Simply Truth: Roll With The Unexpected

So I am inheriting a lot from the previous youth leader at my church as I start my new endeavor as being the new youth leader. One of those things is to make sure that everyone gets their shirts decorated for camp. The group previously decided that they will decorate shirts for camp; I'm cool with that. The shirts are already tie-dyed and ready to be painted; also I am cool with that. So I organized a time the students before Wednesday night church to paint the shirts; the plan is coming together. I get to the church a couple hours early to pray and prepare a little bit for this shirt painting project. I go to look at the shirts and all the guy shirts have hat brims on the collars; yes hat brims. The youth leader before me got a deal at a local close out store on shirts and all the guy shirts were shirts folded up into hats. Let me be frank, they were weird shirts. Now I'm not saying that it was the former youth leaders fault for buying these shirts because she had the best intentions when purchasing them, but I know my guys would not want to wear these shirts. So what am I to do? I go to the local fabric store, buy a stitch remover, and quickly remove the brims from shirts. It was hilarious. I remained flabbergasted about the magical transforming hat-shirts for the rest of the night.

The crisis was averted, but it was a reminder of a very fundamental truth with youth ministry: we need to roll with the unexpected. It is true that we try to expect the unexpected, but where is the fun in that? As human beings it is nearly impossible to try to expect everything. I want to encourage anyone reading this that we need to roll with the unexpected. There was no way that I was give these shirts to my guys and try to make them cool. But instead I had to find a new way to redeem these seeming odd shirts. We are to blessed to be stressed. Take the things that come your way in ministry and make the best out of them. Remember, when like gives your hat-shirts, make memories and make the most of the situation. God blesses us with the strange and unusually.

Laying the Foundation: Youth Need To Know How to Read The Bible

Youth need to know how to read the Bible, right? Seems simple enough. How hard can it be to make the Bible come alive to students? Well, its not easy. Now don't get me wrong, not every student will have a hard time being passionate about Gods word. I believe it is important as a youth pastor to make the word come alive in very real ways. My question is, how do we do it? What is the missing link between today's students and Gods word? Is it pizza and fun games? Joking aside, there are many answers to finding this link. One answer I do believe lies in the terrible tragedy of our bible illiteracy in our society. How can someone be passionate for the Bible is they do not know how to read it? This was a question I answered in a three part Sunday School series on how to read the Bible.

If you are unaware of a more academic approach to reading the Bible, there are two camps one could dwell in when reading the Bible. First is an eisegetical approach to reading the Bible. Simply put, this is taking the truth that you want from the Bible and forcing scripture to work within that construct. Sounds dangerous right? The other way to read the Bible is an exegetical approach which reading the word first and drawing truth from scripture. Exegetical approach is always going to be the healthier way to go. So how to do you teach something academic to teenagers? I had a great mentor for the last year of my life who gave everyone in the college group which he lead, including myself, an outline for this proper way to read the bible. The blessing was that it was simple and condensed for anyone to understand. Always use the resources that you are given. I simply used this to help my students to understand these concepts. Here is the run down on an exegetical study of the bible:

Step One: Observe: What does the Bible actually say?
* What is the context of the passage that you are looking at? Ask all the who? what? where? and when? questions of the passage and the author of that passage.
*What are the obvious themes in the passage? What are the words that repeat? What jumps out to you when you read the passage?

Step Two: Understand: What was the authors intention?
* Look at other translations to see what is similar and different. This will show what words stay consistent with the passage and what is up for interpretation; both things will reveal more about the author was trying to convey in the passage.
* Do some research! Search more about the passage of scripture to find out more about the intention of the author. There are plenty of bible help resources online (use Google for what its meant to do; find information you wouldn't normally find on your own). If you have Bible commentaries or any others Biblical resources that would be best, but the internet is a great alternative.

Step Three: Apply: What does this scripture mean for us?
* This is a very important step to do LAST, so that we do not lose the truth that that is found with the first two steps.
* Ask yourself after knowing what you know about the passage; what truth does this passage have for life today? (Don't be mislead, there is truth in all scripture for our lives.)


I know that by teaching this method and affirming this method in further Bible studies, that the students are going to have a deeper appreciation and love for the Word of God, even if its a slow process for them to get there. I'm ready to be patient to see what God does in their hearts.

The Monday Morning Debrief: Transformers & other movies

Now this is a great summary of how movies (and other mainstream media) can be used as ministry opportunities. God moves in big ways when we connect with youth on their level.

The Monday Morning Debrief: Transformers & other movies