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:

1. Visits – personal visits to the home of a class member. (Doesn’t count if they were not home)
2. Calls – this is a simple phone call of encouragement
3. Notes – this is a written for of communication, including email or Facebook
4. 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!

Related posts:

1. Youth Ministry Idea: Developing Leaders
2. 7 Ideas for Your Personal Planner System
3. Helpful Tools for Personal Productivity
4. New Podcast-The Disciple-Making Church
5. Nov. Podcast—Balancing Pastoral Priorities
6. More on Developing a New Year Planner
7. How to Write Readable Emails
8. Thoughts on Effective Youth Ministry

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!

Related posts:

1. Announcing the SM127 Podcast for Students
2. Things I’d Like to Say to Every Young Adult
3. Why Young People Stay Faithful
4. Saddest Letter I’ve Ever Read
5. United—Fighting for the Next Generation
6. Does God Care What We Wear? (Part 3)
7. Great Books for Christian Parents
8. Problems with Fun-Focused Youth Ministry

Quote 1—Regarding Obedience to Christ:
“What an astonishment it will be to see, once the veil is finally lifted, all the souls that have been reaped by you, simply because you have been in the habit of taking your orders from Jesus Christ.”

Quote 2—Regarding a Busy Life without an Intimate Walk
“The great enemy of the Lord Jesus Christ today is the idea of practical work that has no basis in the New Testament but comes from the systems of the world. This work insists upon endless energy and activities, but no private life with God. We must get rid of the plague of the spirit of this religious age in which we live. In our Lord’s life there was none of the pressure and the rushing of tremendous activity that we regard so highly today, and a disciple is to be like His Master. The central point of the kingdom of Jesus Christ is a personal relationship with Him, not public usefulness to others. And if you waste your time in overactivity, instead of being immersed in the great fundamental truths of God’s redemption, then you will snap when the stress and strain do come. But if this time of soaking before God is being spent in getting rooted and grounded in Him, which may appear to be impractical, then you will remain true to Him whatever happens.”

Quote 3—Regarding A Servant of God Having No Real Right to Privacy
“There is no such thing as a private life, or a place to hide in this world, for a man or woman who is intimately aware of and shares in the sufferings of Jesus Christ. God divides the private life of His saints and makes it a highway for the world on one hand and for Himself on the other. No human being can stand that unless he is identified with Jesus Christ. We are not sanctified for ourselves. We are called into intimacy with the gospel, and things happen that appear to have nothing to do with us. But God is getting us into fellowship with Himself. Let Him have His way. If you refuse, you will be of no value to God in His redemptive work in the world, but will be a hindrance and a stumbling block.”

Quote 4—Regarding Our Typical Collapse in Self-Pity During Pain
“The first thing God does is get us grounded on strong reality and truth. He does this until our cares for ourselves individually have been brought into submission to His way for the purpose of His redemption. Why shouldn’t we experience heartbreak? Through those doorways God is opening up ways of fellowship with His Son. Most of us collapse at the first grip of pain. We sit down at the door of God’s purpose and enter a slow death through self-pity. And all the so-called Christian sympathy of others helps us to our deathbed. But God will not. He comes with the grip of the pierced hand of His Son, as if to say, “Enter into fellowship with Me; arise and shine.” If God can accomplish His purposes in this world through a broken heart, then why not thank Him for breaking yours?”

Quote 5—Regarding Seeing the Face of God through the Pinholes of Daily Obedience
“The Lord does not give me rules, but He makes His standard very clear. If my relationship to Him is that of love, I will do what He says without hesitation. If I hesitate, it is because I love someone I have placed in competition with Him, namely, myself. Jesus Christ will not force me to obey Him, but I must. And as soon as I obey Him, I fulfill my spiritual destiny. My personal life may be crowded with small, petty happenings, altogether insignificant. But if I obey Jesus Christ in the seemingly random circumstances of life, they become pinholes through which I see the face of God. Then, when I stand face to face with God, I will discover that through my obedience thousands were blessed. When God’s redemption brings a human soul to the point of obedience, it always produces. If I obey Jesus Christ, the redemption of God will flow through me to the lives of others, because behind the deed of obedience is the reality of Almighty God.”

Quote 6—Regarding Being Fully God’s with No Personal Agenda
“I chose you . . .” (John 15:16). Keep these words as a wonderful reminder in your theology. It is not that you have gotten God, but that He has gotten you. God is at work bending, breaking, molding, and doing exactly as He chooses. And why is He doing it? He is doing it for only one purpose— that He may be able to say, “This is My man, and this is My woman.” We have to be in God’s hand so that He can place others on the Rock, Jesus Christ, just as He has placed us.

“Never choose to be a worker, but once God has placed His call upon you, woe be to you if you “turn aside . . . to the right or the left . . .” (Deuteronomy 28:14). He will do with you what He never did before His call came to you, and He will do with you what He is not doing with other people. Let Him have His way.”

Quote 7—Regarding the Public Ministry Use of Our Personal Trials
“If you are going to be used by God, He will take you through a number of experiences that are not meant for you personally at all. They are designed to make you useful in His hands, and to enable you to understand what takes place in the lives of others.”

Quote 8—Regarding the Long Purpose of Suffering
“When it comes to suffering, it is part of our Christian culture to want to know God’s purpose beforehand. In the history of the Christian church, the tendency has been to avoid being identified with the sufferings of Jesus Christ. People have sought to carry out God’s orders through a shortcut of their own. God’s way is always the way of suffering— the way of the ‘long road home.’ We never realize at the time what God is putting us through— we go through it more or less without understanding. Then suddenly we come to a place of enlightenment, and realize— ‘God has strengthened me and I didn’t even know it!’”

Quote 9—Regarding Letting God of Personal Ambition—Even Good Ambitions
“After sanctification, it is difficult to state what your purpose in life is, because God has moved you into His purpose through the Holy Spirit. He is using you now for His purposes throughout the world as He used His Son for the purpose of our salvation. If you seek great things for yourself, thinking, “God has called me for this and for that,” you barricade God from using you. As long as you maintain your own personal interests and ambitions, you cannot be completely aligned or identified with God’s interests. This can only be accomplished by giving up all of your personal plans once and for all, and by allowing God to take you directly into His purpose for the world. Your understanding of your ways must also be surrendered, because they are now the ways of the Lord.”

Quote 10—Regarding Embracing God’s Agenda and Rejecting Self-Pity
“I must learn that the purpose of my life belongs to God, not me. God is using me from His great personal perspective, and all He asks of me is that I trust Him. I should never say, “Lord, this causes me such heartache.” To talk that way makes me a stumbling block. When I stop telling God what I want, He can freely work His will in me without any hindrance. He can crush me, exalt me, or do anything else He chooses. He simply asks me to have absolute faith in Him and His goodness. Self-pity is of the devil, and if I wallow in it I cannot be used by God for His purpose in the world. Doing this creates for me my own cozy “world within the world,” and God will not be allowed to move me from it because of my fear of being ‘frost-bitten.’”

Quote 11—Regarding All Fears Being Sinful
“It is because of our trusting in experience that we see the steadfast impatience of the Holy Spirit against unbelief. All of our fears are sinful, and we create our own fears by refusing to nourish ourselves in our faith. How can anyone who is identified with Jesus Christ suffer from doubt or fear! Our lives should be an absolute hymn of praise resulting from perfect, irrepressible, triumphant belief.”

Quote 12—Regarding the Inherent Conflict of Disobedience
“A child’s life is normally obedient, until he chooses disobedience. But as soon as he chooses to disobey, an inherent inner conflict is produced.”

Quote 13—Regarding Divine Design in All of Life
“Never believe that the so-called random events of life are anything less than God’s appointed order. Be ready to discover His divine designs anywhere and everywhere.”

Quote 14—Regarding Our Tendency to be Proud of Our Positions
“Beware of being obsessed with consistency to your own convictions instead of being devoted to God. It is easier to be an excessive fanatic than it is to be consistently faithful, because God causes an amazing humbling of our religious conceit when we are faithful to Him.”

Quote 15—Regarding Spiritual Confusion and Its Solution
“Simplicity is the secret to seeing things clearly. A saint does not think clearly until a long time passes, but a saint ought to see clearly without any difficulty. You cannot think through spiritual confusion to make things clear; to make things clear, you must obey. In intellectual matters you can think things out, but in spiritual matters you will only think yourself into further wandering thoughts and more confusion. If there is something in your life upon which God has put His pressure, then obey Him in that matter. Bring all your “arguments and . . . every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ” regarding the matter, and everything will become as clear as daylight to you ( 2 Corinthians 10:5 ). Your reasoning capacity will come later, but reasoning is not how we see. We see like children, and when we try to be wise we see nothing. Spiritual confusion is only conquered by obedience.”

Quote 16—Regarding Mountain-Tops and Valleys and Where We Really Live for God
“We have all experienced times of exaltation on the mountain, when we have seen things from God’s perspective and have wanted to stay there. But God will never allow us to stay there. The true test of our spiritual life is in exhibiting the power to descend from the mountain. If we only have the power to go up, something is wrong. It is a wonderful thing to be on the mountain with God, but a person only gets there so that he may later go down and lift up the demon-possessed people in the valley (see Mark 9:14-18). We are not made for the mountains, for sunrises, or for the other beautiful attractions in life— those are simply intended to be moments of inspiration. We are made for the valley and the ordinary things of life, and that is where we have to prove our stamina and strength. Yet our spiritual selfishness always wants repeated moments on the mountain. We feel that we could talk and live like perfect angels, if we could only stay on the mountaintop. Those times of exaltation are exceptional and they have their meaning in our life with God, but we must beware to prevent our spiritual selfishness from wanting to make them the only time.

“After every time of exaltation, we are brought down with a sudden rush into things as they really are, where it is neither beautiful, poetic, nor thrilling. The height of the mountaintop is measured by the dismal drudgery of the valley, but it is in the valley that we have to live for the glory of God. We see His glory on the mountain, but we never live for His glory there. It is in the place of humiliation that we find our true worth to God— that is where our faithfulness is revealed. Most of us can do things if we are always at some heroic level of intensity, simply because of the natural selfishness of our own hearts. But God wants us to be at the drab everyday level, where we live in the valley according to our personal relationship with Him. Peter thought it would be a wonderful thing for them to remain on the mountain, but Jesus Christ took the disciples down from the mountain and into the valley, where the true meaning of the vision was explained (see Mark 9:5-6 , Mark 14-23).

“When you were on the mountaintop you could believe anything, but what about when you were faced with the facts of the valley? You may be able to give a testimony regarding your sanctification, but what about the thing that is a humiliation to you right now? The last time you were on the mountain with God, you saw that all the power in heaven and on earth belonged to Jesus— will you be skeptical now, simply because you are in the valley of humiliation?”

Quote 17—Regarding the Obstacles of Life and God’s Presence in Them
“A river is victoriously persistent, overcoming all barriers. For a while it goes steadily on its course, but then comes to an obstacle. And for a while it is blocked, yet it soon makes a pathway around the obstacle. Or a river will drop out of sight for miles, only later to emerge again even broader and greater than ever. Do you see God using the lives of others, but an obstacle has come into your life and you do not seem to be of any use to God? Then keep paying attention to the Source, and God will either take you around the obstacle or remove it. The river of the Spirit of God overcomes all obstacles. Never focus your eyes on the obstacle or the difficulty. The obstacle will be a matter of total indifference to the river that will flow steadily through you if you will simply remember to stay focused on the Source. Never allow anything to come between you and Jesus Christ— not emotion nor experience— nothing must keep you from the one great sovereign Source.”

Bonus: Regarding Never Turning Back from the Call of God
“Once the call of God comes to you, start going and never stop.”

Related posts:

1. Making God’s Will Less Confusing
2. Skeptics, Spectators, and Servants
3. Things I’d Like to Say to Every Young Adult
4. Who Is Increasing In Your Life?
5. 7 Myths of Single Life
6. The Right Spirit Toward Spiritual Leaders
7. Influence vs. Control
8. Are Revolutionaries Starting to Recant?

1. You are of eternal value and significance because God doesn’t make junk. Regardless of who mistreated you, what lies you’ve been told, or how bad your past has been—you have a future and God has good plans for you. Life can be bad, but God’s heart is always good! And only He can turn the bad into good. (Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.”)

2. You have an amazing contribution to make to the lives of others. God created you for the purpose of serving Him in the lives of others. This will be your family, your friends, your community, your co-workers, and your future family. People you’ve never met are counting on having your good influence some day. Don’t mess it up! (Proverbs 27:17, “Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.”)

3. You have incredible skills and abilities to develop for God’s glory. Don’t compare yourself to others. Let God help you become who He designed you to be. You have gifts and abilities that you have yet to discover and develop, so don’t lose hope! (1 Timothy 4:14, “Neglect not the gift that is in thee…”)

4. Your only hope for real happiness is a real, private, personal relationship with Jesus Christ. It starts at salvation, but that’s just the beginning! Walking with Him, knowing Him, and learning of Him on a daily basis is where life is really at its BEST! (Proverbs 18:24, “…there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.”)

5. Your life is more about your future than your past. I know lots of teens with bad pasts and bad trials because of the terrible decisions of others. But your future doesn’t have to be a response to the bad decisions of others. Don’t get angry and bitter about someone else’s stupidity. Don’t let them mess up your future. Move forward with God and chart a different course for your kids! (Hebrews 12:15, “Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled;”)

6. You will live by faith, whether you do your will or God’s will—be smart—place faith in the One who is in control. Life is not a sight/faith proposition. It’s a faith/faith proposition. Either you place faith in yourself—blind faith since you are neither in control nor all knowing. Or you place faith in God—intelligent faith since He is all powerful and all knowing! Be smart—go with God! (Romans 1:17, “For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.”)

7. You will get through the confusion and frustration you face during your teen years. Don’t freak out when you get confused or when things don’t go as you hoped. Go to God and let Him get you through it. He is the only way to sanity! (Isaiah 45:2, “I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight…”)

8. Your only hope for the fulfillment of your deepest dreams is to passionately pursue God. If you chase dreams, you will come up disappointed, even if they get fulfilled. Dreams are the product of the design of God—He knows how to fulfill them. Loving Him is your job! Fulfilling your heart is His job! Don’t get the roles reversed! (Psalm 37:4, “Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.”)

9. Your pathway to godly success is littered with traps and pitfalls—so follow the Guide. God’s Word is the ultimate guide. When you know God and know His principles, you are safeguarding your steps. Unless you want to step into a lot of pain, stay close to the Guide! (Joshua 1:8, “This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.”)

10. Your greatest enemy is impatience. Waiting is hard—ok. But look at it differently! You aren’t merely waiting! You are preparing! Don’t rush what God is doing in your life right now. Let Him have His way in His time, and don’t always wish you were three years down the road. Impatience destroys more people than anything else I know! Be willing to wait for God’s best! Illustration: Would you rather have a dollar today or a million next week? The best is worth waiting for! (Hebrews 10:36, “For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.”)

11. Your greatest assignment is preparation. Most big mistakes in young adult lives somehow involve trading preparation for pretend. In other words, rather than really preparing for God’s best in His time, let’s just rush forward and pretend we’re there already. Bad decision. Stick with the preparation of youth! You’ll be WAY ahead of the rest of the planet when life demands the most of you. (Galatians 6:9, “And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.”)

12. Your greatest asset is godly authorities. God has given every life some good authority—even if some authorities have let you down. Somebody in your life will help you make right choices, avoid wrong, and see clearly through the fog of youth. One of the best decisions you could make is to trust godly authorities. Question them—fine—then listen to the answers they give and follow their advice! Godly authorities have no desire to control you, but they do want to protect you! (Exodus 20:12, “Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.”)

Please—live life God’s way! While everything will try to drag you off track, I promise, you will never regret it! God has a good life in store for you—so go get it by His grace!

Related posts:

1. Why Young People Stay Faithful
2. Response #1 to The Saddest Letter
3. The Top Questions of Young Christian Singles
4. Saddest Letter I’ve Ever Read
5. United—Fighting for the Next Generation
6. 7 Big Parenting Mistakes
7. Does God Care What We Wear? (Part 3)
8. Understanding Hidden Dangers Part 4

We are excited to announce a new podcast flowing from the ministry of Lancaster Baptist Church—SM127 Podcast, which simply stands for Student Ministry!

This podcast will be a part of the free Ministry127.com family of resources and will be for teens. It will feature messages from our ministry events for teenagers—West Coast Baptist Teen Camps, Youth Conferences, Winter Retreats, Chapels, and regular Student Bible Studies. It’s a place where teens can subscribe to regularly keep in touch with sound biblical preaching.

To subscribe to the SM127 Podcast, simply click here: http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/sm127/id388432069

Be sure to share this information with young adults that might benefit from hearing these messages! Pray that God will use this podcast to encourage young people to live for Christ.

Related posts:

1. What’s a Podcast?
2. New SL Podcast—By His Spirit
3. New SL Podcast—Striving Together
4. New Podcast-The Disciple-Making Church
5. SL Podcast: Opening the Front Door
6. New Podcast—Partnerships of Ministry
7. SL Podcast: Developing an Annual Plan
8. New Podcast-4 Attributes of a Spiritual Christian

This lesson also gives a process—how discipleship can effectively happen in a local church environment. With the lesson, Pastor Chappell answers some questions about discipleship ministry. You can listen above or subscribe through iTunes. Also, be sure to send us your email address so you can get the free outline that accompanies the podcast. Subscribers to the outline receive a monthly email notification when the podcast has posted, along with a link for the outline.

Click here to subscribe to the outline!

Enjoy the September Spiritual Leadership Podcast!

Related posts:

1. Nov. Podcast—Balancing Pastoral Priorities
2. New SL Podcast—By His Spirit
3. Costs of Pastoring a Growing Church
4. SL Podcast – Staying the Course
5. New SL Podcast—Striving Together
6. New Podcast—Partnerships of Ministry
7. SL Podcast – Christlikeness in the Church
8. New Podcast: Biblical Vision for Growth

Are there some really compelling reasons to use Sunday School curriculum? We believe YES! For nearly two and a half decades, God has developed strong Christians at Lancaster Baptist Church, and a huge part of that process is the Adult Bible Class Ministry and curriculum. Several years ago, through Striving Together Publications, we made a serious commitment to produce curriculum for local church ministry. Here’s why:

1. Equip the Teacher—while many are gifted at assimilating material into memorable outlines and thought flow, many are not. There’s nothing worse than listening to good Bible material put through an “impossible to follow” thought flow! Most lay teachers and many full-time workers appreciate having a basic outline of biblical material to use as a launching pad—a starting point and guideline. Guaranteed—providing a solid series of outlines for your teachers is an investment that will reap a huge harvest in your adult class ministry.

2. Engage the Students—when you place a student book into the hands of your class, you say something very valuable! You say, “We are interested in making a serious investment into your spiritual growth.” You say, “Take this class seriously!” You say, “Come back next week for the next lesson in this series.” You say, “We are preparing every week to build your Christian life.” These are powerful messages that make the minor cost of a student book well worth it!

3. Establish Commitment—using a series of lessons builds continuity from week to week that encourages students to commit to a class. It lets them know they are missing something if they don’t return. This is effective for regular attenders as well as first-time visitors. Think of the impact on a visitor when they walk into a class, receive a warm welcome, and are then handed a student book for the present series.

4. Encourage Follow Up Study—using the student books provides the class members with a weekly assignment including review questions for discussion or personal devotions. This also provides the teacher some thoughts for opening discussion each week and reviewing the previous lesson.

5. Enable a Journey of Spiritual Growth—using student books gives each class member a growing library that chronicles their own growth. Let’s face it, weekly photocopies end up in the trash. But nobody throws away a student book! They will save them and be able to look back over them in the years to come. That’s valuable.

In spite of these great reasons, many still wrestle with three common obstacles to using curriculum. Let’s examine them:

What about cost? The most common question I receive about Striving Together curriculum is “can we photocopy the lesson for our students?” The answer is always “No.” Why?

First, it’s just a bad practice. The students will throw away the photocopies. They won’t save them. So your time, your money, your copier is all wasted—bad stewardship.

Secondly, we couldn’t continue providing curriculum if that practice continued. I know that’s basic, but true.

Thirdly, we believe strongly in the value of a student guide—it is much greater than the cost. Striving Together student guides can be purchased for  as little as $2 and $3. That’s unheard of in Christian publishing! In fact, you probably can’t even photocopy them for that price once you add up the paper, time, labor, and copier costs. On top of that, the five point list above is worth far more than a few dollars in the life of every growing Christian.

Do the students really use it? The simple answer is, “yes and no.” Most do, some don’t. Frankly, you’ll probably never get an entire class to use the student books in their entirety. The point is, many will! And many others will use them partially. The class may require some reminding. You may end up providing replacements for a few lost books along the way. You may have folks who miss a few lessons. But ultimately, most of your class will use the books and benefit from them. And over time, you will build the habit and expectation into the DNA of your Sunday School. And that’s worth working toward.

Is it really that effective? Yes. Look at the five things above and ask yourself if you would like to see these things in your adult and youth classes. Sunday school curriculum will improve your teachers and engage your students at a whole new level. It’s an investment you can’t afford not to make!

Publishing curriculum is no small commitment. Every new publication takes a year or more of development, and all Striving Together curriculum is often designed to provide the teacher with more material than can be taught in 13 weeks. That’s on purpose! We want to provide plenty of good content in every resource. But, even with good curriculum available there are many churches that can’t seem to get over the hurdle of the investment. The sooner you get over that hurdle, the sooner the investment will start to pay back on multiple levels.

Sunday school curriculum is a great way to take your adult and youth classes to the next level. Visit strivingtogether.com to get started with one of our newest curriculums this week!

What are your thoughts about the power of a good curriculum in your Sunday school ministry?

Related posts:

1. New Curriculum—Salt and Light!
2. Life Quest Curriculum Available!
3. Hook Line and Sinker Curriculum Now Available
4. Different By Design Book and Curriculum Now Available!
5. Book Review-What’s On Your Mind
6. New Curriculum-Grace for the Pace
7. New Resources from Striving Together
8. More Christian Books for Kindle

Is your youth ministry Bible-focused or fun-focused? It’s easy to focus more on making the youth group fun than on making it biblical. I’m all for having a good time with students in the right context, but we have a much higher calling. How easy it is to fall into the trap of spending more time planning silliness than studying for Bible lessons.

Over the years, I’ve been delighted to find that teens really appreciate a strong biblical focus. Inherently, they know life is more than fun and games, and they know we are supposed to lead them to maturity. When we raise the bar spiritually, they rise to the occasion.

Here are some problems with the pop-culture, fun-focused model of student ministry:

1. Teens find fun, they don’t need an arm of the church dedicated to producing it. Let’s face it, teens are fun-magnets. Where they can’t find fun, they create it.

2. Ministry leaders are called to biblical, pastoral roles, not entertainment roles. In pastoral ministry, our calling is to teach and preach God’s Word and to make disciples. We are called to build mature Christians, not fill water balloons. Be certain—I’m willing to fill a water balloon, but only if it has a direct impact upon the spiritual growth of young lives.

3. It takes the spotlight off of God and places it on self. The focus of “fun” is pleasure, self, and personal entertainment. This is the focus of the emergent church—what man wants not what God desires. In building an entertainment-driven youth ministry, we feed the flesh and promote the love of pleasure and self.

4. It trivializes spiritual matters—God, the Bible, Truth. The more we turn Bible truth into “slapstick” silliness, the more we say to young people—“Christianity is juvenile and you will one day outgrow it.” And sadly, eventually, they do. We must be careful not to make spiritual things childish and silly. Let’s hold high the value of the eternal!

5. It doesn’t build the heart towards local church and pastor (two lifelong, vital relationships). Students eventually leave the youth group, but they should always be in church. Students will have a youth pastor for a season, but they should always have a pastor. If you teach them to value the local church and love their pastor, you have prepared them for life.

6. It encourages young people to stay immature. If teens only find fun at youth group, they know in their hearts something vital is missing. In high school I had two types of coaches—the ones who made us winners, and then the ones that goofed off with us. Through the years, the coaches who pushed us have my respect. The others didn’t help me. When you expect teens to grow in maturity, they will ultimately respect you for truly helping them.

7. It implies that living for Jesus Christ isn’t “fun,” so we have to compensate. This is perhaps the biggest! Somewhere along the way we began to think that bowling and putt-putt would be more attractive to a young person than Jesus! Jesus Christ—the living Word of God—when presented accurately, is incomparably and eternally attractive! Compel teens to fall in love with Him—for there is not a more joyful or “fun” life than the one where He is preeminent.

This article makes me sound like such a prude. Truly, we have a tremendous amount of fun in student ministry. No teen should have to endure a youth group that isn’t enjoyable. My point is balance! Let’s just be sure we strike the right balance. Our calling is to see them “rooted and built up in Him, and stablished in the faith” (Colossians 2:7).

Related posts:

1. Thoughts on Effective Youth Ministry
2. Youth Ministry Idea: Developing Leaders
3. The Greatest Student Ministry Strategy
4. Life After the Youth Group
5. Re-Igniting Apathetic Teens
6. United—Fighting for the Next Generation
7. Student Ministry Idea-Gift Planners
8. Ignite Vision in Your Students

Striving Together Publications is excited to announce the soon availability (Feb. 12) of this new adult curriculum from Dr. Mark Rasmussen! This 13 lesson series was over two years in development, and I’m extremely happy with the finished product. Dr. Rasmussen is one of the greatest Christian educators alive today, and you will find this resource helpful for both adults and teens in your church!

The study features a close examination of 13 metaphors for the Christian life—sheep, soldier, runner, salt, light, etc. It’s just a great study, and your church family will benefit from it.

The resource comes with a teacher guide and a student guide. Why? The teacher’s guide includes all the teaching material, illustrations, scripture references, and lesson details. The student guide features the blank outline, scripture references, lesson summary, and then a follow up study guide for each lesson. The student guides are extremely affordable and well worth the investment.

Why use the student guide?

Many churches ask students to invest the few dollars for the cost of their own work book, others simply give this to the students as a gift. It helps in a number of ways:

1. It encourages students to take the material more seriously.
2. It helps them follow the lesson, take notes, and further internalize the material.
3. It says to the students that Sunday School is a serious investment of heart and time.
4. It gives the student a process of application after the lesson.
5. It gives students a personal record of the series and their own spiritual growth to refer back to in years to come.

Presently Striving Together Publications offers fourteen adult curriculums (many which are adaptable for teens), and three teen curriculums. Additional teen and children’s curriculum are in development.

Related posts:

1. Why Use Sunday School Curriculum?
2. Hook Line and Sinker Curriculum Now Available
3. Different By Design Book and Curriculum Now Available!
4. Book Review-What’s On Your Mind
5. Student Ministry Idea-Gift Planners
6. Life Quest Curriculum Available!
7. New Curriculum-Grace for the Pace
8. New SL Podcast—Striving Together

Myths abound in today’s culture—through urban legends, chain emails, speed-diets, and beyond! Thanks to snopes.com, it’s pretty easy to run an email, a story, or a bizarre event through a quick research test to find out if it’s true or not.

So—do you have a “snopes” for life? Has it occurred to you that life also has its myths and “urban legends.” The issue is, these myths have much greater consequences. And much like “snopes” we need to take the philosophies, assumptions, and teachings of our pop-culture and run them through the truth test—the Bible.

Here are seven popular myths of single-life—seven lies that many singles buy into. Let’s run them through the truth test and unmask them as frauds:

1. Happiness and love is found in a person, and I must find that person. Many people fall for this lie. Their lives become an endless search for the right person who will completely bring happiness to life. The problem is—no human being can fulfill the deepest desires of our hearts. That is reserved for God alone, through Jesus Christ. Psalm 16:11 teaches, “Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy;”

2. Freedom is about making decisions alone and doing my own thing—”I gotta be me…” This is a gross distortion of a biblical truth. Yes, God created you as an individual with many unique qualities—so in that sense, you do have to be you. But, God never intended for you to live independent of Him or outside of His purpose or structure for life. The greatest life is found when you are who God truly made you to be. In John 10:10 Jesus said, “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.”

3. There is a shortcut to success and fulfillment in life, and I will find it. Many believe there are quick ways to happiness and fulfillment in life, and so they fall for them—parties, illicit sex, drinking, drugs, etc. We all tend to want the path of least resistance and the quickest path to success. In truth, the best life is built patiently, one decision at a time, on the strong foundation of biblical values and principles. This takes years—not weeks or months.

God taught in Joshua 1:8 that true success is a product of biblical principles in practice: “This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.”

4. Responsibility and purpose in life can be indefinitely postponed. In the short term, a life free of responsibility and commitment seems like the way to go—but in the long term, it’s disastrous. We were designed by our Creator to have purpose, to embrace commitments, and to shoulder responsibilities that honor Him. God teaches that life comes with built-in accountability and responsibility. Those who embrace this, always win. Romans 14:12, “So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.”

5. Love is a mystical, magical, fleeting thing that has something to do with sex. God is love, and God created sex, so who could possibly instruct us in this matter better than Him. Quite simply, true love is a choice, not an emotion. You do it, you don’t feel it. Warm and fuzzy emotions, as enjoyable as they are, are not and never will be love. And sex is only an expression of love when it’s done God’s way—within a committed marriage for life. Outside of that boundary, sex is harmful in every way to both parties. It does irreparable spiritual harm.

Here’s how God says it: 1 Corinthians 6:18, “Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body.”

6. As long as I’m not hurting anyone else, what I do doesn’t matter. This sounds great and becomes an easy excuse for someone who purely lives for self. The problem is, it’s simply not true. No man is an island. We all influence somebody. We all have people in our future whom we will one day influence. And every decision you make today has countless repercussions in people’s lives for years to come—like your kids! Think of it this way—have you become the bearer of the bad decisions of others? Probably so. And at the time, they too were thinking their decisions wouldn’t hurt anyone. But you know differently.

God commands us to live as examples to others, positively influencing them for right. 1 Timothy 4:12, “Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.”

7. Pleasure, possessions, and personal pursuits can ultimately fill the longing of my heart. God created pleasure. God gives us possessions. And God calls us to purposeful pursuits. But He is the source and the giver. When we forsake following God and pursue these other things, life begins to fall apart. Apart from God, more stuff merely means more problems! We’re called to worship God and use things. But so often we get it backwards. We worship things and use God.

1 Timothy 6:17, “Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy;”

Are you falling for some of these myths? Begin today aligning your life with God’s principles—beginning with a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. You can read more about starting that relationship by clicking here.

Build your life and future upon truth, not upon the myth and urban legends of popular philosophy. Opinions of men will fail, but God’s Word is always true!

Related posts:

1. Things I’d Like to Say to Every Young Adult
2. Beating Post HS Challenges
3. Life After the Youth Group
4. Influence vs. Control
5. The Road to Adulthood Gets Longer
6. Beating Post HS Challenges (3)
7. How George Mueller Discerned God’s Will
8. Life Quest – Now Available in Hardback and MP3

A frequent question: What are some keys for effective youth ministry? While I’m certainly not the authority, here are a few thoughts that I’ve seen the Lord bless (not listed in any particular order)…

A Strong Local Church—Jesus died for the church. It is His divine authorized institution for His work on earth. A youth group should not be a stand alone entity, but an integral part of a larger body—a local church. The youth group should support and mirror the church program, and the teens should have a good relationship with their pastor. (Ephesians 5:25)

Solid Bible Teaching—Bottom line, through the ministry of the church, we are to teach the Bible and persuade young people to live biblically for the rest of their lives. This is essential—social events are not. Give quality time to preparing and teaching practical, Bible lessons—the kind that help them understand truth and embrace it. I’ve written a longer article about this point called The Greatest Student Ministry Strategy. Also, the article about How to Lose Attention would tie in. (1 Thessalonians 2:13)

One-on-One Time and Personal Ministry—Relationships are vital, and authentic ministry happens up close. I can’t persuade or influence someone that I’m not in “good standing” with—the Bible word is favor. Youth ministry happens as much one-on-one as with a group. Though our group has plenty of “group time,” our one-on-one relationships with the students create the platform for group ministry. Much of our “youth ministry time” is spent taking kids to lunch, out soulwinning, having smaller groups to our home, writing them letters, and generally trying to love and encourage each one personally. (1 Thessalonians 2:11)

Ministry and Outreach—It’s vital to allow and compel the teens to serve the Lord and others. Involving them in a soulwinning program, service opportunities, music opportunities, etc. is huge. The strongest, most mature, and joyful Christian teens I know are those that sing, serve, soul-win, and give. They are living their faith, and their commitment to Christ is real! The more you can encourage young people to live and express their faith through service, the stronger their faith will become. (1 Timothy 4:12)

Longevity and Patience—A lot of people just don’t stay at youth ministry very long—especially not in one place. It takes a few years to figure things out and another few for people to begin trusting you. That’s not to say you don’t accomplish anything in those years, just that the longer you stay with it, the more effective you will be and the greater the fruit. The best fruit in youth ministry happens as you literally watch families grow up—serving them year after year. (2 Thessalonians 3:13)

Family/Parent Focus—This one is HUGE! Effective youth ministry doesn’t merely focus on teens. We spend as much time counseling and ministering with parents as with teens. Regular teen-parent meetings are essential. Focus on reaching and ministering to the whole family. Help develop the parents as well as the teens. Teens need their parents a lot more than they need youth workers. So anything we can do to help them have a better relationship with parents, and to help the parents to live authentic Christian lives is going to bear greater fruit. (Malachi 4:6)

God’s Wisdom and Power—Obviously, this one goes without saying. Ultimately, anything good that comes from our efforts is due to the Lord using us in spite of ourselves. He blesses the principles of His Word and He delights in those who submit to His authority and His truth. We don’t need to reinvent anything—we just need to teach, preach, and practice God’s Word, anticipating that His power will do the real work. The mystery of changed lives is not in trendy new methods—it’s in the moving of God’s Holy Spirit. (Zechariah 4:6)

Lots and Lots of Patient Hope—A big part of youth ministry is just refusing to lose hope! There are far more blessings than disappointments, more victories than defeats, more winning than losing, and more ups than downs—but the devil is relentless in trying to make you feel like you’re a failure. Six years in the youth group does not make a fully mature Christian. It can help, but building a strong faith requires more than a youth group. And don’t forget free will! That was God’s idea, and everybody has one. No matter what you do, at the end of the day, people still make their own choices before the Lord. But never stop hoping and praying for those you love to become who Christ desires them to be!

Have you noticed that the emerging church movement—the seeker-sensitive movement—is constantly trying to reinvent church? Well, truthfully, God’s model doesn’t need to be reinvented. It still works very well! Effective youth ministry isn’t about making God fit into cultural trends and fads. It’s about faithfully obeying the timeless principles of His Word.

What are some other “keys to youth ministry”? It’s your turn to comment now…

Related posts:

1. Problems with Fun-Focused Youth Ministry
2. Youth Ministry Idea: Developing Leaders
3. The Greatest Student Ministry Strategy
4. Life After the Youth Group
5. An Effective Staff Member Commits
6. Re-Igniting Apathetic Teens
7. Student Ministry Idea-Gift Planners
8. An Effective Staff Member Grows

Life is complex. God’s will isn’t. In fact, at any given moment, there’s a powerful question you can ask to determine if you are in or out of His will. It’s simply this:

“Did I follow God to where I am right now?”

The Holy Spirit will instantly resonate the answer in your heart—you will know it by conscience! When you look at the circumstances and situations of your present—did you arrive here by obedience or disobedience? Did you follow God into this?

If yes, then press on! The obstacles or questions are a part of His bigger plan, and you only need to keep going forward by His grace in total faith and trust.

If no, then freeze! Don’t go another step. Look back and ask this…

“At what point did I stop following God?”

Where did you become disobedient to the Heavenly Father? As quickly as you can, get back to that point, if possible. If not possible, then immediately confess the sin and begin walking with Him obediently. As you do, start asking this question…

“God, what is the very next thing you want me to do?”

Do it. Then ask that question again. And do it. And keep asking that question and obeying. It’s in moment by moment obedience that we ultimately see God’s bigger picture come together. If you obey God in the details right now, He will clarify the bigger picture in time. Confusion over God’s will is often about disobedience. Why should God clarify His will if you’re not already doing it?

God never leads us into confusion—always out of it.

“In thee, O LORD, do I put my trust: let me never be put to confusion.” (Psalm 71:1)

Related posts:

1. Things I’d Like to Say to Every Young Adult
2. Oswald Chambers is “The Man!” (or was…)
3. Ignite Vision in Your Students
4. Making Good Intentions Happen
5. Three Reasons to Get Good Advice
6. Reality Parenting—Making the Grade
7. The Forgotten Side of Submission
8. New Podcast-The Disciple-Making Church

Throughout the year, our ministry to College and Career and Singles brings us into counseling, retreats, and venues where young Christian singles are airing really good questions. I have previously shared the details behind our Q&A times (both for teens as well as singles) and also the top 15 questions that teens ask.

Here’s the most oft asked questions that come from our College and Career department as well as the Singles:

1. How do your parents’ roles change as you get older? (What do I do if my parents are very controlling?)

2. How can you be 100% sure about God’s will for your life?

3. How do I discern or understand that God is leading in a certain direction?

4. Where/how do you draw the line on music?

5. How do you react/talk to friends who have trials that you can’t understand?

6. How do I deal with co-workers who ridicule me for being a Christian? (How can I witness to my co-workers?)

7. How do you not let fear of the future stop you from moving forward?

8. Dating—finding the right person, developing a godly relationship, when to say “I love you,” parents’ approval, dealing with breaking up, being physical, etc.

9. How do I approach my finances—budgeting, saving, giving, etc.?

10. How can I handle trials and stay faithful through them?

11. How do I deal with spiritual struggles—my relationship with God being up and down or failing in the same areas over and over?

12. How can I help a friend that I’m burdened for who is drifting away from the Lord?

Why share these? Well, simply for those who work with these groups, these are the topics that they are wrestling with—so we should make sure we’re addressing these things regularly and biblically. In a recent post, I shared about how to lose attention while you’re teaching or preaching—these topics are almost certainly attention grabbers, because they are so common and so present in the daily lives of young Christian adults.

Hopefully this list will spur you on in your Bible teaching, counseling, and ministry to Christian young adults.

Related posts:

1. Top 15 Questions Christian Teens Ask
2. Ministry Idea: 3 Questions
3. Things I’d Like to Say to Every Young Adult
4. Life After the Youth Group
5. Saddest Letter I’ve Ever Read
6. Getting Teens to Air Their Questions
7. Top 20 Posts of 2010
8. Great Books for Christian Parents

Quick post—the top ten ways to completely bore and disconnect with those you teach:

1. Say something not worth hearing—This is basic, but if you want people to listen, start by saying something worth hearing. The number one reason we lose the attention of those we teach is that we’re not convincing them that what we have to say is important. Since there is nothing more important than teaching young people God’s Word, we’d better make it worth hearing.

2. Say something with no passion—Have you ever heard someone teach with no voice inflection, no dynamic—nothing but monotone droning. It’s miserably hypnotic. If you’re not passionate about what you teach, don’t expect anyone else to care about it either.

3. Talk down to them—Make your listeners think that you believe they are completely stupid. Come across like you are gracing them with your brilliance and you can’t believe they don’t already know this stuff. Insult them with sharp sarcasm, personal jabs, and harshness. This will shut them down for sure.

4. Yell or scream at them—There’s a difference between preaching with passion and just raising your voice out of sheer frustration, and teens can tell the difference immediately. Preaching will stir them, but plain old yelling will just irritate them.

5. Teach outside of their context—Have you ever heard someone teach truth in a way that had no practical connection to your life whatsoever? The connection between truth and real life is not always as obvious as we would like it to be. Keeping attention requires that we constantly ask of truth: “Why do you matter to real life?!”

6. Shoot from the hip—When we don’t prayerfully prepare substantive, biblical material, we shoot from the hip—speak off the cuff—frankly, RAMBLE. If you really want to shut teens down, just start rambling and come across like you have nothing to say that was worth premeditating.

7. Use no illustrations or personal insights—Jesus was a great story-teller. He connected truth to tangible application and real life situations. Listeners need to connect with the teacher or preacher in tangible ways, and nothing can kill a great truth better than failing to give it a personal, real-life connection.

8. Talk about nothing but yourself—Have you ever heard someone tell you how great they were for 45 minutes and call it a Sunday School lesson or a sermon? Sometimes we could title our lessons, “If You Would Do What I Do, You Would Be Great Too!” Personal illustrations are helpful, but teens shut down when we cross over into bragging and self-exaltation.

9. Speak with lots of distracting idiosyncrasies—You can completely derail your listeners every time you speak if you will just develop some nervous twitches, odd phrasings, annoying postures, or awkward gestures—like frantic pacing or ill-timed arm waving. Everybody in your youth group will be able to impersonate you, but they will never remember a single thing you teach. If you want a good litmus test on this—just ask someone to impersonate you. If they have a tough time, then you’ve probably done a good job at minimizing your idiosyncrasies.

10. Have no relationship with them beyond your platform—Never personally interact or develop a relationship with those you teach. Just be a distant, platform figure with no presence or concern for real people. Remember, the health and quality of your personal relationship with your listeners is what gives you the right to be heard in the first place.

BONUS—Make it NO FUN whatsoever! Have you ever known someone that was gifted at draining every ounce of fun right out of a room as soon as they stepped in? Guaranteed—if your listeners aren’t enjoying listening, they will quickly find something else more enjoyable to think about—it’s just human nature.

It’s pretty painful to try to listen to a lesson from a speaker that didn’t work to gain and maintain your attention! It’s even more painful to be that speaker! (Yes, I know this from far too much personal experience.) Let’s work to make God’s Word come alive to those we teach!

All right, now it’s your turn! How has someone else lost your attention over the years?

Related posts:

1. Re-Igniting Apathetic Teens
2. 10 Things Teens Won’t Tell You (Part 1)
3. Getting Teens to Air Their Questions
4. Top 15 Questions Christian Teens Ask
5. Thoughts on Effective Youth Ministry
6. 15 Ways to Affirm Your Kids
7. What Teens Ask About Their Parents
8. Transforming Teens—From Kurt Skelly

Here are the top fifteen things that teenagers ask about when given the chance to do so anonymously:

1. How do I know what God’s will is? How do I know if I’m called to ministry?

2. What’s wrong with rock/country/CCM/jazz music? How can you tell what music is good and what is bad?

3. What do you do if you have parents/siblings who are living the wrong way? (one way in church, another way at home, dad on the internet) How do you avoid wrong influences when you live with them?

4. How do you take a stand with your friends/what do you do when you have a friend that is becoming rebellious?

5. How do you separate from bad friends without hurting them or making them think you’re stuck up? How can I be a witness to my friends and still be accepted?

6. What’s wrong with holding hands, kissing, etc., before marriage?

7. Why is it so hard to be consistent in the Christian life as a teenager?

8. Why are we supposed to dress differently/wear non-worldly clothes? (What is appropriate and modest clothing and why?)

9. What’s wrong with going to the movies? (and other issues of separation)

10. How do you get over/deal with a broken relationship (dating & friendships)?

11. Why does God allow trials/temptations to come into our lives?

12. What does having a relationship/walk with God really mean?

13. Why  should I go to Bible college for a year after high school?

14. In dealing with authority, how can I explain things or make a point without sounding argumentative or disrespectful? Why do authority figures sometimes assume they know what you are thinking?

15. How do I deal with people and problems in my life that have hurt me deeply?

These questions reveal a lot of real life issues and a strong desire to know “why” or “how.” As adults, we ignore this list to our own detriment. This is what our young adults are seeking to understand. This is what has them tied up in knots. This is what holds them back spiritually, emotionally, etc. Thankfully, God’s Word has answers to every issue—and it’s up to us to apply His truth and make it come alive.

In another post we will explore College and Career questions. I pray that this list will help you to address the things our young people wrestle with the most.

Let’s add to the list. What questions have you seen recurring as you work with young adults?

Related posts:

1. The Top Questions of Young Christian Singles
2. Getting Teens to Air Their Questions
3. 10 Things Teens Won’t Tell You (Part 1)
4. Saddest Letter I’ve Ever Read
5. Great Books for Christian Parents
6. Understanding Hidden Dangers Part 4
7. What Teens Ask About Their Parents
8. Beating Post HS Challenges (2)