked to him and he was unsure of how to approach this. I was happy to help, but reminded again of the failure of past generations. I can’t imagine a more important subject for a father and teen son to have a continual and close connection on, but so few actually do.

Many parents have just never seen a good model and never been taught the biblical principles, but I find that Christian parents are hungry to help. That encourages me!

In my next response, I will write to parents. I look forward to hearing your thoughts again… feel free to comment below.

Saddest Letter I’ve Ever Read

caryschmidt — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 19:25:59 +0000

Parents and Pastors—Please Read!!

I received this letter from a young lady last week—a Bible college student who grew up in a Christian home and Christian school. I believe it’s the saddest letter I’ve ever read and right on the mark for so detailing the experiences of so many young Christians. I asked her permission to post it. Please read. Her words will greatly challenge you as a parent or pastor:

Dear Pastor Schmidt,

A few years ago, I read your books Hook, Line, and Sinker, Discover Your Destiny, and Life Quest. I found them to be extremely encouraging and instructive. These books showed me that not only do you have a real heart for young people, but you also understand us well. I am writing to ask you to consider writing a book to our parents and youth workers. Let me explain.

I am a junior at a well-known Christian college. I grew up in highly respected “fundamental independent Baptist” churches, and went to excellent Christian schools. My father has been a Christian worker since before I was born. One would think that my testimony would go something like this:

“I was saved when I was about 5 and I had dedicated my life to God and I have been growing a lot and serving Him and now I’m studying to serve Him full time.” But that isn’t my story. Actually, though I did make a profession of faith when I was very young, I didn’t get saved until I was 17. Since I was 12 and now on into college I have struggled with “serious” issues. And I found out when I went to college that I am not the only “good kid” who is or has struggled with or is still struggling with serious stuff. We struggle with issues like eating disorders, depression and suicide, cutting, pornography, gender identity, homosexuality, drugs, drinking, immorality, and the list could go on. We listen to “wild” music, we idolize pop culture’s heroes, we watch dirty sitcoms. We have no discrimination in our entertainment, dress, or any aspect of our lifestyle. Obviously, I’m generalizing our problems—you would not find that every Christian young person from a conservative background struggles with all of these issues, and praise God, some of us do not struggle with any of these issues.

My point is that the problems that are supposed to be bad kid’s problems belong to us too. Unfortunately, our parents and youth workers don’t know that we struggle with these things and they don’t know what to do with us when they find out. Quite frankly, I believe that if you grabbed the average Christian school teacher or youth worker and asked them, “What would you do if you found out that one of the kids you work with was a homosexual?” they wouldn’t know what to say.

My point is not simply that they don’t know what we struggle with or how to deal with it. I think there is a pretty simple reason why “good” kids struggle with such serious stuff. And that there is a solution. At the risk of being blunt, I’m going to be blunt.

Our parents did not spend time teaching us to love God. Our parents put us in Sunday Schools since K4. Our parents took us to church every time the doors opened, and sent us to every youth activity. They made sure we went to good Christian colleges. They had us sing in the choir, help in the nursery, be ushers, go soulwinning. We did teen devotionals, and prayed over every meal. We did everything right. And they made sure that we did.

But they forgot about our hearts. They forgot that the Bible never commanded the church to teach children about God and His ways. That responsibility was laid at the feet of our fathers. Unfortunately, our fathers don’t have time for us. They put us where we are surrounded by the Bible. But they didn’t take time to show us that God was important enough to them to tell us personally about Him. So to us, Christianity has become a religion of externals. Do all the right stuff, and you’re a good Christian. So, some of us walk away from church. Some of us stay in church and fill a pew. Many of us struggle with stuff that our parents have no idea about because they hardly know us.

I think these problems stem from first, our detachment from our parents, and second from our misunderstandings about the essence of Christianity—a relationship, not a list of rules. I worry that many young people like me are not even saved because of their misunderstandings about Christianity.

I know that this has not been a well articulated treatise, but it comes from my heart. If you are able to help us and our families, we would be so grateful. I realize that probably, there is no way to fix the fact that kids my age are detached from our parents or to straighten out the crazy stuff that we struggle with. The alienation is fixed, the scars are permanent. I know our situation is not hopeless. God is at work in my life and my generation, among those of us who have struggled and are struggling. But maybe our younger siblings can have some help that we never had. Maybe you can write a book for our parents that will grab their attention and help them see that this is serious—that their kids need them, desperately.

I guess I’ve run out of things to say. I must say I’m a little hesitant to share my name with you because that attaches me with my parents, who are, by the way, good people. Thanks for everything you have already done to help Christian teens and their families. I’m eager to see what else God will do through you.

Sincerely,

(Name Removed to Protect Anonymity)

All I could say when I read this letter was, “WOW! She nailed it!” This is the battle I’ve been fighting for 21 years. I’m planning to write a couple of follow up articles to this letter, but for now, let this insightful young lady’s words sink in, and let God help you evaluate your own parenting and influence.

Are we teaching kids to simply appear and act right? Or are we teaching them to LOVE God and KNOW Him personally?

What are your thoughts?

PS – My first response to this letter is posted here.

Texting and Driving—Powerful Video

Cary Schmidt — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 18:49:03 +0000

A friend emailed this to me today and I thought it worth sharing. It’s a ten minute video about cell phone usage and text messaging while driving—sharing real stories. I will definitely make sure my kids watch it! If you have teens or a youth group, you might consider passing it along.

Developing a LifeTouch Database

Cary Schmidt — Sun, 30 Jan 2011 23:22:01 +0000

Have you ever wondered who you are ministering to well, and who you are missing? Whether it’s a class, a group, or a church family, it’s easy to minister to many but miss some—especially those who are quiet.

Some years ago, as our youth group grew larger, we became burdened about who we might be missing in our regular week to week ministry. It occurred to us that we had no reliable way of tracking who was being visited, called, written, or given personal time in ministry. And our heart in ministry is personal relationships—making sure that every student has an opportunity to be mentored and loved one on one.

The answer was what we called the “LifeTouch” database. It’s a simple concept that requires some administrative oversight, but is well worth the effort. It began as an excel spreadsheet which we sorted as needed to generate reports. That led to a man in our church helping us develop an online database accessible from the internet—which means all the LifeTouch information was accessible from anywhere—including a smart phone. Here’s what a lifetouch database is all about:

First we imported all of our student ministry names, addresses, phone numbers, emails, birth dates, age, grade, etc. into our document or file. We separated these by class/grade and gave each worker access to their class roster in the database.

With this database, we decided to track four types of regular contacts or personal ministry. They are as follows:

Visits – personal visits to the home of a class member. (Doesn’t count if they were not home)
Calls – this is a simple phone call of encouragement
Notes – this is a written for of communication, including email or Facebook
Appointment – this would be a time when more than 15 minutes was invested into a life over lunch, a coffee shop, or even after a church service.

Then, we created a column or field for each of these types of contacts in our database. From that moment, we kicked off the effort and asked our workers to report weekly on every visit, call, note, or appointment that they had for student ministry. At first these reports were filled out in Sunday school each week. Our secretary would collect those reports and enter the information. This gave us a good record of everyone who was being ministered to and how.

From there, we began to print lists weekly and distribute them to the teachers and workers. We called them the “No Contact” lists—this was the list of students who had not received any contact yet. Then we could custom print lists showing those who had not been visited, not been called, not been written, or not been taken out for an appointment.

This system helped us, as a group of workers, to make sure we did our best in contacting and ministering to everybody. Unfortunately, it’s not a system I can just put on a disk and give to you. It requires that you have someone on your tech team who understands how to program and maintain an online database. If you have such a person and would like more information about our system, please feel free to email me and I’ll put someone in touch with you.

The system needs to be re-kicked off annually or seasonally as you see fit. We have since reworked our database into a more user friendly format and now our workers are able enter their reports online, and access data including visitation maps and email addresses online. We are preparing to kick this off soon.

The heart of this LifeTouch concept is what’s important—not how you achieve it. The heart is— “Let’s not miss anyone! Let’s make sure we’re ministering to everybody God has given to us!” Whether it’s a simple hand written list, an excel spreadsheet, or an online tool, I encourage you to employ tool to make sure you don’t miss someone. As I said in the beginning of this post, we began with an excel spreadsheet and just sorted columns to print the no contact lists.

It’s simple, but very helpful! The best part of the LifeTouch effort was that it really motivated our team to reach out to every body! Perhaps it will do the same for your team!

Ignite Vision in Your Students

caryschmidt — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 03:43:47 +0000

If there’s one thing that modern culture, technology, and the evolutionary world view have killed in even our Christian teenagers, it’s a life vision. Today, we desperately need an army of student ministry leaders to awaken vision in the hearts of young people. While some teens have some small form of vision for their future, most do not, and those that do usually shoot way low! Most don’t see at all beyond their XBox, iPod, and Facebook page. The result? Lethargy. Apathy. Deadness. A “what’s the point?” perspective on life. The thought process is something like this, “If nobody else believes in me or cares about my future, why should I? Pass the remote control!” As a student ministry leader, I believe God has called me to help young hearts break out of that mentally oppressive enclosure. Let me try to picture for you what I’m talking about.

This past week in Sunday School we were studying lesson five of the Discover Your Destiny series—”What About My Plans?” Historically I start this class by asking individual teens to share their plans and dreams. “What are your hopes for after high school?” We go around the room and kids hesitantly say everything from, “I”m planning to go to Bible college and serve God with my life” to “I’m planning on joining the military and then going into law enforcement.”

One of the exciting aspects of this class is simply taking a moment to “affirm” the amazing potential and future greatness in their lives. This past week, as I looked into the eyes of greatness to be, I was overwhelmed with their potential, but also with the fact that they probably struggle to believe that God really has a great plan for them! One young lady said, “I want to be an elementary teacher.” My heart soared when imagining what a great teacher she would be—and I told her so. “You would make the most incredible 3rd grade teacher, and school with you would be hilariously awesome!” One young man hesitantly said, “I would like to be a pastor.” My heart again raced with excitement as I imagined what a great pastor he could actually be! I told him so, “You would be a fantastic pastor, and I know God would use you to grow and encourage people!” Then something amazing happened.

The class was silent. (Pretty amazing if you know this class!) Riveted. Every eye and every ear attuned. Every single person in the room was dialed in to what was happening. And the kids I was affirming seemed to soak it up. I could tell this was a “God-moment.” I could tell whatever was happening was of the Lord. The Holy Spirit seemed to say, “These kids live in a world that works in excess to kill these dreams and visions. They live in a culture that views them as a marketing group and only wants to lull them into nothingness. They are ignited when someone actually stops and sees real vision and potential in them!” Then He said to me, “One of your responsibilities is to help awaken them to my vision for their future!” “Yes, Lord… Here am I… send ME!”

I made a decision after class. As long as God gives me breath and energy to serve young people, I want to stay captivated by His vision for each of their lives! And I want to communicate that passion to every young life that I can! Yes, I want them to love God. Yes, I want them to develop a real faith. Yes, I want them to live to honor the Lord. But right up there with all these things, I want to transfer a fiery, energetic vision to their hearts. I want God to use me to help them see the potential He has placed into their lives, to surrender that potential, develop it, and then use it for Him. I want to be a tipping point in their lives. I want their futures to be different because God gave me a moment with them. I want to be a catalyst for their future greatness for God. I want them to look back to my time with them and say, “That was one guy who helped me see that God has something special for me!”

The purpose of this post is simply to remind student ministry leaders of two things. First, your students need you to be passionate about their future. Your students are very capable of engaging with a significant vision for life, but they need you to be the catalyst—start the fire! In fact, without even realizing it, they are starving for this type of visionary leadership. Their hearts crave and long for someone to step in and capture their hearts for a fresh, compelling vision. They long for something to awaken them from their stupor and to call them to eternal significance. Like starving refugees, they devour attention that affirms their potential and helps them see beyond the mundane, digital babysitting components of their lives. They respond with vibrance and eagerness when they interact with someone who genuinely believes in them as amazing individuals.

Second, your calling is bigger than program. Your ministry isn’t the sum total of fundraisers, an activity schedule, broken down buses, corny jokes, and a short Bible lesson on Sundays. Don’t let the repetitive nature or the mundane details of your everyday existence in youth ministry cause you to lose sight of the bigger picture. The kids within your influence are growing up very rapidly! Before you know it, your time with them—your opportunity to significantly influence them—will come to an end. You have a huge mission and a short moment to make it happen. Lift your eyes to their future and help them see what God has in mind! It’s one of the most significant things you can do!

So go for it. Think beyond your next youth activity. Get outside of your program world. Don’t get too zoned in on the few scorners or rebels. Stop worrying about being accepted or cool to the teens. And whatever you do, DON’T look at or become enamored with the contemporary youth ministry models of the evangelical movement unless you are writing a term paper on colossal failure!

Instead, get alone with God and let Him re-ignite your heart for what the kids in your youth group could become. Let God show you future pastors, teachers, leaders, parents, missionaries, etc. And then start telling them about it. Affirm them! Call them to the highest pursuit of life! Believe in them and in God’s heart for them! Be consumed with drawing their hearts into God’s vision through His Word! You will be amazed at how they will grow into the vision and beyond it in the years to come.

The greatest influencers of my past were people who joyfully and abundantly helped me see and believe in God’s vision for my life. I had many such mentors. And along the way, I had some discouragers too—even a few in spiritual leadership. To this day, I remember the influencers and thank God for the vision they helped me embrace. And I remember the discouragers and regret that they missed their moment to stir and challenge me as a young person.

Today, personally, my greatest heroes in the ministry are the young people who grew up in our youth group and are now serving God with their lives. I stand in awe of them. I’m humbled to call them friends. They are truly greatness personified. They are all over the place doing amazing things for God, and I am one “lucky puppy” to have been granted just a moment with them along their journey to greatness. My influence on them was only one of many and was brief. But in that moment, I know I gave my best to helping them see God’s vision for their future! God give me more moments like those for Your glory!

In everything you do, and in every way possible, determine to challenge every young person you influence to the highest vision of life—the vision of living out the adventure we call “the perfect will of God”! There is no better life, and there is no better reason to be in student ministry!